Page 120 of Stroked Hard
“Dude, you look seriously pathetic right now.”
“Reese!” Paisley chastises. “How is that being helpful?”
“It’s true.” I help my friend out. “I’m pathetic. I’m so fucking pathetic and very desperate at this moment in time.”
“See, baby?”
“Still, it’s not helpful.”
“Listen, I’ve known Hollis for a long time. I’ve seen him through breakups, so I know how this works. He wallows about, sulks, eats gallons of ice cream and then one day, he’s ready to find the girl he’s supposed to spend the rest of his life with again.”
“It’s true.” I nod. “But this time, it’s different.” I sigh and turn to the side, facing my best friend now. “I love her, man. She’s the one. Well, I at least thought she was the one. I was so fucking sure.”
“Maybe she is,” Paisley suggests.
“Babe, she won’t return any of his calls, she barely talks to you. Why do you think this is any different?”
It’s true, I’ve tried to use Paisley as my secret weapon when it comes to Melony, but we’ve failed on that front multiple times. Now Melony barely talks to Paisley, which I hate because I don’t want to ruin their relationship.I don’t want my girl alone.
“It might be different. I, um, kind of remember something she said to me on the plane.”
As if Jesus came by and lifted my upper half to sitting position, I spring up and look her in the eyes. “What the hell, Paisley? I thought I told you to tell me everything she says.” My tone is on the better half of asshole but I don’t care.
“Dude, watch it,” Reese warns. Just what I would expect from him.
Ignoring my friend, I ask, “What the hell did she say?”
“I’ve told you everything,” Paisley says defensively. “This was before you two broke up. If I knew at the time that you guys were actually dating, I might have thought differently of it.”
“What reminded you now?”
“You calling yourself pathetic.”
“Okay . . .” Not sure where she’s going with this, I ask, “Care to elaborate?”
Reese stands and places his hand on her shoulder. “She will elaborate when you stop being a dick to her. You’re lucky we’re even here with ice cream after the verbal abuse you left on our voicemails.”
I might have gone off the deep end earlier on in the breakup. Swearing up a storm, talking about slicing legs off, and threatening to waterboard people for information. It was an intense time in my life, one I would like to forget about.
“I already made that up to you with a romantic date atNumber Seventeen. Remember? You got the most expensive bottle of wine along with steak and a side of lobster.” Smirking, Reese nods in remembrance. Sucking down my pride, I say, “I’m sorry for being a dick, now please tell me what you know.”
Paisley looks nervous as she fidgets with the Barbie comb. “I didn’t think much of it at the time because she was clearly uncomfortable talking about it, but when we were on the plane, she seemed really down, not like herself.” I think back to when she was flying out to Rio. She wasn’t returning my texts at that point, so whatever happened before then must have been the reason. “I asked her what was wrong. It took some coaxing but she told me that she saw her dad.”
“What? She saw her dad? Like she went to visit him?” My heart is starting to beat rapidly in my chest, my palms start to sweat, and a stabbing pain takes up behind my eye. She saw her fucking dad. The conversations I’ve had with Carla, Melony’s mom, and Melony start running through my head.
He left when she was six and started a new family.
I wasn’t good enough for him to stay.
Why didn’t he want to stay?
Is that what caused her to shut down?
“No, she made it sound like she accidentally ran into him. I know she didn’t say hi, just observed I guess. He was there with his new family. That’s how she put it.” Fucking piece of shit. Paisley continues. “This is the part I really remember. She said she felt insignificant. I remember that because even with my parent issues, I’ve never felt insignificant. Despite my parents not liking the path I took at first, I knew they still loved me. From the look on Melony’s face, it didn’t seem like she believed he ever loved her. He didn’t even recognize her.”
“Fuck,” I mumble while standing. I pace the room, my hand in my hair. “That’s why she shut down. Seeing him must have brought back all those awful feelings again. Shit.” I think back to the dinner we had in Rio, with my family. The way my parents loved on me, boasted about Holly and me, even after we talked about the car accident . . .
“Fuck!” I shout even louder, everything clicking in my head.
