"Come on, Debbie. I really like you, but this no way to have a relationship. Besides, you're a good person. You don't want to screw me over, right?"
"Well, that kind of arrangement seems to be working for you and Holly." She placed her hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "You'll learn to love me."
"She'll never believe you. Remember, she thinks you're hardcore lesbian."
She grinned. "I would assume that the only people to see that little half-moon shaped scar just above your pubes are women you're about to bed." She ran her finger along her lower abdomen. "Holly and I could compare notes. I'd bet we match."
"Look, I've never given my mom any reason to be proud of me." I stood up and pushed her hands off my shoulders. "I got a letter from her months back, and for the first time ever, she wrote that she's a really proud mom. She's telling all her friends that I'm out defending America. She'd be so disappointed if I got dishonorably discharged." I dropped my head toward the floor. "I've given her enough hurt, but we're starting to patch things up. Holly could make my mom's pain a reality. I don't want to hurt or shame her anymore."
"Would she be proud of you fucking two women at the same time? Like your dad?"
I looked at her with disdain and swallowed hard.
"Sorry, Tyler, that was a low blow." She put a hand on my shoulder. "I know you've had it tough, and I'm pleased that you're mom doesn't think you're such a shithead anymore. We all know different, but she doesn't have to."
I snorted out a laugh. "I'd pimp-slap anybody else for a crack like that." I grabbed another cigarette and lit it.
She refolded her arms under her boobs. I was sure she was pushing them up for my benefit and it worked. My dick grew as hard as her nipples. "So what's she got on you? You a Russian spy or somethin'?"
I took a deep drag. "I lied on my enlistment papers. Holly jiggled it around to make it look like a Navy screw-up; not a Tyler screw-up. I would have been kicked out if it wasn't for her, and she could still do it. I was about to dump her a while ago and she just happened to pick the right moment to remind me that she could have me booted out. After spending some time in the brig, of course. That was shortly after I got that glowing letter from my mom."
"Wow." Debbie lit a cigarette herself. "I think next Halloween you should go as a closet."
I pointed to myself. "Are you calling me a pansy?"
"Not likely. No, I'm talking about all the freaking skeletons you got lurking in there. Graveyards are less populated."
We both took drags from our cigarettes, and blew our smoke toward each other. The smoke danced together, like Fred and Ginger. A sadness fell over me as the smoke dissipated.
"So what are you going to do?" I asked.
Debbie looked at me for a while before she answered. "Okay, here's the deal. I can see that you need Holly to hang on to your Navy career. If you get discharged, I'll never see you again. And I don't want that. But you're gonna keep seeing me too."
"Come on, Debs. I got a girlfriend. You and I were just having a bit of fun." I laced my fingers behind my head, trying to look confident and show a 'no fear' attitude. "I was doing you a favor to help you find out if you liked men or women better."
"Yeah, well, thanks. But it's gone deeper than that now. We belong together. In time you'll see that. I'm going to win you over. In the end, you'll dump Holly, consequences be damned. You'll see."
A dizzy spell came over me. We inhaled and exhaled our cigarettes in unison again.
"Why don't you just tell her now?" I asked.
"Because then you'd probably hate me and never speak to me again. I need to win you over fair and square for it to count. You carry on seeing Holly - if you must. As long as I feel there's hope for us, I won't tell her. But, if I feel you slipping away…" She moved her finger across her throat.
"What if I say no?"
"If you don't want to see me anymore, I'll tell Holly about us, and your escapades down on Shit Street, and about the bet. Then you'll lose us both. If I can't have you, I'll make sure she doesn't either. I know you're just using Holly as some kind of fuck-doll that keeps you in the Navy and out of the brig. You and me, we're soul mates. I can feel it. I think in time you'll realize that it should be us together."
She threw her pajamas on the floor and stubbed out her cigarette. "I'm the puppeteer, Tyler. Now get into bed."
#
I woke the next morning without waking Debbie, and shuffled to the door with slumped shoulders, not looking back as I left. A cloud of disbelief enveloped me. I tried to do the right thing and stay loyal to my girlfriend, only for it to be sabotaged.
