These brilliant pieces inspired me to write my own. I rarely write anything less than 10,000 words. Short stories are not my strong suit. But, I felt like giving it a try. Here is Dumped. Let me know what you think:
Dumped
“Are you STILL obsessing over her?”
Erik jumped. Jordan, his roommate, was looking over his
shoulder. He closed off the tab displaying Amelia’s Facebook page, but not fast
enough. “I am not obsessing over her.
I was just curious.”
“About what? She hasn’t updated her page in, what, seven
weeks?” Jordan grinned. “Ever since you dumped her.”
Erik re-opened the lab report for Bio class. “Yeah, yeah.
I’m not obsessing, though.”
“Whatever.” Jordan gravitated to his bed, grabbing his
Political Science textbook from the shared nightstand. He sat against the
headboard, flipping through pages. “Dictatorship… dictatorship… Ah!” He stopped
around the middle of the book and scrunched up his eyes in concentration.
That sat like this, in silence, for at least an hour. Each
working on assignments for school. It was the Saturday of a three-day weekend.
Monday was to be a “faculty day”, whatever that meant. Jordan claimed that all
of the professors went off and got drunk at a party.
Bio lab done, Erik peeked over his shoulder. Jordan was now
deeply engrossed in his Poli-Sci book, making notes on a legal pad. He returned
to Facebook, put Amelia Grossman into Search, and started sifting through her
pictures.
“I thought you weren’t obsessed?”
Erik slammed the laptop shut. “Goddamnit! Can’t a guy have a
little privacy?”
Jordan held up his hands as if in surrender. “Hey, chillax. Just
making an observation.” In contrast to his words, he closed the thick book and
slid off the bed. “All I’m saying is: it ain’t healthy looking at old pictures
of chicks you’ve done. She wasn’t your first, or your last.” He knelt down
beside his roommate. “Hell, you been through two girls since her, ain’t you?”
Erik sighed. “Yeah…”
“Well, what’s so special about her? You two weren’t together
THAT long.”
Erik reopened the laptop and immediately closed off the
browser. “Nothing. She was just… pretty, is all.”
Jordan waggled his eyebrows. “They’re all pretty, dude. Once
you get up inside, it’s all the same.”
Erik rolled his eyes. “Geez, dude! That’s crude, even for
you.”
Jordan stood up. He was tall, lean, and muscular. A soccer
star in high school, he was gliding through college on a hefty scholarship. He
was everything Erik wished he could be. “Whatever, dude. You’re no saint.
You’ve been through your fair share of chicks.”
“Yeah, but I have at least a little respect for them.”
“Respect, shmee- Uh, schm- Fuck it.” He strolled back to his
bed, gathered up the books, and dumped them into his backpack. “Actually, I
gotta run to the library.” Erik started to speak, but Jordan cut him off. “I
know, I know. The campus library is closed. I meant the one on Third St.” He
waved the backpack back and forth like a pendulum. “I need one more source for
this report. Feel like coming?”
Erik shut off the laptop and stood up as well. “Yeah. I’m
actually all caught up with my work. But, I could use something to read.”
Jordan scoffed. “Nerd.”
He grinned, letting his roommate know it was a joke. Despite the academic
scholarship, Jordan was a good student, maintaining a B+ average.
Once outside, enjoying the sunny day, Erik felt the tension
lift. His work was done. (Well, the essay for Lit needed one more edit, but
that was nothing.) He had the next two days off, not including today, which was
only half over.
“So,” Jordan said as they crossed the intersection two
blocks from Third St., “planning on creeping through Amy’s Facebook on the
library’s computers?”
“Jesus! What the fuck, dude? I told you, I’m NOT obsessed!”
Jordan looked around. Quite a few people were out enjoying
the warm weekend. “Dude, keep it down. I’m just saying.”
“Well,” Erik replied in a lower tone of voice, “how about
you quit just saying.” They came to
the next intersection. “It’s none of your business, anyway.”
“True,” his roommate replied. “I’m just watching your back.
What you’re doing is stalking.”
“What? No. No it isn’t.”
The light turned green; they crossed to the block where the
library was located. “Yes. Yes, it is. Cyberstalking, or some shit. They can
trace that kind of stuff.”
“Ah, you said it yourself. She hasn’t updated that page in
forever.”
Jordan grumbled. “Look, stupid. She might not be on there,
but her family could be. And if they see someone creeping on their daughter’s
pictures, especially some guy, you could get in trouble.”
They entered through the big double doors of the library,
forcing them to speak in low whispers. “Really?” Erik asked.
“Yeah. So I’d knock it off if I were you.” They found an
empty table in a dim corner. Jordan dropped his pack on it, wincing when the
thump echoed down the stacks. “Shit,” he whispered.
Erik grinned. “I’ll be back. Just gonna check out the new
releases.”
He returned a few minutes later with two books and three
DVDs.
“Dude, you can torrent any movie you want for free. Why rent
discs?”
