An unexpected twist of fate

End of a drought

I knew this walk was long so I had taken a bag with me, it had a jacket, a bottle of water, my phone and my purse. I didn’t need much just enough to keep me sorted for a little while. While I was walking I played some music from my phone and thought about what has been happening the past few days, how within two hours of seeing my best friend she had vanished for ever from my life. How her mother looked when I went to visit her and how we couldn’t even talk to each other but just sat in each other’s company waiting for anything to change within us, or by some miracle a call to say it is all a prank and Marcey is still alive and well. It never came and we could only hope that the pain would slowly decrease from our hearts. Now walking to see her dad, how to approach this situation. For her her dad had never been a part of her life, even when we graduated high school he said he would come to the ceremony but at the last minute he messaged her to say he couldn’t make, something with work had popped up and he needed to attend to it. Marcey was devastated when she got the text, of course she tried to hide how she really felt, he didn’t even have the decency to call her and apologize profusely. How could I give my condolences to someone who didn’t even care enough about her to appear at any of her life milestones?. It was probably going to be harder to keep my cool than it was around her mom. He lost any opportunity he could of had with her and he will never be able to make up for any of it. His only child is gone for ever and he wasn’t even present for most of her life. My pace had picked up since I started thinking about Mr Green and within 10 minutes I was already around the corner from his house. s**t. I stopped in my tracks thinking it’s time to see this wretched man. I took an incredibly deep breath and slowly turned the corner. As I reached his house I was stunned, his house was massive, he had obviously done a lot of renovations since the last time I was here. He had about three stories, the garden was massive with a pool around the corner that was long and narrow probably about 60 meters long. The house was a grayish black and lots of wide windows, the second and third levels had a balcony that stretched the whole way along the wall, the second level had three large white couches that all linked to make a U shape. I could make a jacuzzi on the third level balcony and on the flat roof I could see railings with I’m guessing a top floor for tanning or maybe he gardens up there. This house was maculate and I was just staring at each part with careful consideration. All of this and he still couldn’t send his daughter a birthday present on her actual birthday. I counted to ten in my head and told myself when I reached ten I would stand tall, be strong and go knock on the very large two black doors with silver sliver of a moon shaped handles. One, two.. I took two steps forward, three, four, five... I got closer trying to level my head, six, seven eight, nine... I’m standing in front of the door almost twice my height, ten. I raise my hand to the door and knock three times. I hear a robotic sort of sound coming from above me as I look up I see a camera facing down at my face. I stare at it for a few seconds before I hear footsteps approaching from inside the house. This is it, no where to run now. 

The door opens slowly and as the light shines on the person standing in front of me I see exactly what I was not expecting, he has black suede shoes on with white long socks, long skinny black denim jeans that hug around his incredibly muscular calves and thighs. A white button up shirt that covers just enough to not show his Package but not enough that I couldn’t see a large outline of a bulge, his arms are massive as if with one finger he could throw me to the sky, veins that could be seen from Mars protruding from his hands and lower arm as the white shirt has been folded twice or three time up. His neck is thick and muscular that leads to one of the most beautiful male faces I have ever seen. His jawline is sharp like a razor and his nose is very masculine with a almost cute button at the bottom, his lips are thin and somewhat long, I would expect him to have an amazing smile, but right now he was frowning. His eyes were bright blue, like the sea one would expect to see in Bali, with a hint of green. Although the color of his eyes are entrancing I can see the red puffy ness underneath where his cheeks are pink in color and slight stains of tears running down the pink flushed cheeks, for a split second I felt sorry and pity for this god of a man. I was soon brought out of that dream-like state when he started speaking,

“Yes?” He said in annoyance staring at my face intently.

His voice was extremely deep and raspy, it made me think he had been crying all night. But I was not going to fall into feeling sorry for him, I was here on a mission and I would succeed.

“Hi Mr Green it’s me, Angelica, Marceys best friend since grade 8.” At the mention of Marcey he flinched his face and I could see such sadness spread across his eyes. “I just wanted to say how sorry I am about what has happened, I am sure you are upset and feeling quite shocked about this situation, Marcey was the most amazing person I knew and she will be so dearly missed, I’m honestly not quite sure what I’m going to do without her.” my voice trails off as I stare into his ocean eyes, he is just staring at me, no movements or any awareness of the words I just spoke. It was like it went through the one ear and out the other. What now? 

“I wish I could have done something to change what happened, I really loved your daughter, she was my rock and my home wherever I went she would always bring me comfort” my words were meaningless to him, he was just staring at me, I started to feel uncomfortable and realized that maybe me being here was the same as me showing up in grade 9 after not being invited. 

