2.

Two days later, Chase had alerted Payton that he had a date. The site that Payton had signed up for a month ago had finally churned out a possible match.

            “You’re going on this date, Payton- no fighting me this time!” demanded Chase. Payton sighed and agreed to attend. Payton went to a fancy Italian restaurant, and sat and waited for his date that Chase had found him. He sipped on the wine the waiter brought, and stared at the front door. He was anticipatory, but was also dreading the interaction that would come from this.

Just then, a woman walked in, looked around, and saw Payton. She smiled when she saw him and then walked over. She sat at the table. She had blue eyes, and long brown hair. She had fair skin. Her eyes pierced into Payton’s eyes, and he felt a shot through his soul. This woman was beautiful, and Payton didn’t know how to feel about it.

            “Hi, I’m Andriana!” said the blue eyed woman.

            “Hey, I’m Payton,” said Payton. They shook hands. 

They talked about hobbies, favorite movies, childhoods- Payton left out the part about his brother’s suicide. It was a fine evening, and Andriana was a nice and beautiful girl. But Payton had never loved anyone or even been involved with anyone before, so as he walked her to her car, instead of a kiss, he simply hugged her, and left. But it was enough to hold Andriana, because when Payton got home, there was a message on his phone from her, saying that she had had a wonderful time.

        

 

            “So, have you made any friends at the meetings yet?” asked Chase, as Chase and Payton ate lunch together the next week.

            “Yeah actually, I met this guy named Floyd- he’s pretty cool” replied Payton, in between bites.

            “Awesome! And, uh… How was your date? I heard that message Andriana left!” asked Chase jokingly. Payton hadn’t responded to Andriana yet, and it had been two days. He had a thought of how he should call her. Just as he was about to say something, a person walked up to them and tapped Payton on the shoulder. Payton whizzed around to see Floyd standing there.

            “Floyd!” said Payton.

            “Payton!” said Floyd.

            “Chase! This is the guy I was talking about! This is Floyd from the group meetings” said Payton. Floyd and Chase shook hands.

            “I trust Payton has represented me well” said Floyd as he shook Chase’s hand.

            “He has told me a little about you” replied Chase.

            “Well hopefully that’s not everything” said Floyd. The three of them sat in silence for a moment.

            “Well, this has been riveting. Good to see you Payton, see you at the meeting. Good to meet you Chase! Talk to you all later” said Floyd and then he left.

            “He’s an interesting character” said Chase.

            “Yeah, he’s really cool” said Payton.

            “He’s really gay” said Chase.

            “What? You’re crazy, he’s not…” started Payton. Chase gave Payton a look.

            “I mean… Why does it matter?” said Payton.

            “It doesn’t matter. I just know your gay-dar is broken” said Chase.

            “My gay-dar is just fine!” replied Payton angrily.

            “Sure it is, man. Let’s go” said Chase, as he got up. Payton got up quickly behind him.

            “It’s not broken!” 

        

            That night, Floyd invited Payton to a party that he was having at his apartment, and Payton agreed to come over. Payton liked how easy going Floyd was, and he had felt comfortable with him since they had met. Floyd asked him to stop at the grocery store to pick up some chips for the party, and as he was going through the checkout line, Payton noticed the cashier.

She had darker skin than Andriana, and she had caramel colored eyes, and her hair was a dark brown color. She had a sort of silent beauty to her, like she had a story to tell and that everything on the surface was just a mirage for the public.

Payton walked up and bought the bags of chips, not speaking throughout the entire encounter. The girl looked him right in the eye and said something, but Payton didn’t hear it. And then reality hit him-

“That’ll be $4.67, man,” said the cashier girl. Payton reached into his pocket and pulled out his credit card and handed it to her. Payton was well embarrassed at that point in time, and quickly left as soon as he could.

When he got to Floyd’s apartment, there was about a dozen people, and Floyd came up to him and welcomed him, and took the food into the kitchen.

“Thank you for coming, Payton! I was wondering if you were going to make it!” said Floyd slightly sloshed. He had been drinking for a while. Payton wanted to tell Floyd about the girl at the grocery store. But he never got the chance. Floyd went and sat down on the couch, and Payton followed him. But it wasn’t long before things got out of hand. Only Payton talked to Floyd the entire time he was there. Floyd began talking about his family life:

“Well, drink up; it’s a day of celebration!” said Floyd, right before he downed a sip of whiskey.

