by Tina Lee
She walked in after breakfast to see the couple watching a movie on the couch.
“Hello!” Jenna said.
“Hey.” Phil laughed. “Where were you all night?”
“She was with James. Obviously.”
“Well, good for you, Jenna. I say go for it. Plus, I don't mind that he isn't afraid to kick Eli's ass. That bastard is the most annoying person I've ever met.”
“Thanks for your approval I guess,” Jenna said.
“He still doesn't have mine! Even if he does get that scumbag off of you. He'll get my approval when he decides to hang out with the family.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jenna said. “I'm gonna take a shower. I'll be right back.”
“Well, I'll probably be gone before you get out, Jenna. So I'll see you later,” Phil called out.
“See ya!”
When Jenna got out of the shower, Mandy didn't really seem to care too much about James anymore. She instantly ran into Jenna's room while she was changing.
“We have to go to Patton's tonight to catch Phil.”
“Are we still doing that?”
“Yes! I swear, I'm not crazy, either. He's been more and more suspicious lately. It's getting out of hand, and I know that it has to do with him going down to Patton's to be with that whore.”
“Are you sure that you're not just paranoid?” Jenna asked. “You know that you've been paranoid before.”
“I'm so sure. He's going to that trashy bar for a reason. He's texting that trashy bitch for a reason. I'm going to find out what that reason is. Be prepared to head to the bar tonight. I'm not waiting anymore,” Mandy said.
“OK, Nancy Drew. I'm definitely willing to play along with Operation Catch a Cheater. Just don't think that I'm going to keep going along with it if we find out that you're just crazy. Also, if Dan catches me at another bar, and Patton's no less, you're explaining it to him.”
“Fine. We aren't going to get caught, though. No one will know that we're there.”
“Please don't tell me that you're seriously considering wearing disguises to the bar. All you're doing is setting us up for embarrassment.”
“But how else are we supposed to go in there unnoticed? If the bastard is doing something shady, he will retreat the second he sees us.”
“Have you ever considered sending someone else in your place? Someone that Phil doesn't really know?”
“I've been dating Phil for years. And you know this hick town. He knows every single one of my friends, and he knows who to avoid.”
“Well, don't you think that if he was doing something that you would have heard from somebody by now? You're right. This is a very small town,” Jenna said.
“That's why it's shady that Phil keeps going to Patton's. It's a bar that none of our friends go to. And you know that none of his friends are going to tell me even if they did know. Guys stick together no matter what.”
“That's true, and women stick together, too. Why don't you just ask Larissa? No woman is going to keep her relationship with a guy a secret. That might be the way to go. Granted, she'll probably tell Phil that you asked about her. It's a risk that you have to take, though.”
“I don't know,” Mandy said. “I don't really trust the whore.”
“Look,” Jenna said. “Let's have a quick change of plans. I'll go to the bar and chat up Larissa. I'll do a couple of shots with her. When she's significantly tipsy, I'll ask her about if she is friends with Phil. Easy. I'll come back and report everything that she said. And you, ma'am, can relax a little bit.”
“Phil will know that you were there to spy on him.”
“I thought about that. I'll tell him that James wasn't at Rock and Country. I'll say that I wanted to see if he went somewhere else for the night. When I got to Patton's, I figured I may as well have a couple drinks.”
“You're brilliant,” Mandy said. “The only problem is that you're taking away from my fun.”
“We have a lot of time before I have to go head to Patton's. Do you want to clean the apartment and drink wine?”
“And make brownies after?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Later that night, Jenna was ready to hang out with Larissa and dig up any dirt that she could. Patton's was a dingy bar with poor lighting and very cheap drink specials. As a bartender, Jenna also knew how they kept the prices so low, and it worried her. The crowd was mostly the strippers from the local strip club and bikers.
Jenna instantly saw Larissa sitting at the bar, so she sat down next to her.
“Hey, girl. What's going on?” Jenna asked.
Larissa looked confused. She and Jenna knew each other from around town, but they didn't really hang out in the same circle. They didn't drink at the same bars or live by the same restaurants. However, Larissa was pleasantly surprised to be getting attention from Jenna.
“Hey! What's up? I never see you in here.”
“Oh, you know. Dan would have a fit if he knew I was giving my business to another bar.”
“I won't tell him that you're here then,” she laughed. “Come on! Take a shot with me!”
“Two shots of Fireball!” Jenna called out to the bartender. This was going to be easier than she expected.
Jenna and Larissa took two shots and ordered beer. Jenna originally disliked Larissa. Larissa was an exotic dancer at the local club, and she had horrible, thin blonde hair with fake boobs and bad teeth. Jenna was surprised how easy it was to get along with her despite her initial impression. They talked and slowly found plenty of things in common to talk about. They had compatible senses of humor, too. The conversation was very lighthearted and was mostly talking shit about celebrities and makeup trends. As the jokes started getting crasser and less intelligent, Jenna knew that she would be able to bring up Phil. Jenna had been looking for him out of the corner of her eye all night, but she didn't see him yet. She was happy to bring him up before he arrived, but it was going to make incorporating him into the conversation more difficult.
