Forsaken Below The Tracks

Chapter Two: The Charmer

"What the hell is Erik doing here?"

I was pissed. Erik, my on again/off again (at the present time we were definitely off again) boyfriend of the last five years had heard me and smirked.

He ran his fingers through his dark shaved hair, "I was invited."

"You're never invited. You just manipulate people until you get your way, asshole."

He came close to me and put his arms around my waist.
"I'm happy to see you too babe. Nice shirt. Are you ever going to give that back to me?"

I returned his smirk. "You bought it for me. Too drunk to remember that one?"

He laughed, "Always."

"Where's Liam?" Morgan chimed in.

"Going to get nachos."

Morgan and I lost it. "Are you glad we stopped for burgers now?" she asked when we regained ourselves.

I still wasn't breathing properly when Liam walked up holding a ridiculous looking batch of nachos. Seriously. What was that cheese made of?

"What's up, ladies?"

Liam, always the charmer. I had to admit he was smoking hot. But, definitely not my type. Too clean. Too well-versed. Nice mannered. My mom would have loved him. But, he was pretty pretentious. So, not my type. Erik, now, Erik was my kind of guy. I loved his "don't give a shit" street-punk type of way. It fit my personality to a flaw. Morgan, however, had a love/hate relationship with him. She hated seeing me cry over him and had had more than her share of words with him, but she knew deep down, he was a genuinely good guy with some pretty deep-seeded issues. Ones he never even shared with me.

"You ladies... and Erik... Ready to watch the flick?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, I guess," I said. Morgan hated scary movies and this one was supposed to be off the charts in terms of delivery the fear factor. I was stoked.

Liam wrapped his arm around Morgan and spoke onto her forehead. "I'm right here babe if you need anything or want to leave. We can go okay? You don't have to watch anything you don't want to, okay?"

I laughed, "Jesus, Liam. Lay off a bit, eh? She's 22 years old, I think she can handle a demon possession movie."

"Excuse me for caring about her, Jenn," he shot back at me. "Someone has too."

Morgan grabbed my hand, shaking her head which meant to just drop it. I couldn't. "Screw you, Liam," I said, no way meaning to just DROP it. "You have no clue what you're talking about. You have known her for five years dude, I've known her my entire life. You want to talk about someone caring for her? Come on, seriously?"

"Guys! Leave it alone. I'm fine, everyone's fine, it's all fine! Let's just go watch the movie, alright?" Morgan placed her hands in the air.

"That's not exactly what I meant, okay? I just meant that... Christ, you don't always have to be so damned defensive alright?" Liam said to me. "I know she's your best friend. I know you love her. But, there is also room for other people in her life, including me, and that's fine. You need to let things go and realize that it's okay to let other people love her too, you know? Just chill, Jenn. No one is out to take her away from you."

I crossed my arms. I was pissed. Liam just grabbed Morgan's hand and led her into the already darkened movie theater. As a child, I had been called the jealous over-protective type. I didn't mean to be, but I was scared of being left. You couldn't blame me, friends are known for leaving their so-called best friend for someone better. Perhaps someone prettier, smarter, funnier, you name it. We're people, and people get abandoned sooner or later by someone they once liked.

"You cool, babe?" Erik asked. At least he cared. Morgan didn't seem to.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, "Can we just go grab a beer or something?"

He smiled his coy little smile, "I thought you would never ask."

I grabbed my cell phone out of my bag and texted Morgan, "Going for beer. Don't wait up."

Erik wrapped his arms around my shoulders and we left the movie theater.

Morgan never texted back.