SETH
I think my embarrass-O-meter had shot really high with the recent turn of events. I knew with certainty that Staysha was the one who leaked the video and had made it viral.
The question was, why the hell would she go so far? Hadn’t I been honest with her from the start? Didn’t she know it was temporary? And it wasn’t like we’d been exclusive. She was screwing around while being with me and I had no problem as long as we were being safe.
With all these other kids staring, she’d made a Hannah Fucking Baker out of me.
Hi! I’m Seth...Seth Monroe. Welcome to my screwed-up life!
I punched the locker so hard, a dent formed on the metal. I knew I should come up with a solution rather than destroying school property that I would probably need to pay for.
What was Emily thinking about me? Definitely not anything nice. Chances were that our newfound friendship was about to go extinct.
She wouldn’t see me in how I wanted her to. Not anymore. It’s not like Emily thought I was a saint. She had ears and she’d most likely known about my random hookups. Having knowledge of my said “hookups” and watching me plow repeatedly into a girl were two completely different things.
The day dragged on with everyone giving me a hard time while I flipped them the bird.
My teammates were only teasing, but I couldn’t find any serious undercurrent to it which was a relief. That did not mean I was going to go easy on Staysha.
After practice, when I walked out of the shower, Roland and Sal were leaning into their phone. The sound of Staysha’s moans filled the room.
When they saw me, Roland snickered and then held onto the locker door and started humping it, making a very immature impression of me. “Oh yes, Seth...Seth...I’m going to come.”
I picked up the sipper from the bench and aimed it at his head. My aim was fantastic, but he was also a goalie, so his dodging skills were epic.
“You keep doing that and I’ll bench you the rest of the season.” I said, "maybe even find a replacement goalie.”
“Aw, you’re no fun, Monroe.”
* * *
I found Staysha in the parking lot. She was hanging onto Perry like he was a banana and she was a fucking chimp. He was one of the guys she dined and fucked with, same as I’d been in the past. She was the definition of a pimp. I thought she was cool for never giving a damn about what anyone else said about her and just enjoying her life on her terms, but somehow I’d stopped noticing that Staysha was as shallow as the girls that Roland dated. Maybe even worse.
She didn’t seem to like the fact that I’d canceled my name off her list of casual fucks.
“Listen, can we talk?” I asked her, hands dug into my pockets, trying not to grit my teeth too hard. I didn’t need my molars ground into a powder.
“Okay.” She dared to look distraught as she disentangled herself from him.
Perry gave me a hard look as if to say ‘back-off.’
You can keep her buddy. Maybe it’s your video that would circulate next month.
I led her to the hidden part of the parking area where we would not be heard.
“Why did you do that?” I snapped, not caring that I had a death-glare on my face.
“You think I leaked that video?” She whisper-screeched at me, “I thought you did it!” She poked her finger into my chest.
I wasn’t buying into that act, not when I’d literally seen her laughing with Roland during lunchtime. She was guilty as hell, but wanted to lay the blame on me.
“That was your kink, Staysha. You asked me to record us fucking. That was your idea and your phone. After a few days, I requested you to delete it and you told me you did. Either you were bullshitting me, or one of your other boys circulated it, my bets are on the former.” I told her honestly, “And stop trying to force out the tears, it’s not working.”
“I didn’t do it!” She all but screamed at me.
“Listen, I know it’s you. I just don’t know why you did it. I thought we were...friends.”
“Friends?” She asked, “You were good only for one thing!” Her voice dripped malice. “If you think you’re going to find someone interested in a long-term thing with you, Seth, you can forget it. You’re lucky you got into this school because of your sports scholarship, but look around you. No girl in her right mind would want to date a...a...guy like you!”
She meant to say a poor guy like me. I got it. She didn’t even have to spell it out.
If Staysha wasn’t a girl, my fist would have already parked on her face.
“You did it, or didn’t you?”
She folded her arms across her chest like a fucking diva and pursed her fat lips.
God, why had I even messed around with her?
“I can fix this.” She murmured softly, like she was a goddam private detective on her way to solve an important case.
“How are you planning to fix it? Because the damage was done. The video is fucking everywhere! I bet the teachers have it too, and I’ll tell you something else.”
