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Exes and Oh's: Part 24

Serena and Marley Series

By Sharlene AlbaPublished 6 years ago 11 min read
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Photo by Victor Dueñas Teixeira on Unsplash

SERENA

"This isn't weird at all." Marley's sarcastic tone registered as I opened my eyes and caught her looming over me, while I laid across the grass on top of Gabe's grave. The sky was a warm blue today, but the temperature had turned a bit icy overnight. Both indoors and outdoors apparently. Daniel and I weren't even arguing anymore. We said hello and goodbye when we needed to during therapy. We put up a good front in front of her, but I had a feeling she wasn't buying the pleasant act we were portraying in her tiny office every week. We talked about the kid growing inside of me, how I didn't want it or was remotely prepared for the responsibilities that came with it. Daniel heard none of it. The only words he kept holding onto was that I didn't want to have it.

This time, it wasn't my intention to hurt him, but I knew it was tearing him up inside, and that ended up hurting me. Things were more complicated than they've ever been and I had no one else to blame but myself for once.

"I need a break," I said as she placed her fresh flowers next to the ones I had already brought for him.

"A break from what? And please get up, this is very unsettling," Marley pleaded and I smirked as she helped me up.

"Life. No pun intended, Gabe," I answered, looking up at the sky as most people did when they wanted to speak to the dead. Which was ridiculous when you think about it. Gabe would've surely ended up in Hell if it existed. Right along with the rest of us.

"I hear that. Are you headed back to the office?" my best friend asked me as we walked towards the paved road that would lead us out of the cemetery. I actually had to meet up with Michael, to talk to him about my abortion options. He wasn't an official doctor yet, but I trusted he had my best interests at heart. I hadn't told anyone but Daniel and the therapist about the pregnancy and I wanted to keep it that way until I figured out what I was going to do. Knowing Marley, she'd want me to keep it, which was a biased opinion since she adored kids and couldn't wait to have her own one day. I needed someone impartial, who could argue both sides and let me find the answer on my own.

"I have a meeting I need to get to actually. Are you on Freddy duty tonight?" I inquired and when she turned to look away, I knew she had a lot on her mind as well. Stupid life. Why was it so frustrating?

"It's his family's turn for the week."

"Well, then guess who's binge-watching trashy television all weekend long?" I teased as I placed my hand up and hers into the air, forcing a laugh out of her.

"I'll bring the snacks."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael sat before me in one of the private consultation rooms in the hospital, his head in his hands after I finished telling him about the baby and my plans for not having it and he sighed in exasperation. Exhaustion wasn't far behind from the looks of it. He looked like he hadn't slept since Thanksgiving and that was two weeks ago.

Something else was weighing on him other than heavy workloads and long hours at the hospital. I wanted to ask but I knew Michael, and he only told people what he wanted them to know. Nothing was forced or pulled out of him. Adding to his mysterious nature. Everything else, he kept locked behind a closed door.

"This will kill him. You know that right?" Michael reminded me and I nodded. I was finally going to get rid of Daniel for good and I should've been jumping for joy. Instead, I was in an exhausting and emotional rollercoaster that I had no way off of it no matter what I did. If didn't have this baby, it would destroy Daniel. If I did, it would only cause resentment on my part, and ultimately take us to a darker place again.

Either way, I was fucked and not in a good way.

"I have no idea what I'm doing. It's like I'm seventeen all over again and the control I used to have on my life keeps slipping out of my hands," I explained and he reached for my hand to comfort me.

"At the end of the day, it's your body. You have the only say that matters. Legally and personally. But in my opinion, as your friend and Daniel's, that baby would be a blessing. And a curse if it turned out to be more like you," he teased and I laughed. He wasn't wrong.

"Gee, thanks."

"Seriously though, the abortion process is no joke. We can't even perform them here. But I know a friend who has a clinic outside of town that does them discreetly."

"Just to be clear, are you for or against me having this baby?" I asked as he helped me off the exam table.

"I'm—" Michael started before Daniel opened the door, storming in, lunging after Michael until he managed to tackle him on the floor. It didn't take them long for them to begin throwing punches and I hurried to get security in here before anyone got seriously injured.

"You're not killing my kid, Michael. I'll put you in the grave right next to Gabe's if you even think about touching my wife," Daniel spat as one of the security officers escorted him out of the room. I winced when I saw Michael's bloody nose and bruising eye as the nurses began their work on him. I mouthed the words; I'm sorry towards him, barely looking at him out of embarrassment before I left the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I couldn't even speak to Daniel. I was too pissed off over what he did to Michael to even look at him as the nurse cleaned up his bloody nose and iced his bruised fists.

"Keep those hands still. And away from my people, please," nurse Eleanor, with the Shirley Temple blonde curls warned Daniel and discarded of all the bloody gauze it took to clean him up before she pulled the curtains to give us more privacy and returned to her other patients.

"You went to him? Out of everyone else you could've talked to about this?" he began his complaining and I sighed, taking a seat next to his bed.

"I trust him. I trust his judgment."

"You didn't before. In fact, I remember when you didn't want me hanging around him."

