How Bad Is Terribly?

Kenny let out a grunt as he kicked a door shut behind him and set down one final packed box on a tower of three others. Ahead of him Brian White was flicking through the set-up screens of a freshly mounted TV and JJ unpacked a few boxes on the floor. "That's the last out of the truck."

"Thank fucking god, it was getting a little too claustrophobic in here." Brian remarked, setting down the remote and looking around, "Not too shabby, huh?"

"Still owe you big time for this Bry, figured I'd be rooming with Avery in the dorms at BMU, not setting up in a house for college with you guys." Kenny gave Brian an appreciative slap on the shoulder.

"Hey, they said only way they'd let me do the house was if I had some responsible friends there with me." Brian chuckled back, "Good news is, my mom actually trusts you and JJ, so I'm golden as long as you two are at my side."

"Oh is that how that's working?" JJ glanced back and stood, "Does that mean we get to call the shots? You don't want us to walk out, right?"

Brian raised his hands and with a carefree shrug said, "You want to wreck having a house rent free for the next few years, yeah feel free to screw it all up, JJ."

"Fuuuuck that, I'm not losing this place. It's gonna make these next few years a fucking breeze." JJ moved to Brian, the pair sharing a fist bump, "Speaking of, I was thinking after we finish unpacking most of this shit, maybe we go find Mindy and bring her over." JJ looked past Brian to Kenny, "It feels like forever since all three of us hung out. Shit, I think the last time might have been the grad party."

"Yeah...I think so..." Kenny murmured back, making his way back to the packed boxes and popping one open.

JJ shared a brief look with Brian before returning his attention back to Kenny, "Sooooo, that a yes, a no?"

"Why'd you turn all, "Fuck you.", on us?" Brian crossed his arms.

"I'm not turning, "Fuck you" on anyone, if JJ wants to invite her over, that's fine. Whatever." Kenny kept his back to his friends.

JJ and Brian shared another knowing look, "That doesn't check out." JJ insisted, "I don't think I ever heard you talk like this when it comes to Mindy in your entire life. What the fuck happened?"

"Nothing."

Brian leaned against a wall, "Oh, sounds like something must have happened."

"Did you two fight? About what?"

Kenny sharply sighed and turned his head back, "We didn't have a fight, we just -- She doesn't want to see me. So, it'd be awkward."

JJ gave a bewildered shake of his head, "Doesn't want to see you? Yeah, that makes a ton of sense, Kenny. Why doesn't she want to see you?"

Kenny stared down into the box like it might cough up an answer for him. His jaw worked, tongue pressing against his cheek, buying time he didn’t really have.

“We… hooked up. After the grad party.”

The room went very still, JJ blinked once. “You what?”

Brian’s eyebrows shot up. “You and Mindy?”

Kenny nodded, slow, anxious and miserable. “Yeah. That night. After everything Kennedy said to her, we ended up back at my place and -- we were both pretty drunk. It wasn’t—” He stopped himself, exhaling hard. “It wasn’t nothing...at least I didn't think it was but I don't even know anymore.”

JJ let out a low whistle and dragged a hand down his face. “Holy shit. Okay. Wow. And you’re telling us this now? We've been talking constantly, and setting up this move and only now you tell me?”

“I’m only telling you because you won’t let it go,” Kenny shot back, then immediately softened. “I didn’t mean to hide it. I just… didn’t know how to say it without making it weird. Hey, JJ, me and Mindy had sex. How do I even say that?”

Brian pushed off the wall, suddenly more serious. “Alright. So you hooked up. That alone doesn’t explain a month of radio silence. What happened after?”

Kenny swallowed. His shoulders slumped like someone had finally pulled the last support beam out from under him. “She said she needed some space...”

JJ frowned. “And?”

“And I gave it to her.”

Brian stared at him. “Kenny… how much space?”

“A month.”

