I Don't Like Your Boyfriend

It couldn’t be true. Sterling loved me. He told me so. I’ve felt it. He proved it so many times, but why is he in the arm of Cruella? Why? My whole world was falling apart. I really did love him. He got me through a tough stage in my life and now he broke my heart into a million pieces.

He looked so happy. People around me were still clapping. I wanted to scream ‘Stop! He’s a fucking cheater!’ But I couldn’t. I couldn’t even breathe. Every second I took in a deep breath it would created a sharp pain in my chest.

I wanted to run. So, I made a sharp turn to leave, but I bummed into a waiter with a tray of glass. He didn’t fall, but the tray did and it made a lot of noise. Everyone stopped clapping.

“Shit, crap, I’m sorry,” I told the waiter. In a matter of seconds Mrs. Bulrush appeared with an angered, yet contained look. She wanted to yell at me, but not in front of everyone.

“Please, clean this up!” she hissed.

I nodded and for some reason I looked at the stage and met Sterling’s eyes. His eyes widened and there was no more happiness in them. I knew my eyes were watery and on the verge of crying my heart out, but I wouldn’t do that in front of him. I looked at Cruella and she had the smirk of the century. I could see the ‘Ha I win’ in the glint of her eyes.

They walked off stage and I went to the kitchen and grabbed a broom and a sweeper. I went back out to clean it up, but a hand went around my arm and started to pull me. I watched as Sterling looked around to make sure no one saw us. I glared at him and stopped moving and stood my ground.

“Let go of me you piece of shit!” I hissed at him.

“I need to explain myself,” he whispered urgently.

“I don’t care, I hate you! Let go of me!” I yelled at him, which caught the attention of some of the nearby guests.

I used the broom to hit him in the back of the knee. He released me and I started to run, but he caught. He wrapped his arms around my waist and easily picked me up.

“Let go!” I screamed and that really got the attention of the guests. Their pretty little heads turned to our direction, but before they could see it was Sterling who took me, we were out of the ballroom and in the lobby of the hotel. I continued to fight him. “Cheating son of a bitch! Let go of me!”

He finally placed me on my feet and I swung the broom to hit him, but he caught it and snatched it from my hand. I tried with the sweeper, but he did the same thing. I made a run for it again, but he caught me arm and then took hold of the other.

“Stop! You need to listen to me!” he pleaded. “That was all show!”

I stopped fighting him. “What the hell?”

“That is all show for my parents and the whole rich community, Eddy.”

I was still confused.

“I’m only pretending to be with Cruella,” Sterling said and pointed to the ballroom.

“Why would you pretend? I’ve met your parents… they know we’re together… right?”

Sterling’s face held so much guilt. He sighed and looked down at the ground. I moved away from him, but I didn’t run. He looked back at me, but then turned away.

“I… paid some actors to play parents,” he said it so low I almost didn’t get it, but I did. He paid actors to play his parents so they could meet me.

I let out a dry laugh. “You’re joking, right?”

“Baby, I wish I was,” he told me still unable to look at me.

“Look at me, Sterling,” I ordered and he did. His brown eyes told me he was telling the truth. Another shot to the heart. “So, those people weren’t your parents?! Why?! Goddamn it, Sterling! Am I that unimportant to you?!”

“Of course not!” He said at once. “You’re the most important thing to me in the world, but… my parents… would never allow me to be with…” he didn’t finish.

“What? A middle class girl? An orphan girl?!” I shouted at his face. “You lied to me!”

“So have you! You and Antonio!” He shouted back.

“I told you about it! At least I had the decency to tell you, but I have no idea for how long you’ve been lying to me! All this time you’ve been doing ‘family shit’ you’ve been with Cruella! How could you do that to me?!”

“Sterling,” a voice came from my right.

I looked over and saw a very pretty woman. She had light brown hair and eyes. Her dress was beautiful and she was beautiful.

“Mother,” Sterling said in a tight voice. I looked over to her again. That was his mother. The woman I met was more plain than that. I should’ve known. Why didn’t I see it?!

His mother looked at me like I had the plague and ignored me completely.

“Come back inside, you’ve left Cruella alone, and that is impolite.”

“I will, I just need to finish something, Mother,” Sterling glanced at me.

His mother did too. “You’re the one that dropped that tray of glass. Magdalene is so displeased with you.”

Magdalene must be Mrs. Bulrush.

“Why are you talking to the help, Sterling? Do you know her?”

