by K. C. Crowne
“That’d be nice.”
She narrowed her eyes, tilting her head forward.
“I want you back, Gavin.”
Should’ve figured she’d show up for a reason like that.
I didn’t even need to think about it. “Not going to happen.”
“And why not?” she asked, putting her hands on her hips. “You’re single, aren’t you?”
I laughed at the idea that my single-dom was as good of a reason as any to get back with the woman who’d almost ruined my life.
“OK, yes. And you’re not. What about your, uh, marriage? I doubt ol’ hubby would be too pleased to know what you were up to.” The situation between her and the dude I’d seen her with at the auction was so obviously a sham that even calling it a “marriage” seemed like an insult to the institution.
“Oh, him?” She spoke as if it were the most minor detail imaginable. “He’s on the way out. Trust me – I wouldn’t be here if I weren’t ready to give myself over to you totally.”
I was pissed, so pissed that I didn’t even know what to say.
“Think about it,” she said. “We don’t have to have anything serious. All I’m asking is that you give me a chance, spend a little time with me and see how it goes.”
“Give you a chance? Mariah, we were married. And you got me into that marriage by telling the lie to end all lies.”
Another dismissive look. “I was a kid, Gavin. Kids make mistakes. All I knew back then was that I had to have you, and I was ready to do whatever it took to make it happen.”
“Yeah, I’ll fucking say.”
“But you can’t act like there’s nothing between us, like we didn’t have potential. What I want now is to give it another try, to be together as two mature adults, adults who are in crazy-love with one another.”
I held up my hands, not even sure to begin with all this nonsense.
“What…what the hell are you talking about? Crazy-love?”
“Please, Gavin. Don’t act like you don’t feel it the same why I do. The moment I laid eyes on you at that auction, dressed in that oh-so-tight set of scrubs…I knew I had to have you again. I want you back, I want what he had but without the lies. And you’re out of your mind if you don’t think I know you feel the same way.”
“Wow. That’s…OK. You need to see a damn shrink for your delusions.”
She only shook her head slowly, as if I were some dumb kid who just wasn’t getting it.
“Gavin, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you’re not going to get anyone more perfect for you than me. And I’m willing to do anything to convince you I’m right.”
She lifted herself off the desk and began moving slowly toward me, sexual heat burning in her shadowed eyes.
“Listen, Mariah,” I said. Losing my temper. “It’s not going to happen. What you did back then was unforgivable, and you’re out of your mind if you think I’m ever going to give you another shot.”
Anger briefly flashed over her face.
“I know what it is,” she said. “It’s her. You’re distracted from where your attention needs to be because you’re too focused on that murderer’s daughter.”
Putting up with Mariah’s typical bullshit was one thing – bringing Gia into the conversation was another matter.
I raised a finger in accusation. “What’s going on between Gia and me is none of your business. And you’d be smart to keep her name out of your mouth.”
“I don’t know what happened between you and her in Vegas, but I don’t have any hesitation in telling you it was nothing compared to what we have. But tell me, Gavin, you’re not still into that clueless little idiot, are you?”
That was the last straw.
“Get out Mariah,” I said, sticking my finger toward the door. “Get the fuck out now.”
She laughed, as if amused by the whole thing. “Aw, you’re so cute when you’re angry. Please. Gavin, I don’t want to see you make an ass out of yourself trying to get her back. So, I’m giving you the chance to forget all about that, to pick up where we left off.”
I opened my mouth to tell her “no” once and for all. But she didn’t get me the chance.
Instead, she swooped in, putting her hand on my inner thigh and moving it up between my legs.
“Now,” she said. “Let me show you what you’ve been missing.”
Before I could move out of her grasp, she shoved her hand into the back of my hair and pulled my face toward hers, Mariah’s lips sealing against mine.
I was so stunned at what was happening that it took me a few seconds to come to my senses. But when I finally did, I managed to put my hands on her hips and push her back, the force of her lips separating from mine reminding me of pulling a suction cup off a glass window.
“What the hell?”
I froze. My back was to the office door, but Mariah was facing it. She looked over my shoulder, a knife-slit scheming smile on her face.
I didn’t need to turn to see who the voice belonged to.
Gia.
Gia
No way.
No fucking way.
Gavin pulled his lips from Mariah’s, a red smear of blood-red lipstick along his clean-shaven cheek. His eyes were wide in shock, his eyebrows almost shoved up right over his perfect, ruler-straight hairline.
“What the hell is this?”
Mariah was another story. She wore a pleased-as-punch expression, one that suggested that while my being there wasn’t something she’d planned on, she was happy as hell about it all the same.
“Gia!” The word came out of his mouth in a sputter.
“Gia.” Mariah said my name with perfect, icy confidence.
My mind was a total blank, my eyes flicking back and forth between the two of them.
I had no idea what to say.
And I didn’t get the chance to think of anything. The sickness I’d been experiencing came back with a nauseating vengeance; I felt like I might blow chunks right there on the spot.
