[[ Garfield ]]
"Are you out of your mind?! I haven't seen Mal in years, and trust me, there's a reason for that!" Rachel said, a mix of panic and fury in her voice. Her eyebrows were scrunched up and her hands seemed to be shaking; I'd never seen her like this. I didn't even think it was possible for Rachel Roth to lose her composure but here she was, in the my room losing her shit. I mean, it's not like I wasn't freaking out about this too because, believe me I was. Tara and I hadn't even been broken up for that long and suddenly she's engaged to this douchebag (according to Rachel at least, but any guy actually named Mal seems like a douche in my book).
"Think about it Rachel; we show up together and get to give them one final fuck you before they spend the rest of their lives together thinking about what they passed on. I mean, do they even know what they're missing out on?!" I exclaimed as Rachel's face softened. She seemed to be processing my argument. I would too; it's kind of a tough sell. I wonder what special kind of asshole this Mal guy was to make Rachel get this upset over the mere mention of his name and why Tara would have any interest in him. Another moment of silence passed as Rachel fidgeted with her fingers.
This was not the Rachel Roth I knew. The Rachel Roth I knew would be completely unbothered by this development. The Rachel Roth I knew would nonchalantly attend this wedding as if she didn't give a single shit what anyone else thought. And that's why this Mal guy scared me.
"Come on Rachel, what did this guy even do to you?" I asked. Rachel's head snapped up at me, her eyes uncharacteristically dark, even for her. Her mouth was fixed in a serious scowl and her fists clenched.
"You really want to know?" she said, her voice quiet and full of anger.
"If he's got you this upset then I kinda feel like I have to know."
{{ Rachel }}
I hated talking about my past. I mean, I hate a lot of things but on my long list of loathsome activities, talking about my past was at the very top. I even enjoyed shopping with Kori more than talking about my history. That's why the rant I was about to go on was taking a bit to verbalize. I'd tried for years to repress every single memory from that point in time and coming up with the words to express everything I had felt was not going to come easily. Instead, it was coming out as putrid word vomit.
"My dad was a big crime lord a couple years ago. You may have heard of him actually, he used to go by Trigon." I sighed, scanning Garfield's face as the words left my mouth. Immediately his eyes widened. That was the usual response whenever I mentioned Trigon.
"Y-your dad's Trigon? I made out with an insane crimelord's daughter?" Garfield stuttered. I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest. This was the exact reason I never tell anyone about who my father is.
"Well gee, that isn't mildly insulting at all, Garfield." I hissed back, wounded. Garfield frowned and shook his head.
"Sorry, I don't mean it as an insult, it's actually kinda cool. I mean, I know you're dad's a huge asshole, that's not cool it actually kinda sucks but it's cool that I'm sitting next to this infamous dude's daughter, right now. I used to follow the coverage on this guy religiously. I mean, of all the timelines to be in right now…" Garfield sighed, his eyes averted. I raised an eyebrow. Well, that certainly wasn't the response I was expecting from a normal person. Then again, Garfield wasn't the most normal person I've ever met.
"…..Riiight. Well Mal was a…member, if you will, of my dad's gang. I…I thought he genuinely liked me. Most people were scared of me, because of who my dad was. Mal wasn't. I guess that should have been a red flag for me. Anyway, I loved him…so much. He was my first everything. I'd never felt so in sync with a human before in my life; we were unstoppable. We were also huge assholes. All I did was drink, cause trouble and do drugs. I wasn't myself but I was with Mal so that was good enough for me. But it turned out Mal was lying..about everything. Once my dad got locked up, he packed up and left. Said that I was nothing without my father and now that I had nothing to offer him, he had no reason to be with me. That was the worst point in my life and this is coming from a girl who literally witnessed several gang wars." I said, the words spilling out of my mouth. Huh. Somehow, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I still hurt to bring up old wounds but I actually felt a little relieved. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of my chest, actually. The room was silent for a moment before Garfield finally opened his mouth.
