‘Yeah, fine by me. We have been here for way too long anyway,’ he said while removing his long-sleeved top and revealing a mesh vest underneath.
‘You don’t waste time!’ I said while giggling at his hairy chest coming through.
‘The quicker I get out of these clothes, the quicker I’ll be on the dance floor fucked on MDMA.’
Solid plan.
All I had was a bunch of pills that would make me sleepy and fail at stabilising any sort of mood I had.
‘You coming tonight?’
Jake decided to text me for the first time since his ‘we need to talk’ announcement. Was he going to Sara’s party? To tell me about his plans with Marc, perhaps?
God damn, I didn’t want to face that.
Not on my wifey’s birthday.
I had managed to chug a couple of gin cans in my Uber, on my way to the restaurant. Three of them, to be exact, and I was merry. I could see Sara smoking outside the venue, and I immediately asked the driver to drop me there. She was by herself. Odd.
‘Hello, woman.’
I went for a hug and a kiss on the cheek. ‘Happy Birthday.’
Her whole face lit up. ‘Thank you.’
‘You okay?’ I asked, concerned.
‘I had a fight with Alfie this morning and he still hasn’t fucking showed up.’
‘Fight over what?’
‘It’s fine. Nothing particularly serious,’ she scoffed. ‘I am just so tired of dealing with his shit.’
‘Hey, hey. You guys just got engaged. You shouldn’t be tired of anything.’ I tried to perk her up.
‘Oh, I don’t know. One day he acts like a normal human being, but there’s all these times he acts like a child.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Am I supposed to feel like this all the time?’
‘You don’t feel like this all the time,’ I put my arm around her waist. ‘I can call him and see where he’s at, if you want.’
She looked at me, stepped on her cigarette and smiled a little.
‘No. We are going inside, and we are going to have some serious drinks.’
Troublesome.
‘Please don’t do anything stupid,’ I said.
‘Such as…?’
‘Don’t get all flirty with other guys just to prove a point.’ I gave her a stern look.
‘I don’t do that,’ she said, while opening the door to the restaurant.
Like hell you don’t.
We entered the restaurant, and it was all rented out for Sara. Abigail had to have pulled some serious strings for it. I wasn’t sure what kind of money would be able to achieve that. Everything was very pretty. Flowers at every table, some black balloons here and there, and a very enticing open bar.
‘Where’s John?’ she asked me.
‘Oh, he’s late; he will probably come in an hour or so.’
I was trying to get the bartender’s attention in the meantime.
‘Don’t get too frisky, you two. Don’t want the added drama of dealing with my gays hooking-up with each other.’ She winked. ‘I know the way you look at one another. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.’ She had also managed to get some attention. ‘Two glasses of champagne, please. And leave the bottle.’
She meant business. ‘So, what have you been up to this last week? I have barely seen you or heard from you.’
She’d just worry if I told her the truth.
‘Nothing much, just working loads. We are a bit understaffed, so I have to do the dirty work with Dominic.’
She was looking around to scout people.
‘Oh, he should have come. I like him.’
Didn’t think she did.
‘That’s alright. You’ll just have my full undivided attention.’
She handed me one of the glasses. ‘Cheers.’
‘Happy birthday, my baby girl.’
That was when I had noticed Jake in the background, by himself.
‘Has Jake come here by himself?’ I asked, perplexed.
Sara turned around to have a look at where he was. ‘Uhm, no. He came with Marc, but he’s probably talking to some other people from work. Or doing cocaine in the bathroom.’ She tapped her nose.
‘Ah, lovely.’ I couldn’t believe this was still going on between them. Jake used to hate drugs, and while I may have had a slight little problem with alcohol and depression, that was always a deal-breaker. Maybe Marc gave a hell of a blow job. I decided to go to Jake and talk. It was the perfect occasion, plus I didn’t want to spend the entirety of the party trying to avoid the inevitable conversation.
‘I’m just going to go speak to him really quick,’ I reassured Sara.
‘Alright, but don’t ruin this for yourself. I’m planning a long celebration, and I can’t have you all angry and mopey in a corner, okay?’ She gave me a kiss on the cheek. ‘I love you.’
I smiled and walked towards Jake.
He was on his phone, as he was for most of our relationship.
‘Hiya,’ I said courageously while tapping on his forehead.
‘Oh, hey. You’re here,’ he replied, with no sense of surprise or faint glee.
‘I am. How long have you been here?’
Small talk. Small talk was painful.
‘Maybe twenty minutes? Not too long, anyway. Did you want to talk? Maybe we could go outside.’
I accepted the offer and led the way outside. I tried to find a corner where we wouldn’t be surrounded by pissed people trying to smoke.
‘What is it, then?’ I asked, quite bluntly.
His voice was breaking, out of nervousness; I wondered if anything unusual had happened. ‘It’s about the flat. I wanted you to know that Marc will be there temporarily for a few weeks.’
A few weeks? That’s not what I was expecting. Was he just lying to me? My face showed clear confusion.
‘He is renovating parts of his flat, and he needed a place to stay. I know what we discussed in the past…’
I was pissed off. ‘You said no one but us would be Squall’s owners, and now you have your guy live with him?’
His face turned red, his voice struggling to find the right words. ‘No, it’s not like that. He just needed a place to stay for a bit…’
I wasn’t buying it. ‘Marc is loaded. He could probably afford to pay for this whole party. Why wouldn’t he go to a hotel or rent a flat?’
‘Because I asked him to. He is my boyfriend…’ I interrupted him.
‘We are still married, Jake,’ I said, like it meant anything.
‘Look, I don’t want to push anything you aren’t ready for, but it’s been a year now. And I have been looking after your dog for the entire time.’
‘My dog. It is always my dog when you get pissed off. You seem more than happy to whore him around to meet your shitty friends and score cool points, though,’ I quickly blurted, without much thinking.
‘Oh, whatever.’
‘You know what, do whatever you want. It’s not like you have my best interests at heart. Just follow your dick, like you always have.’
I was planning to get back in, when he stopped me. ‘Don’t do this. You know it’s not fair. I am just being honest on what is happening, so that you have time to prepare and you don’t have another mental meltdown.’