64. Eat the Middle First
A long exasperated breath cascaded from Chase’s lips, and then he grabbed a steady hold of LaCienega’s arm and pulled her up from her bar stool. “Come on,” he grumbled. “Home you go.”
She tore her arm apart from him in a moment’s notice and earned herself another sigh. He would have held on harder if not for the fact the girl’s arm was thin, and he didn’t want to do her more damage than the ones she was already carrying in her heart.
His generosity went unnoticed. LaCienega's only response seemed to be her determination to wave down the bartender as she sat back down on her stool. “Can I get another please?” She pointed down at her empty glass before changing the direction of her finger to point at Chase. “And one for my friend.”
The bartender gave Chase a look just to confirm, but Chase shook his head. “Nothing for me.” Then he had second thoughts and cleared his throat to get the bartender’s attention again. “Actually, can I get a glass of water? Make that three of them.”
Why not? It was three in the morning, and Krislynn was probably fast asleep at home by now. He didn’t really have a place he needed to hurry to be. “How did you even get here anyways?” He sat down on the stool beside hers. As far as Jace told him, LaCienega didn’t leave the house with anything but her phone and God knows she hadn’t been answering that all day. “Don’t tell me you actually walked all the way here.”
She laughed. “I gave the taxi driver my phone. Told him I’d pay him tomorrow.”
Well that was reckless, he thought, but it wasn’t as bad as his previous imaginations were so he let it slide as the bartender came over and placed their drinks in front of them. “And how did you pay for your drinks?” He asked, glancing up at the bulky bartender with a raised eyebrow.
“With this,” the bartender grumbled. He reached inside the pocket of his pants and in a moment made a loud clack sound when he banged the object against the wooden counter.
Chase’s face grew dark the second his eyes caught the quiet glint of the object in the dim lighting. “You gave him your engagement ring? Wow.” She shrugged and Chase wanted to whack his own head against the counter. “But Jace gave that to you! Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“Not now it doesn’t!” She screamed.
“Lookee here, I don’t pry into my customers’ business,” the bartender stated indifferently. “Ring’s nice and all, but I’d rather the dough. Too much burden.”
Sighing, Chase reached for his wallet. “How much does she owe you?” He muttered. “We’ll take the ring back.”
“I don’t want it.” LaCienega’s whimpers were uncontrollable as Chase made the quick exchange with the bartender, but he didn’t care. If she wanted to get rid of the ring, that was reasonable, but she should give it back to Jace and maybe get a bit of her dignity back rather than trade it for cheap liquor at a cheap pub.
She threw back the liquor when he refused to listen, but before she could drown herself in further self-denial, he took the tumbler from her hands and gave her a glass of water. “Sit all you like,” he muttered. “I don’t think it’s my fault, but I guess I had a play in all of this. If you want to stay, we’ll stay. If you want to talk, we’ll talk. If you want to drink, you can drink that.” He nodded at the water. “And if you want to cry, be my guest. And when you’ve gotten all of that out of your system, I’ll take you home.”
Chase waited for her response, but when she started openly sobbing for what he thought was no apparent reason, he decided her response must have been an agreeable one. For five minutes, she just cried her heart out like she was the only one in the room, and then she abruptly stopped and threw the glass of water he gave her at him. The ice water splashed across his face and he winched partially from the liquid that dripped down the collar of his shirt, and partially from the sudden impact that blinded his eyes.
After a quick sweep of his palm diagonally down his face like a windshield wiper, he blinked his eyes until he regained better vision and nodded unenthusiastically at her. “Alright, fine. I guess I deserve that much. I did tell him we slept together and I did tell him he needed to reconsider his future with you. Here, feel free to throw another one at me. I already got you the water.” He slid another glass down the short distance of the bar to her and she gripped the glass in her palms before the content sailed out in a tidal wave.
“You should have just stayed out of our business!” This time, since he was prepared for it, the impact didn’t bother him as much. “What makes you think you’re entitled to have your two cents about it! Everything was fine before you showed up and started influencing him!”
“Influencing him? LaCienega! If you honestly want to talk shit about entitlement right now, what makes you think you’re entitled to him? Literally, his parents are going into separation because of your engagement! Because Jace’s own mother thinks her son won’t be happy with you, and I can’t, as his childhood friend, give my opinion about it?! Fuck that! Things were bad long before I entered the picture.”
The front of Chase’s hair was drenched, and he had to push it back to keep the water from dripping down his face after he wiped it. The bartender threw him a couple of napkins, but didn’t care enough to say anything or show any particular emotion on his face before walking away. He's probably seen crazier things that have happened.
“It’s– It’s not like that. You’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong. You know I’m right.”
“It’s because you told him that we slept together that’s making him have second thoughts! You don’t know how much I love him!”
Chase wanted to rummaged through his brain and tear all the pieces out so he didn’t have to think anymore. He didn’t even want to drink, but all of this was making a shot of tequila sound really good right about now. “Shit LaCienega, stop being so pathetic. Why do you even bother trying to hold onto someone who doesn’t want to stay? What’s the point of that?!”
