I shake my head, disappointment filling me. “No, but thank you for the offer.”
I don’t know why I’m being so polite.
“Your loss.” She starts to reapply her eyeliner in the mirror.
She isn’t dressed nice. If anything, she is wearing baggy clothes. I’m surprised she is even bothering with her makeup.
Letting out a deep sigh, I speak without consciously deciding to. “Have you ever made a decision that felt right at the time, but when the chips start falling you realize you might’ve made the biggest mistake of your like?”
She stops what she’s doing, glancing over at me. “Can’t say I have. When I make decisions, I do so with the knowledge that the consequences will fall where they will, but there is no room for regret. There is no room for living in the past. All you can do is continue to make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time. Follow your gut. Trust that you know what is best for you, even if things get worse before they get better. In the end, it may have been the wrong decision, but there is no point in labeling it as a mistake or looking back on what could have been. It’s a waste of time. All you can do is move forward, making the best decisions for yourself.”
My mouth drops open a little at her impromptu pep talk. “Wow. I didn’t expect that.”
She shrugs. “Or you can take a pill and escape reality for a while. Either way, life will continue to move on with or without you.”
With that, she finishes her eyeliner, stopping beside me before she heads out the door.
“Good luck with whatever it is. You can usually find me here, if you change your mind.”
Once the door shuts behind her, I take a deep breath.
I don’t know the chick and I will never seek her out, but she handed me a gift without realizing it.
She’s right. There is no point in dwelling on what has already been decided. I need to keep moving forward.
-
Eight
Nate
It wasn’thard to get Steve to agree to fight me tonight. I offered him money and told him I’d take it easy on him.
I lied.
Hearing what he said to Hailee today made my blood boil. I know I made a derogatory statement first, but that’s my right. She’s mine to torture. He shouldn’t have opened his mouth.
I wanted to knock him out right there, but I can’t show that weakness in front of anyone. Especially her. She can’t know that I’m still warring within myself about her betrayal.
I’m so blinded with rage whenever I think about it, I want to hit something.
That’s why I’m at the fights tonight throwing punches. I already knocked Steve out. He barely made it ten seconds. He was a weak little bastard anyway.
Now I’m fighting some other asshole. I don’t care who it is. I need the pain from his fists hitting me. I relish in the feel of his rib breaking when my fists meet it. This is what I needed to quiet my mind.
When the fight is finally over, I look over to the side to find Chase standing there with his “dad” look on his face.
To anyone else, it would look like his normal standoffish demeanor. To me? I have seen this look on him more than once over my lifetime.
Making my way over to him, he claps me on the shoulder.
“Let’s go have a talk.”
I want to argue, but he’s not playing tonight. The pressure of his hand digging into my shoulder tells me I’ll either be going with him or I’ll be fighting him.
While I love a good fight, and I can hold my own, Chase is deadly. I know he wouldn’t kill me, but he wouldn’t hold back either. He would keep fighting until I either tap out or pass out.
It wouldn’t be the first time, but tonight is not the night to fight my brother.
