A Wedge Between Pt. 2

A Wedge Between Pt. I

Amanda had gone to high school with Stodler. She lost her virginity to him. She has never gotten over him. Her sole obsessive purpose in life was to get him back. She enrolled in Brown just to be close to him. Stodler had no idea she was going to attend Brown. For Stodler, Amanda was just a high school fling; he had politely rejected Amanda’s attempts to take their relationship to the next level. Amanda was unrelenting.

When she found out about Isabel, she took the news so poorly that she had to go home for a week to recover. Amanda, though not to the extent of Isabel, was of means as well. She was used to always getting what she wanted. She was set on getting Stodler.

She hired two private investigators. One was to trail Isabel and the other was to delve into her life, past and present. The former was used for masochistic indulgence. She basked in the jealousy of seeing her beloved in intimate situations with another woman. The latter provided her with much needed intel that could destroy the relationship between her obsession and her newly found rival.  Each was worth every penny.

She put together a packet of lewd photos and reports of Isabel and Stodlers’ nightly activities and sent them off to Isabel’s father. Even though she clearly had enough dirt to bury the couple, she continued to dig. She let go the detective who was researching Isabel’s background but kept on with the detective who was trailing the couple and taking photos.

Her thirst for the painful pictures was insatiable. She knew she could call off her dog. She knew it was not only unnecessary at this point, but might actually be doing her harm. But like a true addict she woke up saying to herself, “Yesterday was the last day, today I stop”, only to find herself dialing the detective as if working on divine auto pilot.

As the couple grew closer and happier, Amanda grew angrier and more unwound. She was no longer attending classes. She spent her days poring over the detective’s bounty from the night before. Although she was self-aware enough to feel herself becoming unhinged, she felt powerless to stop it.

A Wedge Between Pt. 3

Unwanted Wants Pt. III

Please read Pt. II first 

Three months have passed and there were only two weeks until Christmas. Justin hadn´t paid a dime in rent. He was eating a week´s worth of groceries in two or three days. Suzy was tired of him. Justin was getting restless as well. He could tell Suzy wasn´t buying what he was selling.

Suzy, on one hand, was proud of herself. In similar situations she would already have completely fallen for Justin. She would have already have lost a lot more money than just rent and groceries. Her heart and finances were still intact.

Justin, on the other hand, was wildly disappointed in himself. In similar situations, he would have had the woman, similar to Suzy, eating out of the palm of his hand. Room, board and sex weren´t enough to satisfy him. He wasn´t aborting this mission until he had more to show for the past three months.

Both parties were plotting. Suzy wanted to evict Justin and Justin wanted extract resources from Suzy. In the meantime, both maintained the façade that everything was in order.

On a warm Saturday afternoon, Suzy went to have a coffee with Amanda.

“Say it” Suzy said.

“Say what?” Amanda asked.

“I told you so” Suzy answered.

“Do I need to?” Amanda said.

“No. I saw it coming. I saw it a mile away. I saw it happening in real time and yet I was unable to stop myself. It felt as if I were floating in a somewhat bad dream, coming closer and closer to reality the more timed passed” Suzy looked down. “I´m not even upset that this happened. I am upset that I let this happen. I´m pathet…”

“Ok, girl, beating yourself up isn´t going to help anything. Let´s find a solution” Amanda said. She leaned over and comforted the sobbing Suzy.

*           *          *          *         *          *

Back at the apartment, Justin was smoking a joint and texting his friend Sean.

“U da man. How u still there?… I dunno” –Sean

“Yeah, but I aint´got nothing from her yet” –Justin

“Hahahaha! U nutted” –Sean

“lol” –Justin

“U gotta bounce soon…before she bounce yo ass” –Sean

“Not B4 I get mine” –Justin

 

(To be continued)

Please read Part IV

 

Unwanted Wants Pt. II

Please read Unwanted Wants Pt. 1

As Justin passed by, with boxes in hand, Suzy looked down at her phone. The text from Amanda simply read “You didn´t?!” Suzy didn´t even respond. She simply smiled and put it down.

“Need any help?” Suzy asked.

“I think I´m good” Justin answered.

“You have much more stuff?” she asked.

