Struggling to fill the glass without missing the rim, he asked, “What’s going on with you?”
Plopping into the chair, she looked up at him staring down at her, holding out the full glass. “It’s such a God-awful mess! I’m such a jackass.”
“Sometimes you are.”
“Another one bites the dust.” She took a drink, then looked back up at him. “I did exactly what you cautioned menotto do.”
His cocked eyebrow got her talking.
“I slept with George, dated him, sorta-kinda moved in with him, then three nights ago found him in our bed with some slut.”
“I’m not surprised. And tonight? Is he the cause of your tears?”
Unable to face him, she looked out the window, then downed the vodka in her glass.
“Let me guess, you went back for more,” he said, refilling the drink.
“How did you know?”
“Because I know him too well, and he probably made you feel like it wasyourfault and took you back by the goodness of his heart.”Thatwas the most lucid thing he’d said in the last forty-eight hours. He felt no pity for her situation. “I told you so.”
“That’s not what I want to hear. Some friendyouare.”
“Hey, I’m the best damned friend you ever had. For once, shomeone gave it to you straight and you shit on my advice as gratitude. Now you show up looking for shympathy? I’m all outta compassion for everyone else’s problems. I got my own shit to deal with.”
Stunned, her jaw dropped, but he continued, “You should have listened to me. The guy’s a dick, thinks with his dick, and will always be a sh-yphilitic dick,” he slurred, and then grasped the back of the chair to keep from toppling over.
Hip to his condition, she looked up at him, examining his face. “You look like hell. Why areyouso miserable? You’re the one with the charmed life.”
“You didn’t hear the goship?”
“No. I…”
Sitting on the floor with his back against the window, he finally whispered. “I’m not so charmed. She dumped me.”
“Right before Valentine’s Day? Oh, that’s epic bitchery.”
“Yeah.”
“What the hell happened? She was totally into you, and you had that ginormous rock all ready to go. Did you ask and she said no because ... you know, you being you and all?”
“I never got to ask her.” He drank from the bottle, then admitted, “I don’t even remember all she said, just that we wanted different things in life. Hell, I thought we were on the same page. I wouldn’t have blown a hundred grand on a ring if we weren’t. You know I wouldn’t have.” He paused, dam cracking. Dropping his chin to his chest, he blubbered like a first grader, flowing out all his pain. “I’m lost ... so fucking lost without her.”
All pride disappeared as he cried embarrassing tears. The room spun. Beanz’s dangling earrings appeared to flash groovy colors, and Redding now sang “Pain in my Heart.” That damned guy knew just how to twist the knife into a broken man’s chest.
“Oh shit. I’m so sorry, boo. I didn’t know. Why didn’t you call or text me?” She slid down the chair and knelt beside him.
Beanz had never been a demonstrative girl, but when she touched his face, he looked up into her compassionate eyes. “I loved her. I ... still love her. I can’t get her outta my head,” he whispered.
“You’ll get over it. I warned you that she was all wrong for you. She’s a total asshole, just like George,” she said removing the bottle from his hand. She took a swig from it, then set it on the floor. “I’m here now. Come tomorrow morning you won’t even remember her name.”
“She doesn’t love me after all,” he wept. “She’s ... my ... air.”
“Ssh ... It takes time to understand you, William. She never understood you.”
“Don’t say that. She did. She knew me better than anyone, even you, maybe even more than my mother. She was ... amazing…
Her lips came so close to his and in that moment, in the dark, he was withher, needing her so badly.
