It actually gets pretty watchable.
“Stop contacting me. You are hereby blocked.” The text was succinct, albeit mildly retarded. I smiled in satisfaction and slipped my phone into my pocket.
I know why he did it. His reasons are shallow, as much as he’d try to deny it. I’d dealt a blow to his ego; the threat of a restraining order and parental contact on grounds of criminal harassment? How dare I? So of course he did what people like him always did; he accused me of the same thing he was guilty of.
I’d asked him three or four times prior to cease and desist. It was clear, obviously, that what I wanted was for him to… well, cease and desist.
If he wants to come out feeling like he won and I lost, fine. Let him feel that. I showed the text to Stephanie, and she laughed alongside me, shaking her head. Listening to her laugh warmed my heart. A customer at the counter.
“Hey there, did you find everything alright?” He can think whatever he wants about the situation, as long as he stopped talking to me. In the end, I won.
“Would you like to get playguard today?” I shook my head. What a turn.
Later that night, we sat on the hood of my car, looking at the motionless waters of the lake. Her legs were curled up to her chest, my coat draped around her shoulders.
“We were so close, once. Him, and the others, and me. We were all best friends, and we knew it. We did everything together.” My shoulders drooped, and I released a sigh. She turned to look at me.
“Whatever happened… I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.” I traced circles on the metal of my car with a finger.
“Did you try?” She said, her voice like the silken fingers of a God.
“Of course I did. This isn’t the first time we’ve fought like this. He’s acted like a dick a lot in the past, and I always gave him the benefit of the doubt, I always tried again. But it never failed; he always did the same thing.” I sighed again, leaning back against my windshield. “I figured why bother?”
She leaned against the windshield, then against me. My hand found hers, the first time I’d touched her so intimately in months. A shock went down my spine.
We were silent, and then I rolled over and pressed my lips to her cheek, then her lips, and I kissed her there on the shoreline, the stars shining down.
The past is the past. I thought. And that’s where these guys belong. I’m here now. I’m here now, and I’m happy, and that’s all that matters.
He is unimportant now.
