by Johns, S. A.
“Well, I guess you’d better be going now.” she said.
“Yeah, I will talk to you later.” he said as he turned and walked out the door.
When she was finally alone, she could really freak out! What had she done? Had she thrown away a six year relationship with Matt, and for what? A roll in the hay with her best friend. A wonderful, toe-curling, mind-blowing, very opposite of Matt, roll in the hay. Even so, she felt really guilty. How could she even look at Matt after that? He would know the instant that he saw her that she had been unfaithful. She wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret, she had this feeling that as soon as she saw him she would just blurt out the whole thing. And she knew that was a really bad idea.
She turned on the radio to listen to music and clear her head. She curled up on the couch and not long after, she fell asleep. She fell into a dream.
She was walking along the beach; the ocean was pretty calm. She was walking alone and suddenly he appeared. She could see his black hair shining in the sun, his blue eyes staring right at her as if he were looking straight through her. He came up to her. In his eyes the love was replaced with hatred, the sky started growing darker and the ocean waves grew angry. She was getting a little frightened.
“Hi, Matt,” she said.
“Hi. How are you?” he asked calmly.
“I am OK. Is something wrong, Hun?” she asked.
“Hun? You call me Hun after what you did?” he said, anger rising in his voice.
“What? What did I do?” she asked, puzzled.
“Do you really have to ask?” he asked and then pointed into the distance. There was a figure of a person walking along the beach; they were still basking in the warmth of the sunlight. The closer this person got the gloomier the sky grew, and the madder Matt became.
“Who is that? Is that someone we know? She asked still not sure of what he was doing.
“Oh, you could say that.” he said and then chuckled.
Faster than she could blink this person was beside her. It was Shane!
“Hi, baby,” he said, as he got closer to her and leaned in to kiss her.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
“What’s wrong, baby? You didn’t mind last night.” he said, winking.
“What? No! No what are you doing?” Confused, she looked back and forth between Matt and Shane.
Matt knew what had happened. Shane didn’t seem to care if Matt knew or not. In fact, he kind of enjoyed seeing his anger. Yet Shane just looked at him with this smug little look on his face.
Julie walked over to Matt. “Baby, whatever you are thinking...you have to know it isn’t true.”
“Isn’t it?” he asked her.
“No, you know that I love you, baby. I don’t know what he is trying to pull.” She got closer to Matt and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. She kissed him deep and hard. Then she began to unbutton his shirt and kiss his neck.
He pushed her away. “Stop it!” he yelled at her. “I know what happened between you and him last night! What do you take me for you? Do you think I’m that stupid? Well, I’m not!” He continued yelling, “I hope that he was good for you. I hope that you are happy because I am never going to touch you again! I don’t want anything to do with you ever again!” He walked right over to Julie and looked her in the eye. “So, tell me, how long would it have taken for you to tell me the truth? Or were you planning on lying to me for the rest of our lives?”
Julie began crying. She looked at Shane who looked pretty upset too. She looked back to Matt, but he was walking away from her and she could hardly see him anymore. Then Shane walked over to her.
“I thought last night meant something to you. Something besides just great sex! Julie, I have loved you since I met you. I have never, ever seen anything bad in you...that is, until just now. He looked hurt.
“What? Shane, come on, we are best friends. Matt is my fiancé. I couldn’t just kiss you right in front of him. What did you want me to do?” she asked, tears forming again in her green eyes.
“I wanted you to make a choice,” that’s all he said, “Make a choice.”
She dropped her head and starting sobbing. When she finally stopped she noticed that the ocean was again calm and the sun was again shining in the sky, and she was once again alone. The only thing that surrounded her was Shane’s voice saying, “Make a choice, that’s all, just make a choice.” She began to turn around and around to see where the voice was coming from, she grew dizzy and then she woke up.
