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Over Latte
“NEW CITY, NEW FRIENDS…SAME OLD PROBLEMS”
Okay, I’m gonna be honest here. The last thing that I wanted to do was move up to New York City. Not that I didn’t like the place or anything like that. It was just…I don’t know, it just didn’t seem to fit me all that well. I mean, hello, small town boy with a small town mind. New York City? New York City??? Wasn’t there an old commercial that said something about getting a rope? Ah well, never mind. The point is that I shouldn’t have moved up there in the first place. What I should have done was stay in Morton and try to iron out the problems between Lizzie and myself. Seven years down the crapper in as much time as it takes FOX to come up with a new reality TV show. Quick and brutal doesn’t even describe what happened during that conversation. And to make matters worse? Oh come on, you knew that a ‘to make matters worse’ line was coming out of my mouth next. Anyway, to make matters worse my old highschool girlfriend was visiting at the time of my ‘Bennifer’ moment. And man, she didn’t waste any time sticking her nose into an already incredibly, delicate situation…
o O o
“So what you’re sayin’,” the woman in a white hoody, with the word ‘Nevada-tan’ written across the front in dripping-blood lettering, practically screamed as she threw her arms out in exasperation. “Is that you’re just gonna sit here, dickin’ around in Morton while that bitch who dumped ya…”
“She didn’t dump me…” the dark-haired, young man in front of her tried to interrupt.
“…Cozies up ta another dude just FIVE DAYS after she went an’ broke up with YA!!! What the HELL is wrong with ya, Ashe!!!”
Ashe Knolan frowned down at the shorter form of his long-time friend, Rebecca Moore. Being vocal and outspoken had never been her problem in highschool. And unfortunately for him, it wasn’t much of a problem for her now. Why did she have to pick now of all the time to visit?
“Nothing’s wrong with me, Becca,” he responded as calmly as he could manage, considering everything that had happened to him in the past week or so. “I just don’t think that it’s anything to get worked up over, that’s all.”
The dubious look that planted itself firmly on Becca’s face couldn’t have been any more obvious.
“You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ me, right?” she question roughly, bright blue eyes rolling toward the ceiling as the words escaped her mouth. “That tramp all but imprisons your ass down here in Morton for three freakin’ years, leads ya around by the nose like a damned show pony ‘til she’s sick of ya weighin’ down her shoulder, an’ then dumps ya like Jennifer Anniston after Brad Pitt dances around with Angelina Jolie! And ya stand there an’ say that it’s nothin’ to get worked up over?! What’d she do ta ya? Hit ya in head ta make ya forget?”
Ashe folded his long arms in front of his t-shirt clad chest as he prepared himself to return her comment. But as he did so, his eyes fell down to her thick pullover – or rather, what was written across the front of it – and a deep, penetrating scowl emerged on his face. Shaking his head in disbelief, Ashe returned his hazel eyes to Becca’s coldly.
“Forget Lizzie,” he stated loudly, pulling his arms away from his chest and pointing an accusing finger at the lettering on her hoody. “What the hell is up with that crap written across your shirt? Tell me…please tell me it’s not what I think it is. Even you can’t be that sick in the head!”
For a moment, Becca stared back into Ashe’s glowering face; wondering just what in the hell he was talking about. Then she followed his finger to the front of her hoody, looked down at the bloody words scrawled over it, gazed back up at her friend and gave him the most mischievous smile she could manage.
“Oh,” Becca returned innocently as she pointed at the lettering with a lone finger that was protruding out of the over-sized cuff to the too long sleeve. “Ya mean…this? Eh, it’s nothin’.”
Ashe’s mouth almost dropped to the floor.
“What the hell do you mean it’s nothing?” he all but hollered back at her. “Do you think I’m stupid, Becca!?”
A wiseass look appeared on the girl’s smooth face as she set her arms akimbo.
“Considerin’ your situation Ashe, an’ how I’m feelin’ about ya right now,” she began, rising up on her toes and leaning forward slightly so she could get as close to eye-to-eye with Ashe as possible. “Ya just may wanna go an’ rephrase your question ta prevent me from bein’ a might bit too honest with the answer.”