Finally mustering up a bit of self-awareness, I turned on my black flats and flew out of there, rushing down the hall. The white halls of the clinic were a florescent-lit blur all around me. Bess, the receptionist I’d just spoken to, realized something was wrong.
“Are you OK?” she asked.
But the nausea was so intense by this point that I worried if I opened my mouth, it wouldn’t be words coming out.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, as if realizing what was going on. “Down the hall, second door on the right.”
I didn’t even have a chance to say “thanks.” My legs pumped underneath me as I hurried in the direction she’d said. Then I exploded through the bathroom door and into one of the stalls, dropping to my knees and letting it all out.
The intensity of the sickness raging in my stomach was second only to the horrible feelings of sadness that caused tears to pour from my eyes.
When I was done heaving, I sat back on my legs and tried to catch my breath. But as soon as I did, the mental image of Gavin and Mariah together, mid-make-out as I stepped into the office, returned to mind.
It was almost enough to make me sick all over again.
What the hell had happened? Had Gavin and Mariah made up? Were they an item again?
Just my luck that as soon as I’d summed the courage to tell him what was going on between us, those two would decide to kiss and make up.
And as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was sad.
No – sad wasn’t enough. My heart hurt, and almost as badly as it did back when he’d screwed me over for Mariah before.
Almost.
But the situation was mind-bogglingly degrading. There I was, on the cool tile of a public restroom, blotting the tears running down my face with single-ply toilet paper. I don’t know if it was quite the lowest point of my life, but it sure as hell wasn’t glamorous.
I sat there for several moments, until the tears were dried and my stomach had settled. It occurred to me that not only had I
seen something that made me feel torn in two, I hadn’t even done the thing that I’d come to do.
Gavin had to know about the pregnancy. But what was I supposed to do? Go back and tell him?
Not a chance. Maybe I’d call him later.
Or maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe the sight of him with Mariah was all the proof I needed that he wasn’t fit for the job of being a dad, that I’d made the right call when I’d booted him out of my life. And what would he even be like as a dad? Would I want some cad like him around my child?
And then there was the matter of Mariah. The baby was nothing more than a tiny little speck in my belly and already the thought of Mariah having and role in his or her life was enough to make me want to never tell Gavin, just to be on the safe side.
I took a deep breath, grabbed the siderails of the stall, and hoisted myself up. Once I was ready, I stepped out of the stall and to the sink. The sudden throw-up spells I’d been dealing with taught me the valuable lesson of keeping a toothbrush and toothpaste in my purse, along with some mouthwash.
After drying my eyes and brushing my teeth and washing my mouth, I turned to leave.
But right as my hand went to the door handle, I stopped.
Mariah.
I wanted to avoid her, to get out of the building without having to deal with her and whatever shit she had to say to me. So, I opened the bathroom door slowly, slow enough to peer down the hall and into the elevator lobby.
The coast was clear. I hurried out of the bathroom and into the hall, passing the door that lead to Gavin’s floor. If I could just make it into the elevator, I’d be home free. I
Once in front of the doors I quickly pressed the “call” button. As the elevator arrived, I glanced furtively over my shoulder to make sure that Mariah wasn’t on her way.
“Come on, come on.” I spoke under my breath.
Then, to my total horror, the green “up” light above the elevator turned from green to red.
It was stopped on the floor below.
Shit.
I tapped my foot impatiently, mentally demanding the elevator come up to my floor. But despite my internal screaming, the light stayed red.
Then the door behind me opened.
Followed by the soft pad of heels on carpet.
I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.
“Well, well, well,” spoke a pleased-with-herself voice from over my shoulder. “If it isn’t my best bud from high school.”
I squeezed my eyes closed, wishing at that moment I was anywhere but where I was.
I said nothing, as if ignoring Mariah might make her vanish into thin air.
No such luck, of course. A cloud of eye-watering perfume wrapped around me, preceding Mariah as she stepped around me.
Out of the corner of my eye she emerged, wearing that same smug smirk that I’d seen so many times when I was a kid.
“Oh my God,” she said. “It really is you!”
She shook her head in faux disbelief as she looked me up and down.
“Wow, you really haven’t changed, have you? I mean, I would’ve guessed that in, like, the over the sixteen years since high school you would’ve learned to buy clothes that fit, but I guess a dorky leopard never changes her spots, huh?”
As much as I hated to admit it, in that moment I was mentally right back in high school. Seeing Mariah in front of me, that shit-eating little smirk on her face that she always wore when she was in bully-mode…it made me want to freeze up.
But I didn’t. After all, I wasn’t a kid anymore.
“And I see you haven’t learned how to pick our perfume that doesn’t make paint peel off walls and nose hairs singe off whenever you come into a room. Seriously, can you crack a window if you’re going to be talking to me? I feel like I’m huffing paint thinner.”
An expression of shock briefly formed on her face, which quickly shifted into tight anger, which then changed back into her previous smugness.
“Wow, I guess I was wrong about you changing – you sure learned how to be a bitch.”
I glanced up at the elevator light. It was still red. What the hell was going on down there?
