Same Old Song and Dance Ch. 03: Conclusion

"I know that, Terry, but you weren't here and I missed you so much that I got stupid. If I could do it all over again ... But I know I can't. And when it finally happened, he gave me liquor. And ..."

"Kira ... You don't drink," snapped Terry. "You never have. Remember you told me about all of the alcoholics in your family. That was partially why you and your mom moved here ..."

"I know Terry, but he told me it was a very weak drink and I should just taste it. Everyone at the table was drinking it. Terry it tasted awful at first. It tasted like ... Like medicine. But the more I tasted it, the better it got. And I sort of lost consciousness after that. I remember waking up and Jeff was on top of me. I felt awful Terry. He dropped me off at home as if nothing had happened. But the next time I saw him, he was just different. He was smirking and had just turned into an asshole.

I told him that I didn't want to hang out with him anymore. And that was when I knew that I had been played. He told me that he'd never wanted to hang out with me in the first place. He'd just wanted some pussy.

So I told him that he should be happy because he'd gotten it. So he could leave me alone. He told me that we had a good thing going and that it would be terrible if you somehow found out about it. So I "went out" with him two or three more times before you came home and caught us. That was what I was trying to explain to you. And the conversation you heard between us was just that. He was trying to get me to continue things while you were home. I refused. I was hoping that I could figure something out over the summer so I wouldn't have to ever see him again and ..."

"I've figured something out," Terry hissed. "I'm going to kick his ass and he ..."

I grabbed his arm. "Terry, you already did that ... Twice!" I said. "You almost went to jail the second time. You only have three weeks left before you head back to school. You have your whole future ahead of you ... I'm not worth you ..."

"I always thought my whole future was beside me," he mumbled. Just hearing him say that brought tears to my eyes again. I just kept walking beside him thinking about how badly what I had done must have hurt him. After having the chance to get my part of what had happened out, I felt much better. I also realized exactly how much I loved him.

I loved him enought to notice that Terry had gotten into three fights over me. Terry didn't even like to fight. He was more of the walk away type. But he had a hair trigger when it came to me. I was more of a liability to him than anything else.

"Terry, thanks for letting me get my part of this out," I said. "I didn't want you to go back to school thinking that I had just randomly cheated on you. Or that I loved anyone on this planet more than I love you. I want you to go back up to school and work your butt off this year just like you did last year. But this time you have to do for yourself, okay. And while you're up there ... " my voice broke and I started crying.

"While you're up there ... If you meet some cute, smart girl and you hit it off with her ... Go for it, Terry. More than anything else, I want you to be happy."

"Are you done?" he asked. He sounded angry.

"No," I said. "I'm keeping this shirt." We walked along in silence again for a while. This time he ended the lull in the conversation.

"So why did you come out dressed like such a slut today?" he asked. "Since you've decided that you're done with me, were you already looking for someone else?"

"You were the one who said we were done," I said quietly. "I don't blame you after all of this. You spent the entire summer with Lana, getting over me. After what I did, it shouldn't have taken you that long to move on. But if you have to know, your dad told me to dress like this."

"My dad told you to go around flashing your ass at other guys?" he screamed in disbelief. He actually stopped walking and just stood in the road.

"Terry don't be an idiot," I said. "I wouldn't dress like this for anyone else. Your dad figured that if I dressed like this and you saw me, you'd freak out, which would prove that you still cared for me. It was all to get YOUR attention, Dummy."

"So my dad cooked up this whole scheme for you?" he asked.

"Terry, he did it for you," I said. "Your dad thinks that you've been miserable without me. He knows already that I've spent the entire summer crying over you and miss fake tits."

"Why are you so sure her tits are fake?" he asked. "And why are you smiling?"

"Because all the way until the middle of our junior year of high school, her boobs were no bigger than mine and they were saggy. Then she was out of school, "sick," for three weeks with, "mono," and she came back with much bigger boobs. Who gets bigger boobs from mono, Terry? And the second reason I'm smiling is because you didn't know they were fake."

