Lying Eyes

"Constance, Eva, Ashley and I were kind of a clique. We started out as cheerleaders together and we sort of ran the school. Everyone who wanted to be popular in the school had to do things the way we wanted or we just froze them out. Jo Anne tried out to be a cheerleader. She was into gymnastics and could do all kinds of backflips and all of that stuff. She was cute too. She should have easily got on the squad. She was a nice girl and everyone liked her."

"So Jo Anne was a cheerleader with you guys?" I asked.

"Nope," smiled Betty nervously. "Jo Anne had a big problem."

"What was that?" I asked.

"She refused to kiss anyone's ass," said Betty. "Think about it, she was cute. She was nice and she could do all of those flips. She could probably have ended up being head cheerleader. She could choreograph routines and everything. The rest of us weren't that serious about it. It was just about getting up in front of crowds and being seen to us. It was also the right to wear that little skirt and have all of the boys creaming their jeans about us. Constance wasn't going to let anyone with a chance to unseat her, get on the squad."

"From then on, she blocked every chance that Jo Anne had, to get on any of the teams or clubs. She even went as far as publicly denigrating the girl every chance she got. And once she married you and Jo Anne showed up a few years later as a waitress, it got even worse. Constance constantly found ways to pick on Jo Anne. Most people would have grown out of it, not Constance. Actually, we're all women who grew up in this area and attended the same schools. You'd think that we'd all be friends, Jo Anne included. After your divorce, I seriously expected Jo Anne to go after Constance for some sort of revenge, but she never has. I've seen her and her daughter off and on in the café some mornings. A couple of times, I've been tempted to go over and say something to her. You know maybe apologize or just say, "Hi," but too much water has passed under that bridge. And now, when she could easily come in here and using her connection to you, have my boss throw me out of here, I'm afraid to get her riled up."

"I think we're all especially afraid of her, because we feel really bad about the way we treated her."

"Aside from that," I said. "Is Jo Anne like Constance?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Betty, you know the way that Constance played games and cheated on me and lied. Is Jo Anne..."

"Danford, the whole time we were in school Jo Anne had one boyfriend. As far as I know she married him and then he just disappeared sometime later. I never heard how or why, but she doesn't really strike me as being anything like Constance," she said.

"Thanks Betty," I said. "And could you please tell your friends that I wish them well. And that's whether they're still tight with Constance or not. Actually I hope Constance finds happiness as well."

All around us, people were packing their belongings and leaving. I hadn't realized that our conversation had taken as long as it did.

I made a couple of quick stops and found myself in front of Jo Anne's condo. I knocked on her door and found myself staring into Samantha's eyes.

"Hi, Uncle Dan," she smiled. "I know what you have behind your back. It's pizza isn't it? Give it to me."

"Sammie, why did you go to the door..." began Jo Anne stepping into the room. She had on long shorts and a sweat shirt. Her hair was tied back like the cheerleader she should have been when she was younger. Her eyes opened in surprise.

"Danford, why aren't you in Las Vegas...?" she asked. "You missed the plane?"

I held out the bouquet of flowers I'd bought her. She looked at them and smiled.

"You've been crying again," I said.

"I can't help it," she said. "I...do you need me to get you another reservation?"

"Jo Anne, I didn't miss the plane," I said. "I just had something I needed to do today that was more important than going to Vegas."

"So you're going tomorrow, right?" she asked. "What did you have to do?"

"This," I said. I crossed the room and took her in my arms. Then I kissed her harder than I'd ever kissed anyone in my entire life. I grabbed her ass and pulled her to me and felt all of the air in her lungs try to force itself into my mouth as she gushed outwards losing her breath. I wiped the tears away from her eyes and saw her smile.

"Hey, is anyone else going to eat pizza?" asked Samantha.

"We're going to have to find something to do with her or wait until she's asleep," said Jo Anne. "So, how is this going to work? Hopefully you'll want me more than one weekend a month."

"Actually, I'll be wanting you every night," I said. Her eyes got huge.

"And every day too," I continued. I saw her smile broaden.

"Danford, no one needs that much sex," she smirked.

"Jo Anne, I'm not talking about sex," I said hugging her. "I guess it took me over three years to realize it, but Constance just broke my heart. She didn't destroy it. Trying to close myself off was probably stupid when there was always someone around here who loves me the way Constance never did."

"It took you long enough," she smirked hugging me back. "I mean I've been with you every frigging day since before the divorce. But I think I loved you before that. I think I was kind of soft on you ever since you just showed up out of nowhere and paid all of my bills while I was pregnant."

"Why are you guys hugging each other?" asked Samantha who wandered into the room with pizza sauce all over her face.

"Dan finally realized the he likes me," smiled Jo Anne.

"Loves actually," I interrupted.

"Oh God, everybody knows that," said Samantha displaying a seven year old child's intuitive grasp of the obvious. "You should have asked me. I would have told you."

"Did you say love?" asked Jo Anne. "Let me look at your eyes when you say that."

"Why?" I asked.

"You can't hide your lying eyes," she said. "Honey, you can't hide your lying eyes."

I just started laughing. "I wish I'd known that with Constance."

"I'm glad Constance didn't know it," she said. "If she had she'd probably still be with you."

That day was the beginning of the rest of our lives. We grew older together and had two more kids. Perhaps the only thing that made us look back was three years after that night. A police officer came to our door and told us that there'd been an accident. A woman had been killed by a car, downtown. She didn't have any Identification on her but the dental records they'd run made them believe that it was Constance. To make sure that they had the right person they wanted me to come downtown to identify the body. Jo Anne decided to go as well, since she'd known her for most of her life.

It did turn out to be Constance. She looked far different from the bright and beautiful young woman I'd married. Constance was the same age a Jo Anne. Neither of them were over thirty five, but she looked as if she was in her fifties. Her teeth were yellowed far beyond what anyone would ever expect. Her eyes were yellowed too. That was a clear sign of liver disease. The ME told us that if the car hadn't hit her she'd have died soon anyway. Her liver and kidneys were shot from alcohol abuse and drug usage.

A few days later, a surprisingly small number of people gathered to bid farewell to a woman who was once the prom queen and most popular person in her area. Her three friends were there. So were her parents. Jo Anne and I were the only other attendees to her final passage.

Her parents wouldn't speak to me of course. They blamed me, not only for her death, but for the way she lived out her final years. Somehow, they failed to remember that after our divorce she'd moved in with them for a while, or the fact that the lack of morals she displayed throughout her life was possibly due to her upbringing. Anyway you can't make everyone happy, no matter what you do.

All I know is that my life was better and I was happy again. Life goes on.