Girl I Know

Stormy spent the better part of the day with Sydney upstairs trying to help her with the surprise she wanted to give Matt for his birthday. While Stormy loved her sister, this was going to be hilarious at best. Sydney had no grace and no matter how Stormy tried to help her, Sydney clearly wasn’t cut out for this. Lucky for her, Matt was a very understanding husband.

When the buses had arrived Sydney practically flew down the hall and down the staircase to greet her husband. She was so excited that if she had wings she would have used the window.

Stormy stood by the window and watched as her soon to be ex husband got off the bus. Her hand covered her mouth when she took sight of his appearance. He looked haggard. On his face he’d grown a scruffy beard and he looked like he could barely walk on his own without help. Clearly, he was drunk.

Zacky and Jimmy helped Brian inside the house and brought him straight up to Matt’s guest room so he could get some sleep before the party. Johnny picked up Dreamer and spun her around in his arms while she laughed as Riley stood by his side. Everyone was happy, everyone except Stormy and Brian.

For the remainder of the day Sydney walked around with Matt like she was a lovesick teenager. She never left Matt’s side and he didn’t seem to mind either. He missed her as much as she missed him.

Stormy had gone down to the basement to get ready for the party and everyone else retreated to their rooms as well to do the same. All Stormy could think about was Brian and how it hurt her to see him that way. How it hurt her even more that he was in the house for the night and not sharing the same bed with her. Sydney had planned a Monte Carlo themed party for Matt and everyone was to dress accordingly. What else would be the theme for her favorite gambler?

The Party…

There were tables set up all along the living room with everything from Black Jack to Roulette. Sydney had hired dealers and people to walk around serving drinks. Everyone had started to arrive and the party was off to a great start.

When Sydney walked Matt into the living room he laughed at the sight before him. There were girls walking around handing out cigars and cigarettes. Cocktail waitresses in cute little outfits passing out drinks and Dealers already in the midst of a few games.

“You did this?” he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Yes, all by myself!” she said proudly. “come and see your birthday cake!” she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him over to the table that held the cake. It was designed to look like a roulette wheel. “That’s brilliant” he laughed and kissed his wife on the lips.

“Now, over there” she pointed to a table with a man standing behind it. “You can go get chips and play whatever game you like, but I have one special chip just for you” she handed him the gold chip and he looked down at and back at her. “What’s this for?” he asked with one eyebrow raised. “You can cash that in at the end of the night for a very special surprise”

He smiled again. “Ok”

“Go! Have fun! It’s your party!”

“Ok, I’m going!” She watched her husband walk off to collect his chips and was happy with herself and what she had managed to accomplish.

When Stormy walked into the room she caught sight of Jimmy and walked over to see what he was doing to make the person behind the table look at him so strangely.

“Jimmy? What are you up to?” Stormy asked.

“Nothin” he had the same grin as a cat that just at the canary.

“are you playing roulette?”

“Yes” he smiled again and watched as the man put the marble sized ball in the wheel and spun it. Jimmy grabbed the ball and put it in his pocket. She bit her bottom lip and shook her head.

“how many of those do you have in your pocket?” she asked with a light laugh in her voice.

“I dunno” he shrugged.

“Jimmy give the nice man the balls back”

“Oh ok!” he pulled out a handful of balls out of his pocket and put them back on the table.

“Jimmy!”

“What it was funny” he shrugged again and went off in search of his wife. Stormy laughed again and turned around coming face to face with Brian.

“Hi” she said as he glared at her. He looked as if he hadn’t slept in a very long time. His face was still unshaven.

“Brian say something”

“What do you want me to say?” Obviously he was still angry with her for giving him divorce papers.

“Anything, just stop looking at me like that. Please” she begged for any sign from him that he didn’t want the divorce, but he just shook his head and walked away leaving her devastated yet again.

Zacky, Johnny, Lyric and Blade had been playing Texas Holdem when Blade caught sight of Melody as she walked into the living room and over to her aunt.