I open my mouth then close it, I’m just going to leave. “I’m sorry about everything Mr Green, I hope to see you on Wednesday.” I said that with just a little bit of spite in my voice. I turned around and started to walk away from the rude beautiful man and his enormously over bearing house. 

“Wait!” The raspy voice calls from behind me. I stop in my step and slowly turn around looking at him still standing in the doorway. He gestures for me to come inside his house. I make a puzzles look and slowly walk back towards him and the doors. He leads me to a room full of color, sweet pinks and blues with hints of yellow and orange along the couches and on the glass coffee table, flowers are on every table around us with lots of ornaments, most are sculptures, some nude, some draped, but all in all this room was gorgeous. I see a fire place at the end of the room with some succulents on top of it with lovely dark blue pots that all match one another. I wouldn't have guessed a man living by himself would have decorated it. I sit on a couch nearest to the door so that if things go sideways I could leave as fast as possible. He sits on the single couch Across from me and next to the chair is a mug filled with some kind of content, by the smell in the room I would have guessed tea. He looks at me quizzically like he’s studying every move I make and every word I say, he looks down from my legs up to my face, I catch him doing it but he seems to care not about my new observation. 

Finally the silence is broken, “I remember you, you’ve grown.” 

I look at him, is that it? All I said, everything that’s happened and that’s what he comments on. 

“Yes, well the last time you saw me was 6 years ago. People tend to do that over time.” My sarcasm made one corner of his mouth shift upwards into an almost smirk, it just as quickly disappeared. 

“I appreciate you coming here today, I’m sure seeing my presence is not easy during this time.” His eyes looking for something, maybe for me to deny what he has said but I just stare at him looking a little confused.

“I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t come give my condolences to the father of my best friend.” 

Silence again.

“How have you been Angelica?” He asks as if nothing is going on. 

He sees my confusion and again smirks slightly, is he trying to deflect my being here specifically for Marcey? Why? 

“Great up until yesterday.” I say with an incredible straight face, the way he is looking at me is like when a puppy has run into a glass door and you feel pity for the puppy being so stupid but so cute doing it. Why did he invite me in if he is going to ignore the fact that his daughter has just DIED. 

“Say it.” He looks me dead in the eye as if he has been waiting for me to burst.

“Say what?” I ask not letting down this game of who can stare more intensely. 

“Say what you really came here to say to me, I know what you think of me, I know what most people think of me, but I want to hear it from you, right here, now.” My eyes open wide as I stare at him confused. Of course there were things i wanted to say to him, I had wanted to say them to him since the day I had come here and he acted like I was a rat roaming his house stealing his cheese, since the first time Marcey broke her arm and all she wanted was some comfort from her dad but he was no where to be seen or heard, I had wanted to scream  and shout about how she was amazing and he would never know and he has made the biggest mistake of his life choosing money over the one thing he could never touch or hear again. He was a massive f*****g i***t for making that decision to cut her out his life and it made me furious. My breathing started increasing I sensed the explosion was coming but I remembered what I had told myself before I got here. And started taking longer calmer breaths.

“I will not make what you have done to her easier for you by me shouting and screaming in her defense. Because anything I say won’t make everything you didn’t excusable, you have to live with whatever you think you did. I know what you did to her but now you have to live with the pain you have caused yourself and her.” My words are soft and calm but I can see they are hitting him harder than anything I could have lost control over shouting at him would. His expression changed I couldn’t quite make out what he was feeling but he sat quietly, I guess thinking about what I had just said. 

“Thank you” he said softly as his eyes saddened, 

“For being there for her when I wasn’t, when I was trying to run my business and ignored the one thing I should have payed the most attention to, you were there for her when I couldn’t even be there for myself. So thank you Angelica, I appreciate you more than you could possibly know.” His eyes started tearing, I could not look away his vulnerability was enticing, it was adorable and I couldn’t stop the urge of wanting to hug him. He saw my face and the tears rolled down his flushed cheeks. And suddenly I felt them, I felt the cool small water droplets fall out my eyes and down my heated cheeks into my mouth, I was breathing heavily as I realized I could not stop the water leakage, I could not hold them in, my drought was over. I couldn’t help it in that moment him being so open and thanking me for being the person she could lean on instead of her own father my emotions finally took over and I lost control, i cried and cried and cried until it felt as though my chest was suffocating from all the water escaping my eyes. I felt these large hand come over my shoulder and the next moment I was sobbing into a wide and strong chest, one of the hands started to stroke my head incredibly slowly and tentatively. In that moment I didn’t care about anything else but letting everything out in the safety of the warmth surrounding me.