In A Crazy Nutshell
Ryan Nichols sat squarely in the middle of the couch in some guy’s apartment. Said guy was supposedly in college, maybe NYU, and hosting a “small gathering” of a party. There were at least fifty people trying to squeeze their body mass into the living room. He was bored with the party as the clock rang midnight. It was the usual time that he got bored of such parties. The music had pounded in his head long enough that he could still feel his head vibrating to the rhythm of a song that had played thirty minutes ago.
“You want a beer?” Some girl asked swinging around the metal bucket that still had a couple of cold beers. Ryan shook his head already incoherent. She shrugged and moved on. He wondered what to do now. There was no way he could drive. He’d probably kill himself in the mania of the New York streets since he couldn’t see anything properly. His friends had vanished somewhere into the crowd but everyone here had at least drunken one beer.
“Let’s play a game,” he heard another person say. They clapped their hands loudly and everyone froze, even the girl carrying around the beer bucket. He listened and tried to understand what these people were saying. It seemed cliché, these people who played random party games once everyone was too drunk to function.
“Truth or dare, party version,” the girl to his left said with an eager smile. The girl looked at him once more. He was appalled that she had found a seat next to him. She was the girl who had practically unbuttoned her shirt while sitting on his lap. Anyone else might have appreciated that but not Ryan.
“Sure,” the first guy said again summoning the girl with the beer bucket. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded. The metal bucket clanged against the hardwood floors as she navigated her way to the kitchen. “So it’ll be just dares, and those who don’t want to do the dare can chug a beer.” The girl who had volunteered the idea looked nervous all of a sudden. Ryan waited for anything else to happen. Maybe he would stay out the whole night. It was Saturday after all. He turned off his cell phone after seeing three new messages from the golden child he had as a sister. The first few rounds were elementary and Ryan had glanced twice at the door. His friends were into the whole game, laughing like idiots at anything. Ryan rolled his eyes and wondered why his friends from high class society had to be busy tonight.
“Your turn,” the girl said gently touching his arm. He looked up realizing that everyone was looking at him. A couple people had left and suddenly, Ryan was very jealous of those who risked their lives to go home. He felt beads of sweat forming on his forehead. The first guy who decided to play this game looked at Ryan with some sort of devious smile. Ryan turned his head to see the girl mouthing something. Anything was better than spending seven minutes in a closet with her. His drunkenness had suddenly disappeared. He would have a killer hangover tomorrow. Ryan tried not to imagine the sequence that would surely take place tomorrow morning.
“Our friend here doesn’t look like he’s enjoying himself yet. Do you know who else lives here?” Ryan could see the sneer on the guy’s face. Everyone looked a bit worried at the dynamic that was taking place.
“No,” he said trying not to slur his thoughts and words together.
“Crazy lady Marley, that’s who,” the guy said and the crowd waited to hear more. Of course the only ridiculous dare went out to Ryan. It was these kinds of dares that drew the police close. The crowd had shrunk to about ten people, with all his idiot friends looking worriedly at him. They all knew what happened at the last party someone tried to get a laugh out of Ryan Nichols. “There’s a rumor that she has a pretty girl locked up. Go steal a pair of her underwear. She lives on floor seven, room 251.”
“Lucie, get him a beer,” someone said with a little laugh. The girl, Lucie, stepped forward with her metal bucket. Ryan smirked at this party with a bunch of low-lives. How much damage could another beer possibly do? They should’ve known that his embarrassment shouldn’t be their source of entertainment. His friends looked a bit relieved as Lucie stepped right in front of him. Ryan leaned towards the bucket and looked at the remaining beers, all identical Budweiser’s.
“I knew he wouldn’t do it,” someone else said letting out a pfft sound.
“Shame we have such a chicken,” the girl next to him said. She was the one with sharpie all over her face and here she was laughing at him. That girl had wanted to give him a blow job but now she had pulled a jacket over herself. She looked utterly disgusted when he snuck a peek at her direction.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” Ryan said loudly. The others looked surprised at his sudden declaration. Ryan let the Budweiser go from his tight clutch. It bounced back and messed up the equilibrium the bucket had just attained. Lucie shot a dirty look at his direction and moved away from him quickly. “How do I get in?”
