"Look man, I'm not the one saying you've been acting a bit odd since the break up, but apparently I'm the one expected to bring it up," Elliot said while staring at the menu. "I will admit though, that I do agree with everyone that has been stating what is pretty damn obvious."
"Dude, I appreciate the concern, really, I do," replied Lawrence with a smirk that said the exact opposite. He looked across the room towards three waitresses who were huddled together near the servers station and hoped one of them would glance their way and at least acknowledge his and Elliot's presence in the restaurant.
"Larry, do you have to yank my chain here?" Elliot followed his friend's stare across the room to the waitresses as he put down the menu. "I love you like a brother, man, you know that. So does everyone else - Tina, Brett, Parker, even Reets. We're all just concerned man, We don't want you to think we're not here for you, that you can't talk to any of us about it, you know?"
Lawrence Chase Mills looked at his friend for a long minute, his eyebrows furrowed as if he was wrestling with a final Jeopardy question.
"There's really nothing I feel a need to talk about El', honestly. Kelly and I should have parted ways over a year ago. Both of us knew it, but neither of us had the courage to make the first move. All I did was what had to be done. It is what it is, and there's no changing it."
"Man, I can understand feeling like you're in a rut relationship-wise, hell, we've all been there - but you two, you've been together over five years man, that's a lot of time invested in each other, that's a long road traveled together."
"Well, the truth is El', in that entire five year period I don't think I was ever really, truly happy being with Kelly after the first couple of months. I know I gave everyone the impression that I was happy, and it looked like Kelly and I were just as happy as a couple could possibly be, but the truth, the real down and dirty truth is, I was not happy, not by a long shot."
"What? You're talking nonsense. You two went out to Sparks with Reets and I just a month ago - you can't tell me you didn't have a great time!" Elliot looked at his friend in confused disbelief. Lawrence was still looking hopefully towards the waitresses gathered at the server station. Slowly Lawrence turned towards Elliot and smiled.
"It was a show Elliot, a show. I've been putting on a show for everyone - Kells. you and Reets, everyone. I, I just felt compelled to do it for some reason, to paste a smile on my face and to laugh and to act like everything was as good as it could possibly be. But it wasn't good dude, not at all."
A short slightly heavyset waitress suddenly appeared at their table, catching both men off-guard. "Good afternoon and welcome to Sophie's Gentlemen. My name is Bree and I'll be your server this afternoon. Can I start you off with some drinks and an appetizer?'
Elliot cleared his throat and said, "Yeah, I'll have a jack and Coke, tall, and potato skins to start. What are you getting Larry?"
"Do you have Michelob Ultra on tap?" Bree the waitress nodded affirmatively towards Lawrence. "Great, I'll have the largest you have. And the calamari."
Bree the waitress smiled as she wrote down the orders and said, "I'll put the appetizers in and have your drinks in a minute." then turned and walked off towards the bar. Lawrence's eyes followed her for a few seconds before he turned back towards Elliot.
"See, that right there, that's one of the reasons I had to break it off Elliot. You saw me stare after that waitress, right? Do you realize how much grief I would have had to endure if Kells had seen me do that? Seriously, it would have gone on for days, weeks. Reets ever give you crap for glancing at a waitress dude? You ever have to spend hours, and I mean freaking five or six hours, being bitched out because you looked at a woman who was slightly, and I mean just slightly, attractive? Not a stunner, just a plain old somewhat attractive woman, not even dressed provocatively?'
"What are you talking about? Kelly was never insecure, not that I ever saw. I don't ever remember her acting jealous."
"That's because, my friend, you only ever saw her acting secure, confident. But it was all an act dude, Our whole relationship has been one big act, like some freakin' sitcom, except without the laugh track or witty repartee. That woman was incredibly insecure, and extremely possessive. I had to pretend I was wearing blinders whenever we were out in public together - hell, why do you think we haven't gone to the beach with you guys for the past few summers? Too many women in bikinis dude, it was like walking through a mine field while battling hiccups for me. If it wasn't for you and Reets El', we would never have left the house for anything other than going to her Dad's or the market. Even in a damn movie theater she'd accuse me of scoping out other women."
Bree the waitress returned to the table with the drinks and set them down in front of the men. "Your appetizers should be up in a minute - have you decided what you would like for lunch?"
Both of the men looked at her blankly. Lawrence said, "Uhm, no, not me - El'?" Elliot looked at the menu in his hand and said, "Give us a few minutes - I'll be ready to order when when you bring the appetizers."
"Okay," Bree replied. She walked away and Elliot quickly scanned the selection of burgers and chicken sandwiches on the menu, mentally ticking off what he didn't want to eat. He glanced over at Lawrence, who seemed to have decided and had put his menu off to one side.
"Wow, I don't know what to say. You should be up for an Oscar if you were acting happy the entire time you were with Kelly, man. Seriously, I never once thought of you as unhappy."
"Think about me and Kelly for a minute Elliot. Think about how little time you actually ever spent with us as a couple. That night we met up with you and Reets at Sparks? That was the first time all of us had been together since New Years - almost nine months ago. I had to beg her to go El' - she is insanely jealous of Reets, like, talks about beating her up and ripping out her hair level jealous."
"You have got to be kidding! Reets is your step-sister!" That's insane! What could she possibly be jealous of?"
"Anything and everything you can imagine Elliot, that woman has accused me of anything and everything. I am not kidding."
No comments:
Post a Comment