“Not really my sister, half-sister actually but just like her mother, she’s a whore,” she added, looking for something in the beach tote she was holding.
“I am so sorry,” Emily said eventually. She couldn’t imagine what she would have done if it were to be her. She hadn’t even caught Liam with anyone, and she didn’t catch Charles either.
“What did you do?” she finally asked.
Daisy shrugged, and brought out her phone from the tote. As she went through her phone she kept talking. “I did the only thing I could think of.”
“Which was?” Emily asked anxiously, but Daisy turned the phone screen to her, and as she watched Emily saw a man half-clothed except for his singlet, his mouth wide opened in horror. He was on the top of a lady who was holding a blanket to her chest and covering half of her face with her hand.
“You took their picture?” Emily shouted.
“Yea and I uploaded it on all my social media.”
Emily chuckled as she collected the phone from her and checked the picture again. She realized it was on Facebook and had more than 200 comments and over ten shares already.
“You are so crazy you know that?” Emily commented excitedly as she passed the phone back. “Why did you take their picture anyways?”
“For the world to know she is a slut and that he is a bastard. Besides, I wasn’t holding a gun, else I would have shot them both, that was the only way to make the world know. Besides, that was enough punishment for the both of them.”
Emily smiled. “That was really brilliant, I wish I could be that brilliant.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have had my own share of bad luck with men.”
“Really? Tell me about it.”
“The guy you saw earlier, is my ex... I mean, my boyfriend. Actually, right now, I don’t know what we are.”
Daisy’s brows went so high and she leaned closer, excitement sparkling in her eyes. “Go on.”
Emily sighed and continued. “He’s been acting weird and I imagined he was probably seeing someone else cos I had experienced all this nonsense before, so I just, I broke up with him and came here and now he is here as well.”
The other lady smiled. “That is really a big drama, but why is he here?”
“I don’t know, he said he also paid for the vacation and that’s why.”
Daisy thought for a while. “Hmmm, he’s not only cute, he’s smart as well.” She continued. “So why don’t you pay him back?”
“What?”
“Yea, pay him back the amount he left, you could pay him back and have him leave.”
“Wow! I never thought of that you know. Plus, I kinda told him never to talk to me again.”
Daisy chuckled. “Hold on, don’t tell me you’re staying in the same room?”
“No, we are not!” Emily snapped, rolling her eyes. “I would never allow that. Thank God the house has a smaller room, I took the main room.”
Daisy laughed loud and signalled to the waitress. “That’s smart, now that’s what I’m talking about. So, quick thinking. Are you sure you’re not still interested in him?”
Emily sighed and sipped the rest of her drink. “You know, I came here to reflect on that and get over it but now that he’s here as well how do you think I’ll do that?”
“Hmm. First of all, try giving him back his money, let’s see if he’ll take it.”
Emily deepened her brows. “But I didn’t come with any cash.”
“Just ask him first, and if he says no, no problem. And you just transfer it to him, how about that?”
“No problem, I can do that.”
A Lesson For Liam
Liam sat outside on the steps of the house. His eyes were fixed at the horizon as it got swallowed up by the warm bronze sunlight. The lustrous stars glinted in the sky, brightening it even more. He loved this moment in the day, when the moon and the stars were about to be gleaming above him and most especially whenever he was with her. But sadly, he was alone, still waiting for her.
“Hi.” A couple passing waved at him as they passed, chuckling incessantly.
Hello.” He waved back watching them disappear somewhere around the house. He had missed that companionship. Somewhere deep down, he could feel a hint of jealousy which he quickly ignored.
He had been so stupid, what exactly was he thinking by flirting with all those girls? Especially in front of the girl whom he was trying to take back. If anything at all he should be trying to impress her. The shrink had said he should be low key and not do anything stupid, she had also said he should accept anything she wanted to do as long as he was comfortable with it.
But he was tired of this. He couldn’t even imagine spending another night without having spoken to her. He needed to speak with her and the night was falling fast, where could she be anyway?
Sometimes later, he could see her from afar as she walked towards the house. Her silhouette under the beautiful moon. Within the moment it took her to walk down to the house, he knew she was so much more than a pretty girl, she was his joy, love and the light of his life and he regretted every pain he made her pass through.
As she got to his front, she paused and confronted him. His stomach did a double flip. She was finally missing him and wanted to take things back, maybe he could start by telling her everything.
“Babe I miss.....”
“Liam, I need you to leave.”
They both said at the same time and then he stopped. What did she just say?
“What are you talking about, Emily?”
She continued without looking into his eyes. “I am willing to give you back your money, all I need is for you to leave, or even get another house.”
Liam frowned and stood up, he could feel the disappointment exploding inside him.
“I am not going anywhere, Emily, maybe you should cut whatever act you’re putting up and let us fix this.”
This caught her attention and she glared at him. “There is nothing to be fixed. You can keep flirting with all those sluts as much as you like but don’t ever...”
“Okay, so you were jealous?” Liam cooed, interrupting her.
