“You are never gonna believe what happened to me today.”
“What? What happened? Who pissed you off?”
“That idiot! I should never have trusted him.”
“Calm down, Natalie, who are we talking about here?”
“Jet.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Jet? What happened with Jet?”
“Absolutely nothing happened with Jet, that's the whole point. But that's not what he's telling people.”
“Whoa! Okay, start from the beginning.”
I told Julie everything, from the visit to our apartment the night before to the kiss. I even openly admitted to liking the kiss, and looking at future possibilities with Jet. I explained to her how I had freaked a little and sent him packing. I then explained the situation at the gym, and about the group of people staring at me, whispering. I told her how some strange girl had to enlighten me on the topic.
“Oh my God, Natalie. I'm so sorry.”
“It was beyond humiliating. They were just staring at me. I felt like an idiot.”
“They’re morons, Natalie. Like, who does that? We aren't in high school; why do they care if Jet slept with someone?”
“It's ‘cause it's me. They were probably trying to figure out what the hell he saw in me. Believe me, I was wondering the same thing.”
“Come on, Natalie, I know you are upset, and you have every right to be, but you are just talking crazy now. You are gorgeous; look at that hair alone.” I started laughing. “No, I'm serious. You're obviously beautiful. Those were just a bunch of tools that were jealous. A bunch of girls who got dissed by him at some point, that's all.”
I went for the heavy liquor that time. Screw the wine bottles. I went into the cupboard and took out a bottle of whiskey. I took out two snifter glasses, and poured a generous amount into both of them. I added ice and a small amount of Coke, and stirred it a little. Julie watched with her mouth hanging open.
“Natalie, it's like 2:00 p.m.”
“Do you have somewhere you need to be?”
Julie laughed, “No, I guess I don't.” She took the glass I handed her and took a sip. “Whoa, this is a stiff one.”
“Yeah, I wish I could have said the same for Jet,” I laughed. “I didn't even get to find out. I think that's what pisses me off the most. He didn't even put a valiant effort into getting me into bed before going around and telling everyone we did it.”
“Look, you don't know the whole story. Maybe he was trying to save face, and didn't realize it would go public. You have been pretty hard on the guy.”
“Save face, my ass. He's just like every other guy I know, and here's the proof of it. Just when I actually started liking him, he goes and does exactly what I thought he was going to do, and that's be an asshole.”
“I'm actually surprised. He seemed to genuinely like you.”
“That's how they trick you. He didn't like me. He's just the same as all the others. I tried to tell you that right from the beginning, and you kept trying to get me to hang out with him. And now this.”
“You're blaming me?” She looked dumbfounded.
“No! This is my own idiocy, trust me.”
“Maybe you should talk to him. See why he did that.”
“No thanks, I have no interest in talking to him again.”
“Sorry, girl.”
I held up my glass of whiskey before drinking it. “Let's just get shitfaced together.”
We laughed together, and I once again tried to drown my sorrows in booze.