Adventures of Disillusionment - Chapter 2 - The Casualties of Love and War

The next day Chloe broke up with Pi and brought some things over to the duplex to stay with Paul. Under Neil’s insistence I also brought some things over to stay there. Kristin began phoning Jamie and was over at the duplex again the next few days.

“So do you want a piece?” Clay’s voice wafted from the kitchen along with the smell of the lasagna that Kristin and I had made the previous night.
“Sure, but only a small one.” I responded, walking in the general direction of his voice. Upon entering the kitchen I saw him fussing with the dishes, his unruly hair bobbing up and down as he moved. Clayton or Clay as everyone called him was the third of Neil’s roommates. His parents owned the house, yet he didn’t hold it over anyone. I liked Clayton, seemed to feel comfortable around him.
“Okay, small one it is.” He responded looking up at me for a moment.
“That’s not small.” The distress in my voice was evident upon seeing the enormous piece of cheesy and saucy pasta that he placed on my plate.
“Sure it is!” A wicked grin adorned his features as he put his plate in the microwave. Hopeless, I thought as a vibrating sensation spread from the pocket of my jeans. I shuffled for the phone that lay there and was not at all surprised to find a familiar name.

“Hello?” her voice answered me from the other line.
“Hey Kristin. What’s up?” She waited a minute before relaying her day’s adventures to me. These consisted primarily of ditching classes and going shopping. New lingerie and a new top to show off, I suspected for Jamie.
“So where are you?” finally her story ended and the question I’d been expecting came.
“At Neil’s” A curt response, knowing what was coming next.
“Is Jamie there? I’m supposed to hang out with him there later.” Her voice perked up at the prospect of being with this attractive guy was new to her life.
“No, not yet, but Clay says you’re welcome to come over.” I relayed his message to her quickly, hoping to get off the phone and go back to relaxing.

She showed up ten minutes later and refused food. While Clay and I discussed politics, philosophy and science she fell asleep on the couch. When Jamie entered an hour or two later she was fast asleep.

“Hey guys.” His voice boomed through the house as he slammed the door behind him.
“Shhh,” twin whispers of frustration hissed at him from the corner table where Clay and I sat.
“Oh, shit!” He noticed Kristin laying on the couch for the first time. His eyes slowly raked her body as she lay in a pose that most would associate with sex appeal rather than sleep. He leaned slowly over her and puckered his lips, then looked up at me suddenly, a look of uncertainty in his eyes.

I shrugged and looked at Clay with a smile. How am I supposed to tell him what to do? Jamie continued to gesture wildly at me and finally I looked at him with a few curt nods. A wide smile crossed his lips and he leaned in leaving a soft kiss on her cheek. At this she stirred with a smile. That night she stayed in his room all night. They talked, laughed, made out and left her topless.

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Meanwhile Chloe stayed in Paul’s room for several nights adding this man as the second one she’d ever shared a bed or her body with. Scandal’s started and people bitched, and I was perpetually stuck in the cycle. Things at the house, the one with Alex, Kristin, Pi and now an absent Chloe, were getting heated. A hurt Pi cried to Kristin and Alex who had gotten back together. Kristin became infuriated at Kristi and decided that Jamie wasn’t for her, but continued to talk to him, without informing him of her disinterest. She simply repeated that she had a boyfriend to him, over and over. After a week of things going on like this I received a phone call.

“Hey Kat?” Her tired voice sounded through the speaker-phone. I knew what was coming but didn’t want to ask.
“Hey. What’s up?” The casual greeting wouldn’t be enough to illicit a story. At least I hoped not.
“Not much. What are you up to?” I knew what came next, an offer to join her in her latest activity. I wasn’t feeling it, especially since the movie Jamie had paused from his comfortable perch on the couch next to me was a hell of a lot more interesting than any drama she could dish out.
“Just watching some movies with Jamie.” I looked at him apologetically and mouthed that I’d be done soon. He nodded, wary. He had almost had enough. The first time she had grown bored, the day after she left her shirt in his bedroom, he had given up almost entirely. Still he had come to her rescue upon the second break-up with Alex when she threw a fit while driving her car and called me from God-only knew where. She had spent that night snuggled up in his bed again. When she had gotten back with Alex nobody, including Jamie was surprised.
“Mind if I join you?” I looked over at him, and watched his shoulders raise in a shrug as he shook off the disappointment and anger he felt for the girl. He still got a flutter inside when she came over, he still flirted, and he still wanted her.
“Uh, sure. Movies and ice cream wouldn’t be the same without you.” I feigned enthusiasm at the notion of her joining us. I mouthed sorry to Jamie as he reached for the remote. “I have to go now, Kristin. When can we expect you?”
“Give me about an hour.” It gave us enough time to finish Thank You For Smoking at least. I sighed.
“Alright, we’ll hold on the next movie for you.” She hung up after that, just as I had expected. I turned to Jamie who turned the movie back on. He wasn’t angry now, just confused. He’d be up for a night of flirting, or he would have bluntly announced that no, she wasn’t welcome. Jamie was rarely one for ambiguity.

