Into the Light

65

"Blue balls," I said to the empty bathroom. "I'm going to get blue balls." I groaned, peeled off the bandage, and stripped off my underwear. It was time to make the big soldier little again in the cold water. After that was taken care of, I switched the water to hot and let it wash the night before off of me. When I was finished, I towel dried my hair, then dried myself. Getting the sweatpants on made me almost deliriously happy that I hadn't chosen skinny jeans for the ride home. I would never have been able to get those on damp skin with this cut. I actually would've needed help. Did I care about blow drying my hair today? My side was aching but it wasn't that bad. The water had softened the scab so it was slightly bleeding but I was sure that it would stop soon. "Nah," I said to my reflection. I dragged my brush through the damp curls, trying to make it resemble my usually worn style. After a few minutes, I gave up and decided to deal with the little curls that kept trying to pop up. I brushed my teeth quickly, gathered my stuff, and walked back out into the room. The whole gang was now in my room, standing, lounging across the beds, sitting at the little tables. The door to the balcony was even open, with someone sitting out there, hidden by the curtain. After another glimpse around the room, I realized that someone had to be Anna. "Hey brother, you feeling better this morning?" Sam asked. He had been leaning up against the wall, with one foot crossed over the other. "Yeah, lots," I replied. "You need me to bandage that for you before we hit the road?" he asked, motioning towards my nasty cut. I looked back out to the balcony, thinking about Anna bandaging it up for me last night. That probably wasn't a good idea right now. "Nah, I can do it. I'm can still move, ya know. It's just a cut." "With a lot of nasty ass bruises around it," he said. I dropped my dirty clothes on top of my luggage bag where Anna had left it and turned to face him. "And? Which of us don't have a few bruises after last night? Take your shirt off Sam. Let me make sure that you'll be able to drive back." I started to walk towards him, but he ducked around me, laughing. "Okay, okay, I get it. Sorry. I'm just worried about you. It could've been a lot worse." "Yeah, but it's not, so let's move on," I replied. He moved closer to me, and leaned towards my ear. "Everything okay with you and Anna?" I glanced towards the balcony again and nodded. "Yeah, fine. Why?" He shrugged. "I don't know. She just seems...on edge about something. She came out of the bathroom and went straight out there. Hasn't said a word to any of us besides Kat, who went to check on her. She said she was fine and that was it." Was it really that hard for her? "Uh, things got a little...um, frustrating, I guess you could say," I answered, lookin down as I shoved everything into the bag. "What do you-?" I cut him off with a suggestive look and his mouth dropped open a little. "Oh. That. Hmm. Is that a good thing or?" I dragged my hand through my hair, then fixed it again when I realized that it was still wet. "No. Not really. Maybe. I don't know," I groaned. "What are you two over there whispering about?" Katrina asked, getting to her knees on the bed. Sam smiled at her. "Just giving Colby a little relationship advice," he said, leaning down to kiss her. She smiled against his lips. "Yeah, you are a pretty great boyfriend, most of the time," she replied goofily, when they pulled apart. "Most of the time?" he asked. He grabbed her around the waist, and wrestled with her. Anna walked in, her eyes going to straight to me, then quickly to Sam and Kat. I guess she wanted to know what all of shrieking and laughter was about. She walked up next to me and nudged me with her shoulder. "Hey," she said. "Hey," I replied, grinning over how awkward she was acting. "Do you need any help packing things back up?" I shook my head. "No, it was mostly clothes. I just need to grab my chargers and laptop." "I can do that," she replied, then walked around to the little table in between the beds. She reached out and pulled the charger pod and cord from the wall, then looked back at me. "Is this right?" she asked. I nodded and held my hand out for them. She tossed it towards me on the bed, then looked around the room. "Uh, where's your computer?" I looked behind me on the desk, but it wasn't there. "Oh," I said, then dug my hands to the bottom of my duffel bag, until my fingers found the hard, smooth top. "It's still in my bag. Never took it out. I guess that's it then." "Are we ready?" Jake asked, peeking over Tara shoulder, from his seat on the other bed. She was straddling him, with her legs across his waist, and her arms locked around his neck. "Yeah, I guess so," Colby replied. "Wait, Sam, can I talk to you for a sec? In private?" He furrowed his brow but nodded. He got up and followed me out onto the balcony. When I closed the door, I turned to face him. "Look, there was something that I wanted to get at that little 80's cafe. Some memorabilia that I think Anna would like. Do you think you can cover for me if I take a little detour on our way back to the car rental? It shouldn't take me more than 20 minutes, at the most." "Yeah, I got you. Just don't take too long or Anna will probably steal a car and come looking for you," he replied, with a grin. "She just might," I laughed. "Thanks man. I won't be long. I owe you one." "Hey, wait," he said, grabbing my arm when I went to open the balcony door. "Why don't you just leave earlier than the rest of us? I don't know, say something like you have to go meet with the Uber driver from last night because he texted you about the blood in his car and threatened to call the cops. Something like that. That should give you a little time, and we can just hang out here. You can text me on the way back, and I'll meet you at the place." I started to nod, then realized something.