“What’s today?” asked Payton. Floyd turned to him.

“It’s my parent’s wedding anniversary,” replied Floyd. He pulled out a picture of his mother and father from his wallet. “It was… twenty five years ago today! And… and I was but a twinkle in my mother’s eye then!” He laughed after this. But it wasn’t a kind of cheerful life. It was a laugh of desperation.

“Are you okay, Floyd?” asked Payton.

“You know… You’re my only friend… Payton… you are my only…” said Floyd pitifully.

“That’s not true- What about all these people?” asked Payton.

“They aren’t… They aren’t my friends,” replied Floyd. He then stood up and yelled: “Hey! All of you! Get out of here! You aren’t my friends! You’re a bunch of fakes!”

Everyone quickly cleared out as Floyd yelled and threw things at them, cursing at him and yelling as they ran out. Floyd then fell to his knees and cried after everyone had left. Payton wrapped an arm around him, and Floyd uttered one short phrase over and over again:

“I promise I won’t do it again, Dad…”

           

        

 

At the next meeting, Payton came in and sat next Floyd, but there was something different. There was a new person. A girl. Payton saw her from across the room. It had been the girl from the grocery store. It was the cashier girl. She was short, with those big brown eyes. She was wearing a tan dress, and was looking off in another direction. She had headphones in. Payton was enamored. He had never felt this way about… anyone before. She was more beautiful than anyone he had ever seen before. Floyd looked at Payton, and then at the girl, and then back at him. He then elbowed Payton, and Payton was dropped back into reality.

            “Go talk to her,” encouraged Floyd.

            “No… I can’t…” said Payton quietly. The meeting began right then.

            “Well, you’re off the hook till the end of the meeting… but you are talking to her!” said Floyd intensely.

            The meeting began, and the group leader stood up and told the new girl to introduce herself. Payton listened intently:

            “Hello everyone… I’m Namine Abel” said the girl, slowly and quietly. Even her name is beautiful, thought Payton. Namine Abel. The rest of the meeting went as usual- Floyd didn’t speak, and Payton was too distracted by Namine to think about himself.

            Namine spoke though. She had been a drug addict. She had become so reliant, that even a day without them was torture. Eventually, the pain got too much. She tried to quit, but she spiraled out of control.

            “Maybe not… She seems like a lot to handle,” whispered Floyd. But Payton wouldn’t listen to him. He was already in too deep. He was completely infatuated. And when it was time for one-on-ones, Payton would go to Namine.

            “Hey man, let’s clear out of here…” said Floyd, when one-on-ones came up. But Payton wanted to stay. He wanted to stay and talk to Namine. But he couldn’t. He was too scared. So, he left with Floyd.

            “Next time, Floyd. Next time,” said Payton.

            “Hey man, I’m not making you do anything- but if you want to, go for it,” replied Floyd.

            But when Payton got home, he had another message from Andriana. It had been almost a week, and Payton had completely forgotten. So he immediately called Andriana without even thinking.

        

 

            The next day, Andriana came over to Payton’s apartment to watch a movie. Chase was supposed to be gone, but he had decided to stay in that night.

            When Andriana came over, Payton and her sat in the common area and watched a movie on the television, while Chase stayed in his room. Everything was going fine, until Payton got a call from Floyd in the middle of the movie. Floyd never called Payton, so it had to be important. Payton excused himself and went outside to pick up the call.

            “Floyd? What’s up?” asked Payton.

            “Payton… I… I just wanted to apologize for the party last week. That was…”

            “Floyd, it’s okay- I just don’t understand-“

            “My family life is… complicated. I can’t explain it now. Maybe, one day I will tell you.”

            “Okay Floyd-“ And then Floyd hung up. Payton put his phone away and walked back inside. Chase was sitting in the common area, talking to Andriana. Now, Payton was not remotely attached to Andriana, in fact, he had put this date off as much as he could. But seeing Chase with her, they seemed so natural. So casual. Payton didn’t understand how Chase could be so casual with her. Chase saw him return, and nodded at him, and then turned back to her:

            “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Andriana Huxtable!” said Chase cheerfully. Chase got up and retreated back to his room. Payton entered fully into the room, and sat down next to Andriana.

            And for no particular reason, Payton thought about that girl from the grocery store. Namine.