Chapter 2: Round 2
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The next morning, Trish was sleeping peacefully on her bed until she was abruptly awakened by the sunlight shining brightly down on her face. She tried to shield her eyes with her hand to avoid the slight pain. She fluttered her eyes opened and tried to focus them at what had caused the sudden rude awakening. "Amy what the hell?" she saw the redhead standing there with her hand holding the window curtains widely open.
"Wake up," the redhead said.
"Why?" she groaned, pulling the blanket over her head.
"Because even though we were out last night until midnight waiting for your birthday to come, it's still your birthday right now and we have a cake for you," she heard another voice say. Trish slightly pushed the blanket off and lifted her head up to see the rest of her roommates, Maria and Torrie, standing in her room with a plate of stacked pancakes and lit candles.
"But that's not a-"
"Yes it is! It's a pan-CAKE! Now make a wish and blow the candles," Maria smiled.
"But-"
"Trish, just go along with it," said Amy. "Trust me, I was the same like you until it got annoying arguing with her. And you don't wanna know how long we were going at it."
She let out a small chuckle. "Okay, whatever," she shrugged and blew the candles out. "Thanks girls," she smiled.
"Alright as much as I wanna stay longer… I can't 'cause I gotta go to work now," said Torrie. "I'll see you girls tonight."
"Bye," they all said. After that, Torrie walked out the door. "What about you ladies? What time do you go to work today?" Trish yawned out.
"I have work at noon 'til 6," Maria replied.
"3 'til 11," Amy said next. "What about you?"
"8 to 2 in the morning," Trish said, aimlessly looking at the floor. Just then, Trish's phone rang and she immediately recognized the ring tone, tensing up at every ring. Maria and Amy looked at each other, knowing who it was.
"Don't answer it," said the brunette. Trish was being hesitant. Of course she didn't want to talk to him, but something inside her was nagging for her to pick it up.
"Here," Amy said, grabbing her phone and denied the call for her. "Oops," Amy shrugged. Trish stared at her in shock. "What? You don't need to talk to Chris anyways. You have to get as much sleep as you can 'cause you have work tonight and won't be coming home 'til 2 in the morning," she suavely replied, handing the phone back to her.
Trish shook her head. "I can't believe you." She then looked at Maria, who was trying to hold in her laugh.
"Well when you think about it, she does have a point," she agreed, laughing. "You need to rest up so you can make people their drinks! People won't like it if you mix the wrong drinks together."
Trish couldn't help but laugh a little along with them. "You guys are dumb," she shook her head.
"Alright, I'm gonna go get ready for work right now," Maria said, standing up. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
They both nodded their heads, watching the brunette walk out the room. Now it was just Trish and Amy. Amy looked over at Trish and could tell that her mind was occupied at the moment. "You're thinking about him aren't you?"
Trish shook out of her thoughts and looked at the redhead sitting next to her. "Is it obvious?" she asked with a sad face.
Amy nodded her head. "Look, you don't need that asshole. He was like a cancer in your life, you should be happy that he's gone."
Trish sighed. "That's the thing though. Why am I not happy?"
Amy couldn't help but look at her with sympathy, understanding what the blonde was going through. "Look, I know it's pretty hard getting over a long serious relationship, but…" she shook her head, "Trish you can't be thinking about getting back together with him. Looking back, don't you notice that ever since you've been with him, there was never a day where you guys aren't yelling at each other? Or a day where you're not crying over Chris's ignorance… that you had no reason to even cry about at all!"
"I know," Trish quietly mumbled. "Look Ames, I know that you never liked him-"
"Never did, never will," the redheaded added.
Trish just eyed her before continuing on. "… And I know that you had a hard time coping with him being around, but…"
"But what?" she eyed her warily. Trish didn't respond, clearly confused on what she was feeling. "Trish, he's a jerk. He clearly doesn't even know how to respect you! Last night, Chris had no right to treat you like that. He cheated on you and then had the nerves to flat out embarrass you… on your birthday in front of everyone…"
"I know," she sighed.
