I heard laughter from inside and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath. I should have known that Rose wouldn’t lie to me. I was just as blind as her when she had a crush, only this wasn’t a crush. This was my boyfriend, of four damn years.
The door opened and instead of seeing James, I saw a tall blonde woman who glared down at me, most likely for ruining their intimate moment. Her buttons on her top were undone and held only by her arms crossed over her chest. I raised an eyebrow. Was this some photo shoot for a porn star? Because if it was, she needed another nose job.
"Can I help you?" she asked as she looked down at us with her pointy nose.
'Yes you can. You can start by getting out of the house' was what I should have said. And her skanky appearance should have bothered me but what really bothered me was the fact that she was wearing pointy high heels in the house. No wonder she had to look down at us. I bet the view was great from up there.
It also raised another point: who the hell wore heels in the house?
"Is James there?" I asked, trying not to lash out and squish her long neck with my hands at the way she was frowning at me as she looked me up and down.
"Who's asking?"
"I should be asking you that," I replied with gritted teeth, ignoring what Rose was ushering from beside me. She could tell me later, and if she really thought I was going to calm down, she was wrong. For four damn years I trusted that man and to find him cheating on me, lying to me, to my face, she was wrong.
"I am his girlfriend. Who are you?" she said in a bored tone, casually bringing up her fingers to examine her nails. Apparently, she found her cracked nail polish more interesting than our conversation. Well, it wouldn’t be once she found out who I was.
I felt my chest constrict at her words even though I didn’t want to waste my tears for that lying bastard and I wasn't sure if it was from hurt or anger that I took a step backwards and closed my eyes. No, Ivory, you may not kill her. Murder is a crime.
I repeated the phrase "murder is a crime," in my head at least ten times to calm myself, probably looking like a -
"Ivy?"
And just like that, all the 'calm' I was trying to build flew out of the window.
I looked up with narrowed eyes to stare into the pair of blue eyes I had grown to love, or like at least.
He, on the other hand, looked confused as he stared at me and reached out, which I dodged.
Should I punch him and break his nose, or break his jaw? The choice was hard. But instead I decided to try another technique: just walk away.
"Enjoy work,” I replied in the most sarcastic tone I could muster and turned around walking as fast as I can down the small driveway.
Rose was right behind me as I kicked the stupid picket gate close and sauntered out. I had every right to kick that gate; I was the one who helped him put it up. The house behind that stupid gate was where I was meant to live with someone I thought loved me. Boy, was I wrong.
I was sure the whole neighborhood could hear James calling after me as he tried to chase me down. Too bad I ran faster than him.
I wasn’t sure if it was hurt or anger as my emotions caught up with me. This felt like a bad dream I hoped to wake up from.
Spotting a tram in the distance, I raced across the road not even thinking about my safety and made it before the doors hit behind me. Finding an empty seat, I sat down hiding my face in my hands before my vision went blurry with tears.
The only visible thing behind my eyelids was his face, the one I never wanted to see in my life ever again.
Present Time
To be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect.
Was it going to be some old man with a pot stomach? Maybe he had pie stains all over his tie, or tomato sauce.
People can change a lot in six months. I know that I had changed. I was no longer that confident girl who didn’t care what people thought of her. Instead, I had become a coward trying to please everyone and avoid any type of disapproval.
Rose was jumping up and down clutching my arm beside me and I smiled softly at her excitement. She was more excited than me. I did remember how she kept fawning over my husband, how he was always on the newspaper or magazine articles, but I always just turned a blind eye. I didn’t want to remember that my life took a sudden change.
It went from being in love to being blackmailed into marrying him. My mother always won in the end and I didn’t want to think about that. She had won once again when she made me slip that wedding ring on my finger.
The only reminder of him was the black and white picture on the wall after you climb down the stairs. It was of him as a kid, but looking at him now, I can’t find any similarities. There was no smiling ten-year-old with a missing tooth holding up a fish.
Instead, he seemed to be looming over six feet, towering over the driver with crossed arms as he said something. He wasn’t smiling and I was sure if he did, I wouldn’t see a missing tooth.