Good Enough

“JD! I know it’s you!” My body tensed, not from the familiar voice, but from the look Bryden was giving the guy I knew stood behind me.

“Hey, Seth.” Begrudgingly, I turned to face the boy who was calling out to me. I put on my best smile and watched as the face from my past strolled, unknowingly, towards the confrontation I was having with my boyfriend. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the guy, I did. We had some good times back in Vegas. But, now was absolutely not a good time for memory lane.

“How’ve you been? I haven’t seen you since senior year.” He pulled me from my chair into one of his infamous bear hugs. The comforting familiarity of it had me instantly returning the embrace.

“Well, that’s what happens when you graduate and never look back.”

“So, what are you up to? Are you still modeling? How’s M&M?”

“No, I’m not modeling. Just moved out here. Mia’s good. She has a photography job out here.” Remembering that I wasn’t here alone, I caught the aggravated look on Bryden’s face and I knew I was in deep shit. “By the way, this is my boyfriend, Bryden.”

If I didn’t know better, I might have been worried Bry would punch me, but instead he stood up and offered his hand to Seth. I could tell it wasn’t a friendly encounter. Bryden had stood up to size Seth up and decide if he could take him. Seth had been on the football team at school, but Bryden was tall and working the ranch had improved his naturally muscled build.

I stood nodding and trying to smile as I watched the two boys silently compete. It was a little bit ridiculous. I hadn’t seen Seth since he graduated three years ago after my sophomore year. Really, this guy had been good to me back at school. I won’t lie. Beta house was my place for more than just the parties. And Seth had looked out for me and Mia back then. He was like the best guy friend I had that year. And I may or may not have slept with him.

“Nice to meet you Bryden.” Seth’s grip looked painful on Bryden’s hand, but his words seemed genuine.

“You too. How do you know Jacqui?” Bryden lied through his teeth as he prodded information out of the guy whose hand he still had in a vice grip.

“Oh, I met her back at school. Her and M&M were frequent guests of Beta house. As the president, I made sure they were taken care of.”

Oh dear God.

“Is that right? Jacqui did say Beta house was the best.” Another lie. I never talked to him about school.

“Oh, it was easily the best house on campus. Always had the best parties and the most attractive ladies. Hey, JD. Do you remember the Luau right before spring break?”

“Of course. That shit was legendary.” I couldn’t help the reaction when he brought up the night Mia and I had caused a few of the girlfriends of the house to actually leave because of how much we flirted with the Beta boys. My face immediately fell when I saw Bryden’s scowl.

“This girl instigated the girlfriend boycott of 2010. She pissed off five of the house’s girlfriends so badly that they wouldn’t talk to their boyfriends for a month. It was epic.”

“To be fair, they were sluts anyway.”

“Why do you think the guys were dating them?”

Suddenly it seemed Seth no longer cared about competing with Bryden. Apparently the compliment and the nostalgia meant that Bryden was alright in Seth’s book. Clasping a hand on Bryden’s shoulder, Seth looked like he might actually leave, but stopped.

“Hey, you’re that new artist that just signed with Warner Records, right?”

“Yes.” It sounded almost like a question. Bryden was skeptical of Seth, I knew.

“Dude, I took my girlfriend to one of your shows in Laguna Hills a few months ago. You’re legit. When’s your stuff coming out?”

“Single’s out tomorrow. The album will probably come out around Christmas.”

“No shit! I’ll have to see if she knows. She’s got a little crush on you, I think.” Seth nudged Bryden with his elbow jokingly. If I didn’t know what was going on I might have thought they were old friends. “Well, obviously I interrupted something, so I’ll let you get back to your meal. You got a good girl here.”

“Yes, I’m starting to see that.” The sarcasm made me cringe. I gave Seth a hug and watched as he left while Bryden once again took his seat. I looked down at the most interesting freckle on my hand, trying hard not to look back at Bryden’s face.

“Beta house, huh?” His voice held the irritation. “Seems like I was pretty on target with everything.”

“Damn it, Bryden. What do you want from me?”

“I want to know you’re in this. I don’t want to have to fight off guys for you. And I definitely don’t want to have encounters like that.”

“Bryden, I have a past. You know I do. And a lot of it is pretty fucked up. I’m sorry if you don’t like it. But to be honest, you really don’t have any right to get on my case about it.”

“Don’t I? You say you never got over me, yet I keep getting the idea that you tried awfully hard.”

“Damn right I did. You broke my fucking heart. And I had every right to try to get over you.” I stopped before my voice got too loud and sighed, looking at him. “Bryden, I told you that I tried to get over you. You know how messed up I got. Why do you expect there to be a switch I can flip to make everything okay?”

“I don’t. I know it’s not going to change overnight. I know that you have a past. But that doesn’t make this easy for me.”

“And this is easy for me?”

“I didn’t say that. Shit, Jacqui. You wanted to know what I was feeling, this is it. I’m jealous. I’m jealous of every guy you looked at over the last five years. I’m jealous that there are people like Seth who know you better than I do. I’m jealous that other guys think about you. I’m fucking jealous.”

“And what am I supposed to do about that?”

“I don’t know.” His voice now sounded completely dejected. He didn’t have any fight left in him.

“Seth is a good guy, you know.”

“What does that matter?”

“You said you were jealous that people like Seth know me better than you. He’s a good guy. He really did look out for me. He made sure I didn’t party too hard. Made sure I got to my classes. He was like my big brother.”

“Really? So the guy who was like your big brother—did he see you naked?” His voice wasn’t angry. It was pained. I didn’t respond. He knew the answer.

I picked up my fork and poked at the pasta on the plate in front of me. I hadn’t touched it and it was getting cold, but I wasn’t hungry anymore. I took a few bites and had the waiter box it up for me simply claiming I was feeling sick. Bryden hadn’t finished his food either and while I knew he wouldn’t eat the leftovers, his food was also boxed up.

Neither one of us spoke as Bryden paid the tab and we walked out to the car. He still opened my door for me but when he took his seat behind the wheel, the radio was the only sound to fill the car.

The fifteen minute drive back to my house seemed to take a year. The music was soft and gentle, but it couldn’t ease the awkward tension in the car. How did the night start out so nice and end so terribly?

When we pulled up, Bryden came around and opened the door before walking me to the house. He was mad, but he was still a gentleman at heart. On the front step, I turned to him, but he seemed very interested in his shoes.

As much as I wanted to run into the house and forget this night ever happened, but I knew I couldn’t. Not only would Mia cut off my head, I couldn’t leave this night like this.

I placed my hand in his and held it until he looked at me. A small smile rested on my lips as I felt him squeeze my hand.

“We have a lot to talk about, but not tonight.” He nodded slowly. “You have your interview in the morning. Do you want me to go with you?”

“No, it’s at 7:30. You’ll burst into flames if you leave the house before nine.” I let out a small laugh. We may have some serious issues to work out, but he still had the power to make me smile.

“No doubt Mia will wake me up, so I’ll be listening.”

He leaned down and placed a small kiss to my lips before walking back to his car. I walked into the house and leaned back on the door. A sigh left my lips as my head fell back into the door.

I knew my past would come back to bite me in the ass, but I didn’t think it would be this bad. He was jealous. And maybe it was my fault.