Isolated Love Ch. 02

Grayson couldn't believe himself. He was just complaining about how his heart was broken and in his mind, told himself that he vowed to never even speak to another woman because of it. Yet, here he was. Getting ready to take some random gas station girl for coffee. He contemplated backing out of it, but felt that he'd owed it to her due to the way he was blatantly disrespected her. He had never disrespected a woman so openly and he wasn't going to start, but maybe he'd figure out a different way to make it up to her. Taking her for coffee wasn't really ideal for him right now.

As he was making this decision, his cellphone rang. Pulling it out of his pocket, he glanced at the number before twisting his face in confusion. Who's number was this?

He answered. "Yes?"

A soft, feminine chuckle came through the other end. "Is that how you greet everyone? Yes?" Arabeth asked and in turn, Grayson found himself cracking a smile.

"Sorry, I wasn't really expecting a random number to call..." he stated but then immediately regretted it. She shouldn't have been a random number but he'd forgotten to save her number when she wrote it down. He could hear the dry laugh and it made him feel guilty.

"Random number, huh? That's okay.. now you have even more of a reason to take me out for coffee. So what time did you wanna meet?" she questioned.

Grayson sighed deeply before running his hand down his face. He pulled his mouth away from the phone before letting out a groan. "Look Arabeth, I'm really sorry but I have to cancel. I-uh.. My mom. She's sick. And I need to go visit with her for a while. I'm really sorry because I know you may have been looking for-..." he tried to finish but was interrupted by an exasperated sigh.

Arabeth should have seen this coming because men like Grayson were always too good to be true. She would know from personal experience. The good-looking ones were always entertained with a bunch of lies and drama. "It's fine. I hope your mom gets better. Bye." she said brutishly before hanging up.

Grayson let out a long, hard breath before setting his phone down on the table next to the couch. He plopped down on the sofa and tilted his head back as he closed his eyes.

You're doing the right thing.

"Am I?" he said aloud to no one in particular. He'd already been incredibly rude to her before and now, he had just canceled their date.

Woah, shit.. hold on. Date? No, no.. it wasn't a date. It was.. an "I'm sorry"... date? Fuck!

No wonder she sounded so curt on the phone with him. She'd probably thought that's what it was. But she couldn't have, could she? They'd only just met and he'd told her about his bad breakup. She couldn't have expected him to jump back in the sea so quickly...

Damnit!

He grabbed his phone and unlocked it, going straight to his recent calls. He saw her number and immediately saved it. He didn't know why, but he felt the strange urge to keep her number just in case he needed her for something.

Something like what?

"I don't fucking know.." he answered, again to no one in particular. Something.

Arabeth was lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling as if waiting for it to cave in. "Why'd I do that?" she asked herself. She'd just hung up the phone with Grayson was already dreading the next time he decided to call her. If he ever did. She had acted like an angry girlfriend just then and was more embarrassed than she had ever been before. She didn't even give him time to explain, she was just so disappointed because she needed a distraction from Benji, who was thoroughly neglecting her.

Neglecting you? He's not even yours...

She sighed dramatically and sat up. Glancing at her phone, she noticed it was 5 pm. The day had passed quickly, mostly due to her sleeping. After working until 6 that morning, she was extremely tired and grumpy and Ina hadn't made it any better. She'd walked in and found Ina sleeping on the small couch with some guy she'd never seen before. He looked considerably older than Ina's 20 and it was a bit unsettling. Then again, Grayson looked a little older the more she thought about it and her first instinct when she saw him was to think of all the positions he could put her in if they were in a room alone. Arabeth had shrugged and threw her belongings down before she shuffled her way into the bedroom. The minute her head hit the pillow, Ina had come into the room and Arabeth sat up.

"Hey, if you don't care, my friend and I are gonna move in here." Ina said so casually it almost instantly upset Arabeth. Of course she cared if they moved in here! She was about to sleep and didn't really want some random guy sleeping in the bed on the other side of the room, even if her roommate was there with him. She didn't know him.

