by Mya O'Malley
“Shane. What is that all about?”
Sighing nervously, he showed Annie the entire text.
I had a great time last night, too. Lori ;)
“Lori!” But he changed his number so that she wouldn’t be able to contact him! This didn’t make any sense. Unless…
“Annie. I’m telling you, I have no idea how she got my number! She probably looked it up online, you can find anything online, all you have to do is pay for it.”
Annie was hurt, she was speechless.
“Annie. Talk to me. Look at me.”
He placed his fingers on Annie’s face, moving it toward his and stared deeply into her eyes.
“Trust, remember?”
Shaking her head, Annie cleared her thoughts. She was too close to the situation, she wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. A cold sweat broke out over her body.
“Sometimes trust just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes intuition kicks in, like it just did.” She hurried out of the car, running to her front door with Shane following close behind.
“Annie! She’s trying to tear us apart, can’t you see that?” Shane yelled.
Turning on a dime, Annie grabbed Shane by the collar. “What I see is that obviously you were a lot closer to her than you’re letting on, or none of this would be happening.”
“She doesn’t like rejection. She’s nuts, I’m telling you nothing happened.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Shane. I should have gone with my first instincts about you.” Running faster, Annie didn’t look behind. She reached the door to her apartment and quickly let herself in.
Closing the door behind her, Annie sank to the floor and unleashed the tears she had been holding back. She wasn’t going to let him get too close, she swore it. Grabbing her cell, she quickly texted Aaron.
If you still want to talk, I could also use a friend.
Within seconds, Annie got a response.
On my way.
Annie’s cell chirped again with another message, this one from Shane. He was sorry, he wanted to speak with her, he wanted her to call him. Ignoring his text, she stood by the window biting at her nails. It was an old childhood nervous habit she thought she had kicked.
Aaron arrived within minutes. It had started to rain outside, so he pulled his jacket high over his head. Rapping on Annie’s apartment door, she rushed to let him in.
“Aaron, you’re soaked! Come in.” She ran to get a towel from the bathroom.
Rubbing the towel over his head, Aaron gently grabbed her wrist and laughed. “It’s good. I got it.” Upon looking at her closely for the first time that evening, he stopped short.
“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” He pulled her close, rubbing her back.
“It’s Shane.” She was sobbing openly, and Aaron guided her to the couch.
Annie told him everything, not sparing him any of the details. He held her as she continued crying. “Tough break.”
Through her tears, she peeked up at Aaron. “So you think he’s lying.”
“I don’t know, it’s possible he’s not, but then again, it’s possible he is.”
“Thanks for the insight.” Annie stated through her tears.
“Listen, it certainly looks bad, really bad. But do you think Shane would actually get back with her? I mean, this is Lori we’re talking about.”
She hadn’t thought of it that way. She supposed he might have a point. “Then why would she go through all the trouble of pretending…”
“For your benefit, that’s why. I bet she doesn’t even want the guy anymore. If it’s true she doesn’t like rejection, she could be punishing him by getting in between the two of you. There are lots of crazy people in this world and sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to what they do.”
“Why are you always so smart?” For the first time since Lori’s text arrived, Annie was starting to have a change of heart. Maybe she would give Shane a call, hear him out. But, she had Aaron here now, so she would wait until he left. Almost forgetting that poor Aaron had problems, too, she lifted her head up from her seat at the couch.
“Once again, I forgot to ask about you. What’s happening with Melanie and Suzie?”
“Nothing and nothing. I’m finished with Suzie and I told her so. Melanie, on the other hand, doesn’t want to see me again.”
“No, that can’t be true. She likes you, I know for a fact that she does. Just give her time.”
Sadly, he shook his head. “Nope. She told me she can’t trust me.”
“Ouch.” There goes that trust word again.
“Tell me about it. It stinks, it just stinks.” Was it her imagination, or was he wiping a tear from his eye. She had never seen Aaron cry before. Taking him in her arms, she held him. It was now Annie’s turn to comfort her friend. It seemed like the embrace went on for hours.
“Do you have anything to drink?” Aaron lifted his face to look at her.
“I have some water, soda.”
“I’ll take water..”
Walking over to the kitchen, Annie grabbed some bottled water out of the fridge. Hurrying back to Aaron, she handed the water to him and sat beside him on the couch.
“To heartbreak.” Aaron raised his bottle of water.
Annie refused to toast to something as cynical as that. “To better times.”
“To heartbreak and better times.” Aaron suggested.
“That’ll work.” Annie lifted her own water and toasted to heartbreak and better times. Hoping better times were ahead, Annie placed her head on Aaron’s shoulder. “By any chance are you in the mood for a sappy chick flick?” Annie ventured.
“Does it involve anybody more miserable than us?” he asked, smiling.
“Probably.” Smiling back at her friend, she felt her spirits slowly lifting. Once again, she felt lucky to have Aaron on her side.
“I’ll take it.”
About an hour or so later, Annie and Aaron had fallen fast asleep, Aaron lying on the couch with Annie close by.
