Chapter 17. First Arguments
"So what do you think of Will?" Leah inquired Ethanafter Will hadleft, leaving the sink piled high with dishes.
"I can tell why you like him," Ethan tried to not allow jealousy to show through. "He seems to be good for you."
"Yeah, he's a great friend." Ethan smiled at the word. "He's always been there these past years. It's nice to know I have someone out there watching out for me."
"You are lucky to have such friendships."
"Well, how about yourself?" Leah snapped on a pair of yellow rubber gloves and handed some to Ethan. "We'll be here awhile cleaning these dishes, so might as well spill your life story so far to me. How is everyone at home?"
"Good as ever," Ethan fumbled with the dishes at first. "I am not sure what is left to tell you. You already know Charity is married and has a son. Each day is much the same. Working in the fields, time with the family, afternoons with Martha…"
"Is Martha Dewberry still waiting for you at home?" Leah had to ask it.
"She will always be waiting for me. It is to be expected of our engagement."
"Oh."
"You need not worry about Martha, Leah."
"Worry? Me?" Leah laughed in discomfort."There's too much for me to worry about without thinking about your fiancé, Ethan."
"Fiancé?"
"Fancy word for the person you're engaged to."
"I am not engaged to Martha."
"But isn't it pretty much the same thing? They're expecting you to come home and marry her. She's probably sitting up at the alter as we speak."
"It matters not what she is doing, Leah. Martha means nothing compared to you."
"So where do we go from here?" Leah asked softly, her face still flushed with previous jealousy. "Do you plan on staying here forever or are you planning to hitch the next bus ride back home and out of my life again?"
"I don't know," Ethan replied with an equalhush. "I just know that whatever it may be, I cannot have you out of my life again, Leah."
"Ethan, whatever your choice may be, I hope you make it soon." Leah looked up at him and felt herself tremble. "Before I get completely used to you always being there."
"If I had the choice, it would always be like that." Ethan pulled her close and soap suds ran down Leah's back.
"Wasn't the choice always yours?" Leah became rigid.
"It is more complicated than that."
"I don't understand. I mean, you could live with me. We could both go to college together. How much simpler could it get?"
"Leah, I must leave my family behind…"
"I just don't get it, Ethan." Leah interrupted and broke away from him. "We could have everything, and yet you are willing to give it up so you can stay with your parents all your life?"
"It would be nothing if I never saw them again." Ethan tried to explain."I am nothing without my family."
"So what we have is nothing, Ethan?"Ethan cringed at the hurt in her voice."I am nothing?"
"No, Leah, I would never mean…"
"I think that is exactly what you mean," Leah responded firmly. "You don't want to leave your family because they mean so much to you, but that surely wouldn't be the case if you left me."
"Leah, that is not what I…"
"That is exactly what you are saying, Ethan!" tears formed in her eyes. "I mean, I guess it all makes sense now. I doubt you ever felt such nothingness when you left me the first time. Why would the second time bring about anything more than before?"
"Leah, it hurt me so much to leave you before."
"And yet now you would rather do it again than leave your family behind for me?" Leah shook her head. "No, Ethan, I really don't want to hear anymore tonight from you. You sound more like the scum that men around here are like. I do not even recognize you anymore."
"Leah…" Ethan gave up with a sigh when she turned her back and proceeded on with washing the dishes. "Good night."
Jay drove twenty miles above the speed limit hurrying to Leah's house. Lucky for her the streets were deserted for the most part, otherwise she would have probably gotten arrested for yelling and taking a swing at a cop for pulling her over for speedingand detaining her further.
She burst through the door, which was still unlocked, and found Leah in her pajamas, scrunched up on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Her face was red from tears that had dried up and ran out half-way through the morning. Hair disheveled, clothes wrinkled, and her face contorted in such wretched unhappiness, Jay could not decipher the friend she knew her as.
"Leah, darling." She cooed, holding out her arms, which Leah ran into weeping. "All men are scum. If there's one thing we must learn, it is this, and that they are not worth the tears to cry over. Come honey, tell all to Jay."
"Oh Jay, I got into my first fight with Ethan last night." Leah shook as she told Jay. "It was terrible. I was so jealous, Jay, but I can't help it. I love him. I always have. It seems unfair that we can't be together. That he is unwilling to leave his home for me. That his old life means more to him than me."
"I guess Mr Perfect isn't all that perfect," Jay remarked. "Honey, if the fool isn't willing to give all of it up for you, he isn't worth you. I bet there's not a man in all of New Albany who wouldn't be willing to go around the universe and back for you, dear."
"There is not another man that I have ever met who I could see me spending all of my life with except him. I can't lose him. I love him…"
"You're talking to the Queen of Heartbreak, if you remember." Jay sat Leah down. "Now don't you worry about him, Leah babe. Heartbreak is a common enough thing when dealing with men, and it'll pass, as everything in life does. Don't you let one scumbag bring you down. You are worth so much more than that, Leah."
"It was always him, Jay. Just when I thought I finally would be okay without him, he shows up again, and then what? I am left alone and even more torn up than before. Why did he have to walk back into my life?"
"Well, honey, this might seem a bit out of character for me, but…" Jay put a hand on Leah's shoulder. "…since this fellow decided to walk back into your life, it was the happiest I have ever seen you. Will and I talked about it, and it was amazing how much happier you truly were. I know it may not sound like much consolation, and not the usual bashing towards the opposite sexthat you get from Jay all the time, but I've dealt with true scum, and this man, Leah, treated you in a way that no other man has ever treated me. I would give the world to have a few days like that with a man as you did, and though this fellow was obviously the dumbest thing on two legs to leave you behind, at least you had these good times as well. The heartache will hurt like a mother for a bit, but you'll carry those memories with him all your life, and at least you can say you experienced that not once in your life, but twice."
"I just wish I could have him forever," Leah frowned. "These few days have been the greatest of my life with him here, but I never wanted it to end."
"The thing with men is that those good moments with them never last," Jay laughed. "But hey, you still have Jay here to party with through life. I may not be a man, but I guess a friend is the next best thing in these matters."
"Jay, you're better than that." Leah smiled and even let out a laugh. "You've been with me through it all."
"Yes, count on me to put together broken hearts, I've dealt with that enough from my own personal experience."
"Someday you'll find someone, Jay."
"Well, if the fellows nowadays can't even see the great catch in you, I'm as good as doomed."
"How can I ever stay cross with you here, Jay?" Leah placed a hand atop Jay's. "Thank you so much, Jay, for always being there. You're more than I could have ever asked for in a friend."
"Alright, enough pity parties for us," Jay stood up. "How about you doll yourself up and we'll hit the town again? I think New Albany is getting a bit lonely without the two party gals there to crash. Ready for some more time in the single lives of Jay and Leah?"
"As ready as I will ever be."
AN: Okay, please don't hate me for this. I promise to clear up the matter as soon as possible. I just had to toss in a bit of drama in Leah and Ethan's relationship. They are human, after all.