"I care." Arabeth stated simply and turned over on her side. This attitude she had with Ina was still a reflection of her feelings towards the things Ina had said to her last night. She heard Ina laugh and say something under her breath. Never one to let things go, Arabeth sat up and glared towards Ina's direction. "What was that?" she asked heatedly.

This was not going to end well.

"I said," Ina began, ready to let Arabeth have it, "You're a selfish, inconsiderate bitch." she finished, not at all phased by Arabeth's attitude. If she wanted to act like a brat, so be it, but Ina had better things to do.

The argument ended with the both of them calling each other a handful of names and Ina, along with her male friend, leaving the dorm. Ina had made sure to slam it shut as she walked out.

"Well, fuck her too." Arabeth sighed, remembering the morning fiasco. Now, the day had basically gone and she hadn't done anything but ruin what could have been a perfectly good friendship. She didn't even know why she'd gotten so upset, it wasn't like they were going on a date.

But you thought so...

She nodded solemnly as she sat there in a silent discussion with herself. She hated to admit it, but part of her was starting get what Ina was talking about. Constantly doingthisto herself. Ruining potentially good relationships for one guy that wasn't even willing to break up with his girlfriend for her. Arabeth quickly shook the thought from her mind, Ina wasn't right. She'd never be right because Arabeth knew that it was only a matter of time before Benji saw her as something more than just a fuck buddy. Even as she thought about the idea, she couldn't make herself believe it. He'd never leave his girlfriend... Everyone knew it. They were good for each other. Arabeth, however, was still willing to cling on to the shred of hope she'd been wistfully dangling from for the past couple of months.

It wasn't much, but it was worth a shot... wasn't it?

Two weeks had passed and Arabeth was in a rut. A deep, depressing rut. Three days ago, she'd had a night filled with mind-blowing sex, mild conversation that quickly turned into arguing and ended in hurt. She could feel her eyes welling with tears as she kept replaying the night over again.

"Benji..." Arabeth whispered as she sat up on her side, watching as Benji slept peacefully on his back. He had one arm behind his head while his other arm rested on his stomach. Arabeth had wanted to snuggle with him, but he was having none of it. It was a thing with him, he never wanted to cuddle her after they had sex. She always dismissed it because she was just happy to be near him. He made her feel so wanted at times, but he also made her feel like she was nothing more than just a hook-up whenever he needed.

'Because you are...'he conscience nagged her. She had always dismissed it, but tonight she was feeling bold and needed some answers. Seeing that he wasn't going to budge, she gently shook him until his tired eyes met her waiting ones.

"What?" he asked, she could tell he was a little angry at her for waking him up, but she needed to know.

Arabeth sighed before continuing, "We need to talk about this, ya know? Us. This. Whatever it is we have... I love you but I-.." she said but stopped when she could feel the bed shaking slightly. Was he... was he laughing at her? What the fuck?! He was laughing at her! "And what the fuck is so funny?" she inquired willing herself not to cry at his causal dismissal of her emotions.

"You love me?" he asked, arching an eyebrow while he continued to chuckle deeply. Suddenly, Arabeth wasn't so sure about continuing the conversation, but felt that she had to in order to keep her sanity. These feelings had been nagging at her for some time and she wanted to know where his head was at and even more importantly... his heart. Evidently, they were in two different places. Immediately, she felt a pang in her slowly breaking heart.

Benji wasn't anywhere near what she had hoped in terms of mutual feelings and it saddened her to come to the realization that Ina may have been right this whole time.

Arabeth could feel the heat in her cheeks rising,"I do.. I really do Benji. I just need to know where we are. Are you ever going to leave her? You said you would when we first got together and I've been waiting, but every time you just kind of make some sort of... excuse as to why you haven't done it yet." she was almost pleading with him to think about this. About them. However, what he said next would seal their fate.

"Are you fucking crazy? Or just stupid..", he asked, sitting up and turning on the lamp beside his bed, "What the hell do you think this is? A relationship? You and I both know what this is Arabeth..."

