9.

9.

 

  “I really don’t think this is a very good idea, you know.” Ruby said. “You know that, right?”

     “I’ll be fine.” Parrish assured her, packing clothes into a duffle bag. “It’s just for the weekend. I need to get away from home for a few days.”

     Ruby let out an angry sigh and folded her arms. “She always does this to you.”

     “Does what?”

     “She says whatever she wants to you, makes you feel like s**t and then as soon as she says jump, you leap like a f*****g frog for her!”

     “She isn’t forcing me to go, Ruby. I don’t get to see her often and she has some time off so, I wanna go.”

     “I know. That’s the worst part about it.” Ruby stated, flopping herself onto Parrish’s bed. “You’re actually going… voluntarily.”

     Parrish turned to Ruby and gave her a face. “I know you’re concerned, but I am fine! I’m fine. Why won’t you believe me?”

     “Because if you really have to tell yourself you’re fine the way you just did, you are not fine.” She began. “And you certainly weren’t fine just two nights ago when you were crying and taking whiskey shots in my kitchen! Or have you already blocked that out?”

     “No, I haven’t. I know how my relationship is. It’s… fucked up. We fight more than we laugh. We disagree more than we relate to each other. We make each other cry more than we make each other smile. It’s… a mess.”

     “Uh, duh!” Ruby agreed, throwing her hands up in the air. “So, if you and I agree that your relationship is like… total s**t, then why are you still doing this? Why are you still with her? I don’t get it.”

     Parrish put a purple t-shirt in the suitcase and answered, “Because I love her.”

     “You don’t love her, Pear. You just miss Gemini.”

     “Why do you always have to bring her up?”

     “Because you know it’s true.” Ruby told her. “You’re still in love with her. And she broke your little heart.”

     “Yeah, well, she made her choice.”

     Ruby sat in front of Parrish on her bed. “You know it shoulda been you.”

     “Well, it wasn’t. And I’m gonna have to start to accept that.”

     “I just… know it kinda fucked with your head. And I know you’re not over it.”

     “Yeah, so?”

     “So?! So?!” Ruby asked. “So your now-ex-girlfriend cheated on you with your so-called ‘friend’ and now they’re together! Are you seriously trying to tell me you’re okay with that?”

     “I didn’t say I was.” Parrish admitted. “You know I’m not.”

     “And the only reason why she chose that ugly, buck-tooth b***h over you is because when she wanted to work it out between y’all, you ran into Levi’s arms and fell for her.”

     “What was I supposed to have done, Ruby?!” Parrish asked, furiously. “Tell her that it was okay that she cheated? Say that it didn’t bother me and we could still be together? As if the problem was just gonna go away?”

     “What do you think married people do when one of them cheats?!”

     “They get divorced! It happens all the time! Look at my parents! They haven’t even spoken since my high school graduation!”

     “No. Your parents didn’t really love each other, Pear.” Ruby said. “They weren’t in love like you and Gem were.”

     “You don’t know s**t about my parents, okay?”

     “Maybe I don’t know enough about your parents, but I know a whole lot about you and Gemini.” Ruby said. “Married people work it out. They push through their problems. They forgive each other and then they move forward together.”

     Ruby began taking clothes out of Parrish’s suitcase and putting them back into her closet. “Look, I hate Gem for what she did to you, but I just want you to understand where I’m coming from. You shoulda worked it out.”

     “Well, we weren’t married.”

“Yeah, not yet!”

“Oh, shut up, Ruby! Let it go!” Parrish yelled. “I don’t matter to her anymore! Don’t you get that?! If I did, she wouldn’t have chosen her over me.”

     “Did you give her much of a choice?”

     Parrish grew quiet.

     “Do you honestly believe… that if you hadn’t have moved on so quickly… that she wouldn’t have chosen you?” Ruby asked. “Do you really believe that you wouldn’t have been her first choice? She only picked what’s-her-face because she was the only other option!”

“Well, that doesn’t matter anymore, either.”

     “And why’s that?”

     “Because I’m with Levi now. And I am her first choice.”

     Ruby took a deep breath and released some of her frustration. “You tell yourself you’re her ‘first choice’… but you don’t really believe that, do you?” She asked.

     Parrish looked at Ruby with a sad look in her eyes, choosing not to answer the question.

     “Pass me that shirt over there, would ya?” Parrish asked her, ignoring her question. “I should finish packing.”

     “Fine.” Ruby answered. She threw the shirt at Parrish and left the room.