Seduced

I swing open the door to the apartment, revealing the tall, curvy, gorgeous brunette, and also my best friend. "Shan!" I pull her inside and kick the door shut before turning to throw my arms around her, nearly knocking the white cardboard box right out of her hands.

Shannon passes the box off to her brother and wraps her arms around me tightly. "Hi! I missed you!" She laughs, her cheek pressed against mine. She visited last month, for my 24th birthday, but it feels like it's been longer.

I try and smile, because I am happy to see her, but I feel like I might cry instead. "You have no idea," I murmur, trying to keep it together, "I am so glad you're here."

Shannon leans back so that she can look me in the face, her dark brown eyes searching, "What's wrong, babe?" I shake my head ever-so-slightly, and she nods, getting that I don't want to talk about it right now. To Jeremy, she greets, "Hey Jer." They exchange a one-armed hug as she explains, "I brought donuts and bagels. Please tell me you have coffee. I've been up since five and I didn't want to have to stop to pee, so I haven't had any yet. I'm barely alive."

"It's brewing," Jeremy tells her. "I didn't think you'd be here this early."

"I told you I wanted to spend the whole weekend with my two favorite people," Shan grins as she takes off her backpack, tosses it in the direction of my open bedroom door, and follows Jeremy over to the kitchen area.

I pick my pillow up off the floor, where I dropped it when I realized Shannon was at the door, and take hold of one of her backpack straps. I bring both into my bedroom and place them on my bed. I am startled when I see the spider is perched on my headboard, feeling like it's staring right at me and waiting to pounce. I dart back out to the living room and walk quickly through to the kitchen.

Jeremy takes one look at my face and guesses, "That spider's back?"

Shannon strides towards my bedroom with a determined look on her face. She bends to remove one of her shoes, asking, "Where?"

"On the headboard," I call after her as she disappears inside my room.

Brynn, Jeremy's overnight guest, emerges from the bathroom, looking fresh-faced. She must have run a brush through her blonde locks, seeing how it lies sleek against her head now. Shannon nearly walks into her as she exits my bedroom, stating, "I got it. I need a tissue -- oops!" She blinks in confusion, looking at the unfamiliar blonde. "Where'd you come from?"

"Sorry?" Brynn turns her head in search of Jeremy, who quickly comes to her rescue.

"Shan," Jeremy says disarmingly, "This is Brynn. We met at AA. Brynn, this is my sister, Shannon."

"I should have known that," Brynn states, "You two look related."

Shannon looks at Jeremy through narrowed eyes, but she doesn't say anything to him. In response to Brynn, she confirms, "Yeah, we get that a lot. Sorry for nearly knocking you over. I didn't realize anyone else was here."

"Oh, it's okay! I was actually getting ready to leave. I have to get home..." Brynn shuffles awkwardly towards the front door.

"I'll walk you out," Jeremy offers.

Shannon turns her brown gaze in my direction once they've gone out into the hall. She whispers, "Did she stay over last night?"

I give her a half-hearted shrug, neither confirming or denying. It's pretty obvious Brynn spent the night, seeing how it's not even eight-thirty, but it's not my business. Jeremy made it clear he doesn't want me telling his sister details about his life, so I'll let her interrogate him herself. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Lex," Shannon's words make me pause, "Are you okay?"

"Not really," I admit, "But let me just shower first. I'll tell you what's going on after, okay?"

Shannon nods, and I continue towards the bathroom Brynn had just occupied. As glad as I am to have my best friend here for the weekend, I'm not sure I'm emotionally prepared to divulge all the shitty details of my recent discovery after such a bad night's sleep. I wish I could go back to bed for a few hours, but Shan isn't going to let me do that. At least I can wash up. The hot water helps melt away the tension in my lower back after a night on the couch. I linger under the showerhead for a few minutes after I've washed my hair and body, just trying to gather my thoughts.

When I'm done in the bathroom, I go to my room to get dressed, and Shannon follows after me. She flops down on my bed as I gather clothes from my dresser. She waits patiently while I silently pull my clothes on, and then flips over onto her stomach, staring at me with her chin in her hand. "Spill," She orders.

"I don't even know where to start," I groan, flopping down beside her on the bed. "I've had the shittiest week. Work is killing me. I hate it there."

"You need to start looking for something else," Shannon advises me, "I've been telling you for months. There's better places out there, you just have to look."

