Please don’t let this be Mom or Perry about Mom. Not that the woman ever visited him at his place.
Looking out the peephole, he couldn’t believe his damn eyes. Addison stood there, donning an oversized white puffer coat, black leggings, and white Reebok sneakers. Her short curls were pinned back on one side with a silver barrette and she looked pissed the hell off.
Fucking great.
He swung the door open as anger rose within him, ready to demand an explanation for this unplanned visit.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming by, Addison?” She barged past him, leaving him there looking at nothing but her disappearing act. Slamming the door behind her, he turned towards his living room but didn’t see her. She was long gone, like Speedy Gonzales. Addison was barreling towards his bedroom, the only spot in the place where the light was on, sound poured through, and proof of life existed. He chased after her, his rage building like Legos.
“Addison! What do you think you’re doing? Are you crazy?!” He barged into his bedroom and found her sitting on the edge of his bed, her chest heaving, her coat tossed onto the bed.
“Let me explain a little something to you, Mr. Summers. I have had one of the most emotional, insane days of my damn life. Do you hear me?! I just discovered that not only do I have poor taste in men, I’m a spoiled fucking brat! That’s right, I’m a brat.” She pointed to her chest. “I made my father cry… because I felt entitled enough to believe, after all of these damn years, that they should’ve accepted a maniac I had brought into the family, even though he proved a million times over that he wasn’t shit.”
“What does that have to do with—”
“I saw the hurt I put in that man’s heart! The anguish by ignoring his and my mother’s calls after everything went to hell. I have been fighting my way back from the damn grave, the one I am partially responsible for burying myself in. It is time for me to take some responsibility. I called myself stupid, but I have to learn from my mistakes or I’ll keep repeating them. I had completely lost myself behind a man who didn’t give two shits about me. He just liked how I looked, dug my family’s status because, of course, he being who he was—a White man dating some lowly Black girl—I had to be from the lap of luxury, right? If I’d been poor he probably wouldn’t have dealt with me at all, quite honestly. He didn’t know me; in fact, he never even tried to get to know me, either. It was all just surface stuff. To this day, he could probably not even tell you my favorite color!”
It’s blue…. But he kept the thought to himself.
“He couldn’t tell you what high school I went to, my favorite food, and the movie I hate most of all.”
Privett Academy, eggplant parmesan, and you hated ‘Jersey Girl.’…
“No one owes me anything, Aiden, and that includes my parents. No one owes me a leg up or a leg in! You owe me nothing, either. You don’t owe me a guaranteed promise of a job, kind words, nothing… but you did it. You pretty much have assured me I am as good as hired with Golden Farms. Do you know that they called me and said you wrote a letter of recommendation? You’re the natural care-giver. You make everything right but if someone gets too close to you, tries to wiggle their way inside your private little world, you shut down. You are kind to me, you’re good to me, and you make me laugh. You’re an awesome listener, but your face tells lies!”
“What?!”
“You heard me, Aiden. You smile when you are crushed, and you smile when you’re dying on the inside. No more! Guess what? I am pulling the wool off your little charade and exposing you. I want to know who I am dating. I want to know who I am sharing my body and my heart with, Aiden. I deserve to know where you came from, what you really think, who broke your heart, what your dreams are that have yet to be achieved. You’re an emotional liar. You tell everyone what they need to know about everything, except anything about you.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You do know who I am! Furthermore, I’m a vocational counselor. Getting you a job is what I am supposed to do! You know what? This was a mistake.” He waved his hands frantically about, his head about to explode. “I want you to leave, please.” His heart beat out of his chest as he looked down at her sitting there. Her big eyes were so full of sorrow, it tore his heart apart.
“I’ll leave, but not until I get what I came here for. I asked you one question—about your family. We’re seeing each other. You asked me if I wanted to be exclusive and I jumped at the chance because you’re a great guy! No one said I was your woman or you were my man until Valentine’s Day and, more importantly, your birthday. But we have something special that ties us together, beyond all of this. It wasn’t just my body that you wanted. You liked the pain I was in… because you could identify with it.”
“Our circumstances are nothing alike.”
“No, you hadn’t been married to a loser, but someone in your life made you lose yourself, too. I’ve done dumb shit.” She laughed dismally, “But I’m far from stupid. We both hurt and assigned blame. I blamed everyone else, you blamed yourself! But you know what, Aiden? We both were wrong! You like to fix people’s lives but there is someone you can’t fix, Aiden, no matter how hard you’ve tried. And since you can’t fix it, you hide it. You said you don’t hit on your clients and you know what? I don’t know why, but I believed you right from the start. You took a chance because you could feel the attraction, on a deeper level. I was the first and I’m sure, after this, I’ll be the last.”
“You’ve got that right. Now I’m asking you for the last time to leave, Addison, before I put you out.” He pointed towards the door, hoping and praying she’d just walk away.
She got to her feet and glared at him. “I thought at the very least, Aiden, we could be friends, but how can I be friends with someone who is comfortable with pretending all day, playing dress up? Playtime is over. I don’t play games when it comes to my heart.”
“What are you talking about, huh? You’ve had a messed-up day and now you’re taking it out on me! Haven’t I been good to you, just like you said?”
“Yes, Aiden. In fact, you’re probably the best boyfriend I’ve ever had.” She crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side.
“Then what did I do to deserve this? I take you out, we talk all the time, I drop everything to be with you. I try to show you how much I care. I send you flowers, I hear all of your problems, and I bust my ass to make sure you get the job you deserve, damn it! They’re very interested in you thanks to me and I negotiated a higher salary. In fact, Carl already told me you are as good as hired. They are just going through the motions and this is the thanks I get!”