Never the Same #73 Aftermath Fallout

Cool autumn is when Kirk confronted Farrah or actually, she confronted him.

 

 

Cue: “Nights in White Satin” https://youtu.be/066HZlam91Y?si=9GexlWCHgwo-1Nzh 

 

            Two evenings after the momentous night with Sarah attending the concert, Kirk went over to spend some time with Farrah. Kirk didn’t know what might transpire in the aftermath, but he was quite sure it wasn’t going to be pleasant. Putting a hindrance on any meaningful interactions between the couple some of her family members were at home. Kirk thought about going out somewhere, but then again, staying at her home and having her siblings around might be a good thing. He still retained his pent-up anger over Farrah’s refusal to take one night off to go with him to the concert.

            He didn’t say much sitting there on the couch afraid that he would get riled up, blow up, and say the wrong thing, but then, he didn’t want to let it go either. He wouldn’t let it go. Quietly, he felt torn. On the other hand, Farrah seemed rather tight-lipped against talking about anything at all. Maybe she had that internal steam brewing as well. In those respects, they just sat there watching TV at a very low volume resulting in a continuing series of long tense, silent periods. Finally, Farrah took in a deep breath and turned to Kirk.

            “So how was the concert?” She asked.

            Kirk thought she must have been building up courage. Kirk’s stomach flipped with her sudden question. It took a moment to gather his wits.

            “Ah, oh yeah! it was great! Better than I imagined; they played music from their new album which I hadn’t even heard yet and of course they played their classic stuff, too.”

            “Are you going to buy the new album, then?”

            “Yeah, sure. Whenever I get back to the music store. I’m pretty busy these days with car building and work and all that…” He let it hang, awkwardly.

            “So.” Farrah stiffened while eying him warily, asked, “Who’d you end up going to the concert with? Dan, Mack…”

            “Ah, no. They weren’t interested or�"were busy.”

            “So, who’d you take, then? Did you take�"HER?”

            Kirk reacted physically to her bluntness. He bent forward to look at the floor. He didn’t know how to address her blunt question; how he’d answer her without repercussions.

            “Well?” Farrah adamantly insisting on an answer after a pause. 

            “Ah, yeah, I took her,” Kirk answered timidly with such a decreasing volume he wasn’t sure if “her” actually vocalized. He had a flash of holding, kissing sweet Sarah. The sensation washed through his body, and the vision jumbled his thoughts further. Who did he really care about? Farrah or Sarah? Ever since, he had vowed to himself that there would never be love after Dee…

            “Really convenient that she accepted so willingly and was available to go out so late and�"stay�"out so late.” Farrah stared at Kirk requiring, prompting an emotional reply. Did she really expect that?

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” Kirk asked, his dander rising.

            “Obviously, she’s very underage.”

            “What are you insinuating by that?  She can stay out to whatever time she pretty much wants. She has the freedom to come and�"” Kirk caught his rising volume and choked off what he was about to say. He thought about Farrah’s family sitting in the other room.

            “Sticking up for her unhindered late-night activities it seems, are you? So very nice of you! What does she mean to you, really? Never mind her, what do I mean to you?” Farrah glared at Kirk with a finger directed inward toward herself.

            Kirk never could stomach emotional confrontations with girls and knew this verbal interaction headed that direction. Undoubtedly. His face warmed and his eyes started to well up. He shrugged, unsure of what else to do, to say, and so they sat there for a few more moments. Finally, Kirk stirred and slid away from Farrah; she eyed him guardedly. He took a deep breath.

            “Let’s talk outside,” Kirk said softly, trying to handle his emotions. He took a shaky deep breath.

            “It’s cold out,” Farrah said, rather forcibly.

            “We can sit in the car,” Kirk said.

            They pulled on their coats and started for the door. Farrah’s mother wanted to know if they were leaving. Farrah told them they were just going out to the car. Her little sister piped up, “Ooh, lovey�"dovey time,” she said, then added a few smooching kissing sounds.

            “NO! No, it’s not,” Farrah said, controlling her irritation.

            They went out and headed to his Firebird. Kirk didn’t open the door for her. Sitting down in the car, they both sat outward leaning against the doors looking out.

            “Are you this mad because I didn’t go with you to that�"concert?”

            “Well, yes. It should be pretty obvious. Are you mad because I took Sarah?” His vocalization of her name sent a twinge up between his shoulder blades.

“Well. Why shouldn’t I be mad. Why couldn’t you respect US�"together? As a couple?”  She held up her hand up with his ring on her finger. Kirk took a mental snapshot of that finger that would linger in his mind for a very long time.

            “RESPECT US?!” Kirk gripped the steering wheel white knuckled. He looked out his side window and his deep breath formed a cloud on the glass. He turned back. “You didn’t respect US when you couldn’t take one single day off. One night. You couldn’t even ask�"for US! Could you?”

            “It’s because of my work. My work is important to me.”

            “Well, that’s pretty damn obvious, isn’t it?”

            “C’mon don’t be this way. We can work through this if you can just forget about her.”

            “WHAT? Is that YOUR take on this? You couldn’t and still can’t see what the concert meant to me.” Kirk couldn’t believe what he heard, he sat and sulked for a couple long minutes before he took a deep breath and turned toward her to evenly say, “Let’s go out on Saturday night and try to get past this, and, and I can forget her.”

            “But I’m working on Saturday,” Farrah said quietly.

            “Oh yeah, I figured as much,” Kirk said, looking straight ahead. He reached into his shirt, grasped the chain around his neck and yanked. The chain snapped with her ring in his hand and the cool, broken chain wrapped around his wrist. He held it out to her.

            Farrah didn’t say a word; she slowly slipped his ring off her finger and held it out. She dropped it into his hand, and she took her ring back. Farrah studied Kirk for a couple silent moments. He couldn’t look her straight in the eyes. He didn’t know if he’d explode in rage or more than likely burst into tears. He could feel his eyes get wet. Neither said another word with neither looking at the other.

            Farrah opened the door, got out, closed the door gently, and walked away without a gaze back at him. Kirk watched her slim profile walk from the Firebird’s gloom toward the brightness of the house for a couple seconds before a flash of memory materialized in his consciousness.

            Kirk suddenly recalled a flash of Dee walking away from him with her brief glance back to him. In this case, Farrah didn’t look back to him which told Kirk a lot. A whole lot. This breakup with Farrah definitely was not the same as Dee’s by any means, nevertheless Kirk would be never the same though not as much changed as he had been changed from his earlier break up with Dee.

            Kirk could have been roiling mad taking it out on the car with hard accelerations and hard shifts, but he calmly, slowly drove home, the Firebird’s loud exhaust reverberating in his ears, the headlights illuminating the road ahead which blurred as the earth continued to rotate under his wheels. He couldn’t say what he felt for Farrah at that moment. Would he miss her? Her red hair? Her smile? Her slim profile? Her soft voice? He didn’t know, but all that returned to his mind was the reappearance of that visage of Dee that last time…

            Kirk had broken it off with Dee in the winter, Bonnie in the summer, Babe in the spring, and here it was autumn when he spoke his last words to Farrah and watched her…

 

Cue: “Forever Autumn” https://youtu.be/0K2b5S3bafM?si=47qUj9FubN8KyDm3