“What? Jealous? Are you kidding me?” she snapped at him, and continued, “I don’t care what you do or who you flirt with, it is your life and your business, not mine!”
“Really? So why did you leave suddenly when I was with those girls?” he continued.
Emily stopped talking, biting her lip and standing akimbo. “You’re crazy! Even crazier than I thought! You can mess with your life as long as you want. Drink yourself to stupor and do whatever crazy shit you like! Right now, it is not my concern anymore. You are dead to me!” With this, she walked past him and into the house.
Liam sighed as he realized what just happened. He had acted like a complete jerk. Could she be right? Was he really dead to her? How else was he going to let get her to realize that they could still make this work and that he was willing to do anything for them to fix this? He had never seen her like this before. She had never been this angry with him.
He climbed down the steps and went the way she had gone. He needed to clear his head.
* * *
Emily slammed the bedroom door angrily after her and sat on the bed. He was becoming a pain and she just hated him right now! How could he assume such a stupid thing, that she was jealous? Who cared if he flirted with all the women at the beach? After all, was he not doing the same thing when he was avoiding her? What guts! What did he take her for?
She reached into her purse and brought out her phone. She and Daisy had exchanged numbers and she was the only one she could talk to right now.
The phone rang just once before it was picked up.
“Sup babe, how did it go?” Daisy asked from the other end.
“You can’t imagine what nonsense he was saying. First, he didn’t take the money, he said he isn’t going anywhere but that is not even a problem, he kept going on and on about if I was jealous when he wa
s with the girls and so on! What did he even take me for? Does he think I care about him still? Is that how naïve he thinks I am?”
She heard Daisy chuckle and it infuriated her more. “Look, Dee, stop doing that, it’s not funny.”
The other lady was laughing out loud now. “Look, calm down okay. Do you want to come over, I have a lot of room here.”
“No, I’m not coming over. That will make him think he’s got some power over me, besides, I paid for this house too so I ain’t going nowhere. Talk tomorrow, Dee.” After this, she ended the call and threw the phone on the bed. She grunted as she walked to the bathroom, she needed a warm bath else she might just go crazy.
Day 2-Nemesis
The night was longer than usual. He couldn’t catch enough sleep, so when the sharp shadows cast by the metallic blinds started fading, he sprang up. There was only one bathroom and he needed to quickly use it before she woke up. That was the only room that separated their rooms. He stood up and tiptoed towards the entrance. He didn’t want to wake her just yet.
As he got to the bathroom, he realized the door was locked, indicating someone was in there, he grimaced then listened attentively to be sure someone really was there. Indeed she was, he could hear her movement. Well, this would be a good time to check out her room. As he got to the door, he realized it was locked too.
“Come on!” He almost shouted but the doorbell rang. He thought of who could possibly be at the door. He wasn’t expecting anyone, perhaps she was. He waited for the bell to ring another few times.
“I’m coming,” Emily shouted from the bathroom.
So she was expecting someone, he thought, maybe he could check whoever it was out. He walked towards the front door and opened it. He was surprised to see the lady he had seen with her at the beach the other day. She was tall, with red lipstick, tight jeans and a pink top that had pictures of people kissing on it.
“Hi.” She said, smiling and eyeing him seductively. “So we meet, finally.”
“Hi. I’m Liam, and you are....”
“Oh, I’m sexy Daisy,” she replied with a wink, raking him with her eyes. “You are even sexier with your clothes on.”
Liam smiled. “You are not bad either, Sexy Daisy.” He said, opening the door wider for her.
Daisy stepped in. “You’ve got a lovely beach house,” she said, sitting down with her legs crossed, admiring the house.
“I will be right out of Daisy. Gimme a minute, I’m taking a shower..” Emily shouted from within.
“It’s okay baby, please take your time,” Daisy shouted back.
“Uhn!” Emily exclaimed, sounding quite surprised. “You are in already?”
“So, tell me, Liam..” Daisy said, ignoring Emily’s question. “What does a lady need to do to buy you a drink?”
Liam smiled and before he could reply, Emily came in. She had only her white towel covering her wet body.
“What are you doing, come into my room,” Emily said to Daisy, waiting.
“I am good here actually,” Daisy replied but Emily went to pull her from her seat. “I, Liam, we will continue later,” she quickly said as Emily dragged her to her feet.
Liam couldn’t help but smile as they both dragged each other to the room. He could overhear their conversation.
“What were you doing talking to him?” Emily said angrily.
“Come on, he’s really cute and I’m a nice person, besides, if you are no longer interested him, I can hook up with him right?”
“You are unbelievable! You are supposed to be my friend.”
“Of course I’m your friend, look, will you mind shutting the door, cos I’m sure he can hear our conversation.”
Shortly after, Liam heard the door being slammed and he chuckled to himself. Afterward, he stood up and walked to the bathroom to take a nice shower.
* * *
Emily fasted the hooks of her bra and began to pat her hair dry. Daisy was unbelievable.
“Come on, I was only having fun. You said you weren’t interested in him,” Daisy said, folding her arms.
