by Nia Arthurs
“I think I’m going to head home now.” I announced.
“I’ll give you a lift.”
“I’ll drop you.”
The men said at the same time.
I smiled at Jamie, “Thanks but I don’t live far from here. I’ll walk.”
He dipped his head and allowed me to pass. I ignored Archie and fast walked out of the church. What a crazy way to end the night. I’d rather brave gangsters and mobsters than the two roosters that were about to duke it out in front of God and everybody. I tucked my hands around my chest and kept my head down in the chill of the night. The streets were deserted apart from a few cars that passed every so often. Thankfully, the shops were still open so I didn’t feel completely alone and vulnerable.
Speaking of vulnerable, I noticed a blue truck, eerily similar to Archie’s cruising down the street behind me. I groaned. I thought I’d made myself clear to him? When the truck slowed down next to me I kept on walking.
“Go away, Archie.”
“Susan, please get in.”
“I’d rather eat moldy bread and choke on my own spit.”
Archie seemed taken aback, “Well, that was oddly specific.”
I scoffed and walked on. Archie continued to cruise beside me, “If you don’t hop in, I will stalk you all night. I mean it.”
I froze and stared at him. “That’s creepy,” I declared.
“You know what I meant.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Come on, Vegan.” I narrowed my eyes at the term, “please.”
Woodenly, I opened the car door and got inside. I stared straight ahead as he drove, refusing to even dignify him with a look. I had nothing to say and he didn’t seem to either.
“Thank you.” I called dryly when he pulled up in front of my apartment complex.
“I’ll walk you up.”
“That’s not necessary,” I intoned.
“I know, but I’ll do it anyway.”
I shrugged and made my way out of the vehicle and up the stairs to my apartment door.
“Good night.” I said dryly, preparing to leave him standing in the hallway. I made the mistake of glancing at him and felt my anger melt a little. Archie, with his hands in his pockets, looked contrite. I closed the door and turned to face him. “You’re a real piece of work, you know that? You act so smart and put together and you’re full of crap.”
Archie got red in the face and I knew he wanted to defend himself but he remained silent and let me vent. “What happened to me with Brian was private.” I seethed, “I told you that in confidence, as a friend, not so you could throw it back in my face when you get mad at me.”
“I’m sorry, Susan.”
“Sorry, doesn’t cut it anymore, Archie. If it did, I’d be married in four months. Goodnight.” I rushed through my door and slammed it in his face. I wasn’t sure if I was overreacting or not, but I knew that Archie had hurt me. I’d thought that I’d finally found someone that could rebuild my trust in the male population and he totally let me down. The way I felt right now, Archie could curl up in a ditch and die. Okay, maybe that was too harsh. The way I felt, Archie could curl up in a ditch and be eaten by mosquitoes for a few hours before the rangers or the police came and rescued him.
Yeah!
Stupid men. Stupid tattooed, bearded men.
Ignoring Archie was not hard to do. Especially since it seemed that he was avoiding me too. I managed to score the morning visiting hours with Melody when Archie was at work and Archie made sure not to visit Mia’s Designs during my working hours. My friends knew that something was wrong and I knew that they knew, because both Melody and Mia tactfully rerouted the conversation any time they found themselves speaking about Archie. I was glad for their sensitivity and proud that no one questioned when I avoided going to Holy Ghost Gym. I instead chose to spend my Sunday mornings with Melody. We read out of the text that Pastor Stanley had lent me and then we discussed it. Melody knew a lot more about The Kingdom than I did and her knowledge really helped me to understand the basics. Still, my anger toward Archie had not faded with time. I still wanted to smack him now, just as badly as I had wanted to back then.
Two weeks passed by like the wind and just when I thought I could finish out my year in Belize forever dodging him who shall not be named, Melody got released from the hospital. The Bradens planned a small gathering with all of their friends and I knew that I did not have any valid excuses not to go. The fact that I would potentially murder their bearded buddy was not one that I wanted to advertise. So, with a fake smile on my face and a craptastic headache already brewing on the horizon, I walked to the Braden residence and knocked on the door, my arms heavy with the vintage wine that I’d brought from the local grocery store.
