After All This Time: Breaking Point

by Brown, Brittainy

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Liam ended the call and sprung up immediately. This was good. He could see his shrink, and tell her what he was facing now. He badly needed someone to talk to before it was too late.

  To-Do List

  The music was so loud, as loud as the thunder outside, making the cutlery on the table tops jump consistently. Neon lights flashed everywhere like police lights, except a lot more colorful.

  The whole dance floor was crowded like a pack of cards, hands were up in the air as the smell of booze, sweat and perfumes flooded the atmosphere.

  “Oh my God! This place is off the hook,” Daisy screamed as loudly as she could, but no one could have heard her.

  Emily was uncomfortable even though she was trying her best to be comfortable. The shorts she wore left the majority of her ass out and her pink top exposed a lot of cleavage. This was not her! As she walked, she kept using one hand to pull the shorts down, but it was no use. Daisy had given her some of her ‘fun’ clothes and she wasn’t having fun in them.

  Daisy, on the other hand, was jumping with excitement in an extremely short gown which barely covered her thighs. In her hand was a glass of booze, which she had gotten from the waiter.

  “So, here we are. You said you needed some fun to spice up your life, well, let’s have fun!”

  Emily sighed. She hasn’t pictured why and how a little fun was going to make her life better within the 14 days that she would be spending here. Thinking about her life, she realized she had made many mistakes because she has taken it all too seriously. All her relationships had been too serious, she has never dated for fun, or had a one-night stand, or even really got drunk. Maybe this was what she needed. In fact, she was sure of it, even though her ass in the open was not part of what she’d imagined.

  “So, where is that list again?” Daisy asked.

  “Here,” she replied, dipping a hand into the purse in her hand and brought out a little jotter. In it, she had written the things she needed to do within the remaining 13 days away.

  Daisy collected it and read it out. “Have fun without Liam, party hard to forget Liam, get drunk to forget Liam, kiss a random guy to make D jealous...” Daisy scoffed and looked at her. “Seriously? Is there anything in his list that you are doing for yourself and not for Liam this, for Liam that?”

  Emily was quiet. She hadn’t actually thought about that. “Well...I...” she stuttered.

  “Emily, have you actually thought about not wanting to get back to him?”

  “Well, I haven’t, but the truth is, I just want to have fun irrespective of whether he is here or not. I came here to have fun. I came here because I thought he wasn’t going to come and now that he is around I don’t want him to spoil my fun. I have lived all my life to please men, to make them happy, and never done anything for me. I am going to do this for me.”

  “So what about after the fun? Do you still want to get back together?”

  “I haven’t thought about that yet and I am not ready to.”

  “Good. Then we lose the list,” Daisy said, tearing the paper up. “The best way to have fun is to live in the moment, so, live in the moment.”

  “Yea. I will totally do that,” Emily replied, picking a glass of booze from the waitress’s tray as she passed by. She smelt it the strong scent and pressing her nostrils together, she gulped down the drink.

  “Wow! That was....” she belched before she could finish the statement but looked at Daisy and realized her friend was no longer paying attention to her. Instead, she was looking at a man sitting at the bar who was looking at them.

  “Daisy...” she tapped her.

  “Yes babe, I think the guy over there likes you but men can wait, first, we are getting drunk and we are partying hard. Come, let’s mix with the crowd.” Together, they mingled with the crowd who were jumping and dancing to the fast beat.

  * * *

  Liam was on the beach. He had spent all his morning, afternoon and evening there, just staring at the sand and sea and thinking about everything in general. He was surprised with the way people hadn’t really bothered to come out today, when the sun was most beautiful. Now in the evening, a few were there but mostly old people. He decided to try the shrink’s number just one more time, but it went straight to voicemail, again.

  ‘Hey, what is a fine young man like you doing at the beach at this time of the day, don’t you have a party to attend?”

  Liam straightened up to see the speaker. He was surprised to be addressed by an elderly woman who seemed to be in her early sixties and was standing with another old man, probably her husband.

  “Oh! Hi.” He responded.

  The couple took the seat next to him which was able to accommodate the two.

  “I was wondering why we have so a few people at the beach today,” he continued.

  “Well, this week marks the fifth year of the Outer Banks resort, and there will be a party every day till dawn. Every young and vibrant so and so who is renting a house is expected to be there. Except, you are not a party fan?” The old woman inquired.

  “Who wants the oldies anyway?” The man said and they both chuckled.

  “Wow! I didn’t know. I wasn’t invited.”

  The couple exchanged glances.

  “Wait, are you here alone? I’m sure you have lots of girls that are dying for you. I was you forty years ago and I know how I enjoyed the moment.” The man said proudly while the woman ignored him.

  “Well, my girlfriend is here but she is giving me a break, we have issues, it’s really complicated,” Liam explained.

  “Wow! Young people and love, uhn?” The woman said to the man who nodded understandably. “Well, you should see the shrink.”

  “What? You‘ve seen her? Where?” Liam said aloud, unable to hide his excitement and surprise.

