FALLING IN LOVE WITH A MARRIED MAN 2

[ Continued from part 1, missed it? read here ]

What are you doing? What do you think you are doing? What's the meaning of this Barry? Is all the words that echoed from different voices as I made my way away from the drama through the crowded club. I was bent on avoiding any form of embarrassment, publicity, shame or disgrace!

My heart felt heavy, real heavy, I was never one to run from trouble but old age changes you. It keeps you grounded and reminds you that a few things might not be worth it. And right there and then Old age was telling me keep going you don't need this. The Old age theory might very much have been the laziness that stems from dozen shots of tequila but it didn't stop me from listening to it.

It wasn't just us at the club, it was all of us from the previous place, about 6 guys and I and the friend that accompanied me. So everyone got involved and tried to calm Barry as he kept screaming 'She's a bitch, a hustler, she and my friend?'. 

Even though I didn't care for him or think I owed him anything, I couldn't help but reflect on his words.

When did being a hustler become such a bad thing, I know no one can look at me and think of the negative part of hustling when they see me, yes they can sense my ambition and my go getting  attitude but to think I'm a hustler in a negative term is not possible "I carry myself higher than that", I thought. Then came the thought of 'why his friend though, let him go, do not cause any trouble amongst this people.

Just as I was considering and weighing these decisions in my mind, I felt a hand hold my wrist firmly. It was Ben, follow me he said authoritatively.

I'm not going to associate daddy issues to being attracted to a stern man but I would say it was a good feeling to have someone seem like they could protect me and his voice echoed that.

We moved gracefully through the stairs to the upper floor and found a corner in the overcrowded club to stand, my friend was beside me and she kept saying 'this doesn't concern you, don't let anyone ruin your day'.

I agreed with her stand but I also understood that some part of what she said made no sense, Of course it concerned me and I was obviously worried and deep down ashamed but the strongest feeling I felt was Pride I must admit!

I had never in my Quarter of a century years on earth had men fight over me like this before, not just fight amongst themselves, but fight publically like they had something to lose and like i was the ultimate prize. The feeling was good, what made it even more exhilarating was one friend asking the other to leave me for him.

Every girl needs that, every girl needs to meet a man that will set and carve their worth in stone and give it to them on a platter. A man that even when his time passes, thoughts of him will forever remind them what they are worth.

I had stopped having fun by now so I decided it was time to go. I couldn't go home because it was about 2 am and I couldn't stay because well, I wasn't comfortable anymore.

So I got into my car with ben sliding into the passenger's side apologizing profusely for Barry's behaviour.

I assured him it was fine, he asked if we were dating prior to this and I opened up to him about how we had just met, when we met and the fact that that was the third or fourth time I was seeing him. He assured me everything would be good and he offered to get me a hotel to stay at. I refused, telling him I would rather go home.

He insisted on driving behind me from the island to the mainland before he heads back home on the island. I didn't have a choice so I let him.

I drove at my usual speed till we got to a landmark close to mine where I slowed down and said my goodbye and told him I was safe! He made me promise to call him when I get home which I promised to.

I didn't have a place to sleep so I decided to drive over to my other friend's boyfriend's house close to my house she was staying over that night and had refused to come out with us for that purpose!

On getting there, I realized I didn't have my phone on me. Somewhere in between this drama, my friend had collected my phone to keep it safe and had gone with one of their friends so I had no way of communicating with absolutely no one.

I spent the night in my car parked in front of my friend's boyfriend's house till daybreak when I drove home and crashed into my best friend, my bed!

*****

I woke up to calls on my brother's phone by friend's who had been trying to reach me.

My friend later arrived with my phone with so many missed calls by Ben. She had picked a few and told him my phone was with her but he kept on calling and urged her to get my phone back to me in time because he was worried but it was truly because he was intoxicated by me.

As she caught me up on this, my phone rang again and it was him, "Baby" he said. How are you? How are you feeling? I told him I was fine and doing okay he said he had been waiting to talk to me but now he can sleep and promised to call me later. I was still a bit overwhelmed by this attraction that felt like an obsession that i wasn't even  very sure i was the main character of this drama playing out but in my half asleep voice I said my okays and goodbyes and we agreed to talk later in the day.

When the phone call ended, my friend started to give me feedbacks about all that happened while I was incommunicado. Barry had called their friend that She was with and said all sort, he had also said he had sex with me and that I was a whore! The friend in question convinced him that whatever and whoever I decide to be with is my choice and so he should let me be. Barry had cursed and said so much before he cut the call my friend kept saying. None of what she said mattered anymore once I heard what he said about having sex with me.

******

I was mad and furious and kept trying to convince my friend by retelling all that had happened every time I saw him, she knew all the details because I told her every time and she obviously knew I couldn't stand him because he was boastful and too full of himself. As I tried to convince and remind her of these experiences, she kept saying she knows.

I knew it wasn't her I was trying to convince, it was myself I was trying to remind if maybe one of those situations in public, he had unzipped my pants talk less of get them down or get into them.

Or maybe the many liquor we had at bottles had knocked me into his bed, maybe that would explain it...

****

Barry and Ben were childhood friends, Both their mum's worked together and somehow they managed to stay friends but unlike choosing who you stay friends with, you don't choose who you crush on or who you find attractive. And in this situation, I was cut in between two men, one whom I never did think liked me as much because he spent the time he had with me talking about his bank account or a new acquisition and the other whom I met through the former, who said all the right things, never shied from telling me he was attracted to me but also never shied from telling me he was married. liking the friend of a friend who likes you??? I guess people have codes for those

 kind of things...

P.s: I never did get to know if Barry was married, it never came up!

[TO BE CONTINUED]