April 10th, 2017

Kinsky, California, USA

The Right Thing

It was a Sunday night, and several of the friends – despite better judgment – decided to spend the evening drinking and traveling around town. Among those in the audience were Kat, Sadja, Rodrigo, Aaron, Lukas, and – who had given up studying that weekend – Rose.

As the roaming band walked along the suburban sidewalks, Aaron and Lukas led the group while they heard their respective girlfriends gossiping behind them.

“Yeah, the one bad thing is that it still gives me these killer cramps,” Kat continued. “The morning after I always feel like I’m getting stabbed in the stomach.”

“Oh, it’s like that for me, too,” Rose answered. “If only there was a way that the boys could take some responsibility with protection…”

Rose and Kat looked at the young men walking in front of them. They looked completely ignorant to their conversation. Rose wasn’t falling for it.

“Aaron!”

“What?” Aaron turned around. “Damn girl, I don’t tell you to take the pill. And I wear a condom literally every time. What more do you want from me?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Rose continued, her arms crossed. “I meant, in general, it’s on the woman to change her body if she wants to avoid getting pregnant, even though it’s just as much in the hands of the man. Like, what about a vasectomy? Would you ever get that?”

“Hell no! I’m 18, I got my whole life ahead of me!”

“I don’t mean right now. I mean, like, what if we had kids? If you got one after we had kids, we could get freaky any time we want, and we’d never have to worry about anymore Aaron Jrs roaming around.”

“Nope, out of the question.”

“Oh, but I have to use these pills that make me a little less fertile every time I use them?”

Aaron sighed, clearly getting uncomfortable with the situation. “It’s different. Vasectomy is a one and done deal, right? It’s not like the pills. If anything you should just be campaigning for them to make a female version of a condom.”

“I don’t think getting it after you’re a parent is a bad thing,” Kat chimed in. “Like Rose said, you can just wait until you have the amount of kids you want, get the surgery, then keep going on with your life with no worries. I think it’s a good idea.”

Lukas felt the hair stand up on his neck when Kat mentioned this, but still tried to keep silent. Aaron continued.

“Listen, I just… I like optionality. I like being able to either make sperm or not. It’s one of those things where like, I don’t know, you never know when you’re going to need it – so why get rid of it?”

“What the hell does that mean?” Rose asked rather accusatively.

The conversation went on for a little longer, and as it did Rodrigo quietly laughed to himself, watching from a distance. Next to him was Sadja, though her reaction was different. In fact, it seemed as though she wasn’t paying attention to the conversation at all – instead her head hung low, and it seemed she was rehearsing something in her head again and again…

…

The group split off at an intersection, with Rodrigo going towards the trailer park and Lukas, Rose, and Aaron going in the direction of their respective residences. Sadja lived closer to the other three, but as they all turned to separate she quickly moved over to Kat and tugged her on the arm.

“Hey,” she whispered. “Is it okay if I talk with you?”

“Yeah, of course,” Kat responded. “Come on, let’s go.”

The two waved goodbye to their friends, then started walking back together on their own. Sadja felt herself becoming nervous, something she almost never was when she was around Kat. She had been going back and forth between saying what she was about to say for awhile, except now she had crossed the point of no return.

“I, um…” Sadja began awkwardly. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

Kat had already begun to catch on that there was something off about her friend in the preceding weeks. She figured it had to be related.

“Shoot,” Kat responded, trying her best to be as comforting as possible.

“I, uh… I did something really stupid… back in February.”

Kat looked over at her. Sadja did her best not to make eye contact.

“It was during the Valentine’s day party. I went there, thinking some friends would be around… but I ended up recognizing nobody but Isaac. So we talked, got drunk, and, um…”

Sadja suddenly stopped walking. Her eyes closed and her hands balled into fists.

“I ended up sleeping with him. No – I had sex with him. And it was a really, really stupid thing to do, and I should’ve known better, and I’m… I’m sorry. I really am, Kat.”