“Because I love him!”
“And isn’t there that one line they always say? If you love them, you set them free? Some people just… don’t belong in captivity.” He didn’t know who he was talking about, but there was someone like that in his mind. “Isn’t it better to just let them go? Love isn’t something that only happens when it’s right next to you.”
“Then obviously you have never been in love. Love isn’t something that just drops on a plate either. Love is something you work hard for. It’s the thing that drives you to stay up to 4am just so you can speak to your boyfriend who lives across the ocean. If you love someone, you hold onto them like their life is more important than yours. That’s what loving someone means. So don’t you dare try to make me think that what I feel for him isn’t love because I don’t want to let go of him! How much he means to me, and how much I want to be with him, someone like you would never understand!”
Chase heaved a sigh and grieved his bewilderment in silence. He didn’t know who was right and who was wrong, but at this point, he was passed the point where he cared. All that mattered to him was that Jace might finally get a chance to live his life the way he wanted – not bounded by what his father thought was best, not bounded by LaCienega’s love. He remembered when he ran away from home at the age of eighteen and the paths he took to get the success he had today – freedom was something people waged wars over.
His phone rang, and after glancing at the caller ID, excused himself to the other side of the bar. He still remained clear sight of what LaCienega was doing, but free from fear that she might overhear his phone call.
“Hello?”
“Hey Chase, how’s it going on where you are? Have you found any hints of where she might be?”
Jace was noticeably still distressed from LaCienega’s disappearance, and he sighed as he told him he found her. “Sorry, I didn’t call you earlier. I kind of just got swept up by the moment. She’s crying and her face looks like she went to a parade and let some kid give her a face-paint with only the color black. She’s sobering up though. Do you… wanna come by?”
The hesitation Chase received made him realize Jace was probably just as reluctant to see LaCienega as she would be pleased if he suddenly showed up. He cared for her, but he could only do so from a distance at the present moment. “You know what, it’s fine,” he muttered. “I mean, there has to be a cooling period I guess.”
“Thanks,” Jace murmured. “I just… don’t want to hurt her anymore today. Maybe it’d be better if she didn’t see me for a couple of days.”
“Sure.”
“Can you take care of her for me? Just one last time in my place?”
“You don’t have to say it like that. She’s kind of my friend too.”
“Thanks Chase. LaCienega probably wouldn’t want to tell her parents about us until she calms down so just bring her back to my house when you take her home. I’ll stay at a hotel tonight.”
“I will, don’t worry. And Jace? Take it easy man.”
After hanging up, Chase made his way back to LaCienega. He was getting tired of staying here since the power nap only recovered that much of his energy from today, and he wanted nothing more but for this night to be over with. “You feel like going home now?” When she didn’t answer, and still seemed like she was fuming over the lecture he gave her, he grabbed onto her arm again. “Come on. Enough already. You’re passed the point of holding on now.”
LaCienega shook her head. “Even if I did, there’s no place to go. I can’t go to my parents. I don’t have many friends here. And I can’t go… back there.”
“What? Home? If Jace is what you’re worried about. It was him I was on the phone with. He cares for you, you know, just not that way, and I think it’s high time you accept it if you care for him too. He even left the house so you wouldn’t feel awkward going back.”
“In the end you just think I’m a parasite living off of him.”
“No,” he quickly interrupted. “But, it’s illogical to– ”
“I still can’t go back,” she muttered. “Everything of his is still there. I don’t want to be reminded of him and I guess he doesn’t want to be reminded of me either – seeing how I’m your responsibility again.”
And normally, Chase might have just dumped her at a nearby hotel, but he had just told Jace he’d take care of his ex-fiancée, and he didn’t think dumping her at the hotel qualified as that. It’d be one thing if she went to bed and behaved, but Chase had no idea if she would just pick up and leave before he came to check up on her the next day. He could stay at the hotel with her, but he didn’t want to cause any misunderstandings.
“Well how about you come to my place then? I have a roof. I can feed you.” God, why did this remind him so eerily of how Krislynn ended up with him? Was he being a busybody? Was he really picking up strays off the side of the road that he really shouldn’t be picking up? “I mean, you can just hangout there until you feel like you can throw yourself back together. Besides, you won’t be lonely. I’m there. Krislynn’s there.”
“What is your deal with her anyways?” The matter caught Chase off guard when she made a gentle dab at her eyes, and narrowed her gaze up at him. She seemed reluctant to go anywhere with him, but in the five seconds it took Chase to hesitate for an answer, she suddenly changed her mind and struggled off her bar stool. “Fine. I will go.”
Chase wasn’t in any position to ask her what changed her mind so he nodded approvingly and helped her out of the bar. When he got home, he was surprised to find that the lights were on. Either Krislynn had forgotten to turn the lights on when she came inside or she was still awake; he was hoping the former rather than the latter since he didn’t particularly know how to explain why he brought LaCienega home.
Unfortunately, it was the latter rather than the former, and Chase groaned almost immediately when he saw Krislynn trying not to fall asleep on the living room couch while watching a movie. “Why aren’t you asleep yet? I told you to go to bed.”
