Wildcards

Chapter 5

"Apparently not." Everly muttered to herself bitterly as she thought about how just this morning she wondered if her day could get any better.

Tears stung her eyes as she remembered how perfect everything had been. She had woken up in the arms of the man she loved. They had made love and fooled around. It was bliss. Their entire two months together had been too. Until the bomb got dropped on her this morning.

Maybe it was all one big lie, a prank or just a bad dream. She decided as she walked across campus.

"Why,hello there stranger. I haven't seen you in a-" She hadn't realized that Jasmine Kowalski, a long time friend and childhood neighbor of hers had fallen into step with her. "Boy trouble?" she asked, probably seeing the rundown mascara on her face. She's always been a straight talker, that's what she liked about her.

"Try men trouble," she sobbed into her embrace.

"That's okay." She patted her back, then grabbed her hand "let's go talk somewhere less busy."

She dragged her all the way to the library, seeing that it was the only place less crowded on campus this early in the morning.

"So, who do I have to kill?" she asked as soon as they sat in a corner cubicle.

She chuckled sadly at this. "Michael's engaged," she spilled .

"Whoa," she clearly hadn't expected that. "How-, when did this happen? To who?"

"I have no idea," she shrugged. "I just got away from him as soon as I found out this morning."

"So,he broke the news to you?"

"That's the thing, he didn't. He's been avoiding someone's phone calls all weekend and lying about it. So I answered behind his back," she sniffed.

"And I take it, it was the mystery woman in his life?"

"Yeah. It was."

"That's brutal. But you don't have all the details yet,so you'll talk to him and find out what's up?" She somehow made the suggestion sound like a question.

"I don't want to talk to him," she said furiously. "I don't want to see him again, it's over."

Upon seeing that talking about him was making her more upset, Jasmine changed the subject.

"I take it you'll be home tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll be home." She affirmed. Then wondered how strange it'll be to spend the night alone, especially since she was now used to companionship.

"Awesome. I'll bring a good bottle of wine, we'll microwave popcorn with marshmallows and watch a horror movie." She suggested standing up to leave.

"Jazz,no.." she grabbed her arm. "I think I'll just turn in early. And you know, cry myself to sleep."

Sitting down again,she cupped her face and looked her in the eye. "No friend of mine will hold a pity party. Not on my watch!"

Everly seeing that this was already a lost battle,she nodded. "Fine. But I'm not agreeing to the horror movie idea."

"That's okay. You'll pick."

"Even if it's animation?" she joked, feeling lighter for the first time since leaving the coffee shop.

"Even if it is." She grinned,standing up again.

"I have an exam today, and my professor will be on a warpath if I get to the hall room a second late."

"That's okay. Break a leg." She wished her luck.

When she had passed a few cubicles, she turned around and said "Hey. Whatever happens, you'll be okay." Then tore out of the room in a light jog.

"I'll be okay." Everly whispered to herself the affirmation,as she gathered her books and headed to her own lecture session.

Her day passed in a blur. She was still upset when she got to her apartment but a little less down. She guessed Jasmine's comforting presence had done the trick.

She entered her studio apartment and threw her book bag on the couch. And went straight into the bathroom to run herself a bath.

Soaking in the hot water, brought back the shower memories of last night. And she immediately felt her body responding with the mindless action of the flesh. A day ago,this would've made her excited. But tonight it was infuriating. Especially because these thoughts were specifically tied to the idea of being with Michael intimately.

Thinking about him for the first time in hours, she toweled off and switched her phone back on. When she found tonnes of voicemails and text messages from him, she hesitated. For a second, the idea of hearing his voice was so enticing. But a small part of her knew that by reading the texts or checking the voicemails she'd fall right into his web again. So she deleted everything.

Finding her comfiest pair of sweat pants and long sleeved shirt, she decided to whip herself a noodle bowl in the kitchen.

And after; just when she was putting her dinner dish in the sink, her doorbell rang.

She froze in place because she knew that there was a possibility that it was Michael instead of her expected guest.

"Please don't let it be him," she kept chanting to herself quietly as she walked to the door.

To her relief, she found Jasmine.

"You were secretly hoping that I was him, weren't you?" a knowing smile was plastered on her face when she walked in.

"What?No!" Everly frowned,wondering what impression her face had given away. "Quite the opposite actually."

"If you say so," she now held two wine glasses retrieved from her cupboard.

Before long, they had microwaved their popcorn and the movie was a go.

Everly had just picked the one that appeared on top of the list, without going to her usual lengths of checking its reviews first.

"You know that's a romantic comedy,right?" Jasmine asked with a mouthful of popcorn.

"I don't mind." Slowly sipping her wine,she looked like she didn't. Which earned her an arched eyebrow.

In her mind she thought it didn't matter what kind of movie it was because she didn't intend on watching it anyway. It just felt good being around a friend and she wanted to bask in that positive emotion for as long as she could. It felt good to be spending time with someone she could vent about anything to, without being judged. And even though it wasn't what she felt like initially, she decided now was the perfect time to talk.

Or maybe it was just the liquid courage.

"You know, you were right earlier." She voiced out.

"I usually am," Jasmine grinned. "But what about this time?"

