Fake how?” I am forgetting to keep it cool.
“Dude, I don’t know. She’s always telling those stories. Pretending.”
Have I been blinded by like? Do I not see what other people see? Am I too high?
“And,” Jerry adds, “what went down this summer.”
Kenji nods. “Yeah, man.”
I’m about to get the story. Am I ready for it? There’s a possibility what I am about to hear will change the way I think about her. What if she went super nuts? This could help me move on. “What happened that night?”
“He doesn’t know the story!” Jerry says, and they punch on each other with excitement to tell me what went down.
“I was there,” Kenji begins.
“And I was not invited,” Jerry says.
“I was chilling with Amber on the couch and making good progress.”
“Dude, you didn’t have a chance,” Jerry says. “Amber is going to be a famous actress, and you’re going to be Kenji.”
They start bickering. Sometimes, I swear they act like an old married couple. I am at the edge of my rock, dying to hear the story. It feels wrong. I should hear this from Georgia, not them. But I can’t stop myself. I need closure. I have tried everything to move on, but maybe this will do the trick. “Hey!” I say. “Can we focus?”
“Right.” Kenji shifts his attention back to me. “OK. The party was winding down. There were probably five of us still there, just chilling. From the couch, I can see Taylor leading Ant upstairs. We all know Ant is with Georgia and shouldn’t be going up there with Taylor. But what could I do? Nothing. So, I return to Amber. A few minutes later, Georgia comes storming through the living room and up the stairs. The whole room goes quiet. We all need popcorn, you know? We are there for the show.”
Kenji stands up, all excited, getting ready to act out what comes next. “We hear knocking, and then pounding, and then kicking. And then nothing. And then yelling, screaming, a slap. Something breaks, like glass. Georgia comes flying down the stairs, and she’s crying and yelling.”
“Damn,” I say. “Was she OK?”
“Definitely not, bro,” Jerry answers.
“Shut up. You weren’t there,” Kenji says.
“And?” I ask.
“And she stops and looks at us with big, wide eyes. And we’re looking back, staying still, like she’s a wild animal that might attack.”
“Rabid raccoon on the loose,” Jerry adds.
“She wipes her eyes with her hands and yells, loud enough so they can hear upstairs, ‘ANTHONY HAS A TINY, CROOKED DICK,’ and then runs off. We all lost our shit.”
“I’ve seen it in the locker room. I can confirm that report,” Jerry adds.
Kenji continues, “Ant comes stomping downstairs, clearly pissed. He gets in front of the room and mirrors his phone on the TV, so we can see his screen, pulls up a video, and hits Play. And dude, it was Georgia and him kissing and messing around, with full shots of her—”
“BOOBS!” Jerry says.
“Ant keeps saying, ‘Look at those small tits’ and ‘Good riddance’ and then walks out. By the next morning, everyone knew what had happened.”
That’s terrible. I feel sick, the pizza grease revolting in my stomach.
“I would pay to own that video for private viewing!” Jerry says.
I hope I never meet Anthony. I feel an anger growing inside me. That didn’t help at all. Now I feel bad for her. “Let’s get out of here,” I say, standing up. “I need to take a piss.”
“Dude, go over there,” Kenji says, motioning to the bushes about ten feet away. That would be a fine solution if I could pee standing up.
“Can we just get back?” I ask.
Jerry gets up and takes a step toward me. “Pony needs to rub one out after hearing that story,” he says, grabbing at my non-existent balls. I jump back quick enough to avoid his reach, then lunge forward, pushing him. He stumbles backward but regains his balance.
He comes back at me and squares off. We are almost nose-to-nose. “What you going to do about it, Pecker?”
I have never punched anyone before, but this might be the moment.
“Easy, cowboy,” Kenji says, putting his hand on Jerry’s shoulder, pulling us apart. “Let’s get out of here. Lunch hour is almost up.”
I pick up the pizza box and walk right past the car. I need space to clear my head. I cross the street as Kenji’s car pulls out of the lot. Jerry shoots me the bird.
3:01 P.M.
I sit down on my lab stool and look over at