Nowhere Fast
Chapter 11 - Recovery Effort
Pacey Witter
I was at the point where I really didn’t want to deal with Joey. I knew perfectly well that what she really needed was time alone. It wasn’t that I would seriously change tactics. I just needed something beyond what was going on between this room and the next.
If there was one thing I learned from this past weekend, it’s that the living situation was completely claustrophobic. I don’t think any of us would deny that the closest friends we had on this campus was each other. It simply wasn’t healthy to be so dependent on each other. I could also tell that both Joey and Jack needed space from me, for completely different reasons.
Or maybe it was the same reason. They both thought they had hurt me with their actions over the past weekend – a subject that seemed to be buried there as well. At least everything that’s happened since Dawson left, anyway.
I glanced at the clock. Five minutes of Calculus to go. I looked around the room at a sea of bored faces, a mirror of my own. My attention was focused in particular on this one redhead who sat two seats away. She had caught my attention a week earlier, when I realized she had been making a conscious effort to find a seat near me.
After class, I spotted her chatting with two other women in the class. When she saw me, she broke away from their conversation and started to follow. I let this go on for a few minutes. Finally, I halted in my tracks and faced her, remarking, “If there was something you wanted other than watching me, please let me know.”
Her jaw dropped to the ground, stunned into silence at first. I turned around and continued walking. She then raced to catch up to me, “Actually, yes. I noticed that you did well on the Calc quizzes.” I wasn’t sure which was worse, the blatant pick-up line or her high-pitched voice.
“I suppose.” In her defense, if there was one class that she could get away with this line, it was Calculus, which I was surprisingly getting good grades in so far.
She rambled, “I’m actually on the edge between passing and failing. I know that I won’t be able to stay here if I fail this class again. I’m a sophomore who needs this damn year of math to have any chance of being accepted into this school’s pre-med program. I was wondering if you could help me before the first midterm.” She ran her fingers through her long hair, not wanting me to see her face beginning to turn as red as her hair.
I tried not to laugh at how nervous she was. I flashed her a smile, “Not a bad idea.” She looked up through a part in her hair, “We could work on studies Thursday. I have class until four but I’m free after that.”
She raised her head completely and frowned, “Damn. My sorority’s having a party that night and I have to help set it up. Can’t we do this over the weekend?”
I was about to agree when I remembered my plans to visit Jen. “Sorry, I’m heading home this weekend.”
She thought about it for awhile before her green eyes lit up upon finding a solution. “I’ve got it. How about we meet for a pizza and study there? That way, I have one less stop to make. If you want to come to the party afterwards, you’re more than welcome. It’s just a ‘Welcome to Rutgers’ type celebration, not purely a Greek thing.”
A sorority party? This didn’t exactly require much more negotiating on her part. “That sounds great.”
She exclaimed, “Really? Excellent. Six o’clock sound good?”
“I’ll be here.” I then quickly added so I didn’t sound like I assented because of the prospect of the party, “With my notes.”
“See you then.” She began to walk away, then rushed back over, “I feel like such an idiot but I don’t know your name.”
I laughed upon realizing I didn’t know her name either. Anything would be better than calling her Red or Scarlet or any other lame nickname.
“Pacey Witter.” I held out my hand.
“Shannon Kinney.” She shook my hand, “Nice to meet you.” Shannon then walked quickly to catch up to her friends. She must have been relaying the conversation to them because they both glanced quickly in my direction before reverting back to whatever they’d been discussing before.
* * * * *
Joey Potter
I had returned to the dorms after classes on Thursday, exhausted and starving. I laid down on my bed, reflecting on the past week.
Since this past Sunday, there had been a tenuous friendship among the three of us. We were all aware we had to form an alliance against whatever action Abby took; she had been making threats all week that something would be going down soon.
I was still wary about Charlie as well although I was alone in that feeling. Pacey thought that he understood the situation while Jack really didn’t want to mention the two as a unit. In Charlie’s defense, he hadn’t spoken to any of us or even been around Abby during her attempts to intimidate us.