I'm sure she's right, but the idea of applications and interviews and starting over is not appealing either. "Chris and I had an off-week, too. I honestly don't think he's sexually attracted to me anymore. I basically begged him for sex twice, and he didn't seem interested at all."

"What the fuck?"

"Then, he asked me to move in with him yesterday. Like, completely out of nowhere! He said we're basically living together already, since he sleeps over so often. He told me that he loves me, and he was really sweet, saying that he wants to go to bed every night and wake up each morning with me next to him." Then, he left me to go fuck some leggy brunette.

"What's the problem?" Shannon asks, "Is that not what you want?"

"I wasn't sure," I explain slowly, "I told him okay, because he had to leave to go meet his parents for dinner, but after he left, I started having doubts. I don't know if I'm ready to live with Chris. He has expectations for us that I don't know if I'm ready for."

"You need to tell him, then," Shan says.

"I tried," I sigh, feeling guilty for leaving out the bit about Jeremy and I kissing, "I decided to go talk to him last night, after he got back from dinner. I went to his place, but I forgot my phone at home, so he didn't know I was coming. I caught him cheating on me. I watched him go inside his apartment with another girl, and I could hear them hooking up from outside the door." Shannon gasps, reaching out to rub my back comfortingly. "I was so shocked, I didn't even confront him. I just left. I'm so stupid. I came home and I went to bed, because I didn't want to face it."

"Oh gosh, babe, I'm so sorry! I can't believe him! What a complete ass. You deserve better, Lexi. You know that, right?"

I don't know. Do I? I sigh, "I just don't understand why he would ask me to move in, and say all those things, when that's obviously not what he wanted either. I never pressured him to move in together. I was content with the way things were. Now, he's ruined it."

"Were you really content, though, hon?" Shannon points out to me, "You haven't seemed happy lately, Lex, and these problems didn't all start a week ago. When I visited last month, you and Chris were fighting, and that was on your birthday. He's very condescending towards you, and I hate that you let him walk all over you like that."

She's right. I'd forgotten about our fight on my birthday. He hadn't wanted to go out to a club, but all I wanted to do for my birthday was hang out with my friends and dance, so Shannon turned the living room of our apartment into a dancefloor for the night, and I got to dance. It seemed like a good compromise, but Chris still wasn't happy. I got up on the coffee table at one point, just being silly, and started shaking my ass for him. Only, instead of laughing, Chris got all pissed off and called me an attention-whore.

"I don't know," I cover my face with my hands, "I don't know why I let him treat me like that. I thought I was happy. I thought he was a good guy, and we were a good match. I think I've been lying to myself for a while."

"What are you going to do?" Shannon wonders.

"Well, I'm not going to be with him now that I know he's been cheating on me," I tell her, "It's over between us. I just have to figure out how to tell him."

Shannon sits up and says decidedly, "You should go over there right now, and tell him you're done with him. You say, 'Chris, I know you've been sleeping around. Don't try and deny it, I caught you red-handed. It's over.' And then leave his ass. I'll even drive you, if you want."

I suppose it would be better to get it over with...

-

"Do you feel better now?" Shannon asks, after I've returned to her car, finished crying, and we're on our way back to my and Jeremy's apartment.

I broke up with Chris. He tried to deny he was with a girl last night, but I told him I stood outside his apartment and heard him going down on her, and he couldn't explain that away. I accused him of lying about meeting up with his parents for dinner, and he admitted it. He hadn't met his parents for dinner. He'd met his side-chick, who he was planning on only sleeping with one more time. Last night was supposedly their farewell fuck, or some shit, but I wasn't having it.

"I guess so. He really thought I was going to fall for the 'it was only one time' line? How stupid does he think I am? When he realized I wasn't buying it, he tried to change the story to they a couple weeks ago, and she doesn't mean anything to him. I bet that's exactly what he told her about me!" I am no longer sad, but I'm still very angry. It's not a very nice feeling, being cheated on. "He's probably been fucking her the whole time we've been together! It makes me sick. And for the past four months, he's been bent out of shape and insecure over the fact that I have a male roommate -- He can't stand it when I'm alone with Jeremy, but he's the one who's been cheating! I should have known! Cheaters are always so scared their partner is cheating on them because they are guilty!"

"Facts!" Shannon agrees, slapping the roof of her car.

"He wants to come by later and get his things," I pout, "I don't even want to see him. He said maybe by then I'll have calmed down and we can have a civilized conversation. I was like, 'kiss my ass, douchebag!' Civilized conver-fucking-sation. He can fuck right off with that bullshit. Nothing he says is going to change my mind."

