“I can’t see what’s the point.” Tina said, flicking through the channels.
Peter snatched the remote out of her hand. “The point is you fucked him!”
“Listen,” Steve said, walking in from the kitchen, “I really had nothing to do and neither did she…”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this. I really can’t believe I’m still here.” Tina rolled her eyes. “I’d like to just once have no regrets about who I sleep with.”
Steve looked puzzled as he plopped onto the couch, next to her. “What other regrets?”
Peter threw the remote at Steve. “You thought you were the first?”
“I have that effect on boys” Tina sighed, getting up.
“She’s that good, Steve?” Peter asked, his face desperate and a little broken.
“Hold on,” Steve said to Peter, holding up a finger, calling out to Tina. “What’s with the boy comment?”
Tina poured herself a glass of wine.
“Three years and not even a kiss..” Peter muttered.
“Three years?” Steve was shock. “You sorry bastard.”
Peter snapped back, “”Three minutes, Steve? Who’s a sorry bastard?”
Steve closed his eyes. “You told him?”
Tina shrugged. “I was really upset about the whole thing Stevie.”
Peter put his face in his hands. “I can still imagine the scene, with your Bugs Bunny boxers around your ankles apologizing.” He looked up at Steve. “I must admit, stress over your dog’s neutering appointment is original.”
Tina chuckled and poured herself another glass.
Steve turned a deep red that neither Peter or Tina thought possible.
Tina tugged at her tank top, suddenly irritated. “When are we going to bury this conversation among other fruitless ventures ?”
“I’d like to know when am I going to get the chance to bury my head underneath your sheets.” Peter shook his head.
Steve regained his composure. “Wait a minute…Did Tina ever know about your feelings for her?”
Peter looked at Steve deadpan. “It’s one of the only reasons why we’re friends.”
“What??” Steve glared at Tina.
Tina glared back. “It’s none of your business.”
“But-”
“It really isn’t.” She cut him off and turned her back, disappearing back into the kitchen.
“It’s times like these my therapist warned me about…” Peter paced the living room, his face still in his hands.
“Oh please.” Tina stepped out of the kitchen and sat on the dining room table.
“Do you mind?” Steve said, regarding his table.
Tina looked down at either side of her. “It’s a bit hard but considering it’s wood, it’s to be expected.”
Steve paused, then looked at Peter, who was still pacing, and Steve didn’t care if he was crying or not. “You love her and she’s like this?”
Peter spun around, his arms waving. “You DON’T love her, you don’t even KNOW her and YOU SLEPT WITH HER??! Who are YOU to judge ANYONE??”
Steve scratched his head. “I really don’t know what to make of all this.”
Peter was pacing again, mumbling.
“It’s simple,” Tina said, crossing her legs. “I was horny and you were around and everything else from there on was a bit of a disappointment. Now,” Tina then pointed to Peter, “He’s upset because he’s been hard up for me for a little while now-”
Peter dropped his hand from his face. “A little while?”
Tina looked at him, “Look. If you think three years is a long time to wait for me then you know nothing about me mister and I suggest you give up all hope as of now.”
Steve had never seen a man shrivel up before but Peter proved that such things do happen. It wasn’t anything anyone could have pointed out on the surface, but Steve knew Peter, albeit briefly, and this was it: Peter looked broken by the way all the weight, all one hundred and ninety pounds, just dropped out of him.
Steve turned and for some reason, even if he really never liked Pete to begin with, always moody and always too loud, Steve became angry with Tina and to hell to how tightly she could wrap her legs around him. “You got some nerve.”
Tina then pointed to Steve and he could almost feel that jab on his chest. “You, minuteman. I have no problem with the fact that you weren’t a raging bull. I enjoyed everything up to that point and was kind of expecting it.”
Steve didn’t know whether to smile or not.
“What I wasn’t expecting,” Tina continued and then the tone of her voice lowered, softened, “..was for you to come up with some lame excuse about it.”
Tina lowered her head. “Not everyone is some sort of piston and the ones that are, are the ones that like to hurt you with it.”
This was a rather sudden turn, not what anyone expected. Peter had looked up. Steve fell very silent and felt very guilty and couldn’t understand why. Then again, there was very little that Steve did understand about someone he barely knew, but had slept with.
But Peter caught on, regrettably, recognizing the tone in Tina’s voice, and it was one that he had not heard often. Instead of leaving it up to her, which had always been, Peter assumed, a bit harder than other things, he gave Steve a reason. “Tina’s first time,” Peter stopped, looked towards Tina for affirmation, or a sign for him not to continue. There was none, which meant, knowing Tina, it was okay, he could talk about this. “She was about seventeen and a little drunk. It was a house party and no, we were all really smashed and there was this guy there, a senior who had quite a rep and well, Tina wanted to find out…”
Peter looked at Tina and Tina nodded her head, but she remained silent, looking far off, past the corner of the living room.
“I walked in on them. She was missing for an hour or so and I got worried. I didn’t really know her then, I was going out with this girl, Suzanne, but it was my house.” Peter paused, glanced at Tina, then looked straight at Steve. “He was raping her. He said he wasn’t, but she couldn’t have let him… I mean it looked like he was practically strangling her, pinning her arms, pinning her. I tried to stop it and he decked me.” Peter laughed halfheartedly, exhausted just by the retelling, “I introduced Tina to one of my closest friends and he raped her…”
Tina straightened her back and whispered, turning both Peter and Steve’s heads. “He tossed me a nickel on his way out.”
Peter looked at Tina and his eyes were wet.
Steve bowed his head and ran his fingers through his hair. “oh..shit…”
They stayed where they were, breathing in that quiet way that people do at funerals, or during moments of silence, the room quieter than it would have been if it had been empty. Then Tina slid off the table and walked to Peter, taking hold of his arm, then turned and stood in front of Steve, her other hand outstretched. “Nice place, but it’s a bit stuffy. Let’s go for some fresh air.”