But Ashe didn’t back down. He was used to Becca’s wisecracks and wiseass attitude. It was what made Becca, Becca. And besides, if she hadn’t bowed up to him like she was doing now, Ashe probably would’ve figured that there was something wrong with the girl. She was from Texas, afterall. An entire state filled with people full of piss and attitude.
Why should his friend be any different?
“Quit trying to change the subject,” he said quickly. “I know who ‘Nevada-tan’ is. Just because I don’t go online as much as you do, doesn’t mean I don’t watch CNN. Why would you wear something like that out in public? You do know that she’s a killer, don’t you?”
Becca just laughed out as she pulled one arm away from its akimbo pose against her wide hips and waved a hidden hand at him playfully.
“‘Course I do,” she replied simply, dropping back down to flats of her feet and raising the other sleeved hand to that shaggy mop of blonde hair on her head. “The lil’ ol’ Japanese girl that went an’ killed her classmate with a boxcutter. Why else would I wear it?”
Ashe lowered his arm dejectedly and just shook his head in disbelief…again.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Ashe started as he returned his arms to a folded position across his slim chest. “Maybe because it’s sick and twisted and demented and…”
Becca just stood there, smiling at him broadly.
“…Right,” Ashe finished as he raised a hand up to his face and massaged one of his temples slowly with two fingers. “I forgot who I was talking about. You’re such a freak, Becca. Are all the other people from Texas like you?”
At that remark, the blonde-headed girl’s smile only grew larger…and more mischievous.
“Well, shuck’s howdy pard’ner,” Becca began with a horrible southern drawl, that sounded worse than the most clichéd line found in the oldest spaghetti western, as she tipped an invisible cowboy hat in his direction. “Ya jus’ know that us Tex’n’s are rootin’, tootin’, two-fist’d son’s a gun’s who catch shut eye with a gun un’er our pillas! ‘Course we’re jus’ a whole mess o’ freaks ‘n weirdos down there! YE-HAW!! YIPPIE-KAI-YAI-YAY!!! YAH-HOOIE!!!!”
Becca finished the last bit of her terrible impersonation by galloping around Ashe’s living room on her invisible horse, shooting at everything within eyesight with one barely visible finger jutting out from under the long sleeve of her ‘Nevada-tan’ hoody. Suitably annoying pa-shoo, pa-shoo noises came out of her mouth merrily and accompanied her sporadic movements as she continued to hop all over, seemingly heedless of Ashe’s begging of her to quiet down.
“Hey…shhh,” he exclaimed anxiously, raising a lone finger to the front of his mouth and pressing it against his lips in a gesture for his odd friend to be silent. “Come on Becca, I have neighbors who are trying to sleep! And a lot of them have to go to work in the morning! I mean it’s after eleven for Christ’s sake! You can’t keep carrying on like that! If you wake them, they’ll go and bitch to the super! Then I’ll really be fucked!”
But Becca didn’t seem to be listening to him. Not one bit.
“YE-HAW!!!” she screamed out as loudly as she could, continuing on her mad gallop through his small apartment’s living room. “YA-HOOO!!! C’mon o’er here, Ashe!!! Ev’ry cowgirl needs a good lookin’ sidekick!!! Yup, I needs a new buck’roo ‘til I’s can gits back ta the ranch!!! So c’mon Ashe, hop on so we’s can mosey ‘long that dusty trail!!! YEEE-HAAAAWWWW!!!!”
It was all that Ashe could do not to run over and strangle the girl. He just stood there, staring at her like the madwoman she was. Why was she doing this to him? Why now, of all the possible times? Was she insane? Was this just her way at getting back at him for all those times he’d called her a ‘redneck’ or a ‘hick’ when they got into an argument? Why was she doing this to him? Didn’t she realize that he was already on the verge of getting kicked out for the shouting matches he’d had with Lizzie during their very vocal breakup? Why’d she have to act like such an idiot now? God, why’d all the whackos want to be friends with him?
“JEEZ,” he finally screamed out in frustration. “What do I have to do to make you shut the HELL up?!”
