Chapter 5

How can I decide what’s right, when you’re clouding up my mind?

Decode - Paramore

Ch. 5

Pain seared through my body as I began to regain consciousness to the real world.  My head felt like it was split in two.  I couldn’t seem to bury myself far enough under the covers as the sun shone through the windows.  I slowly took a breath, testing my lungs, hoping that it was one part of my body that did not hurt. The fragrance that filled my nose was unfamiliar to me, yet…it reminded me of something that I couldn’t wrap my head around at the moment.

Open your eyes and look around, Ari; something is definitely amiss.

I opened my eyes while I was still tucked under shade of the blankets and realized that this was not the color of my bedroom sheets.  I do not have black statin sheets on my bed…  It was then I realized there was something to the left of me that felt like it was giving off heat.  A lot of heat.  I slowly slid my fingers underneath the sheets and squeaked when they touched warm skin.

Quickly, I threw back the covers, sat up and screamed how a girl is programmed to shriek when something is totally wrong.  The body that had been lying next to me also flew up into a sitting position and his large, rough hand promptly came across my mouth, ineffectively smothering my cry.

“Sssh, Arianna.  Everything is fine.  I have neighbors who are probably still sleeping and will not be appreciative of your best horror film scream,” Paul pleaded with me.

I somehow stopped the air flow as my eyes felt like they were going to pop out and I was pretty sure an axe was lodged in my head because the pain had increased 10-fold from before as I attempted to figure out how I was in bed with a half naked Biz and why he looked so fucking sexy.

The way the sheets fell at his waist, his rippling muscles and again his tattoos were staring right at me.  He was really beautiful.  Who gives a shit, Ari! You are in bed. With Biz!! What the hell happened last night?!

Once I finally got a grip, I reached up and pulled his hand away from my mouth so that I could ask the question any decent girl would ask after getting piss ass drunk the night before with a guy she didn’t completely trust.

“Did we…??”

“Did we what?” he asked with a smirk on his face that made me dizzy.  Not sure if I’m repulsed or totally hoping he had his way with me…

“Did we…well, dammit?  You know exactly what I’m asking.”

“Are you asking if I took advantage of you in your totally drunken state?” he asked, acting like he was appalled I was even posing the question.

I nodded my head up and down dramatically, “Um, yeah.  Most definitely I am.”

He left out an ironic sounding laugh as he threw the rest of the covers back and turned to get out of the tall, 4-poster bed.  I almost didn’t hear his words as I took in the view of him in just a pair of tight boxer-briefs that hugged his ass so perfect causing me to picture him on a Calvin Kline billboard.  “So glad you think that I wasn’t raised better than that.  I hope my mom never hears you question my honor or she’ll wash your mouth out with soap,” he said easily as he strolled out the bedroom, leaving me alone in his large bed that had surely been made for long nights of sexual pleasure.

I looked down at myself, noting that I was in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of Simpson’s Christmas Boxers.  I gingerly crawled out of the bed, almost crying out in pain as my feet hit the floor, protesting the fact they had to hold up my body.  I wobbled my way out of the bedroom and peaked out the doorway, afraid of what I might find.

Biz’s apartment was actually really small and had only a few pieces of furniture.  The walls were bare and the place barely looked lived in.  There was one black leather couch, a 40 some inch flat screen TV on a wooden corner stand, surround sound speakers and a recliner in the corner of the room.  There was also a small balcony that had a table and two chairs on it.  The kitchen was tiny with just an island to eat at.  Biz was already in the kitchen making coffee.

“Hope you aren’t too hungry, I don’t have anything in my fridge,” he said with his back towards me while he opened the door of the barren refrigerator.  “I can run to the store and pick up some cereal or something if you like…”

I cut him off before he could get any more ideas, “No, I’d like it if you could just take me home now.”

I think I saw his shoulders slump slightly, other than that he showed no emotion.  There was no way in hell I was going to stay here, giving him the wrong idea.  Our first and last date was supposed to be over last night.  Too bad I don’t even remember last night.  So much for giving him a fighting chance, but I’m pretty sure rules were broken and this is about as awkward as it gets for me…

He turned around and leaned on the counter, facing me, looking all serious.  “Arianna, do you remember anything from last night?”

Embarrassed, I looked down at my feet and just shook my head back and forth.

“Well, nothing happened.  So you don’t have to worry about that,” he said as if the words tasted like acid.  Either something did happen and he was upset that I didn’t remember or nothing really did happen and he was bummed out about it.  I flinched as he suddenly moved around the kitchen island and brushed past me.  I knew right away something was wrong, but with being afraid to know, I kept my mouth shut.  He came back out of the bedroom with a plastic bag and held it out to me.

“This is your clothing.  You will need to wash it because it reeks of puke.  After cleaning my truck and you up last night, I didn’t have time to throw it in the washer,” he chewed as he grabbed his keys and walked over to the apartment door.  I just stood still and looked up at him with wide eyes, feeling like a scolded child.

“Taylor, you have to tell me what happened last night,” she blubbered as soon as I walked into the house, finding her looking like a complete wreck with Andre sitting next to her, attempting to console the tear stained Ari.

