Avoiding Decisions (Avoiding #1.5)(3)

“What the f**k else do you have better to do besides work on finishing off that case of beer?”

“Anything sounds better. I don’t have time for wannabe rappers when I have free booze sitting at home.”

“If it’s any consolation, a blonde with huge tits gave this to me,” Jack said.

Seth’s ears perked up. “Now I’m listening.”

Jack chuckled to himself and grabbed the paper. “She and her friend are going to the show, and she gave me the paper while leaning against the counter and showed me her ni**les.”

Seth walked into the kitchen and grabbed another beer. “Wait, are you into her? Because you know how I love girls who show off their ni**les in the middle of the day,” Seth called out.

“She’s all yours,” Jack offered. He hoped he sounded generous and not just like he was giving in too easily.

Seth crashed back into the recliner, tossed Jack a beer, which was caught in midair with one hand, and then he popped open his own.

“So, it’s the other girl then,” Seth said intuitively.

Damn! Seth knew him too well. Even when he tried, Jack couldn’t hide anything from Seth. That was the problem with staying friends with people Jack had known all his life. Sometimes, he thought Seth knew him better than he knew himself.

“I mean, she’s hot,” he said casually.

Seth stopped mid-drink and set his beer down. “Whoa.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, dude,” he said, staring at Jack. “First, you hesitated, which means she drew your attention. Most girls really don’t for some reason. Second, you answered me like you didn’t care, which immediately makes me think you do. So, who is this chick?”

Jack shrugged and turned away. “Just a girl who comes into the coffee house. I don’t know her name or anything.”

“Dude, you’ve got it bad.”

“Fuck off. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jack said gruffly.

“Remember when you first started dating Danielle, and I told you it was a terrible f**king idea?”

Jack slung his arm across the back of the sofa and threw his head into the cushion. He knew where this was going.

“Well, it was a terrible f**king idea. She’s a f**king doormat. I mean, I didn’t blame you for getting laid all the time in high school, but now, you can get way better ass than that, man,” Seth said. He shook his head like he couldn’t believe that Jack was still with Danielle.

“Whatever.”

Great comeback.

“I’m totally going to this concert with you, and I’m bringing the guys,” Seth said with a crooked smile. “I hope you f**k her until your dick falls off.”

CHAPTER 3

THE THEATRE

The guy sitting behind the desk was about as townie as it came in this city. He was tall and lanky. No, he was more like skinny or even scrawny. Jack was sure the guy had never heard of a gym before. He had tattoos running up and down his arms and peeking out from beneath his perfectly rumpled ironic T-shirt. Jack liked to keep his hair long enough to fall into his eyes, but this guy’s hair was just too long and stringy. Hygiene was lacking all around.

“ID?” The guy thrust out his hand while looking at Jack in disdain.

At least the feeling was mutual.

Jack handed him his fake ID, which was a duplicate of a friend of his. He didn’t think it looked much like him, but in Athens, it didn’t matter. If it said he was twenty-one, and it wasn’t just a flimsy piece of paper, then no one gave a shit.

“Great,” the guy said. He barely glanced at it before handing it back to Jack. He placed a giant black turtle stamp on Jack’s hand and let him pass.

Jack pulled open the door to the Theatre and walked into the music venue. The room was cool as if to make up for the Georgia heat, and he was glad he had worn his dark jeans and black button-up with the sleeves rolled to three-quarter length. His trusty navy Chuck Taylor’s were on his feet.

His roommates, Seth, Luke, and Michael, had come with him to the show. The conversation to get all his roommates to come out with him had been about as embarrassing as Seth could manage, and he had a talent in such things. His friends, Clark and Hunter, had been over to witness the spectacle, too. None of them liked Danielle, and they were more than happy to help Jack find someone else, so he would grow some balls and dump her. Clark was the only one who had been hesitant, but peer pressure had won him over in the end. Clark and Hunter were going to meet them out for drinks later since they had an intramural soccer game.

“So, which one is she?” Seth asked as he walked in behind Jack.

Jack made a quick sweep of the room. “I don’t see her,” he said.

He had only been here a handful of times to see some pretty popular bands or to catch a couple local bands that had a strong following in Athens. Last October, he and all the guys had come here for a Halloween blowout full of angels, devils, cowgirls, and every other variety of slutty costume imaginable. People were crushed wall-to-wall while a DJ blared club music. This was nothing like that. The venue was actually quite sad on a weekday.

About two-dozen people were standing in the center of the room, bobbing up and down to the college rap music some guy was spitting into the microphone. A handful of townies sat around the perimeter of the room on cheap couches and bar stools, drinking PBR, and ignoring the music.