“I really should hang out here more often. It gets annoying—going to the same bar every time I go out.”
“What do you want to come here for?” Larrisa laughed. “Most of the people here are drunks or crackheads trying to talk to the dancers during their off time.”
“Any guys in particular being persistent for you?”
“Oh, plenty. There's this old guy Larry that comes in almost every day. I swear I think that he might be slow. Anyway, he always greets me and sits next to me. He'll make some inappropriate comments every now and then, but he's so helpless that I don't even mind.”
“Anyone else?”
“No. Not really.”
“And how's the dating life?”
“I just started seeing this one guy. He's really cool, and he's really big if you know what I mean! What about you?”
Jenna knew that she had to go on with asking questions, but she was excited to finally have the opportunity to talk about James to someone who wasn't going to point out all of his flaws.
“I'm actually seeing someone, too. He's so sexy, and it's the best sex I've ever had. I just started seeing him, but he has been amazing so far. He's protective and dangerous. He also kicked this jackass's ass down at Rock and Country when he was saying rude things to me.”
“Good for you. You thinking that it could be the real thing?” Larissa asked.
“Oh, who knows? He travels for work, so he would have to stay here if we decided to make it a long term relationship. We really haven't discussed it too much yet.”
“It's so hard to make guys commit. You know, sometimes I think that the guy I'm seeing is dating another woman, too.”
“Don't be silly. What makes you say that?” Jenna asked.
“Well, he is always busy. He isn't really ready to make our relationship public yet, either. It hasn't even been a conversation. My friends are telling me how foolish it is to even make time for him, but I can't help it. He's got me so twisted. Mentally and physi
cally.”
Jenna sighed.
“Isn't that always the problem? When a man gets a girl twisted physically, he knows that he can get her twisted mentally. It takes a real man to treat a woman well when he knows that he has her.”
“We do the same thing, too, you know? It's not just men. I'm sure you've fucked with some poor dude's head before. Maybe it was for drinks or maybe it was because you could. Hell, that's what I do for a fucking living,” Larissa said.
“You're right about that. I think that's what they mean by the battle of the sexes.”
“Hey! Can we get two more beers over here?” Larissa asked the bartender.
Jenna struggled to think of a way to bring up Phil. This seemed like such a great plan a couple hours ago when she thought it up. Now she realized that she should have thought it through a little more instead of drinking wine with Mandy (Not much cleaning got done).
“So tell me what he looks like,” Jenna said, reaching for a clue.
“He's a typical biker guy I guess. He comes into the club on some nights. That's actually how we met; he was a customer.”
Jenna was a little surprised because that didn't sound that much like Phil. Phil had a bike, but most of the men in the area had motorcycles. Jenna definitely wouldn't call him a “typical biker guy”. Phil was more of a lovable goofball. He also didn't strike Jenna as the type of guy would frequent strip clubs. Then again, maybe Jenna didn't know him as well as she thought she did.
“He sounds adorable,” Jenna said. “Tell me more.”
“Don't be trying to steal my squeeze now!” Larissa said.
“Oh, honey, I have my own squeeze.”
“Well, I suppose I could tell you something that I probably shouldn't,” Larissa giggled. “It's kind of how we started really talking to be honest. I don't want you to judge me.”
“Please, girl. I don't judge anybody.”
“Well, we started talking because he was going to get me coke. It's hard to dance when you're sober, and drinking makes me too sloppy.”
“I get that,” Jenna said. She didn't think that Phil had access to cocaine like that. Of course, people can be completely different than you picture, but Jenna was starting to realize that Phil was not fucking Larissa. Jenna had completed her mission. There was no need to sit here with the stripper any longer. However, Jenna just had to be sure.
“What was his name?” Jenna asked.
“James.”
Jenna was shocked. Did she just say James? Could it be her James? She did say that he had a motorcycle, got her drugs, and he wasn't exactly the commitment type. It sure sounded a lot like her James.
“I gotta go,” Jenna said.
Confrontation
Jenna left Patton's to go meet with Mandy. Mandy was at Rock and Country with a number of other girls drinking beer. She ran over to Jenna the second that she saw her.
“Oh my God! What took you so long? What happened?”
“Well, I don't think that Larissa is fucking Phil if that helps.”
“Why? What did she say?”
“He was never there. She was going on about some other guy. She told me his name and everything. They must have been texting for some other reason.”
“That's fantastic! So why do you look like someone who just saw their dog get hit by a car?”
“No reason,” Jenna said. She didn't want to tell Mandy that she thought James could be the one sleeping with Larissa. It would just give Mandy another reason to disapprove of their relationship. Larissa tried to tell herself that they were not officially a couple. It wasn't really fair to be mad at him for having sex with another girl when they had never agreed to be exclusive. “It was just weird to be there with Larissa. Her life is really pathetic and sad.”
“Well what do you expect? She's a fucking stripper.”
“I'm gonna get a beer. I'll be right over,” Jenna said.
“Wait a minute,” Mandy said. “If he wasn't there where the hell is he?”
“How would I know?”