A few hours and a glass of hypnotic later Kristin was sprawled on the unfolded couch among countless blankets with Jamie and me watching her amused as she acted much drunker than she actually was. He was actually enjoying her flirtatious company and she hadn’t scolded him for his advances once that night. Something must have happened between her and Alex earlier that night, but I honestly didn’t have the energy or the interest to ask, and Jamie seemed to preoccupied to care. The festivities continued until her cell phone moved on the black glass of the coffee table as it vibrated.

Kristin’s gaze suddenly turned sullen and sobriety entered her eyes. She glared at the object buzzing in front of her and sneered. Slowly and cautiously she reached for it, plucking it up from the glass. She looked at it curiously, examining the number on the front.

“Hello?” Flipping it open she spoke in a tone more agitated than anything else. A voice mumbled on the other end and she looked up at me, a question brilliant in her eyes.
“Neil’s room is open.” I answered, knowing what she needed. Privacy to settle her issues with her on-again boyfriend. She hopped over Jamie and made her way upstairs hissing into the phone along her way. I looked down at him with an apologetic look in my eyes and received no more than a shrug for my effort. Getting up I trudged upstairs feeling an obligation to my best friend.

Sitting on the bed beside her I listened to the conversation as it progressed. Screams of lack of sexual interest and an overwhelmingly dangerous use of drugs permeated the room. In response his shocked and angry voice responded with denial and accusations toward those she called friends. The situation messy and upsetting to both parties led to her crying and dumping him again, by then I had lost count, and hanging up. Minutes later she called him back and they were discussing. This conversation also came to an abrupt end as she ended it again and he hung up. She turned to me with tearful eyes and revealed that she’d have to talk to him in the morning since she couldn’t leave it at that, considering her inebriated state.

Making our way back to the living room she trailed behind me down the stairs, allowing me to shrug in response to Jamie’s questioning look. We finished the movie and I made my way upstairs with Jamie following close behind. His questioning looks were something I couldn’t answer since I didn’t know any better myself. I curled up in Neil’s bed hoping he’d be back earlier than he had planned the next morning and went to sleep.

I awoke the next morning to find Jamie gone to work, Neil undressing in front of me and Kristin gone after a folding all the blankets up. I fixed the couch and moved the coffee table back to where it belonged.

After brushing my teeth and saying good morning to Clayton I picked up my cell phone and stared at it undecidedly. Should I call her and find out? It seemed illogical; all her drama just made me weary. But I felt some sort of pull, a draw of compassion for her so my fingers dialed her number before my mind could stop them. Her voice mail received my call, leaving me worried.

Several calls and an hour later she answered her phone letting me know she’d left earlier that morning and she was fine. Her and Alex had returned to a more coupley way of life over the course of the night and many angry phone calls. My sigh in response to that elicited a backlash similar to a teenager screaming at their parents that they can make their own decisions. I didn’t argue, instead I hung up and let it go.

The bliss of the warm afternoon spent with friends was broken once again with a call from Alex informing us that Kristin was suicidal and untraceable. Many phone calls and worried words were exchanged with friends before finally receiving a safe reply. Chloe, who had come back from her home in St. Louis had managed to get through to the dangerously unstable girl. Kristin had holed herself up in a hotel and didn’t want to be found.

Several hours later Alex joined her at the hotel and spent the night with her. Another break-up or five occurred during this time. When they left the next morning everything was peachy keen and the couple couldn’t have been happier.

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Chloe, for the next several weeks, didn’t dare step foot in the house from which she had made her quick flight, for fear of the lashing she would receive at her harsh treatment of her ex-boyfriend. Pi had informed her that she had not in fact been his first partner and that he had lied and manipulated her. Broken and tired she spent the majority of her time with Paul, drawing him out of his room and out into the social world the duplex was becoming.

Meanwhile Jamie and Clay fumed to Neil and I about just how much time Chloe was spending in their home. Feelings of guild began to flood me, for spending an equal amount of time there. Consolation and bitching continued over the course of the next week. Chloe came to me for help with those at the house, and despite some hard feelings in the past we grew closer.

I was torn between friends at all sides, and the time grew to symbolize an emotional chaos for me. Kristin practically kicked Chloe from the house, and Chloe was glad to go, if temporarily. She had tried move out and find her own place but was denied a release from her lease, leaving her in a situation that seemed more and more dreary.

One night she came to me with a story to tell and revealed the events of a weekend that I had missed, which had driven her back to the house.

“He broke up with me.” I already knew what she was revealing to me, as I had talked to Paul earlier.
“Yeah, I’m sorry honey. It must be ha…” She shook her head waiving me off.
“No, it’s not, I cried. When he said it, but it wasn’t because he broke up with me.” I gave her a baffled expression in response and arched an eyebrow, willing her to continue.
“You see, when he broke up with me I started thinking how great Pi was and how we belonged together and I couldn’t help it. He tried to reassure me that it would be okay, Paul did, and I just nodded. I mean what could I say?” I sat in awe for a minute at this whole new perspective. I nodded simply before opening my mouth to speak.
“I guess I understand that. I think.” She smiled, knowing I didn’t but apparently appreciating the sentiment.

Chloe ended up back in Pi’s arms, though things weren’t quite the same between them as before. She was back at the house, fighting Alex’s parents to get out, and I at Neil’s insistence stayed at the duplex more and more.