8. COLD TURKEY

8

COLD TURKEY

Archer

What the fuck is so funny over there?

My chest tightens as I look at my girlfriend laughing at this joker's probably lame joke again. The air at our table is tense, even though the girls we're sitting with don't seem to notice shit.

They are carrying on as Jaden talks to them when he's not glancing her way too. Caleb smokes and Harvey whispers to the girl next to him as she bats her eyelashes at him.

I guess he is starting on his plan to move on. A bunch of bullshit. We all can see through his fa?ade.

Summer's melodious laughter rings in my ears again and I regret looking back when I see her feeling his arms.

Fucking hell.

Harvey moves his chair back and Jaden holds him down. Harvey glares at him and pulls his hand. The girl tries to hold on to Harvey too and get him to sit down. His murderous gaze shifts to her and she visibly flinches from the cold look in his eyes. Then he pulls her up and hauls her by her hand as they exit the shop.

The hurt contorts Summer's face as she watches him before she turns to us with accusing eyes. My heart squeezes in my chest when I see them glazed. She blinks when she looks at me and I get up. I need to go to her.

But she gets up quickly too and I see the urgency in her actions as she pulls the guy up, takes his hand, and he follows her out. Well, fuck.

She isn't supposed to be going anywhere with him.

Fuck. I move the chair and walk to the door. I need to get to her. Need to comfort her. She needs to know I'm here for her.

Fucking Harvey. My heart is squeezing so much in my chest. It's back to fucking square one because of that idiot. I just know what she's thinking. We can't be sure where he's going or what he's doing but that look was pretty clear.

I sympathize with the guy, but he can be full of shit sometimes. We should be working to get Summer back, not going toe to toe with her. She's clearly still hurting, and we should be gentle with her. But I'm with stupid.

Shit.

"Unfortunately, we must leave. We have a house meeting in 10." Jaden says before I hear footsteps behind me. We are out of the shop soon but she's already in Logan's Jeep driving away.

Shit.

"Fucking Harvey," Caleb grits next to me.

"The idiot took the car. Let's go back to the house." Jaden starts walking and we follow.

Fucking Harvey, for real.

He better not be going to fuck that girl, or I swear I'll lose my shit and badly. I try to breathe as my heart races at the thought of what he could do; the damage he could cause. We're trying to fix the first mess, but he's making another. He better not fuck that girl.

Pulling my phone out, I shoot the idiot a text.

Archer: You better not even think it.

"You don't think he'll do it, do you?" Caleb asks between me and Jaden.

"I fucking hope not," Jaden says.

I shoot another text.

Archer: I will fucking kill you if you do it.

Archer: Don't fucking test me H.

"Where the fuck did he disappear to so quickly," I murmur.

"His location is off," Jaden says.

"Shit."

He's starting with this shit again.

"Fuckin dickhead." Jaden spits.

"Where the fuck is she going with that clown?" Caleb murmurs.

"Probably…the park," Jaden says absentmindedly and both me and Caleb stop to look at him as he continues walking. "Like fuck I know. I'm here with you." He shrugs in annoyance.

I hope he isn't bringing a fucking girl to our house that isn't Summer.

"I will kill him." Jaden glares.

" We will kill him," I say.

We come up to the house and the girl basically runs out, we don't even get to ask her anything.

"And then?" Jaden says.

We meet the asshole ascending the stairs, a beer dangling on his right and topless.

"What the fuck, asshole?" Jaden snarls at him.

He doesn't turn, just goes upstairs and we follow him.

He shuts the door in our face, but we enter anyways.

As I'm about to go off, I notice it, he is trembling. His left hand is in a fist. He tips his head and drinks the beer in one go. Did he have some panic and not go through with it?

Caleb pulls a blunt from his pocket and takes the single couch.

"Dude, what's wrong with you?" Jaden asks.

Harvey doesn't answer, just stares out the window.

"What did you do with that girl?" I ask, approaching him slowly. Whatever it was it was brief, but we still need to know. We need to know also why the fuck he thought doing that in front of Summer was a bright idea.