Jenna went to the bar, and she saw Mandy grabbing her cell phone. She was going to text Phil, and they were going to get into a huge fight. Jenna had seen this all play out before, and the fact that Mandy was drinking wasn't going to help things at all. Jenna sighed and figured she may as well get drunk if she was going to have to be a shoulder for Mandy to cry on later. She went up to the bar and saw James sitting alone drinking his Jack Daniels and coke. She sat next to him and waited for him to notice her.
“Hi,” he said. “It's weird seeing you on this side of the bar.”
“I didn't realize that you came in every day,” she said. “I guess I thought you only came in when I was here.”
“I don't know your schedule. It makes my night much better when you are here, though.”
“Do you ever go anywhere else in town at night?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you go to any other bars? Any clubs?”
“I'm not really the club type of guy, Jenna,” James said.
“What about strip clubs?”
“And pay for naked girls to tease me? No thank you. Why would I do that when I have you?”
“Maybe they do more than just tease you.”
“Jenna, I'm not fucking anyone else if that's what you're getting at,” James said bluntly. “But I don't have to explain anything to you.”
“Well, I don't know. It's not like we've ever had this conversation before.”
“That's true. We just started talking. We don't know where this is going to go. Don't act so clingy already.”
“I'm not clingy. I'm asking what any girl would want to know. Are we going to turn this into something or not?”
“I don't fucking know, Jenna.”
“Well, I don't know how you expect me to continue this if you're never going to commit.”
“Then don't continue with it, Jenna. We don't need to sit here at a bar and argue about it, and you're not going to talk to me with that tone here or anywhere else. I'm not fucking anyone but you, Jenna.”
“That's funny, because that's not what Larissa said when I talked to her tonight.”
“I don't know anyone named Larissa. You're definitely mistaken. And you're going to have a hard time finding anyone to put up with your shit if this is how you act over nothing. I'm going to head home. Alone. Have fun tonight.”
James got up and left. Jenna assumed that he was just lying. She was absolutely furious. There was no way for her to know what he did on the days that she didn't see him. He could easily go to the strip club and have sex with Larissa. She wasn't going to let it bother her tonight, though. She would think about it later. She got her beer, and she heard the motorcycle revving as she walked over to the table with Mandy and the other girls.
“Do you want to know where the motherfucker is right now?” Mandy said to greet Jenna.
“Where?”
“He's at the strip club with the guys. What the fuck is he doing there tonight when he could be hanging out with me? A real live girl who will actually fuck him. Unless they are fucking him.”
“You didn't say anything about Larissa did you?”
“What? No. I forgot about that. You told me that they weren't fucking. Besides, I'm angry for a new reason now.”
“Still, I wonder why they were texting.”
“He probably just wanted to do some coke. Everyone knows that she has connections.”
“Gee, do you think you could have come to that conclusion before sending me on an undercover mission? We exchanged numbers, and she's going to be calling me now.”
Mandy laughed. “What are you guys going to do? Go buy pasties and glitter together?”
“Shut up.”
“Maybe she can get you a job at the club. I'm sure she can teach you some tricks. You might even be able to use them on your boy. Did I see you talking to him at the bar? Why didn't he come over to say hi? That's not normal, Jenna.”
“Yeah, he's not re
ally normal. I don't know how long that's going to last anyway. It's been fun, but I'm starting to see some of the shady things that you've been talking about. “
“Good. It's about time that you've learned your lesson.”
“Yeah. I should have listened to you from the start.”
“My money says that you'll change your mind the next time you see him.”
Apologies
Jenna spent the rest of the night listening to Mandy bitch about Phil going to the strip club instead of hanging out with her. And then she had to listen to them fight for the rest of the night. It was impossible to sleep with all of the screaming. It was even more difficult to sleep with the sounds of them making up.
Jenna was extremely tired the next day. She got up to get something to drink, and she could hardly keep her eyes open. Mandy was surprisingly energetic, though.
“I'm sorry about last night,” Mandy said. “I will buy you breakfast to make up for it.”
“It's fine. I just want to drink orange juice and lay in bed for a while. I have to be well rested so that work doesn't fucking suck tonight. I heard that you guys made up.”
“Yeah. We did. I don't know why I was so mad about him going to the strip club. All guys go to the strip club. I apologized after I realized how dumb that was.”
Jenna sighed. “Well, I'm glad you guys made up. Next time try to be quieter about it.”
“Will do.”
Jenna went back to her room and laid down in bed. Mandy made a really good point. They were able to make up once she apologized. Maybe Jenna just had to apologize to make things better with James. Before she did that, she had to find out if he was telling the truth or not.
Jenna texted Larissa to ask her to go to lunch. They met a couple of hours later at a local diner.
“Hey! Thanks for texting me!” Larissa said.
“Fuck yeah. We had fun yesterday. I figured it would be nice to go to eat.”
“Cool. I've never been to this place before. I hope that they have a good tuna melt. I'm craving one.”
“They do actually. And get the home made chips. They're amazing,” Jenna said.
“I'm so glad that we started hanging out yesterday.”