Lane

“Lane, what the hell is this.”

Lane winced at the shrill sound. He had been putting a bag of frozen peas in the freezer when May started yelling. Lane got up from a crouch and reluctantly walked over to face the music.

“What the hell did I do now,” he thought, shaking his head.

Walking around the corner from the fridge, Lane found May standing in the doorway to the pantry, a slender room with shelves on both sides three high.

May was standing there with a bottle of **** in her hand, giving Lane a smug look. A green bag with more cans and bottles sagged by her feet.

“Look what I found,” she said.

“Shit,” thought Lane.

Lane silently cursed himself for being so careless. He had meant to hide the bag of **** in Chris’s room, but it had slipped his mind, a mistake that was now coming to bite him in the ass. Maybe there was a way out though. Maybe the good old Lane charm would be enough to get him through the fire. Lane took a deep breath. Oh yeah, this could work. Lane gave May his signature smolder, and prepared to go to work.

“Baby, I swear I don’t know how that got there. Someone else probably brought it. You told me that Ellie didn’t want any **** on the trip, and I would never just ignore something you told me.”

May sighed and rubbed her temples. She suddenly looked very tired, like this interaction was heavier than the rest of the days activities combined.

“So, this isn’t a receipt for all the **** in this bag with your debit card number on it the ?”

Blind sided by his own girlfriend. Harsh. Lane could feel the trap spring around him, he had no way out. The only way this could have been prevented was to ignore Mays call. Once Lane answer it, it was already too late for him to escape.

Lane stood there not sure what to say. May’s stare felt suffocating. He gagged on all the things he could say, shoving each pathetic excuse back into his brain. There was no way out, except forward. May had played her hand perfectly and left Lane with no other option but to fold.

“Uhhh… listen baby, I’m sorry, okay? We just wanted a little ****, you know? One night of partying and then we are sober for the rest of the trip. What’s the harm in that?” Lane said.

“What about Kami?” May asked, “You know how she gets when she drinks or gets high. She starts doing stupid shit that either breaks something or someone. Ele didn’t want to deal with that, so she decided no **** or ****. Do I need to remind you we are renting this house?”

“I know baby, but what’s the harm in one night, let us have a little fun,” said Lane.

“No, cause when Ellie finds out that you’re the one who brought this, she’s going to get mad at me. I don’t wanna deal with that,” May said.

“ come on, don’t ruin this. It’s not my fault you let Ellie walk all over you.”

May hit Lane with a glare that froze him to his bones.

“Shit,” he thought, “Why did I say that?”

Like always, instead of putting out the fire, Lane had only fanned it. All Lane had to do was stand there and take the heat, but instead he fanned the flames, and now it all blew up in his face.

May let out a grunt, her face twisting into a smile. “Here’s what’s going to happen, you’re going to take this, and the rest and throw it all away!”

May drew her arm back and Lane had only a split second to react before the bottle can flying at him.

Now Lane could catch. You don’t play eight years of baseball without being able to catch something. However I’m baseball, there was at least some warning of the ball, and you were ready for it to come at you potentially. Lane was neither prepared nor had any warming of the bottle coming at him, and it didn’t help that May put some of her anger into the throw. The bottle bounced off his hands, and flew into the air, smashing against the wall.

Lane ducked as Rum splattered all over the room. When he looked up her saw May, literally dripping with anger, the rum clearly staining her white shirt. Lane was surprised at how easily he could see May shake with anger. He always thought that was just a metaphor, but he could clearly see Mays body tightening and vibrating as the pressure built.

May took a deep breath.

“Get out.”

Lane didn’t need to be told twice.