“This is it” Justin answered.

Suzy found it a little odd that a grown man had so few possessions. The sum of all of Justin´s things fit into two elevator rides. Suzy brushed it off. “He must be a free spirit” she thought to herself.

“Hey Suzy, can you come in here for a bit?” Justin asked.

“Sure” she said as she entered the room. Suzy´s eye almost bugged out of her head. Justin had his shirt off and she couldn´t help but like what she saw.

“Suzy, my lower back is killing me. I hurt it playing football in college. If I do anything physical it really flairs up. The only thing that helps is this cream” he said as he passed a tube to her. “Could you rub some on?”

“Sure” she said with a stammer. Her eyes were flying all over the place as not to betray the flood of lust washing over her. Justin put the tube of cream into Suzy´s slightly trembling hand. Justin smirked internally. Suzy was exactly who, or better yet, what, he thought she was.

As Suzy transferred the cream from the tips of her fingers to the tissue of Justin´s lower back she thought “Oh no, what am I doing? Not again”

(To be continued)

Read Pt. III

Unwanted Wants Pt. I

“All I want for Christmas is a nice present” complained Suzy. “I don´t even want the ´thing´” she said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers. “I really just want someone in my life that cares about me enough to give me one”

“Be careful what you wish for” Amanda said, “Bill will give me anything I want but I hate every second of my life I spend with him”

“Of course! In fifteen years of marriage he´s given you herpes and gonorrhea” Suzy said.

Amanda sighed “If it weren´t for the kids…” she lost her train of thought but snapped back quickly, “Hey, how´s that roommate search coming?”

“I have two interviews tomorrow” Suzy answered.

“Great! Both are girls, I presume?” Amanda prodded.

Suzy hesitated.

“No!” Amanda said, “Don´t do this to yourself, again. You know if the guy is halfway good looking, you´ll pick him. Then, you´ll be fucking him in a few weeks after moving in and your life will be a certain disaster in a few months”

“Therapy is helping! And besides, very few people answered the ad. I´ve filtered it down to these two; a guy and a girl. I want to see which I click with more” Suzy defended herself.

“We both know how this plays out” Amanda said, “I just don´t wanna say ‘I told you so’ again”

“Look, I´ll give more consideration to the girl if it makes you feel any better” Suzy said.

“Because I know you, it doesn´t make me feel any better” Amanda said.

Suzy laughed nervously.

* * * * * *

The next day, Suzy was escorting a very handsome man to the lobby of her apartment building. “I had one other interview today, but she couldn´t come” she lied.

“Oh yeah?” Justin said.

“I don´t think I´ll need to reschedule, you are perfect. I think you´ll fit right in” she said.

“That´s great! But maybe out of curiosity you should see them, though” he answered.

“That won´t be necessary” Suzy said, looking into Justin´s eyes, imagining going to the beach with him.

“That´s great then! When can I move my stuff in?”

“Whenever you want, I´ll just need the security deposited we discussed…” Suzy said before Justin cut her off.

“Can I just bring a few things over tonight and get you that deposit next week?” Justin asked.

“That sounds great!” Suzy answered, but in her gut she felt a familiar twang that meant the opposite was true. “I´ll be home all day. Come when you want”

“Ok”, Justin said as he leaned in for a hug.

Suzy inhaled the sweat yet masculine aroma from the chest area of Justin´s cotton t-shirt. “Hmmmmmm” she thought to herself.

(To be continued…)

Continue to Unwanted Wants Pt. II

 

