fangednconfused (fangednconfused) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2020-08-17 17:21:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | derek mitchell |
Mundane
Who: Derek Mitchell
What: Flashback
Where: San Jose, California
When: March 2006
Ratings/Warnings: Low
A backyard party in this particular neighborhood of San Jose would have these typical elements: a keg that someone’s older sibling had procured after hours of pathetic begging, red plastic Solo cups, tiki torches, top 40 hits playing from an iPod that was hooked up via Aux cord to a speaker system, and a ubiquitous kidney-shaped swimming pool.
Derek grabbed two cups full of half-foam, half-liquid, a plaid flannel blanket slung over one arm. He approached a red-haired girl who was sitting off to the side on the cement patio, arms curled around her knees. He set the beers down, then draped the blanket over his girlfriend. She looked up at him with a weak smile.
He settled next to her, bumping his shoulder lightly against hers, then brought the foamy liquid to his mouth. “Good party,” he murmured, watching everyone around them chilling and talking. His eye caught his friend Josh’s, and Derek raised his chin in acknowledgement. Josh immediately looked away.
Derek reached out and ran his fingers through a lock of hair that had come loose from her messy bun, but she flinched away, her shoulders lifting defensively to her ears. “Are you okay?” he asked, confused. Then, quieter, “What did I do?”
She threw her hands up in frustration, the blanket sliding off her shoulders and pooling to the ground around her. “Why does it always have to be something you did?” she finally spoke, exasperated. “I feel like every single second, I’m just reassuring you, or saying I’m okay, and you never, ever believe me.” The words were tumbling out of her mouth, angrier than she had meant to, but it had all been building up for months.
“I don’t think this is working, Derek. For either of us.”
“What do you even mean? Like, this makes no sense.” Derek set down the plastic cup and stood up. She only looked up at him resignedly. He started listing points on his fingers. “I…I do everything for you. I drive you everywhere, I even take your little sister to practices. I never forget a month-iversary. I don’t…”
She rolled her eyes at him. “No one asks you to do these things. You offer, and you push yourself on people to, I don’t know, prove how nice you are? Like it’ll hide the fact that everyone knows you aren’t going anywhere. You lied about taking the SATs, for fuck’s sake.” Now she stood up too, her foot knocking over the fuller cup of beer. Derek looked down and watched the liquid spill out, making a wet line between their feet.
She let out a deep exhale, closing her eyes. “And there’s someone else.”
Derek’s eyes had been focused downward, his mind tripping over these seemingly new revelations. Was it all true? There was a deep discomfort, being confronted by things he might actually have to change about himself. But then she cast out a metaphorical life preserver at the end, and his face lit up as if he were hearing good news.
“That’s what this is really about. Who is it?” She started shaking her head, but he wasn’t having it. “I think I deserve to know. Come on, who’s the lucky guy who’s been fucking me over?”
“It’s Josh.”
Derek had barely heard her over the music and background chatter, she said it in a near-whisper. But his mind filled in the blank because suddenly everything made sense. “Josh?!” And here he pointed across the party, everyone stopping their conversations and turning to look at them. “My friend over here, this fucking asshole?” The young man in question began taking a step toward them, but Derek held out his hand.
“It’s cool. Everything is just…cool.”
And without warning, Derek began running toward the pool, cannonballing into the deep end with a resounding splash. He let himself sink to the bottom, pushing the air out of his lungs to stay down. He settled at the bottom, his knees scraping lightly against the concrete. He watched as disembodied legs swam away from him, a stream of bubbles rising up to the surface.
He began counting the seconds in his head. Sometimes he could reach over a minute before the fire and panic started in his chest. Derek willed himself not to look up, even though he wanted to confirm that their worried faces were looking down at him, wondering if he was okay. At a minute and sixteen seconds, he propelled himself upward.
Derek broke through the surface and paddled to the edge of the pool. No one was standing around, or even looking in his direction. He lifted himself out, dripping onto the patio. Sitting on the ground, cuddled up together in the plaid blanket, were his now ex-girlfriend and ex-friend. He padded over to them.
“Yeah, I’m fine, by the way.”
She looked up at him briefly, a mask of annoyance clear on her freckled features. “You’re exhausting.”
Several things ran through his head. Many options of what to say back. Sarcastic, mocking, hurt, joking…What he settled on, though, definitely wasn’t nice.
“Fuck the both of you.”