“I’m her…old friend. I’m visiting a client in Brooklyn today and was hoping to stop by and catch up with her. I don’t have her new cell. I know she moved in with Ryan Haggerty. I had this number for him. This is his home phone, right?”
“Yeah. You have the right place.”
“So, is she there?”
“Actually…you just missed her. She walked down to the corner store and should be coming home in a few minutes.” I lied. “You’re welcome to come by and wait, man. It’s 1185 Lincoln.”
“Okay, I’ll do that. Thanks.”
This dude picked the wrong day to come into town.
Fifteen minutes later, he rang the front door and I buzzed him in. When he knocked on the apartment door, I opened it with a grin the size of Texas. I must have looked like I had just swallowed a container of happy pills. “Spencer!” I said loudly, patting him so hard on the back you would have thought he was choking on something. “Come on in.”
He was about the same height as me, wearing a gray suit and looked liked a typical yuppie. He was looking me up and down, clearly judging me. It made me sick that this guy had been with Nina. I gritted my teeth and cringed at the thought.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m Jake. We spoke on the phone.”
“You live here…with Nina?”
“Yup. Make yourself comfortable.”
He walked over to the couch and sat down hesitantly. “You said she would be back in a few minutes?”
“Something like that…” I walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a banana then sat down across from him.
“So…” he said, smacking his hands together, looking uncomfortable.
Good. I was making him nervous.
I mocked him “So…” Peeling back the banana, I took a huge bite and spoke with my mouth full. “Nina’s told me a lot about you.”
He looked shocked. “She has?”
“You still getting off on calling people down?”
“I am not following you.”
“You know, making people feel like shit to make yourself feel better…to make up for the fact that you have a small dick.”
He stood up. “What the fuck…”
“Don’t worry. Nina forgives you. See, after I got inside of her, she realized it wasn’t your fault at all that you never made her come. I mean, you can only do so much with what you have. The poor thing had nothing to compare it to.” I was laughing, shaking my head and said, “She thought that was normal!”
He stood up and pointed his finger at me. “You’re out of line.”
“You know what’s out of line? Cheating on a perfect angel of a woman who gave you her trust and her fucking virginity. Did you feel like more of a man? Because you look like a big pussy to me. You know, sticking it in more than one woman at a time won’t make it grow, Spence.”
He walked toward the door and turned around before leaving. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but if Nina’s been with trash like you, she deserves every bit of pain I ever caused her.”
As he escaped, practically running down the hall, I yelled, “Leaving so soon? I was just about to put on a pot of arsenic!”
The front door slammed.
Yeah…I was losing it. But damn, that felt good.
***
A week and another trip to Boston later, I was still a mess.
One night after work, on my way in the front door, Desiree came out of the restaurant, wearing a black mini dress and stilettos. She looked more like a go-go dancer than a waitress.
“Hey, Jake.”
“Hey,” I said without making eye contact and continued to walk past her.
Her heels scraped the pavement. “Wait up.”
I turned around. “What?” Still depressed and angry, I was being short with her.
I hadn’t actually run into Desiree since she accosted Nina in the bathroom on our birthday. That turned out to be the best night of my life. Even now, a week after seeing Nina with another man, my love for her was still as strong as ever. Being apart wasn’t going to mean falling out of love with her. It would be about learning to live without her, despite loving her more than life.
Desiree interrupted my internal dialog. “I wanted to apologize for what I said to Nina in the bathroom that night. It was uncalled for. I was just kind of bitter because things didn’t work out between you and me, but I never meant to cause such a scene.”
“Yeah, whatever. It’s old news.” I put the key into the front door.
“Wait.”
I turned around again. “What?”
“How are things…with Nina?”
It hurt just hearing her name. I gave the only honest answer. “It’s over.”