"So I'm a dummy when it comes to fake boobs," he said. "Sue me."

"No, Honey," I said. "It means you haven't seen them uncovered or felt them. And that's a good thing."

"Since you're done with me, why do you care if I've seen them?" he asked.

"Terry, I'll never be done with you," I said quietly. "I just don't want to force you to try to forgive what I did. I want you to be happy."

He took my hand then and held it as we walked. I felt as if my heart would explode. "I can't believe my dad," he said.

"Terry, don't be upset at him. If he told me to walk down the street naked to get you to notice me, I'd have done it," I said. "I'd do anything for you."

"I'd do anything for you too, Kira," he said. And he kissed me. It was the softest most gently kiss and I never wanted it to end.

"My dad is amazing," he said.

"Yep, he's psychic," I said.

"Kira you don't understand," he said. Then I noticed that Terry was crying too.

"Terry what's wrong?" I asked. "Terry don't cry. I'll do whatever you want. If you want me to leave you alone, I swear I will. If you want me back, I'm yours forever and I won't make another mistake."

"Of course I want you back," he said. "I'm just thinking about my dad. Kira he went out of his way to help get the two of us back together, when he's miserable himself." It all came out then. He told me why he'd been so angry all summer. He told me about his mother and how she'd cheated on his father since before Terry was even born. He told me about how he, and his older sister Sherry turned out not to be his dad's biological children. He told me how his dad told them that it didn't make a difference and that things were not going to change between them. He told me about his dad divorcing his mother and how depressed his dad was. They had been married for more than twenty years. Terry and I had been together for less than two years, so his dad had to feel a lot worse than we did. But he'd still been able to put us first. I started crying too.

I told Terry that I wouldn't tell anyone what he'd just told me. "If anyone finds out it'll be because Lana told them," I said.

"Why would I tell Lana?" he asked. "She doesn't know any of this. We were barely friends."

"Bullshit," I snapped. "She was all over you all summer, you liar!"

"So how do you know that?" he smiled. "Were you spying on me?"

"No, but I did watch the two of you a few times," I said. "I saw her rubbing those things all over you."

"So how many times did you follow us around?" he smirked.

"Maybe three," I said.

"Which three?" he asked.

"It's not important," I said. "What's important is that you're giving me another chance."

"It's not like I had a choice," he said. "I was miserable without you. And I really do believe that asshole got you drunk. But just out of curiosity which three times?"

"I never said three TIMES," I said.

"Okay so which three days?" he asked. He squeezed my hand. "You can tell me Kira. I love you."

"June," I said. "July and most of this month too." His mouth dropped open in shock.

"You followed us around the whole summer?" he asked. I just nodded.

"I love you too, Terry," I said. "If I couldn't be with you, at least I could see you."

The sound of the car's loud exhaust cut off Terry's reply.

"I gave up," yelled Terry's dad. "It's been like forever. How long does it take two healthy young people to cover five friggin' miles? I'm as old as dirt and I can run five miles in a half hour. At least you haven't killed each other. Get in the car."

"We weren't exactly running, Dad," said Terry. "I am definitely taking the front seat this time."

"Why can't we share the back seat?" I asked.

"We're going to be together forever," said Terry. "I can handle the stress of being separated from you by three feet for a few minutes, Kira. But I can't handle being folded in half like that again. You're smaller than I am. You can handle it."

"Oh boy," said his dad. "We're back together again! This calls for a celebration. Burgers are on me!"

A short time later, we pulled up in front of the restaurant that I'd spent most of my life in. We sat down at one of my mom's tables.

"Hi Mom," I said, cheefully.

"Who are you?" she asked. "What did you do with my depressed daughter?"

"We just set things back to the way they're supposed to be," said Terry's dad.

"You guys are back together?" she asked looking at Terry. "You're totally okay?"

"I am now," said Terry. "I was miserable without her. And it was partially my fault. I left her alone. At least I had something to keep me busy, with my classes and projects. I'm never leaving her again."