"Man, what a jerkwad." he replied. I laughed. I actually fucking laughed. Because it was so unexpected. Most people would offer empty sympathy and tell me how "sorry" they were for what I put up with but Garfield didn't. He just…reacted. It wasn't fake, just a genuine reaction to a shitty situation. I liked it.
"Sorry if that's a bad response, I don't really know what else to say other than that fucking sucks dude. So does Mal. He double sucks." Garfield said, pure genuineness in his voice. I gave Garfield a small, rare smile.
"Yeah, he does. So we're going to go to that stupid wedding and make him regret being such a goddamn asshole." I said, suddenly inspired. Garfield was right; there was nothing I could do to take back the pain Mal had caused me, but I could make damn sure he knew exactly what he was missing out on. Garfield gave me a large smile.
"Hell yeah! We're gonna make him wish your father straight up murdered his ass." Garfield said. I blinked and furrowed my brows.
"Too far?"
"Just a bit."
[[ Garfield ]]
Y'now, that backstory really explained a lot about Rachel; why she was guarded, why she didn't like to talk about herself. It made a lot of sense now and in a way, I felt kinda guilty for being so pushy with wanting to know more about her. I didn't have a felon for a father or a gang member/leech for a boyfriend but I can imagine that neither of those were very fun experiences. That's why I felt even more motivated to go to Tara's wedding.
"So, what's your story?" Rachel said as I scanned the invitation for details. My story?
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, you must have some reason for wanting to show up your ex." Rachel explained, sitting back on my bed. I nodded and pursed my lips. Let's get this straight: I love talking. I would talk nonstop if you let me and I'd still somehow never run out of things to talk about. But I certainly did not like talking about the love of my life cheating on me because she got too drunk. Which was pretty often, actually.
"Tara and I dated throughout college and while I was in veterinary school. We were best friends and basically inseparable. As you might have noticed, I like to drink, and if you think I'm a heavy drinker than you've never met Tara. She…cheated on me. A lot. But she was drunk every single time. I'd caught her one time and she said she would stop…obviously, she didn't. So, here we are now." I said, bitterness in my voice. Rachel's face shifted to one of pity.
"That sucks." was all she said. I liked that response. It was none of the bullshit apologies our friends gave me as they jumped ship on our friendship for Tara. It was honest. Because both of our situations fucking sucked and so did our ex's.
"It's all good, dude. We're gonna kick major ass at that wedding." I said, smiling. Rachel nodded and gave me a small but reassuring smile.
"When's the wedding?" she asked. I looked at the invitation and my eyes bulged.
"It's tomorrow."
{{ Rachel }}
I thought I would have more time to prepare. I thought I would have at least more than a day to prepare what I was going to say, how I was going to react when I see Mal for the first time.
"We're still going to go." I said, trying to convince myself that this wasn't a bad idea. Garfield nodded eagerly.
"This is fine. It's great actually. There's no time to chicken out. We're gonna go to that wedding and look positively badass, alright?" Garfield said, speaking rapidly. Obviously, he was a nervous wreck. So was I, but I wasn't as transparent as he was. I couldn't afford to let Mal know I was nervous. I need to look completely unbothered and…cool.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" I asked, pushing my hair behind my ears.
"Pretty simple. We're gonna show up, make sure Tara AND Mal see us and make them so incredibly jealous of how cool we look. The cool looking part is pretty important, so y'know dress appropriately." I rolled my eyes. I didn't have a lot of formal wear but I did have something in my closet that would probably work for the occasion.
"Sure. Super simple plan." I said sarcastically, feeling myself grow anxious yet again. Garfield seemed to sense this because suddenly he reached across the bed and grabbed both my shoulders as if to shake some sense in me.
"Listen. We're both gonna be fine. It's gonna hurt like hell for a minute but we're gonna make it out alive and we're gonna kick ass." He said, his face determined. Funny. I actually believed him.