Page 2 of The Hookup Situation

I slide my rings back on my fingers, one for all four on each hand. Each one is a different animal made of stainless steel. A tiger, a monkey, a dragon, and a few others, including myfavorite one, which is Aragorn’s ring fromLord of the Rings —the two serpents with emerald eyes. I’m a bit of a fan, and I wear it on my pointer finger just like he does. I switch my silver nose ring out for a plain black one, then do the same with the barbell in my left nipple. My tongue ring stays the same, and I leave the earrings in my ears, four in each one. Two at the top, one in the middle, and one in each lobe. Then I apply a smokey eyeshadow on my eyelids, and eyeliner around my eyes.

It’s a couple of minutes after seven when I arrive at Lucy’s apartment. Rory gets there at the same time as me and I smile when I see my best friend. He’s dressed in his signature button up shirt and suspenders, his brown waves falling over his forehead as he grins at me. He’s several inches shorter than my own five ten and stands on his tiptoes to give me a bone crushing hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” he says.

“Thanks, babe.”

His phone buzzes and he takes it out of his pocket as Lucy opens the door. She squeals and throws her arms around me, and then we both turn to Rory who is still staring at his phone, and frowning.

“Everything okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says, but his smile is not convincing. “Zach wants to know how long I’ll be gone. He says we haven’t seen each other much lately and he wants to spend time with me.”

“Did you tell him we were celebrating Jackson?” Lucy asks. Her dark hair is in a ponytail and she has lounge pants and a cropped shirt on, showcasing her belly button ring. It’s new and it looks so good against her light brown skin. I went with her to get it a couple of weeks ago after she’d been talking about doing it for months.

He sighs. “Yeah, and he told me how he’d been hoping to spend the evening together and would be all alone now.”

I exchange a glance with Lucy as Rory types on his phone. Rory’s boyfriend has given us ick vibes since the day we met him. He’s not mean, that we’ve noticed, but he’s almost too nice when we’re around, too smooth. He’s always making sure he knows where Rory is and telling him how much he misses him. He convinced Rory to move in with him after only four months together. It doesn’t sound healthy to me, but what do I know about relationships? I’m not exactly an expert in the field. I learned my lesson the hard way, more than once, and ever since then I’ve made it a rule to never fuck the same guy twice. It keeps things simpler.

“I’m so excited for you!” Lucy says as we make our way into the apartment she shares with two other girls. They’re out, so it’s just us, and Lucy has my favorite snacks set out on the coffee table – popcorn, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and cheetos, along with some snacks Rory can have with his different food allergies. Lucy is like that, always looking out for both of us.

We settle on the couch and watchThe Rocky Horror Picture Show, reciting the lines, singing along and even acting out the different scenes like they do during the live shows. It gets me even more excited to be a part of the production.

“You are going to look so hot in that outfit,” Lucy says with a wicked grin. I blush. I’m actually pretty excited about that part, too. I love the corset and black tights that are Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s attire, along with the black heels, pearls, and makeup.

We’re laughing and goofing off when Lucy’s roommates return and we share the news, which they are excited about, and tell me they will be in the audience on opening night.

“I bet your mom and dad were excited when you told them,” Rory says, a megawatt smile on his adorable freckled face.

“Yeah,” I say, trying to keep my smile from disappearing at the mention of my parents, the conversation (if you can call it that) that I had with my mom running through my head again.“Yeah, they were.” I take a sip of my soda, trying to diffuse the ache in my chest.

“They must be so proud of you,” Lucy chimes in. “Are they coming? I bet they wish you were closer so they could come to all of your shows.”

“Um, no, they can’t get away.” I haven’t asked but I know better than to expect them to fly out here to see me when they couldn’t be bothered to drive five miles to my performances in middle and high school.

I’ve never felt the need to share much about my parents with Rory and Lucy. I don’t want them to know. I don’t need their pity and the chances of them ever meeting are slim to none, so as far as they know, I have loving parents who miss me terribly and are super supportive.

Both of them frown. “Oh, that sucks,” Rory says. “Well, maybe we can record it and send them a copy. Or the theater department can?”

I plaster on another smile. “Yeah, maybe.”

A week later things in the theater department are in full swing. We have practice three nights a week for a few hours. We’ve gotten fitted for our costumes and have done the read through. Now we’re working on blocking.

One of the reasons I love theater so much is that being a part of a project, something that not everyone gets to be involved in, and watching the show come together, is really cool. I enjoy the camaraderie and the team aspect, and I don’t have to get trampled by a bunch of jocks to get that high. Dancing, acting, and singing are much more my speed than basketball or football, or any sort of ball, really.

I knew I wanted theater to be my major from a young age. It’s exciting, getting to play so many different roles, and putting my emotion into the characters I play is therapeutic for me.

I’m getting out of my last class of the day when my phone dings with an incoming text message. When I pull it out of my pocket I see that it’s from Rory in our group chat.

Rory: SOS, meet me at the coffee shop. Crying emoji

Shit. What happened? Rory has never SOS’d us before.

Lucy: On my way

Me: Same

Rory: Hurry, I’m not okay

---