I knew I shouldn’t have said what I was about to say, but I did anyway. Maybe it was the urge to hurt her the way she had done to me.
“When I was in the showers this afternoon, the boys were watching the video and talking about you, and I can’t even give you the details because it was so filthy. So you see Staysha, you leaked the video thinking it would do damage to my reputation, it just made me popular. The guys you think are your friends are really not. When they talked shit about you, I defended your virtue and told them to go to hell. You know why? Because I thought we were friends, but guess I’m wrong because we’re not on the same page.”
I turned to leave when she grabbed for my parka sleeve. “Seth, wait! I’m sorry.”
This time she didn’t need to fake the tears. She was crying for real.
I kept walking. I wasn’t in a mood to listen to more crap spewing out of that mouth.
“Seth...I can fix this!” she repeated, jogging beside me, trying to keep up with my long strides.
“Let’s tell everyone that my phone glitched, and the video went viral by mistake. We can make our relationship official and then the rumors will die down, eventually.”
I stopped and looked at her.
Were the words “dumb jock” blazoned over my fucking head? I hoped not.
“I’ll pass.” I continued with my strides because if she didn’t stop talking, I was going to forget what my mom taught me about never raising a hand on a girl and Staysha was going to find a few teeth missing, possibly the front ones.
“Seth, give me one chance.”
I’d already parked my ass in the car and drove out of the parking lot.
* * *
EMILY
I tried to peel my eyes away from the video, but it was hard.
I’d looked at the video over a dozen times and wished that it was me.
Sucks, it wasn’t and would probably never be.
Seth’s type was skinnier, a tall girl with perky breasts, and I was far from that. If I were to compare to food, these girls that Seth slept around with were a chicken leg piece. I was a Thanksgiving turkey.
So there’s no comparison.
I took a long sip of my cold coffee from my tall Mermaid Blue glass while popping a macron into my mouth.
When the video ended, I clicked the replay button.
I narrowed my eyes at the screen.
Wait a minute...
* * *
A few minutes earlier.
SETH
I didn’t find Emily in her usual spot that evening. She was normally relaxing in the nook, curled on the seat with a book in her hand and a steaming cup of coffee.
She seemed nowhere in view. I made a quick snack of crackers with different toppings. I added tomatoes to one, cheese, and apple slices to others. My stomach growled so loudly I could eat the fucking town and still have space for dessert. I popped one cracker into my mouth, chewing slowly, savoring the taste of it.
I climbed the stairs to Emily’s room and stared down the empty hallway.
How did this girl even live alone in this huge-ass house?
I knocked on her bedroom door when I heard the moans exploding from inside. The same ones that I’d heard all day.
I turned the knob and entered to find Emily watching the sex video on her Freakin 27” inch iMac screen. She was so close to it, her nose almost plastered to it. She took a bite of her purple macron.
A cold sweat broke over my neck, heat rising in my cheeks.
“Jesus!... Emily, what the hell are you doing?!”
I hurried towards the screen and with shaky hands; I snatched the mouse from her hand, clicking the shit out of it. I managed to close the window.
“I have to ask, Seth.” Emily said, all business-like, turning to face me in her revolving cushion chair, her eyes were narrowed at me, “What kind of idiot records himself while having sex?”
“Me.” I couldn’t even look her in the eye.
I had a score of two super-embarrassing moments that Emily had witnessed in a matter of two weeks. I wasn’t sure what else was left. Maybe my white Jockey undies, hanging and fluttering on a flagpole in the middle of the school grounds. I’d have to vanish from the face of the earth if that ever happened.
“You said you were my friend so you’re not supposed to judge me.”
“Hmmm…” she was definitely one-hundred percent judging. “Well, Seth, you have to look at this. I’ve been watching the video for over an hour and—”
“For an hour?!” I all but shrieked.
She brought the dark screen back to life and played the video again and zoomed in.
“Oh god, Seth…Yes…”
I cringed super hard.
“Look!”
I’d closed my eyes.
“Look at the screen!” She demanded.
“Nope, not happening.”
I started making my way out of the room when she yelled behind me, “The guy in the video is not you!”