Story Seven: Trish's Mistake
Someone Else Is Out There
"You cheated on me!" he shouted for the third time that night.
Trish paced back and forth in her hotel room. She has been fighting with her boyfriend about their relationship for the past two hours. "I cheated on you after you cheated on me. Now you know how it feels, Test. It sucks doesn't it? It hurts and it hurt me more than it will ever hurt you..." She was tired of being blamed in the relationship. Everything was always her fault in his eyes.
Test sat on the bed with his head down. "You still cheated on me," he mumbled.
"With one person and once," Trish said shaking her head. "You cheated on me with two people, many times."
He was silent. Deep down Test knew he was wrong. He didn't know why he did what he did; and he knew Trish only did to him what he did to her first.
She raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "So now you want to be silent?"
"We've been going separate ways for a while now, Trish. Maybe it's time for us to make a clean break," Test said as he stood from the bed. "We are hurting each other to much... and personally I think we haven't been in love with each other for a while."
Smiling sadly, Trish nodded her head in agreement. "I think so too, Test. It's for the best." After hugging him one last time, they both walked to the door. She opened it to find Ivory on the other side with a brown bag in her hand. They exchanged pleasantries and Ivory walked into the room and settled on the bed as Trish and Test stood outside her door.
"So, this is it?" Test said. He shifted from one foot to the other nervously.
Trish nodded her head. "The hurt has been going on to long... you know it and I know it." She stood on her toes and kissed Test on his cheek. "Good bye Test. It was fun."
He caressed her cheek and agreed. "Bye and good luck in the future." Test turned away and walked down the hall.
She set her head against the door of her room and closed her eyes.
"Are you okay?"
Opening her eyes, Trish found Jeff in front of her coming out of the room across from her. "I didn't know you were staying across from me."
"I'm not," he said quietly, "just visiting. Haven't seen you in a long time... since that night..." He looked at her with pain in his eyes.
Trish lowered her head. "I gotta go, Ivory is waiting for me."
Jeff stared at her as she slowly walked back into her room. He desperately wanted to say what was in his heart, but he couldn't.
Ivory looked up from the bag she was looking in to see Trish glumly walk into the room. She went back to looking in the bag and pulled out two cartons of ice cream and two plastic spoons. "Chunky Monkey or Apple Crumble?"
Trish flopped on the bed next to her, taking a spoon and the Apple Crumble ice cream. She torn the lid off, scooped out a large ration on her spoon, and ate it.
"I know you aren't sad about breaking up with Test, right?" Ivory asked as she ate some Chunky Monkey. "It's been coming a long time."
Eating more of her own ice cream Trish whispered, "I haven't loved Test for a long time. Not since... not since..."
"Jeff?" Ivory finished. She ate more of her ice cream.
"Yep," Trish said, "since I kissed Jeff in the ring. Who would have thought that's when my life truly changed." She stopped eating and set her carton of ice cream with the spoon still in it to the side.
Ivory smiled. "Me! I'm the one that said that you two was made for each other. Just like me and my fiancé." She sighed and giggled.
Trish rolled her eyes. "We aren't talking about you... are talking about me and my problems."
"Sorry, sorry," Ivory said. She finished her ice cream and threw her carton in the trash.
"We became friends first and he knows me a lot better than Test. I shared my hopes and dreams with Jeff," Trish said.
"Why don't you tell him the truth about your feelings towards him? You told him everything else."
Ducking her head shyly, Trish whispered, "I did... he was the one I cheated on Test with last month. I was going to break it off with Test then and finally be with Jeff, but Test started to beg for me not to leave him. So I didn't and I ignored Jeff. I didn't want to, but I was so confused about what I should feel."
Ivory hugged Trish. "Well, there's someone else out there, besides Jeff."
"But I don't want someone else," Trish sobbed onto Ivory's shoulder. "I want Jeff." The knocking of the door caused Ivory and Trish to separate. "I'll get." She stood from the bed. Trish walked to the door, drying her eyes as she got closer. The person knocked again, this time more loudly. "Okay, I'm coming." When she finally made it to the door, she opened it to find Jeff standing on the other side.
"We need to talk," he said.