Catching up with old friends

Scott took a fast shower and got dressed, picking a black button up shirt and a pair of his new jeans. The shirt fit tighter that he normally liked but it wasn’t a problem. When he was dressed, he went upstairs to find Doug.

“All right, Scott, that shirt looks really good on you.” Mrs. Carter said, leaning back slightly.

“Scott, turn around.” Suzie added.

“Really?”

“She’s right Scott, we need to see the whole outfit.”

He turned in a circle slowly.

“Alright Suzie, you weren’t lying.”

“Told you mom.”

“If that is all for the fashion show, have either of you lovely ladies seen Doug?”

“He’s getting a ride to the bar after work, he’s probably there now.”

“Shit, I better get going.”

“Hold up Scott, do you have a driver?”

“I’ll stay sober Mrs. Carter, I don’t feel like getting drunk tonight anyway.”

“Okay, here,” Mrs. Carter tossed him a set of keys, “Take the car, make sure everybody gets home safe, okay?”

“Thank you.” Scott said. “See you later.” He was excited for this night. He hadn’t hung out with Jenn and Doug for a long time.

As he was leaving, he noticed Suzie looking sadder than usual, and she hadn’t been very flirty with him. He’d need to figure out what was going on there, but that was a problem for tomorrow.

Mrs. Carter’s big Chrysler was a smooth drive, and it felt out of place at The Stable. The town dive bar looked like someone was trying to fix it up a bit, and there were a lot more cars than when the gang had hung out there after they all turned 18.

Doug was waiting on the deck, wearing an outfit best described as business casual. He looked like such a nerd.

“Hey Doug, Jenn here yet?”

“Not yet. Nice outfit Scott, that new?”

“Yeah, Suzie picked it out at the mall today.”

“You hung out today?”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t anything special, she did meet Angel though.”

“I trust it went better than the first time they met?”

“That was a long time ago Doug, it went fine. Angel even threatened to crash our party tonight, but I told her Jenn was coming.”

“Ha, at least that would be entertaining.”

Scott heard the very familiar sound of a Harley pulling in, and looked to see Jenn arrive on a Sportster.

They walked over to meet her.

“I see you’ve already moved on from Audrey, Jenn.”

“I love that bike, Scott, but I’ve always been partial to ones with a little more kick.”

“Well, it’s a beautiful bike. We need to go riding sometime.”

They talked a bit about bikes before heading inside.

“Alright Scott, time to spill, what happened the last four years?”

“Well, you know I went in as a mechanic, I stuck with cars and trucks, I didn’t want to do something that wouldn’t transfer out of the service. My stint wasn’t very interesting, I just did my job. Never had anything exciting happen. I saved up some leave, cashed some in, got out early with the rest, and now I’m home.”

“Really?” Jenn looked incredulous. “You got nothing else to tell?”

“You really want to hear about Amanda?”

“Yes, we want to hear about the woman you married.”

“Isn’t this supposed to be about Raul? We could listen to Doug’s stories.”

“Doug wants you to tell us about Amanda too, Scott. Right Doug?” Jenn said menacingly.

Doug didn’t look interested, but he nodded, “Absolutely.”

“I met her on my first weekend, we were at a bar. We danced a bit, sang karaoke together, it was a great weekend. After that I saw her every chance I got. Riding around on her brother’s bike, hiking, cooking together, I spent every moment I could with her. We got married about 6-months in, and things started going downhill.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t really know, she started acting like I was forcing her to be someone she wasn’t. I didn’t care what she did or didn’t do, I was infatuated with her, but to her it was stifling. When I was sent to Daegu she got her freedom back, and she used it.”

“You mean. . .”

“She was sleeping with anyone and everyone. She put a video on the internet titled 'while my husband is deployed' that showed her with four guys all grabbing her ass.”

“And you stayed with her.” Doug added.

“Yeah, we tried an open relationship, she said it was just until I could get her over with me, but when we got it worked out, she didn’t want to come. At that point I already knew it was over, but I would just shut it out and pretend like when I got back things would be like they were before we got married.”

Jenn scoffed, “How’d that work out for you.”

“When I finally went back, she pretended like we were good, but she was still seeing other guys. I started finding excuses to be away from home, and did my best to ignore what she was doing.”

Jenn was indignant. “You stayed married to her? What the fuck, Scott?”

“I didn’t know what else to do, I didn’t know where to go, so I stayed.”

“Well, if that didn’t end the relationship what did?”

“About a month ago, I was coming home, we had plans to go out, she knew when I was going to walk in the door. When I came in she was fucking two guys in our living room. She didn’t even stop when I came in. She wanted me to watch, told me to stay, that she’d make it up to me.”

Both Jenn and Scott were staring at him, stunned expressions on their face. They waited for a moment before Doug spoke.

“And. . .”

“I left, I stayed with another guy for two weeks while I switched my plans up. I was going to cash in the full amount of leave, but I needed to get away, so I reached out to Doug, left two weeks early and here I am.”

“Fuck dude, that’s messed up.” Doug started.

Jenn’s face was angry, she drank the rest of her beer in one go and then almost shouted. “How could you let her treat you like that?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t want to give up, I didn’t want our marriage to fail, I just wanted things to be like they were.”

“Oh my God, Scott.” Jenn stormed off to the bar.

“Never mind her, Scott. You know how Jenn gets.”

“No, I get it. I was pathetic, I just didn’t see that until it was over.”

They sat for a minute before Jenn came back with three double-shot glasses.

“Okay, it’s time to drink, bitches.”

“I’m driving home Jenn, I’m taking it easy.”

“Drink the fucking whiskey, Scott.”

“Okay,” Scott picked up his shot, toasted Raul and downed it. Jenn looked to make sure both men drank all of it before continuing.

“Alright, now what’s up with Suzie?”