Stripped

All This Time

Duuuuuude… I looooooove her. I can’t even explain it. I... I don’t even know her. She’s getting married, man, and she thinks I’m a fucking stripper. S T R I P P E R man. I was the stripper at her bachelorette party. What a fucking joke that was. Why is the universe playing me like this? Man... what do I do? I love her but she's getting married. Married!!! What chance did I have? None! Nothing! Nada! Nil! Zero! But duuuude… you gotta help me find her… she’s the one, man… dude… pl--

I stopped the stupid video that I recently discovered stored in my phone gallery when I was looking for the stolen photos I took of Maine at the wedding. It was obvious that Greg recorded it during my drunken speech at his bachelor night in San Diego, because he was loudly laughing in the background. I do remember that night though, and I wasn’t even that drunk, well maybe very very tipsy that there was no way of controlling my emotions, but I remember everything. All I did that night was talk about Maine without saying her name. I don't even know why I didn't say her name even once. I feel so stupid now because if I had at least mentioned her name, we probably would have avoided all the shock, confusion, and awkwardness that we had gone through.

They arrived yesterday for their Las Vegas reception weekend and Annie was kind enough to let Greg hang with me for a few hours to sort things out and finally talk about what really happened between me and Maine. I told him about the bet I had with my roommate, that if I could last a night as a stripper, he’d double whatever I’d earn for that night. I only said yes because it was too convenient that he double booked a gig so I was already sure to get at least a thousand bucks. I could still feel Greg’s slap on the back of my head when I told him about it, because he had always been generous whenever I would need money. Later on he apologized and made sure he didn’t cause me any re-injuries. I told him that I took her up to our secret Stratosphere needle spot, and that it seemed to have the same effect on her as it did on me. By the end of my play by play of that night, he just shook his head and told me that I’d be crazy to let her go.

He told me that it was five years ago, that day when we both didn’t show up, when Maine met Andrew and first fell in love. He didn’t witness the entire relationship because he and Annie only dated for less than a month and fell apart. They only saw each other again three years later, when he bumped into her at a hospital in San Diego where he was to meet with his dad’s friend, Dr. Bokowsky, a specialist in corneal grafts, to ask for help for me. It would be a couple of weeks later when I was flown in from Nevada to get my new eyes. Greg tried to convince me to stay in San Diego to heal, but I opted to go back to Las Vegas and resume therapies here instead. A year later, he told me he was getting married.

He told me about Maine’s depression when he finally met her when Annie brought him home for their parents’ anniversary dinner. He had no idea that the corneas Dr. Bokowsky harvested and transplanted on me were from Maine’s dead fiance.

It was not at all funny but I laughed at how intertwined our lives had become when it only started when a vacationing Annie tripped and fell on a passed out Greg in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.

My phone beeped twice with two texts from him:

“She’s there.”

and

“P.S. We didn’t tell her she’s meeting you. Good luck!”

Man, I love Greg like a brother, but sometimes he can really be a pain in the ass. We had agreed that he was going to have Annie convince Maine to meet with me! I got so pissed off that I almost threw my phone in the fountain.

I angrily typed a reply.

“You are a pain! What if she doesn’t talk to me!”

And as soon as I hit send, I looked up.

At first I thought I was imagining things or the heat was causing me to have weird visions. I blinked once, twice. But there's no doubt that the woman a few steps from me was no imagination.

There she was, a goddess under the sun, her face illuminated by her yellow top and wavy brown hair. She looked like she was going to approach me, but stopped when we were face to face again.

I smiled and walked the rest of the steps toward her. It's my chance. She stayed put, with no indication she's run away. I took it as a good sign.

My heart started beating faster with every step I made. When she was finally just a foot in front of me, and the sun hit my face, she stared into my eyes. I wanted to hold her close right there and then, but I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be. When she smiled back, I knew that she was seeing me and not Andrew in my eyes, and that gave me hope.

“Hi,” she managed to croak. I found myself getting teary eyed at the mere sight of her.

“Hello,” I said with a low chuckle.

I leaned forward in an attempt to buss her cheek at the exact same time she proffered her hand to probably shake mine.

We both laughed at the awkwardness of it so we ended up just standing there laughing at each other.

When we both stopped, I smiled at her and proffered my hand instead.

“Hi, I’m Richard Faulkerson, Jr., RJ for short. I believe I was supposed to meet you here five years ago.”

She looked like she was going to giggle. And I hoped she’d accept my offer of starting over.

She took my hand and I almost melted in her touch.

“Hello, RJ. I’m Nicomaine Dei Mendoza. Everyone calls me Maine. And same, I was also told that I was supposed to meet you here five years ago.”

“I’m sorry, I’m late.” I said, my heart bursting with happiness.

She smiled wider and squeezed my hand.

“You’re just right on time.”

******

Thank you everyone, for reading. And thank you AMACon for inviting me to be a part of your anniversary run. I truly appreciate this opportunity. 😘😘😘