I walked back to my room, showered, changed and went to work. Mark had to go down on a job as soon as we started work, but asked me to meet him for lunch in the mess hall.
I found him sitting alone at lunch time and joined him. I sat down as he dipped a forkful of green beans in his mashed potatoes, then took a bite.
"I hoped you'd come back to the room last night so we could talk about what happened at the restaurant," Mark said. "I don't think we'll be going on any more double dates together. Decided to stay with Holly, did ya?”
I stared at my lasagna. "No, I stayed with Debbie."
"You what?" I looked up to see Mark's eyes the size of grapefruits. "You have got to be kidding me. Oh, man, you are unreal." He broke into a closed lipped smile. "What's wrong? Had to check if Holly was right." He tapped my shoulder with the side of his fist. "That's it, Tyler boy. Now that you converted her, you don't want her going back. You keep plugging her to keep her on the straight and narrow." He chuckled.
"Knock it off. This is serious."
He let out a good belly laugh. "Oh, now it's serious? Up until now it was just kindergarten stuff, was it? Can I just ask what makes it serious now as opposed to the joke it was?"
I took a bite of lasagna and decided I wasn't hungry. "Debbie's messing with my head. If I don't keep slippin' her the Hot Karl, she's gonna tell Holly about us. She wants to keep me in a relationship with her, thinking I'll pick her over Holly in the end."
He took a mouthful of rice. "Does she know the reason you're still with Holly?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I told her, hoping she'd back off. Didn't work. And they talk about guys just wanting one thing. I think their mind is attached to their trap door. 'He's cute - open'. 'He didn't think about my feelings - close'. It's like a revolving door." I circled my head around, and embarked a chant, "Open, close, open, close."
"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. Sir Walter Scott, I think. At least you use the same foundation for building relationships. Shaky, but consistent. So, whatta ya gonna do?"
I noticed a dress white uniform standing beside our table, then a clearing of the throat.
"Uh-umm."
We both looked up.
"Oh, hi, Holly," I said. "Care to join us?" I stood up and held my hand out toward a vacant chair.
"No, can't stop. You look a bit bushed, Tyler. Didn't you sleep well last night?"
I jerked a thumb toward Mark. "No, his snoring kept me up." Mark's eyes went wide as his head jerked forward.
She looked at Mark. "Well?"
"I snore. So what?"
"I don't care what you do at night. What do you have to say about last night?" She crossed her arms.
"Well, I'm hardly going to say it was a good night, am I?"
"I'm talking about, like an apology. Your girlfriend was well out of line, and you owe me an apology."
He pointed to himself. "Me? If you want an apology, try asking Lori, but I doubt you'll get one."
"Well, I think you should have better control over your girlfriend." She looked back at me. "See you tonight, Tyler. Six o'clock, Dolphin's. Don't be late. Ciao." She walked off.
I dropped my head. "Shit, Debbie always drinks at Dolphin's on Thursday nights," I mumbled.
"You wanna hear something funny?" He leaned in. "Me and Lori agreed to meet at Dolphin's tonight. She said seven
, but I'm going to tell her to make it six. I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Chapter 12I stood at the entrance of Dolphin's ten minutes before six, wanting to catch Holly before she went in and convince her we should go back to her house instead of going inside.
I took a long drag on my cigarette, flicked it to the ground and crushed it under my boot. Pacing at the entrance of the bar, I slid another cigarette from the pack and lit it.
Why did Debbie have to go messing things up? She had to let her feelings get involved. It was her idea and now she held me to ransom. I took another drag and blew out the smoke with exaggerated force. Okay, okay. Let's think about this. As long as Holly doesn't find out, maybe I can make this work. I gotta be nice to Debbie. I didn't want her spilling her guts to Holly.
I moved to one side of the doorway as several people went into the bar. Debbie trudged toward the entrance. Shit. Right on time for her Thursday night booze up as usual. I could just about set my watch to her drunkenness.
"Oh hi, Tyler." She threw her cigarette on the ground and tapped it with her foot. "Buy me a drink, and I'm yours." She smiled. Her eyes were hazy and her speech slow.