Whoa! That was a weird dream, she thought to herself. Wonder what that meant? But she knew. She knew she had to make a choice between staying with Matt and trying to start a relationship with Shane. She knew what she thought was the right thing to do, but was it really in her best interest? She thought she should stay with Matt, they were after all engaged and they had been together for a really long time, six years. She started thinking about the hurt in Matt’s eyes when she had seen him in her dream. She knew that he loved her; he just had a strange way of showing it. But he really did love her with all of his heart. She loved him too, but not in the way that she should love the man she was going to marry. She loved him for being there Friday night whenever she needed a date, or for going out to dinner so that she wasn’t sitting alone. Stupid things, which was why she loved him.
But the passion she felt for Shane. Oh, the passion! The red-hot flame of passion that was fanned by their lovemaking the first time. She still wanted to be with him, if only for the physical part of it. He was a stallion in the sack. But then there was Matt, what would he do without her? She couldn’t leave him...could she?
She sat still curled up on the couch. Her mind spinning in all directions but where she wanted it to go. But where did she want it to go? She got up off the couch and went to the kitchen to get a tall glass of iced tea. She still didn’t know if she should call Matt yet or not. If she didn’t soon call, he would be calling her. Or just stop in unexpectedly. Which he did a lot. It never bothered her unless he was drunk and looking for a fight. Or drunk and looking for sex, that was the worst, drunken sex. Finally, she decided that she would call him. It would all be OK, she kept telling herself as she dialed the number.
It began ringing...and ringing...and ringing. That was strange, he said for her to call his as soon as she could. That should have meant that he would be there. So decided that she might just stop in and surprise him, for a change.
She got in her car and started the three-mile drive between her house and his. Then an idea hit her like a ton of bricks! Dinner. Yes, she would go to the local Food Mart and get the stuff to make lasagna. Matt’s favorite meal. So she pulled into the parking lot and as she was going up and down the aisles looking for a parking spot a little red Nissan almost rear-ended her! Then as she was ready to pull into a spot a big white Dodge truck cut her off! She was getting really agitated. So finally she parked and walked into the store. Upon entering she saw the usual faces of the cashiers and baggers. She couldn’t help thinking that this was a really friendly store. With the exception of a few cashiers everyone else was great! She proceeded to get the ingredients for her meal: hamburger, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, spaghetti sauce and noodles. She picked up garlic bread and stuff for strawberry shortcake, then headed to the checkout. The store wasn’t too busy so she had her choice of registers. Then she spotted Wanda, her favorite cashier, and went to her line. Wanda was a very friendly woman. She had dark hair and eyes, a little on the short side, but not extremely. She always had some sort of story full of bull to tell you or to try to pull you into. One day she told Julie that this one other cashier made lasagna and ran out of cheese so she used sauerkraut in place of it. And another story had to do with someone making a marble cake and using real marbles, it resulted in the girl’s mother-in-law chipping a tooth and having to go to the emergency room! Wanda was a one of a kind cashier; she knew how to make anyone believe almost anything. This time when Julie checked out, Wanda told her that ther
e was this new flavor of ice cream that Julie just had to try. It was oyster flavored ice cream with little pieces of oysters in it. She even had the other cashiers and a few baggers in on the joke. Everyone laughed and Julie left. She had to get to Matt’s.
She pulled into the alley that led to Matt’s. She parked in front of the above garage apartment and walked up the stairs. She saw a little blue car parked out front, one that she had never seen before. All sorts of things were going through her mind. What if he wasn’t alone? What if there was another girl up there with him? She thought that if she could make it up the stairs, she could try to look in the windows to see if she could see anything. Then she remembered in a “flash bulb memory” that she was the fiancé and she had the spare keys! So she unlocked the door and walked right in.
