Friday, February 15, 2013

Chapter 4: All Good Things Must Come to an End

Jon had a problem with being punctual.  He was supposed to pick Liz up at 6:00 and they were supposed to go to dinner, a movie and then out for drinks.  The night was planned to unfold on the shore of New Jersey, Seaside Heights area.  Dinner at Paulie's and a movie at the theater - painless for most. 


Arriving 20 minutes late to Liz's, he walked up the walkway and rang the doorbell.  After a few moments later, Liz's mom answered the door.  "Hi Jon, come on in.", she says as she steps back out of the doorway.  Jon steps in and stands in the doorway.  He didn't want to take off his boots.  Liz's mom, Erin, walked to the foot of the stairs and hollered for Liz.  Liz shouted back, "I'll be down in a minute."  Erin told Jon that Liz would be right down, to have a seat.  He politely nodded and said he would rather stand.    Jon only stood there for about 5 minutes before Liz came bopping down the stairs.  Lacking emotion she said, "You're late."  Jon quickly snapped back, "Sorry."  Liz didn't really believe he was sorry, he wasn't.  Grabbing her purse and keys, she snapped "Your car or mine?"  Jon thought a second and said, "We'll take mine."  Jon's car was cool.  Black and beautiful, his pride and joy.  His first car ever, saved all through high school, worked his ass off at the record company to get this car.  1968 Black Chevelle.   She was pretty, she was fast and she was Jon's.  NO ONE could drive Jon's car.  Jon didn't even smoke in this car.  Liz had a Pepsi in her hand and he reminded her that there was no eating or drinking in the car.  So, to be a smart ass - she stood there and finished her Pepsi.  When they finally got in the car and started making there way down the shore, Liz asked Jon why he was so late?  "Christ Liz, it was only 20 minutes." he calmly replied.  She didn't like that answer.  She wanted to know WHY.  "Jon why were you so late?  Is that a hard question to answer?  I heard you were over at David's this morning.  What were you two up to?" Jon didn't know what to think or even how to respond. Her tone was all wrong, almost accusatory and he didn't like that. Ten minutes with a buddy this morning and he gets the third degree- because he was late. He quietly says to her, "Liz, I stopped by David's after I took my mother to breakfast. It was for 10 minutes and he was eating breakfast." Jon was irritated having telling her that. Jon has never given her reason to doubt him, to not trust him. Liz pipes up and says "Did he tell you that he dumped Kim?" Liz sounded like she knew something that Jon didn't. Jon turned to her and said, "Yes he did tell me. The only details he gave-was that he walked up on her kissing another guy. And he didn't like it. Took his car key back and left. What's he supposed to do?" Liz gave him a blank stare all while thinking, 'if he ever finds out about me and Rick, he'll flip'. In defense of her friend, Liz tells Jon that Kim has been having problems with David being so busy with work, school and the band he's trying to put together. She feels left out." Jon interjects, " So that allows her or gives her a free pass to kiss another guy? No Liz, that's not right." Liz knows he's right and agrees, but also adds that she knows how Kim feels.  Jon thinks about that for a moment and says, "Are you trying to tell me you feel that way too!" Jon gets concerned. Liz shakes her head yes and starts to cry. Not prepared for that and not even sure why, he asks "What's this all about?"  She continues to cry and can't get passed the lump in her throat.  She knows she can't tell him about Rick.  He'll kill Rick and she'll lose him forever.  She couldn't risk him finding out from someone else.  The break up of David and Kim was an eye opener for her and she feared Kim may say something to hurt Jon, David's friend.  And in some wicked women way, hurting Jon hurt David.  Liz grabbed a Kleenex from her purse and wiped her tears.  Jon scooted over closer to her, put his arm around her and said, "Hey, what's going on with you?"  He puts his hand under her chin to make her look at him.  She closed her eyes.  Jon was getting worried, he was also getting upset.  Liz, through her whimpers said, "You know I love you right?"  His heart was now in her stomach, he knew what she was going to say.  Before he let her get too far, he asked, "Who is it?"  She cried even harder.  His comfort for her crying is quickly dissipating and he's ready to punch something.  "Liz, who is it?" he demanded.  She couldn't even look at him, she was sick to her stomach and wanted to vomit.  Each second that she keeps quiet, Jon just gets that much more upset.  He reaches up and turns the radio down, so that they have each other's attention.  Jon thinks to himself that this is ending up to be one hell of a Valentine's Day. 
