FB: The beauty is there but a beast is in the heart

Sean had stammered an excuse to me, but I barely waited to hear it. My point had been made, and I still needed to use the bathroom. The house was dark, most people were outside, and Sean’s parents had rented port-a-john’s for the party. I, however, didn’t think I could fit in one with the crutches and all, and I hated them, so I chose to sneak into the house.

I used the closest bathroom, the half bath off the kitchen. I peed, checked my makeup, and washed my hands. As I exited the bathroom, I flicked off the light, and jumped when I saw a shadow move in the kitchen.

“Aw, did I scare you?” I heard Michelle say.

“Kind of. Do you make a habit of roaming around strange houses in the dark?”
“Do you?” She responded.

“It’s not a strange house. I’ve known Sean for forever, this is like my second home.” I answered, going to move past her.

“I know you’re threatened by me. And I understand why. But, just so you know, I don’t have to steal Jacob from you, he’ll get tired of you on his own. He always does.”

I stopped, but didn’t bother to turn around.

“Look, Michelle. Maybe you’re right. Maybe Jacob will get tired of me. Maybe this is just a game he’s playing. But, I’m willing to take that chance, because I think he’s worth it. I’m even willing to put up with you and your low self esteem issues. But stay away from my married friends. Trust me, Jen is someone even you don’t want to cross.”

I walked off, steaming. Michelle had gotten to me, she was just one of those girls who knew how to crawl under your skin and sink their claws in. I didn’t like the way she laid claim to every guy she saw, and while she may not have known that Sean was married, I don’t think it would have mattered much to her either way. But, I also knew that by arguing with her, or getting upset in front of her, I would just give her what she wanted, the satisfaction of knowing she got to me.

When I got back to the couch, Jacob was surrounded by people.

“Hey!” He called, smiling. “What took you so long? I thought you got lost!”

“No I was just…”

“She was talking to me.” Michelle answered for me, smiling fake and wide. I hadn’t realized she had been following me.

“Yeah.” I answered, smiling fake right back at her.

“Here.” Jacob said, pulling me down gently on his lap. “Sit with me.”

“Aw, there’s no room for me.” Michelle squealed. I fought the urge to cringe. “Oh, Drew right? Do you mind?”

“No, no problem.” Drew said, getting ready to stand. Michelle beat him to the punch though, and sat straight in his lap.

Drew looked shocked for a moment. “I can get up and stand, Michelle. It’s no problem.”

“Oh no, I’m fine. This is fine. Are you OK?”

Drew nodded. I knew he had to be uncomfortable, but there’s no way he’d tell Michelle that.

We continued to talk and joke, and the boys drank a little more. I tried to concentrate on Jacob and his arms around me, but Michelle was distracting me. I kept looking over to watch her and Drew, and much to my dismay, Drew quickly warmed up to her. I wanted to punch her. It was sick, how she hung all over him, giggling and batted her eyelashes. I felt my annoyance and frustration start to build in me until I literally thought I would scream. I tried to keep my cool though, I didn’t want her to know she was getting to me. I tried to pay attention to Jacob, and do my own flirting, I tried to catch up with old friends who I hadn’t seen in awhile. But no matter what I did, I couldn’t help but glance over at Drew and Michelle.

“I’ll be right back, I need to use the bathroom.” Michelle said a little while later, finally removing herself from Drew’s lap.

As soon as she left, I decided to send Jacob away so I could ask Drew what the hell he was thinking.

“Hey Jacob, can you grab me another drink?” I asked, scooting off Jacob’s lap.

“Sure, I need a new beer anyway.” He replied, getting up.

I quickly turned to Drew.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh… Sitting?” He replied.

“No, I mean with the She-devil.”

“You mean Michelle? She seems nice.” He answered, waving me off.

“She was hitting on Sean like, three minutes before she came in here!” I exclaimed.

“Hitting on him? Or just being friendly? Ella I think you’re being just a little paranoid.”

I was about to protest, when Jacob came back, carrying a beer and a soda, with a bag of cheetos stuck under his arm.

People had left, and there was plenty of room of the couch for me, Jacob, Drew, and probably three other people. Still, when Jacob sat down, he pulled me so close that I was practically back on his lap, and when Michelle came back, she ignored the open space, instead choosing Drew’s lap.