Chapter Twenty- Four
After calling and texting Annie with no response, he couldn’t take it anymore. He called Lori’s number back and threatened to get a restraining order if she didn’t back off. This was something he should have done weeks ago, but he couldn’t have seen this coming. Something told him that Lori had finally gotten the message. Between the yelling and mention of getting the police involved, for once, Lori seemed nervous. Good.
Trying one more attempt at sending Annie a text message, he decided to head over to her place to try to speak with her in person. It wasn’t like he was going to get any sleep tonight, anyway. What had Annie been through that she couldn’t just trust him? If the situation were reversed, would he believe her? She had every right to be upset, but he couldn’t let it go on. She meant too much to him. They had more than a good chance at a lasting relationship, and he wasn’t about to let it go without a fight.
Tiny whined beside him, letting Shane know he needed to go out. “Let’s go, buddy.” Checking his cell again, Shane shook his head at the lack of response. Tiny ran circles around Shane’s attempt to put the leash around his neck. “Forget it, I’m not in the mood for this. I’ll just let you out back.”
Tiny much preferred a walk over being let out back on his own. As if sensing Shane’s mood, he whined, coming closer. Shane latched the leash on his collar without a struggle.
“Go figure.” Shaking his head, he walked in silence, allowing Tiny to do his business. He scooped up the mess with a plastic bag and headed home. The pouring rain wasn’t helping his mood; Shane didn’t even bring his umbrella for the walk. Soaking wet, he tossed the bag in the outdoor garbage can, let Tiny in and locked the door behind him. Hearing Tiny whining from inside of the house, he knocked on the door. “Get some sleep, big guy. I’ll be home soon.”
The windshield wipers whooshing back and forth was the only sound coming from the car. Shane was left alone with his thoughts. He would make this work, he would make her understand, there was no othe
r way. Feeling confident, Shane pulled into Annie’s complex, looking for a parking spot in the lot. That was odd, usually the spot next to Annie’s car was open. Looking at the black sedan, Shane thought the car seemed vaguely familiar.
He ended up parking in the only spot he could find, across the complex, near the office. Running through the pouring rain, he sprinted up the pathway leading to her apartment. He reached apartment number two hundred one. Leaning over, he pressed on the doorbell. No response. Great. He tried again. Nothing. Next, he rapped on the door, calling out for her.
“Annie! Annie! Let me in, we need to talk!” He was soaking wet, but he didn’t even feel the cold rain pelting down on him. Where was she? Realizing that it was late and her neighbors were probably sleeping, Shane stopped knocking and headed over to peek in the window. Was it possible she didn’t hear him or was she already in bed for the night?’
Blue light was flickering from the window, Annie was probably watching television. Maybe she had the volume up and she didn’t hear the doorbell ring. He leaned over to peek through a spot in the window blinds and sucked in his breath. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. Taking several deep breaths, Shane steadied himself and peered into the window again, hoping that his eyes were playing tricks on him. No such luck. Now he remembered where he had seen that car before. It was her friend Aaron’s car, the one he had picked her up in that day at the vet’s office. He took one more glance through the window. Annie and her “friend” were on the couch together, fast asleep.
* * * *
He couldn’t even remember driving to the bar. Somehow, he made it there in the pounding rain. Calling Kevin, he told him that he needed someone to talk to.. After telling Kevin the story, his friend told him he was surprised to hear that Annie would do such as thing. Shane was tired, he felt sleep calling him, he needed to get home and put an end to this horrible day.
* * * *
Later, when he woke, he felt horrible. His head was filled with images of Annie and Aaron, sleeping on the couch. They had no doubt kissed, perhaps more. He couldn’t take it, he had to get this girl out of his mind. Memories of Jana jumbled with images of Annie and Aaron. They were all together, turning in his head until he felt dizzy. He had sworn he would never let another woman get close enough to break his heart and he had broken that promise to himself. How could he have been so stupid? He didn’t know, but one thing was for sure, he wouldn’t let it happen again.
He should have known better, better than to believe a guy would be okay just being friends with a beautiful woman. Yeah, right! In what world did that ever happen? He had no doubt taken advantage of Annie, he could just picture it now; Annie calling her friend for support, especially since Aaron was having relationship problems himself. The two of them, leaning on one another, one thing leading to another…
“Ugh!” Shane threw his pillow against the wall, covering his face with the sheets. He would not cry. He would not cry. He would not cry. Forbidden tears escaped. Trying to contain his emotions, Shane lost the battle. He cried for Annie, he cried for Jana, he cried for himself. He would never get close to a woman again, no matter how beautiful, sweet and innocent she appeared. They were all the same, all women were nothing but trouble.
Reaching for his cell on his bedside table, he noticed it wasn’t there. Where could it be? Suddenly, it was all coming back…a text from Annie.
I feel awful about last night…let’s talk
Shane recalled throwing his cell across the room, hearing it shatter against the cold tile floor in the small bathroom. He groaned, holding his head under the comforter and stayed that way for hours.
Tiny entered the room, whining for Shane to rise. What time was it? After glancing at his alarm clock, he pulled the blinds away from his window. It couldn’t be that late! He had slept half the day away.