She yawned and rubbed her eyes when she saw him. “Ugh. When did you come in? I didn’t even hear– whoa LaCienega.” Her eyes widened, and if Krislynn was half asleep before, she was certainly completely awake now. LaCienega responded to her surprise with a glare, but after standing still for two seconds started to sway and stumble. Krislynn quietly moved aside as Chase helped LaCienega to a seat and although it didn’t seem like LaCienega liked her any better than the last time they saw each other, she tried to be helpful for the sake of being polite. “Are you doing okay?" She asked, noticing the smell of alcohol almost right away. "Can I get you something LaCienega? Some tea with honey and lemon maybe?”
“You can get me something that rewinds time,” she muttered in monotone. “Even if I can’t change the fate, at least I want to keep reliving the memories we made and the days Jace and I spent together.”
Krislynn bit her lower lip, a bit petrified at LaCienega’s makeup smudge face and her attitude before turning to eye Chase. He shrugged and then grabbed Krislynn’s arm. “Alright, so lemon tea with honey it is. Come on Piglet, let’s go make it.”
Inside the kitchen, they both hissed loudly at each other as if the kitchen was soundproof and nothing they said in there would ever slip out into the living room. “What is she doing here? Where’s Jace?”
“I don’t know. He left!”
“He left?”
“C’mon Piglet, you think they want to see each other after breaking off their engagement? She didn’t want to go home! And she can’t go to her parents until she explains to them she got dumped – and she’s not ready for that – so I offered– ”
Krislynn immediately rolled her eyes and stomped one foot on the ground. “You offered?! Chase! You know we don’t get along! She’s like a tiger! And I’m like a peanut!” He laughed which only generated a low hiss out of her. “Chase! It’s not funny!”
“It’s just that out of all the things you could have picked! I don’t think tigers even eat– Okay, alright.” He was sharp enough to notice the impending doom looming over her face and cut his teasing short. “She’ll just stay for a few days so just… be civilized. You can manage that, can’t you?”
“Oh I can manage it,” she snapped. “But the problem is can she?”
“She’s not that bad.”
Krislynn made a face at him, but instead of putting up a fight, made LaCienega’s tea. She was antsy that LaCienega would be staying with them, but she also, somewhere in her heart, felt bad that her whole relationship had just toppled over in one day. She could, at least give LaCienega the benefit of the doubt for a couple days, even if she got on her high house and rode all around the house.
When tea had been served, and LaCienega seemed more sober than Chase had seen her all night, he quickly decided the rooming order. “Since I took the bed out of the only other guest room, I guess you’d have to take Krislynn’s room.”
LaCienega frowned. She had had a chance to go to the washroom after drinking some tea and now her face was free from the any makeup residue, but that didn’t make her any less beautiful than with her makeup on. It was all in her gaze when she looked at the person she was speaking to, and right now, it was even a bit intimidating to Chase. “I will not be sharing a room with her,” she said, politely, and as if, unquestionably.
“You won’t have to,” he muttered. “You can have the whole room. There’s even a private bathroom in there. Knock yourself out.”
“Then where do I go?!” Krislynn shouted.
Chase averted his eyes from her. “You can just… you know, stay with me.”
“Why?” LaCienega muttered.
“What do you mean why? She’s my girlfriend.”
“She’s your fake girlfriend,” she corrected. “Or are you guys not done pretending? Didn’t I tell you your gig was out a while ago? Unless…” She turned and eyed Krislynn. “You were so cheap to sleep with him just because he gave you shelter and all. That’s no better than a gold-digger. Or a beggar. I’ve heard that you’re an orphan, and that’s a pity, but you really shouldn’t.”
“Just shut up,” he hissed. “Don’t forget why you’re here too.”
Krislynn felt her cheeks burning, but she didn’t know if it was from the embarrassment of it all or the utter shame that most of what LaCienega said was actually true. Here she was living with a guy she hardly knew, who she was sleeping around with, and try as she might to convince herself that she was working hard to pay Chase back for his generosity, the truth was the cost of feeding her was probably more than what she was cleaning his house for.
“I’ll just sleep outside tonight,” she mumbled. “I was gonna anyways.”
Chase groaned as Krislynn made it her determination to get out of there in Olympic record time. He called after her, but she continued without any heed until she disappeared from his sight. He turned a choleric stare at LaCienega who only looked on apathetically as she blinked at him. “Look,” he grunted. “I get it that you’re not in the best mood right now, but that was uncalled for. You didn’t have to– ”
She interrupted him. “I’m going to do as you say.”
“What?”
“Letting Jace go,” she said. “I’m going to do it. Exactly as you say.”
A/N.: Sorry this update was supposed to go up like last Friday but I haven't had a chance to edit it until the last two days. D: I've even resorted into editing this story during my breaks at work, but Im just so swamped and exhausted most days I don't even want to function. I'm going to take a break from working 6 days a week soon so hopefully I will have more time to finish this story. :)