Free You Should Smile by Renee Lee

touch and his tender words.
    As the game ended, we stood up and began walking up the stairs.  The rest of the group was already near the top, with Thad and me trailing behind.  From the bleachers above, I heard my name.  Him.  Mama’s Boy.  I looked toward the voice and saw him there sitting next to my former best friend, Alicia.  I tensed again.
    “Hey, Shay.  How are you doin’?”  He smiled at me with his old smile – the kind that I used to think was sweet.  Now it just pissed me off.  I mean, I couldn’t care less about his sorry ass anymore, but how dare he act as if nothing in the world had changed?  As if he hadn’t slept with my best friend and ripped my heart out at one point in time?  As if all was normal and right?  Alicia just looked at me like she’d swallowed a lemon.  She made no attempt to say hi or even smile.  At least she was smart enough to realize how fucked up it was to pretend like it never happened at all.
    “Why Jeremy and Alicia”, I said sarcastically, “What a pleasant surprise.”
    He went on, not noticing my obvious disdain.  “Yeah, really!  Alicia and I live around the corner from here.  We love to see a good game, ya know.” 
    I nearly laughed at his nonchalant reference to domestic bliss, until I felt Thad standing next to me.  Awkward. What was he doing?  Why was he standing there?  I felt like I had to introduce them.
    “Uh, this is Thad…..Jeremy, Alicia.”  I mumbled Jeremy and Alicia’s names as I nodded among them all.
    Then, Thad slid his arm around my waist, as if to stake a claim on me.  Pretending we were together?  Protecting me?  For my benefit?  I saw Alicia’s eyes light up as she believed he was “with” me. Back off, bitch, I thought.  You already played that game.
    Awkward silence again.  I glanced over at Thad, who was looking up toward the sky – and grinning widely.  Like he was contemplating something.  Was he drunk?  What the hell was he doing?
    He brought his chin back down and continued grinning.  Then, he held his hand out for Jeremy to shake.  Jeremy was as unsure of this bizarre gesture as I was apparently, because he reluctantly met Thad’s hand to grasp it.
    “Ya know, man, I just want to thank you.  If you hadn’t fucked up with Shay, she would’ve never been mine…..So I actually owe you one for being such a fuck-up.”
    Jeremy face was frozen with – disbelief? Fear?  Awe?
    Then, to top it off, Thad looked over at Alicia and made a point of checking her out, looking her up and down.  Clearly affected by his gaze, Alicia started returning a sultry look.  I thought about choking her….until Thad shrugged his shoulders and said, “Hmmm….I really don’t get it.”  He turned toward Jeremy again.  “Hey, man, to each his own, I guess….”  Jeremy’s face was still frozen and Alicia looked like she was about to cry.
    Pause....Silence.  He’d seriously just rendered them completely stunned into silence.
    Thad grabbed my hand, kissed my cheek, grinned at them again and said, “You all have a great day now, ya hear?” He nearly skipped us both up the stairs to meet Grant, who was standing there with his mouth agape.
    “I’m not sure what that was, but I liked it.  Holy shit!  What was that? Did you see their FACES??!!”  Ethan and I rolled our eyes at Grant’s hysterics.
    I turned to face Thad.  I was beyond confused.  “Yeah, what was that?”  I could still feel the tingling from where he’d kissed my cheek.
    Thad shrugged and tried to play it off like it was no big deal, which tangled me up even more.  “I don’t know.  I just wanted to see them both suffer somehow.  That was the first thing that came to mind.”  Panty-dropping grin.
    I couldn’t resist that grin.  I felt my lips slowly turning upward again, but I wasn’t going to let it go without trying to make one thing clear.  “Well, I appreciate the help, but I’m not some damsel in distress, you