“We’ll see about all of that,” I responded as I followed him back inside then headed for our table.
As soon as we made it to the table, the waiter came up and took Troy’s drink order, and we all ordered our entrées.
“So, is everything cool now?” Ava asked.
Kevin was sitting there with a big smile on his face. “I’m glad y’all talked. Sometimes all it takes is a little conversation to get back on track.” Kevin said.
I gave him the side-eye in a playful way.
“If it weren’t for you, I’d be fucked,” Troy said. “’Cause Dawn had me on block and every damn thing.”
“Damn right, after all the foolery that took place earlier, I was done, hunny.”
“Well, I’m glad y’all talked and got things worked out. Now we can finish this double date and celebrate for real tonight,” Ava said.
We continued to enjoy our conversation over drinks and great food. I was so happy that Troy showed up and we were able to talk things out. Although, in the back of my mind, I was still kind of leery about the whole baby mama drama, and curious to how he was going to control her. I had a feeling that Miss Monica was going to cause some serious problems with me and Troy, butlike he said, the ball was in my court. After that kiss though, I couldn’t help myself. I needed to see what he was working with that way I would know if he was worth all the drama or not.
JUSTIN
“Man, you’ll never believe what I’m about to tell you!” I spat into the phone.
“What done happened now?” Tate asked.
“I just left my lawyer’s office, and somehow Ava found a way to get the divorce granted without my consent! Ain’t that shit illegal?”
“I couldn’t tell you. I’ve never been married, but I’d imagine that just because you didn’t sign the papers doesn’t mean the judge wouldn’t grant her the divorce. I think all she probably had to do was prove you cheated and contracted HIV, and any judge would push the divorce through.”
“Well, damn, you didn’t have to say it like that!” I responded.
Ever since Tate heard me out, we had been back talking… just as friends though. As far as us sleeping together, he made it very clear that was never going to happen again. I was cool with that because had the tables been turned, I would have felt the exact same way. I wasn’t sweating that anyway; I was just glad that I had my friend back. I didn’t want to have to go through all of this alone, so to have my friend back meant a lot to me.
The only difference now was that he never missed an opportunity to throw what I did back in my face. Tate stayedthrowing shade, and it was making me feel some type of way ‘cause I really wasn’t trying to hear all of that especially today of all days. I knew what I did was wrong. I didn’t feel that I needed the constant reminder, but if this was his way of coping and getting over what had happened, then I was going to have to try to be patient with him.
“I shoot straight from the hip, Justin, and you know that.”
“Yeah, but the constant reminders though… are they really necessary?” I asked.
“I look at them more as facts, not reminders.”
“Look, I didn’t call you for all of this. I’m really sitting over here fucked up behind this shit. The last thing I feel like doing is getting into it with you right now.”
“My bad, I wasn’t trying to kick you while you’re already down, but honestly, what did you expect to happen?”
“It sure feels that way. I can’t say what I expected to happen because I never intended on things turning out the way that they have. This all has me fucked up in the head. My doctor is supposed to clear me to return to desk duty at work. But my head is so fucked up that I’m going to have to ask him if I can take an extended medical leave of absence.”
“You gon’ have to get yourself together because the last thing you need is to lose your job. How are you going to take care of yourself without a job?”
“I already know, but my mental is way off. I just have way too much going on right now and it’s too hard to accept it and move on.” I couldn’t believe Ava had just up and left me like that. She didn’t even try to hear me out or nothing. She ran straight to divorce court and cut all ties with me. I bet it was her sister and that dude influencing her like that because she never used to be that way.
“I guess I’m just a little confused by some of this.”
“Confused about what?” I asked. What I was going through was pretty clear cut. Tate knew everything that I was dealing with, so for him to be confused had me feeling confused.
“I mean, you and I had been doing things on the low for years. The whole time, I felt like you were just using women, including Ava as a cover-up because you didn’t want anyone to know you’re gay,” Tate began, but I cut him off.
“First off, I’m not gay, bro. I’m bi-sexual, Tate, just like you. You don’t have room to talk because you have dated women, and numerous women might I add, over the years as well. What I have done is no different than what you had been doing, so please try to refrain from judging me because the pot shouldn’t be calling the kettle black,” I debated, because now he had me in my feelings.
The fact that he was trying to make it seem like I was doing anything different than what he had been doing was just bogus. I couldn’t count the number of times he had gotten caught up by different people he fucked around with, so he shouldn’t have been talking crazy.
