Me, Him, Us

Chapter 1: Howard

Before I begin my story let me introduce myself, my name is Bella short for Isabella Rodriguez. I’m sure most of you know my parents the famous business billionaire duo, Jessica and Alexandra Rodriguez. I am 25 years old and I have the most annoying twin brother that I love so much. I have green eyes and long brown hair that goes perfectly with my goldish brownish skin tone due to my Italian genes. This story is about the biggest mistake I made and how I tried to love again. 

Im currently walking back to my apartment after a long day of lectures, I am a 6th year medical student student and let me tell you it is not easy at all. I study in Budapest at the Budapest metropolitan university . Being an international student is difficult but I needed room to breathe from my family in America even though they visit me so regularly you’d swear I lived down the road from them. Anyways back to the story, I would like to apologize in advance about going off script my mind works too fast. Again ANYWAYS I’m rushing home because my boyfriend is coming over for the weekend and when I say coming over I mean he’s going out to drink with his friends and my place is closer to pass out at than his after, nonetheless I’m rushing so he can come drop his valuables. Why aren’t I going out with him you ask? Well I wasn’t invited and as depressing as that sounds I assure you it’s 10x more depressing than that. But the heart wants what the heart wants who am I to say no when he asks for help. We have actually been dating for a couple of years depending on where you start counting from.Let me take a quick detour to explain how we started dating... 

FLASHBACK  

I’ve seen this really really hit guy on campus and I wish I was more confident so I could go talk to him. He’s really popular because he’s always with a big group of people, and usually right in the middle. I mean that height is something else, he could probably reach into the sky and grab a plane! That’s how tall he is. Anyways I was standing in the cafeteria line one day, waiting for my time when someone dropped their bag on the floor next to me foot, as I went to pick it up so did he 

“Ah sorry” I quickly remove my hand 

“No problem you were just trying to help” he laughs “ I’m Howard and you?” 

“Isabella or Bella for short” I say quickly 

“Oh I think I’ve seen you around, you and that other girl the really loud one” he means Jennifer

“Yeah that’s my best friend Jennifer” I chuckle 

“Really! Well my friends throwing a party tonight why don’t you guys come alone. Here’s the address, it starts at 9pm. Hope I see you” he walks away before I even process what the hell just happened 

I take my phone out and call Jennifer rushing out the cafeteria forgetting about the food I wanted, I mean who could eat right now after Howard just invited us to a party! 

“Jennifer you won’t believe what just happened” I begin to explain the whole story to her while I run to catch the bus so I can meet her at the mall to shop for an outfit for tonight, I need to look sexy. We meet each other at the mall and begin shopping. 2 hours later we walk out hand in hand with 2 great dresses that’ll definitely have all eyes on us tonight...hopefully. We go past her house first to grab her make up since the party tonight is closer to my place we’ll get ready at my place so we can leave later and have more time for pictures. The next couple of hours are filled with dancing, pictures and obviously prepping for tonight. I’m not good with guys at all so Jennifer always helps me by practicing different scenarios that could happen so I’m prepared, crazy I know but girls do this on a regular. 

At 9pm we decide it’s time to start moving, so we arrive there early but not completely early that we’re the first people there, obviously we ask the cab driver to stop at a bottle store on the way because it’s rude to show up to a party empty handed. I follow the directions Howard sent me and ring the doorbell when we arrive. 

“Hello?” I hear a guys voice 

“Hi, yes this is Isabella and Jennifer. Howard invited us” I say into the speaker 

“Oh yes yes, come up to the second floor, door on your right” he buzzes us in 

I squeal while holding Jennifer’s hand, my heart is literally pumping right now I can barely breathe. 

“Girl you’ve got this okay, just be cool” Jennifer says grabbing my face, I take deep breaths 

“Yes cool! I can be cool” I say. We arrive at the door and knock. Seconds later one of Howard’s friends opens the door and widens it for us 

“Welcome ladies, complimentary shots are available in the living room, everyone needs to take 2 shots for arriving” we walk into the living room and see it’s full of people, damn. 

I head towards the table and put down the bottle of ciroc while grabbing two shits for both Jennifer and I. 

