At some point in the night, I hear someone come banging up the stairs. My eyes snap open, and I glance disorientedly around the dark room, patting my hand around on my bedside table for my phone.
Ugh. It's half past one. Is that Gwen? What is she doing home so late? I thought she'd at least be gone for the weekend.
I force myself up and listen quietly. I can hear muffled voices. More than one. Gwen isn't alone tonight. Who is she with? Is it Everest? It doesn't sound like his voice. It's deep like a guy's, but it's not Everest. I get out of bed and slink to the door, pressing an ear against it.
They're being loud. Especially Gwen, like she wants to be heard. I can hear her giggling and her bedroom door swinging shut.
What the heck is going on? Should I go in there and say something? I don't want her to do what I think she might.
I keep listening. I don't want to have to intervene. Maybe it's not a big deal. Maybe he's just one of her friends? Gwen's voice doesn't get quieter, though. She's banging around her room in a way that makes me think she's drunk. Did she just bring this guy home from the bar?
"You got roommates?" I hear him ask.
"Screw'm," Gwen responds.
Seriously? She's going to barge in here after being gone for two whole days with some random dude and say screw us? We live here! Who does she think she is!?
This is my place. My name is on the papers. She has no right to say that stuff! I should march in there and kick her out on the spot… but I won't.
For a while, I stay still and think about what on earth I should do. I don't want to cause a scene, but that might be inevitable. I don't want them to sleep together.
The more I think about it, the angrier I get.
Frick!
I push open my door and stomp across the hall, swinging hers open. I see her with this tall, bulky guy.
They pull apart, looking shocked. "Ian, what the fuck?" Gwen sneers.
"What are you doing?" I snap.
She rolls her eyes at me. "Having someone over?"
"Uh, yeah! I see that!" I continue angrily. "I mean what are you doing bringing some guy back here at two in the morning right after you and Everest broke up!? That was barely a day and a half ago you know!"
"I'm single now," she snorts. "I'll do what I want."
Ugh! This is such a mess! I don't want all this yelling to wake Everest up.
Gwen's impossible to reason with, so I turn to the guy she brought home. "You need to go," I say sternly.
He looks like he's thinking about whether or not he wants to fight me. I bet I could take him if it came down to it, though, and I think he realizes that too because he seems to back off.
He glances at Gwen and then says, "I'll catch you later, then."
He lets himself out, but I follow down the hall to make sure he actually leaves. When I reach the front door, I spot Everest standing at the end of the hallway with his arms crossed. There's a flat look on his face, one I can't really decipher.
I wonder what he's thinking. He probably knows what was going on. I mean…how could he not?
When the door closes, Gwen comes stomping down. "That was SO humiliating!" she shrieks at me.
"I don't care!" I shout back. "What's wrong with you!?"
She lets out an angry sounding scoff. "What's wrong with me?" she asks condescendingly. "I told you, I'm single now! I can fuck other guys if I want!"
"Not here you can't!"
"Why the hell not?" she crosses her arms.
Ugh! There's no way she could possibly be this blind. She has to be doing this on purpose.
"Why are you trying to make Everest feel bad?" I finally spit out.
Gwen rolls her eyes but doesn't answer.
"You dumped him, so why do you have to do this?" I continue. "Why do you have to do this weird, crazy jealous thing!?"
She cackles loudly. "Me? I'm the jealous one? Yeah, right, Ian!"
"What does that even mean?" I ask.
"Oh, I think you know EXACTLY what I'm trying to say!"
I open my mouth to try and defend myself, but before I can Everest yells, "Shut up!"
I look at him, hoping he didn't catch what Gwen was trying to say about me. God, I hate her! She's trying to embarrass me like I embarrassed her, and it's working. I'm ready to sink into the floor and disappear.
Everest rubs a hand over his forehead, looking overwhelmed.
We all stand there awkwardly for a minute before Gwen uncrosses her arms and heads for the stairs. "Fuck you guys," she says under her breath. "I'm going to bed."
She retreats up to her room and we let her go without a fuss, but as soon as she's out of sight Everest's face falls.
I want to say something to him, but I can't. I feel too awkward about what Gwen was implying, so I just keep standing there with my hands shoved in the pockets of my pajama pants looking like an idiot.
After what feels like forever, Everest finally says something.
"Hey," he murmurs bitterly. "It's okay. I know she's full of shit."
Ugh! He totally did notice. He totally knew what she meant. I hate Gwen so much. This is so humiliating.
I force out a laugh and say, "Yeah, she is…"
How does Gwen even know about this? Am I THAT obvious? This isn't even the first time she's rubbed it in my face and it probably won't be the last, either.
Everest crosses his arms. "Y'know why she brought that guy home, right?"
"Yeah…" I whisper. "I know."
"She wants to make me feel bad… like I'm less than a guy like that."
"You're not, though," I promise him.
But jeez, what else can I say? Nothing will make it okay. What Gwen did was so gross. Beyond gross.
Everest looks so defeated.
"Are you...all right?" I ask uncomfortably.
