Even the Girls

"He's covered in grass."

"Covered in dirty grass."

It was true, I was covered in dirty grass. Waking up sloggy after a yard night's sleep. My head ushered in every noise and every noise ricocheted like a bullet off a basement wall. Cars, birds, humans, some indecipherable drone. "What happened?"

My friends looked at each other, sending back and forth telepathic you-tell-him-no-you-tell-hims. I peeled off grass shards and brushed off dirt, felt the little line imprints on my cheek. I pushed myself off the ground and that's when the queasiness surged. Then there was vomit everywhere. "What. Happened."

All the information at once. "Ricky" "It was Ricky" "You guys" "You guys were talking at the party" "Remember the party" "He had those pills" "Roofies" "He was talking about roofies" "You remember Jessica" "Of course he remembers Jessica" "Ricky had been drinking" "Drinking a lot" "Too much" "He always drinks too much" "That's not the point" "Get back to the story!" "Ricky was eyeing Jessica" "You both were kinda" "Yeah kinda" "And he was talking about these pills he had" "The roofies" "Yeah the roofies" "And good Jessica was looking" "Yeah how she was looking real good and everything" "And so he was talking about giving her one of the pills" "No not giving he was" "Or yeah slipping her one of these pills" "Putting them in her drink!" "And we all know what that does" "So you were telling him not to" "You were telling him not to do it" "You were being civil" "You were using your words and everything" "You guys were talking and" "And Ricky got real mad" "Real mad" "He didn't understand what you were freaking out about" "And it didn't look like you were freaking" "Yeah no way!" "But Ricky's getting pretty pissed off" "Yeah dude he is pissed" "Like pissed off" "And then you guys spent so much time talking" "Do you remember any of this?" "He said he didn't remember!" "Not really he didn't!" "Do you remember any of this?" "So anyways you guys were talking" "Arguing" "Yeah arguing or whatever for so long that Jessica" "By this point Jessica had just left" "Yeah she left with some friends" "And that was it" "Yeah that was it."

I couldn't look at them because of the sun. But I couldn't look at my puke either. So I shut my eyes. That helped a little. "Help me up." They hoisted me off the ground, and that's when the new pain hit. "Guys. Why does my ass hurt, like, intensely bad? Why is it sore?"

You-tell-him-no-you-tell-hims.

"Guys."

"Ricky" "He was mad at you" "Yeah he was real mad" "Like re-e-e-eally mad" "But he was faking that he cooled off and" "Yeah and well" "Well" "The pills he was talking about" "The roofies" "He slipped some into your drink" "And then they" "Oh my god I can't believe they did this" "It wasn't rape or anything dude" "Yeah don't worry you didn't get raped" "But uh" "Uh yeah they did spank you" "Yeah" "Yeah" "Like a lot" "There was a line" "A long line" "Taking turns spanking you and hitting you with things" "Rolling pin pillow rulers shoes" "And people were laughing" "Even the girls" "And everyone was doing it" "Even the girls!" "People figured well it's not sexual or anything" "Yeah you weren't being penetrated" "You weren't getting raped or molested" "Yeah so people figured it was OK" "People are messed up man" "Yeah people are totally messed up."

I rose my hand to signal the end of this. "Did you guys join in?"

"No" "No way dude" "Never" "We would never do that to you" "Not for free" "Shut up he's joking" "Sorry yeah no" "No we would never."

I signaled again. "But you didn't stop them, did you?"

There was a long pause. Gaping open mouths like a couple of goddamn idiots. "There were a lot of people" "Yeah there were like tons of people there."

I nodded. "It's fine." It wasn't, but I was going to need my share of friends after that night. "They dragged me out here?" They nodded. "OK," I said. "Thanks for... thanks."

"Yeah no problem dude" "Sorry about all this" "Yeah sorry" "This is the worst" "Totally the worst thing" "You need help getting inside?"

"No," I said, "I got it."

I walked past them and to the front door. My parents would be home tomorrow, so any damage could (hopefully) be undone by then. I opened the door and took a look around my house. It was funny. Everything was fine.