My Other Side

The irritating chirp of the lesbian neighbors’ Chihuahua in the window encouraged me to walk faster to my apartment.  Damien, my other neighbor, was stationed outside with his cast elevated on a lawn chair.  An open book lay in his lap.  His eyes were fixated on my movements; I couldn’t help but acknowledge him. 

“How are you today? Does that foot hurt?”  I kindly attempted to be civil.  He shifted his book and I ceased walking to await his response.

“Oh, you know, it’s getting better.  But I can’t stand these crutches, I feel like George of the Jungle swinging around everywhere.”  An attractive smile formed on his face and I giggled at his statement.

“It seems like you’ve been on those crutches for a while.  How long do you have left until you’re freed?”  I’ve always liked Damien and was ashamed of him totaling his car when he was drunk one night. His dirty blonde hair wasn’t spiked today but lay across his forehead.  He had no shoe but only a sock on.

“Well, let’s see. It’s been about two months now.  It should have only been a six week recovery but I displaced the fracture and had to get surgery.”  His expression dulled to a frown.  I noticed even though he was shoeless that he was dressed nicely in dark jeans and a button-up shirt.

“So I have one more month.  I swear I’m going running everyday when I get it off.  You don’t understand how crazy I’m going sitting at home all the time.  I want to go to the bar with my friends and they always have to leave me behind, sadly.”  He is an alcoholic, but considerably attractive besides that.  He seems always well-dressed, perfectly groomed, smelled delicious and regularly had a beautiful girl hanging around him.

“I can’t even imagine being so immobile.  I’m sorry Dee .” 

“Oh it’s okay.  I needed to learn a lesson.  How about this, when I get my cast off, you accompany me to have a drink at the bar?”  He subtly flirted.  My heart skipped for a second and I bestowed a cute smile and a “yes.”

“ Dee !” A female’s voice projected from behind me.  I rotated and saw a pale-skinned chick with lengthy blonde hair approaching us.  Her lips were painted red and she had the shortest skirt on.

“Sandra, you finally made it.”  Of course a girl is here. 

“Hey,” I kindly addressed her.  She grinned back and continued to strut towards us.  Her hair swayed along with her movements. 

“Well, well, well, I’ve been waiting for your ass all morning.”  He teased in his Damien-style.  Sandra’s hands disappeared into her purse then removed a huge handle of alcohol.

“I brought you an apology gift since I took so long,” she was next to him now and proceeded to hug him.

“I’ll see you around Dee .  You two don’t get into too much trouble.” I began to climb the staircase to my apartment and caught the last few statements from them before I went inside.

“Thank god you brought me this liquid of the party Gods!”  I overheard Damien say before I finally entered my own apartment.  The aroma of coffee brewing was dancing through the air.  I understood that meant Breic was preparing to leave to work.

“Is that you cousin?” he called from another room.  My feet were aching from the spiked heels I woke up in.   I traveled into the kitchen to retrieve my own cup of coffee.

“The one and only,” I called back.  The kitchen was surprisingly neat and I felt relieved that Eden didn’t do any cooking last night.  Breic revealed himself.  The baby blue shirt that was labeled “Darcy's Diner” was completely buttoned and tucked into his beige slacks.

“I have exactly seven minutes left for you, my dear.  I’m going to drink my coffee and listen to you tell me about your night with Jonah.”  He held his mug and the steam escaped as he blew on it.

“This morning was terrible.  I woke up at Ryan’s house!”  I recalled the unsafe feeling of being at my ex’s house.  Breic’s thick, chocolate colored eyebrows formed a frown.  I noticed his hair was longer than usual.  He often had it kempt and short.

“I told Eden not to leave last night and I guess she pretended to go in your room and sleep.  I didn’t hear her leave or else, you know me, I would have grabbed her bratty ass and dragged her inside.”  Breic is one of the only people who Eden respects and also listens to.  Thank God for my twenty-six year-old cousin.  Eden is the biggest pain.

“She’s so annoying.  I don’t know if she had sex with Ryan, but I have this feeling she did.”  My stomach churned as I remembered my real boyfriend, Jonah.  How can I tell him about being at Ryan’s house?  Breic’s head was shaking in disappointment of Eden .  My mug of java was overly sweet. 

“What are you going to tell Jonah?”  He sounded concerned and then sipped his drink.  My stomach ached again just thinking about the whole situation.

“I honestly don’t even know.  I secretly want to just not tell him because of everything that happened last night.”  I remembered my furious launch of the bottle of pills Jonah attempted to give me.  Shit.  We both were silent for a moment and just enjoyed the coffee.

“You know you have to listen to your conscience Cade.  If you cheated on Jonah then you have to tell him.  Or that little, annoying, voice in the back of your mind will always be pestering you.” Breic corrected me.  It’s comforting to know I’ll always have my cousin to set me straight.  I appreciate having him be there for me.  However, how could I tell my boyfriend I cheated?!

“What happened?  Just give me a quick recap before I leave.  You have three minutes left. Go.”  I reran over what I could recollect.  The image of the pill bottle would not die.

“Basically, at Jonah’s show Eden came out and that's all I know.  She called his band the ‘Poop Warriors.’”  My heart would not slow its beating.  Breic chuckled at Eden ’s statement.

“She is such a little problem child.  The Piece Warriors are good.  I like the song ‘World Cell.’”  He admired my boyfriend’s band and was often my partner at their shows.  I continued to speak.

“Well then I came back after five minutes of Eden's lovely appearance but, she'd already pissed him off.  Jonah took me outside where it was quiet and had this serious, kind of scary, look on his face.  He gave me the pills and tried to get me to take them and get back on them.  He said, ‘ Eden hates me and is trying to break us up.  I don’t want to lose you because I can’t deal with her anymore.’” I swallowed and remembered his pleads.  It just upset me.

“I told him ‘no.’ And threw them as hard as I could at the wall and that’s the last I remember.”  My heart dropped as I thought of Eden gaining control at that vulnerable point in our relationship.   She knew what she was doing.  Ryan’s house was one of the places she could go to ruin our relationship.

Breic took in a large volume of coffee before speaking.

"I hate to leave you now cousin, but I have an idea of what you can do.  Cheree was working last night at Pizza's right?"  I thought and remembered yes.

"Well, what are best friends for?  You know she was watching you too last night.  Ask her if she knows what Eden did and try to figure out what you can do to make up for it.  Trying is definately better than not trying."  His advice relaxed my nerves.

"Thank you Breic," I looked upon him with gratuity.  He took a stand and kissed my forehead before leaving.

"Keep me updated and stay calm."