Jessica and I have done nothing but watched movies since she�s been in my room. It wasn�t what I planned on when I called her but it was better than having sex and then ending up alone after she went back to her own room.
�What�s he doing now?� She looked over at me and rolled her eyes,
�If you hadn�t been on the phone you would know.� I sighed and turned back to the television but I wasn�t paying attention. What was the point? I didn�t get it and I wasn�t into it anymore. When Brehan called I went out on the balcony to talk to her. I was so caught up in the conversation that I forgot I had a guest; I was out there for thirty minutes and the only reason the phone call ended when it did was because she had to go. Just as I snapped out of my Brehan induced trance my cell phone rang and I went over to answer it,
�Hello?�
�Where have you been? I�ve been calling and calling and you didn�t pick up the phone. Why?� I frowned as I tried to figure out the voice but I couldn�t. If this was a prank call I was going to curse whomever it was out fan or no fan.
�Who is this?� It was said with a bit more irritation than I planned but I didn�t care. Jessica seemed to notice the aggravation in my voice and looked over at me.
�Its Brehan, who do you think it is? Are you forgetting about me too?� Forgetting about her? What the fuck is she on? I stood up and motioned to Jessica that it would only be a minute but we both know that it�s going to be longer than that,
�What�s wrong? What are you talking about?� I walked out on the balcony for only the second time since I�ve had this room and they were both for her,
�What�s wrong? Steven, that�s what�s wrong? Fucking men. Why are you all so full of shit? I knew it, I knew it.� She was making absolutely no sense and the more she kept talking the more confused I was about what she was saying and the more sure I was that she was drunk.
�Have you been drinking?� Why ask the question? It�s not like I didn�t know the answer already. She sniffed,
�Yes, not too much. I can handle my alcohol Nick. I�m not some pussy like you.� Ok, I�ll let that slide because she was drunk and she had no idea what she was talking about. She�s never seen me drunk. In fact it�s been months since I�ve drank so much that I regretted it the next morning.
�Brehan, what�s wrong?� I haven�t had to deal with a sobbing drunk girl since my sister BJ. That was a strange time because usually she was a mean drunk. Meaner than any man I�ve ever been around. AJ was a mean drunk. It�s amazing what alcohol and drugs do to you. Both AJ and BJ�AJ and BJ, go figure. Wow, my mind is easily distracted but anyone who has seen me in an interview can attest to that. They were both nice people but when alcohol and other substances came into the picture they were mean and hurtful. She whimpered,
�He cheated on me. Why did he cheat on me? Would you cheat on your girlfriend? I mean, if your girl did everything for you, took care of you, did whatever you wanted, pleased you any way you wanted would you cheat on her?� I�ve cheated in the past, if truth be told I�ve never had a girlfriend I didn�t cheat on but she�s asking me a hypothetical question now. And theoretically, in the future, I have no plans on cheating on any girl I�m with,
�No, if I had such a good girl I wouldn�t cheat on her.� She whined,
�So why does he cheat on me?� It was the man in me I guess but I started to try and help him out even though I didn't like the guy at all,
�Are you sure he cheated on you? Maybe you're just mistaken.� She let out a painful strangled cry,
�Why are you trying to cover for him? A watch he bought and had inscribed for another woman. He got in confused and sent it to me.� Man, what an idiot.
�I don�t know why I stay with him. I can�t help it I love him. Through everything the lonely nights, the business trips, the times he�s hit me-� Did she just say hit? He beat her? I�ve never done that before. I�ve never hit a girl before; so many times I�ve gotten so angry I couldn�t see straight, I saw red and I wanted to hit them so hard but I didn�t.
�He hit you? He hits you and you're still with him?� She groaned,
�I didn't call you so you can give me a hard time. I don�t need your sanctimonious bullshit. And I don�t need you judging me.�
�Well why did you call me? What do you want me to do Brehan? Just sit here and listen to you complain about your awful boyfriend who does you wrong. I really don�t want to hear anymore about fucked up unfaithful relationships. I have had enough of that for today.� I didn�t mean to be so mean to her and when she started crying harder I wanted to hit my damn self for being such an ass. She was drunk and hurt, the last thing she needed was a guy yelling at her and giving her a hard time,
�I�m sorry ok? Stop crying please.� It�s so hard to believe that this was the woman that gave me so much grief when we met a couple of months and now she was crying to me, looking to me for support.
�What happened? Why did he hit you?� She sniffled,
�Because you were at my place.� She told me nothing had happened. I should have known better.
�You said everything was ok, that it was no big deal?� She groaned,
�Everything is always a big deal with Steven. You just don�t understand him. But he�s a good guy, he really is. He was just a little jealous; he can be a little possessive of me. He just worries about me that�s all. He�s known me since I was a kid.� I shook my head,
�I find it hard to believe that a good guy who worries about a girl could hit her and cheat on her. Why not just leave him alone Brehan. It�s better that he bothers someone else, you don�t have to worry about him anymore.�
�Are you stupid? Are you really that fucking stupid?� What the hell had I said to get her so riled up? I thought I was saying all the right things,
�What are you talking about?� She grunted,
�You�re such a fucking boy scout. You say all the right things make all the right decisions.� Suddenly there was a click and she was gone. I tried for the next five minutes to call her but she wouldn�t answer her phone. I finally gave up and walked back in the room to see the couch was empty. I looked in the bathroom and there was no Jessica. She was gone, that was the second girl that I had ditched for Brehan. It seemed that every time Brehan entered into whatever moment I was in everything else ceased to exist until my time with her was over. It was the second time in hours that I did it to Jessica. She was no Colleen, she was going to be pissed about it and she wasn�t going to hide it. Colleen. I haven�t called her yet and personally apologized for leaving her stranded in New York. I flopped on the couch and dialed her number,
�Hello?� Damn, it wasn�t until I heard her groggy voice after five rings that I realized it was late,
�Its Nick. Were you sleeping?� No Nick you dumbass she wasn�t sleeping.
�Yeah, I was but its ok. What�s wrong?� She was asking if there was something wrong, I swear the girl makes me want to just drop to my knees and beg,
�I, nothing is wrong, I just wanted to apologize for not taking you to the hotel that morning.� She moaned,
�It�s ok. It�s late and I have an exam in the morning. Can I call you back tomorrow afternoon?� I sighed,
"Ok, sorry about waking you up." I let her go and sat there staring at the TV wondering if I should call Jessica and apologize to her too. I thought better of it; best to let her calm down and sleep it off tonight. Eventually she'll get over it enough so that she won't completely bite my head off when I apologize.
Chapter 57
Stranger Than Fiction
Stories
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