This was one Thursday session I wished she would have missed. "Umm…I'm waiting for Sanchez," I said.
"Oh, I like him. He tells the rudest jokes. Dirty Sanchez. That's what I call him." She giggled. "I'll wait with you." She staggered a little and used me to steady herself.
"If you don't mind, I have to talk to him in private about something." I shifted my head looking into each of her eyes. "Have you been drinking already?"
"I had a few shots in my room to get primed. Should be a good night." She laughed. "See you inside."
Ten minutes later, Mark and Lori showed up. All I needed now was Holly and my nightmare would be complete.
"Waiting for someone special?" Mark grinned.
I ignored his comment. "Hi, Lori. Sorry about the other night. It got a bit heated." I flicked my cigarette butt into the parking lot. "Holly's not usually like that."
"Thanks for the apology, but it doesn't count. I'd need to hear it from your girlfriend, Holly Ali. Even then, I'd probably still like to spit in her face." She rubbed the side of her face. "My jaw's still sore from her bitch-slapping me."
"Man, she really does have you whipped, doesn't she?" Mark said. "I thought Holly was kidding when she wanted me to apologize, but she's got you doing it. Did she honestly expect me to say sorry?"
"Eat shit and bark at the moon," I said. "I was genuinely concerned for Lori."
She looked at Mark. "Oh, he's good, isn't he?" She looked back at me. "Thanks, Tyler. I still like you, I just wish you had better taste in women." She grabbed Mark's arm. "Come on, let's grab a drink and get ringside. I have a feeling tonight's going to be fun."
Mark pulled out his wallet and handed her a twenty. "Get yourself a drink, and get me a beer. I just want to have a word with Tyler."
Lori took the money. "K." She sashayed into the bar.
"You know what, Mark, she's got a nice ass. Maybe one day I'll walk into the room, and she'll be running around in the buff."
"I haven't even seen her naked yet, so fuck off." Mark motioned for us to move over to the corner of the building, away from the entrance. We both leaned against the brick exterior. I lit a cigarette.
"Those things are going to kill you," Mark said, "but I'm betting you die at the hands of an outraged woman before the cancer sticks ever get a chance to bite."
I touched my eyebrow with two fingers and flicked the wrist out in a saluting gesture. "Thanks for your concern, Mister Surgeon General, but I can handle chicks and sticks. If my liver holds out, I might even make it to twenty-seven. Morrison, Joplin, Hendrix, Chambers. We all only need twenty-seven years to make our mark on the world."
"How do you feel about twenty?" Mark pushed himself off the wall and faced me. "Lori told me that she and Debbie's been talkin', and Debbie's still pissed about what Holly said at the pizza joint. She confessed to Lori about her past, and they're cool. But Debbie wants revenge."
I stroked my jaw. "Did she tell Lori about her and Holly?"
"I don't think so. Lori would have said something if she knew about Holly."
"Debbie worries me, but I gotta stay nice to her. I'm more worried what Holly could do. As long as I keep playing Debbie's game, I think it'll be alright." I took a drag.
"I'm just warning you, there's going to be a kick-off soon." Mark lightly slapped my cheek twice. "Live by the dick, die by one of the women you put it in. See you inside."
"Laters," I said, as he walked away.
I urged Holly to appear so we could get the hell out of there. I walked back over and stood by the entrance. Someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to find Holly standing there with a face like thunder.
"What are you doing out here?" She held up her arm and tapped her watch. "It's ten past six. I said six."
"Sorry, gorgeous. I looked inside but didn't see you, so I waited out here to escort you in, proper like." I flicked my cigarette away.
She put her hands on her hips. "Like, I wasn't hard to find. I was the good-looking one, totally sitting on my own."
I gently reached down and took her hand. "Why don't we blow this joint and head downtown or something."
"Because I have a drink sitting in there. Now, come along." She jerked my hand and led me in. I pretended that if I didn't see Mark, Debbie or Lori, they wouldn't exist, so I kept my eyes locked on the green indoor/outdoor carpet as Holly guided me to an isolated table in the corner.