Till Death Do Us Part

Dan and Carol were together for many years. They fought a lot. Carol thought that Dan´s lack of ambition made him a loser and was vocal about this. Dan thought Carol was cold and incapable of loving anyone. Their fights were never over anything of substance. They just didn´t like the way the other talked. It was a very volatile relationship. One or the other giving an opinion on a current even could lead to a knock down drag out fight resulting in them not talking to one another for a week.
They finally came to a point where they had enough. The both agreed to go their seperate ways. They were able to remain friends for the most part, as long as their contact was short and far between. Dan felt a responsibility to Carol. He didn´t´feel she was truly capable of taking care of herself.
About one year after the break up Dan got a call from Carol. She was hysterical.
“Hello?” Dan answered confused. He knew it was her but was perplexed by the volley of sobs be thrown over the phone.
“I just got back from the doctor” she said.
Dan knew this was not going to be a pleasant call. Carol was a strong person. She rarely cried so he knew this was serious. “Do you want to talk?”
“Of course I do, stupid. That´s why I called” she said.
Dan was about to attack but pulled back. He realized she must be very upset about something. “Ok, then tell me”
“I have cancer. Very agressive cancer. I have to start chemotherapy immediately. The doctor thinks that will only buy me….” she trailed off.
“Oh my god that´s….” he was cut off.
“Months. The chemo will only buy me a few months. I´m going to die” Carol said.
There was silence. Dan had no idea what to say to this. “Can I see you?” he asked.
“Sure. Let´s have dinner tonight” she answered, her sobs coming under control.
That night they met at their favorite restaurant. Carol gave Dan more details about the doctor visit. Carol decided that she was going to forget about the diagnosis, just for the night. She was going to throw caution to the wind. She ordered a bottle of wine. Then another, then another. Although Dan was not comfortable with that but he understood and after the first bottle his level of comfort grew.
They paid the bill and made their ways to their respective cars. In the parking lot Carol turned to Dan and said “Come home with me. I cannot be alone tonight” Dan obliged. He got in his car and followed her home.
They made love that night for the first time in over a year. It was like the first time only better. Carol asked Dan to move in with her. She would need him as the chemo sapped her strength. Dan was weary about this. In the back of his head, even though he was ashamed to admit it, he knew she would not be here too much longer so there was a way out. He did still love her after all and she needed his help so he agreed.
The fighting started almost immediately. Carol complained about the things Dan brought from his apartment. Daily she would remind him how much of a pig she thought he was, she insulted the food he prepared for her and would frequently threaten to kick him out if he didn´t stop fighting with her.
Dan pushed through it. He knew she needed him. He knew of her limitations and again, he knew this was not permanent. Three months in, Carol´s health deterioted rapidly. She lost so much weight that Dan was afraid of breaking her when he put her in bed. She asked him to marry her because she did not want to die single. Dan agreed. They had a minister come to the house to perform the ceremony. It was official, they were married.
Around the sixth month a remarkable thing happened. Carol started to gain weight. Her skin started to look healthy and resumed its normal color. The life was coming back into her eyes. With this new life came more ire thrown Dan´s way.
Each month Carol´s health improved. Her blood exams were confirming what the eye could see. She was getting better. At the one year mark, the doctor told her she could stop chemo. The cancer was completely contained and could possibly go into remission.
Dan thought that with this rebirth maybe Carol would change. He was now contractually obligated to be with her, after all. He was horrified of the thought of giving Carol half of his considerable assets after having nursed her back to health over the past year. He would have to make this work.
A few tortuous months passed. To Dan they felt like an eternity. How did he ever get himself into this situation? He asked himself this every day. One day Carol came home with a grave expression on her face. She told Dan they needed to talk. She informed him that she was seeing another man. It was serious. She was going to divorce him, leave him the apartment and not ask for a dime from him. Everybody involved lived happily ever after.

The Connection

Beverly´s only real skill in life was being attractive to the opposite sex. She honed this skill the way a fighter hones various angles of his game, only with less hard work, dedication and honor involved in the process. She was constantly changing looks. Beverly didn´t really like men. She was not a lesbian, but she was in not sexually attracted to men. In fact, she really didn´t like much of anything about them. There was one thing she like in a man, money.

Beverly´s lack of attraction didn´t matter because she could fake it like an academy award winning actress. She could make a man feel like he was the only man she had ever truly loved. Many men to this day think of her as the women who fell the hardest for them.

In her younger days, Beverly would just drift from city to city spending a few months here, a few years there. She always found her way into the most posh apartments, finest restaurants and rubbing elbows in the highest social circles wherever she was. But now her years were catching up to her.

It was not that her looks were diminishing. She seemed to become more beautiful with age. It was that moving so often was getting tiresome and lonely. She wanted to stop. She wanted to live in familiarity for once. New was becoming boring.

