Maybe I could have dealt with the med students, but something told me their neurotic habits would do little for my mental health. I wanted to live in that house. I wanted to live with the girls in Hidden Hills.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any (song) names/persons mentioned in this story. This is a fictitious representation of events. Uses are for entertainment purposes only.
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December 23rd, 2016 - 10:15am - Manhattan, NYC
Bey POV
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I always seemed to handle my misery the same way. I'd give myself a few good hours, at most a day to sulk, or scream and cry. Then whatever feelings I hadn't dealt with I shoved aside and moved on to happier things. The problem with this was I often left things unresolved.
At the moment I had an even bigger problem. Not only was I not dealing with my problem, but I had left town. I didn't have to look at Rob or Lauren, our house, our beds, or Onika for two whole weeks. I could escape for a little while to NYC and to Dad, but I knew when I came back to Los Angeles I was going to have to face Onika and find some way to deal.
I had my dad to thank for my current distraction. Matthew was the most predictable person I had ever encountered. He'd had the same four pairs of Wranglers for the past ten years. Every Saturday he fished. Every Thursday he had coffee ice cream for dessert. "Well, hell," was his curse phrase of choice. He didn't smoke, but he drank two beers every night before bed and he smiled about once every five years.
But he was smiling now. Well more like smirking at my reflection in the mirror. I was standing in the bathroom we shared whenever I came to see him. My hand was frozen on the toothbrush that was frozen in my mouth. The toothpaste was starting to drip.
Moments before he'd asked me if I had plans for the day.
"Of course not," I teased. "You're the only person I know in this whole state." My stomach twitched involuntarily. That wasn't exactly true. I knew a few Trinidadian guys - and a girl who used to live in Queens. I just didn't know where. If I did of course, they - she wouldn't want to see me. I blinked focusing back on my dad.
"Why, what's up?" I urged.
"Well.. I wanted you to meet my girlfriend."
That's when I froze and when dad actually smiled, a little. The corners of his soft brown eyes crinkled a bit as the right side of his mouth turned up. The news and the smirk were beyond unusual. "That shocking to think your old man's dating?"
I spit and chuckled. "Well since you mention it -." We both laughed.
He stood there while I rinsed my mouth out and gave me the abridged-Matthew-like version of the story. His new lady friend, Carol, was a divorcée. She lived in Queens and she had two kids around my age. Matthew's best friend Robert happened to have been married to her. They had a falling out over the lady's affections, but Dad won her hand. Him and his friend had since made up.
