The Other Side of the Pillow

I did as Jemistry wished and left. When I got into my car, I saw Winsome across the parking lot in her Toyota Camry, going off into her cell phone. Bitch!

How could planning a romantic dinner and a proposal turn into such a horror story? Someone was playing a sick joke on me!

Chapter Seventeen

“Hate is easy. Love takes courage.”

—Unknown

Many claim that there is life after death. I guess there is some truth to that because the biggest part of me died that night in Jemistry’s apartment when she dismissed me from her life. My heart failed . . . it flatlined. I was like a zombie from The Walking Dead TV series. Sure, I was a functioning zombie, walking among a sea of functioning alcoholics, functioning gamblers, and functioning drug addicts. I went through the motions every day, even managed to stay on top of my game in the operating room, but once I left the hospital, all I did was go home, sit in the dark, and sink into a state of depression until the next morning.

I tried to call Jemistry but she blocked my numbers. She also blocked my email addresses. I staked out her parking lot a few times, but I never saw her enter or leave. Her car was never in the lot, which made me wonder if she had moved after all, or had left town.

After everything in her painful past that she had told me about, the last thing that I wanted on my conscience was her thinking that I was the kind of man who would do anything to disrespect or hurt her. Yet, that’s exactly what she thought. In her mind, I was a liar and a cheater, one who would sink so low as to do something sexual with her own roommate.

To make matters worse, she had also lost her faith in her best friend that day. Even I was shocked that Winsome would do such a thing, especially considering I barely knew her. Whether Jemistry believed that I came on to her or she came on to me, either way, the blow had to feel just as bad.

Floyd showed up at my house two Fridays later, with a pizza and a bottle of Crown Royal. When I opened the door and saw him standing there, my heart sank. I had hoped that it was Jemistry.

“Don’t look so happy to see me,” he said as he brushed past me and entered.

“Floyd, I appreciate you coming by, but I wouldn’t be much company right now.”

“So we’ll eat all of these carbs and get drunk and pass out in silence. I know you’re off for the weekend, as am I, so it’s all good.” He put the pizza down on the coffee table. “I can camp out for a couple of days, if you want. Courtney’s used to my long hours.”

“What part of me wanting to be alone don’t you get?” I asked sarcastically.

“What part of ‘I’m no longer going to sit back and watch you sink into a state of depression’ don’t you get?”

I sighed and plopped down on the sofa. “What amazes me is the irony of it all.”

“What irony?”

“I warn you that you’re going to lose Courtney when she catches you cheating, and I lose Jemistry instead, even though I wasn’t cheating.”

Floyd shook his head and opened the pizza box. “See, sometimes it pays to do the wrong thing. Courtney’s at home vacuuming and doing laundry after an afternoon of getting a pedicure, a manicure, and a facial that I footed the bill for. If and when I go home, she’ll be in bed freshly showered and ready to please her husband in every way imaginable.”

“It still doesn’t justify what you’re doing.”

“No, there is no justification for what I’m doing. I’m a dog and there’s no doubt about it. I even know what kind of dog I am. I looked it up.”

I couldn’t help but ask. “Looked what up?”

“I went on the Internet and researched the traits of different breeds of dogs.”

“Are you for real?” I sighed. “You have too much spare time on your hands.”

“I don’t have any spare time on my hands, but I wanted to know. Think about it. From childhood, both of us have heard about all men being dogs. Hell, chicks started calling me a dog before I even caught a good whiff of a pussy.”

I chuckled. “That’s true. Girls in middle school were calling us all dogs.”

“Exactly. So I decided to finally investigate and see what the hell they were talking about. Most dogs are loyal, sit up underneath their owners, protect them, and will even lay down their lives for the people who feed them. Yet, we’re called dogs like it’s a bad thing. If you ask me, dogs get a really bad rap.”

“Like I said, you have too much time on your hands.”

Floyd grabbed a slice of pizza. He was the only man that I knew who liked pineapple on pizza. That always seemed like a female thing. One day I had asked him about it and he said that he ate a lot of fruit to counteract the other ingredients so his ejaculate wouldn’t taste fucked up when chicks sucked his dick. Couldn’t argue with that rationale.

“So what breed are you?”