Page 18 of Always There Bayou
“I’m sorry, Denny. I just-”
“I promise, it’s fine,” they assure me, climbing out of bed. “Now come on and let's go make sure your ex doesn’t steal anything.”
I laugh at the joke, but I feel somber.
If I kept this up, I would never have Denny.
And I wanted them so fucking much.
4
Ends Bayou.
CoryTate-December7th, 2024
We make it back to our apartment building in no time, and I notice Christie’s car almost immediately. I sigh deeply before looking over at Denny. They don’t say anything, but the slight smile they flash at me is reassuring. I take one last deep breath, and we exit the car.
When we reach my apartment, the door is ajar, and my eyes grow wide as we step through it. My living room is a wreck. I take in the scene around me as my blood begins to boil. Picture frames are smashed against the ground. My furniture is pushed every which way. Lego sets that I’d spent hours on are knocked over, and my TV and gaming system are smashed.
“Christie, what the fuck did you do?” I yell once she enters the living room, a suitcase in one hand and in the other…a ceramic cat that Denny had made me back when we were 13. It was a birthday present. “Are you out of your damn mind?!”
“You played with the wrong bitch, Cory Tate, but imma show yo ass!” She barked back, throwing the cat at me. I tried to catch it, but it slipped and fell to the ground into a million tiny pieces. All I could see was red as I closed the space between us. “What! You gon hit me?! Hit me! I dare you, bitch! I will sue your ass into the ground. Hit me!”
“Cory, she isn’t worth it.” Denny gently pulled me back, and I could feel the tears forming at the corner of my eyes from frustration. What had I done in my past life to deserve to be treated like this?
“You’re about to cry over some fucking figurine?” Christie questions, annoyed. “See, and you wonder why I cheated on your soft ass. You always try to make yourself seem all hard and macho, but you’re the complete opposite! How am I supposed to rely on you when you constantly act like a pussy?”
“Christie, you better chill the fuck out with all of that beforeIbeat yo ass,” Denny snaps, but she scoffs before laughing.
“Ah, yeah, see, and here’s another reason why you and I didn’t work, Cory. This bitch right here. Y’all stay acting like y’all arebesties,but I know y’all be fuckin’!”
“Get out of my house, Christie,” I say as calmly as I can. “I won’t press charges on you for vandalism if you just leave my shit now. I’m asking you nicely.”
“And you didn’t even deny it,” Christie chuckled dryly. She steps closer to me and pushes a finger into my chest. “Cory, you area piece of shit, and you’re a terrible person. You deserve everything bad that comes your way, and I can’t wait to see you fall.”
“Christie, stop trying to make me into some type of bad guy when it’syouwho cheated onme!”I yell, fed up with the bullshit. “I loved you, and I took care of you. I was faithful to you, and I never hurt you. I thought that you were the one, yet you betrayed me. Don’t stand here and try to blamemebecauseyoufucked up a good thing.” She doesn't say anything but glares at me. “I refuse to let you continue to hurt me, Christie, so please…just leave me alone.”
Her face softens, and I can see the moment her guard starts to go down. She yanks her suitcase and walks over to the door, turning back to say one last thing.
“I did like you at first, Cory,” she admits. “But then I realized that it would never matter how much I liked you because you’d never see me as endgame. You’ll never see anyone as endgame as long as they’re around.” She points to Denny but doesn’t break eye contact. “That’swhy I cheated on you. I can’t compete with Denny, and you know that, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Sorry for ruining your shit, but you broke my heart months ago. You might not have cheated, but that’s just because you were never mine to begin with. It felt like you’ve just been stringing me along this whole time. Want a little advice?”
“No.”
“If you ever want to date someone else, get rid of Denny first,” she says, ignoring me. “By continuing to have them around when you claim you don’t have feelings for them is just going to constantly give people false hope.”
She doesn’t even let me get a word in before she steps out of the apartment, tossing my spare key toward where I stand and closing the door behind her. I glance over at Denny, but they don’t say anything. Instead, they preoccupy themself with picking up some of the broken picture frames. I got to work cleaning up the massive mess of Lego bricks.
Over the next couple of hours, we worked on cleaning up my apartment and fixing the things that could be fixed. I had to trash my TV, but I decided to take my gaming system to see if it could be fixed. Neither of us said much while we were cleaning, and it gave me time to think about a lot of shit.
Denny didn’t know this, but this wasn’t the first time a woman had broken up with me because they thought I was in love with Denny. It was an ongoing theme, but that was not something I was gonna admit to them. Looking back on my past relationships, I could see that our closeness was suspicious, but up until recently, I genuinely didn’t have feelings for Denny.
Or at least I didn’t realize I did.
Either way, I felt sick to my stomach as Christie’s words sank into my brain. With every passing moment, I realized that she was right. There really was no one who could ever compare to Denny, and maybe I was stupid to think otherwise. Maybe I was stupid to ignore my feelings for so long. I probably could have avoided all of this.
I let out a deep sigh as I finally entered my bedroom. Just like the living room, it was trashed, although not as severely. My shoes were knocked over, and my clothes were ripped from the hangersand thrown all over the room. She’d done a number on my place; however, I didn’t think it was justified.
Shewas the one who cheated onme,and because I was tired of the same old shit, I’d finally kicked her to the curb. I felt like I’d done the right thing in this situation, yet I still ended up feeling like shit. I don’t know why my heart hurts. Not only for the wasted time I’d spent in that relationship, but because I couldn’t even muster up the courage to admit my feelings to the one person I truly wanted to be with.