"You deserve better than that. I mean, look at your arm!" Amy pointed at the newly formed bruise Chris had given her from when he grabbed her. "Is that a reason for you to get back together with Chris?"
"Ames I never said I was gonna get back together with him."
"But you're thinking about it aren't you?" she interrogated.
Trish frustratingly pinched the bridge of her nose and ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't know! I hate him, I hate him for everything he's done to me, I hate him for making me look like a fool, I hate him for wasting 8 months of my life, I hate him for coming into my life at all, I…" she shook her head, letting her emotions get to her, "UGH! I just hate him!" she frustratingly yelled, fumingly breathing in and out. Amy sat back and stared at her friend, not expecting for her to burst out like that. "And yet…" she spoke again while regaining her composure, "why does a part of me miss him?"
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Later
on the day…
It was about 3 o'clock now and Amy had already left for work. Trish was sitting outside in the little balcony of their apartment, breathing in the fresh cold December air. She stared aimlessly out at the streets with her arms folded, letting her mind drift. As much as she tried not to think about him, it became useless as he always found a way inside her head. He had called her several times that morning, but Amy wouldn't have any of it and would screen every call from him for her. Not trusting the blonde by herself with his calls, the redhead even went far to take her phone away from her to work. Trish didn't know who was dumber at the moment though, Amy for forgetting there was still the home phone, or Chris for not attempting to call the home phone. She was then startled when she heard the phone ring. Hesitating for a moment, she looked at the ID. She then sighed. "Hello?"
"Hey," she heard on the other end. "I was just thinking about you right now and I wanted to see how my girl is doing."
She smiled at his caring gesture. "I'm good," she replied.
"Really? You don't sound like it," he said. "You wanna talk about it?"
She stressfully sighed. "Just got stuff on my mind."
"Wait, hold up," he then said. Trish nodded and sat there silently waiting for him. Minutes later, she then heard him again. "Hey, I'm about to go on my break in 5-10 minutes. You wanna drop by so we can get lunch together?"
"You mean I have to drive all the way there?"
"Come on, it only takes about 5 minutes to get here from your place," he said.
Trish rolled her eyes. "Fine, you're lucky that I'm not doing anything right now," she smirked. "See you then."
"Alright, bye," he chuckled.
Five minutes later, Trish drove up to a place called, Custom Streets, a garage company that repairs and customizes cars. She walked in through the main entrance and headed straight to the garage area, immediately greeted by stares and complimentary whistles. She shyly blushed and was then approached by a familiar face. "I see ya finally decided to visit me," he joked, giving her a hug.
"Hey Gregory," she smiled.
"Hey Trish," he returned, "Happy birthday! Sorry I couldn't make it to the club last night."
"Oh it's okay Greg, don't worry about it. But thanks though," she smiled, "Anyways, have you see John?"
"Uh yeah, he's in the back. Come on, I'll take you to him," he said, leading the way. She followed him all the way to the back where the locker/break room was. "Yo John, birthday girl is here," he said right when he opened the door.
John had tossed his utility shirt inside his mini locker and then appeared at the doorway that separated the locker room from the break room. "Hey, just in time," he smiled at her. "You ready to go?"
Trish nodded her head. "I'll talk to you later Greg," she smiled.
"Later Helms," John then said as he and Trish both made their way to the door.
"See ya guys later."
They both nodded and walked out the door. They then headed to a nearby restaurant and proceeded their lunch from there. "So," John began, "what's bugging you?"
Trish gave him a blunt stare. "Do you really need to ask what's bugging me?" she rhetorically asked.
"Alright sorry," he slightly chuckled. "I figured you would be somewhat not yourself so that's why I asked if you wanted to get something to eat. Ya know, help ya get you're mind off of him."
She softly smiled at him. "Thanks, I really do need that right now."
"So I was thinking," John began, "since your birthday started off not the way you wanted it to, and we can't really do anything tonight 'cause you're working… we should do something to make up for it."
