On His Knees by Tabatha Kiss

Chapter 8

Jenna

“So, Seth is there? Now?” Wilder asks from the kitchen across the condo. “Chilling in your house?”

“Yes,” I answer, staring at the ceiling with my body sprawled out on her couch in the living room. “He’s there. Now. Chilling in my house.”

“Because his and Drew’s apartment building caught on fire?”

“Yup.”

“Did he start it?”

“Apparently not.”

The edge of her mug clinks against a dish as she pulls it from the drying rack by the sink. “Wow, that’s wild,” she says. “Have you talked to Heidi yet?”

“No,” I say, pouting slightly. “Well, I sent her a text.”

“What’d it say?”

“K.”

She snorts. “That’s one loaded K.”

“I know. I know. But I’m not in the mood to talk to her about it yet. Luckily, she’s over the ocean right now and literally can’t answer it anyway, but it’s only a matter of time.” I sigh. “I can’t believe she did this to me.”

“I can.” Wilder plops into the armchair beside me with her mug between her palms and her black hair up in a laid-back bun. Bright blue yoga pants. A cute off-the-shoulder top. If she’s hungover from last night, she’s clearly bounced right back this afternoon. “Honestly, all of us are pretty sick of your shit at this point.”

I pause, turning my head in reaction to her bluntness. “Really?”

“I guess we’re all just... confused? Like, we know you guys have history, but what the hell did Seth even do to you that was so awful?”

“I...” I hesitate, swallowing it down as I look at the ceiling again. “It’s a long story.”

“Condense it down into a bite-sized chunk for me,” she says, not letting me off the hook.

“He...” Again, I pause as I feel myself getting lost in the emotional weeds. “Well, we grew up together.”

She nods. “Right.”

“And we were all pretty close until their parents went through an ugly divorce. Heidi lived with their mom, Seth went with their dad, and then everything just... dissolved.”

“Also not brand-new information.”

“He became this crazy bully and tortured Heidi relentlessly.”

Again, Wilder nods. “But what did he do to you?”

My breath stalls as movement catches the corner of my eye. Corey enters the living room from their bedroom door just off the kitchen. He’s barefoot. And shirtless. And... pantsless. He shuffles into the kitchen and throws open the refrigerator, bending over to reach for something deep inside and presenting his tighty-whities to the world. If he’s hungover from last night…

Actually, he might still be drunk.

“Corey,” Wilder says.

He looks up at the two of us, seemingly not caring about his appearance in front of company. “Hey, honey. Sup, Jenna?”

Wilder furrows her brow.

I smile. “Hello, Corey.”

He cracks open a soda can and gives it a good chug as he scratches an itch on the back of his shaggy blond head.

“Corey,”Wilder says with loving judgment.

“Yeah?” he asks, withholding a belch.

“Go back to the room, make your entrance again, but this time be moderately presentable.” She still smiles. “Okay?”

Corey smirks. “No problem, babe.”

“Thank you, my love,” she says in sing-song as he marches back into their room and closes the door. She turns back to me. “Sorry about that.”

“Eh.” I wave a hand. “It’s nothing of his I haven’t seen at the Delta Xi house before.”

Wilder heaves a nostalgic sigh. “I’m gonna miss Taint Night.” Her smile fades. “Hey! Don’t change the subject. And stop picturing my boyfriend’s taint!”

I chuckle. “I’ll try my best to control myself.”

“Okay, look…” She leans forward and sets her mug on the glass coffee table in front of us. “You’re obviously stalling because you don’t want to talk about the real reason your panties are permanently bunched, and that’s okay! You don’t have to tell me anything. I can fill in those blanks all on my own.”

“Thank you,” I say, genuinely appreciative.

“But what you are going to have to do is look deep inside yourself, get over it, and find a way for you and Seth to co-exist,” she says, bringing her fingers together and locking them tightly. “At least for the next week. For our friend, Heidi.”

I nod slowly. “Co-exist?”

“Co-exist. Like the Christians and the atheists. Meat-eaters and vegans. Dogs and cats.”

I sit up, planting my feet on the floor. “You’re right,” I say, deflating. “Seth and I need to... co-exist.”

Wilder lifts her entwined hands. “Co-exist.”

“How do we do that?”

“You set boundaries,” she answers. “You figure out exactly what it is he does that triggers your impulse to fight with him, and you tell yourself no. You’re not going there. You’re going to take the high road because your friendship with Heidi is too important. And you’re going to go home and talk to Seth and make it clear that he needs to do the same if he’s going to preserve his relationship with his sister. Boundaries. You won’t go there, he won’t go here, and the two of you will live in harmony together.”

“Boundaries...” I muse to myself.

The bedroom door swings open again and Corey marches out, this time clad in a pair of bright pink yoga pants and a cute off-the-shoulder crop top — an outfit obviously snatched from Wilder’s side of the closet.

“Well, ladies...” Corey says. He strikes a pose, balancing a hand on his right ribs just over his Alpha Delta Xi tattoo. “Am I now presentable?”

Wilder smiles, slowly exhaling as she looks at me instead. “Boundaries,” she whispers.