"Um, not really," he admits, fiddling with his sleeve.
Ugh, this is bad. This is really bad. Everest's self-esteem was already in the pits before tonight and this is just another blow. This might be the meanest thing I've ever seen Gwen do. She really has no conscience. She's just a terrible person.
I break out of my frozen stance and move across the hall. "Do you want to talk about it?" I offer, giving his shoulder a slow pat.
"No. We don't have to," he keeps scowling. "It is what it is. I don't have anything to say about it. I don't even want to acknowledge that this is happening."
"She's a piece of garbage," I say.
He scoffs. "Yeah… she's shit. I wish I could have seen it sooner. What the hell is wrong with me? I must love misery."
"It's not your fault. You liked her, so you didn't want to believe how awful she was."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" he grumbles. "You've said that before, but it's all crap, isn't it? It's no excuse."
I frown, probably looking annoyingly sympathetic. I hate that she tried to make him feel like this. I hate that she succeeded.
"Just… try not to worry about her," I try to reason. "She's not a good person. She's not worth any thought."
Everest wraps his arms around himself and gives me a sad look, one that says that he's not buying any of what I'm saying.
"It's whatever," he claims, pulling away from me. "It's fine. I'm going back to bed."
With that he turns and walks down the hall to his room, shutting the door behind him. I consider going after him, but I don't know what I'd say even if I did.
So, I don't say anything. I just go back to bed, too.
I spend most of the night thinking what the heck I should do. I barely sleep and when morning comes I decide there's really only one thing I can do at this point. I hope Everest won't be mad. I don't think he will be… but I guess we'll see. After last night, I doubt he wants to interact with Gwen ever again.
I pull myself out of bed and head downstairs. Everest isn't awake yet. Neither is Gwen, so I make myself something to eat. I'm not really hungry, but I manage to force down a slice of bread.
Gwen and I both have classes today, so I know she'll be awake soon. She generally leaves the house before me, so hopefully, if I make this quick, I can still get to campus on time.
After sitting there for what feels like forever, I finally hear Gwen stir upstairs. She goes into the bathroom, probably to get ready for the day, and I start to get nervous.
How am I going to phrase this to her? Gwen is terrible but I'm already feeling guilty. Hopefully, she'll just apologize. Hopefully, she'll see her mistake and own up to it. Then we can all move on from last night's mess.
Something tells me that's not how this is going to go, though.
When I hear the door open and her footsteps approach, I stand up and meet her in the hallway.
"I want to talk to you about last night…"
She crosses her arms and scowls. "To apologize, I hope!"
Guess she isn't going to be the one to say sorry. Well, I'm not either.
"Not exactly," I say, trailing off.
Her angry expression deepens. "Well, spit it out then!"
"It's just…"
She rolls her eyes. "For fuck's sake, Ian, spit it out!"
"I don't want you to live here anymore," I say.
"What the fuck do you mean?"
"I mean I'm kicking you out!" I exclaim, getting annoyed with her all over again.
Gwen doesn't even bat an eyelash.
"Fuck off," she states flatly.
I don't know what to say to that. Gwen shoves past me down the hall and into the kitchen, so I follow after her and appear in the doorway right as she takes a cup of yogurt from the fridge.
"I mean it," I say with a bit more force. "I want you to move out."
Gwen grabs a spoon from the utensil drawer and then slams it shut. "Well," she scoffs. "I'm not going to! I'm in the middle of my term and I'm not going anywhere!"
"Yeah, you are!" I practically shout. "Your name isn't on the lease. I let you live here!"
"So?"
"So you're not supposed to be here!" I explain. "I'll tell the landlord you're a guest who won't leave!"
She opens her mouth again, looking like she's going to try arguing with me, but then she stops. She looks like she's at a loss for words.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" she deadpans.
"No," I say. "I'm serious, Gwen. You crossed the line."
"Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do?"
"You have a ton of friends," I point out. "One of them will let you crash with them until you find somewhere else."
She grinds her teeth. "This is SO shitty of you!"
"I don't care," I retaliate.
Sure, maybe it isn't cool of me to do this, but it wasn't cool of her to bring home that guy last night. She did a lot of things I shouldn't have excused.
"All this because I wanted to fuck some guy?" she tries to justify herself. "What part of 'Everest and I broke up' do you not fucking get!?"
"It's not just about that!" I insist. "You're trying to make him feel bad! You shouldn't have brought that guy back last night and you know it!"
Gwen crosses her arms and scoffs. "What are you trying to do Ian?"
"Um, I want you to move out," I reiterate.
"You trying to protect your new boyfriend from me?" she says in a mocking tone.
Oh, for Christ's sake!
"No!" I shout. "I'm trying to protect my FRIEND."
And maybe myself, too.
"Sure, Ian, sure! Whatever helps you sleep at night!"
"I mean it, Gwen," I say. "No more games."
She spins around on her heel and continues down the hallway.
I guess that's as good as it will get. Hopefully, she'll start packing tonight. I want her gone as soon as possible.