Aaron paused for a few seconds as he chopped up the pepper. "I don't know man," he said, eventually. "I think she just really likes you. I mean, she's had a huge thing for you since eleventh grade. How did you think she was going to act after she finally got the quarterback - and the guy she's been making googly eyes at for years - naked?"
There was no joking in Aaron's tone. He was being serious. It annoyed me. "Hold up," I said, making an effort to keep my irritation out of my voice and probably failing. "I told you I had a talk with her. I was really clear, too. Didn't give her any false hope, none of that bullshit. And she still thinks it's cool to come up behind me and grope me because - just because she wants to?"
Sokolsky brought two plates of scrambled eggs and two forks to the table, setting one plate and one fork down in front of me. "Eat, Kaden."
I tucked in, suddenly ravenous. Aaron was looking at me disapprovingly, I could feel it.
"What?" I asked, through a mouthful of eggs. "I fucking told her, man. I told her I wasn't interested."
"Yeah," Aaron replied, slowly, like he was choosing his words carefully. "But you told her after you fucked her, Kaden. You knew she was into you. It's cool you had a chat with her and all but what did you think was going to happen? You know how girls get when they like someone. Hell, some of them get like that when you sleep with them even if they don't like you."
I didn't have an immediate reply. Aaron was right. I had known Kelsey was into me. It's probably one of the main reasons I slept with her in the first place - because we were partying and I was lazy. I knew she'd go for it. As for the consequences, I hadn't thought of those. It wasn't really something I did back then - think of consequences.
"I'm not trying to be a dick," Aaron said, picking up on the fact that I was slightly pissed. "I'm only saying this because I've been there and because you're basically the only other guy on the team I think might even give a small shit about this stuff. It's just, I mean, it's hard to talk about this without sounding like a giant pussy, right? But I don't want to be a dick, you know? And I don't think you want to be a dick. And treating people the way a lot of the football players treat people is a dick move. You know you shouldn't have touched Kelsey Richards, don't you? I can see it on your face, you want to be mad at me but that's only because you know I'm right."
I chuckled and shook my head because there was no other possible response. He had me. "Yeah, man. I know. It's weird, right? It's not even like I set out to act like an asshole - to Kelsey or to any of those girls - I just didn't even think about it at all."
"Yeah, I know," Aaron said, gathering scrambled eggs onto his fork. "That's why it's a dick move. I'm honestly not trying to give you shit - all of this stuff applies to me, too. I guess I'm just trying to be less of a dick these days. By the way, you got plans for today?"
I immediately thought of Tasha. "Not sure. Let me text Tasha and see what's up with her."
"Choose your words carefully, man."
"What?" I asked, confused.
Aaron just shook his head like I was the biggest idiot in the world. "Dude. It was our high school prom last night. You were passed out in the back of Jake's truck by midnight and we drove you home at around three. Tasha's probably not going to be too happy with you is what I'm saying."
Fuck. He was right. It was all coming back to me - the promise to meet her back in the gym after a brief interlude so we could both spend time with her friends. "Fuck," I said, out loud that time. "Fuck."
"Text her. Tell her you're a dumb asshole and that you'll make it up to her. And then make it up to her - and I'm telling you right now it's going to take more than flowers. Prom is a big deal to girls."
So I did as instructed and sent Tasha a text:
"Really, really sorry about last night. I'm a dumb, stupid, drunk asshole and I want to make it up to you."
When there was no reply within a couple of minutes I tried calling her but it went straight to messages. Maybe she'd had her own wild night without me? A little stab of jealousy or insecurity sliced through my stomach and I pushed the thoughts of what Tasha might have gotten up to right back down where they came from.
"Let's go for a swim," Aaron said, pulling his shirt off and heading out the sliding glass door towards his family's huge, sparkling blue pool. "She probably needs a little time to cool off. She'll get back to you."
But Tasha didn't need a "little" time to cool off. And she didn't get back to me. By six o'clock that evening there was still nothing - no call, no text, no e-mail. Nothing.