She created a profile on a website specifically for women looking for men with money. She went to the trouble to buy a few expensive outfits and had professional pictures taken. She threw the bait out. Now she waited to land her whale.

Among the many messages she received over the first week. One caught her eye in particular. His name was Henry. His profile stated he was an entrepreneur, a very wealthy one at that. Beverly was not destitute by any means. She was smart over the years creating various accounts, depositing gifts from her suitors.

Beverly exchanged many messages with Henry and became very interested. He might be able to provide the soft landing she was looking for. And strangely, she felt that she might like him.

After a few weeks of back and forth they decided to meet. They decided to do it in a big way. They were to rendezvous in Cancun for an extended weekend. Henry had given Beverly a long story of how he had some funds frozen due to litigation in Europe and he asked her to spot him. He would pay her back as soon as the matter cleared. Beverly obliged. It was a mere investment in her eyes.

They spent the most fabulous weekend imaginable. Beverly was more sure than ever that she was on the right path. Henry, besides demonstrating great wealth, was handsome and fun to be around. His legal woes in Europe had increased and now a Chinese court was looking into a business of his. Beverly did not think twice about helping him out. Help him out now, help me out in the future, she thought.

After a few more sob stories and a few more wire transfers, Beverly´s funds started to get alarmingly low. When Henry asked for help again, Beverly had to deny. She hadn´t the funds he required. Soon after, Henry disappeared. He no longer answered e-mails. His cell phone was disconnected. Beverly was devastated.

She took what little funds she had and hired a private investigator to track Henry down. After a few weeks, the investigator found all he needed and closed the case. He brought his findings to Beverly. Henry, or Roberto, his birth name, had a criminal record thicker than Beverly´s passport from all the extra pages she needed. All of his crimes were of the white collar ilk. He had never done time. He was good. Apparently, better than Beverly.

Half Assed

Martha dreaded Saturday mornings. It was the time when she had to clean the house. It reminded her of everything that was wrong with her life. Why couldn´t she had married a guy with the means to contract a housekeeper? Why did she have to live in such a shabby house? Why was her body giving out on her at such a relatively young age? Just bending over to sweep dirt onto the dust pan gave her pains in the back. Pains that as of late have been ever so increasing.

One Saturday morning, Martha decided that she would do a half assed cleaning job but double down the next week. The next week came and she did another half assed job. After a few months of half assed Saturday cleanings, her poor performance started to show and this raised some concerns from her husband, Merrill.

One day Merrill brought his dissatisfaction to Martha´s attention. “Honey” he started “the house is starting to look like a pig pen. What´s going on?”

Martha steamed. She took it as a personal attack. “What do you mean a pig pen? You see me cleaning every goddamn Saturday morning don´t you?” she shot back.

“Honey, calm down. I´m just saying, the line around the bath tub has been getting darker and darker and the toilet has that awful ring around it” he said, carefully monitoring her reaction. She didn´t look too stable.

“You know where the supplies are” she snarled. “Clean it your damn self”

“Listen, I don´t want to fight here, love. It´s just that you decided that you didn´t want to work and part of the deal was, I pay the bills and you keep the house up” Merrill said, regretting terribly that he had breached the subject.

“Well, mister money bags. Bringing home the bacon. Keeping us is luxury in this piece of shit house!” she screamed, spit flying from the corners of her mouth. “Peggy has a house cleaner come twice a week!”

Merrill felt rather hurt but he held his composure. “Yes, well Peggy´s husband earns a considerable bit more than I and furthermore, Peggy brings home a little extra with her crafts on E-bay”

This flew Martha into an even bigger rage, “So why don´t you marry Peggy if she´s such a better wife? I´ve seen the way you two look at each other. Probably got something going on for years! Don´t you?”

“Of course not!” Merrill answered though not being completely honest. “Let´s just drop this. I am sorry I brought it up. Hey, how about if I help you today”

“I´m not cleaning shit today! You do it all by yourself” Martha was sobbing uncontrollably. She had a strange distant look in her eyes and they were a little glassy. As she made her way to the front door she even stumbled a little. She slammed the front door, then the car door, then she was off. To where, Merrill had no idea but he decided to clean the house anyway just to smooth things over.