Silence again, this time heavier and there was the weight of his friends eyes on his shoulders, "I...things got intense and I...accidently finished inside. There was a lot of panic and she just told me she needed space. I was trying to smooth things over but after that..."

JJ’s mouth fell open. “You’re telling me she asked for space and you just…vanished? Ken...come the fuck on, bro.”

“She didn’t say how much,” Kenny muttered. “I figured if I texted, that’d be crowding her.”

Brian shook his head slowly, there was almost an irony to what he was hearing, like looking in a small mirror. “Man, space doesn’t mean ghosting. It means, like, not smothering someone. A check-in. A ‘hey, hope you’re okay.’”

Kenny finally looked at them, eyes sharp with frustration. “I didn’t want to fuck it up worse! What if she thought I was pressuring her? Or acting like it meant more than it did? She pressured me into making a move, and I did! And I probably shouldn't have! Then I made it worse because it was her first time -- Mine too -- God, alright, I fucked up but I didn't mean to do anything!”

JJ crossed his arms. “Hang on, answer this man, when all of it went down. Did it...you know, feel like something serious to you? Like something more than a drunken hook up?”

Kenny hesitated, his eyes seemingly searching for something not even there before he finally locked back on JJ's, “…Yeah.”

Brian let out a quiet “ah,” like a puzzle piece snapping into place.

JJ sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Dude. Mindy’s been your best friend since, what, sophomore year? You really think she wanted you to disappear?”

“I don’t know what she wanted,” Kenny snapped, then rubbed his face, voice dropping. “That’s the problem. I was trying to do the smart thing, checking in if she you know, needed me to buy anything. Or if she wanted me to do something. I didn’t know. And now it’s been so long that texting her feels… stupid. Like I already screwed it up.”

Brian stepped closer, lowering his voice. “Have you actually talked to her since all of that? I don't mean like a text, or even a planned thing, have you seen this girl at all dude?”

Kenny shook his head and JJ groaned. “Jesus Christ, Kenny.” There was an urge to go over to his friend and smack him upside the head

“What?” Kenny shot back. “Like you’ve never fucked something up by overthinking it!”

JJ paused, then smirked faintly. “Okay, yeah, fair. But this?” He gestured vaguely between them. “This is advanced-level dumb.”

Brian nodded in agreement. “She probably thought you hooked up and then bailed. That you regretted it.”

Kenny’s stomach dropped. “She wouldn’t think that...she knows I wouldn't --”

Brian gave him a look, one of nothing but pure experience, “Why wouldn’t she?”

Kenny didn’t have an answer, but he felt a hollow pit in his gut as everything set in. "I...need to go for a walk or something. Fuck..." He turned and shuffled to the front door and made his way out.

As the door softly shut behind Brian turned to JJ, "You know, I could probably have sat here for hours guessing and not even gotten close to what the fuck his real problem was."

"God damn it Kenny, what the fuck are you doing, bro?" JJ sat down on the edge of the couch and cupped his face, "How you so fucking dim?"

"We have no idea what Mindy's thinking about this too, but I imagine she's gotta be close to how he's feeling right now." He stared at JJ expectantly, "That's not gonna really work for me."

JJ let his hands drop from his have, "No. Me either." He stood up, "I gotta fix this. For both of them." Brian gave a small smirk, "I got an idea for something."

"Hit me."

"I'm going to head out and go check with a friend, but you think you can get us a place to all head to? Somewhere with some breathing room?"

Brian slid out his phone and chuckled, "Way ahead of you, I'll give my Dad a call, tell him I'm using the Lodge for a few days. Get whoever you need to and lets get those two up there before this is fucked beyond all hope of repair."

JJ nodded, "We need to handle it a little smooth if we're ever going to get those two to agree to this. It's going to have to be a group, you know?"

"More the merrier." Brian simply shrugged back, "You know, this is fun, I didn't think I'd get to play cupid this summer." Brian grinned.

"Jackass." JJ chuckled as he grabbed his coat, "Be back, hopefully with a little more help recruited."