“Ah, Queen Triple B, never a pleasure, always a chore,” I spit.
“Triple B? Are you as thick as you are elderly, or is that the senility setting in? If you're trying to insult my bra size, you clearly don't know how that works. I'm a double D, you blind old bint.”
“Well, bully for you! If you must know, Triple B stands for Barbie Bitch Brigade. The moniker I gave you and your clonies,” I hold up a hand to stop her from butting in, “And before you tell me it's ‘cronies’, I know. That's what we call a play on words.”
Why is she here? Why do you hate me, universe?
“Listen, slag?—”
“Keeley, back off,” Brad’s warning rumble travels across my skin.
“—you think you're so special because you spread your legs?—”
“Excuse me, I don't know who you are, but you need to calm down. You're being very rude and unkind. You need to apologise to Shari right now.” To say I'm shocked that sweet little Larissa has stepped in to my defence would be a gross understatement.I practically have to pick my jaw up off the floor seeing her in teacher mode.
“Who in the fuck are you?” Keeley's eyes flick down to where Brad and Larissa are holding hands and she cackles. “Wow. Brad, your taste in women is shocking. You've gone from tuna to sardines and I don't know which is worse. I don't understand you at all, you could have been having caviar this whole time!” she gestures at herself.Conceited much?
Brad stands so suddenly that his chair topples backwards, and I see that several phones are already trained on our table. “That is enough!” he growls. “You need to remove your stuck-up, vile, ugly arse from our vicinity. I hope wenevercross paths again because you are a disgusting excuse for a human being.”
Shocked, Keeley scoffs, but when she notices the number of people recording her outburst, she stomps her foot with a huff, and storms out of the building.
When I finally turn back to the table, Brad has his arm around Larissa, comforting her.
“Clearly, Keeley needs to go back to primary school because she never grew out of the tantrum phase,” I joke in hopes of lightening the mood again. Because Larissa really is sweet, and I hate that she looks so unsure of herself now.
I love that Brad stood up for her with Keeley, I just wish I had someone to stand up for me too. And I wish that I didn't want it to be Brad.
BRAD
I cannot believe that Keeley was just here. What the hell is she doing in Bristol? One of the best parts of moving out of Exeterwas getting away from her and her toxic mates. Fuck, I hope she doesn't live here now.
The last time I saw Keeley was a few weeks after my twenty-third birthday – when she triggered the end of my relationship with Shari. She'd been trying to get in touch constantly after that weekend, and I ended up deleting all her messages and voicemails without reading or listening to them, eventually blocking her number completely. I guess she hadn't been happy with being ignored, so she turned up at the bar I worked in at the time and harassed me until I would hear her out.
I didn't want to pander to her, but I did want her to fuck off. She apologised. Sort of. Said she hadn't realised she shouldn't be drinking on some medication she was taking and it made her crazy. An absolute load of shite, obviously, but I was so furious with her for causing my break up – if you could even call it that – with Shari that I couldn't look at her face.
Eventually, she left when she realised I wasn't going to fawn all over her, and thankfully, I never saw her again.Until now.
My arm is wrapped around Larissa, rubbing her shoulder to comfort her. She's sweet and sensitive, and I can only imagine the mean girl treatment would have hurt her. Granted, she got off lightly where Keeley is concerned, but she shouldn't have had to bear any of that in the first place.
So I'm focusing on Larissa.My girlfriend.Because the terrible truth is that I'm more concerned about Shari. I know she can handle herself, but she shouldn't have to, either. I want to protect her. But I keep my attention on Larissa because that's where I should be focusing.
“Brad, did you hear me?” Larissa's quiet voice filters through.
“Hmmm? Sorry, sweetie, no. I was stewing in my thoughts. Are you ok?”
“Yes, I'm fine. I said I think I need to go check on Shari, she's been in the loo a while.”
My head snaps up to where Shari should be seated. I was so deep in my own head that I didn't even notice her leaving the table.How long has she been gone?
“I’ll go,” I say, already moving to stand.
“Brad, she's in the ladies’ toilet. You won't be able to go in there. It's ok, I'll go. I just want to make sure she's alright after that...that horrible woman!” Her little fists clench and it makes me grin. She really is too cute.
While she's gone, I pay the bill and berate myself internally for loving the wrong woman. I know that I have to let Shari go – emotionally – to have a real shot at a future with Larissa. I just don't know how.
Soon enough they're walking back, arm-in-arm, talking quietly and smiling together. But once again, my eyes are magnetised to the wrong woman. My stomach clenches for the wrong woman. My heart rate increases for the wrong woman.
How do I let her go when I have to keep her in my life?