“Susan!” Melody greeted me with a hug and ushered me inside. The Braden residence was a huge two story house. The interior boasted a wooden staircase stained to a mahogany brown and the tile finish only added to the air of luxury. The place had Melody’s artistic touch all over it with various frames of Alexis Arthurs’ impressionist paintings.
“Is Archie here yet?” I asked my friend, hoping that the anger in my voice was properly disguised.
Obviously, it wasn’t. Melody cut me a look, “When will you two get over yourselves, already and make up? Seriously, this is getting old.”
“He broke my trust.” I crossed my arms. “I can’t just get over that.”
“I’m sure whatever Archie did, he’s sorry for.”
“He is. Doesn’t mean I’m ready to forgive him. He knows I come with baggage. He should expect this.”
“Well,” Melody cautioned, “Don’t hold a grudge for too long. Guys function differently than girls. When they see us digging in our heels they can choose to fight for us or give up on us. I’m not sure if Archie’s still willing to fight anymore.”
I didn’t care. We were never in a real relationship so he didn’t need to fight for me. Right?
“I’ll be fine.” I assured Mel, “But thanks for your concern.”
“Sure.”
“Now how are you feeling?” I asked the expectant woman. She was glowing with her hair in a high ponytail and her baby bump showing through her summer dress.
“I’m okay. I promised Spencer that if I even so much as burped too hard, I’d go back to the hospital. He’s worse than my mother.” She confided.
“I heard that.” Spencer called, carrying a plate of barbeque into the kitchen. “Hey, Susan.” He nodded at me as he came over by his wife and kissed her neck. “You’re lucky I love you woman.”
“No,” she swatted at his arms, “You’re lucky that I love you.”
“The lady makes sense,” Spencer’s eyes twinkled at me.
“Babe,” Melody peered at the chickens Spencer had deposited in the bowl, “What is this?”
“Barbequed chicken.” He said plainly.
“NO,” she tipped the bowl so that I could see. A bunch of blackened blobs clanked together in the dish, “This is lumps of coal, formerly known as raw chicken.”
“Did I do it wrong?”
Melody and I burst out laughing, “Babe, please stay away from the grill until Archie or Peyton get here.”
The sounds of a door bell filled the air, “Oh that must be one of them now,” Melody cried. “Do you mind getting that for me while I dispose of this,” She nodded toward the bowl.
“Sure.” I grinned and walked toward the entrance, half-hoping that it was Archie and half-hoping it wasn’t. I reached for the door knob and opened the door. What I saw on the threshold was like a punch to the gut.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
When I first learned to ride the escalator, I was scared out of my mind. I couldn’t quite figure out how to set my foot on the blocks that were forming so that I didn’t go tumbling to my death. Impatiently, my mom had pushed me unto the escalator and though it was not to my death, I did end up tripping over myself and riding the escalator in a horizontal position. Don’t even ask
me how I accomplished that. Seeing the two people outside of Melody’s house kind of felt like that moment when my chin hit the hard rubber of the escalator step and the entire mall laughed at me.
“Archie, Nicole!” I breathed, forcing a smile. My vision dipped to their conjoined hands and my smile froze on my lips. Archie looked uncomfortable and quickly shook the woman’s grip. Nicole was beaming. I was doing a Joker impression. Archie was turning into Bob the Tomato.
“Hi, Susan,” she waved politely at me and leaned closer into Archie’s side.
I found my manners and urged them in, “Come on in.” I chuckled awkwardly. They followed me into the kitchen.
“Mel,” I called, “Archie’s here. With a friend.”
“A friend?” She called, depositing her last lump of chicken coal into the garbage can and then whirled around. When she saw Nicole, the silver dish clanged to the floor.
“Oh my, Nicole, it’s so nice to see you,” she collected herself and shakily bent to pick up the dish.