“Well for starters, you were fucking wasted and it was hilarious,” I chuckled, but instantly regretted it when I saw the horror in both women’s eyes.  “I’m sorry.  But, you were piss ass drunk and actually seemed to be having the time of your life.  Nothing bad happened except for the fact that you puked in Biz’s truck and I thought for sure the guy was going to die of a stroke because of it,” I snorted thinking back on Biz’s face as Ari vomited up her 6 drinks after a night of dancing and kissing on the dance floor with Biz.  Instead of freaking out (like he sooo would have done if it was one of us guys, plus it was a high probability that he would also break bones), he yelled over to me to follow him to the car wash so that he could rinse out the truck while Rachel and I kept an eye on Ari who was now passing out.  I think I said to Rachel at least 5 times that Biz must really have a thing for Ari because if she was any of the other chicks he had dated, he would have left her on the curb and not thought twice about it.

When he finished rinsing out the interior of his truck and spending at least $10 on air fresheners, he put Ari back in the truck with him and had us follow him over to his apartment so that Rachel could get Ari out of her clothing.  He didn’t want Ari to freak out that he saw her naked or possibly touched her inappropriately while she was out of it.  Once Rachel got Ari cleaned up, I watched as Biz gently scooped a giggly but tired Ari up into his arms and carried her into his bedroom, placing her on his big bed.  She looked like a tiny child as he tucked her in and I watched in envy as he kissed her on the forehead.  It wasn’t that I wanted to be the man kissing Ari, but I’m pretty sure I used to give my late fiancé that same look.  It wasn’t just a look of caring.  It was a look that someone gave when they were in love.

Biz Nasty had finally met his match.

“Pyatt?!” Andre asked, alarmed as I sat there zoned out, thinking back on the night.

“Yeah, what?” I answered as I snapped back to reality.

“Do you think Biz did anything with Ari that she might be worried about?” she asked softly as she ran her fingers through Ari’s hair.

“Rachel and I were there the whole time,” I said honestly.  Rachel was the one who got her changed into other clothing, Biz didn’t see anything.  He was a complete gentleman about the whole ordeal.  If I were you, Ari, I think you owe him a second date to make up for it…”

“A second date?!  Why would I go on a second date with someone that I got completely blitzed with and made a complete ass out of myself?  Oh, no, Taylor.  You are not going to talk me into anymore dates!” she squeaked before burying her head back into her hands.

I wanted to shake her and tell her to realize that Biz had feelings for her and that I was basically going to be stuck in the middle, but I knew she wasn’t thinking straight.  I pulled myself off the couch and decided it was time for me to make an exit.  I couldn’t handle all the estrogen and emotional woman stuff going on and I knew whatever I said was not going to get through to her.

“Where are you going?” Ari cried out.

“Over to hang with Shane and the kids.  When you finally get a grip, call me and then I will come back.  Just because you got drunk and don’t remember anything does not give you the right to go all psycho chick.  Biz was probably a better man than I would have been last night.  You did a pretty good job of throwing yourself on him and yet he kept his promise of not taking advantage of you.  A second date is required,” I grumbled as a pillow came whizzing by my head, landing in front of me.  I pushed it out of the way from the door and walked outside. 

“So how did the date go Saturday night?” Upshall asked as our food was being set down in front of us.  Lepisto, Woliski, Pyatt, and Yandle were all in attendance.  We were celebrating the fact that camp was about to start and everyone was getting back into town.

I punched Pyatt as soon as I watched him snarf his water and then looked up at Upshall and just shrugged.  “I dunno, she puked in my truck and then didn’t even drink the coffee I made her.”

“Ouch,” Woliski said.  “Was it with that hot teacher from the other day?  What was her name, Py?”

“Arianna,” I said before Pyatt could put his glass down and speak.  Her name rolled off my tongue like it was meant to be there all the time and I felt my stomach twist as I once again thought about my mouth being busy with hers.  The past two nights I awoke in a sweat just from my mind replaying that kiss.  I can’t believe she didn’t seem to even remember that.  I tried calling her this morning before we went out golfing, but of course it went to voice mail on the 2^nd ring and I was left listening to her pre-recorded voice.  I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to say if she had actually picked up, but I knew I just wanted to tell her that I wanted to see her again.

After lunch, Pyatt and I headed back to Uppy’s house to watch the VT/Boise game since I still didn’t have cable in my house.  Plus, I wanted to grill Taylor about Ari, to see if she had talked to him at all.

“So, have you seen her?” I asked him as he walked out to the kitchen to grab a beer with me.

“Yup,” he said as he took a swig from the bottle.

“And?”

“And what?”

“Well did she say anything about the date?”

“She was acting like a ridiculous woman if you must know.  She and Andre were basically having a pity party when I got over there Sunday afternoon.  I explained that nothing happened, except for the puking of course, and told her that she needs to go on a second date with you,” he answered honestly.

“What did she say?”

“I dunno, she was too busy saying how embarrassed she was and then threw a pillow at my head as I walked out the door,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Huh.”

“Yeah, typical woman bullshit if you ask me,” he said and then paused.  “Um, dude, I didn’t tell her about the kiss.”

“You saw us kissing?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“You are actually hooked on her, aren’t you?”

I looked down at my beer bottle and mumbled, “Yeah, just a bit.  But now I feel like my chance is completely gone.”

“Are you telling me that you are giving up already, Biz?” Scottie chirped as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing his own beer.  “That isn’t the Biz I know,” he said with a smile.

“Dude, she is clouding up my mind.  That kiss was something I never tasted before…”

“You sound like a romantic,” Taylor laughed.

“I feel like I’m in a bad romance movie, where the guy just can’t do anything right,” I said, playing with the hat on my head.

“Well then it’s a good thing you are the one writing the script,” Scottie said with his baby face smile as he headed back to the living room to watch the 2^nd half of the game.