"About me going MIA. It's happened a lot since Michael." She sighed as she battled conflicted emotions from just uttering his name.

"It's not a bad thing. I mean, the relationship is still new. You guys probably rip each other's clothes off the moment you walk through the door. It happens. You know, honeymoon phase and all that." That eased the guilty conscience she was developing for neglecting their friendship for so long, only to return now with problems in tow.

"Yeah, I guess. I do need to get my priorities straight though in future." She lied down, propping her head with a cushion.

"You'd better," Jasmine's smile lit up the darkly lit living area.

"So, what did I miss? Tell me everything."

"Not much," she turned thoughtful.

Everly could believe that. On the personal front Jasmine was in a long term relationship. The kind that seemed to survive every year that passed. And on the campus front,well...not everybody knew everyone's business like in high school. Most times it just felt like everyone just showed up begrudgingly, just to acquire a certain qualification that'll enable them to survive in the real world. No gossip. No drama.

"There is a party at Cassandra's next week though." She finally seemed to remember what she was racking her mind about earlier. "You'll go?"

"Considering that I'm now single,I may as well mingle."

"Are you?"

"What?"

"Single?"

"Of course, I am."

"Before you give that status permanency, I still think you should hear him out." Jasmine seemed to know that she was skating on thin ice, but stood her ground on how she felt about the subject.

"Whose side are you on?" Everly sat up on the couch to stare at her friend with curious, narrowed eyes.

"There are no sides, okay? And if there were, you know I'd be on yours."

Hearing that Everly lay back down only to hear a

"But," she cleared her throat. "I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't tell you this. You don't know the facts of this situation. Only evidence you have is a circumstantial phone call. Could've been someone calling a wrong number, for all we know".

Facts? Evidence? Circumstantial? Something about those words made Everly's anger rear its ugly head again.

"A woman he's been avoiding all weekend called with this news. None of what I'm saying is made up, so what's circumstantial about that?" she asked agitated.

"Okay,okay. Don't shoot." Jasmine said. "All I'm saying is, you'll never know what's truly going on unless you find out from him. I know this makes you mad, but I had to say it. You do after all keep me around so that I can tell you the things you don't want to, but need to hear."

Everly sighed defeatedly when she heard this.

"I hear you," she pouted. "But God,I wish you didn't apply your law studies to every conversation."

Jasmine was a law student. And sometimes she had a hard time telling apart real life and life inside a law studies classroom.

Grinning at her yet again, "Isn't that what makes me make sense though?"

Everly scoffed.

"We both know every conversation is about having the last word for you."

"Well,some of us like to win," she countered.

They fell into a tranquil silence after that.

Until towards the end of the movie, where the screen couple was sorting out their differences and working on reconciling.

"If only it was that simple in real life." Everly said in a small voice.

"Maybe it isn't. But definitely isn't hard too. You just need to know when to put down your weapons." Jasmine said soothingly.

"This early in the war?"

"Yes. Sometimes you have to let your heart do the fighting. It'll be easier to get to the bottom of this if you put down your defenses and let him in."

With a yawn, Everly mumbled "I don't know. I really care about him. But I'm really scared of what I'll find if I dig deeper."

"So, you're just going to walk away?"

"I don't know." She seemed to be saying that a lot that evening,she realized.

None of them moved after the movie credits rolled up. Both of them just lay on their couches in total silence. They both seemed to be consumed by their thoughts. Michael and her conflicting emotions were occupying Everly's mind.

Jasmine was probably devising a new plan to unexpectedly mail her body to Michael's apartment, so they could have 'the talk.'

That's the thing about lawyers,she was learning. They're always plotting.

But before they knew it,they had both fallen into a heavy sleep.

"We never slept that early during our sleepovers in the past." Jasmine rubbed her eyes, clearly taking a trip down memory lane- when morning came.

"Maybe the wine sped up the process." Everly responded with a smile, thinking about the good old days of their childhood. Where the biggest problem used to be finding a way of acquiring the newest barbie doll. When life revolved around school dances, sleepovers with her girlfriends and lipgloss collections. Life was proving to be a challenge the more she grew.

Now she had to deal with relationship problems and men. Which she felt wasn't a walk in the park.

"We've grown so much," she commented.

"Yep. And adulting is continually proving to be an extreme sport. One that I definitely would not recommend."

They both laughed at the joke.

"True. Having friends who've got our backs makes it bearable though." Everly said. "Thank you so much for last night. I didn't even realize how much I needed that."

"That's what friends are for." Jasmine said, pulling her in for a hug.

As the week went on, she found easy to fall into a routine. One that nolonger included Michael. Her heart ached and yearned for him. But with time,she found it becoming easier and easier to push those thoughts away. He never stopped reaching out too. It was like the more she ignored him, the more he went crazy with the phone calls and texts. Even went to the extremes of trying to reach her via email at some point. She chuckled when she saw it. She was touched when she read it. She was impressed by his efforts. Then got furious again when she remembered what had gone down between them.

Which resulted in a very confusing week. One where not a single day passed by, without dealing with the different emotions whirling inside of her.

Some mornings she even woke up happy, until she remembered.

Which usually made it hard to get out of bed after.

But, "I'll be okay." She kept muttering to herself.