Angered Seasons: The Worst Birthday Ever (Volume One) Read Free Page B

buzz on and I didn’t want her to ruin it for me. I
looked up at the sound of two girls giggling at the table beside us
and noticed they were looking at Lane who was pressing buttons on
the jukebox.
    “Maybe you should have a talk with them,” I
suggested.
    “I don’t need to have a talk with them.
They’re not the one he’s in love with!” I sat and stared at her
with no smart alecky comment to make. I slowly took a drink from my
pint to give me time to think of what I would say to that. It
wasn’t the first time one of Lane’s girlfriends had told me this,
but the correct response was different with every girl. I decided
on the ‘I may be a lesbian and that’s why Brian broke up with me’
approach with her, but she cut me off as I started my protest.
    “And it’s so obvious that you love him back!
I mean, come on! Why else does a girl walk around in her skimpy
underwear all the time? You’re obviously trying to turn him on! So,
now what? Now that Brian is gone, you’ll be all over Lane? Don’t
tell me you’re not!”
    “Jesus, Michelle, calm down.” I tried to get
her to lower her tone as I sent an apologetic look to the tables
around us.
    “Don’t tell me to calm down! He is mine!”
    I looked her straight in the eyes. “What part
of this are you not getting? He’s yours! I don’t want him!”
    Lane had a strange look in his eyes as he
walked up to the table. “What’s going on?”
    I threw my hands up in desperation. “I’m
getting the whole ‘he’s in love with you’ speech.”
    “Oh.”
    Michelle whirled on him, her eyes blazing.
“Don’t you ‘oh’ me! Don’t you dare deny it!”
    “Let’s get you home, Michelle.” He started to
ease her out of her chair. She pulled out of his grasp and stumbled
toward me.
    “That’s all he talks about. ‘Oh, Gabby, this
and oh, Gabby, that’. He even talks about you in his sleep! He
makes love to me and dreams of YOU afterwards!”
    Lane’s face blanched and I felt my heart kick
in my chest.
    “Lane?”
    He swallowed hard and licked his lips
nervously.
    “You’re nothing but a home wrecker,
Gabrielle!” Michelle was completely oblivious to the fact that the
music had stopped and the whole bar could hear her screaming at me.
“You’re a selfish, ignorant bitch!”
    My anger sparked and I broke eye contact with
Lane so I could look at her.
    She held her chin up and let lose her last
insult. “You’re worse than all that! You’re a hopeless whore!”
    Somewhere in the back of my mind, I wondered
why she thought that. The thought didn’t bother me enough to stop
my fist as it connected with her face. The instant I saw her fall
to the floor I regretted my actions.
    “What the fuck, Gabby!” Lane bent down to
help her up. He glared up at me, the shocked and scared look he’d
had, gone. “Look, I’m going to get her home.”
    I nodded.
    “Can you catch a cab?”
    I nodded and followed them out to the truck.
Apparently, Michelle was all talk and once the fists came out, she
simply turned into a blubbering mass on Lane’s chest. I watched as
he smoothed her hair, helped her with the seatbelt, then shut the
door.
    “I’m sorry. I don’t know where that came
from.” We stood awkwardly facing each other.
    “Look, I’ll see you on Monday at work.”
    My heart dropped. “You’re not coming
home?”
    He shrugged. “Maybe everyone’s right, Gabby.
Maybe it’s time we grow up and get our own places. At this rate,
we’ll be old and decrepit before we find anyone who will put up
with our living arrangements.”
    “If this is about what she said…”
    “It’s not. Or maybe it is. Look, whatever the
case may be, I can’t keep doing this.”
    “What? This?”
    “Us… this…I…” He ran has hands over his face
and took a deep breath. “I have to go.”
    “But Iggy…”
    “You can keep Iggy. It’s not like we’ll never
see each other again. We own a business together. We’ll still be
friends.”
    “What about