There was that tension. Would he tell her? I looked at Sterling and saw the hesitance in his eyes. He looked back and forth between his mother and I. It only made me more pissed. I turned to his mother.

“Ma’am, we just go to the same school, and he was asking me about the psychology project. We don’t know each other,” I said in a very tight tone. I was holding back my venom. It wasn’t her fault her son was liar.

I turned my back to them and walked back into the ballroom. Antonio was cleaning up my mess, and the guests were already occupied with something else. I walked up to him. He noticed me and saw my watery eyes. I hugged him. I hugged him tightly.

“Can we go? Please, I’m begging you, let’s get the hell out of here,” I told him.

“Eddy, what’s wrong?”

“Eddy,” Sterling’s voice came. I pulled from the hug and watched as Antonio and Sterling came face to face. “I need to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to talk to you,” I hissed at him. “Leave me alone, we’re over.”

Sterling took my arm to pull me aside, but Antonio caught my other arm.

“She doesn’t want to go anywhere with you,” Antonio warned him with narrowed eyes.

“This isn’t any of your damn business, Wessington, this is between me and my girlfriend!”

“Ex-girlfriend,” I corrected immediately.

I didn’t like the hurt in his eyes.

“I said we’re over, Sterling,” I made sure my voice told him that it was true. I took my arm back from Sterling. Antonio removed his hand, but I grabbed his and pulled him. I didn’t care if we weren’t going to get paid. I just needed to leave. I needed to get away.

Antonio didn’t say a word as we left. He brought his car this time and we were on our way back home in less than ten minutes. I just broke down in his car. I hugged my knees and just cried.

I screamed too. I would scream whenever I was extremely mad. I was mad, sad, hurt, and just plain depressed.

Antonio continued to remain quiet and I would thank him, had not my sobs drown anything I wanted to say.

How could I had been so stupid? Why would Sterling do that? Did I mean that little to him? I just wanted to go back there and kick his ass in front of his parents and tell them that his son had been dating a middle class girl with no parents. I wanted to see their faces when they find out his son was an asshole!

We were close to my home when I stopped crying.

Antonio stopped the car a block from my house.

He turned off the car.

“What happened?”

“I broke up with Sterling,” I said in a ‘duh’ tone.

“I mean, why? Why did you break up with him?”

“He lied to me. His mother and father… aren’t the ones I met a couple of months ago, he paid some actors to pretend to be his parents!” I banged the headboard. “And then in the eyes of his real parents he’s still with Cruella. They don’t even know about me! All this time he was doing family stuff he was out with Cruella pretending to be together. Or… he was pretending to be with me… I don’t know! I just… I just… want to disappear.”

“I’m going to kick his ass,” Antonio growled. “How could he do that to YOU?! Doesn’t he know what he has?! Fuck! I should go back and kick his ass!”

“He’s not worth it.”

“But you are!” Antonio said.

I looked over to him and saw the anger burning his blue eyes.

“Should I be mad? I mean, I did cheat on him too,” I spoke after a while.

“It isn’t the same, you told him the truth and if you weren’t there tonight he would’ve never told you,” Antonio pointed out.

“I would’ve rather never found out,” I said truthfully. “My head hurts, my body hurts, and my heart… God, it feels so shattered. I haven’t been this hurt since… my parents.”

“You would’ve rather lived a lie?” Antonio asked.

I chuckled humorlessly. “You’re right. I can’t believe I broke up with him. Did I do the right thing?”

“Yes,” he said at once. “You should get some sleep.”

“I don’t want to go home and explain to my aunt Grace what happened, Mrs. Bulrush probably already called her complaining how we bailed,” I sighed deeply.

“Let’s go to my place, then, I’m sure my mom won’t mind,” he turned back his car.

My silence told him I agreed. He parked in front of his house. We got out. It was only ten at night. We got inside and Jean and Joseph attacked Antonio. I laughed for real this time.

“Eddy, how good to see you,” Patty smiled and hugged me. “Have you been crying?”

“Break ups suck,” I muttered.

“You broke up with your boyfriend?!” Jean exclaimed happily. “Now you can be with my brother!”

“It doesn’t work that way, honey,” Patty told her daughter. “She has to be over that awful boy that broke her heart.”

“Mom, can she stay over?” Antonio asked.

“As long as her aunt is okay with it,” Patty smiled.

“She is,” I lied. “I told her already.”

“Okay then, are you two hungry?”

“Starving.” I told her with a smile.