As he was vacuuming the hall carpet, the vacuum cleaner bumped into the air vent grate and it simply popped off. “That´s odd” Merrill thought. It should be held on by two screws. He looked and looked for the screws but they were nowhere to be found. He was crawling around on his hands and knees when he noticed a cigar boxed purposely put in the air vent that was now without its grate. He pulled it out.

When he opened it up a wave of horror and surprised washed over him. There was an array of prescription bottles all with warnings to not operate machinery and addiction cautions. Some were empty, some were half full. There were colorful pills in little baggies with no description. Merrill dropped the box on the floor as if it were too hot to hold.

Merrill was not a man of conflict. He avoided it at all costs. He slowly picked the box and its contents up and put it back into the air vent and carefully placed the grate back over the hole.

As he Googled “divorce attorneys” he thought to himself, “Well that explains a lot”

Don´t be afraid

 

Sammy had a profound fear of going to sleep . One year ago, on her fifth birthday, her grandfather was moved into her family’s home under hospice care. A short three months later he passed in his sleep. Sammy was the one who found him. She went into his room to hear the daily story Grand Pop would make up on the spot for her. She ended up staying in his room playing with the corpse for about an hour until her mother found her. For the past nine or so months, bedtime has been a nightmare for all involved.

One morning she woke up and proclaimed that this would be the night that she would overcome this fear and go to bed with no hassle. Her parents were elated. They were at their wits end. They had no idea what to do to this point. She had seen psychiatrists, sleep medical professionals, even a mystic in an attempt to eradicate this fear of sleep. Her health was deteriorating as a result. She was gaunt. The lack of sleep curbed her appetite and stunted her growth.

As the day slipped by, Sammy nervously eyed the clock. With every passing hour she knew she´d have to go to that scary place, her bed. And she did not forget her promise to her parents. It was the middle of summer so the day was long. But, as it must, the sun started to set. Sammy’s courage started to wane. As the sunlight subsided, her fear grew until she was as terrified as it was dark outside.

As the clock drew close to ten o’clock she solemnly went into the living room where her parents were watching a movie. She told them that she would go to bed by herself. Her father objected. He noticed that she was visibly shaking. He wanted to at least comfort her through this milestone but she objected. She told them that she had to do this alone.

Around 11 o’clock her father snuck up the stairs to see if she was asleep. She was. He father felt as if a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. He backed out of this room, closing the door behind him and made his way to the stairs, very excited to share this news with his wife. As he crossed the threshold into the living room ready to give his wife the good report there was what seemed like an explosion. The house shook. The world shook. Then there was the sounds of crashing all around him. He grabbed his wife and dove back under the threshold. That was the safest place to be during an earthquake, so he was repeatedly told during his time in Elementary school.

The shaking went on for what felt like an eternity but was in fact not more than a few brief moments in time. He looked around and there was a lot of damage around him. Car alarms were blasting in the background. His wife and his only thought went to Sammy. As they made their way to the stairs they were hit with a blow to their senses that was rivaled by none other. The stairs were flattened. There was smoke coming from the rubble. It was as if a mighty palm came down from the heavens and squashed their dreams. Their home, their beloved daughter, their everything was gone.

Around a year after the incident, Sammy’s father was finishing a quick Chinese food lunch before having to go back to work. He almost never ate the fortune cookie and usually didn´t even bother to read the message inside. Today he decided to have the fortune cookie. He clumsily ripped open the plastic and cracked the cookie in half. The message inside brought back feelings of pain that had only slightly started to subside.

You can overcome your fears, but what you are afraid of can still get you.

 

110% in 3 years Pt. II (Final)

(note from the author: Please read PT. I first     https://ryanimpink.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/110-in-3-years-pt-i/  )

 

Rick took on the role as father as if he were a soldier in a war for his legacy. He knew he was a loser. He didn’t need the constant reminders, though he received them. One day during a mild argument about a questionable comment left on a photo posted on the internet, Megan told Rick that he was a piece of shit in all aspects of life except one. She told him he was a great father. Both statements were true. Rick was okay with that.