Liz is finally able to gain her composure and says, "Do you remember the week that you went to Miami with your family?"  She paused waiting for his answer.  She knows he remembers.  She was stalling.   Jon moved back over into the driver seat and said, "Yes, I remember.  What happened?"  She pushed herself up in the seat and said, "While you were gone, there was a party over at Mike's house and Jenny and I went."  Knowing how he feels about Mike made the truth hurt even more.  Jon didn't like Mike for reasons that no one really knows, Jon doesn't like to talk about it. 
Jon looks at Liz with 'the look' and says, "Tell me what happened already, will ya!?!?"  Liz was getting anxious and really didn't like the tone that Jon had just taken with her, but she knows she deserved it. She slowly looks his way and says, "Well, I almost slept with Rick."  And she held her breath, knowing what was coming.  "What do you mean you almost slept with him?", he calmly asks?  He had several scenarios running through his mind, with the worst being that they had sex.
Jon went to Miami last August with his family on vacation.    Jon asked again, "What do you mean you almost slept with Rick, Liz?  He was now getting furious, and she could sense that.    "Well, I didn't want to go, but Jenny talked me into it.  We got off work at 2am and Mike was having an after hours party at his house on the beach."  Jon interrupts and says, "Go on.......!"  Liz takes a deep breath and says, "We had a bonfire and a keg and things kind of got out of hand."  He has no idea what she means by things got out of hand.  By this time, he is gripping the steering wheel and getting madder by the second.   He hits the steering wheel and loudly says, "What do you mean they got out of hand?  This isn't high school anymore.  Tell me what the fuck happened!"    He was to the point where he didn't even want to know now.  Basically begging for the truth?  Liz sat there quietly for a minute and then said, "It's not as bad as you think Jon, we didn't have sex.  I can't believe you would think that I would do that?"  Trying to turn it around on him, and not being very successful at it.  Keeping his composure, knowing that yelling or being mean isn't the right behavior but he is boiling over - almost ready to go off.  "Liz, what did you and Rick do?  Tell me and tell me now!" he says in the calmest voice he can muster.  Now that she knows how pissed he is, it seems her fears have eased a bit.  She turns and says quickly, "We made out on the beach, see it's not as bad as you think."  Ends her sentence with a little smile on her face.  And she was the only one smiling.  Jon sat there and let it sink in for a minute.  He didn't know what to do, much less what to say.  But he knew he needed to get away from her.  He started the car and Liz panicked, "Jon where are we going?"  He said, "I'm taking you home, I need to think about this."  Surprised, Liz asked, "Why are you taking me home?  Don't you want to talk about this?"  He chuckled and said, "What is there to talk about?  You cheated on me when I was away.  What more needs to be said?"  She grabbed his arm, "Jon don't you think you're over reacting?  It was meaningless, it was one time?"  He glares at her and said, "If it meant nothing, why would you keep that from me?  Why would you even do it?"  She had no answer for those questions.  She wanted it all to go away. 
The silence was killing her.  That, and the fact that it was Valentine's Day.  Jon had no idea what he was going to do.  Pulling up in front of her house, she looks at him and asks, "Do you want to come in?"  She knew the answer.  He shook his head no, looked at her and asked, "Who else knows about this?"  She told him only Kim, Mike, Alex, Rick and Jenny.  That infuriated Jon even more.  Liz got out of the car with tears rolling down her face.  She slammed the door and Jon sped away. 

1 comment:

  1. How the hell did Liz expect Jon to act after telling him she almost slept with another guy? And then smiles and says it wasn't that bad. Seriously?! I don't like Liz one bit.

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