Page 129 of I Promise You
Or that the military ball is still thriving, and the night has just begun.
I have to apologize to Ari. And I need to apologize now. This can’t wait. Even if she doesn’t want me, I owe her an apology face-to-face for being an asshole. It isn’t like me, and it’d be easier for me to blame it on liquor, but that’s an easy out and I won’t give her that excuse.
I love Ari. I’m so in love with her, but after what I did tonight, after I got my shit kicked in and broke Meredith’s heart, I know I’m in the wrong.
I bit her lip because I knew that's what she liked. But that’s not who I am. It isn’t like me to overstep, and I had vowed to protect her. And if that means I’ll be friend-zoned for the rest of my life, I’ll gladly take it because if I’m still in her life still, that’s a privilege I don’t want to risk letting go.
A part of me will always be in love with her.
I think I just lost my best friend for good, too. I pushed him too far this time.
I’m not drunk, but I’m acting like an insensitive ass.
I’m well under the driving limit. I can go to Ari’s house, and even if Grim is there, I’m sure he wouldn’t fight me if I apologized for disrespecting their relationship and Ari’s boundaries.
It fucking hurt for her to tell me,
“It’ll always be Danny.”
But that was the closure I needed to move on finally.
There’s just one more thing I need to do, and that’s apologize.
My phone starts to ring, and I pull it out with one hand still on the steering wheel.
“Fucker, where the hell did you go?”
“I’m on my way to Ari’s.”
Lopez exhales, frustrated over the phone.
“Pinche pendejo. You really do have a death wish. She doesn’t want you.Ella no quieretus ojos azules,quiero los deGrim.”
“First, I don’t know what the fuck you just said, but fuck you, too. And I’m going there to apologize.”
“Well, say less because I’m headed there too. Rooker’s going home with his wife right now, and someone’s gotta pull you guys apart.”
“Not necessary.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he mocks me. “I’ll meet you there.”
Click.
I stop by the gas station to fill up the car. I’m standing there, holding the handle. The smell of fuel fills my nose, and I can see my reflection in the car door mirror.
My dark brown hair is a complete mess. My nose is bruised, and the black eye I received when I got into the bike accident is shockingly less dark and now lighter shades of purple and green.
I look like a fucking zombie.
This is what happens when you piss people off.
And the Grim Reaper.
My face is evidence of pissing off the wrong people.
After filling up a full gas tank at the closest gas station to Ari’s place, I’m down her street in the next twenty minutes.
I’ve only been here three times, and I know it by memory.