"Damn, girl," Shannon laughs, "I've never seen you this worked up. I gotta say, I like this feisty side of you! You don't owe him anything. Don't even invite him inside. Put his shit in a box and leave it out in the hallway."

"He still has a key to the apartment," I explain. "I need to get that back."

"Well, send Jeremy out to get it," Shannon suggests, "He won't mind."

I chew on my bottom lip. "I don't really want to involve Jeremy in this."

"Oh, are you still mad at him?"

I feel like the oxygen is sucked out of the car. "What do you mean?" I ask her slowly. Did Jeremy tell her he kissed me? Why would he do that? I thought he didn't want her to know.

"You texted me yesterday and said he was being an ass. What'd he do?"

Oh. That. He'd been teasing me, and I was annoyed, so I sent Shan a text just to vent. "He was just getting on my nerves. It was nothing."

"Are you sure?" Shannon seems skeptical.

"Yeah. It's fine. We're fine."

Shannon looks at me sideways and stifles a laugh. "You're a really bad liar, Lexi. What happened?"

"Okay," I cave, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to say anything to Jeremy. Please, promise, or I won't tell you."

"I promise," Shannon makes an 'x' over her heart with her finger.

"It's stupid, really," I reassure her, "He's just been getting on my nerves lately. I think it's amusing to him. He's been teasing me about not getting any action from Chris, and he basically implied he would be a better lover. I don't know why I let him get in my head. When I texted you yesterday, it was after I told him to go get laid and he asked if I was offering. I was pissed -- it just felt really disrespectful, and I don't know why he would say that." I push through the awkwardness of this conversation being about her brother, and reveal to Shannon, "Anyways, last night, before I went to see Chris, I was talking to Jeremy about how I didn't think I was ready to move in with him, and then Jeremy said if I didn't want to live with Chris that we should just renew our lease and stay. It really surprised me, because we'd never talked about it before, and I wasn't even sure he liked having me for a roommate. Then, and I don't really know how it happened, but he -- I mean, we -- well, we kind of kissed."

Shannon gasps so loudly it makes me jump, "What!?"

"I don't know! I don't know!" I cringe, "I wasn't thinking, but I came to my senses before anything else happened! That's why I left, I wanted to tell Chris what happened, only that didn't go according to plan." I leave out the bit about stopping at the bar after catching Chris cheating and finding Jeremy in there. It's not my place to tell her that, and besides, he hadn't actually been drinking. "Are you mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad at you?" Shannon looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Because, he's not supposed to be getting involved in any complicated relationships, and I know that. I shouldn't have let it happen." I hang my head, feeling embarrassed with myself.

"No, Lex, of course I'm not mad at you." Shannon reaches over and squeezes my shoulder. "Jeremy's a big boy. He can make his own decisions. I trust him, and I trust you. You have nothing to feel bad about."

"You're not going to say anything to him, right?" She had promised.

"I really, really, really want to..." Shannon sighs, "But I won't. Unless he says something first!" After a short pause, she asks, "So, wait, then why did Brynn from AA stay over?" Before I can respond, she waves away her question, "Never mind. It's pretty obvious."

"Yeah." He needed a release. Who can blame him? He's only human, after all.

Shannon flicks on the turn signal before maneuvering her car into the parking lot behind my apartment building. "So, you're okay?" She asks as she puts the car in park and turns off the engine.

"Yeah." Thinking she's talking about the whole Chris break-up, I say, "I'm fine. I'm going to do what you said, pack up his stuff and leave it out in the hall. I don't even want to see him."

"Good." She and I take off our seatbelts before she corrects, "But I meant you're okay after what happened with Jer? Do you want me to give you two a few minutes alone to talk?"

"I think we're both just going to pretend it didn't happen," I reply unsurely.

Shannon rolls her eyes, "Great idea." The sarcasm in her voice is evident.

Inside, I go to my room to gather up any articles of clothing or personal items belonging to Chris and place them into a paper bag, seeing how I don't actually have an empty box lying around. I scour high and low, not wanting to leave any little thing behind that might give Chris a reason to contact me again after today. I just want to be done with him. While I'm doing that, Shannon sits down on the couch beside her brother.

"What should we do tonight?" Shannon yells to me from the other room.

"I don't know!"