“Sorry, I’m late. Did I miss the cake?”

“Nope. How’s the new place?”

“Peaceful. I’ve been getting a lot of work done for my line.”

“Hey kiddo” Matt said from behind her, but she folded her arms and wouldn’t answer him.

“Ah you’re mad at me, I forgot.” He set his hands on her hips and she knew what was coming next.

“Don’t you dare” she warned.

“Don’t I dare what?” and before she could answer she was up in the air being spun around like a helicopter.

“Put me down!”

“Nope. Not till you tell me you love me” that was fun when she was five and she begged him to do it back then.

“Ok I love you, but you’re going to make me puke!” she warned.

He set her down on the ground and she punched him in the arm. “That was mean!” she said.

“Yes, but it worked. Now I think there’s someone else here who would like to be put out of his misery” Matt turned her in the direction of the bar where her father was standing.

“I cant”

“Please, he’s miserable and he’s been drinking himself stupid. Just do me this one favor?”

“after what you guys did to me?”

“Melody, I know we fucked up and I promise we’ll ALL make it up to you”

She put her hands on her hips and looked over at Blade who was looking right at her. “Sorry, but you can’t make this up to me, ever” She walked away from him and went over to the bar and sat down next to her father. He knew she was sitting next to him, but he didn’t say anything. She took the drink out of his hand and sipped it.

“I fuckin hate parties” she said just before the glass met her lips.

“Me too” he nodded and took the drink out of her hand

“Nothing but happy people walking around like they all drank the kool-aid”

“Yup” he nodded again.

She grabbed the glass out of his hand again and sipped it once more. He looked at her as if to say what the fuck?

“The only good think about parties is cake”

“only if it’s chocolate” he replied and yanked his drink back from her.

“I wonder if Matt’s cake is chocolate” she looked at her father and he looked over at Matt and back at her.

“Sydney will kill you” he warned.

“You want some cake?” she asked and he just nodded and watched her get up and go get the cake and bring it back to the bar. She grabbed to forks and handed him one.

“It better be good” she said and stuck her for in it. “You’re in luck, it’s chocolate.”

“You aren’t supposed to be eating that you know”

“Dad, I’m not going to die from one bite of cake” she sighed and put her fork down.

“more for me” he grinned.

“You know, I could forget what happened if you could just make her smile again”

“What?” Brian stopped with his fork in mid air.

“Mom. She’s unhappy. Doesn’t come out of her room anymore. She says is all she has left of you.”

“She wanted the divorce, Melody”

“No she didn’t” Melody shook her head. “She wanted you.”

“Um confuse Daddy much?” he said as he put his fork down and refilled his glass.

“You know, it’s a girl thing. She never thought you would sign the papers. She expected you to be upset, but she also expected you to put up a fight and fight for her.”

“How do you know that?”

“Duh! I’m a girl. Please Dad? She loves you and I know you love her. Don’t let our family fall apart. You can fix it” she was practically begging him.

“If I talk to your mother will you stop hating me?”

“I don’t hate you, I just don’t like you very much right now”

He nodded “I guess I deserve that” he picked up his drink and sipped from the glass again. “I’ll think about it, ok?”

“Ok”

“Is that my husband’s birthday cake?” Sydney stood in front of the two of them with her hands on her hips and both Melody and Brian shook their heads no.

“What is it with you people and cake?” she walked away in a huff and left them there laughing at the thought of Matt and Jimmy dropping the wedding cake at Seven and Legend’s wedding.

“Well, I’m going to go gamble” she said jumping up off the stool.

“Stay away from the alcohol” he warned.

She rolled her eyes and spotted the table where she was going to have a little fun at someone else’s expense.

“So, you come here often?”

“Yeah sure all the time” Dante teased as she sat down next to him and waited for the dealer to give her some cards.

Meanwhile……

“That motherfucker” Blade whispered under his breath while he watched Melody and Dante chatting at the black jack table.