And right at that moment, Becca stopped everything that she had been doing and gave him the cheesiest grin she could manage.
“Move on up ta New York with me,” she replied in a dead serious tone, all the ‘cowgirl’ in her voice gone in an instant.
Ashe could only stand there with a dumbfounded look on his face as her words echoed oddly in his ears.
“W-what?!”
Becca casually walked over and punched him lightly in the gut, her grin becoming a big, beaming smile that was making Ashe very uneasy.
“Ya heard me, ya big oaf,” she returned playfully. “Move on up ta New York with me. Get your ass outta here. Ya don’t need ta stay here. Ya got nothin’ holdin’ ya here. Face facts, Lizzie’s gone an’ she ain’t comin’ back. So, what reason do ya have ta even stay here?”
Ashe’s eyes grew wider with each word that had come out of Becca’s mouth. It wasn’t like anything she had mentioned was a lie. Everything she’d said he knew down deep that it was true. He didn’t have any reason to stay in Morton. Not any more. Not with Lizzie pulling a Brad Pitt to his Jennifer Anniston. Well, maybe not quite like that…but it was pretty damn close.
“Uh…I…I have…um, plenty of reasons to…ah…stay here,” he stammered, knowing that every word coming out of his mouth was a damn lie.
Becca just regarded him with a knowing grin. Damned her for knowing him so well!
“Really,” she said sarcastically, backing away from him partially. “‘Kay, why don’t ya go on an’ give me a good reason why ya can’t leave this hole? Just one good reason, that’s all. I’m a sure ya can give me at least one, right?”
Ashe’s face took on the sick shade of color that closely resembled his name. He gulped twice before taking a deep breath and replying to his overly insistent friend.
“My job…”
“Ya mean that stellar career of flippin’ burgers that ya got at BK?”
“Um, hello…manager?”
“Um, hello…dead end job?”
“Okay then, my family…”
“Divorced an’ livin’ on separate ends of the American coastline. Next.”
“Well…uh…”
“If ya even mention that skank’s name, so help me…I’m gonna kick ya’re freakin’ ass myself!”
Becca emphasized those words by popping and cracking knuckles hidden in the thick sleeves of her white hoody with the opposite hand. Ashe’s face grew even paler. Why’d she always have to be so violent?
“I wasn’t going to mention her,” he lied quickly, looking away from Becca’s glowering eyes and scratching idly at his cheek. “In fact, she was the last thing on my mind.”
Becca’s eyebrows beetled as her eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Yeah, an’ the first thing outta ya mouth right after I went an’ said what I said. Just another damn reason ya need ta get your ass outta here, Ashe. That girl’s got ya wrapped around her fuckin’ pinky. The bitch knows that all’s she’s gotta go an’ do is pull once or twice and ya’ll come runnin’ like the trained lil’ pup ya are. C’mon dude, just do it! Pack up your bags an’ let’s scoot on outta here! Don’t let Lizzie drag ya down Ashe; you’re too good for that! Ya know, ya use ta have dreams, aspirations, things that ya wanted ta do. At least ya did ‘til ya met that skank! But ya’re free now; she’s not holdin’ your leash anymore, Ashe! Ya can do what ya want now!”
Ashe folded his arms across his chest again and sighed heavily as he returned those eyes back to Becca.
“And I guess what I want is to move up to New York with you, right?”
The blond-headed girl in front of him flashed a knowing smile along with a stiff, matter-of-fact look that seemed very wrong on her playful, chubby face.
“Only if ya don’t wanna be spendin’ what’s left of you’re less than excitin’ life in some small, backwata town; pinin’ after the bimbo who dumped ya quicker than a crackpipe durin’ a drug bust.”
Ashe regarded his friend with one casually raised eyebrow and said, “Ouch Becca. Ouch.”
Becca just widened her already beaming smile and strode back over to him, grabbing Ashe roughly by the arm as she dragged him toward his bedroom.
“Well,” she said happily, ignoring his protests about how he still had other things to work out before actually making the move. “There’s no time like the present ta get ya things packed, right? Now, let’s get goin’! I’m a tellin’ ya Ashe, you’re gonna LOVE it in New York! There’s no other place like it on Earth!”
