Don’t Be Darren

       “You should stand up for yourself,” Darren said to
the scrawny kid.
       “Easy for you to say; what are you, like 6’5?” he
replied.
       “I’m 6’1.”
       “Yeah, but you’re strong.  You could probably take
that guy in a fight.  I can’t.”
       “Look, uh, what’s your name?”
       “Sherman.”
       Fitting, he thought, “Yeah, okay.  So, Sherman, next
time gorilla over there tells you to get out of his
way, say this.”  Darren handed him a piece of paper
that he had just written on.
       “Okay, I will.  Good thing you were here; I might’ve
killed him.”
       “Yeah, definitely,” Darren said, laughing on the
inside.
       He walked toward his dorm and saw Sherman walking
next to him.
       “So, Sherman, are you a freshmen or what?”
       “I’m... I’m a sophomore,” he said, unsure of himself.
       “So, how would you have killed him?”
       “What?” Sherman paused.  “Oh, yeah.  Give me some
gloves, a handkerchief, and a fall guy, and I’d not
only murder him; I’d get away with it.”
       Darren laughed.  “You got it all figured out then?
Well, that’s cool, but just try what I said next time
that guy comes near you, and I’ll see you later.”
       “Bye.”
       Darren walked quickly away, not wanting Sherman to
get too closely attached.  He could tell that this
young, high school looking guy was not the most
experienced socially, and was very close to looking to
him as a new best friend.
       Darren made his way to his dorm room, and sat on his
bed.
       “Hey, Jon,”  Darren said to his roommate.
       “What’s up?” he replied.
       “You know that loser-ish dude you bumped into
earlier?”
       “I don’t know him...”
       “Check this out: His name is Sherman.”
       They both broke into laughter.
       “No, but also... I told him what to do next time he
sees you.”
       “Yeah, and what was that?” Jon asked.
       “I told him that next time he should say ‘back up,
bitch, before you get your ass beaten.’  So next time
you see him, you gotta let him punk you, and will have
fun later.”
       “All right, I’m down.”
       “Tight,” Darren said, just before he left the room to
get to his class.
       He walked cautiously through the grassy field where
he had just met Sherman, hoping not to see him again
that day.  He arrived a couple minutes late for the
lecture, and quietly entered.  He saw Rebecca, a
classmate he liked, who was sitting in the back, with
an empty seat next to her.
       “Pss.  Come here,” she whispered.
       “Hey, did I miss anything important?”
       “No, he just gave us an overview of the course, and
some vocab words... Actually, yeah, you’re gonna
fail.”
       He smiled and then started to pay attention to the
teacher.  When the class ended, he turned to Rebecca
with a smile.
       “So, what are you about to do now?” she asked.
       “Well, I was probly gonna go to my car, and drive
aimlessly until I got bored.  But it would probably be
more fun with a passenger, if you weren’t busy.”
       “Sounds fun.”  She smiled and looked down.
       They walked out talking and laughing.  They went
through the grass field, around the dorms, and into
the parking lot.  There were trees and bushes on three
sides of the lot.  There were dorms on each of those
sides with walkways on two of the sides.
       “You see that room right there?” Darren asked.
       He pointed to one of the dorms partially hidden by
the bushes.
       “Yeah, what about it?”
       “That’s mine.  And that window right there is really
easy to get in and out of without anyone noticing.  In
case it ever came up,” he said with a smile.
       “Is that so?  Well, why does that matter?” she asked
in an attempt to call him out on his line.
       “Well, say you were helping me study one day, and
someone broke into my dorm.  Now you know an escape
route.”
       “I’ll keep that in mind.”
       Darren unlocked his car and opened the door for
Rebecca.  He walked around to the driver’s seat and
started the engine.
       “So, where to?” he asked.
       “My house,” she replied.
       “All right, where’s that?”
       “Take a left...”
       She took him on a long journey all over the city.
After about an hour, she told him to take one final
left into her driveway, a total of nine blocks away
from the university.
       “Thanks for the ride.  I guess I’ll see you
tomorrow,” she said.
       “It’s been fun,” he replied with a smile, “Hey,
Rebecca, would you wanna go out sometime?”
       “I’d like that.  Let’s do something tomorrow.  Oh,
and don’t forget to get some gas.”
       She turned and walked into the house where she had a
rented room.  Darren made sure she got in and then
drove away.  He turned back into the parking lot,
parked his car, and got out.  He walked back through
the walkway, around to his dorm.