"But Terry, Honey you have to go back to school," said my mom. "I kind of like the idea of the two of you having a future where you can go and live anywhere you want. There's a huge world out there. You two don't have to stay in this little town or even this state."

"I kind of like the idea of them staying together though," said Terry's dad. "He told me about the talk you had when this first started. You had a great idea and I recently came into some money so we can make it happen."

He quickly explained how Terry was going back to school, but I was going with him. He had enough money, from some kind of settlement, that we could get an apartment together. There was enough money that I could also decide what I wanted to do. I could either stay home and keep the house for Terry. Or I could get a job. Or ... His suggestion was that I go to the junior college near Terry's school. I could take a general education program and transfer to Terry's school after two years. Or I could even get into a certificate program and find a career. But whatever I decided to do, Terry and I could do it together.

"I love you, Dad," I said. "When Terry and I get married, we're naming our first child, Greg!"

"What if it's a girl?" he asked.

"She'll be the first girl name Greg in our family," I quipped.

* * * * * *

Donna

A month after I signed the divorce papers, I was pissed. I was still settling into the over-priced condo I was renting. I was paying eight hundred dollars a month. So twenty five percent of my settlement money was accounted for. Utilities and insurance moved me north of thirty percent. And I hadn't even accounted for food or clothing. There was also the fact that I would only get the money for five years. I had fifty nine months more before I would be completely on my own.

I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Actually I needed to figure out what I should do while I figured out how to get my life back.

I was angry. I was bitter and I was surprised. My heart was broken. My family hated me and my marriage was over. My best friend would no longer even speak to me. But somehow, the part of this all that flummoxed me the most was that no one knew about it.

Out of the roughly six hundred people in our small town, only the twenty men I had slept with, the sheriff, Greg, Tara and our lawyers knew anything about my time as the town whore.

And for the good of the town, we were all sworn to secrecy. Everyone one in town thought that Greg and I divorced because we had just grown apart over the years. I had even been invited back to the church volunteer group for a while. The reverend asked me to quit though. I guess he was trying to atone for sleeping with me and didn't need the temptation or the memories that having me around brought out.

I agreed, because I had other things I wanted to do with my time. But this morning, I heard something that really pissed me off. The entire town seemed to be buzzing over the fact that true love had won out in the end. My son, under his father's machinations had made up with his cheating ex-girlfriend. Part of the money that Greg had coerced from the men I slept with had gone to Terry and the rest to Sherry. Terry's money was spent renting a place for the next three years for himself and Kira to live in.

The whole fucking town thought it was the most romantic thing ever. They all thought that Greg was paying for it since they had no idea where the money had come from.

They all believed that Greg was just being generous while trying to get over the break up of our marriage. Some of them thought that Greg was trying to lure me back by doing a lot of nice things. I think they thought that I wwaste one who wanted the divorce. I mean it seemed logical to assume that, since I was the one who had moved out of our house and left my thirteen year old daughter with her father.

I believe they thought that I was having one of those mid life crisis desires to change my life. They talked about them on all of those daytime women's shows. Most of them thought that sooner or later I would come to my senses. But there were a few of the women in town that had their hearts set on getting Greg before I could get him back. Those conniving bitches smiled at my face while planning on sticking a knife in my fucking back.

I could always tell which ones they were too. They always asked me questions about Greg and what he liked. More than once I told them that he liked having his dick sucked before fucking my ass. A couple of them smiled and thanked me.

But the thing that really burnt my toast was the fact that my husband could convince his son to give that trailer park vixen that he was in love with, a second chance, but he couldn't give me one. Apparently second chances and true love was for other people, but not for us.

I went a little bit crazy thinking about it. People all over town were telling me that they knew that Kira and Terry would end up together. They told me how she had stalked him all summer.

I decided to take a page from her book. But there were other people I had to stalk as well. I tried constantly to strike up a conversation with my daughter, Sherry. I ran into her so many times at the grocery store that she started shopping somewhere else.