"Nothing, you know I last longer than a minute. Relax," he says.

"No homo," Jaden adds and we all chuckle. Jaden is the ‘no homo' police of the group. It's weird as shit because it's like he's always on the lookout for sexually suggestive sentences.

We all relax a little. But not enough.

Silence falls on the room for a few moments.

"Where is she?" he asks, voice barely audible. I feel and hear his pain and my anger at him deflates a little more. He's hurting, he just has weird ways with relationships.

Harvey is a complicated person. His fucked-up relationship with his parents doesn't help either. Neglected and emotionally abused as a child makes one lacking in the healthy coping mechanism department. He's got a few complexes, sometimes acting in contrast with what he feels.

Like this afternoon, he wants Summer to listen to him, but he lashes out at the first sign of her rejection and instead of trying to get on his knees, he'll get even or do worse and escalate the situation.

The first to burn a bridge because he wants everyone to believe he's untouchable and can make it on his own. He and Summer were very close.

We all were, but he opened up most to her, sharing things he's never even shared with us. It's been a lot for him.

Not counting that he was drugged in the first place and didn't choose what happened. In a way, I think he feels rejected by her on a deeper level than we can realize.

"She left," Jaden answers, getting closer.

"With him?"

I breathe out the "Yeah."

Silence befalls the room.

"And it's all me still?" he asks.

"Harvey, you are a piece of shit, but you were violated by that tramp. She drugged you and forced herself on you, man," Caleb says before he approaches too.

"She doesn't even know that. She thinks I cheated. That I was willingly unfaithful to her."

"She's just hurt."

"Well, we are all hurt…" he exhales.

"We need to make it right. Get her alone somehow and get her to listen," Caleb says.

"Nah," Jaden says.

I turn to him. "Explain."

"We've tried running after her, I say we change strategies."

We turn to him and he turns to the window, hands in his pants, with a small smirk.

"I hope ‘make her jealous by dating other girls' isn't going to come out of your mouth," I spit out when I see that's where this is going.

He shrugs.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not doing that," I protest.

"Why? She's clearly out to play this game. Let's play too. It isn't fair that she gets to touch other guys and fucking giggle like a schoolgirl at his fucking jokes. We have fucking feelings too. And the guy is mid all across. Fuck is she thinking?" I hear the anger in Jaden's voice.

Jaden is more burn the house down kind of guy. He'll call a bluff or take extreme risks for what he wants.

Right now, he wants to play dirty and I consider it for a second. Do I want to hurt her by pretending I'm moving on?

No.

I don't care what these idiots say, I'm not doing it.

It's not like I can anyway. Between everything that's going on with the academics, football and my dwindling mental health, I simply don't have space for that too. And I don't want to hurt her any more than she is.

"I'm in," Harvey says.

"We not actually fucking these girls, right? Just second base if need occurs?" Caleb waves his blunt around.

"No fucking," Jaden says.

"I am not making any promises," Harvey says.

"Don't do that. Don't do things that will shut us out for good with her," I say wondering everyday why I'm friends with him.

"Do you know what she's doing with this guy, or planning to do?" Harvey asks.

His question increases the temperature a few degrees and I feel a little itchy. Could she really do it? Could she fuck him just to be spiteful?

Fuck.

Would she really try to move on and really date that guy?

Damn, he could be right. We don't know anything she's doing or planning on doing.

"She wouldn't fuck him out of spite, would she?" Jaden asks.

"She's declared a million times that she's single, who knows what she plans to do, what she did in Europe," Harvey says and I feel the pain right in my heart and in my mind as I try to repel images of another guy getting what's ours. I feel the violence in my bones, and I stuff my fists in my pocket.

"She wouldn't," I murmur.

"All the motherfuckers on this campus will take notice of her soon enough and then we will be wading a thousand assholes," Caleb says.

"Fuck, Caleb," Jaden says.

Caleb shrugs. "It's the truth though. Summer is gorgeous and all the vultures will be out for a piece. All eyes will be on her now that he's taken notice of her. With Logan moving in on her and playing Mr. Perfect, she may really move on."