       His dorm was cozy.  There were two beds, a bathroom
for him and his roommate, a full length mirror, a
microwave, a toaster, a small TV, a large closet
posters on the walls, and two tables; one for the TV
and appliances, and the other for studying.  Jon was
in the bathroom.  He came out and saw Darren.
       “Hey,” Jon said.
       “What’ve you been up to?” Darren asked.
       “Just hanging out, studying, and waiting for the
weekend.”
       “Yeah, just one more day.”
       “Yeah.”
       Jon went back to studying, and Darren turned the TV
on.  They both continued for a couple hours and then
went to sleep.   The morning wind was the next thing he
felt.
       Darren heard a noise as he lay close-eyed in his bed.
 Probably Jon, he thought.  He felt a cold breeze come
in from the parking lot.  It sent a chill down his
back.  The sound of drawers opening and closing came
out of the bathroom.  He heard cupboards open and
close with urgency, until he felt hands quickly wrap
him, and shake him.
       “Hey, wake up!  I gotta be in class in ten minutes,
and I don’t know where my contacts are,” Jon said,
frustrated with his own inability to locate them.
       “Did you check your eyes?” Darren said, with a half
yawn, matched by his half smile.
       Jon was quiet for a moment.
       “I’ll see you later,” he said angrily, and stormed
out.
       Darren tried to go back to sleep, but found it more
and more difficult the more he worked at it.  He got
up two hours before he had to go to class.  He sat in
bed day dreaming about how his day would turn out.  He
thought about what he would say to Rebecca in class.
It had been a long time since he felt this way about a
girl.  He got up, took a shower, brushed his teeth,
and looked at his limited supply of clothes.  He
systematically looked through all of the possible
combinations, and, after about an hour, picked one
that he was certain made him look good.  Looking
through the pockets, Darren found three dollars, a
handkerchief, and a lighter.  Awesome, he thought.  He
turned the TV on and waited, so as not to be early.
       Suddenly, he was running late.
       “Oh shit!” he said as he jumped up and grabbed his
backpack.
       He ran out the door, leaving the TV on, quickly
locked the door, and turned to see Sherman, who was
holding his eye.
       “Look!” Sherman squeaked furiously.
       He revealed a large bruise mark just on the outside
of his left eye.  Darren stopped for a second.
       “What happened?”
       “I saw that asshole gorilla again, a couple of
minutes ago, and he bumped right into me.  Then I said
what you told me to say, and he clocked me in my eye.
I mean, what the hell!!?  Maybe I didn’t say it
right.”
       Darren started walking halfway through Sherman’s
venting.
       “You give me some gloves, a handkerchief, and a fall
guy, and, I swear, I’d kill him.  I have everything
else.  Darren,” he said as his mood shifted, “should I
have done something besides what you wrote down?”
       Darren smiled at this opportunity.  “Yeah, come to
think of it.  It’s so second nature to me I didn’t
think to write it down.”  He grabbed his head as if to
say what was I thinking?
       “What was it, Darren?” Sherman asked with wide eyes.
       “Well,”  Darren paused to give himself sufficient
time to come up with some bullshit.  “You probably
didn’t kick him in the shin.  Why would you?”  He
slowly changed his dialogue into a monologue.  “How
could I not tell him that?”
       He could have been an actor for all of his
subtleties.  Darren explained why kicking Jon in the
shin would’ve kept Sherman from a beating, while he
hastily walked towards his class.  When he got within
a few steps of the door, he said bye to Sherman, and
stopped for a second.
       “Hey, Sherman,” he called out.  “How’d you know which
dorm was mine?”
       “I overheard you...”  Sherman kept talking, but
Darren stopped listening and went inside.
       He walked in quietly, and saw Rebecca in the back,
again with an empty seat next to her.
       He looked over and mouthed a silent “hi.”  She looked
at him and her eyes lit up a little.   He sat next to
her and pretended to listen to the professor.
Instead, he thought about how freaky Rebecca might be.
 He glanced over at every opportunity.
       Rebecca was a tall woman, just a few inches shorter
than he.  She had a beautiful, curvaceous body.  She
usually hid it with sweaters and loose jeans, but on
this day she had a tight fitting red dress, that
matched the two red gloves on her hands.  She had her
hair up in a bun, which led down to her delicate,
slender neck.  She had a memorable face that never
needed make up, but she wore a little anyway.  She had
naturally rosy cheeks, and a straight nose that curled
perfectly at the tip.  Her mouth was thin, but her
lips were voluptuous.  Darren had never seen her look
so beautiful.
