"She's pissed," Aaron said. "I mean, if you're going to date someone like Natasha Greeley, you're going to have to get used to that."
"What the fuck does that mean?" I asked, assuming he was insulting Tasha and feeling my blood rising slightly at the possibility.
"Calm down, Kaden, I'm not dissing her. It's the opposite. Listen to me. You're used to cheerleaders, right? Girls like Kelsey Richards? It's all any of us football players are used to. And you have to get it through your skull - those girls are basically groupies. I mean, Little Falls is full of them, I admit, but it's not like we've got anything else going on here other than football, right? Anyway, girls like Tasha - and Amber aren't groupies. You can't just do whatever you want and expect her to be there with a big forgiving smile on her face whenever you fuck up. And it looks like you fucked up. So maybe it takes her a day or two to cool down, but she will eventually. And then you apologize and you make it up to her. And the making it up part is key. Smart girls, girls with their shit together - they don't put up with bullshit, Kaden. If you screw up, you own it and you make it better. The sooner you learn that the better."
I laughed and slapped Aaron on the back. "Damn, man. When did you turn into such a wise old man?"
"Amber," he replied, plainly. "She kicked my ass, bro. And it needed kicking, too. That's the thing about those girls, the good ones. They kick your ass when it really needs kicking."
So I spent rest of the day with Sokolsky and neither of us felt like going out drinking again that night. His girlfriend was spending time with relatives an hour away and my girlfriend - I didn't know what my girlfriend was doing. We hit the grocery store, got some beer (not enough to do any further damage, though) and floated around on inflatable pool toys, relaxing.
Although it was never fully relaxing for me because Tasha was constantly there at the forefront of my mind. Aaron kept trying to reassure me but every unanswered text and every call that went straight to messages just contributed to a growing sense of dread that I was praying was due to paranoia or my hangover.
After spending another night at Aaron's I went home the next day. My mom found me sitting in the living room, staring at my phone and doing calculations in my head. The last time I'd spoken to her was, I guessed, around nine p.m. on prom night. That meant it was over forty hours - almost forty-eight hours, two full days - since we'd communicated.
"Hi, honey," my mom said, coming over and kissing me on the head. "How was it? It's Sunday so I assume it went well? Thanks for texting your father to let us know you were staying at Aaron's. Do you have any photos?"
"Mom, didn't you take enough photos?" I asked, recalling the interminable, almost two-hour long photo shoot before I'd left to go to the actual prom.
"Sure I did, Kaden," she said and I could tell from the slightly hurt tone in her voice that she'd caught the snappiness in mine. "But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in seeing more. I want to see a few of you and Tasha, too."
"Sorry, mom," I apologized. "I didn't mean to bite your head off. I think I'm just pretty tired. Can I show you the photos later?"
"That would be nice, honey."
The rest of the weekend passed by in a blur of confusion and stress - stress from not knowing what was going on with Tasha and from having to put up a front that everything was fine to my parents. Then Monday came and went. And Tuesday. Tasha never seemed to be at her locker, and the complete radio silence was ongoing. On Wednesday, I ran into Tasha's best friend Lena, just outside the gymnasium after gym class. I smiled but she blanked me, looking away and saying nothing when I went further and said hi. I could have walked away but her reaction just pissed me off. So I'd gotten way too drunk at prom and failed to meet up with my girlfriend at the appointed time. The way she was looking at me you'd think I'd murdered someone.
"Really?" I snapped, as Lena gazed into the distance, determined not to acknowledge me. I continued anyway. She wasn't deaf, she could hear me. "I understand if Tasha's upset with me but this is a little childish, don't you think? I'm the devil because I drank too much at prom?"
Lena deigned to look in my direction, running her eyes coolly over me. "Drank too much at prom?" She asked, one eyebrow raised disdainfully. "Is that what happened, Kaden?"
"Yes!" I replied, confused at her tone, which seemed to imply I had done much worse than had too much to drink. "That is what happened. And I just think you're being a little dramatic about it, is all."
"Dramatic?" She asked, locking her eyes onto mine. It was only then that I noticed. Lena wasn't being bitchy. She was furious. Her eyes were narrowed into slits and she was actually breathing quickly.