“Okay.”

Sadja opened her eyes. Kat’s voice didn’t seem particularly upset – and, looking back at her, she just gave a neutral look.

“Okay? W-wait, you aren’t… you aren’t mad?”

Kat shrugged, a smile now on her face. “Well, he’s not my boyfriend anymore, is he? If anything, it makes me feel better that someone who I know to be smart still fell for his B.S. At least I know now it’s not just a dumb blonde thing.”

Sadja’s expression changed. A smile began to appear on her face, too. “Yeah… to be honest, back then I couldn’t see why in the world you fell into it. I guess it’s a wrong place at the wrong time sort of thing, huh?”

“Something like that. Well, now you know we all have our moments of weakness.” Kat looked back down the street, towards the direction of her house. “Hey, you want to stay over tonight? Gordon’s on a business trip, so it’s just me and mom.”

Sadja shook her head. “Nah, I told my parents I’d be home tonight. They already get antsy about me being out this late.”

The two girls hugged as a way of saying their goodbyes, and Sadja went back the other way. The truth was that there was still a lot on her mind – but in that moment, things felt just a little bit better.

…

Rose, Aaron, and Lukas walked together, now chatting to each other about topics unrelated to earlier. As Rose’s house came up first, she suddenly stopped talking, pointing out to her backyard.

“Oh! Can you boys help me bring the garbages out to the street? They’re coming around the block tomorrow morning.”

Aaron walked over to the fence gate, giving a little salute. “No problem, ma’am. I can take care of it.”

“Sure you don’t need help?” Lukas called out.

“Nah, I got it!”

As the two watched Aaron open the gate, Rose turned over to Lukas. “Hey, I never got to tell you… I’m really sorry about all the Cole stuff. Everything you had to go through.”

“Oh, it’s um…” Lukas felt the night’s chill hit his face as he watched Aaron grab the garbage cans. “It’s fine. I’m surviving.”

“It must be awful…” Rose whispered, with a voice of genuine sympathy. “Learning that you were friends with such a terrible person. I mean, he convinced all of us… but I know it hit you the hardest. And I just hope you’re doing okay. No one deserves to be betrayed like that.”

Lukas suddenly turned around. He assumed she was just talking about his death. This was different.

“Well, I mean…” Lukas started, not knowing how much she knew nor if Aaron had told her anything. “We still don’t know exactly what happened. And I’m… I’ve been, uh-”

Rose, realizing where this was going, let out a sigh and rolled her eyes. She still tried her best to be gentle. “Lukas… you have to let it go, okay? Cole wasn’t who you thought he was.”

Rose’s insistence began to set a fire in Lukas’ soul. He began to run on autopilot. “Listen, you don’t understand reality, alright?” Lukas continued, beginning to raise his voice. “Don’t talk like any of that is set in stone, because it isn’t. The only truth we know is that one of our best friends died, and that’s it. And I have a real big suspicion over anyone who’s so willing and able to throw him under the bus!”

“Whoa, whoa!” Aaron suddenly cut in, hearing the yelling as he approached the street. “What’s going on here?”

Rose shook her head. “You should really get help, Lukas. Seriously. And I mean that as a friend.”

Rose turned away, and began walking towards her house. Lukas had no intention to follow her, and yet Aaron quickly stepped in as if to stop him.

“Aaron, I-”

“Listen, Lukas,” Aaron began, trying to keep the situation calm. “I just… I don’t know how much I can help you anymore, man. You haven’t really told me any of the stuff you’ve found, and between this stuff with Rose – I think… maybe she has a point. Maybe you do need help. I don’t know, maybe talk to Kat about it? But still… I can’t do it anymore. I’m sorry.”

Aaron turned around and quickly followed Rose back into the house. Lukas stood for a moment, looking at the house, nothing to keep him company but the cold air and his own thoughts.