"Go get yourself a drink." She dipped into her purse and handed me ten dollars. "And get me another rum and coke."
I strolled to the bar as instructed and placed my order. Maybe I could get Holly to play a drinking game. We'd slam the drinks down in one gulp and leave. Perfect.
"So, did Sanchez show up?" I looked to my left and there stood Debbie, a little unsteadily. I could tell by her glazed look she might be on the road to a night she wouldn't remember.
"Oh, um, no, he didn't." The barman put down the two drinks in front of me, and I gave him the cash.
"So, who's the other drink for?" She took a step closer, and I could smell her priming drinks were more than just a few. "I take it you're with someone," she flicked a finger toward the drinks on the bar, "and not drinking cokie things with a beer chaser on your own. And my guess would be Holly. Am I right?"
I nodded.
"Well, I'm going to go have it out with that bitch once and for all." She pretended to push her sleeves up. "Not about us, but about her."
I grabbed her by the shoulders. "Wait, Debbie, don't make a scene. A quick drink, and we're outta here. Please." I set my eyes to begging mode.
She wagged her finger in my face. "I'm not gonna drop you in it, but that bitch deserves a slap." She sighed, grabbed my beer off the bar and took a drink, then put it back. "Okay, no scene. But at least buy me a shot of tequila."
I handed her three dollars. "On me." That sounded better than telling her the truth and saying, 'On Holly'.
She smiled. "If you get tired of her," she pointed to a table at the other side of the room, "I'm over there, drinking with Mark and Lori."
"Gotcha."
I returned to the table with our drinks. I sat down next to a stone-faced Holly.
"Like, what were you doing talking to Debbie Meyers at the bar?"
I rotated my beer bottle in place as it sat on the table, staring at the label. "Nothin'. She just asked me if I'd help her study for the E-5 test she's taking next month."
"Why you? You're only an E-3, and since when did you two become so buddy-buddy?"
"We're not." I lifted my head and looked at her. "I told you, I think she's stalking me."
"If she wasn't a lesbian, I might be worried. Then again, I know you would never stray from me. We're like two peas on the farm."
"I think you mean 'two peas in a pod'."
"Like, whatever. Anyway, I'm going to transfer her to the lagg
ing shop tomorrow. At least then she'll be on the other side of the division and can't harass you so easily." She flicked her hair. "You are so lucky to have a girlfriend in high places." She patted my leg.
"Ain't I just. Look, can we go now?" I leaned in close, examining her brown eyes. She smelled of rose petals. "I want to go back to your place and fuck your brains out," I whispered. Too bad someone already beat me to it.
She stroked my arm. "Honey," she cooed, "I've told you, don't use the F-word when you talk about us doing the deed. It's making love. Don't you feel that way too?" She fluttered her eyelashes. "Besides, you just brought us back a drink."
"How about, 'I really want to nibble your bibble?'"
She scrunched her nose and shoulders, and giggled. I giggled back, feeling myself getting aroused.
"Okay, we'll finish these, then we'll go," she said.
I looked around and noticed we were well away from anyone else, so I slipped my hand under the table and slid it up her thigh. She put her hand under the table and returned the favor. We fondled each other under the table through our clothes, and I got incredibly turned on. The public risk thing was so hot, especially when she closed her eyes and softly moaned. God, I could take her at anytime she was so turned on. I had visions of ripping her clothes off, throwing her on the table, and fuc—, making love to her in the corner of the bar for all to see. She would have loved that. Provided I didn't suffer another attack of stage fright.
My mind went wild as we petted each other under the cover of the walnut veneer table. "Let's go," I whispered. My erection would be visible once I stood up, but I didn't care.
"You bitch!"
Holly and I both jumped. Debbie stood swaying at the end of the table. She glared at Holly - a fight brewing in her eyes. Mark and Lori appeared behind her seconds later.
Uh oh. Time for the kick-off.
"You're drunk," Holly snapped.
"Don't condescend to me, you whore. Where do you get off telling everyone I'm a lesbian?" Debbie pointed at Holly. "Pot." She pointed back at herself. "Kettle."
Trouble Triangle (Tyler's Trouble Trilogy) Page 10