Diary Of An Introvert

19 | Saving him

"Two years ago his brother died in a car accident. His mom had a stroke and died three days after finding out about her son's death." Jim looked up, trying to determine whether to tell her this last piece of information. It would either make Joanne sympathize with Cory or make her hate him. "And Cory. He caused the accident. He was the one driving that day."

Joanne froze. Cory caused his brother's death? She didn't know when her eyes started leaking. "I'm so sorry... I - I didn't know."

"It's been two years." Jim continued. "But Cory never healed from the accident. He had casts and broken bones that healed in weeks. But mentally he was damaged. He tried to kill himself so many times. I caught him trying to jump off our school building once and he punched me when I wouldn't let him."

Jim chuckled. He pointed to his left cheekbone. "Right in the face. Since then we became friends. I drove him everywhere cause he had PTSD attacks and could never hold a steering wheel. He would start trembling." His facial expression darkened. "And then Gloria died."

Joanne managed to ask. "Who's Gloria?"

"My late girlfriend. She died of cancer, fourth stage. I had no idea she was battling with it. If only she had told me." Jim gripped the couch.

"It's not your fault." Joanne consoled him.

He loosened his grip on the couch. "Anyways when she died. I felt something snap in me. I hated everyone and everything. I was a mess. If not for Cory - he was my saving grace. He was there for me. Just like I was for him. Then we decided enough was enough. Started doing whatever. Sleep around. Go to different parties. Beat kids up." Jim shook his head. "We were going through a difficult time."

Joanne nodded. Obviously.

"And now here we are. Victims of circumstances. We sleep around yeah I'll admit that much. We are fuckboys. But to us it's our way of dealing with the pain and memories. Better still - our way of healing the scars in our heart. Without that, we'll just be shadows of our former selves."

Joanne hummed. That was definitely a lot. She suddenly began to wonder why Jim was telling her all this. There was no way Cory carried that much guilt around and was still okay. Or maybe he wasn't okay just like Jim said.

"You know I was actually kind of surprised when Cory introduced you as his girlfriend." Jim stated as a matter-of-fact.

Joanne raised a brow. "Why?"

"Because he's never done that before. And also he doesn't do relationships."

Well jokes on you cause it was a pretend all along, ta-da. Joanne sang in her mind. "He just sleeps around."

"That's right." Jim grabbed the black box beside him and played with it.

"And you?" Joanne asked. If all Jim said was right then he was also breaking the rules of fuckboy-ery 101. "If you're just like Cory. Why did you want to get back with Patricia so bad? Wanna dump her again?"

Jim smiled. "Because I actually like her compared to all my other flings. She's different. And I'm different now. I'm leaving that life. Enough is enough." He brought out the item in the black box and dangled it between his middle and index finger.

"Oh my Gosh! That's so pretty." Joanne swooned over the twelve inches golden necklace. It had a heart shaped plate that spelt Patricia. "It's her's?"

"That's what I've been saving up money for. Working my butt off at Starbucks. I got the golden necklace she wanted so bad."

That's cute, Joanne thought. It brought tears to her eyes how nice and loving Jim was. Looking past all his history and habits, Jim was actually a pretty decent guy. She couldn't say the same for Cory though.

"You think she'll like it?"

Joanne beamed. "I think she'll love it."

"Well then." Jim rose to his feet. "It was great talking to you."

Joanne rose to her feet too. "Same."

"I hope you can save him." Jim said out of nowhere. He took Joanne's puzzled look as a green light. "I hope you can save Cory, Joanne. You're the only person Cory ever talks about so much. He likes you. A lot. I just wish you knew how much."

Joanne blinked. Cory liked her? Cory. Liked. Her. Patricia said the same thing. Were they both telepathic? Cause both couples were just spreading nonsense around New Orleans. "I'm not so sure about that big guy." Then she waved him bye and got into a cab.

Cory still hadn't come back from wherever he went with that red-haired girl. And Joanne was supposed to believe Cory liked her. Cory liked her. Sorry but she wasn't that desperate or pathetic to believe a lie like that.

Why are you and Jim always talking? It's annoying. - C