“Yeah…” Nick nodded. It was nice to hang with the guys again, not have to worry about what time it was, being somewhere else, having to answer to someone if he was late. He’d been trying to think of the positive things about being single for the past two weeks, just to get him to stop thinking about how much he really missed India. He’d decided that he’d just be bitter… pissed off at her for being so unreasonable. That was much easier than accepting that the whole thing had really fallen apart because of him.
“Now you can go back to gettin’ some, too… No more waiting around on Teacher Lady.” Chris added.
“Cause that IS what it’s all about.” David mumbled, still mad from the discussion about him that had just ended.
“Dude, you’re the one that was yappin’ about tappin’ the Pussy Posse ‘cause Kasi still isn’t putting out.” Chris said, referring to a local group of girls that could always be counted on for an easy lay. He turned to Nick, “That’s what you need to do, man… make sure you still remember how to do it…” He cracked himself up, laughing.
Nick glared at him, “It hasn’t been THAT long.”
“What happened with her anyway?” James asked. “You’ve never said anything.”
Nick was silent for a moment. He hadn’t talked about it, because he didn’t want to… if he talked about it, he’d have to think about it… he’d have to admit he’d been wrong… he’d remember that he’d never told India all the things he’d figured out about why she wanted to wait… never told her he was in love with her…
“Nick?”
“Huh?” He looked over at James, not realizing he’d zoned out.
“What happened with India?” James asked again.
“We broke up.” Nick said.
David whacked Nick on the arm, “Dude, we know that part.”
“I just… she was… she’d get mad if I was late, mad if I didn’t call… am I supposed to fucking check-in all the time? It was just like, damn, woman… just trust me… I’ll call you when I get a chance or when I WANT to… I couldn’t just be working on her schedule, y’know? I got my own life, too…” Nick said, wanting to believe the things as he was saying them.
Chris and David nodding in understanding, and Nick kept talking, “I don’t need someone to run my life, tell me when I’m supposed to be somewhere and all that shit… I get enough of that from my management… I don’t need my damn girlfriend doing the same fucking thing… tryin’ to keep me on a leash and tie me down or something.”
He took a drink of his beer, really starting to get on a roll, “She didn’t want to talk to me.. And then, she shows up at my house, and fucking yells at me in front of my family…That was enough, man.”
“That shit ain’t cool.” Chris remarked. “What is it with these women? Thinking they can call all the shots.”
“What is it with you guys thinking women don’t rule the world?” James asked, causing the other three to look at him like he was insane. “You all sit around her fucking bitchin’ and moanin’ about all the shit women do.. if they didn’t have so much power over you, you wouldn’t have all these problems.”
Nick was very aware of the look that James was giving him and chose to ignore it. “If you don’t have a problem with it, then why are you always single?”
“Because I haven’t found someone like you did.” James replied, getting out of his chair and walking back up to the bar.
Nick exchanged glances with Chris and David, wondering what all that had been about. “Whatever, dude.”
When James returned from the bar with another drink, the subject was dropped and conversation resumed, back to razzing David about his still sexless relationship with Kasi.
A few hours later when David and Chris both had to vacate, Nick stayed around to see what exactly had crawled up James’ ass earlier.
“What was that shit earlier, man?” Nick asked as he and James walked out of the bar.
“What shit?” James asked, needing clarification. Nick had said a lot to piss him off this afternoon, so he was going to need to be more specific.
“You and that ‘women rule the world’ stuff… and jumping on me when I asked why you were single.” Nick said, stopping in front of his Escalade.
“What really happened with India?” James asked.
“I told you.” Nick replied.
James shook his head, “It wasn’t like that. I mean, really, honestly, she wasn’t like that, was she?”
Nick considered his options for a moment. Lying, well, exaggerating, maybe, about what had happened made things much easier to deal with… made him sound like less of a bad guy. But he knew James already knew better. “Not really…”
“Then why the hell are you making up that shit?” James asked. India was his friend, too. Granted he’d never been as close to her as Nick had been, but he knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t really act like Nick had been describing. “I know her Nick… and whoever you were talking about wasn’t India.”
Nick sighed, “I know… it wasn’t like that.. she just… she got pissed when I was late that night… I promised I wouldn’t do it again, and then ended up totally dissing her again by not being home when we were supposed to go out.. I didn’t plan it… Aaron and Pops wanted to go fishing.. I hadn’t been with them in a long time, so I said I’d go… we got back, like, five hours after I was supposed to meet India… she was pissed and went off on me… so I told her if she didn’t like the way I did things, we shouldn’t be together…”
“So, basically, you’re pissed off because you lost her and it’s all your fault and you just don’t want to admit that.” James surmised.
