I silently prayed that neither of them were still in the house as I pulled out my key. I didn't know what I would do if they were still in my home because I was still shaking with anger. Luckily, I didn't have to find out because I was welcomed with the emptiness of the house as I opened the door.
Tears rolled down my face as I stood frozen in the doorway. It wasn't until then that the pain really hit me and everything I had been through flashed through my eyes. A scream arose from within me as I let all the pain I felt out. I sunk on the floor and leaned my head against the door frame as I looked up at the ceiling. I knew I had wanted to be happy without having to depend on someone else, but that didn't make the betrayal hurt any less.
Just then my phone rang. I snorted when I saw Gloria's name on the screen because she had perfect timing. At first, I didn't want to answer the phone knowing I wasn't in the mood to chat. However, I knew if I didn't answer, she'd rush over to check on me. After all, she was one of the few who actually cared. So, I answered the phone and tried my best not to let my emotions be read through the phone. Yet, Gloria knew me very well. "What's wrong?" she asked with concern in her voice.
"Nothing," I lied as I stared out the door.
"Don't lie to me. I can hear it in your voice."
I sighed heavily as I wondered why I had even tried lying. She again was one of the few who knew me all too well to be able to hide how I was feeling. Well that and I sucked at lying. "I came home to Alex and Kayla kissing." I decided not to go into detail. It wasn't necessary.
"What!" I flinched pulling the phone away from my ear temporarily to try to spare myself from her yelling on the other end. "That bitch has gone too far this time and how dare Alex-"
"It's okay," I told her calmly as I put the phone back up to my ear. "I already kicked both of them out earlier." I scanned my front room still taking in the fact that they both listened to me. I, at least, expected Kayla to have put up a fight.
It was obvious Gloria was shocked because silence came from her end. "And she left without a fight?"
"Yup," was all I could mustered to say.
"Well, why don't I come over? We can watch a movie and have a girls night," Gloria suggested.
I knew she just wanted to comfort me and the idea did sound tempting. However, I just needed some time alone. "That sounds tempting. But, can I have a rain check?"
I could almost see the frown on Gloria's face. "I don't think it's the best idea for you to be alone right now." Her tone had shifted and I could tell she was concerned. Yet, I stood my ground.
"Actually that's exactly what I need to figure some things out."
"Julia-" she started to protest.
"Remember what you asked me when we were at my parents grave?"
"I asked you what did you want, but what does that do-"
"What I want is to happy without having to rely on someone else. My happiness has always been solely based on pleasing others. Yet, I never stopped to think about what I wanted or what makes me happy." Gloria grew quiet once more on the other end. I could sense her hesitation. So, I continued. "I just need a few days to figure some things out." Still, she said nothing. So I pressed a bit more. "Please," I asked her in a lower tone.
"Fine," she finally said giving into my pleas. "But if I don't hear from you in a couple of days, I'm coming over," she warned.
I was suddenly brought out of my thoughts when the sound of knocking came from my front door. I stopped packing my suitcase as I figured it had been Gloria keeping her promise to just show up at my home if she hadn't heard from me in a couple of days.
However, to my surprise, there stood Ryan on the other side of the door when I looked through the peephole. When I opened the door to him, my confusion only grew as he withdrew some flowers from behind his back and flashed me a huge grin. "I've missed you Julia," he spoke in a soft tone.
I stared at him dumbfounded. I wondered how he could be standing here pretending as if nothing had happened. "Are you serious right now?" I finally asked him after letting the shock wash over me.
That's when a frown crossed his face as if he didn't comprehend why I would ask this question. I didn't say a word however. I just stood my ground. He sighed. Probably finally realizing he couldn't just erase what he had done to me. "I know I screwed up," he began with his half assed apology. I snorted doing my best not to roll my eyes because that was an understatement. "I know you probably don't want to hear this, but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm sorry for the way we ended things. I was so stupid for not seeing what I had right in front of me. But I am ready now and I'm hoping you will give me another chance since fate keeps bringing us back together."
I couldn't believe the words that were coming from his mouth. I thought it was some kind of joke and I was being prank, but from the smile that was planted on his face, I could tell he was serious. So, I decided to shut it down. "You're right," I told him as his smile grew bigger with a glimmer of hope dancing in his eyes. "I don't want to hear it." His smile quickly faded and what little hope he had slowly died. However, this didn't stop his attempts as he started to try to plea his case.
"But Julia-" he began, but I quickly held up my hand to silently cut him off.
"I don't know what you and Kayla are going through and I don't care. What I do care about is the fact that instead of focusing on your future child, your attention is diverted on trying to get back with the girl you didn't give two shits about until your girlfriend did exactly what you did to me. So, why don't you take your pathetic flowers to Kayla's house and talk about what you two plan to do about this baby," I told him firmly. I went to close the door but Ryan's boot stopped it from slamming in his face. I narrowed my eyes as I opened the door only enough to peer him dead in the eyes. "Either you move your foot or I will do it for you," I warned him.
Ryan ignored my threats long enough to tell me what I should have knew from the start. "I don't know what lies she told you, but she's not pregnant."
My face expression didn't change. I wasn't shocked Kayla had pulled the wool over my face once more. After all, she had done it so many times. But, that would be the last time. Still this didn't change things. So, I shrugged. "Well, that still doesn't change things. I want nothing to do with you or her. You both are deceitful and deserve each other." I told him bluntly.
Ryan's mouth nearly fell on the floor. I tried closing the door once more, but Ryan blocked it once more as he pushed it slightly back open. I groaned getting annoyed and it looked to be becoming obvious to him because he held his hands in the air in defeat before pleading his case one more time. This time with the truthful tactic. "Look, I'm begging you to please give me one more chance. I should have seen that you were the girl for me. Instead, I went for Kayla just because I was blinded by the fact that I never thought a girl like her would go for me. I was stupid. I should have knew she was only using me to make Alex jealous and to drain my bank account. I was stupid okay? If I had knew, I would have never chosen her over you."