 

The months dragged on and Rick was there in Laney’s life. He was devouring parenting books as fast as he could and applying what he learned. He was extra careful to not upset Megan as to not cause fights because he read that could affect the development of his new found love and reason for being. Though they still lived separately, the spent a lot of time together. Rick needed this time to be around Laney but not for his sake but for hers. He knew, from what he read, the importance the role of a father plays in the first years of life.

 

Holidays passed, birthdays passed and logically the years passed. Laney was an early developer and stared uttering her first words around 14 months. She was speaking sentences by two and a half years. By three years she was able to carry out eerily adult like conversations.

 

One day when Rick and Laney were at the park, Laney on a swing with Rick pushing she said “Daddy, you aren’t going to be around much longer are you?”

 

Rick almost choked on his gum. “Why are you asking that?”

 

Laney paused then responded “You didn’t say no Daddy” another pause “Mommy fights you a lot. I know you don’t like it”

 

Rick was at a complete loss for words. She was onto to his plan. Three years. It was time to go. He gave more of himself than he thought possible because he read that the personality of a child is practically solidified at around three years old. He thought if he put in his solid three years of stellar fatherhood, he would set Laney up for life. He could not take it anymore. The ridicule that Megan doled out. She would belittle him in front of others. Worse, in front of Laney. But how could Laney have sensed that this was coming?

 

His eyes started welling up. “Do you trust Daddy?”

 

“Of course, Daddy”

 

“Then know that Daddy will always be close”

 

“Okay Daddy”

 

Later that night alone in his apartment Rick knew that he had to put Plan B in action. He went to his closet and found the egg shaped ball of aluminum foil and carefully opened it up exposing two gelatin capsules full of white powder. With tears thin his eyes he poured himself a glass of Teacher’s whiskey and quickly washed the capsules down. As warmth turned to coolness turned to numbness turned to darkness he whispered “Trust Daddy Laney”

110% in 3 years Pt. I

 

 

 

(Note from the author: this story will be told in parts not to exceed 500 words. The parts are not pre-written and will be posted immediately upon being edited and revised.)

Their relationship was horrible practically from the beginning. Rick knew he should have gotten out after the first glimpse of jealous rage which took place only weeks after having first met. He couldn’t leave though. The physical release that Megan gave him was so intense he tricked himself into staying a few weeks at a time. Then other circumstances came along that tricked him into staying for a few months at a time. Then a grave circumstance came along that tricked him into staying for a few years.

Rick was jogging one day when he got a call from Megan. It was odd for her to be calling because they were separated and haven’t spoken for some time. Slightly out of breath, he answered. She was crying. For some odd reason Rick knew what this was about.

“Remember our trip to the Jersey shore back in March” she asked.

“Yeah” he answered. It was July.

“Well, I’m pregnant. It’s yours” She said opening a floodgate of tears.

Rick was surprisingly stoic. He immediately knew what he had to do. What constituted for Rick’s father wasn’t so much a human but a chemical consuming machine and Rick vowed never to be like him. Even though Rick never intended on being a father, he knew the way he lived his life it was bound to happen one day. And he knew that when this day came that he was going to step up.

Tears started to roll down Rick’s face. This was it, his chance to break the cycle, his chance to not fuck up another human life.

“What’s the next step?” he asked. The had been separated for 5 months. They went on their trip to the Jersey shore because the room was already paid for and a few hundred bucks to Rick was a lot of money.

“Let’s move back together?” she said, her wet sobs mysteriously dried up.

“Take it easy” he said “I want to be there for the baby and all but let’s go slow. I don’t want my kid growing up in a house with people screaming and fighting like I had to. I’ll do the right thing, I swear, but one step at a time”

Megan agreed. The next few months included trips to the doctor, the reading of books on parenting, not so romantic dinners, together. Then on a cold day in February, Laney was born. Seven pounds, two ounces and healthy as could be. Rick and Megan actually felt close. Rick was glad about this as it was all part of his plan.

They spent three long days in a maternity suite that was infinitely nicer than the Jersey Shore hotel room where Laney was conceived. Of course neither of them had the means to pay for this but Megan’s father did. In these three long days, Megan reminded Rick why they could never be together as he did her. There was constant bickering over everything, anything and nothing at all.