Pickin Wildflowers

Just Pretend

Weston awoke to the sounds of the birds in the trees and the warm sun on his face. He sat up in his seat and cracked his neck. He must've fallen asleep talking to JB last night. Why didn't the son of a b***h wake him up? He thought. He stood up and walked inside to take a piss. As he walked in the back door, he could smell bacon, which meant JB was up. "Well, howdy sunshine," JB said, turning to look at Weston. "Hey asshat, you could've woken me up and at least let me crash on the couch." He replied, heading to the bathroom, "I would've, but you just looked so dang comfortable." JB shouted after him. Once he was done, he headed back to the kitchen and sat down at the table, lighting a cigarette. "Got any coffee?" he asked JB as he was plating their breakfast. "Help yourself," he replied, pointing to the coffee pot with his spatula. Weston got up and poured himself a cup of mud-colored coffee. For a chef, his cousin couldn't make coffee worth a s**t, but it was still something. He took his seat at the table and tried to remember their conversation from the night before. Weston must've been deep in thought because he didn't even realize JB had set breakfast on the table. "So tell me about Mazikeen," JB said, dousing his waffle in maple syrup. Weston choked on his coffee. "How do you know about Mazie?" he asked, catching his breath. "Before you fell asleep last night, you mentioned things have changed between y'all since you're both single." "Oh yeah, I did, didn't I?" he said, taking a bite of bacon. "So why have things changed since you're both single? You said you had a crush on her, but do you think she even looks at you that way?" Weston thought for a minute. Honestly, he didn't know if Mazie even looked at him that way. He thought she was just being friendly when she was being playful. He knew it took him a minute to grow on her, but that's just who she was. "I don't know, honestly", Weston finally replied, before shoveling the last of his eggs into his mouth. "Well, you and Celeste have only been split up for three months. Do you think you're ready to pursue something else?" JB asked as he gathered his plates, already done with his breakfast, "Celeste and I may have separated physically 3 months ago, but mentally we separated right after Odin was born, and I saw Gavin's name on her phone." he said with a mouthful of waffle "Well do you think Mazikeen is ready to pursue something after her divorce?" Weston thought for a moment, once again, he had no idea. "I'm not sure how would you feel if your ex-wife had cheated on you with a woman?" Weston asked, picking up his plates and taking them to the sink, "Wait, her ex cheated on her with a man?" JB looked puzzled. "Yep, and apparently they're still together." JB laughed a deep belly laugh. "That's gotta be a blow to her, dude, maybe she is ready, maybe she just needs a real man to show her true love," he said with a wink before heading to his room to get ready for work. Weston saw himself out. This was normal for them lately. He spent more time here than he did at home because he liked the company, and being out in the middle of nowhere felt nice because he could actually find peace in the stillness. Weston climbed into his car; he had court tomorrow, and he needed to get ready. As he pulled out of JB's driveway, Ashes in Your Silence came on. He turned the volume up as loud as he could and started screaming the lyrics with every ounce of emotion he had in his 6'1" body. The words felt true to him because he saw the hurt in Mazikeen's eyes when he looked at her. He could only imagine how she felt, knowing that her husband had cheated on her with a man, he knew what being cheated on felt like, but not like that. Weston wished he could just text her and tell her how he felt, to let her know that he would wait for years if he had to, but he wasn't getting over her. He pulled into his driveway and sat in his car listening to the music play. Almost every song that came on reminded him of her in some way. Weston grabbed his phone and pulled up Mazie's FaceConnect. Her page was only slightly private, but he could still see her photos. He thumbed through them until he found his favorite one. He had looked at her page occasionally since the day they met, but he couldn't find the courage to press the add friend button. He gazed at the photo on his screen. It was Mazie standing in front of an old rusted train car, its paint peeling and streaked like the walls of a forgotten dream. She wore a dress that clung to her like smoke, all molten embers and ash, fiery hues fading into soft charcoal at the hem. The fabric hugged her curves just right, the neckline low enough to make his mouth dry, the slit on the side high enough to show off the tattoo on her thigh, barely hidden in shadow. Her hair was wind-tossed, lips parted like she’d just finished saying something wicked, and her eyes held that wild, dangerous glint, like she knew exactly what that dress was doing to whoever looked at it. Weston remembered the first time he saw it, in the middle of the night, lying in bed with his phone screen burning his retinas, pretending he had found her page “by accident.” He told himself it was just a picture. But God, that photo knew how to haunt a man. A knock on his window startled him from his Mazikeen-filled daze. He turned to see Tyler standing outside his car. He quickly locked his phone and got out of the car. "What's up, dude?" he asked, wondering what he was doing here. "Oh, nothing, wife's out with the girls, so I thought I'd see if you wanted to hang out." Tyler replied, "Sure, Bubba, you like video games?" Weston asked, leading Tyler inside. "Of course," he replied, taking a seat on Weston's oversized couch. "Alright, give me a second, let me go clean up real quick, make yourself at home," he replied, heading down the hall to his bedroom. He heard Tyler in the living room turning the TV on and finding a football game to watch for the time being. Well, this was unexpected and a little weird, but he would take the distraction. He knew he needed to keep his mind off her before he started playing a dangerous game.