One More Night

I had returned to Philly two days after sleeping with Jeff. I had spent the remainder of my trip with him. But after spending so much time with him, I could finally answer the question he asked me. I was scared of the whole idea of marriage, but I was ready to marry Claude. I wasn't planning on even mentioning that I had seen Jeff to Claude when I got home. Apparently he had other ideas about that.

"What the fuck Roxy!" I heard him shout from the bedroom as soon as I walked into the apartment. I dropped my bags on the floor and rolled my eyes.

"What? What did I do?" I called after him. I heard him come storming down the hall. He wore a look of rage. His curly ginger hair was disheveled, he was wearing sweatpants, and an old gym shirt.

"Its not what you did, its who!" He snapped at me.

"Excuse me?" I shouted while walking after him. He rounded the corner into the kitchen. He walked up to the laptop on the counter and started typing like a mad man. "Answer me Claude! What the hell does that mean?" He stopped typing and turned the computer towards me. My eyes went wide as I stared at a scene that I was all too familiar with.

It was a picture. Not just any picture. I was kissing Jeff at a bar. Claude pressed the arrow key and another picture appeared. This one was when Jeff and I were getting in the car. The next picture I saw was Jeff and I kissing in front of his house. The house was clearly his house in L.A. I was in deep shit.

"I am done Roxy. This back and forth with him is killing me. I can't do this anymore. I am fucking tired of being second to him!" Claude yelled before rushing down the hall.

"Where are you going?" I was following close behind him.

"Get out! I don't want to be with you anymore." I took a deep breath and continued into the bedroom.

"I will not get out. We have to talk about this. I am your fiance."

"You don't fucking act like it!"

"Marriage terrifies me! I know that does not in any way justify what I did, but please hear me out." I sat on the edge of the bed. He sighed and stood facing the window.

"Fine, I will listen."

"I am a horrible person. I shouldn't have done what I did, I know that. I was so stressed with the wedding, which is a horrible excuse. I wasn't myself at that time. I went to talk to him, and I only had intentions of talking to him. But then he asked me if I was scared of marriage or just marrying you." I stopped talking for a moment to look at him. He still had his back to me. "It was the biggest mistake of my life, and I will regret it for the rest of my days. But I'm not scared of marriage anymore. It was never you, just marriage. my parents had a destructive marriage. But I realized that me and you aren't my parents. Jeff and I on the other hand, we act like my parents did at the starts. We all how that turned out."

"What do you want from me?" He asked, finally turning to face me.

"I want you to know, that I am a broken, terrible person. But I am not leaving, I will not give up on this. I am your person, and that is not changing." He stood and stared at me for five minutes.

"Do you love him? At all?" He asked in a low, strained voice. I shook my head.

"Not one bit. He is poison for me." He chuckled.

"He is a terrible influence. But you aren't broken, it was a mistake. I trust that it will never happen again because I believe you. Don't be stressed about the wedding, I am going to help you." I nodded my head and stood up. I walked to him and wrapped my arms around him.

"I am so sorry." The tears started flowing.

"Hey, don't cry baby." He kissed my forehead and pulled me close. "Shhhh, its okay. I forgive you." He rocked me back and forth as I sobbed.

"I am never speaking to him or seeing him again." Claude didn't say anything. He just smashed his lips on mine and showed me that pulled me to the bed. Where he proved, he was much better than Jeff could ever be for me.