“Hello,” she said softly so as not to be heard. If he was in the middle of something, she wanted to catch him in the act. She walked into the kitchen and put her groceries on the table. She thought that she heard voiced and quickly turned around. There was no one there. But she was sure that she had heard someone. She walked into the den, which was off to the side of the kitchen, and looked in the bathroom off that room. Nothing. The only room left was the bedroom. Her mind started to spin. What would she do if he really weren’t alone? What if...? Anything that popped into her head seemed possible at the time. The bedroom door was open a crack. Good, she thought, that way she could sneak over and have a peak before anyone knew she was there. With shaky hands she reached for the door frame to steady herself. She took a deep breath and peaked inside. Her mouth dropped to the floor and she almost screamed out loud!
He wasn’t alone! There was another woman in there with him! This other girl had her back to the door and was on top of Matt. Julie could see their bodies moving up and down, she could now hear the grunts and moans of their obvious pleasure. She couldn’t see who this other woman was; she had long red hair and was a little on the heavy side. She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do but she decided she should act quickly. So she left back out the way she had come in and while standing on the porch used her cell phone to call inside the house. She listened. The phone in the apartment never rang.
“Hmmm, I guess that means that the phone is unplugged. How suspicious is that?” she said to herself. She stood there for a second trying to decide if she should go back in and give them the surprise of their lives or wait for the other girl to leave. “I think it’ll be funnier to go back in and catch them in the act.”
With that she turned the doorknob and walked inside and right to the bedroom door. “Matt, are you here?” she yelled as she pushed the door open.
Matt and this other girl both jumped and tried to cover up.
“Julie!” he exclaimed. “W-what are you doing here?” he stammered.
“What am I doing here? What am I doing here?” she screamed at the top of her lungs. “What is she doing here?” Julie ran over the bed and grabbed this woman by her long red hair and dragged her off the bed.
“What are you doing? Get your hands off of me!” the woman yelled.
“No way!" Julie yelled as she began banging her head on the nearby dresser, and kept hitting her and punching her in the face. She pulled back to hit her again and Matt caught her arm. This was the first time she had actually looked at this other woman. She couldn’t believe her eyes and she became even more enraged. This other woman was an ex-friend of hers, Chelsea Montebello. She immediately turned her rage on Matt. She began hitting him anywhere she could reach. She punched him in the face and kicked him in the stomach. He didn’t hit her back, he just kept trying to hold her still and stop her from hitting him. She looked from Matt to Chelsea and back again. Tears welled up in her eyes and she again turned toward Chelsea who was in the corner of the room trying to put some clothes on to hide her disgusting self from everyone’s eyes. Julie broke free from Matt’s grasp and ran over to Chelsea and pushed her into the wall and she fell to the floor and Julie began to kick her. She kicked and kicked and then again Matt pulled her off. She spun around to look at Matt’s still naked body and she discovered that he wasn’t wearing a condom!
“Oh my God!” Julie was yelling. “What is wrong with you? Why would you do this to me? And with a disgusting pig like her! And look!” She pointed down to his dick. “What is this? No condom?” She pounded on his chest repeatedly. “This is the last straw. Matt, it is over! You are an asshole! I don’t ever want to see you again...EVER!” She yelled.
“And you.” She pointed at Chelsea. “What were you thinking? Did you think I wouldn’t find out? oh, believe you me, if I wouldn’t have found out today, I still would have found out! Oh, yes, I would have!”
Chelsea interrupted. “You think you would have found out,” she said as if she were really saying, “No, you wouldn’t have.”
Julie, who had turned to walk away, instantaneously turned around and ran toward the half-dressed Chelsea, who was still cowering in the corner, and kicked her right in the face. The blood began to run from her nose. “You are a bitch! I hope you die!”
Before she could turn around, Matt was already over there tending to Chelsea. “Julie, what the hell do you think you’re doing? You can’t just barge in here and start beating people up!” Matt yelled.
“Oh? Really? And why is that?” she retorted. “I am your fiancee, and here you are cheating on me, I think that gives me all the right I need to start kicking some ass! Don’t you think?”