“I’m sorry, guy. I know you have to go out. I know you’re hungry.” Stretching the kinks out of his neck, he fumbled to the bathroom. Yes, sure enough, there was his cell lying broken and smashed on the bathroom floor. Looking in the mirror, he muttered under his breath. His face was puffy and swollen. Thinking about how he had cried about this woman, he shook his head. He would take that one to the grave, he wouldn’t admit to losing any sleep, or tears, for that matter, over a woman. Even if that woman was Annie. Especially if that woman was Annie.
Picking up his shattered cell phone and dumping it into the garbage, Shane spoke to himself. “Oh, things just keep getting better!” Tiny cocked his head to the side, trying to figure out why Shane was acting so strangely, no doubt.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m coming, Tiny.” He quickly used the bathroom and headed to the back door to let Tiny out. Looking back at him in disappointment, Tiny stood still.
“I’m sorry, the walk will have to wait until later.”
Feeling crummy, Shane grabbed a coffee pod, starting up the coffee machine. Not caring that the late day caffeine would keep him awake, he grabbed a mug. After several sips of coffee, Shane started to wake up. He needed to forget about this girl. What better way of forgetting about Annie than getting rid of all traces of her.
The coffee mug that she liked to use whenever she was over went into the garbage. What else? Given that his cell was now useless, her phone number and some photos that Shane had taken of her on his cell were gone, along with all of his other contacts. That would be fun trying to explain that one to the cell phone company. He would just say that he lost the phone. Hoping that he had restored his back-up contact information, Shane thought back to several months ago. He was pretty sure he had a back-up of his contact information, but he was sure he hadn’t updated the information since he had met Annie. Good, it was better that way. No number, no contact. She couldn’t even try to reach him now with no phone. Even better. Perhaps he would even hold off for a few days before getting another phone, that way she couldn’t call him. Maybe he would even go so far as to change his number again. Somehow, that thought made Shane feel better, like he had some control over the situation.
Was that someone knocking at the door? He wasn’t sure if it was Tiny outside causing the noise or the door, so he edged closer to the door. Yes, sure enough, somebody was at the door and sure enough Tiny had started barking outside as well. He made a mental note to fix the doorbell that had been broken for the last six months or so. He was in no condition to speak to anyone. He hadn’t even brushed his teeth yet today. He eased closer to the door, walking quietly so his visitor wouldn’t hear him from the other side of the door. He peeked through the peephole and saw long blond hair. It was Annie! He edged farther away, on tiptoes, not wanting to expose himself.
“I know you’re there, Shane, I can hear you.”
Well, so what? But she persisted. “Come on, please let me in. I’m not going away until you open the door.”
In that case, he would speak with her, tell her to go away and that would be it. She would get his message loud and clear. Opening the door slightly, he scrutinized her. Honestly, she had never looked so awful. Dark circles were etched underneath her eyes and her skin was blotchy. Puffy, swollen eyes shouted that, she, too, had spent some time crying. Well, good, she should have.
“What can I do for you?” It was his cold, unfeeling way of getting someone to leave him alone.
“Shane, please, let me in.”
“Sorry, no can do. Say what you have to from here.” He was probably acting immature, but right now he honestly didn’t care. Why did she have to be so beautiful? It just made it that much harder to turn her away.
“Okay, Shane. Have it your way. I came here to apologize for the argument we had last night. I was wrong, I should have trusted you. I do trust you.”
“Too late.” It was a simple statement; she should get the message loud and clear.
“What? No, Shane. Please, listen to me.”
“I said too late.” With that, he tried to close the door.
Pushing back on the door, Annie made her way inside.
“Hey, you can’t do that. Get out of my house.”
“Since when have you become so cold, Shane?”
“Since when have I become so cold? I’ll tell you since when… how about since I went to your apartment to talk last night and found you asleep on the couch with your little friend? ” He was losing control, his voice rising as he spoke.
Annie’s jaw nearly hit the floor. Was she shocked to have been discovered, or was it something else? “What did you say?” She raised her voice to match his.
“I said….”
“I heard what you said! Why were you in my apartment when I was sleeping?”
“I wasn’t. I saw from the window!” He yelled at her, inching closer.
“You spied on me and peeked through my window?” She was incredulous.
“Well, yeah. You were too busy fooling around with your little friend!” He made quotation marks in the air, moving closer, until they were inches apart.
“Aaron is my friend and nothing happened!”
“Oh, yeah, sure. I just lie down, cuddle and fall asleep with all of my girl friends!”
“Yeah, you probably do, especially the one named Lori!” Annie shouted, moving even closer. She opened her mouth and moved back, looking as if she knew she had crossed the line with that comment.
“Get out! That was some apology, by the way. Now get out and do not call me again.” Shane spoke softly now, yet somehow the tone of his voice was more powerful than when he was yelling.
“Shane! I didn’t mean…”
“Trust, Annie. Trust. Relationships need to be built on trust. Neither one of us can do that. Good bye.” Closing the door, this time Annie did not fight it. He watched as she slowly retreated to her car. He watched her pull away and then he stood and watched his empty driveway until he could look no more.
Chapter Twenty- Five