“You try,” the guy said shrugging his shoulders. The guy had a bemused look on his face. Ryan took this to be a challenge and steadied himself as he stood up from the couch. He opened the door and left with annoyance at the guy who had wanted him to do this. Ryan pressed the button to the elevator. The elevator was old and putrid with an old fashioned way of closing the door before any of the buttons functioned. It reeked of urine and Ryan tried to avert his eyes. It was at least two or three in the morning now. He felt tired and was ready to collapse on anything. His family probably knew by now he was out partying. The elevator let out a ding sound as it came to floor fifteen. He got out and wondered what his battle plan was. Ryan walked swiftly to room 251. The long dimly lit hallways gave off an eerie vibe. He wanted to be out of this apartment as soon as possible. It was a smaller apartment, at least compared to the one he was just in. He gave the doorknob a slight tug and was surprised to find it open. Ryan stuck his head in first and felt guilty for sneaking in to someone else’s house, no matter how crazy they might be. He swung open the door as quietly as possible. Ryan closed it right after hoping that no one else was roaming the halls this late. His shoes didn’t squeak and he walked around the apartment. He soon found that it was empty, at least of a crazy woman named Marley. Only one pair of shoes was by the door and Ryan couldn’t see anything resembling a shoe rack.
“Who’s there?” The girl had a shrill voice full of anxiety. He chuckled to himself. It probably would be the highlight of this party.
“No one of consequence,” he said. He walked closer and found the girl standing outside the door. She was cowering behind a neighboring lamp and he wondered if there was something wrong with her too. “Do you have some underwear that I could borrow? I promise I’ll go away.” She was prettier than he had imagined. No, scratch that. She was pretty, even for his standards. His bit his lip and enjoyed watching her squirm. His girlfriend, Vanessa, never failed to mention at how sexy that one little thing was. This was just too easy. She called him a bastard whenever he pulled that face.
“Take what you want and leave,” she said going inside of her room. She closed the door and he waited outside observing the apartment. It was a painted a strange peachy color with carpet that had become an awful yellowish tint. The furniture was scattered about but he could see that someone was tending to the dishes and laundry.
“Do you live alone?” He asked her once she had emerged out of her room again.
“No,” the girl said shying away from him. They were roughly the same age and he wondered why she was so terrified of him. Well, other than the fact that he had just snuck in some time in the early, early morning. She stuck out her hand and he took the pink pair of underwear from her. He felt a little jolt of electricity when his fingers touched hers. The girl was blushing uncontrollably and Ryan wondered what her deal was. She waited for him to leave.
“Bye,” he said walking over to the door. He decided it wasn’t time to leave yet. Ryan leaned sideways with his shoe touching the other side of the wall near the door. Effortlessly, his put his elbow against the wall. She walked close, falling for his trap. He blocked her path but wondered where she could possibly be going. Ryan leaned close, so close that his face was just an inch away from her pale face. She closed her eyes and Ryan was choking from laughter.
“Stupid,” he said and noticed that his shoe lace was untied.
He bent over and something shiny caught his attention. He poked his finger around the welcome mat pretending to have dropped a quarter. She watched him suspiciously and he carefully put the little key deep inside his pocket. “I’m glad we met. You might want to lock the door next time. Do you live in a romance novel?” Ryan left with the utmost satisfaction. He pressed the elevator button and returned back to floor seven. Ryan walked confidentially back to the apartment. The lights were still on and Ryan wondered why none of the neighbors had called the police yet. Lucie opened the door but hissed once she saw that it was him. He wondered why she didn’t look tired at all. She wasn’t lugging around the metal basket either.
“Cat got your tongue?” He asked and she promptly moved over. Ryan could already tell by the glassy look in her face that she was captivated by his good looks. He wouldn’t lie, not now, not ever, that he was good looking. No one could possibly deny it. Even the daughter of the crazy woman had decided that she wanted a kiss from this handsome stranger that had broken into her house. He held the underwear tightly in his hands and took a moment in the doorway to observe it. It was an ordinary pair of underwear by all means. There were no frills like the pairs of lacy panties that Vanessa would buy.
No one had risked their lives to go home when he came back. They all looked hesitantly at him as if he was announcing the winning numbers of some lottery. He flung the underwear at the guy who had told him to go get it.
“How?” People started to press him for answers but he just smirked and played it off cool. Everyone looked quite flabbergasted and he leaned back on the couch and crossed his arms. He had become an instant celebrity with these people who had nothing better to do. Even Lucie had a look of slight admiration, and total adoration, for him. The guy tossed the underwear away from his face and admitted defeat. Ryan won at everything and he laughed at the low life people who thought they could win over him.
He blinked and was surprised to find himself lying shirtless on someone else’s couch. His idiot friends were on the floor next to the couch and naturally, Ryan cursed. His shirt was on the floor and even turning his head at the slightest degree was painful for him. He got up and picked up his shirt and jacket. Ryan carefully strode his way trying to avoid the pools of disgusting vomit. This was the reason why he never tried to overstay his welcome. His car was parked in the back and undamaged. That was pure luck. There wasn’t as much as a scratch anywhere. He drove home quickly. Everyone was still sleeping when he returned, half past nine.