“Can we just wait in silence?” I asked. “Gonna be honest here – you’re about the last person I’m interested in having a conversation with.”
She cocked her head to the side, reminding me of a confused puppy. “What? Any why’s that? I’d love to catch up with you. Not to mention the little fact that we’ve got so much in common these days. Like, for example, that we’re both crazy about the handsome doctor in there. Only difference is I’m the one getting ravished by him on his desk.”
I grit my teeth. Mariah was as rude as they came, but she sure had a gift for getting under people’s skin.
“Speaking of which,” she went on, taking out her phone and turning on the front-facing-camera, checking out her reflection. “How do I look? The just-been-fucked hair can work sometimes, but I’ve got a lunch to get to.”
Another smirk. She knew exactly what she was doing.
“Anyway, speaking of Dr. Davenport. God, doesn’t that name just roll off the tongue? Dr. Davenport. You just love to say it, don’t you? Or in my case, scream it.”
“You know, Mariah, as much of a fun blast-from-the-past it’s been seeing you, is there a reason why I shouldn’t just put in my Airpods and forget you’re even here?”
She made an exaggerated sad face. “Aw, you wouldn’t be so rude to poor me, would you? I mean, I just wanted to say hi, maybe tell my good friend from back in the day about how happy I am with my new man.” She gasped and put her hands on her hips, as if something important had just occurred to her. “Did he tell you about our Vegas plans? Evidently, he had so much fun the last time he was there he’s eager to get back. Ugh, I can’t wait.”
I said nothing, glancing up at the red light. I was trying to keep my cool, but Mariah’s words hurt like hell.
And she was ready to take full advantage of my speechlessness.
“I’m so-freaking-happy that Gavin and I have decided to get back together. We’ve got such amazing things planned. Like, the Vegas trip? He wants it to be the first stop on our trip around the world together. After that it’s LA, then Hawaii, then Tokyo, then…who knows? He said he wants the rest to be a surprise. And that’s totally fine with me – after all, the important thing is we have each other all to ourselves.”
She went on, twisting the knife. All I wanted to do was tell her to shut the fuck up, but between how badly her words hurt and a fresh wave of nausea, it was all I could do to keep myself in check.
“And God, there’s nothing quite like makeup sex, you know? Or maybe you don’t know. Things might be different for you now, but I don’t remember you having much luck with the boys back in high school. I mean, aside from Gavin taking pity on you and hanging out with you for a while.”
The nausea boiled deep inside, part of me wanting to run back to the bathroom. But fleeing from Mariah was the last thing I needed.
“Would you shut the fuck up?” I snapped.
Mariah stopped talking.
“Good for you if Gavin’s all yours, but I’ve got more important things to worry about and the last thing I care about is what’s going on with your life. So, could you, for once in your life, seal that big mouth of yours shut so I can wait in peace?”
Mariah clearly wasn’t happy with my response. But I wasn’t some fifteen-year-old girl ready to wilt under some insults from one of the popular girls.
She opened her mouth to say something. But before she could even get a word out, the office door opened.
And Gavin stepped out.
None of us said a word, the look on Gavin’s face making it clear he knew whatever we were talking about, it wasn’t good.
“Gia!” he said finally, breaking the tense silence. “What are you doing here?”
Right after he said the last word the elevator chimed, the light turning green. Seconds later, the doors opened.
; There was only one thing I wanted to say.
“Fuck you, Gavin.”
With that, I stepped into the elevator, hitting the “close” button as quickly as I could.
“Wait!” Mariah called, making little steps toward the elevator. “I’m coming too!”
I raised my palm in a “stop” gesture. “The fuck you are. Take the stairs.”
Both of them were stunned. And their silent, shocked expressions were the last thing I saw as the silver doors began to slide shut.
“Don’t worry about her,” hissed Mariah as they closed. “She’s a nobody.”
The doors closed with another chime, and the moment I was alone I dropped to me knees, more tears pouring down my cheeks.
I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.
Gavin
I’d never felt anything like how I felt at that moment.
I’d felt anger before, of course; I’d felt rage; I’d felt sadness.
But standing there, watching the elevator doors close, the whirl of all those emotions at once was like nothing else.
I took one breath, then another. I wasn’t sure what to do next, but whatever it was, I’d need to be calm, in control.
But Mariah didn’t give me the chance. Her brow was crinkled, suggesting she was still trying to process what had happened. What they’d talked about exactly I could only guess.
No doubt in my mind they’d had it out with one another in the way only two enemies could.
She stepped over to me, trying her best to compose herself.
“Gavin,” she said, her voice almost comically sultry. “Sorry you had to deal with all of that.”
Once she was close, Mariah placed her hand on my upper arm, giving me a gentle squeeze.
I took in one more slow, deep breath.
“What happened?” I asked, my tone even. “What happened just now?”
She smiled, as if my asking the question suggested I was unbothered by it all.
“I told her that you and I were, well, you and I. I told her that she didn’t need to bother coming around any longer. It’s true, after all – isn’t it? You and I are meant to be, Gavin. And she’s nothing.”