For that matter, nobody else in the hallway had approached us regarding the commotion over the weekend. Jack was convinced that people knew but were too interested in watching the freak show known as our two rooms to actually participate.
I must have fallen asleep because it was two hours later that I found myself humming to the music coming from the next room. I hoped that Pacey hadn’t eaten yet. As I got more coherent and really heard the music, I realized it couldn’t be Pacey; after all, I couldn’t stand his music.
I wandered into the bathroom and knocked on the other door. I hadn’t heard a response immediately. I was about to return to my room when Jack called out, “Wait a minute.” He opened the door, rubbing his eyes. “I was just taking a nap.”
“I thought you have a class now.”
“I do. Professor had a conference to attend this weekend.”
“Since I already woke you up, want to get a bite to eat?”
“Sounds good. Fifteen minutes?”
It was a half hour later. I’d found a table for us while Jack ordered our food. As I waited, I noticed Pacey entering the pizzeria. I smiled as I waved him over. Instead, he headed over to another table, with a pretty redhead giggling.
Jack returned to the table, “You’ve got the calzone at last.” He dropped one of the trays in front of me while he sat on the opposite side of the booth with the other tray. I looked away from Pacey and the girl momentarily as I picked up the knife and fork and began to eat.
Jack twisted around to see what had gotten my attention. “I guess that’s the girl that invited him to the sorority party tonight. Sharon, I believe. Or is it Shannon.”
“Oh.” I resumed eating, every so often throwing a glance at the other table. I wasn’t sure why I kept focusing on them. Maybe it was because there was a girl who would actually flirt with him. Didn’t think those type of people existed.
“And of course, you’re not the least bit bothered by this.” Jack remarked.
Bothered? Ugh, I should have seen that Jack would use this as an opportunity to try to make me jealous. That’s probably why he suggested eating here in the first place.
“No, of course not. Why would you say that?”
Jack laughed, “Because you’re cutting the table, not the calzone.”
I looked down. Sure enough, there were several knife marks in the wood. I grumbled a couple of obscenities before I continued eating, without acknowledging Jack.
“You can admit that you’re jealous, if you want.”
“I’m not jealous.” I replied simply. I wasn’t jealous. I just couldn’t understand what this girl Shannon found so intriguing about him. Sure, there were his witty one-liners. His loyalties to people that were important to him. His occasional ability to come off as charming. The way that his eyes would sparkle when he thought of a funny story to tell. His boyish grin.
Okay, so there actually were good reasons for Shannon to be attracted to him. I glanced over at the table, where I could see them working on studies, constantly interrupted by Shannon laughing. I was glad we were far enough away that I couldn’t actually hear their conversation.
“You’re not jealous?” Jack questioned, “I don’t believe you.”
I then realized that I had a slight advantage here – I knew a sure-fire way to shut him up. “Are you?”
“The difference here is that Pacey’s just using this girl to pass the time until you come around. You have the power to end what they have, which really is nothing yet. Pacey could be single, lonely, depressed and drunk, and there still wouldn’t be a chance in hell of anything coming out of it for me. It’s really not the same thing.”
“Pacey told you he’s using this girl?”
“He didn’t have to. You don’t really think he’s gotten over you after everything that happened this weekend. He’s just having a little bit of a life of his own. Let’s face it, none of us really associate with the thousands of other people on this campus. After this weekend, we have to make sure to do that. Agreed?”
“That’s fair enough.”
* * * * *
Jack McPhee
I returned to the dorm after class on Friday. There was exactly one hour before Pacey would return and push us out of dorms and onto the road. He had, surprisingly, packed this morning, which could only mean that he couldn’t wait until classes were over and he could see Jen again.
I was unlocking the door to my room when I felt someone’s eyes on me. “Is there something you want?” I demanded. I turned around to see if I had been right and spotted Charlie standing in the doorway of his room, his backpack slung over his shoulder.
