Into the Darkness

“Wasn’t she that chick at the club that Lex was trying offload?” Eric asked.

“Yes, she was.”

“How do you know her?” asked Bull’s.

I knew this was coming. I was dreading answering it but I knew it would come out sooner or later so it might as well be now. “She was Lex’s wife.”

“So they got married after you guys split up? When did she remarry and have the kid?” He looked at me, confused.

“Eric, I don’t think they got married after Charlie and Lex split up. Am I correct in assuming you were together while he was married?” Bull’s questioned.

“Something like that.” I lowered my tone, feeling ashamed at the situation. I knew it had been more than me just being a homewrecker, but how could I explain that to them?

“Oh… OH!” Eric clasped his hand on his mouth.

“Guys, look, it wasn’t like that. We were in love, like earth-shattering love. At least I thought it was.”

Bull’s placed her hand on mine. She knew me well enough to know that it had meant something. After all, she was the one who would hold me tight when I screamed Lex’s name in my sleep.

“Charlie, what happened? And what’s going on between you two now?” Eric asked.

“He left, didn’t say goodbye. I found out from the town slut that Samantha was pregnant.”

“Hold up, the kid is his?” Bull’s asked.

“No. She was screwing around as well. She told him it was his. His family put pressure on him to stay with her after Samantha told them about me. Apparently months later she confessed to him that the baby wasn’t his and he left her. He told me he looked for me but not in the right place and my mother told him I had moved on.”

“But you hadn’t, Charlie. I was there,” Bull’s said.

“No, I hadn’t. He believed what she said and decided that I deserved more.”

“I’m sorry, Charlie. I knew he meant a lot to you. I mean, you didn’t start to date till the end of college. No matter how much Rocky and I tried to set you up.”

“Oh gee, Bull’s, the blind dates Rocky would set me up with were so hideous!”

We laughed for a while until Eric broke us from our trip down memory lane. “So what did she want to see you about?”

“She wanted to tell me how sorry she was, and asked for forgiveness. We all make mistakes, Eric. Sometimes we need to forgive in order to move on.”

“And Lex?” he asked reluctantly.

I sighed. These two people were my best friends and yet I always held this part of me close to my heart, tightly closed up in a sealed box. Was now the time to spill my heart and soul and reveal all the scars?

“Lex is… It’s complicated.”

“It can’t be that complicated, Charlie. I mean you’re fucking him all over Manhattan,” Bull’s pointed out.

“I’m not fucking him all over Manhattan!”

“Woman has a point, Charlie. You’ve had a certain glow all week. You know, that I’ve-been-done-in-every-orifice look.”

Bull’s and Eric laughed. I felt my face turn crimson. Damn these two and their keen observations. I was starting to think that Eric had a radar for anyone who was doing it back-door-Betty style. How else would he know that?

“We’ll take your silence as a yes. Bull’s, you notice how she’s been walking funny as well, almost with a limp?” Eric joked.

I threw a pen at Eric. We laughed together. OK, so they knew, only that part at least. The rest would remain my secret for now.

…