That was it. Right there, spoken so clearly and so definitely. It pierced through her and before she could stop herself, the tears were falling and she was on her feet beside the bed. Benji, who was not phased at all by her tears watched her curiously before letting out a deep breath and running both hands through his ginger hair. Didn't she know that this was all they had? Had she actually believed him when he said he'd dump his girlfriend?

She did. And it hurt her now more than it ever had before. Without saying a word, Arabeth began dressing, fighting so hard not to look into his uncaring green eyes. She would not let him see her have a meltdown so she turned her back, fighting the urge to scream and throw a fit. However, Benji felt like he needed to stir the pot a little more.

"Seriously Ara, where are you getting this whole 'we're going to be together forever' nonsense? I told you that I would breakup with my girlfriend.. yes. But I was going through a bad time, we've worked things out-.."

Arabeth immediately stopped what she was doing and turned to face him, "You stupid sonofabitch! You worked things out?! Selfish asshole! If you've worked things out, why the hell are you still seeing me then?! Huh?!" she yelled violently. She was fuming and there was no stopping now. It was time to get this out. "I've given up my life for you! I've done nothing but wait on you.. wait on you to come around. Wait on you to stop focusing so much on yourself and be with me!! I could have a life, be out flirting with guys left and right! Fucking half the guys that flirt with ME. But instead, I'm always waiting on YOU. And now you tell me this bullshit?! Worked things out have you?! Fucking great! I hope you and your air-headed, tedious girlfriend have the perfect life together you cheating bastard!" she concluded, picking up a pillow and aiming it straight for his face. That really set him off.

At this point, Benji was on his feet and walking around to her side as she continued to finish putting her clothes and grabbing her keys. He approached her and snatched the keys from her hand, throwing them on the ground. He was furious and she didn't give a shit. It was now or never.

"You really think you're something, don't you? You brainless little idiot. You're nothing, you know that? Nothing. You wanna know the real reason I even took interest in you? Hmm?" he asked, not even waiting for an answer, "It's because I was desperate. SUPER desperate in fact. So desperate, that I picked up a fat, semi-attractive black girl to take home and screw her brains out until I was spent. And I did. It worked. I got you. But you just couldn't help but stick around. Sure, you're a great fuck baby... but we all know that there's better than you out there. In fact, half of them are in my phone..." he trailed off, reaching his hand up to slowly stroke her cheek only to have it slapped away.

Arabeth wiped the tears from her face as she tried to focus on the road.Let it go. Lethim go.She'd been telling herself that for three days now and each time, it hurt a little worse. Since that night, she hadn't heard from Benji and quite frankly, she didn't think she ever wanted to again.

'I picked up a fat, semi-attractive black girl to take home...'the words echoed in her mind. And all this time, she'd thought they could be something more. She'd learned that night that Benji Holland was nothing more than a treacherous, egotistical prick and she was fed up. She could blame no one but herself however, Ina had warned her. Even knowing he had a girlfriend didn't stop her and that was her own doing. She couldn't pin this on anyone else. She could only hope now that she and Ina could talk. She really needed a friend.

"Ina? Catina?" she called, opening the door to the dorm and closing it behind her. When she didn't get a reply, she assumed that Ina wasn't there and was probably out with some friends. Arabeth went to the fridge and opened it, nearly jumping out of her skin when she heard the door to their room swing open.

"Fuck!" she yelped. She looked towards the door and saw a disheveled Ina standing in the door way. "Hi..." she said meekly.

"Hey, sorry I didn't know you'd be coming home so soon." Ina replied breathlessly. Arabeth wasn't fooled, but she didn't care to question her. She just really needed a hug.

Ina in all perceptiveness quickly rushed over towards Arabeth and wrapped her arms tightly around her best friend. Arabeth returned the hug with so much force, it almost sent them to the floor. She let the tears fall as she sobbed onto her friends shoulder and Ina rubbed her back. They had missed each other, that much was clear. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, Ina." Arabeth choked out between sobs.

Ina hushed her and continued to hug her. She knew. She knew that Arabeth had finally opened her eyes and it pained Ina to see her friend like this, but she was glad that it had finally happened. A knock on the bedroom door got both of their attention. They let go of each other turned to face the disheveled man standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, I just... should I go?" the man asked, seemingly uncomfortable with being in the midst of an emotional time.