“I wondered how you were doing.”
”Just fine.” I replied through gritted teeth.
“That’s good.” He said uncertainly, then locked his door and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction.
I entered my room and, after dropping my backpack on the floor, searched through my closet, figuring out what to bring on this trip.
Suddenly, the door swung open and I saw Charlie standing there.
“I don’t recall welcoming you in.” I snapped.
“If I waited for you to invite me, I’d be a rotting corpse first. I’m going to have a hard enough time explaining to Abby why I’m running late.” He placed his backpack on the floor and sat on Pacey’s desk, muttering, “It just doesn’t pay to be nice.”
“You don’t have to be nice unless you want something which, knowing you, is probably the case.”
“Don’t profess to know exactly what I am based on who I associate with. You can claim that Abby is one of Satan’s little helpers but I don’t support that.”
I challenged, “Then why the hell do you hang out with her?”
“She has her cruel moments, but she’s also a person who sees through the bullshit and lies. It’s refreshing. So many people around here create these images of how they believe they should act.”
“Hasn’t it already been established that you were aware I was gay? So could you stop belaboring the point?” I resumed packing, not making him realize he was getting on my nerves – probably would get brownie points from Abby for achieving that.
“Fine, if you insist. They know the truth now?”
”Yes, but Joey knew before Abby’s broadcast.”
”And I bet you didn’t tell her until her tongue was down your throat.” Charlie retorted.
I stopped packing and raised my head slowly, “How the hell did you know that?”
“The way she ran out of the room Saturday night. I remember that expression. It’s that she wants to stick by you because you’re her friend. Yet she invested time in other, deeper feelings and it always hurts a little when those feelings aren’t reciprocated.”
“Let me guess – that’s how you met Abby.”
Charlie shuddered, “I don’t ever want to think about her lips touching mine.” He chuckled, “Okay, that’s really weird. I was describing my prom night experience. Believe me, that is the worst possible moment to mention that to a girl.”
I laughed, realizing that, as much as we kidded about Abby’s possible attraction to him, it was impossible to picture Charlie kissing a girl. Not that I’d ever caught him kissing a guy, though there was the night that I ran into him with a date. “I suppose that would be worse.”
“I was trying to convince myself that I wasn’t gay. What better way than bringing your date to a hotel room and set up candles, music, you know, for the mood? Needless to say, it didn’t work.”
“I guess I’m fortunate that I went to the prom with my sister’s close friend.”
“No possibility of an awkward encounter there.” He said as he picked up a pen off of Pacey’s desk and started examining it, “I think I only went to appease my parents.”
“Your parents wanted you to have sex with the girl?”
He laughed at my confused look, “Of course not. It’s just…” He paused, focusing back on the object in his hand, “This is a pretty cool pen.” It was a blue and white pinstriped pen with the words “NY Sucks” written in red.
“Huh? Yeah, he found that in a gift shop.”
“Pacey’s from New York City?” Whatever Charlie was about to say before was obviously something he’d rather forget.
“Yeah, in fact, we’re visiting friends of his this weekend.”
He then noticed the overnight bag I’d been packing, “I see. I hope you have a blast. I’m from New York as well. I bet I even know where he bought this pen.” He jumped off the desk and grabbed his backpack, heading for the exit, “By the way, don’t mention that I was here. Wouldn’t want the others in this hallway to think I’d crossed through the barrier.”
He was kidding but I then realized that he was the first person in this school (other than Joey, obviously) to set foot in here. I guess the idea of a barrier worked in both directions.
“If you’re forced to admit it, you could say you weren’t scarred for life.”
Charlie had one hand on the doorknob when he said, “I know I’m going to regret this but… I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m the only other gay person you know. So if you ever need to talk about that…” He turned back to give a quick nod before heading out of the room, “Never mind. Have a fun weekend.”
<
Chapter 12 - New York State of Mind
Nowhere Fast Index
DC Index