The party was starting to wind down, with more and more people leaving. The few that were left had drifted over to us. Soon, all that was left was the core group: Nick and Toni, who were cuddled up next to each other, Jason who was sitting on a chair, and Kayla who was sitting on the floor in between his legs, Jen, and Sean, who looked a little confused and jealous at how Michelle was acting with Drew.

“What should we do now?” Jen asked.

“Twister?” Kayla joked, winking at me.

Everyone laughed, including me. The more time I spent with Jacob, the more relaxed Kayla seemed to get around me.

“I don’t want to leave, but I’m getting sleepy.” Toni said, yawning wide.

“Sleepover?” Sean asked, jumping up. “My parents wouldn’t care if we crashed in here, and I still have all the air mattresses from the camping trip.”

“I don’t want to sleep on the ground.” Jen protested. “Besides, Sean, what about the kids?”

“Mom has them. Come on Jennie, you didn’t let Sean come to our last campout, lighten up already and let him have some fun.” Jason answered.

I expected Jen to bite Jason’s head off, but I think him being gone so long had really made her realized that she did love her baby brother. When she replied, her voice was shockingly sarcasm free.

“He can stay out here, but I’m going to have to skip it.” She yawned. “I’m going to sleep inside. Night guys.” With that, she got up, kissed Sean goodnight, and ruffled Jason’s hair on the way out.


The guys got up and started blowing up air-mattresses. Jen, again, surprised me when she returned with arms full of sheets and blankets. Sean’s Mom was behind her, carrying pillows. When they left, she promised a huge breakfast in the morning for everyone. I loved Sean’s Mom.

When the mattresses were blown up, we had to stop the boys from jumping on the like little kids. They had wanted to wrestle, but the girls didn’t want to sleep on deflated mattresses because someone had poked a hole in one.

The guys did insist that we sleep boy-girl-boy-girl. They were still like kindergarteners and refused to sleep next to another guy. I was relieved when I realized I wouldn’t have to sleep next to Michelle, I was half afraid that I would wake up to her trying to suffocate me or something. But, I was a little less relieved when I saw that she somehow ended up between Drew and Sean. I honestly think I would have preferred her sleeping next to Jacob. I trusted him, I knew he wasn’t going to do anything. I was a little less sure about Drew or even Sean.

Ever since Sean had expressed his unhappiness with Jen to me at the last party, I felt like he was pulling away from her. I don’t know if it was paranoia, if I was just paying better attention because I knew about the situation, or what. I didn’t talk to Jen, and I didn’t know how to approach the subject, so I couldn’t ask if she felt like Sean was distant. I wasn’t a huge Jen fan, but I did believe that she really did love Sean, and there were also two kids to consider. I had tried to ask Sean about it a couple of times, but like a true guy, he clammed up and acted like he had no idea what I was talking about. I had decided to just leave well enough alone, it wasn’t my marriage after all, but with Michelle being thrown into the mix. Well, I didn’t want her to get his claws into him.

I snuggled down into the blankets as Jacob slipped in on one side, and Drew on the other. They were pretty big air mattresses, and while we had pushed them all together to make one huge bed, there were about three people to every actual mattress. I noticed though that Drew scooted as close as he could to Michelle and her mattress without falling through the crack between them.

I decided there was nothing I could do about it right now, and turned to face Jacob, snuggling into his chest.

“Guess this means I’m not getting lucky tonight, eh?” I joked.

“Well, I wanted it to be special, but I don’t think I want an audience.” Jacob replied, kissing my forehead, and wrapping his arms around me, slipping his cold hands up my shirt and resting them on my sides.

It had been a long day, and so while a few people continued to talk, it didn’t take long for their low voices to die out. I wasn’t sure if they went away because I fell asleep, or because everyone else did. But soon enough, I had slipped easily into a comfortable sleep.

I woke up a little while later. I couldn’t tell if I had been asleep minutes, or hours. My mouth was dry, my face was cold, and my ankle was throbbing. I wanted to sit up, but I knew the air mattress would bounce, and I didn’t want to wake Drew and Jacob up as well. I sat there for a moment, trying to get used to the dark. I heard a few noises, but couldn’t figure out where they were coming from, or what they were exactly.

It took me a second to realize, they were kissing noises, and low moans. Someone was getting some action.