"Daniel, this isn't about Michael. This is about your impulsive behavior and how you completely disrespected my privacy by barging in there swinging. And then, you have the audacity to ask me to bring a kid around this bullshit? You must be out of your mind," I argued heatedly, my pulse racing, my heart pounding out of pure rage. How dare he think he had any right to tell me who I could and couldn't confide in.

He stood quiet for a while before he turned to me, opening his mouth to say something, but he closed it and pushed the curtains open instead, marching back towards Michael. I told the security I had this under control, assuming Daniel was going to Michael to apologize. When I met up with them in the same consultation room, I cursed when I realized that wasn't the case.

"Tell her about Cathy. Go on. She thinks you're some kind of fucking angel. She needs to know whose hands she wants to put my kid's life in," Daniel provoked, closing the door behind me as Michael stood up from his stool.

"Daniel, that shit wasn't my fault. I told you that back then and I can't fucking believe you're bringing this up now," Michael defended himself, but I could tell whoever this Cathy was, she'd been partially responsible for the downfall of their relationship back then.

"Who's Cathy?" I asked, both men giving me a look, but only one of them willing to answer.

"Catherine Lopez. She was the girl Daniel got pregnant while you two were...well...I don't know. Ya'll broke up so much, I don't know what the status between you two was," Michael began and I felt my hands ball into fists as I remembered one of the many bullets Daniel tried to kill me with. Catherine Lopez had been a rival of mine at the time, considering she was both friends with Marley and dating Daniel. It didn't matter that him and I weren't together. There was still a lot of water underneath that bridge that neither one of us had cleared out. She knew that. At least that's how she made it seem when we had the first and last conversation we would ever have.

I never knew what happened to her after she had her miscarriage. All I knew was that Daniel ended up running back to me. He always did and we ended up in Vegas not too long after that.

"You're forgetting the part where you dated her after I did and managed to get her into drugs," Daniel interjected brusquely and my eyebrows raised at this new information. Michael shook his head in disagreement and plopped down on his stool before he answered.

"I didn't make her overdose. She chose to do that because you kept fucking calling her and leading her on while you were off getting married in Vegas apparently," Michael blew up finally, and I was too enraged to speak. I just felt completely numb and void of energy. I knew Daniel had been cheating back then. I just had no idea it had been with her.

"Don't put that shit on me. She was fine before I left her."

"Yeah, okay. Let's go with that. Let's pretend like you didn't abandon a perfectly healthy young girl who just finished going through one of the worst experiences a woman could have emotionally, for the girl you really wanted to be with. The only thing I did was give her something to take the edge off. I don't know who gave her the rest of those drugs," Michael corrected, but shook his head as he tried to control his anger again. The room stewed in silence until I reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

"We all played a part in that girl's death. Whether we knew it or not. That's going to be on us until we see her on the other side. So either you get over it and forgive each other, or we just go back to not speaking to each other. Because at this point, it could go either way. Now, I'm hungry and tired. I need to be fed and so does this creature inside me," I argued, both men sharing looks before they turned to look at me.

"Chop, chop. Let's go," I ordered and they both exited the room obediently. Michael and I said our goodbyes. Daniel was still heated enough not to say a word to him before we left the hospital. I didn't expect them to shake hands after that brutal conversation. I just hoped it got resolved before we descended deep enough into the past to avoid our present and future.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our therapist suggested we talk more, about everything and anything on our minds. Calmly of course. Daniel and I were all talked out by the end of the day, and I told him he could crash at my place for the night while Marley and I lost our shit while watching television and having fruitful discussions on fictional relationships.

"I think I'm on a sugar high. This is wonderful," Marley commented as she continued to munch on a chocolate cupcake. I held back a laugh and glanced at the time on my phone when I heard the doorbell ring.

"Are you expecting someone?" Marley asked as she wiped her mouth with a napkin while I stood up to answer the door.

"No. I have a gun underneath the coffee table. Keep it behind you," I informed her firmly and as I peeked through the peephole and my eyebrows raised the second I noticed it was Kyle on the other side of the door.

"Kyle?" I said his name and I could already hear my bedroom door opening, letting me know Daniel was conveniently awake.

"Sorry to bother you so late. But I just got back into town and I remembered you said you lived here and—"

"Kyle, get to the point," I encouraged, before Daniel came out here for the second round of punches today.

"Right, well. I wanted to see if you still wanted to have dinner. It seems as though I can't get that pretty face of yours out of my mind," he answered sheepishly, and I could hear Marley squealing out of joy from the sofa, which only made this situation worse. I had told her why I had been late to Thanksgiving dinner, I just hadn't told her I was too busy being pregnant and fainting everywhere as well.

"Incoming," Marley shouted and I turned to see Daniel make an entry as he jumped on the sofa next to Marley and popped a single popcorn into his mouth.

"You gonna tell him or should I?" Daniel chimed in and I cursed underneath my breath.

"Tell me what? And who are you?" Kyle asked the two burning questions that would only add to my recent dilemmas.

"I'm her husband. So you're fixing to wait a long time for that dinner."

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About the Creator

Sharlene Alba

Full of raw and unfiltered fluid poems, short stories and prompts on love, sex, relationships and life. I also review haircare, skincare and other beauty products. Instagram: grungefirepoetry MissBeautyBargain Facebook: grungefirepoetry

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