“Yeah, that’s what all the crime reports say.”
“Lies, I tell ya. Lies!”
“If I end up dead in a gutter, I’m coming back to haunt your ass, Becca!”
“If I had a dime for every time someone went an’ said that…”
“What?!”
“Nothin’. Now come on and quit you’re stallin’!”
“I’m probably going to end up regretting this.”
“Only if ya keep on strugglin’!”
With nothing else to say to the woman pulling him steadily toward his bedroom, Ashe stared up at the ceiling to his soon to be vacant apartment and uttered a silent ‘why me’.
o O o
And just like that, I was gone from Morton, New Jersey and soon heading up north to that Big Apple with more worms in it than an episode of Fear Factor, New York City. Truth be told, I wasn’t too thrilled with the bullying tactics that Becca had used to get me to move. Seriously, the girl could be pushier than a yaoi fangirl at an anime convention in France! There was just no end to what she would do to get what she wanted…even if that meant getting me kicked out of my apartment AND in trouble with the superintendent! Hell, I had just renewed the lease for another six months. You know how much money I had to pay just to break that damn contract! Let’s just say that my bank account was beginning to look a lot like Michael Jackson’s after a wild sleepover at Neverland Ranch. So to say that I was excited about my change in venues would be a gross overstatement. But about a month or two after the move, I realized something…besides the fact that my best friend was a lesbian and never thought to tell me about it! I mean, imagine my shock when some skinny brown-haired girl ran out of this building we’d just stopped in front of and practically face-raped Becca when we first arrived! Not that I was against gay or lesbian relationships, but come on! Uh hello, just broke up with my girlfriend of seven years…not really in the mood to see PDA that quickly. Jeez, some people! Becca could’ve at least tried to tone it down some! God and I thought I was lonely before. I was in a new city, with no new friends…and the same old damned problems! This was why I moved? And just when I thought that things couldn’t get any worse – as if being jobless and living with Becca and her girlfriend in their not so lofty loft apartment (which just happened to be above the coffee house that she owned and ran) weren’t bad enough – I couldn’t make myself stop thinking about Lizzie. If New York was supposed to be such a wonderful place to live, why was I so miserable…
o O o
Becca leaned back on the worn, leather couch and pointed an accusatory finger at Ashe.
“I can’t believe that ya went an’ did that! What in the hell were ya thinkin’?!”
Ashe just stared at Becca in disbelief, his face flustered with confusion.
“Hey,” he stated loudly. “You were the one who invited me to join in this little threesome of yours! And now, you want to complain about it? Typical.”
Becca frowned.
“Hey, I figured that ya were alone and maybe needed ta try somethin’ new! I didn’t think that ya'd do what ya did!”
Ashe grinned slyly over at Becca’s girlfriend Natalie who smiled back in the exact same manner, and earned a smack on the arm from the unhappy blond-headed woman sitting next her.
“OW!!!”
Becca folded her arms back across her t-shirt covered chest and flashed the dark-haired woman a dirty look.
“Ya deserve more than that, ya lil’ hussy,” she growled. Becca then returned her attention back to Ashe. “An’ I want an apology from ya, boyo!”
The man sitting in the cushiony chair adjacent to the tattered couch glared at her with icy eyes.
“For what? I only did what you told me to do! You know that it was my first time trying out something like…that.”
Becca’s face darkened as she reached over and grabbed Natalie by the arm, practically yanking the woman into her lap.
“Hey,” she protested weakly. “Becca that hurt! Just what in the fuck do you think – ”
“Shuddup,” she returned angrily, her eyes never leaving Ashe’s. “Ya weren’t supposed make her enjoy it so damn much, Ashe! She's supposed ta be with me! Why’d ya have ta go an’ upstage me like that?! Ya gave her multiples! Somethin’ that I could never do in that situation! Ya know how bad that makes me look?! Ya know how bad that makes me feel?! I was s’posed ta be the one runnin’ the show! Not YOU!!!”
Ashe just rolled his eyes in disgust as he leaned back grumpily in the rickety old recliner.
