One More Night

"Claude can I talk to you about something?" Claude looked up from his bowl of oatmeal. He was sitting in front of the break feast island and I was standing behind it. I took a deep breathe. After staying up the whole night, I came to the final conclusion that I couldn't leave Claude, I liked him too much.

"Yes, baby. Whats going on?" I could sense the concern in his voice. It's the same kind of concern that Jeff used to show for me. The only difference is, I know Claude truly is concerned for me, it's still hard to say if Jeff ever was.

"I want to talk to you about my dad. Every time I try, you change the subject. But I care about you and I want you to know." Claude nodded his head. I paused for a moment taking a sip of my coffee, where to start? "He left when I was ten years old, most girls wouldn't be happy about their fathers leaving, but for me.... it was the best day of my life. My dad used to hit my mom almost every day, it was never to hard. But abuse is abuse. I hated him for it, I really don't think I ever loved him at all." I stopped for a minute as I felt a few tears fall from my eyes.

"Baby, come here." Claude gestured to his lap. I wiped my eyes and walked around the island and sat on his lap. He wrapped his arms around me and I melted against him.

"When I was eight, he started hitting me. My mom put make up on to cover my bruises. He stopped hitting me after a while but then he started pushing me and throwing things at me. After two long years, my mother and I were going to leave, but he left instead. We moved houses and started fresh. I haven't seen my father since then, and I never want to. He had wildly curly hair, and that's why I straighten my hair every morning, so I am nothing like him." By now I was full on crying. I don't really show emotions like this, because to me, crying makes you seem like you have a weakness.

"Shhh, baby its okay." Claude ran his hand through my hair while I cried. "You are nothing like him." After a while my tears stopped and I looked up at Claude. He was smiling at me like I was the only women in the world.

"Jeff is going to get traded isn't he?" Claude nodded his head and mumbled 'probably'. I nodded my head in response. "Good." I got up off of Claude's lap and walked down to the bedroom. I was in the bathroom getting ready when Claude walked in.

"Je t'aime beaucoup" was all I heard when I looked up at him. He flashed me his signature smile and my heart melted.

"I love you too." I responded before walking over to him and kissing him.

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"Jeff, you can come by later today if you want." Claude told Jeff as he walked out of the locker room.

"Why the fuck would I do that?" He shouted back.

"Roxy wants to see you." Was Claude's simple reply.

"I knew she still wanted me."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure" Claude said before smiling and walking away.

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I heard someone knocking on the door. I knew it was Jeff. Claude and I had talked about it this morning, I was going to give back the stuff Jeff keeps at my apartment. I didn't need it anymore, I had made up my mind and my heart belonged to Claude Giroux. I walked down the hall to see Claude and Jeff standing by the door. Neither of them were speaking to the other. I set the box down and stopped beside Claude.

"Jeff, I wanted you to come over here because I want to give you back the stuff you left here." He looked at me with pain in his eyes.

"Roxy, you are my best friend. What are you doing?"

"I'm not saying that we aren't friends any more, but I will not longer be some other fuck for you." I said trying to control all of the anger I had built up towards him.

"Is there anything else?" He asked while he picked up the box. I stood there in silence. I really didn't want to tell him this next part because I knew it was the nail in the coffin for our friendship.

"Tell him Roxy." Claude urged me to get to the point. I nodded my head.

"Claude and I are going to spend the summer together once the season is over, then in the fall we are going to move in together." I waited for Jeff to start yelling at me. But it never came, he actually didn't say anything. He just walked to the door and opened it. Once he was in the door way he turned around and looked at me.

"You were much more than just a fuck to me." He said before walking away without another word.