A Treasure Worth Seeking
By: Shellie - shelliemg at gmail.com
Chapter 19‘I’m giving you the opportunity to fix that. If you choose not to then it’s your decision…’
JC smirked at the ceiling fan as he watched it spin lazily above. Joey always had an ulterior motive. People called him simple, or ‘charming’ but he was neither of those things. Well, no…he was charming but it was Joey’s game. He always knew what to say and when to say it and he always knew the perfect words to get him what he wanted. He always had a goal and even though it may be in a totally different direction from everyone else’s, he usually got it.
He reached for the phone and dialed Joe’s number.
"This better be good."
"Why?"
"Its 9am."
"What did you mean when you said you were giving me the opportunity to fix this whole thing and if I decided not to take it then it was my decision."
"I know you aren’t that daft JC. Do I really have to spell it out for you?"
"No. You didn’t…do all this about the wedding at the beach just to get me and Lauren back together did you?"
"I guess you are more stupid than I thought. I like you man, but not that much. Do you know how pissed my mother is about this? You think I love you that much? No. But if I can kill two birds with one stone then why not? But if I’m going to have to hold your hand…"
"But what about this dude she’s seeing?"
"She’s only been out with him three times. Ami says they haven’t even had sex yet but…they are gonna soon. Apparently Lauren and Ami are damn close. They tell each other things that I’m not sure they need to."
"I’m gonna throw up, Joe."
"You brought this on yourself, buddy."
"I know. Believe me. I know. About last night…"
"Yes?"
"Are we cool?"
"I answered the phone at 9 in the morning didn’t I? I don’t do that for just anybody."
"Good. I wasn’t trying to say… I’m sorry. You know."
"Yes I know and I know how shitty you are at apologizing so we are cool."
"Should I call her?"
"You do whatever you think you should do, man. But if you fuck up my wedding…I swear to god, you’ll not live to have one of your own."
"I wont. I promise."
***
"Well…"
Lauren looked up at Shellie, trying not to grin. She knew exactly what her friend wanted to know. "Well, what?"
"What happened last night? I babysat your terror of a child so you could go play nasty at Mark’s…how was it?"
"Caroline is not a terror!"
"I know. She’s an angel. Now spill."
"It was fine. We had fun."
"Jeez, we are going to have to do this the hard way aren’t we? Did you fuck?"
"Shellie!"
"Don’t act all indignant. I know the real you that you’ve been trying so hard to hide from everyone else. I’ve seen you dance on bars and…"
"Okay! I swear, I’ll never live that down, will I?"
"Nope."
"No, we didn’t fuck."
"What?? Why not? Are you on your period?"
"You are absolutely the crudest…"
"Lauren…"
"Yes, okay? I am. But I’m not sure I’d have slept with him anyway. I just…"
"Still love JC?"
"No. I don’t."
"Ever since Ami showed up you’ve been weird again. I should beat her ass."
"I’m not weird again. I don’t love JC. He’s past. I’m just thinking about my life."
"What about it?"
"I think I’m hiding from it… in your guest bedroom."
"And where is it?"
"At my house. I can’t pack up and move every time my boyfriend dumps me. I mean it’s not like he died. I’m mourning like I’ve lost the only man I’ll ever love but I’ve got to just move on and live my life."
"I thought that was what you were doing. You’re writing, you’re dating…"
"I’m hiding. And…I think I want to go home."
"What about Mark?"
"He’s welcome to come visit but…I’m not staying here forever. And if I stay too much longer I’ll end up falling for him and then I’ll be all stuck in a bind again. I just want to go home and play with Caroline and just…"
"You’re scared to see him again aren’t you?"
"Terrified."
"What do you think is going to happen?"
"I’m going to see him and it’s all gonna come back and he’s not even going to look at me. I’m going to be standing there in front of all these people and it’s going to hurt so bad to smile and pretend like I’m okay when I can’t stand to see him. I want him to hurt like I did, Shell. I want him to miss me and wonder what he did to deserve the pain. I want him to love me and not be able to have me."
"Oh honey…"
"I thought it was done. I thought I was over this but knowing I’m going to see him…it’s all I can think about. I keep picturing it over and over, our first meeting. I don’t think I can do it…"
"You’re going to be just fine. It’s never as bad as you think it’s going to be. And I understand if you don’t want to stay with me for the rest of your life…but are you sure you want to go back there?"
"Yes. And I think I wanna go now. To have some time to get my head on straight before all these people show up and I have to pretend I’m happy to see them."
"Want me to come with you for a little while? Paul and Mark can come out and we can have some fun…"
"No. I think I just want to spend some time with Caroline. She’s growing up so fast and I’ve been concentrating so hard on being normal again that I’ve completely focused on me. Maybe we can redecorate her room or something…"
"If you need me…"
"I know exactly where you are. I’ll call."
Two days later they were home… and surprisingly it was a wonderful feeling. Lauren had expected it to be painful. Like a overwhelming reminder of JC and all that had happened between them. Fortunately, it didn’t feel like that at all. It was peaceful and comforting, sitting with her daughter on the back porch swing lazily rocking back and forth as the sun slid beyond the horizon.
"You glad to be home, honey?" she asked, curious as to what Caroline thought of all this.
"Yes. I’m home. Is C home?"
"No honey. He’s running around all over the place with his friends trying to talk people into buying his new cd." She smiled to herself at the jibe.
"The pretty songs from the car?"
The smile fell away. Touché. She’d bought it on the day it was released.