“Where were you?” Not everyone was asleep. Ryan rolled his eyes to find his perfect sister, Melanie, sitting on the couch.
“Where do you think?” He asked digging the cabinets for any form of a headache reliever.
“Mom told you to stop that,” she said closing the cabinet on his hand. Melanie looked nothing like Ryan, or anyone else in the family. She had inherited their grandmother’s looks, the only one in the Nichols family who had. Melanie was only eleven and for the most part, easy to ignore.
“Don’t you have some calculus to do? Or violin lessons?” That was her cue to buzz off but today she just looked mildly dazed.
“Finished before you got here,” she said proudly. “Vanessa called. She said something about your phone being off.” Melanie moved away from the couch. That was another thing she couldn’t stand about Ryan. From the minute Vanessa strolled into the house, Melanie had decided to hate her.
“I don’t understand why you hate Nessa so much,” Ryan said imitating the singsong voice she had two moments earlier. “She’s pretty, sophisticated, and smart. You could learn a couple things from her.” Melanie looked genuinely hurt as she walked up the stairs. Ryan turned his cell phone back on and realized there were only two bars of battery left. ‘Three new messages’ blinked on the screen. Luckily only one of them was from Vanessa. If not, he would have been dead. As much as he loved teasing Melanie, the truth was that he hated Vanessa Atkins too. She was a clingy narcissist and relationships could only ever have one narcissist. They were childhood friends and it only seemed natural that they would date as the years passed by. When a single family had so much power and money, they only ever married other families with such prestige. His father had always looked for a way to link the Nichols and the Atkins and with Ryan he had found it. Poor people thought that the rich had it easy but there were always rules in any social class. He dialed Vanessa’s number. These were rules that even he didn’t dare to defy. Ever since his parents became stressed over the boom of the O’Shea coffee emporium, they were stricter about what he could and couldn’t do. He would probably be grounded (for the first time ever) if they ever found out about yesterday’s party.
“Hello?”
“Ryan!” Her voice sounded slightly angry. He wondered where she was.
“Sorry, my phone ran out of battery,” he said treading thin ice. He had used that excuse five times in the last month. “I’m getting a new one soon.”
“Are you busy today?” Ryan closed his eyes. No. No. No. No?
“Yes,” he said ashamed that he couldn’t bring himself to please his parents.
“We haven’t been on a date in a while. . . “Vanessa said. This was one of the many annoying things she did. “What are you doing?” Ryan flicked his pocket and smiled once he remembered he had stolen a key yesterday.
“Doing some charity work,” Ryan finally answered. “It’s community service, mandatory.” He stressed the word mandatory. He could just picture Vanessa nodding empathetically. She would then put the phone down and fume angrily telling her parents that Ryan Nichols just blew her off again. They would call the Nichols residence and then his parents would reprimand him for not spending enough time with that witch.
“Mom, I’m going to do some charity work!” He shouted and left holding the keys to the motorcycle celebrating his first date with Vanessa.
“You? Charity?” His mom smiled while watching the gardener plant poppies. “What a positive change.”
Claire woke up the next morning wondering what had happened yesterday. Her head was pounding for some reason and she opened the cabinet where her mother normally kept the aspirin. The little container was empty. Claire couldn’t believe that her mother had forgotten to stock up on medicine. She heard the door unlocking and walked back to the couch nervously.
“Claire-bear,” Marlene said with a smile. Claire felt her tense shoulders fall back in relief. Marlene eyed her strangely before putting her groceries on the table. The orange aspirin container was bobbing at the top of the brown bag. Claire smiled up at Marlene before reaching for it in a manner similar to how one would embrace a close friend. “What do you want for breakfast?” Claire decided not to tell her mother about what happened in the early hours. She still didn’t fully know what had taken place.
“Um, maybe some cereal,” Claire said. “Mom, can you buy me some new underwear? The pink ones got… er ripped.” They were her favorite pair and she wondered why she was so stupid in her own dream. She hadn’t questioned anything but did exactly as the guy commanded her to. Claire shook her head and Marlene stared at her with a worried look cast on her face. Marlene grabbed the aspirin bottle from Claire’s dainty fingers and put it back in the cabinet.
“Why don’t you come with me next time I go?” Claire closed her eyes and tried to remember how to breathe. The aspirin wasn’t working. Lately her mother had been telling her to leave the apartment and go to the outside world, where dangerous people lived. First it was to the balcony where Marlene had strategically placed potted plants. Claire loved the potted plants despite the struggles of being on the balcony fifteen floors above ground level. She hated the busyness of the city. Everyone was always in a furious panic to do something and get somewhere. Claire tried to ignore the constant honking of taxis while watering her precious plants.