"I'd like you to stop talking," Harvey says, the violent promise simmering underneath.

"And that new friend of hers, I don't like her much," Caleb says.

"She's a social climber," Jaden comments, disdain hugging his words.

I noticed the same thing last night. The girl was hanging on every word the athletes were saying, and who can forget the twinkle in the eye she had for Harvey? But last night was a little shit show on its own.

"Don't forget she has a little crush on Harvey," I add.

He's the only one that doesn't chuckle

"Summer got so mad when she saw the girl eye fucking you."

Harvey smiles fondly. "It felt great. I actually saw that girl earlier at the coffee shop. But I didn't see Summer, or the girl was alone. She tried to talk to me, and I don't even remember what she said," Harvey says thoughtfully.

We are quiet for a bit.

"I'm not sure I can do all that shit," I say.

They don't respond.

"I know she still loves us. We just need to make her understand," I try again.

"At least don't try to talk to her for a bit."

"Go cold turkey?"

"Cold turkey," Jaden confirms.

We all nod and go about or day.

Harvey and I have football practice this afternoon, so we grab our bags and head to the first practice. Jaden and Caleb come with us to watch. We get to the lockers and change.

It's time to get back to the game.

Tryouts are in two weeks, and we need to be in shape. Harvey and I didn't accept the scholarship. There were others who deserved them, and we didn't need it.

We are already privileged playing for fun, because we love the game, but neither of us is going pro. We're not as hungry as the other boys.

But that doesn't mean we don't put everything we have in the field. It's a good way to work out excess energy and helps me with sleep. I sleep better when I'm physically exhausted.

The guys in the locker room part in the middle as Logan and Trevor approach us. The chatting gets lower as all eyes turn to us.

Well, this is going to be mature . I am not exactly sure why they are here, but their demeanors are telling, I just hope I'm picking up the wrong signals.

I try to not let the violence I feel towards this Logan fella rear its head. Because if that happens it won't be fucking good.

Chill out, Arch. Chill.

"Hey, boys," Trevor says stopping in front of us, arms crossed over his front.

Neither me nor Harvey reply or stop what we're doing. No way we are responding to ‘boy.' We know what this is.

"We are talking to you. Are you deaf, freshmen?" he raises his voice.

A few gasps ring from behind them. They are the big dogs, thinking that we're scared of them. If I was here on a scholarship or I needed any of this shit, I'd be afraid, but this motherfucker is wrong if he thinks I won't rearrange his fucking face. Especially this fucker enjoying my girlfriend's liberties.

I step closer and Harvey steps next to me. We are at eye level with Logan, but Trevor is a few inches shorter.

"You should reply when your seniors are talking to you. You are in our turf, freshmen." Logan sneers

"You stepping?" Trevor asks.

"Do you have anything of value you want to say, or you are here to suck our dicks? In which case, I'm sure you know what to do," Harvey says and the whole room erupts in laughter.

"So, you and that girl, Summer. She your ex?" Trevor asks.

"Why don't you ask Logan, I'm sure he knows." Harvey glares.

"She actually hasn't said anything about you," Logan says.

"Maybe ask her again when she throws you some scraps," I say.

Logan's nostrils flare. Ah. So, he's not getting through to her yet. Yes.

"You all need to step back. I've chosen her as mine. You should look through our stock of seconds like you did this afternoon." Logan smiles and the room erupts in more laughter.

"The only person who needs to remember their lane here is you, boys," I say, getting annoyed. "Now if you want to do something then do it, otherwise fuck off our faces." I hate all this talking like we're 10-year-olds.

At this point, my hands are itching and when that happens it means they'll be thrown any second. And I don't fucking lose fights.

"What the fuck are you doing congregated like it's easter Sunday," Coach's voice nips through everything and the whole locker room gets moving.

Trevor and Logan turn but not without glares and unspoken promises of retaliation.

I just wish we were elsewhere, I'd shove-in that fucking nose of his. See what he does then.