Pitch Episode 41: Latch
#54 of Pitch
I woke up the next morning to my first hangover ever. I couldn't open my eyes for 10 minutes while I adjusted to the assault of sunlight. Sound knocked me around like a rag doll with nowhere to escape. I couldn't say how I made it home, but I could feel it was a rough journey. Had I not been wearing a leather jacket when I fell from that table, all that glass would have killed me. Still, my head felt more than damaged regardless of physical injuries sustained.
Sitting up, I noticed something, or should I say, someone was lying beside me.
Wes was in my bed. He was sleeping under the covers with me. Did we have sex in my room? Did anyone know he was there? Danger wasn't around, but that said nothing about my parents.
As I got out of bed, Wes rolled over and opened his eyes in response.
"What are you doing," he grumbled.
I wasn't naked, but neither of us were dressed. I scrambled to put on the first shirt and pair of pants I could find.
"Pitch?" Wes said as he sat up and watched me run around.
I found Wesson's jacket on the floor. Before I could toss it over to him, my bedroom door opened. Mom stuck her head in.
"You boys can eat whenever you're ready," my mother said before leaving us again.
I looked over at Wes, but he didn't understand my panic.
We ate breakfast, and it was awkward, to say the least. I was in the dark about what happened after I took my fall the night before, but it hardly mattered while faced with the present. All I knew for sure was Wesson spent the night in my bed, and my mother didn't seem to care. Either that or nothing happened that she would care about. Running the different scenarios in my head while dealing with a hangover was master class. At least Dad and Danger weren't around.
After we ate, I got Wes out of the house. I didn't mean to be pushy, but I was uncomfortable with the casual air floating around while obvious implications were present. It wasn't until we were outside that I saw the aftermath of the Halloween party. Everyone's yards were trashed, from Velmer's place down to both ends of the street. We did a poor job of keeping an underground party underground.
"Are you ok," Wes asked as we walked down the sidewalk taking in the sights.
People were trying to clean up, but some things were too damaged to deal with immediately. Broken bottles and trash were common, but then there were lawns scorched bare by fire. A giant spider's web was wrapped around one house while another was dealing with overgrown plants blocking windows and doors. I don't think anyone knew for sure where the chaos started. It definitely helped that no one got through the night unscathed.
"You don't get how big a deal that was?" I answered with a question.
"No, not really," Wes replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Did we have sex in my room last night?" I asked as we stepped around concrete, painted with vomit.
"I don't think so. Why would it matter? We have sex in my room all the time," he joked.
"No, we don't!" I exclaimed.
"Why does it matter?" He asked.
"It just does."
"Our parents know we're dating, they probably assume we have sex," he argued.
We walked past a house but stopped when we saw the owner run outside, ready to start a chainsaw he carried in hand. He was quickly ensnared by wild vines that bound him to a tree.
"We don't have to make it obvious," I said.
"I'm sorry," Wes replied as we watched the man's family burst through the front door to join the fight.
We went on our way before the plants, or the family had a chance to pull us into the battle.
"It's ok," I said with an exhausted sigh.
We were walking aimlessly. I was in such a panic; my only response was to get Wes away from my house. Thinking it over, it was shitty of me, but I was too hungover to see outside myself.
"How much of last night do you remember," Wes asked as we finally stopped walking.
We couldn't go any further. There were several cars flipped on their backs at the end of the street. I was surprised no one blamed me for all the collateral damage.
"I don't know. People were breaking stuff, the lab got crowded, I was looking for Velmer, and then I found you," I said.
We both leaned against the blockade of cars, still paying witness to the neighborhood clean up efforts.
"And then what?" he said.
"We were on a table... and you asked me to go to Europe with you?" I continued until I got to the part that mattered.
We paused but only because a giant spider crawled out of hiding onto the middle of the street. At that point, a dozen of our neighbors where fighting spiders while the other fought plants.
"I wasn't going to tell anyone, but my family is moving back home after graduation," he said.
"And you want me to come with you?"
"Of course, I want you to come with me," he expressed with a sudden hug.
"Wes," I said with less warmth than he showed me.
He let me go, but only after waiting for my arms to wrap around him. They didn't.
"I gave up magic for you," I said.
"You gave up magic because it was the right thing to do," he debated.
"But you pushed me over the edge," I said.
The neighborhood fight was getting out of hand. It was challenging having a serious conversation while kids were screaming, and parents were being dragged away by spiders and killer weeds. I found a car mirror and broke it on the pavement before tossing the remnants into the fray like a grenade. Like clockwork, the street split open where the mirror landed, and the giant spider fell in. Either I was getting better at controlling my luck, or the universe didn't like spiders. Regardless, I turned back to Wes as the neighborhood took a winning position.
"I don't know if I can go with you," I said.
"Why not?" Wes asked as his hands held my shoulders.
"I can't follow you around the world."
Just the notion of running away was too outlandish to take seriously, and yet, I knew he was serious.
"It'll be fun," he argued with the biggest most convincing smile.
"But it wouldn't be right. I'd be like your sidekick," I said as I stepped back, and he was forced to let me go.
"You are the furthest thing from a sidekick," he flattered me.
"You know what you want out of life, but I'm still looking for something to make me feel like the hero of my own story," I admitted.
I never liked being on stage. I hated performing, but I loved it when people saw me as something other than a mistake. Becoming a magician, I could have shown the world I was more than my curse. I gave that up, and I'd do it again. But without that opportunity, how else was I going to be more than what I was?
"As a member of The Ring, I won't be cursed anymore," I started to speak until Wes tried to cut me off.
"You don't need The Ring. Fuck those guys. You have me. You have Velmer. I don't like her, but you have BJ. You have me," he said.
"When I become a full member, it'll be like becoming a real creature, like you. It'll be like becoming a fuller me," I continued even as he spoke.
I had to raise my voice. I didn't want it to turn into a fight, but we were yelling at each other.
"You know I wouldn't care if you were human," he tried to talk me down.
"There's too much I'm still figuring out about myself. I'm still changing, and I hate to say it, but we don't know if we'll like each other when I get where I'm going," I said.
I had to talk over him for my words to get through, but they got through. Eventually. When everything fell silent, I knew we both heard one another. Sometimes the absence of sound said more.
"I'm sure I will, I know I will," he said softly with a calmer head.
He protested his definitive convictions with doubt absent from his mind. I had to know myself and be myself before I could know anyone or be with anyone.
"Are you saying no?" He asked before the silence turned cruel.
"I'm saying let's slow down so I can figure things out first. What if I want to go to college or get a job?"
"Do you want to go to college or get a job?" he remarked.
"That's not the point. We're not even halfway through the year," I argued.
"So you need time," he said.
"Yes," I answered while holding my head with my hand.
Arguing wasn't helping my headache. I tried not to look away. Wes wore a straight face, but it turned up in time. His smile brought a grin out of me. I didn't push him away, and he didn't latch on.
"I can do that...but can we still have sex," he joked.
It was a rougher conversation than either of us liked, but we had an understanding after it was over. As the neighborhood finally killed the spiders and cut the weeds, Wes and I climbed over the barricade of cars. We could have stuck around to help with the firebirds that landed on rooftops soon after, but no one died. At least no one that I knew.