The Writer's Love Affair

Episode 33: War With Words

Episode 33: War With Words

"You bastard."

Christopher arched his eyebrow at the nerve of Leslie's roommate. The guy had opened the door when he rang the bell attached to it on the second try. He braced himself to say the words of his heart he memorized before coming here. However, when he saw that it was him standing there, he was disappointed.

Ed looked at him from head to toe, shaking from the cold and slowly closed the door behind him after stepping out.

He didn't give him so much as a greeting—just those two words, 'you bastard', after seeing his face.

"Did I do something to offend you?" Christopher asked calmly, looking Ed in the eyes as they came face to face with each other.

The hallway in his and Leslie's apartment building was narrow and made them far too close for comfort.

Christopher shuffled to the side, already an avid hater of any form of skinship to begin with.

Ed ignored his awkwardness about that and scoffed. He got straight to the point about him having the nerve to show up here. "Are you kidding me? Do you really have to ask that? My best friend, Les, you've been fucking with her head for weeks now. Or do you forget the tricks that you play on the women around you?"

He would have liked to say it took a while for him to process his words but Christopher's brain just wasn't wired like that. He inputted data quickly into his brain, processed it and came up with a response at almost the same speed.

"Not that it's any of your business what happens between me and her," The man said unnervingly composed. Ed's fists clenched by his side. "But I will have to reject your assumptions about me. I do admit, however, that I didn't approach the situation with Leslie well. I should have been more of a man about what was going on. I can see why she's upset with me, but I don't understand what you mean by 'tricks'. Is that a way of you venting your misplaced anger at me?"

"Oh, don't act all innocent. I saw you with my own two eyes."

Christopher gave him a look that said 'care to elaborate?'.

"The redhead. I saw you earlier with her. In the parking lot."

Christopher stiffened.

He had seen him with Marley?

Ed got cocky seeing him unsettled for the first time since they have known each other.

"It was quite the lover's spat you two were having," he continued, obviously amused. "In public too. What a scene for the movies. Now I know where you get such great inspiration for your books."

He ignored his backhanded compliment.

Christopher had bigger concerns.

"Did you tell her about it?"

Ed's eyes hardened.

"Of course not," he snapped. "Do you think I'd want her to be more miserable than she already is?"

"She's miserable?" He asked with a tinge of hope seeping out.

It wasn't that Christopher was particularly happy that she was doing poorly, but no man in his right mind would want the woman they desired to be better off without them. He wasn't the 'I'll let you go to be happy without me' type.

No, Christopher was selfish when it came to love.

He was all-giving and all-receiving.

If it were the case that he could easily give up on someone for their so-called pursuit of happiness without him, why would he have loved them in the first place?