       After thousands of moments and glances, the class
finally ended.
       “So, what do you wanna do?” Darren asked.  He felt
uncharacteristically timid.
       Rebecca giggled and looked up at Darren, “How ‘bout
we go driving?”
       “As you wish,” he said when they got up to walk to
his car.  As they entered the parking lot, Rebecca
sneezed.
       Darren searched his pocket.  “Handkerchief?” he
offered.
       “Thank you.”  She used it and then stuffed it into
his backpack.
       Darren opened the door for her and walked around to
the front.  He stopped halfway around the car when he
heard a noise in the bushes.  He looked around a
little, but had more important things on his hands.
He got in the car, and bumped his hand on his rear
view mirror.  He started to drive and adjusted the
mirror he had moved.  He saw the bushes move a little,
and thought he saw eyes through the thick leaves of
the bushes.  He turned his head and looked but saw no
one.
       “So, your choice, where to?” he asked.
       “I don’t really like any of the food around here.
But I could make us something at my house,” she said
with a soft tone of voice.
       This chick is awesome, he thought.  “All right,
sure.”
       Darren drove the short distance, and parked on the
street.  They walked, arm in arm, up to the door.  She
opened up the door and tossed her keys on a couch.
       “Make yourself at home,” she called from another
room.  “How’s pasta sound?”
       “Sounds great,” he called back.
       She was away for ten minutes and then came into the
living room, where Darren had turned on the TV.  She
sat on the couch's arm, right next to where Darren was
sitting.  He looked at her as soon as she entered, and
didn’t look away until she sat down.
       “Food should be ready in about fifteen,” she said
triumphantly.
       Darren had skipped breakfast and lunch, so he was
eager to accept an early dinner.
       “So what do you wanna do after we eat?” he asked.
       “Any suggestions?” she asked seductively.
       “I’m down for whatever.”
       “The owner will be home in about an hour.  So how
‘bout your place?”
       Darren was starting to realize how lucky he was.
“That sounds fun.”
       She left the room to check on the food.  She was gone
for twenty minutes before two steaming plates of pasta
were set down on a table next to the couch, in front
of Darren.  She joined him and they ate, laughing and
watching TV.  When they were done, he got up and
cleared the dishes.
       “Shall we?” he said as he extended his arm.
       “But of course,” she replied.
       They walked to the car, and drove back to the dorms.
The wind picked up as he turned into the parking lot.
He saw the bushes wave back and forth.  He got out,
and glimpsed at his room.  His window was open and his
TV was off.  A bad feeling crept into his stomach.
But as he looked at Rebecca, the bad went away.  He
walked around to his door and reached to unlock it.
He went in first, to look around, and make sure it was
safe.  He set his backpack down next to the closet.
       “Make yourself at home,” he told her.
       She took off her gloves and tossed them over by
Darren’s backpack.  Darren walked towards the bathroom
where a light was coming out of.
       “Jon?  That you?” Darren called out.
       He heard a toilet flush, and saw the handle turn
slowly.  The door creaked open.
       “Who else would it be?” Jon asked, as he walked out.
       Rebecca had walked up behind Darren and introduced
herself.
       “Jon, is it?” she asked innocently.
       “Oh, sorry,” Darren said.  “This is Rebecca.”
       “Nice to meet you...”
       Darren drifted off as Jon and Rebecca engaged in
small talk.  Then, he turned to Rebecca.
       “Did you move my backpack?” he asked.
       “Um... no,” she said smiling at the absurdity.
       “Cuz I’m pretty sure I put it right there.”  He
pointed to the floor space by the closet.
       “Did you check the closet?” Jon said mockingly, as he
walked over to open it up.
       Before he even touched the handles, the doors flew
open with a loud bang.  Sherman came out with two red
gloves, holding a Colt .45.  Neither Jon nor Rebecca
could react before Sherman got off two loud shots.  He
hit Jon just above his right eye, and before Jon hit
the ground, the second bullet passed straight through
Rebecca’s bun.  He looked Darren dead in the eye, and
smiled.
       “Back up, bitch, before you get your ass beaten,”
Sherman said quietly.
       He walked over toward the window, wrapped the gun in
Darren’s handkerchief and took off Rebecca’s gloves.
       “I stood up for myself,” Sherman said as he tossed
the gun to a shocked Darren.
       Sherman hopped out of the window and ran, yelling
frantically at the top of his lungs: “He’s got a gun!!”