before mimi

photographs

"chill bro! i dont think she ran away" gary said pushing me back down on the couch.

he had flown in from california once eric called him and told him what was going on. i was scared shitless. and all i wanted to do was cuddle up with her and go to sleep. but what if she doesnt want to be with me?

"she knows gloria! they are friends!" I erupted at them standing over me. I felt like they were caging me in.

"what?!" Gary gasped now staring at me wide eyed. He was pissed.

"they hung out months ago. i saw her face." i said putting my head in my hands. i knew gary would flip. he has been trying to find this woman for years and here she was-right here in dc. with tina.

"you...YOU DIDNT TELL ME?!" He said now shoving me back on the couch.

"TINA MADE ME PROMISE NOT TO!" I tried to defend. There wasn't really a reason besides Tina's blood pressure going thru the roof.

"DAMNIT MAN! your fucking pussy whipped." gary said in disgust. He walked away from me to the corner of the room. He stared outside of the window trying to calm himself down. i could see he was hurt. i would be too if my son had 8 years under his belt without me.

"well id think so since shes having MY BABY!" I said not helping the situation. I should have kept my mouth closed. Eric just watched us go back and forth as he was now sitting at his desk.

"so you are picking her over me?! i HAVE A SON!" Gary yelled stomping back over to me. My instincts made me stand quickly and now we were staring each other in the eye.

"YOU ARE MARRIED NOW!"

"I DONT EVEN LOVE ANNA YOU KNOW THIS!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU MARRIED TO HER?!"

"JUST BECAUSE YOU GET THE LOVE OF YOUR LIFE DOESNT MEAN EVERYONE DOES.! you better hope to God she didnt run off with your baby." He taunted. The flick in his eye told me that was meant to be a jab. Something in me just exploded.

"FUCK YOU GARY!" i yelled as i jumped on him. We fell to the ground making the office shake. I surprisingly got him under me and  he was fighting me back hard like we did as kids. he got a good blow to my nose while i got him in the eye. i was livid. its like he wants tina to do what gloria did to him. 

"guys GUYS! STOP IT!" eric screamed as he finally got up out of his seat. He ripped his tie off of himself as
he pulled me up off of Gary. i violently wiped the blood from my nose as Gary fixed himself. He winced in pain as he carefully touched his left eye. He shot me a look of anger and disgust as he finally pulled himself up off the floor. 

The gray rug below up was now wrinkled and a couple of paper weights from Eric's desk had fallen on the floor.

"she didnt leave. i found this" eric said holding tinas cellphone.

There was silence in the room. You could hear the wind blowing against the window outside.

"how...what the hell!? why do you have that?!" i asked in desperation as i snatched it from him. I stared at the sleek phone in my hand. It looked untouched. Did she just deliberately leave this?

"all that means is that shes trying to erase any trace." gary chimed in rolling his eyes.

I snapped my head back in Gary's direction now clutching her phone close to me. I was ready to give him two fucking black eyes if he didn't shut up. Eric saw my eye twitch and jumped in.

"NO. no. ben go sit over there please" eric said calmly as he snatched the phone back from my hands. i wanted to contest but the look on erics face told me otherwise. i took a deep breath and took a seat at the other side of the office.