I would be lying if I didn't say his words didn't sting. Yet, I didn't let them get to me. Him and I were threw and there was no going back. Plus, I deserved someone better who thought of me as the safe option or their plan b. So, I turned him down once more hoping this time he would take the hint. "Well I'm sorry you had to learn the hard way, but you reap what you sow. I want nothing to do with you. We are threw and that is final," I told him standing my ground.
From the look on Ryan's face, I could tell he didn't seem to like my answer. He made this known as he pushed his way in my home. I couldn't believe he had forced his way in my home.
"What the hell are you doing? Get the hell out!"
He threw his hands in the air. I wondered if this was his way of trying to show he meant no threat or what his aim was when he did this. I was more focused on his next move though. "I just want one more chance, Julia. If it doesn't work out this time, I promise to leave and never come back. That's all I'm asking. Is that too much to ask for?"
It was becoming apparent how serious he was. I looked him over wondering if I could win a fight against him if it came down to it. I figured I could easily win if I could beat him into the kitchen to grab a knife to defend myself. I hoped it wouldn't come down to that, but, at this point, I wasn't for sure where things would go from here. "You need to leave now or else." I did my best to make myself seem fierce and not to let the little fear I was feeling show through the tone of voice.
To my utter shock, he didn't even flinch. He just stood there as his eyes narrowed and stayed trained on me. "Or else what?"
My heart raced in my chest and for a moment, I thought I could feel myself slightly tremble. That was until I was completely calmed and a smile crossed my face. That's when Ryan looked confused until he heard "or else I will blow your head off"Gloria warned him as she shoved the gun deep in his back. Her timing was the best. "Don't let her tell you again. Now turn around slowly and leave. One wrong move and I swear I will not hesitate to pull this trigger."
Ryan snorted as he turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder. "You weren't invited to this conversation, Gloria."
Gloria cocked her gun not giving him the satisfaction of an argument. "I invited myself. Make more smart ass comment and I promise you it'll be your last. Now, get to stepping." Ryan didn't move. "I'm going to count to three and, if you are still standing here, I'm going to put a bullet in you. One."
"Alright." He slowly turned and came face to face with her. She didn't flinch as she pointed the gun directly at him. "Bitch," he mumbled before slowly making his way out the door. She didn't let him phase her. However, As he climbed into his truck, Gloria yelled out another warning to him. "And don't you dare come back or else I promise the next time there won't be a warning!" Ryan gave her one more glare before driving off in his truck. I finally felt like I could breath again as she closed the door and made sure to lock it. She turned to me and asked "are you okay" while she put her gun away.
I slightly nodded before giving her a reassuring smile. "Never been better. You sure have good timing."
"Is that why you haven't been answering your phone?"
I sighed softly. "No. I turned it off after I talked to you because Alex kept trying to call me. He wasn't taking an hint and I got tired of it, so I just turned it off," I said with a shrug. Then I turned on my heel and made my way to the bedroom.
Gloria wasn't far behind me. "You can't just ignore him, Julia. I really think you should talk to him."
I snorted. "I don't want to talk him. I just want to forget he exists. And Kayla. Along with Ryan." I told her as I packed my things.
I caught the sadness on Gloria's face. I couldn't understand why she was sad, but decided not to ask. "What about Aimee?"
Good question. She hadn't done anything wrong. I had also promised that I wouldn't leave her. "I don't know," I lied. The truth was, no matter what happened between Alex and me, I would always be in Aimee's life unless he cut me out. "I don't plan on abandoning her."
She crossed her arms pressing the point. "So, you know you can't avoid him forever if you are still going to talk to her."
She was right. Still that didn't mean I couldn't try. "I'm sure I could figure something out."
Gloria sighed and finally turned her attention to my task at hand. "What are you doing?" she asked as I zipped up the suitcase.
I turned around and met her face to face. "I finally figured out how I can be happy without counting on other people."
Her eyebrow arched. "And how's that?"
"Well, I've wanted to be a nurse. However, my parents were always against it. They would say it would take up all my time and I would never find a man to give them grandchildren." I snorted as I said the line out loud. It was honestly funny now that I didn't have my want of wanting to not disappoint my parents anymore.
The look on Gloria's face told me she agreed with how I was thinking. "Is it too soon to say, I despise your parents the more and more you talk about them?"
This time I couldn't help but chuckle. "No. I'm getting there myself."
"So why are you packing a suitcase?"
"I've decided to start going to school out of state."
A confused look crossed Gloria's face. "You do realize that you can go to school for nursing here though. Right?"
I sighed softly. Here came the part where I would probably hurt my one and only true friend's feelings. However, this had to be done. I couldn't back out because of her. It was something I had wanted to do for years. "Yes, but I need to get away from here. Start over. It's what needs to be done."
I could see the pain in Gloria's eyes. "Are you sure this is what you want or are you just running from Alex?"
I thought about it. To be honest, it was both. I had wanted to be a nurse ever I could remember. So, staying here may make me get off course if Alex came to mind. I needed to go. So, I said "it's everything I want."
Gloria looked like she wanted to cry, but she held her composure if that was the case. As I looked her over, it looked like she wanted to plead her case over why I should stay in town with her. However, that never came. Instead, she rushed over to me and pulled me into an embrace. I was shocked for a second because I thought she would have tried to compel me to stay. "I'm going to miss you," was all she whispered in my ear after a moment. That's when I knew, she would never try to make me do something I didn't want to do or something that wasn't good for me. Because she truly had love me for me. And for that, I was grateful to have a friend like Gloria.