Another thing that was very frustrating for me was my visitations with Debbie. I had a whole speech worked out to explain why her father and I were no longer together. My intention was to tell her that I still loved her father but that he and I needed some time apart so we could be in love again the way we were at the beginning.

But as soon as I started she cut me off and told me that her daddy and I were not together because I was doing the nasty with Mr. Norton.

The visit went downhill from there. She constantly looked at her watch. The visit was full of long silences and embarrassing questions. I did ask her if perhaps we could have dinner with her daddy for one of our visits.

"Why would I do that?" she asked.

"Because you'd be doing Mommy a huge favor," I said.

"Why would I do that?" she asked again.

"Because you love mommy, and you want her to be happy," I said.

"Is Mommy unhappy?" she asked in a tone too mature to be only thirteen. "Because Mommy was the one who ruined our family and made daddy unhappy."

"Debbie, why did you even show up for this visit?" I asked her.

"Daddy told me I had to," she said. "If I'm a good girl until it's over, I get an iPhone like his and Terry's. Is it over yet?"

The next week I showed up and it was even worse. First off, our visitations were held at the house. I still called it my house. I had agreed to them being held there in the hope that I would run into Greg. But even from the first visit, it was clear that Debbie was thirteen and could be left alone for at least short periods of time. And my daughter was a con artist where her father was concerned. She had him convinced that she needed him far more than she actually did. She had always been her daddy's baby. And now she milked it to the hilt. But then Greg had always been super dad. He had somehow managed to make each one of our kids believe that they were his favorite. He treated them all differently.

According to everything I've read about parenting, Greg did it wrong. You're supposed to treat all of your kids the same. Greg, had Sherry convinced that she was his princess. She had only to ask and whatever she wanted materialized. Sherry loved Greg so much that I often felt threatened by it.

Terry was the chip off the old block. He and Greg shared a love for sports. They competed in different sports and supportd each other by going to each other's races and tournaments. Terry was not a runner, but he always went to watch his dad run. Greg on the other hand followed Terry's martial arts career from his first lessons all the way until the present. Greg had never missed a tournament, belting ceremony, or test, from the time Terry took his first lessons. I think they resented me even more now that they knew where I had been and what I'd been doing during the ones that I missed. And of course they shared that love of Mustangs that superceded anything else in life.

And Debbie, was the baby. All she had to do was to climb up on Greg's lap and say Daddy I want ... And it was hers. The difference between being the baby and being a princess was a very subtle one that I could never figure out. I think the princess got everything she wanted on the spot. The baby got everything she wanted but she had to do something in exchange. That way you couldn't say she was spoiled. And she got the idea that she had to work for what she got. Like in this case, she had to put up with me to get her iPhone.

After that my visits trailed off until they became a rare occurance. Debbie and I both knew where we stood. It was a game between us. When she stood to gain something, she would call me up and ask if I was coming to visit her. I would say yes and we would agree on a time. I would show up early so I could see Greg, before he scurried off to avoid me.

For the first year or so, Greg looked as handsome as ever, but kind of withdrawn. I could tell that he was trying to get over me. It took him almost a year before he went out on a date. And then I started to hear around town that Greg was going out with this woman or that one. The bitches in our town had, by some unspoken agreement, or maybe it was just good manners waited until he was ready to date again before they all pounced on him. But it was clearly open season on my husband for every available woman in town except me.

I actually liked what was happening. Greg had a lot of first dates, but as much as the women hinted and begged, there were very few, almost no second dates. Some of those whores even tried to fuck him on those first dates. I guess they figured that was why the others hadn't been successful. I even heard some of the women in my condo complex discussing it. One of them reminded the others that Greg had been married and he was used to getting regular pussy from his woman, so a prude stood no chance.

The woman doing all of the talking was actually one of my divorced former friends. She told them about how sometimes she and her ex-husband had come to visit Greg and I. She told them how on some occasions, Greg and I would excuse ourselves for a few minutes and come back smelling of sex and looking a little rumpled.