“Well,” he shouted wryly, reaching down onto his lap and picking up a thin-looking book. “You should actually read the Player’s Guide next time! It specifically states that the spell that I used gives a Drow Assassin Class multiple attacks when cast on them directly! As the one running the game, I figured that you’d at least know something about it, Becca! Shit, Dungeon Master my ass!”
Letting Natalie go and pushing her roughly to the side, Becca rose from the couch and retorted, “I’d like see ya do better, Ashe! Ya think it’s easy, why don’t ya give it a try? Any idiot can play D&D, but it takes a true master ta run it!”
Ashe tossed the book onto the coffee table before him and folded his arms behind the back of his head casually.
“A master-bater, perhaps.”
“You’re one ta talk, Mister Palm! Ya know, ya spend an awful lot of time in the bathroom Ashe. Care ta elaborate?”
At about that time, Natalie pushed herself up from the couch and threw her arms in the air in frustration.
“Oh good God,” she exclaimed, storming off toward the kitchen. “You two argue like an old married couple! Jeez, it’s just a fucking game! One that I was enjoying until mouth over there couldn’t keep her big Texas trap shut! Man Becca, if you moaned that much during sex, maybe I wouldn’t think that I was doing such a bad job half the time!”
Becca froze, her face reddening considerably. It was all that Ashe could do not to laugh out.
“Yikes,” he snickered. “I think I’ll just leave the room before the fallout from that bomb hits.”
Becca cut him a hard look, blue eyes stony.
“I wonder how Lizzie’s doin’? Think she misses ya, Ashe?”
Almost in an instant, Becca wished that she could take those words back. Looking down at her friend, she could see the hurt she had caused him as his face grayed, then fell. Dropping his hands to his side dejectedly, he pushed himself up from the recliner and said nothing as he brushed roughly past Becca. She just stood there for a moment, cursing herself for being stupid and letting her temper override her brain. Turning as quickly as she could, she grabbed hold of Ashe’s arm. He pulled it away callously.
“If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go and take a shower.”
Becca tried to apologize and explain her mistake as he walked away.
“Oh God Ashe, I’m sorry…I didn’t mean…I know how ya…how ya feel about her an’ – ”
Ashe stopped and then swung around angrily, face tight and eyes full of tears.
“Do you?” he question in a hard voice that shook with emotion. “Do you really? Seven years, Becca. Seven fucking years! All of…all of it gone! Seven years with the woman that I loved more than life itself nothing more than a painful fucking memory. And you have the gall to say something like that to me and then dare to tell me that you know how I feel?! Since when?! I had …I had a goddamned life Becca! It wasn’t the greatest, but it was my own little piece of Heaven. I…I was happy! A-And…and now…every…everything…all of it…is gone…she’s gone…she left me…what…what do…I…have…left…”
Breaking down completely, Ashe did something that he hadn’t done since that first night after Lizzie had left him. He cried. And he cried hard, letting all of his bottled up emotions, all of his festering anguish pour out of him like a flooded river. Falling to his knees, he raised his hands to his face and wept openly into them; wailing like the broken, lonely man he was. How could he live without her? How could he just forget…seven years? How could he make it…alone? What was he going to do? And why had he agreed to come here? Why???
But then something unexpected happened. Through the tears, through the hurt of a broken heart, through the loneliness that had surrounded him, he could feel loving arms being wrapped around him. First two, then four, along with quiet whispers and soothing words.
“Shhh,” Becca uttered lowly, her own voice now on the verge of tears. “Shhh, it’ll be okay Ashe. I promise ya, I’ll make it all better. Shhh.”
With Becca against his front, Natalie had pressed herself against his back.
“That’s it,” she whispered relaxingly, placing her forehead against the rear of his. “Let it all out, Ashe. Let it all out.”
And he did. For the remainder of that loud, New York night, he did just that. He cried. He let go of all the hurt he’d been holding on to since he had left Morton. All while his two friends sat on the floor of their loft apartment embracing and comforting him…
Thanks for your time,
Terryll Preston, still2twisted of FictionPress fame...