  “Well, somewhere at the psychic center, just ask anyone you see around, they’ll lead you there. It’s just somewhere near that house there,” the woman replied, pointing into the distance. “Once you see people in a queue, you will be able to tell.”

  “Thank you so much,” Liam replied, standing up and rushing from the beach.

  He Came Through

  It was easy to spot the psychic center just as the woman had explained, he could see people in a queue at the front of a tent. Others were sitting and the queue had just a few people. He thought of calling the shrink again, but decided to just chill and wait till it got to his turn, After all, others were here before him. He looked around and spotted a place where he could sit.

  After about thirty minutes, it was finally his turn, he walked into the tent and the woman looked surprised to see him.

  “Liam! Wow! It’s good to see you,” she said with a smile.

  “Yea. I heard you were around and thought I’d come and see you, since you didn’t say you would be here.” Liam replied bending to drop his fee into the pan on a stool nearby.

  “Oh no! You are my regular customer, I think I will read you for free this time.” The woman said with a smile.

  ‘Wow! Thanks.” Liam replied, putting his money back into the wallet in his left hand.

  She was sitting on a mat on the floor with a veil covering her head.

  “Yea, you are welcome. Believe me. It was last night I got a call from one of the managers to come here to just add some fun since it is Outer Banks week. I had to leave immediately. It’s good that you’re here. I could detect that my sister had called you, so I’m glad you are here. Please, sit.” There was a section of the mat where a customer was supposed to sit.

  “Thanks,” Liam replied, sitting down and placing his right palm into her outstretched hand while she gently covered it with her other, gave a warm smile and closed her eyes.

  “You are in front of a wall, trying to get to the other side...” she said, and opened her eyes. “Well, I guess we have covered that before...” she closed her eyes again, frowned and opened them. “Someone is coming from behind you and the atmosphere will be
cloudy but you have to brighten things up to see through it.”

  “Wow! I don’t understand that. But I do understand what is coming up behind me.”

  The woman smiled, releasing his hand. “What does it mean to you?”

  “Seriously, I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday and I am so glad that you are here it’s like God is looking out for me. Anyways, the problem is, remember the ex I told you about?”

  The woman nodded.

  “Well, she unblocked me on Facebook, sent a message to meet her at the place we had wanted to have our honeymoon before she bailed out.”

  “Wait. Did she want to see you? Did you contact her?”

  “Yea. I wanted to leave the past behind me, I needed to forgive her and get over her for real. So I decided to drop a message for her and now she wants to come here.”

  “What? Here, you mean, like, here?”

  “Yea. We planned to book one of the beach houses here for our honeymoon initially but we couldn’t make it and now she wants to come here, and I got the message yesterday. What do you think I should do?”

  She sighed. “Well, I don’t usually advise people on what they need to do, so the only thing I will tell you, Liam, is to listen to your heart. Whatever your heart tells you to do, go for it. I understand that your girlfriend is building a wall because she feels you don’t take her as seriously as she takes you, whatever reason it is, just knows that you caused it and she’s making you pay for it. Besides, she never wanted you here initially, and now you are sharing the same house. Think of how she must feel, give her a break, and when she is ready to talk to you, she will. But don’t push her. One thing I always tell customers having issues in their relationship is to relax, and don’t push. If she is yours, she will come back to you, and when she does, make sure what happened never happens again.”

  “Thank you so much... you just helped me cross a bridge.”

  The woman smiled. “You are welcome.”

  He stood up, smiled too, and walked out of the tent. He felt so relieved. The woman had really helped him and now he had nothing to be afraid of. All he needed to do was to follow his heart. Once Kate came for whatever reason she might be here for, he would listen to her, forgive, and move on. Hopefully, she would be coming with her husband. That way it would be less awkward. He could hear loud music and see young couples all dressed up in their party clothes, walking towards the area where it was coming from. That must be the party they were going to, he thought. Maybe he could go and have some free drinks and perhaps a little fun as well. The shrink had said ...oh crap! He hadn’t asked for her name again. Anyways, she had said he needed to have fun, so he would try and do that. How does someone have fun, anyway? It shouldn’t be too much work, should it? Probably get drunk, make new friends. Gosh, he had definitely forgotten how to have fun. He needed to work on that, maybe being here would bring all of it back. He had spent too much time being depressed and even if he got back with Emily, he needed to add some fun. They both did. He was so lost in thought he didn’t even notice when he bumped into someone.

  “Oh my God! I am so sorry,” he said quickly. He looked surprised to see the lady that had come to their house that morning. She was wearing too much makeup but he could still remember her face.

  “Oh, hi, Daisy. Nice to see you again.”

  The lady smiled. “Wow! You remember my name, I just love you right now.” The gown she wore barely covered her chest and her panties. It was an extremely short black dress and she was holding a glass of drink which seemed to be almost empty. He was surprised Emily wasn’t with her.

  “Where’s Emily?” he asked.

  “Emily? Oh! You know you need to forget about her for now. She is having a lot of fun, unlike you,” she replied, sipping from the glass in her hand.

  “Well, I’m glad to know that.”