"Let's go out," Shannon calls back.

"If you want to!"

"We have to go out!" Shannon insists.

"Can't you go talk to her instead of screaming in my ear?" Jeremy grumbles.

"Nope!"

I walk past the couch towards the front door, paper bag full of Chris' shit in hand, and say to Shannon, "We can do whatever you want. You decide."

"Okay," Shannon happily agrees. I watch her reach behind Jeremy's head and flick him on the ear, stating, "You're coming out too. No excuses."

I open the front door, drop the bag on the doormat, and close the door again. I wipe invisible dirt off my hands, as if I'm wiping my hands clean of Chris, too. It wasn't too hard. I honestly thought it would be more difficult, coming to terms with the abrupt end to our fourteen-month relationship, but I guess Chris and I weren't as well-matched as I thought. I don't know if I ever actually loved him. Wouldn't it hurt more than this if I had truly been in love?

"You okay?" Shannon asks, turning to look at me over the top of the couch.

"Yep," I nod, "I'm good." Changing the subject, I query, "What did you decide?"

"I'm still thinking," Shannon hums, "But I'll let you know."

"Don't you already have plans tonight?" Jeremy asks, and it takes a moment for me to realize he's talking to me.

"No," I deny. I'd forgotten he was present when Chris told me to sleep over tonight. I take it Shannon hasn't told her brother about Chris cheating and me breaking up with him. Good. I'm glad. It's not his business.

"With Chris?" Jeremy reminds me.

Shannon elbows Jeremy in the ribs, "Don't mention his name! We're done with that asshole, aren't we, Lex? He's he-who-shall-not-be-named from here on out. He-who-done-fucked-up, am I right?"

Jeremy pauses his videogame and twists around so he can look in my direction. "Wait. What?"

Shannon wrinkles up her nose and shrugs, "Was I not supposed to say anything? About he-who-has-a-tiny-dick? I'm sorry."

I can't help but laugh at her ridiculous nicknames. She always knows how to make me laugh. I can't be mad at her, especially when I never specified not to tell Jeremy what happened, so even if I would like to be mad I can't be. "I broke up with Chris," I inform Jeremy, watching his face for a reaction.

"He-who-sucks-whale-balls, you mean," Shannon interjects. Jeremy looks surprised. "He cheated on her. Can you believe him? What a fucking idiot. He had all of this --" Shannon gestures towards me, like a car salesman showing off a shiny red convertible, "- and his dumbass threw it away for some desperate thot. That sleazy fuck boy."

I cross my arms self-consciously, not feeling anywhere near as fabulous as she's framing me. "You didn't see the girl he was with. She was gorgeous. Legs for days. Big boobs. Brown hair. Looked nothing like me..."

"Stop it!" Shannon jumps up from the couch, "Don't start comparing yourself to her or anyone else. You are a babe, Alexis Gardiner! You don't need that fucking loser! Tell her she's a babe, Jeremy."

Jeremy's eyes widen, and he looks a bit put on the spot, but he obeys, "You're a total babe, Lexi."

"What did I tell you?" Shannon steps forward and grabs my hand before twirling me around, "Complete catch right here, ladies and gentlemen. Ten outta ten!"

"You're a ten out of ten," I return the compliment, smiling bashfully.

Shannon smacks a kiss on my cheek, "I love you, lady. And I decided what we're doing tonight. We're," she points to herself and Jeremy, "taking you out to the club tonight, and showing you off. I'm buying your drinks, and Jeremy is paying your cover charge. You're gonna dance like it's your birthday again, and this time he-who-sucks-the-fun-out-of-everything can't object!"

"I don't know..." I'm hesitant to agree for a few reasons. One, should Jeremy even be at a club, where there's a bar, and a crowd of rowdy intoxicated individuals? Two, did she ask if he would pay for me, because it kind of seems like she just told him he's paying for me. Three, this was supposed to be her night, and she's making it all about me. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" I send a pointed gaze in Jeremy's direction, hoping he'll speak up if he has doubts.

"He'll be fine," Shannon says, "He can handle it." She looks at her brother, "Right?"

"Of course," Jeremy replies flippantly, "Sober chaperone, at your disposal. My services include: designated driving, keeping track of you and your drunk companions, and ensuring you make it home at the end of the night, safe and sound."

"Perfect!" Shannon declares. "I'm texting Meg, Kelsey, and Ros." Shannon skips off to my bedroom to retrieve her phone.