Crossfire

Saturday night—well, more like Sunday at 2 AM—nonetheless, nothing interesting was really happening. Facebook’s Bejeweled application kept Sang’s mind occupied all night long; he was trying to get those combos while mindlessly arranging three of the same color in a row and he was also chatting here and there with this person and that person, all at the same time. Just chillin’, everything’s aiight. And out of nowhere the ringtone of his iPhone shook him out of his game mode. God damn, it was a call from me, and I was sounding desperate to come over. I told him that, in fact, I was already parked outside by his dorm. Sure, I guess, whatever, he thought.

Sang got another call from me when I was standing outside in front of his dorm, and he trudged down to let me in and lead me back upstairs into his room.

“So, it’s 2 AM; what’s up, Brian?” Sang asked as he sat down on his bed to play more Bejeweled.

“Well, after my observation this morning at the Education Academy—oh, the manager offered me the job by the way.”

“Yay.” Sang saw that coming.

“Anyway, after the observation, I drove to LA, where...where I spent all day hanging out with Trung.”

“Oh.” Aww, looks like Brian’s having more ex drama.

“Yeah.”

“So what happened?”

“Well, we just spent the day shopping and everything was fine. But, then, we were at H&M when Trung mentioned this one guy named John who’s his mentor in some kind of internship.”

“Mhm.” Shit yeah, Sang managed to match four whole diamonds in a row.

“And, well, you know the movie Precious?”

“Nope.”

“Well it’s this movie about a fat black girl who’s life just keeps getting worse and worse. And Trung saw it. And it made him cry. And guess who he saw it with?”

“Jo—”

“He saw it with John. Just John,” I repeated. “No one else. Just them two.”

“Mhm.” Damn, my bad, I knew the answer—oh yay high score.

“You know what that means, Sang?”

That you’re jealous? Should I even bother answering? Whatever. Sang shrugged as he reached over to his desk to retrieve a huge Costco-tube of Gardetto mix.

“Trung cried, so whose chest was there for him to cry into? John’s chest, that’s whose.”

“Ha, Brian, you’re jealous aren’t you? And bitch, you ate all the garlic chips last week didn’t you?”

“Well, those are the only good ones. And, sure, I guess I’m jealous, but, you know what’s even worse?”

Sang finally managed to dig one garlic chip from the very bottom of the tube and popped it in his mouth. Bliss.

“We’re giving him a ride to and back from NorCal for Thanksgiving break.”

“Oh, wow. Is it going to be awkward?”

“Only if I make it awkward.”



Trung, Sang, John, and I were at a gas station about halfway back up to NorCal. Sang bought some more yummy snacks and headed back outside to the car, where only John was sitting inside. He was awake, but he didn’t look so good. His hand was up against his forehead and he was leaning against the door. The car was locked, so Sang knocked on the window to get John’s attention. John reached over to pull the door handle when suddenly, aw fuck, the car alarm blasted out of nowhere. John jumped up, startled, and Sang stepped back, glancing around awkwardly. He looked at John and shrugged.

After a minute, I casually stepped out of the gas station convenience store, lifted my car key, pointed at the car, clicked—the alarm silenced itself—and I disappeared back inside again.

When we were all on the road again in the car, I didn’t speak a word about the car alarm. John still didn’t look like he was doing so well, and what probably didn’t help was that my driving seemed unusually jerky that night. I had driven Sang in the past, and I usually drove a lot smoother. My music was really loud too; Sang had thought that I liked the volume low. He noticed that Trung would try to lower the volume, but I would just gradually raise it again over time. For the rest of the trip, John said nothing, and I barely said anything as Trung tried to strike up a conversation.

Whatever, nothing was awkward when Sang was happily asleep.



I told Sang that I would pick him up for the return trip to UCI Sunday morning at 8:30, but he already knew that I would at least be half an hour late. And he was right, which was fine because that gave him more time to chill with his friend at home while waiting.

I showed up at 9:15, and, surprisingly enough, the guy sitting in the backseat wasn’t John Duong. It was a guy named Chris Duong, someone I worked with in the past. Not like it really mattered, because Sang planned on sleeping the entire trip anyway.

Once I dropped Trung back off at UCLA, Sang eagerly took the front seat.

“I’m not jealous anymore,” I said as I started driving.

“Really?”

“Trung and I had a talk, and he reassured me that John actually has a boyfriend who he complains about to Trung a lot. And I guess if you have a guy that you complain about a lot, it means that you care about him enough.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“But, I’m still kinda glad I didn’t drive John today. I think the drive to NorCal deterred him.”

“How so?”

“Well, I noticed that John kinda looked like he had a headache once he stepped in the car, so I figured, let’s help the headache...succeed in making John miserable. I drove really shittily, took sharp turns, braked and accelerated weirdly, and blasted my music. And remember the car alarm?”

“Yeah.”

“I rigged it so it would go off on John. When I lock my door from the outside using my key, the car alarm will go off if someone tries to open it from the inside ‘cause I guess the car thinks someone’s trying breaking in through the window. When we all got out of the car at the gas station, I noticed John stayed inside, so I figured, let’s subtly lock the door.”

“Oh dude, you’re a bitch! I was there when the car alarm went off!”

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire. But everything’s okay now.”

“Really?” Sang raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, things are good between Trung and me again. We had a good car ride. I’m fine.”

“Okay Brian.” Sang knew to not fully trust that and lower his guard, because, if what I had told him about a few weeks prior would continue to be true, then I’d be coming to him a lot more in the middle of the night throughout December.

How did I even end up meeting Brian? Oh, it was the day of the Funksters summer intensive showcase. Man, I wish I got to do that this year, but it was cool anyway to come support and see the old Funksters, but what the fuck was up with some of those new kids, like Brian. Mimi introduced him to me as another guy going to UCI. Like I really cared, but he still seemed chill.

Then I got a friend request from him on Facebook that same night, and bam, he flooded my wall with five or ten hella long messages with UCI tips. Damn, seriously, who was this guy? But most of his advice proved to be true or helpful anyway, so I’ll give him credit for that.

Then I kinda forgot about him until I saw him at the Funksters audition, and when he went up to reintroduce himself to me, I was like, who the hell is this guy? Oh yeah, Brian. He was kinda awkward, and not that great of a dancer.

And once again, he sorta popped out of no where for Common Ground auditions once UCI started, but I kinda needed to practice the whole audition process to get ready for CADC, and I kinda needed a partner. We were still kinda awkward with each other, but then we eventually broke the ice over the topic of Funksters and, Brian’s favorite topic that he could never stop talking about, sex. That was one long talk we had at the parking garage the night before CG auditions.

Now, I might be rooming with him and Lawrence next year. That should be pretty crazy. Whatever.

“Hey Sang.” As I was merging, I looked over my blind spot at the last minute to see a car. I swerved back into my lane. “CHRIS I’m wide awake so don’t hit with me the Axe can again. But, hey Sang.”

“Yeah?”

“Am I irritating sometimes? Like just a little bit?”

“Nah dude.”

“Really? The random visits at 3 AM in the morning?”

“Nah, it’s fine. They’re actually kinda fun.”

“Ha, cool. Thanks man.”