Chances

After Zoey left for the night, I walked back into the house and sat down on the couch and took my shoes off, putting them at the end of the couch that I had been crashing on. I checked the time, wondering if I could go to sleep without anyone else popping in and out of the room to bother me. It was only nine-thirty, so I quickly gave up on that idea, instead picking up the remote for the T.V. and turning it on. After thirty minutes of terrible television, I turn the T.V. off and throw the remote onto another couch and get up, hunting for something else to do to keep my mind off of Zoey and Paulie together. I quickly give up on that and crash back onto the couch and lie down, deciding to just try and sleep through whatever noises pop up. I sleep for about twenty minutes before someone starts poking and prodding me. I rolled onto my side and looked up to see Ash.

"Why are you watching me sleep?" I asked, slightly creeped out.

"Don't flatter yourself," she responds, picking my legs up and throwing them off of the couch so she can sit down. "What's up? Why are you trying to go to sleep at nine forty?"

"I talked to Zoey. Asked her if she was happy, and she said she was."
"And?" She asked, leaning closer to me.

"And I'm just gonna try and be happy for her, I guess." I said, propping my feet up onto the table.
"I'm sorry. I really am," she said, putting her hand on my back. "I know that he's an asshole, but if she's happy, what're you going to do? It sucks, yeah, but that's life."
"Yeah, I know." I said, putting my head in my hands, rubbing my eyes. "Fuckin' figures," I muttered under my breath, pulling my feet off of the table.

"I know that you really don't want to anymore, but you really should quit smoking. It'd make all of us happy. Hell, I'd be happy if you cut back." Ash said, patting my back before getting up and walking back to the Isaac's bedroom. I stretched back onto the couch, looking at all the posters that were plastered on the walls. I reached into my pockets to pull everything out of them and tossed them onto the table, and reached over to pick up my phone to check for any messages before going to sleep.

I woke up to the vacuum running, and sat up on the couch, and rubbed my eyes, trying to see who was cleaning. I got up and folded the blanket I'd been using up and threw it onto the couch and stumbled to the bathroom to take a shower. After getting out of the shower, I saw Jared sitting on the couch, the vacuum sitting in a corner.

"Morning," he said over the noise of the T.V.. "Sorry about the noise, but I needed to vacuum."
"It's cool," I said, sitting down on the couch. "I didn't know you had today off."

"Yeah, I forgot to mention it yesterday. It's nice to be able to just chill for a day." He said, picking up the controller and turning on our X-Box. "How you doing, dude?"
"Been better." I said, pulling a cigarette out of the pack. "Found out that Zoey's already dating some asshole."
"Harsh," he replied. "Do you know which asshole she's dating?" I picked up my lighter off of the table and got up to go outside to have my first smoke of the day.

"Paulie," I said, lighting the cigarette in the kitchen.
"Wait, Paulie Talbot?" I heard him ask from inside.

"Yeah," I replied, sitting down on the top step of the cement stairs. For a guy that's had multiple leg surgeries, Jared moves incredibly fast.

"She's dating Paulie fucking Talbot?!" He screamed at me, scaring me to death.

"From what I heard from Ash, yeah." I manage to finally say.

"Paulie 'I nearly made my ex-girlfriend kill themselves and five minutes later was in bed with another girl' Talbot?"

"Yup." I said, the bitterness surprising even me. I took a long drag off of the cigarette and looked at Jared, who was literally shaking with what I assumed was rage. "Ummm... You okay?" I asked.

"That is NOT okay," he said.

"Yeah, no shit." I replied, finishing the cigarette off and tossing the butt into an ashtray.

"How in the hell did that happen?" He asked after a moment silence. "How did that prick get someone like that?"
"What in the hell do you think I've been trying to figure out?" I asked, laughing.

"You need to do something!" He yelled.

"What do you want me to do about this?" I asked, getting up to get another cigarette. "I'm not going to talk to Paulie, last time I ever saw him I got hurt! It's a sign from God not to be near this prick." I said, walking back inside.

"And how do you think this is going to end for her?" He yelled back, running into the house. "The last time that person was in a long term relationship, you know how it ended!"

He was right. Paulie Talbot was the biggest asshole I had ever met. He was violent, crude, and thought he was God's greatest gift to man. If he ever said that he was in a relationship, it meant that he was only screwing one girl. The man didn't want relationships, he just wanted an unlimited amount of booty calls. He claimed he fell in love once, but three weeks into the relationship, he was already cheating on the girl, Lisa. But that wasn't enough for Paulie, he wanted to set a record. So in the time that he had 'fallen in love', he was cheating on Lisa, while at the same time screwing five other girls. This guy, in my opinion, was trash. Lisa, after discovering what he was doing, attempted to kill herself by an overdose. Thankfully, someone found her in time to help. I don't know how this asshole still had friends.

"Well, what the hell can I do?" I asked, sitting down on the couch.

"Do something really romantic to show that she deserves a nice guy!" Jared said back, getting excited.

"What, pull a Cusack?" I asked, laughing. Just to clear up, this laugh isn't a ha-ha laugh, it's a laugh of desperation and exacerbation.

"Ummm... Something like that, yeah!" He said back, starting to pace around.

"Look, Jared, I appreciate this, but I don't think there's anything I can do! You know me, I'm not that kind of guy," I said. "That and Paulie would fucking kill me. Last time I heard, he had just bought a machete for some goddamn reason!"
"Is this the kind of girl that you'd be willing to be killed with a machete for?" Jared asked, stopping and looking at me.
"Yes." I said immediately. Jared just leaned on the wall and grinned at me.

"You're willing to risk getting cut into tiny bits and pieces by that piece of human trash for her?"
"Yes." I said again, standing up, my mind made up. I grabbed my wallet and keys off of the table and sprinted out of the apartment.

Zoey lives in a gated community, a plus from her parent's lucrative jobs. Since it was three o'clock in the afternoon, everyone was either in school or at work, so no cars were coming in or out. So I did what anyone would do in this situation: I climbed the fence, and promptly proceeded in falling on my ass on the way down. Not letting my hurt bottom stop me, I got up and ran down the street towards her house. I saw her white Ford parked in the driveway, and after a few deep breathes and a small prep talk, I walked to her front door and knocked. She opened the door before I knocked again.

"Hey," she said, smiling. "This is a pleasant surprise." Knowing that I'd loss steam or chicken out if I said anything else first, I blurted it out without thinking.

"Zoey, I love you."