“Um do I need to remind you that she’s fair game now?” It was Lyric who had the nerve to rub it in Blade’s face.

“Fair game?”

“Yeah, and it’s your fault!” Lyric folded and threw his cards down.

“I can always count on you to remind me of my many fuck ups” He glared at Lyric and turned his gaze back to Melody who was laughing at something Dante said.

“I guess you’re going to be an even bigger asshole now and let him move in on your girl”

“She’s not my girl”

“Bullshit!” Lyric pointed to Melody with his beer. “She’s only sitting over there with him because she wants you to believe she’s happy without you. It’s that thing that girls do. They can be nasty little fucks when they want to”

“Yeah, well that doesn’t mean I don’t want to knock his teeth out”

“Well don’t. He’s an innocent bystander. She’s got her own place now ya know”

“What?”

“Yeah, moved out on her own. Even got one of the local stores to carry some of her shirts”

“Whatever. It’s over between us”

Lyric nodded. “Sure it its. You keep telling yourself that”
--
Downstairs

Stormy wasn’t in the mood to party anymore. She’d retreated back to her apartment and went to bed hoping that she would fall asleep fast, but every time she closed her eyes she saw his face.

She stirred and turned over and when she opened her eyes she saw his face just as she did when she closed them. He was standing in the doorway of their room.

“The pole is gone?”

“It’s on loan, it will be back tomorrow” she said never taking her head off of his pillow which she had claimed as her own in the time he had been gone.

“Why aren’t you at the party?”

“I fuckin hate parties”

He smiled at the though of his daughter reciting those very words upstairs.

“Me too” he nodded.

“I don’t suppose you want to stay here with me?”

He walked over to the bed and sat on the edge and took off his shoes and then his shirt. She moved over so he could get in beside her. She rested her head on his chest and he put his arms around her. They stayed like that without another word to each other.
--

Matt & Sydney’s room

Syd opened the door to the bedroom and Matt walked in not knowing what to expect. When he saw the stripper pole in the middle of the room he looked at her and grinned.

“Go sit down while I change!” she was more excited then he was, but the poor guy had no idea what he was about to get himself into.

He walked over and sat on the bed while she went into the bathroom to change. When she finally did open the door she was wearing a white tuxedo shirt that came down to her knees, a tie that was undone and very high stripper heels that she also borrowed from her sister. He watched her walk over to the ipod deck and turn on the music.

When the music started he sat and watched as she walked over to the pole and nearly tripped. He bit his bottom lip so as not to laugh. She was so awkward, but she did the best she could to move around the pole without killing herself. When she undid the first button on her shirt she tried the hair flip but smacked the back of her head on the pole.

Matt was trying so hard to stay composed, but she had heart and kept on going. Her heels were way too high for her and she knew it, not to mention she had two left feet when it came to dancing. Stormy did all she could to help her, but Sydney just wasn’t a dancer. Syd tried twirling around the pole, but ended up getting tangled in her shirt. She tried to play it off as if that was supposed to happen by undoing another button, but Matt was seconds away from cracking up.

“Syd? You can stop now” he said politely not wanting to hurt her feelings.

“I’m not done yet!” she protested and tried to swing around the pole again but ended up flat on her ass. She sat there defeated and folded her arms with a look on her face like she was about to cry.

Matt smiled at her and got up off the bed and knelt down on the floor where she sat.

“I wanted to do this for you. I even asked Stormy to help me.”

“I think you did better than any stripper ever”

“really?”

“no, but I love you”

She laughed and he reached for her ankle and untied the straps on her shoe. When he got the first one off he reached for the other and did the same.

“Now that you have those walking death traps off your feet. Lets just go to bed” He lifted her up off the floor and brought her back to the bed where he set her down. When he’d undressed, he got into the bed and kissed her. “That was the best birthday present ever” he smiled.

“No, it wasn’t. I sucked”

“Yeah, you did, but I loved it anyway” he kissed her lips and she kissed him back relishing in the moment knowing that her husband was leaving again tomorrow.