“I’ll do it.” Nicole rushed forward and bent behind the counter. While she was out of sight, I caught myself staring at Archie with a questioning look. He held my gaze for a moment and then we both looked away.
“Here you go.” Nicole said, handing the bowl to Melody. “Do you need help with anything else?”
“Not right now.” Melody said weakly. “I think I need to go sit down.”
“I’ll help.” Archie stepped forward.
“No,” I said, more sternly than I meant to, “I’ll take her to the bedroom. Spencer needs some help at the grill.”
Archie’s jaw tensed, but he said simply, “okay,” and collected Nicole. The both of them made their way to the front.
I helped Melody to the guest bedroom on the first floor. As soon as I closed the door she whirled on me.
“What was that?”
“That was Archie with Nicole.” I deadpanned.
I couldn’t believe that Archie got back together with Nicole only two weeks after we fake-took a break. I mean, we hadn’t officially decided to call off the ruse. I thought I was supposed to be a part of that decision!
“You must feel so awful.” Melody grasped my hand.
You have no idea, I thought.
“I’ll go talk to Archie, slap some sense into him.” She intoned.
“Don’t bother,” I said, quickly, “Just let him be. He chose Nicole.”
I thought we had months, but I was wrong. Whatever. It was always supposed to be Nicole anyway. It was just my stinking pride that was messing me up and making me feel betrayed somehow. In fact, it felt like Brian and Lovestruck all over again. Surely, I didn’t have feelings for Archie? Not after barely a month of knowing him. I couldn’t be that pathetic.
Could I?
“Do you want me to fake some pain and get sent back to the hospital?” Melody asked when she saw the look on my face.
“Aw,” I cried, “You’d do that for me.”
“I would eat jello for you.” she said seriously.
I gave her a hug. “Thanks, but no. Archie’s a part of your life and so he’s a part of mine. I can be mature and civil toward him.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell me what happened between you two now?”
“Probably not.” I admitted.
She nodded her understanding and got up from the bed. “Okay, I guess it’s time we face the music. Is it okay if I spit in her salad though?”
“Melody!” I scolded.
We made our way out of the bedroom and ran into Spencer in the kitchen.
“Babe,” he whispered to Melody, “I thought you said Archie was with Susan?” he quickly darted a look at me, “Why is Nicole here?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” I shrugged.
Spencer got kind of red in the face, “I’ll go knock some sense into him.”
Melody brightened at the idea and I rushed to put out the fire before it burned down a really nice day.
“Guys, really. It’s okay. Archie and I are adults and we can all behave with grace today.”
Melody’s disappointment painted her face, but I refused to make this a big deal. The only other option was to tell them the full truth. I couldn’t bear the thought of them pitying me for my stupid decision to be a part of the Nicole-Archie drama.
Spencer nodded slowly, “Okay. But you just say the word and I’ll take him out back to the woodshed.”
I smirked, “You have a woodshed?”
“No, but I’ll improv.” Spencer grinned.
Melody popped him with a towel. “Did Archie kick you out from the grill, honey?”
“No,” Spencer defended quickly, “he simply suggested that you might need my help in the kitchen more.”
“That’s sad,” I laughed.
The doorbell rang again. “Babe, could you go get that?” Melody asked her husband.
He obliged, walking down the hall to greet the newcomers. It was Mia and Peyton.
“Hey!” Mia yelled. She wore a colorful maxi dress that immediately brightened the kitchen.
“Hey!” Melody hugged her friend, “When this party is over, I need you to leave that dress here. You can borrow a T-shirt or something.”
Mia laughed as she came over to embrace me. “Melody is crazy. This dress would swallow her.”
“Not anymore,” Melody rubbed at her adorable baby bump.
Peyton waved at us and then he and Spencer took off outside. It seemed that with his best friend in tow, Spencer felt confident enough to venture back toward the grill.
“Heads up,” Melody said when the men were out of ear shot, “Archie brought Nicole.”