Erik shrugged. “It’s free. Why not?” He sat down across from
Jordan and opened one of the books. “Wait. Weren’t you just warning me about
screwing around online? What do you call pirating movies?”
“Not the same.” He had picked up a thick atlas for a
reference while Erik was pleasure shopping. After taking a few notes, he closed
it and slid it off to the side. His brow wrinkled again, this time at a
disturbing thought. “Hey, you haven’t been stalking any of the other chicks,
have you?”
“What?” Erik was so engrossed in the novel that he had to
backtrack to understand his friend. “No. Hell no!” He whispered as loud as he
dared.
“Good. But that makes me wonder: what was so special about
Amy that you can’t stop looking her up? I mean, there was Rachel after her,
right? AND Beth?”
“Amelia,” he corrected.
“I’m soooo sorry. Ah-mee-lee-aah.”
“Don’t be a smartass. And I don’t keep looking her up
online. That was just today.” He gathered up his picks into a neat stack. “Find
what you need? Then let’s go back. I think they close soon.”
Back in their little apartment –really just a bedroom,
bathroom and kitchenette- Erik made a beeline for his laptop while Jordan set
aside the Poli-Sci work for an overdue World Literature report. “God, I hate
this shit. Why can’t these guys write in plain English?” He looked up, trying
to catch Erik on Amelia’s page again.
Instead, his roomie was looking up the author of the book he
had open on the table. Nerd.
Suddenly, something Erik had said earlier struck him as funny. “Dude. Dude?” No
answer. Jordan tossed a pillow at the back of his head. “DUDE!”
“What?”
“You said you didn’t keep looking up Amelia online. You
haven’t been to SEE her, have you?” Erik pretended not to hear. “Dude? Dude,
make me feel better. Tell me you haven’t been to her place.”
“Well…”
“DUDE! You are NOT
serious with this!”
“Look, I just wanted to see her-”
Jordan stood up, towering over Erik. “Man, are you nuts?
Cyberstalking is one thing. But, going to her place? That’s beyond crazy!”
“I know! I know! It was just the one time.”
The taller man closed the laptop. “Look at me. Say that
again.”
“It was just one ti-”
“Bullshit. How many times have you gone digging around her
place?” He grew deathly serious. “How many?”
Erik took a deep breath. “Three. Just three times! It was
always a week apart!”
“Dude! You’re out of your goddamned mind! What IS it about
her that has you peeping in on her? That’s some serious shit you’re messing
with, man!” He started pacing the room. “At least tell me you haven’t been
talking to her?”
“No!” he insisted, then withered under the other man’s
scrutiny. “Well, this last time-”
“For Christ’s sake, man!”
Erik hung his head. “Fine! I don’t know what it is. She…
stuck with me, you know? Got in my head. I keep thinking about the night dumped
her.”
“That’s the whole point, dude! That’s why we do it! We see
them for a little while, have some fun, and cut them loose. Shit, that’s the
best part!” He grabbed playfully at his roommate’s shoulders. “You gotta let
her go, man. Say your goodbyes and move along to the next chick! That’s how the
game works.”
Erik patted Jordan’s hand. “You’re right. No, really,” he
added, seeing the other man’s suspicious face. “There was this one girl I’ve been eyeing up…”
“That’s the way! Move on to the next chick. Get that
what’s-her-name out of your head. Replace her. They’re just chicks, man! Don’t let them get to
meaning too much. You’re a sophomore in college! You gotta focus on your
grades. Chicks are a… diversion.”
Erik grinned. “You’re right!” He stood up and checked his
cell. “In fact, I think I’m going to see if I can hook up with Celine tonight.”
Jordan spread his arms as if giving a fiery sermon. “That’s
the spirit! Hallelujah!”
Erik did, indeed, seek out the girl from the doughnut shop.
He sat and watched Celine work behind the counter while he finished off a small
pack of doughnut holes and two hot coffees. When nearly two hours had passed
without uttering a word to her, he decided to leave, lest she get the creeps.
He had to see Amelia, just one last time.
He and Jordan shared a car, mainly for picking up girls. And
dumping them. Erik took it for a jaunt out of the town proper. The college and
surrounding village were surrounded by farmland and forest.
Erik learned everything he knew about picking up chicks from
his roommate. The man was a machine
when it came to the ladies. Jordan took him under his wing freshman year when
they ended up dorming together. By mid-terms, they decided to share an
off-campus apartment. It was a lot cheaper and convenient. The taller, more worldly
man had taught him everything about hooking up with and dumping chicks. “Stress
relief,” he called it.
Erik kept driving until he came to a little wooded area
about ten miles out of town. There was only one house in view, so he knew this
was where he could find Amelia. He had to see her just one more time before letting go.
He cut the engine and got out. The house was abandoned, so
nobody saw Erik take a mud-stained shovel out of the trunk. “Thirty paces from
the road, then right another twenty,” he chanted. It was the same with all the
girls. Thirty paces, then twenty.
He had to see her, just one more time…
