Page 7 of Screw Christmas
“Damn right you should be embarrassed. Not only did you turn me down, but you brought that whore into my house and fucked her down the hallway. I could hear it all. We were friends, at least I was under the impression that we’d been friends at the very least, but no one would ever hurt a friend like that.”
My insides curdled. Everything she was saying was true. Seeing the anger and hurt in her eyes, there was no doubt that wound had cut deep, deeper than I could have ever imagined. “You were my closest friend back then. I know it’s hard to believe because of what happened, but it’s true.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Why are you here, Dylan? You must have known coming here wouldn’t turn out well. I never was one to forgive and forget. So just tell me, why are you here?”
Running a hand though my hair, I felt like I’d just been given a good swift kick in the balls. “Well, I’m here for an audition.”
She crinkled her nose up at me. “Audition? For what?”
“I’ve been wasting my time doing random jobs. I haven’t found what I wanted in life, and I realized that I needed to try out acting. I used to love it back in high school and did a little theatre in college. It’s stupid and maybe a foolish idea, but after getting laid off again…I figured it was time. And since you live here...” I shrugged as heat rose to my cheeks. I’d been mocked by most of the people I knew for coming here to pursue acting, I doubted she’d be any different.
Her lips parted, but no words came from her mouth. Finally, after way too long of aa pause, she spoke, “What were you doing before moving here?”
“I was in construction, a welder to be exact. The college thing just didn’t work out, and I’ve been job hopping ever since. I haven’t been able to find a permanent job where I’m happy.”
She cocked her head to the side and eyed me. “What about a girlfriend or wife, or…”
“Nah. Nothing like that. Not anymore at least.”
Maya huffed. “Some things never change.”
“It’s not that I’m not looking; if I found the right person, I’d welcome it. It just hasn’t happened yet.” If I were to tell her the truth, then I’d have admitted that I’d never been able to connect with anyone like I had with her when we were young.
“I see. Perhaps you’ve had chances, but you prefer to throw the good women off like they’re trash.”
“Maya, I came here waving a white flag. I was hoping we could start over. It’s the holidays, in a week it’ll be the start of a new year. Is there any way we can just try to… I don’t know,” he raked his hand through his hair, “Maybe start fresh, leave the bygones in the past? No promises or guarantees, but at least try?”
Something within her seemed to deflate. She didn’t smile, but the anger in her eyes seemed to fade slightly. “You’re right. We’re adults now. There’s nothing to be gained by this back and forth.”
“No, there isn’t.” Hooking a thumb at the television I chanced a smile at her. “Don’t suppose we could watch some Gremlins and kick off Christmas Eve like the old days?”
She eyed the television and then me, still visually apprehensive. “Fine.” At least I’d made a hairline crack in the ice around her heart.
~*~ TT ~*~
Maya
I wanted to hate him. The hurt was still within me, despite the time that had passed. I really didn’t know anything about the man sitting before me, he wasn’t the boy I once knew. I’d never checked his social media or Googled him out of curiosity. As much as I’d wanted to, I’d refrained. I knew it wouldn’t have done any good. I’d just wanted him gone from my life—period. Yet, after all these years here he was.
One thing was for sure though, I wasn’t about to let my guard down or open myself up while we watched the Gremlins movies. He’d tried to make conversation a couple of times, but I simply shushed him. After several attempts he finally gave up.
“Hey, do you have anything to eat?” Dylan asked as the second movie came to an end.
“I’ve got lots to eat, I guess it depends on what you had in mind. You’ve been munching on popcorn with me for the past two hours. That not enough?”
“That wasn’t very filling.”
Cocking a brow up at him, I crossed my arms over my chest. “I didn’t realize I was supposed to be feeding you as well.”
“I’ll pay ya back when - I get back on my feet.”
Both brows rose this time. “What kind of situation are you in Dylan? Quit the bullshit and be straight with me.”
He huffed and flopped back onto the sofa staring up at the ceiling for a moment. Finally, he turned his head to look at me, “Okay. Here’s the deal. I moved in with a girl and she had a couple of kids from previous relationships. She was out of work and hurting bad financially. I paid for the place to help her get on her feet. We were together for a year or so and broke up recently.”
“Recently? And why did you split?”
“We split about a month ago. I’ve been living in motels, and it’s pretty much ate up all the money I had saved. She cheated with a close friend of mine, so I just left. To say it was embarrassing is an understatement. I don’t want to even think of how many people knew about her cheating and were laughing at me behind my back for being so blind to it. We had all the same friends so there was nowhere I could go and crash for a while. I couldn’t face any of them after what went down so I just filled that duffle bag with clothes and decided it was time to make some changes. Just left it all behind.”