“What?” Mia’s mouth dropped open, “Why’d he do that?”
“I don’t know.” Melody shrugged and then looked at me, “Susan was surprised too.”
“What happened between you two?” Mia asked.
“She doesn’t want to talk about it.” Melody came to my rescue. “I just wanted you to know so you don’t say anything weird later.”
“I won’t say anything weird,” Mia promised, “I’m really sorry, Susan. I know we pushed you into a relationship with him. I had no idea he’d do anything so stupid.”
“It’s okay, guys.” I smiled and waved away their concern, “We weren’t that serious anyway.”
We weren’t serious at all.
Mia and Melody gave me pitying glances but allowed the subject to drop.
“So,” Mia turned to Melody, “Why don’t you want to learn the sex of the baby? I’d like a theme for your surprise baby shower.”
“How is it a surprise if you’re already telling me about it?” Melody pointed out.
“Because you’ll act surprised,” Mia quipped, “anyway, I think it’ll be a girl, you know, because girls rock.”
“Actually,” I piped up, “I think it’s going to be a boy because boys are so much more fun.”
“I resent that.” Mia playfully narrowed her eyes at me.
“It doesn’t matter, because you’ll both be in my baby’s life to drive him or her crazy.” Melody interrupted our fight.
“It’s a him,” I nodded.
“It’s a girl.” Mia argued.
“Five bucks says it’s a boy.”
“You’re on.” Mia shook my hand and the deal was closed.
“Oh, you’re both going to drive shim so crazy.”
“Shim?”
“She or him,” Melody explained, “I’m not going to call my child an ‘it’ just because I don’t know the sex.”
Mia pointed her index finger in a circle near her head in the universal ‘she’s crazy’ sign. I laughed and agreed.
“Boo you!” Melody grinned at the both of us. “Now come on and help me back these things to the deck.”
I picked up a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes while Mia maneuvered the coleslaw and beans dishes in both hands.
“Over achiever.” I teased.
She ro
lled her eyes at me as Melody led the way with the bread basket. We stepped through the glass doors that led to the patio and set the food down on the picnic table. Nicole got up to relieve Mia of the black beans and the tall, gorgeous designer grudgingly accepted the assistance. Peyton brought a platter of perfectly charred barbequed chicken and grilled tortillas to the table.
“The steaks will be right out. Archie is a barbeque genius,” Peyton said to me. I awkwardly nodded and squirmed a bit in my seat. Unbeknownst to the weird vibes going on at the table, Peyton happily returned to where the men gathered around the grill.
“So,” Melody started hesitantly, “How have you been Nicole?”
“I’ve been good. School is out for Easter break so I’ve been catching up on my house cleaning.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” Mia intoned.
I shifted uncomfortably. This dinner was going to be a disaster as obvious as Spencer’s barbeque coal chicken.
Though sometimes the discomfort had me itching to run all the way back home, for the most part, the gathering was tolerable. Mia and Melody sat beside me as always, like the guardian angels that they were. Nicole and Archie sat at the other end of the table, out of sight. The depth of my awkwardness baffled me. It wasn’t like I had not known this day was coming. Archie had never been mine and I definitely was not his. I guess I was sad because I knew that I had lost a friend and I never in a million years expected our friendship to end quite like this. I had no delusions that Nicole would approve of us spending time together nor would I put Archie in that kind of a situation. I was also disappointed in the man that I had thought Archie to be. I’d assumed that I was worth more to him than this and the fact that he didn’t fight for me in the end kind of stung.
But like I said, this was supposed to happen. I just had not prepared myself for it.
“What a lovely meal.” Nicole complimented when the last of the plates had been scraped clean.
“Thank you,” Melody replied politely. My girls were giving Nicole a watered down version of the ‘cold treatment’ and I wished they’d stop. It only made me more uncomfortable.
I piped up to hide the awkwardness, “Spencer, did you learn a thing or two from the other guys.” I teased, “You should have seen his chicken this morning. It was so burnt, it disintegrated when touched.”
