Page 12 of Evidence of Us

Me

Sitting in a parking lot with everything I own in the backseat…

Right away, Mariska calls me. I ignore it, because I know what she is going to do. Seconds pass, and I get a text.

Mariska

Bitch, answer your damn phone. I will find you.

Me

Damn. Trauma made you mean.

Mariska

Please?

Me

Alright…

She calls again, so I answer this time. “Hey,” I say with a sigh.

“What happened?” Mariska asks.

“We had a real conversation for once. She admitted to cheating on me the whole time. I told her I didn’t love her and that she was just a space and time filler. I told her she could keep the house and her car as well as everything in our joint account. She asked to have dinner and just pretend for an evening that we were a normal couple. And uh…”

“She wanted you to fuck her. You can say that,” Mariska says.

“Yeah, well… So I decided to just rage fuck her… And then she fucking moaned my brother’s name. I packed my shit and left.”

“What the fuck? That fucking bitch. No, she didn’t? You should have hit her.”

“I am not going to hit her,” I laugh.

“I’ll do it for you. Fucking bitch. Who the fuck does that? He hurt you, and she knows that,” Mariska says, almost protectively.

“Riss, they’ve been fucking since before she raped me that night,” I say.

“Ew. He was like twenty-five and… Oh, fuck,” she says with a gasp. “You don’t think… Why would he… Fuck, that would make so much sense… Can you come over?”

“Are you trying to trick me into staying with you, Riss?” I ask, and she gasps dramatically.

“Now, why would I do that, Zee? It’s not like you are homeless,” she says. “Get your butt over here. Please and thank you.”

“Is this because you want to help or to be petty toward Meghan?”

“Yes. I texted you my address,” she says.

“Mariska,” I say with a sigh.

“Please, Zeke. I want to hate you, and I would love to hold strong and say that I feel nothing for you but friendship, but that’s not true, and we both know it. We need to do this slowly and really talk about this shit. If your family is the reason I nearly died… I can’t get hurt like that again.”

“No one will ever hurt you like that again,” I say firmly as I shift into drive. “I’ll be there in five minutes. I’m close by, apparently.”

“Ah, shit. Okay. I’m going to go panic clean,” she says, and we both laugh.

“See you soon, Riss,” I say sweetly.