“Cheers” we both say before downing the alcohol, I shudder while it goes down my throat because that burns 

“Hey Isabella you made it” says Howard from behind, coming up to hug both me and Jennifer. I blush 

“Yeah of course we did, it was nice of you to invite us. Thank you” I say 

“No problem, come on let me introduce you ladies to my friends” he pulls us towards his friends and not before long we’ve integrated ourselves into the conversation, hours have passed and I’m definitely drunk of my balls. Howard kept giving us drinks and I didn’t want to say no but I’m definitely a light weight. I pull Jennifer aside 

“Jenn I not okay, I fink vomit” I slosh out to her. She grabs my arm and drags me to the bathroom 

“Okay calm down Bell, you need to act normal because Howard can’t see you like this” as soon as she closes the door I start vomiting everywhere, and I mean everywhere. There was vomit on the ceiling, on the floor, I’m so screwed. An hour passes and the vomiting seems to be done now 

“Okay this is disgusting” Jennifer says while holding my hair 

“I feel terrible” 

“Well you should ma’am, you’ve basically just threw up your insides all over some random apartment, I feel so sorry for whoever cleans this” she laughs. We hear a knock on the door 

“Hey ladies, you okay in there?” I hear Howard’s voice and immediately groan, this is so f*****g embarrassing 

“Yeah we’re good, coming out soon” Jennifer replies, we hear him walk away 

“Okay get up and clean yourself, luckily it didn’t get on your clothes, just everywhere else”we both laugh loudly 

“Yeah I’ll send someone to clean this and I’ll pay it’s not fair to ruin someone’s bathroom like this” I say sadly, I’m so embarrassed 

We walk out the bathroom but take the key and lock the room so no one can enter and see what happened. We look for the guys bedroom and when we find it spray his cologne on us to hide that terrible smell 

Jennifer grabs my shoulders and shakes me “you’ve got this girl  the night is still young okay! There’s still time to bounce back” I nod my head 

“Okay okay I got this” we walk back towards the group 

“You okay? You disappeared for like an hour” one of Howard’s friend jokes 

“Yeah we’re good” we smile. 

“Hey Isabella can we talk outside?” I hear Howard ask, I nod my head and we walk outside towards the balcony 

“So I’m glad you showed up tonight” he says 

“Really?” I blush 

“Yeah I mean i was hoping Daphney would come to cause I like her but she had plans already so I’m glad you came” I’m sorry what did he just say to me

“So I’m your plan B?” I ask quietly 

“I wouldn’t say plan B, but have you seen Daphney? She’s light skin, beautiful green eyes, that curly hair. She’s gorgeous and I’m not saying you’re not beautiful but I mean compared to her you’re like I mean, you know” I’m speechless 

“Okay” I turn and begin to walk away, he grabs my hand 

“Wait, don’t go” I stop and look at him “Just cause I like her doesn’t mean I can’t like you too let’s just chill” 

I knew I should’ve left, I should’ve walked away but I didn’t, and that’s was my first mistake, thinking he could grow to love me. That night we kissed and 4 months later started dating after he ghosted me for 2 months, why did I stay I ask myself all the time! Well I wish I knew the answer to that  

FLASHBACK OVER

I arrive at my apartment building  10 minutes later but I spend another 10 minutes struggling to open the damn door, let me just clear the air now and come clean, I can understand physics and chemistry but when it comes to opening doors I’m a complete fish. There’s just something so difficult because I don’t like to push the key too hard in case I break it! Unfortunately my building door needs me to be forceful so I struggle everyday. To make matters worse my apartment is on the 4th floor and THERES NO ELEVATOR! I know what you’re thinking, why would she get an apartment in a building where she has to struggle so much ? Well to answer that question I didn’t pick this place my boyfriend did, well not really but when I was viewing places he really seemed to love this place the most and I figured more than anyone else he would be here the most so I should make him comfortable, boy do I regret that decision every time I walk up these stairs. 

Anyways I get into my apartment take off my shoes and jacket and immediately dive on the couch. I spend more time on my couch than my own bed. I mean it’s a pull out couch so it transform into a bed and the tv in my living room is bigger than the tv in my own bedroom so it makes sense right? Since it’s a Friday I’ll probably spend the whole day here watching series while cuddling with my favorite emoji teddy bear his name is George, aren’t I just living the life ! Sometimes I laugh because when my parents were this age my mom was already pregnant with us so in comparison to them I’m really not living my best life I guess. To be fair unlike them I’m not ready to procreate yet, besides I love my boyfriend but I don’t think he’s baby daddy material, considering he always cracks jokes about running away if I ever get pregnant. In the moment I laugh with him but every joke has a bit of truth so yeah that’s not happening any time soon. Besides to get pregnant we’d need to have s*x and with him that only happens every few months before I go on a rant let me take you on a virtual tour of my apartment. 

Please close your eyes to experience the visuals better, I don’t know how you’ll read and visualize but make a plan. As soon as you enter the first door leads to the living room which contains my couch, tv, study table and my amazing air conditioning machine, all the rooms are painted beige which is amazing because it’s simple but dangerous because I can never make a mess otherwise it’ll be really obvious. Moving on if you turn right you walk straight into the kitchen which is decorated with purple tiles on the way, really the only color in the entire apartment. The kitchen is simple dishwasher, oven, stove nothing special really. From the kitchen there’s a corridor that leads to the bedroom with an attached bathroom. Besides the whole door thing and steps I really do love my apartment it’s simple and that’s exactly what I need. When people come over they expect some lavish place because my parents are rich but that’s exactly what I say to them, my parents are rich not me, I haven’t earned any of their money so besides simple necessities I don’t want too much from them. 