She smiled at his thoughtfulness, but then shook her head. "That's really nice of you to suggest that, but it's okay really; we don't have to do anything. I mean, my birthday is soon going to be in the past now. Christmas is coming up next week and we're gonna be home with our families…"
"It's okay, we can celebrate after Christmas," he said, not taking no for an answer. "I mean, we can all go out to eat, mini golfing, bowling, take a couple of days off and stay at a retreat up in the mountains, or something," he suggested.
Trish thought about it. "Hmmm, retreat…" she said, sounding interested. "Snow does sound fun to play with right now," a smile slowly creeping onto her face.
John let out a small laugh. "Then a trip to the mountains it is." Trish smiled widely, giving a nod of approval to the plan with the two then discussing about the trip in the making.
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That
night…
Trish was walking through the nightclub straight to the back to get to the break room. "Hey sexy mama!" she was greeted right when she walked in. Trish looked up to see it was two of her co-workers and good friends, Talia Madison and Beth Pheonix. "Happy birthday!" they both yelled out.
"Thanks girls," she smiled, making her way towards them and gave each a hug.
"You okay? I heard what happened," Talia said with concerned looks on her and Beth's faces. Out of all the co-workers there, she, Talia, and Beth were the closest with each other. They were her other best friends from her work side.
"Wow, words get spread around fast doesn't it," Trish forced a chuckled.
"Well, it did happen in this club so people here are bound to talk," said Beth, "especially if it involves one of the employees." Trish sigh and nodded her head. "But don't worry, if I ever see him here, I'll kill him. I'll poison his drink."
"Beth!" Trish stared at her in shock.
"What?" slightly raised her hands questioningly. "Okay fine… I'll put laxative in it," she laughed. Trish shook her head while the girls laughed.
"Come on birthday girl," Talia linked her arm with Trish's, "We got drinks to mix and serve."
The night went on with Trish bartending to the many guests. Things were going pretty smoothly for her as she hadn't thought about Chris that whole night with her mind being so occupied… until that moment came. "Here ya go, enjoy your night," she smiled, handing the guests their drinks. They stepped away from the bar while Trish talked to a couple of people. She then sensed a new guest at the counter and set her eyes back to where they were before and immediately the smile on her face disappeared.
There he was, standing there with a sly look on his face. "What? You're not gonna take my order? It's your job isn't it?"
Trish tried to avoid eye contact with him. "Uh, what do you want?"
"Shouldn't you already know what I want?" he smirked. Trish rolled her eyes and went to grab him a bottle of Millers Lite and handed the bottle to him. "Actually, I didn't want a beer, but nice of you to still think about me," taking the beer from her hand. "Actually, what I really wanted… was you."
"Leave me alone, Chris," she sternly said, continuing on with her job.
"Come on Trish, let's talk about this," he pleaded.
"I'm busy right now."
"So, you can talk and get drinks at the same time," he said. Trish sighed annoyingly, which Beth caught. Beth looked over and saw what was going on.
"Listen," Beth stepped in, "why don't you leave her alone or else I'll get your ass kicked out of here for harassment," she warned.
"Listen bitch, this is between me and Trish. So why don't you move your flat ass back to where you were and mind your own business," Chris glared.
"Don't talk to her like that," Trish angrily stared at him.
"Well, tell her to mind her own business."
"It's okay Trish. His words doesn't even hurt me at all. It just proves what his love life is gonna be like for the rest of his life… spending it with a large bottle of lotion on the many lonely nights," Beth smirked. "I really think it's so cute that you need to boost your ego up by insulting women you know you can't even handle," she sarcastically said.
"Shut up and go back to your spot," he glared at Beth.
"Chris!" Trish yelled, having enough of it. Chris was about to say something until he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see two bouncers standing behind him.
"Can I help you guys with something?" Chris suavely asked.
"Quit being a smartass," one of the bouncers said as they pulled him away from the bar. Both Trish and Beth watched him being taken away with Trish ending up being in another scene again for the second time in the row, once again on her birthday for his actions, at the same nightclub.
R&R Please…