“Mom!” Claire yelped in fear and alarm. “I like safety.”
“Here’s the cereal,” Marlene said calmly. “You’re sixteen now. You’re big enough to explore outside.”
“I’m fifteen, Mom,” Claire said pouring herself a bowl of cereal. “I will never ever go outside.” Marlene nodded her head and draped her jacket over one of the kitchen chairs. She left the table and Claire quietly ate her breakfast. Marlene had never felt so accomplished or happy. She pushed her mousy brown hair behind her ears and wondered how to tell Lyle the good news. Lyle was the one who had secured Claire for her and also the one that Marlene had loved. They had a complicated relationship and she never saw him for more than an hour every month. As long as Claire didn’t want to run away, she would forever be Marlene’s; that was the deal Lyle had proposed to her. Marlene picked up the ringing phone in surprise to find that Lyle had called her first.
“Hello, Lyle,” she said in her monotonous voice. “Yes, everything is quite splendid. When will I see you again?” Marlene talked to Lyle about everything from Claire’s sudden declaration to the type of cereal she liked best. She knew better than to ask about his safety. Marlene carefully avoided the subject of her own personal affairs as well. Once she breached that subject, there was no way evading the subject of relationships. Marlene knew deep down in her heart that Lyle would never accept her. There was a very small glimmer of hope that he did love her but to Marlene that was simply a fantasy. She had decided that it was better for him to say nothing than to face the possibility of rejection.
“I’m not busy,” Marlene murmured into the phone when Lyle asked. She was astounded when he asked her to meet him in the coffee shop they had first met at. Claire was to stay home and it would only take a maximum of three hours. He hung up shortly after Marlene agreed to see him. She felt adrenaline coursing through her body. It had been much too long since she had seen Lyle. Everything was so rushed and Marlene wondered if something went wrong. Marlene grabbed her faux alligator skin purse and went rushing towards the door.
“Mom, where are you going?” Claire asked standing up. She ran to the door and wondered for the first time where Marlene went during the day. “Where are you always rushing to?”
“Work, you know that silly,” Marlene said frantically staring at her wristwatch. “I must leave but lunch in the fridge and I should be back soon. Make sure you watch two hours of television, not the news dearest. I love you.” Marlene bolted out and Claire had never seen her so eager and excited. Claire sat down and finished her cereal. She hated watching TV but Marlene wanted to make sure that Claire was never out of the loop with the outside world. Claire sat down on the sofa and turned the TV on. She watched channel four, the local news broadcasting which further reinforced the idea that the outside world was a dangerous place. Claire froze when she heard the lock on the door twitching and eventually the door squeaked open. She changed the channel to some random sitcom and turned her head slowly. Did Marlene leave something behind?
“Hope I’m not interrupting,” a familiar voice said to her. The sense of fear and dread came rushing back and Claire just wanted to break down and sob.
“You said you’d leave me alone,” Claire said eyeing the lessons her mother had prepared on the living room table. “I have things to do!" The TV was still playing in the background and the first tear had rolled down from Claire’s red face. She was horrified that she was crying in front of this guy, the guy who had broken in to her safe haven yesterday.
“Those things can wait,” Ryan said glancing at her vigorous lesson plans. “I’m more important than school. Are you stuck here all day?”
“By stuck, if you mean safe then yes,” Claire said stuttering. “Are you here to return my underwear?”
“Oh, you should be glad that I got rid of those battered . . . “he stopped talking once he saw that Claire’s face was bright red, three times as red as it was two minutes ago.
“Who in the world are you? I don’t have any money.”
“Ryan, Ryan Nichols,” he said in a matter of fact tone. “I have no use for your money.” He sat down next to her and Claire wondered what to do.
“I’m going to call my mom unless you leave.” Marlene had told her never to call the police. The police weren’t on their side and they were the ones who hurt people with their weapons. If anything bad happened, she was supposed to call Marlene.
“Why ruin a party?” He inched closer to her.
“You need to leave, please, please,” she begged. Her voice got louder with every please. He shrugged his shoulder and slid his arm around her shoulder. She started to cry and hated herself for showing such weakness to an adversary.
“Please,” she said looking up into his eyes. She was sniffling and sobbing as if he had forcefully taken her virginity away. Ryan nodded his head to signal that he’d stop. He didn’t have the heart to inflict further pain into her. “Have a good day.” He locked the door as he left without a trace that he’d ever been there. Was this reality?
Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 3 is coming tomorrow!
xx
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