While I was watching my favorite show Lucifer I heard the doorbell ring and ran to go open the main door because that had to be my boyfriend Howard. I honestly should just get keys copied for him because it would save so much time I waste standing up or when I need to wake up at 4am to open for him from the clubs, that second point is a whole entire joke and I can not believe I still agree! If my mother knew the foolish things I was doing for a boy, no doubt she’d hit me multiple times on the head. Again back to the story I buzz him in, unlock the door and stick my head out the door to see if he was in. I hear loud thundering steps coming up so I know it’s him, I mean is he really your man if you don’t know how to distinguish it’s him by his footsteps? Or maybe I’m just crazy. I go get myself comfortable on the couch because even with long legs, it’ll take 3 minutes to get up those stairs. 

I hear the door open followed by a semi-deep “ Hello”, I turn around to be greeted with a 6’4 tall, slightly tanned, brown haired guy with a full blown smile belonging to my boyfriend. I smile back at him because I mean who couldn’t?! That smile is absolutely beautiful, of course I don’t tell him that too much otherwise we’ll need a truck just to move his head. Anyways I hear things being dropped so I assume he’s dropped his bags in my room followed by footsteps towards the lounge. He joins me on the couch, sitting on my right. 

“How long have you been home?” He asks while getting comfortable. 

“Not too long, maybe 30 minutes, I’ve literally just been sitting here the whole time anyways” I reply. 

“Cool. Any plans for tonight?” Now he’s staring at me. 

I know he didn’t just ask that especially after him expecting to come crash here. What can I do? 

“Is that a rhetorical question? I can’t leave in case you come back while I’m gone” I try not to answer with too much attitude but damn he’s good at making me mad! 

“ okay! woah calm down” never in the history of any one telling someone to calm down have they actually calmed down! “ I thought maybe you’d have plans with Jennifer? You guys could do a sleep over or something “

For clarification reasons Jennifer Davis is my best friend. Really no one annoys me on  this planet like that b***h but every time we fight the first thing I want to do is just forgive her cause I hate when we fight! So whenever we do fight 10 minutes later we’re laughing at how stupid we were being. Jennifer stays 13 minutes away from me if I really walk slow but by bus a good 7 minutes which is even more perfect cause the bus drops me right at her door step. Typically when I’m not with my boyfriend I’m with my best friend. My house gets so lonely and I do enjoy their company so I’m rarely ever home alone. 

“ ok I don’t know she hasn’t said anything, we might just FaceTime until one of us falls asleep” 

To be honest she hates being here when Howard comes back from the clubs because one night a month ago he came unexpectedly and she was sleeping over. My bed is big enough for 3 so when he came stumbling in drunk I just put him on the other side of the bed and slept in the middle between them. At first everything was going good, I thought the drunk i***t was actually falling asleep. Imagine my shock when I feel a hand slowly creeping onto my ass 20 minutes later. To be honest so I can explain properly my boyfriend and I don’t regularly have s*x because he doesn’t like being touched, which is weird but I learnt to look past it. So naturally whenever he’s in the mood very rarely might I add I have to seize the opportunity, which kind of sounds depressing but I guarantee you, it is.

In my head I’m like woah Jennifer is right next to us, we are not going to have s*x but then he’s hands moves closer and closer to my private area, and that’s what I knew it was happening whether I tried to stop him or not. My only worry is I’m not having s*x right next to Jennifer! She’ll never forgive me because that would really be crossing a line. So I keep pushing him away, but he somehow manages to flip himself on top of me knowing I’m just delaying the inevitable I whisper to him “ please let’s go to the couch. I’m not doing this with Jennifer around” he nods his head, moves off the bed and drags me out with him. Where we proceed to have s*x for hours on end on the couch until he got tired. 

So to this day a month later she hates coming over to sleep if his going to come which I think is a fair point, but if it was me I’d be cheering her on but let me wait for the day to come. 

“Okay well I’m going to leave now and meet up with the guys for pre-drinks” he says while getting of the couch. 

I mean I hate complaining but he really just came for 2 seconds like wow, boyfriend of the year everyone. 

I nod and watch him get up and leave. Before you ask because I know you will, no hug? No kiss? What kind of a couple are you? Well like I said before he does not like getting touched. I mean in the beginning there were times I’d try kiss him and he’d just push my face away so I was like, that’s enough rejection for this lifetime! Now I don’t even try, I just wait for him to do it. 

Can’t believe I love that fool