“No, that doesn’t give you the right for any damn thing! Yeah, OK, you caught me cheating on you, are you happy?” he started. “But this is between me and you. Leave Chelsea out of it. None of this is her fault.” he turned to Chelsea. “I think you’d better leave. You know, before it gets too out of hand.”
Chelsea nodded. “OK, should I call you later?”
“No! No you shouldn’t call him later! If you call him again, or if I hear about you so much as taking to him again, I can assure you that you’ll get more than a broken nose!” Julie yelled at her.
Matt interceded. “No, Chelsea. Don’t call me. I am sorry that this happened like it did. But, um, don’t call me again.”
Chelsea, who looked really hurt, yelled, “You bastard! I believed you when you said you were leaving her and I believed it when you said that you loved me. I even believed it when you said that you would rather marry me than her any day! I can’t believe you! And you know what? I won’t call you...ever!” She walked by Matt and slapped him across the face. “Asshole,” she said as she walked out the door.
Julie ran to the kitchen and got into the grocery bag and grabbed something that Matt couldn’t see and ran onto the porch and threw it at Chelsea. It whizzed by her head. Then she threw the second thing, but Chelsea had gotten into the car just as a jar of spaghetti sauce smashed on the sidewalk where she had just been. As Chelsea pulled out she gave Julie the finger. That only angered her to a higher extent.
Then Julie went back into the apartment to continue fighting with Matt. She really wanted to kill them both. She knew it wasn’t Matt’s fault alone, but still he knew that he was engaged and that he was supposed to be faithful to her. And he wasn’t. Yet, Chelsea knew that Matt and Julie were engaged so she should have left him alone, but she didn’t. And so Julie held them both responsible to ruining her life.
“Jules, baby. I am so sorry.” Matt began pleading for forgiveness. “It didn’t mean a thing. I don’t even know how she got here.”
“Yeah. Nice try, buddy!” Julie snipped.
“Julie, babe, you gotta believe me. I love you.” He lowered his head, in attempt to look remorseful for what he had done. “Come here.” He held out his arms to hold her. “I love you.”
“Matt, what do you take me for? Do you really think that I am that stupid?” She pulled away as he reached out to grab her arm. “Don’t touch me!” she yelled. “And look...” She pointed to the kitchen table. “I was going to make you dinner. But no, you had to ruin it all. You had to throw away o
ur whole relationship, a serious, six-year long relationship! And for what? Chelsea? I hope she was worth it! I really do!” she continued yelling. Matt reached to her and again she pulled away. “What were you thinking? Huh?”
“I don’t know. I guess I wasn’t thinking.” He took a step towards her. “I am sorry. I really am. I love you. You have to know that.”
“Well, at least I thought that...until now.”
“Jules, that isn't. You know that I want to marry you more than anything else in the world.”
“Really? You could have fooled me,” she told him.
“I do, I really do. I know what I did was wrong. But it didn’t mean a thing. It was just sex. And it wasn’t even that great,” he confessed.
“Good! I hope that it was the worst sex you ever had. That way you would have lost it all for nothing!” Julie laughed. “And if you really wanted to marry me, I think you should have thought of that before you had sex with my ex-friend! I still can’t believe I finally caught you. How long has it been going on? And I want the truth!”
“Jules, that was a one-time thing, I swear,” he pleaded.
“One time, huh? Why did she want to call you later? If it was a one-time thing, why did you tell her you loved her, and that you wanted to leave me and marry her?” she asked. “Huh? What about all of that?” She pushed against his chest and then threw her hands up in despair.
“I don’t know how she ended up here. I promise you, I didn’t plan on it.”
“Well yeah, that makes me feel better. I didn’t plan on it.” She paused, and then remembered something. “OK, then, tell me, if you can, why was the phone unplugged?”
“What? The phone wasn’t unplugged!” He walked to the phone cord, and it was unplugged. “Jules, I didn’t do that. I swear.”
“Yeah, whatever.” She turned to go.
“Julie, where are you going?” he asked.