“He’s not going to beat you up,andhe’s not my boyfriend. But yeah, that’s cool, come by whenever. Jack hasn’t even been home lately, so I’m sure we’ll be able to hang out in peace.”
How wrong I was.
The first thing I heard when I got home was Naya’s voice. She didn’t sound happy. I found her in the living room angry and yelling, which wasn’t really like her. Jack was there, absorbing her insults as she called him selfish and self-centered. Ignoring her, he opened a beer and stared off into space. After a moment, while Naya was pausing to catch her breath, he asked, “Are you done now?”
That only made her worse. “I’m sure as hell not!”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Naya sat on the couch, crossed her arms, and said, “Nothing! I just can’t stand him!”
I could tell she didn’t want to talk more, but I double-checked anyway. “Are you sure you’re OK?”
In a sour voice, Jack said, “Don’t worry about me, I don’t even exist.” I pretended not to hear him and sat beside Naya as she tried to look over her notes. I guess she was trying to study, but whatever had happened had made things tense. I began to wonder if I should call Curtis and tell him not to bother. I put that off while I made a bite to eat and talked to my grandmother on the phone. When I returned to the living room, they were still sitting there ignoring each other, Naya with her papers and Jack with his laptop. I was nervous, but I had to interrupt them.
“Hey, guys…” They looked up at me, and Jack was glaring, as if he took for granted he wouldn’t like what I had to say. “I’ve got a classmate coming over, we’re going to make a study plan for our literature class, it won’t be long, but…”
“Is it Curtis?” Naya asked.
I nodded. She smirked. She probably thought it was funny how much it would piss Jack off. I added that we could go somewhere else—it was Jack’s house after all. “I’d be fine working in the bedroom, or I could tell him to meet me at the library.”
“Stay here,” Jack said brusquely.
“Even though you guys are here?”
He didn’t answer. He just looked back at his laptop screen. I was worried about how he’d act. Curtis liked to pretend nothing bothered him, but it had to, sometimes—he was a person, after all. And I needed to hold onto my friends. I couldn’t have Jack pushing everyone away. These thoughts were swirling in my head as the doorbell rang. I turned to go answer, but Jack jumped up before I could. Naya shouted, “Ross, get back here!”
It was too late. Try as I might, by the time I got to the entryway, Jack and Curtis were face-to-face, and by Curtis’s expression, I could tell he wasn’t happy about it.
“What do you want?” Jack hissed.
For God’s sake…
“Is Jenna home?” Curtis replied.
Jack said no, but Curtis could obviously see me, and I tried to smile as I told him, “He’s just kidding. Come on in!”
Curtis shoved past Jack and into the living room, and as he greeted Naya, I took his coat and turned back to find Jack with death in his eyes. “Ross, don’t start, please,” I said.
“Start what?”
“You know perfectly well what I’m saying. You remember what you did the other day.”
With a mischievous expression, he leaned close and whispered that he just wanted to get to know my friend. He kept calling himCharlie. He knew perfectly well what his name was, but he loved getting on my nerves. He had done the same thing with Monty before. And when I corrected him and said Curtis was my friend, and we would probably have a lot of group work together that year, I added, “You really need to chill out. You look insane, and I don’t want him to be scared to come over here.”
“Why not?”
I ignored his question. I wasn’t playing his game. “Ross, I’m serious,” I said. “We’ve got several classes together, and I want him to do my group assignments with me. He’s smart, and I didn’t do well my first semester, and I’m really trying to turn my grades around. That’s all there is to it, so can you just be cool?”
For an eternity, he didn’t move and didn’t respond. But then his face relaxed and he said, “Fine,” between clenched teeth. “But tell him not to try to be friendly with me. I don’t like him. He’s a douche.”
I decided there was no point in talking any longer. I had caught his wrist to keep him from walking into the living room. Now I let him go. I found Curtis sitting on one of the couches, drinking a beer that I guessed Naya had offered him. Jack sat on the other one, and I decided to stay standing to keep from provoking him. After some small talk, Naya pretended to turn back to her notes, but I could tell she was listening to every word we were saying.
Curtis complimented my apartment. Jack let him know it was actually his.
“You’re right, though,” I said. “It is really nice. But let’s talk about schoolwork, that’s why you’re here, right?” And we looked at the syllabus for lit class and started brainstorming possible projects. It was easygoing.Curtis was smart, but he also liked to fool around, and his pleasant attitude made an hour pass in no time. I told him how nervous I was about my grades that year, but I added that with his help, I was sure I’d make it through.
Curtis smiled. “You’ll dosenssssational.”