“I did not!” Emily snapped back.
“So you still like him?”
“Stop it, I haven’t even thought of the possibility of whether we are still getting back together, in fact, I don’t want to talk about anything right now.”
Daisy smiled and spread her arms. “Aye, aye captain. Whatever you say, so what’s the plan for today?”
“Well, how about hooking up with cute men, remember your initial plan?”
Daisy laughed out. “Come on, I thought you weren’t into that kind of a thing.”
“Well, someone thought he was trying to make me jealous yesterday at the beach and I need him to know that I don’t give a damn what he does or who he does it with. It is his life, as far as I am concerned.”
“hmmm,” Daisy cooed, looking at her suspiciously. “Are you trying to prove to him that you are not jealous or to yourself?”
Emily glared at her. “To him, of course.” She checked herself in the mirror one last time. “ You see, I’ve always been a good girl, all my life, I have never done anything outrageous or formidable. All my life, I have been in serious relationships, and they have all sucked the life out of me. I am so tired. I need a little fun. I am here to have that fun and I am not going to allow him to mess things up for me.”
“Well...” Daisy started, standing up and moving to the mirror. “You’ll have no problem with that as I’m a whole package of fun. I just got wind of a grand party that Outer Banks is holding for their customers, so, why don’t you come to my place. Then we can go together. ”
“Wow! That’ll be so cool! Can you please check out the clothes I could wear.”
“I already checked everything and there is not a single one that you can wear to this party,” Daisy replied, arms out.
“Are you sure? Cos I know...”
“look, everything you have there are either long sleeved or has too many buttons. No wonder you’re suffering from heartbreak, you need to be more fun Emily, show more skin, in fact, let’s go to my place, I’ll teach you how to be fun. First, we will go to the beach, walk around a little bit and once it’s evening time, the party will start”
“Coming from a fun person whose sister and boyfriend went behind her back,” Emily retorted on purpose.
“That was mean, but I love it. Cheats are always cheating, no matter how much fun you are. Now enough, come with m.”
* * *
Liam realized they were both gone and stepped out of his room. He thought of switching on the TV for a while, but changed his mind. Taking his phone, he went to sit on the couch. Then he switched it on and navigated to his Facebook messenger. He discovered he had six messages.
Out of curiosity, he clicked on them. they were all from Kate Statham. His face hardened as he realized she must have unblocked him. Two nights ago, just before he had come here, he had opened a new Facebook account and had added her to drop a message he should have dropped a long time ago. It was short and precise,
I forgive you, from the man you abandoned at the altar.
He did this because he needed to fix things between him and Emily. Right after he sent the message he deleted the account and he hadn’t even bothered to go on Facebook until tonight. He began to scroll through the six unread messages.
I’m so sorry Liam, I shouldn’t have done what I did.
Hello Liam, are you there? Tried your new account, nothing.
I have paid dearly for everything I did to you and I really am sorry.
Hi, thinking we could meet at Outer Banks.
You are not saying anything, I need your number please. Can we meet at Outer Banks tomorrow please?
I’m coming to Outer Banks next week? Can we see one another and talk? please reply.
He couldn’t believe his eyes when he read the last line. He read it again- I’m coming to Outer Banks next week? Can we seeone another and talk? Please reply.
“What the hell?
” He muttered to himself. What in God’s name was she coming to do here?”
He shut his phone immediately. What could she possibly mean by those messages?
“I have paid dearly for everything I did to you and I really am sorry”
Did something happen to her or her husband? He sighed. This was a bad coincidence. Maybe it was even bad karma. The ex who left him at the altar would be coming here and his girlfriend who was not speaking to him was here as well, this was so twisted. He opened the phone and switched it on again. His Facebook messenger came alive and he began to type a reply to Kate’s message.
Don’t come. I already forgave you, there is absolutely no reason you should come. I won’t be there.
Then he sent it, turned off the phone and heaved a sigh of relief. He was grateful for having seen the message. What if he hadn’t seen it? What if she had just appeared there. It would have been a total disaster.
Just then a call came in, it was from the bartender, the shrink’s sister.
“Hey, big man.”
He smiled. “Hey to you too, whatsup?”
“I’m good, just wanted to check if you got home safely a couple of nights ago, you were pretty drunk and heartbroken.”
“That was so nice of you, thank you so much. My heart is healed and I am very okay.”
“That’s good. Alright. Be safe. So my sister got invited by some people at Outer Banks to add some sort of psychic glamour to whatever is happening and I know you are there as well, so in case you see her please tell her to call me.”
Liam’s face brightened up. “Oh my God. She’s here?”
“Yea, she got there last night, you didn’t know?”
“No, I didn’t. Wow! This is good; I could actually see her and talk to her.”
“Oh! Are you still having a problem with whatever happened the other night?”
Liam sighed. “Yea, just a tiny bit, but now that she is here, I think all my problems will be solved, I’ll find her and get back to you.”
After All This Time: Breaking Point Page 8