Nick nodded, “Basically.” He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, “What did you mean earlier when you said you hadn’t found anyone like I had?”
“Exactly that. You found what you were looking for…what you wanted AND needed in her.. I know that, you know that. You’ve been different since you were with her and that’s been good for you… I know how much you liked her, maybe even loved her… and you let that go… for a really fucking stupid reason.” James told him.
Nick sighed, “You’re right... god, I really miss her…”
“Then get her back, dude… You can’t let her go that easy.”
“What am I supposed to do? She doesn’t even want to talk to me.”
James shrugged, “What do I know, I’m always single, remember?”
~~~
“WHOA!!! Halt! Stop… calm the hell down…” Chasity yelped, dodging as the tumbler India hurled passed her head and crashed against the wall. After two weeks of India’s borderline psycho behavior, she was really beginning to get fed up. She’d never seen India react this badly to ANYTHING. She knew that her little sister had really cared about Nick, but she would have never guessed the extent of it until she’d witnessed the way she’d taken to their break-up.
“I DON’T WANT TO CALM DOWN!!” India shouted, dropping into a chair at the kitchen table, folding her arms in front of her, and putting her head down on top of them. She tried to make herself take a few deep breaths, let the temporary rage pass. She thought Chas would have figured out by now that trying to get her to talk about Nick wasn’t the best idea. She was fine when she ignored everything, but anytime she thought of him- what had happened with them, and how much she still felt for him, despite her intense desire to hate him forever- she couldn’t help but get a little crazy.
“Okay.. good… chill out… deep breaths…” Chasity practically whispered, cautiously coming around the table to slip her arm around India’s shoulders. It was rare moments like these she was glad she’d been staying with her sister, just so she wouldn’t have to be alone with herself… Chasity knew that weathering a broken heart alone was one of life’s worst experiences and she wanted to prevent that for her little sister.
India raised her head again and looked at Chas, “Please remove your arm.”
“Okay, there’s my sister.” Chasity said, backing away. “Now why are you throwing glasses at the wall?” she asked, motioning to the tumbler still rolling on the floor, amazingly unbroken.
“Because he PISSES ME OFF!!” India yelled. She paused, closed her eyes for a moment, reminding herself that Chas was not the bad guy and there was no need to keep screaming. She opened her eyes again, “I realize that he wasn’t used to someone trying to keep him in line.. the other girls he’s been with have probably been willing to put up with anything to keep him.. but I’m not like that! I CAN’T be like that!”
“No one’s asking you to be, India. You aren’t wrong… you were right to call him on it. It’s just respect and consideration.” Chasity reassured her.
“Then why the hell does this feel so bad??” India asked, biting her lower lip. She couldn’t remember a time in her life that she’d ever felt so awful. Breaking up with the other guys had been easy… it’d been a natural progression.. the relationships had reached their ends and India had broken it off, usually by mutual decision… no broken hearts. But this… this fucking sucked.
~~~
India sat scowling at her desk, grading the previous hour’s tests as the current class slaved over theirs. Halfway through the third test she was working on, she looked up to see a student waving his hand at her. “Yes, Trevor?”
“Are you in a really bad mood or something? PMS?” he asked.
India rolled her eyes, not even wanting to justify that with an answer. “Why?”
“This test is insane! And I even studied!” Trevor told her, the rest of the class nodding in agreement around him.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” India asked.
“Normally your tests are pretty cool, but this one sucks.” Trevor said.
“I’m terribly sorry.” India replied. She knew this test was more difficult.. she HAD been in a terrible mood when she’d written it up the night before. She’d found a picture of her and Nick that she’d taken… held the camera arms-length away from them, their faces pressed close together, smiling cheesily at the camera… and that had set the tone for the night… and resulted in her writing possibly the hardest test she’d ever given. “But no, it’s not PMS, thank you.”
“Then what are you so pissy about? Problems with your man?” Trevor asked.
“We broke up.” India said, briskly, trying her best to indicate this conversation did not need to progress any further.
There was a simultaneous gasp from all the girls in the room, but India held up her hand to shush them before they even had a chance to get started in on her. “Back to work… those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it…. Or something like that. Just get back to your tests.”
When she saw that everyone had gone back to work, she put her head down on her desk. If her students were even realizing that there was a problem, something had to change.