All Good Things

Two weeks later.

“She’s still not back yet,” Angie said, her voice raspy from the way I’d treated her throat five minutes prior.

“Yeah, she’s working the late shift again.”

“Her bank closed two hours ago,” she reminded me. She pulled out her phone. “Plus, she’s on the other side of town.”

“Really?”

“I’m going to call her,” she said as she pressed the button. “FUCK!”

“What?” I asked.’

“I pressed video chat!” She hung up. “And my face looks like this!”

She called again, this time with a voice call. No answer.

“Oh, well,” she croaked. “Want to order some Vietnamese food? Or would you rather fuck me in the shower while I clean up?”

“Can’t it be both?” I asked.

“I’m back!” Vicky greeted us over an hour later.

“We already had dinner, but there is still some out for you,” Angie told her. “Where were you?”

“Just working. We had to do a cash count, and thankfully they brought in some food, so I’m good. I’m going to go shower, okay?”

Angie got up to follow her sister. “Hey, can I speak with you?”

“What? Why?”

“In here,” Angie opened the door to my office.

I turned down the TV, but couldn’t hear the two sisters. After a few minutes I heard raised voices. The door opened, then the bathroom door slammed.

Angie sat next to me. Her face looked pale.

“What?” I asked.

“I asked her where she went,” she told me.

“And?”

“She was at one of her co-worker's houses.”

“So? Why did she lie about it?”

“That’s what I said. I told her that I looked her up on the phone app, and she got super defensive. Apparently it was just a group of friends, mostly guys. So I asked her again why she lied about it, and she said that she just didn’t want to worry you.”

“And then?”

“And then she got pissed, said that I shouldn’t be keeping tabs on her and slammed the door.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

She looked at me sadly. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” I nodded.

We heard the shower running. Angie began looking at her phone. “Shit.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“This is the third time she did this in the past three weeks.”

“Seriously?” I scratched my head. “Fuck.”

We waited for her to finish her shower. Instead of confronting us, Victoria went into my (our?) room and closed the door.

This made me even more worried.

About an hour later, she came out.

“Hey, Dan.” She sat on the floor in front of me. “I’m really sorry for lying to you just now. I really had no reason to, I just went to hang out with some coworkers to blow off steam.”

“That’s totally fine if you do that, Victoria. But why did you lie about it?”

“It came up out of the blue, and I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so I went for just long enough to say hi.” She looked at her sister as if to tell her to not say anything. Angie was silent.

“Okay, well, you have no reason to lie to me,” I told her. “If you want to meet up after work, you can. And you could bring me with you and introduce me to them sometime.”

“Okay,” she smiled. “I’m sorry.”

“So this is the first time this happened?”

“Yeah, I-”

“It’s not like this is the third time that you did this and lied to me about it?”

She looked at her sister. Her gaze turned into a glare.

“Fuck. You.”

Victoria got up and ran into my bedroom.

Angie was silent.

I stood up. “That is not-”

“Leave her be,” Angie whispered. “This is how she acts. When she gets cornered, she runs. Let her go figure her shit out. She’ll be back.”

Angie was half right. Victoria left and didn’t return until the next morning.

“Hey, can I talk to you, Dan?” Victoria asked the next morning as she glared at Angie. “Alone.”

“Of course,” I said to her. I followed her outside and we sat in her car.

“Where did you go?” I asked. “You really didn’t have to go off last night. I’m never going to be upset enough with you that I’m going to kick you out in the cold.”

“I stayed with Britney,” she told me. “From work,” she added unnecessarily.

“Okay,” I said, letting her continue.

She didn’t.

“Why?”

“Because I couldn’t face you,” she told me.

I waited again.

“Why?”

“Because I lied to you.”

Again I waited.

Nothing.

“Right. But we addressed that. Unless there is anything else…”

“No! That’s all. I went to hang out with coworkers and I lied about it.”

“So you didn’t hook up with any-”

“No! I wouldn’t cheat on you.”

“Okay, good.”

I waited again.

“So what’s the part that you are afraid to tell me?” I asked.

She looked away. A tear ran down her cheek. Uh oh.

The only thing I could think of was that she knew about Angie and I.

“I don’t know…” she took a breath. Her voice cracked. “I don’t know that I want to be in a relationship right now.”

My world dropped. If I’d ever questioned whether or not I really loved this girl, this moment was answering it for me.

I really did. I loved her sister, sure. But I loved them both.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“I don’t know!” She put her face in her hands. “This isn’t about you. It really, really isn’t. You’re wonderful. You’re amazing. You’re…”

She started to bawl.

“I don’t deserve you!” She cried.

“That’s not true,” I told her. “I’m not that great. I’ve been fucking your sister this whole time.”

She snorted. “Don’t make me laugh.”

I reached for a napkin from her center console. She did not keep a clean vehicle.

She blew her nose and wiped her eyes. She looked a lot like her sister did the day before.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve only been with you. You’re the only lover I’ve ever had.”

“And?”

“And part of me wants to spend the rest of my life with you. But there's another part that feels like I need to date other guys, that I need more experiences. That I’m too young to get married and settled down.”

“That’s fair,” I sighed. “But for the record, I don’t know that I am either.”

“And that’s okay! But we already live together, and we’re basically married, except that we have my big sister living with us.”

“Okay, I kind of get it. But also…” I took a breath. “I don’t.”

“I’m not sure I can really explain it.”

She faced me for the first time, looking at me right in the eye.

“I think I need to break up with you.”

“Victoria…”

“I need to go on dates. I need to find out who I really am.”

It was my turn to look away. I felt a tear roll down my cheek.

She continued. “I need to find out if I’m really as amazing as you think I am, as wonderful as you make me feel. Because I just can’t believe it. As great as it feels when you look at me, I’m still just the same insecure girl.”

I said nothing.

“And now that I have this body, which I’m so glad that you convinced me to become, by the way… since I gained all of these curves, guys flirt with me all the time. Every single one of them.”

I waited for her.

“And I’m afraid I shouldn't be in a relationship anymore,” she said. “When I was at the party last night, it felt so good for all the boys to be fighting over me. So I’m moving out.”

I was still looking away.

“I love you, Dan. I really, really do. And I’m so fucking sorry-” her voice cracked as she began crying again. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

Finally, I turned to her.

“Well, let me know if you change your mind.”

I stepped out of her car and closed the door softly, knocking on her roof twice. I walked back to my condo, face planted onto my bed and bawled into my pillow.