I sought refuge away from the house. I couldn’t stand being there knowing what I had done. Every bit of me was disgusted at myself. I parked my car along the town square streets and walked in peace. The town was beginning to come to life. One thing about small towns like the one we lived in, night time was when everyone congregated. I began to regret my decision coming to the square for some time to think. I walked along the streets and started towards a local dive bar that I frequented after dad had passed away. Along the side of the bar, I spotted Kelly talking to a few of the bartenders that worked there. I made my way towards her and the two scantily clad women that she was talking to.
“Hey.” I greeted as I stood before them.
Kelly looked over to me and smiled. “I was talking to these lovely ladies here to see if I can get some shifts working as a bartender.”
The two attractive ladies smiled and walked back into the dive bar to resume their duties as the nightly rush of customers began to fill the place. I stepped towards Kelly and motioned for her to follow me as I made my way to some of the quieter streets round the town square.
“I talked to Emma.” I said somberly.
“How is she?” Kelly asked.
I looked over to Kelly. She was dressed to kill as usual. She wore tight denim jeans that showed off her curvy hips and legs. She accented the jeans with a tight-fitting top that had a dangerous neckline that revealed a lot of her breasts. “How do you think she is?”
“Angry. Sad. Confused.” Kelly said. She sighed heavily making her chest swell up. She looked over to me. “All of the above.”
“Yeah.”
“What are we going to do?” she said. “I am not about scurrying around the house every time she is home.”
“I don’t expect you to.”
“Then what?”
“You’re going to have to talk to her about this sooner or later. You can’t run from it.”
She nodded, “I know. She deserves an apology from me.”
“She deserves more than that from me.” I admitted. “I should have had more control over this. I let everything get out of hand. I let stupid shit get into my head and lost control. Dad would have been disappointed at me for losing so much control.”
Kelly smiled, “Dad would have killed you no matter what.”
I nodded, “But, I didn’t mean in just doing what I did to you two.”
Kelly reached out and held me in place on a quiet street. “Rob, you didn’t force us. You didn’t force me. Don’t play the role of a martyr and take all the blame to this. This is just as my fault for starting you up as much as it was yours for losing control of things. It is just how life is.”
“Yeah.” I said as I continued to walk. I looked back as Kelly followed along. “But, something has to change.”
“Like what?”
I shrugged, “Things have to stop.”
“Wait, what?” Kelly said as she reached out and held onto my arm. She walked up to me and stared into my eyes. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You can’t think after what happened, this can’t continue the way it has been.”
“Why the hell not?” Kelly asked.
“Because… it’s wrong. It shouldn’t have happened to begin with.”
Kelly scoffed, “Is that what you were thinking when you fucked Emma that one night and then in the living room? Is that what you were thinking when we fucked in your car and in your room?”
“Kelly…”
“No, Rob.” Kelly said as she stood in front of me and poked my chest firmly with her finger. “The floodgates are open. You gave me something that I want. I’m not going around fucking random guys anymore. I got you. I’m not losing you. What has gotten into you all of a sudden? Where was that guy that fucked me silly?”
“Emma…” I started.
Kelly glared at me. She rolled her eyes and huffed in bewilderment. “I don’t fucking believe it. Miss Goodie Fucking Two Shoes gets her way again. Is that what you are telling me?”
“Kelly…”
“You’re choosing sides?” Kelly asked. She stepped close to me. “Tell me, Rob. Are you choosing sides? Did she make you choose between the two of us? Are you telling me here, right now that you are choosing Emma over me?”
I was silent. I was at a loss for words. Was I choosing Emma over Kelly? What was I going to do? My heart was beating quickly as I looked into Kelly’s fierce eyes. She looked into mine. She knew the answer before I could even open my mouth. She knew it was Emma. She knew Emma would always be the one that anyone chooses over her. My silence answered her. Kelly took a step back away from me. It was if everything, her wild side, her seductiveness, her ferocity left her. She was a shell of a person and it happened right in front of me.
Kelly nodded slowly. “I figured.”
“Can you let me explain?”
“Explain what, Rob?” Kelly said as she looked away from me and down the street that we had been walking on. “What are you going to say that I don’t already know? Everyone in this stupid down knows that out of Emma and me, I am the one that you can fuck easily. Out of the two of us, she was wife material and I was the easy lay. Is that what you are going to tell me? Are you going to make up some shit I don’t know?”
“The whole town doesn’t think that.”
Kelly looked back at me, “Really?”
I nodded.