Arabeth recognized him as the man Ina had been asleep with on the couch the night they fought. He was even more attractive when he was awake. His hair was cut short, military style and he had a hint of a five o'clock shadow surrounding his well-structured face. His eyes were a dark-brown with a hint of green and eyelashes were thick, but not too feminine. He looked to be older than their 20, but not older than 30. His body was incredible as well, he looked as if he either hit the gym often or played some sort of sport, he was tall and muscular. She also noticed that he was only wearing the bed sheet wrapped around his waist.

"Sorry, we were just having a moment." Ina said before turning to Arabeth who was still staring at the mystery man. "Arabeth, this is Alex Kidd. He goes grad school here."

Arabeth nodded and stuck out her head, waiting for him to take, which he did. "Arabeth." she said simply. "You were here the other night." It wasn't a question.

Alex chuckled and nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry if I caused any problems for you two."

"No, no.. It's fine. It wasn't you. I was being a bitch." Arabeth replied, letting go of his hand. "Sorry if I interrupted you guys, I just.. I needed my friend." she replied, wiping the tears from her face and going to grab a water out of the fridge. "You guys feel free to carry on, I'll be out here watching TV."

"Actually, we were gonna go out tonight, some of his friends are throwing a little get together and I didn't know if you wanted to go because of.. ya know." Ina offered.

"I don't know.." Arabeth said, biting her lip nervously. Should she go out? It had only been three days since her fall out with Benji and she wasn't sure if she trusted herself not to do something stupid.

"Pleasemchumba... It'll be the perfect distraction." Ina pushed.

"God, I love when you speak your language babe.." they both turned to the deep voice standing in the doorway. Arabeth all but threw up. Ina giggled and turned back to Arabeth.

"That was fucking gross..." Arabeth said, shaking her head and laughing lightly. "I'll go if you promise to never say that in front of me again."

Ina squealed with delight and pounced on her friend. "Fucking yes! Okay bitch, go get dressed! We're leaving soon."

"What?! How soon?! I just got here!!" Arabeth said frantically as she pushed Ina off of her.

"Soon like.. an hour."

Arabeth sighed, but didn't complain and instead got up to walk towards the room. Closing the door behind her, she started to search for clothes and noticed a pair of boxers on the floor. "YOU NASTY FUCKERS!!" she yelled behind the door which caused them both to laugh from the other side.

Everything was going pretty well at the party. It was light, a few people here and there and it was in someone's neatly decorated house. The set up was nice and so were the people. A few of them, Arabeth had seen around campus during the semester, but she didn't think any of them lived on campus. One girl in particular, she remembered seeing in the gas station among the group of friends that Benji was with. She'd learned that her name was Halley and that she was a graduating senior.

"I can't fucking stand Benji. God, I literally... he the most annoying little shit." she'd said as they fell into conversation more about themselves. Arabeth had mentioned to her that she remembered her face from that night and Halley had started going on about how she never hung out with him before that night and it was only because her boyfriend was friends with him. She personally, did not care for him or his daft girlfriend. "I'm glad you hate him too! Now, I'm not alone! And his girlfriend is just as bad, with her skinny ass. Not that I have anything against skinny people but damn girl, do you eat?" she finished, causing them both to go into a fit of laughter. It was good to have someone keep her company because Ina had been stuck to Alex's side most of the night, with a few dances thrown in here and there.

Arabeth excused herself from her new-found friend and went to the bathroom upstairs. Knocking on the door and not receiving a reply, she opened and was relieved that there was no one inside getting busy. She quickly closed the door behind her, not bothering to lock it and went to the toilet. Just as she was getting ready to sit, the door flew open and a man ran threw it, not bothering to look at the person on the toilet and slammed it shut. This caught Arabeth off-guard and it sent her flying off the side of the toilet with her pants around her ankles and her bare vagina hanging out. She screamed and so did he, both of them in shock.

"I'm soooo SORRY! Oh my god!" he said as he went to help her but she refused.