  “Really? You aren’t even a bit jealous that she’s having fun without you?”

  “Well...” he stopped, thought for a while and then shrugged. “The funny thing is, I’m not. I actually think I’m happy that she is.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “Yea.”

  “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  “Should it? The thing is, we are both cooling things off right now and once we realize we are actually what we both want, we can come back together and continue from where we left off.”

  “Hmm, that’s sweet, but only if she actually wants to get back with you.”

  Liam felt a pang across his chest. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, the reason she is here is to get over you and believe me, she is very determined about it.”

  “But, I don’t want it to be over. I still love her and I still think she loves me. Is there a way I can just talk to her cos she isn’t talking to me.”

  “Well.” Daisy started, she was quiet for a while. “First, I think you should let her have her fun. Do her own thing.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I mean, let her have whatever fun she wants to have here. If you keep getting in her way, things won't work out. Meanwhile, I think you really love her and she is just very angry, so I will advise you to chill out and have fun by doing just one thing.”

  His face brightened up. “One thing? What thing is that?”

  Daisy sighed and looked around. “Come, let’s take a seat.” Together they walked to a nearby bench that was quite empty.

  “Whatever you were doing at the beach that day, probably to make her jealous, that will yield no result. It will only infuriate her further because you were the one who hurt her so you don’t get to make her feel bad for breaking up with you.”

  “So what do I do?”

  “I can arrange for you two to meet. Don’t explain anything about what or why you did what you did initially, I mean, whatever led to the breakup. She clearly has no interest in that. What you can do that is to tell her that you are sorry you were trying to mess up her vacation before but now that you see that she’s having fun, you are happy for her and that you are no longer going to pressure her. Let her know that you’re cool with it. Then once that is out of the way, you can start having your fun too, by being friendly with her while making her feel jealous at the same time. “

  Liam was quiet the entire time. Everything sounded really interesting and if it could work, he could totally see them getting back together. “So, how do we start?”

  “First, I am her bestie right now and she must not know that I am working with you. I’m only doing this because I know how lucky she is to have a man that cares about her and I know she may never have a man like you again. But can I ask… why did you do what you did?”

  Liam smiled. “I was a jerk, I know. My ex-left me on our wedding day, and...”

  Daisy gasped. “Wow! That’s cruel.”

  “Yea, and without any explanation or heads up, then she blocked me on all social media. So, I rushed into my new relationship with Emily without giving myself enough time to heal. Then when I discovered that the ex had gotten married, it broke my heart and I couldn’t handle it. I was so stupid, I should have just healed, or I should have told Emily, but I didn’t want her to see me as weak, I didn’t want her to think maybe I wanted to go back to my ex or that she wasn’t enough for me because she is all I need and I love her so much.”

  Daisy smiled and sighed. Taking out her phone she pressed the play button... Liam could hear himself.

  “Yea and without any explanation or heads up, then she blocked me on all social media, I rushed into my new relationship with”

  He realized she had recorded what he had just said.

  “What are you doing? Why did you record this?”

  She shrugged. “Well, in case we need it,” she replied and continued. “If you had told her everything, all this drama wouldn’t have occurred. Being in love can be such a pain sometimes.”

  Liam chuckled. “You’ve never been in love?”

  “I have with my cat,” she replied with a l
augh.

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “I’m just kidding. Never been in love, don’t want to be. There is so much pain and so much drama. Just too much. I couldn’t handle it.”

  “But it can be the sweetest thing when there is no drama.”

  She nodded. “Well, so I have heard.”

  After this, they were both quiet for a while.

  “You sure Emily won’t be missing you? I would hate if she came out here and found you with me.”

  Daisy snorted. “You worry too much Liam ,and that’s cute, but believe me, with the attention Emily is getting in there, she won’t realize I’m gone in the next two hours. “

  “Really? “

  “Yea. I think it’s been a while since she partied or had much fun, or got drunk,” she added.

  “She’s drunk?” Liam almost exclaimed, now standing up.

  “Calm down Liam. Yes, she is drunk but she is happy and she isn’t worried about anything. Once I leave this place, I am getting her from there and taking her home. So get your papers ready, you are writing a letter to her and I will drop it by her side so she sees it in the morning. When she does, be sure not to be home.”

  Liam was getting excited already. “You think it’s a good idea not to be home when she wakes?”

  “Yes, Genius!” She replied, glaring at him. “That is the plan. Go do whatever you need to do. You need a break too. Once she wants to come around, once she wants you back, she will approach you by herself.” Daisy stood up. “She mustn’t know that I’m helping you, okay?”

  “Yea. Got it. Thank you so much for doing this, Daisy, I really appreciate it.”

  The redhead smiled, bent slightly to kiss him on the cheek before walking away.

  As soon as she was out of sight, Liam stood up and began to head back to the beach house. He needed to get his letter prepared. He felt a vibration in his breast pocket. Dipping his hand in the pocket, he brought out his phone. When he saw who was calling, his heart skipped a beat. Emily was calling, why would she be calling? Did she overhear everything that transpired between him and Daisy? Had she been watching them all this while?