The Other Side Of The Lies. Callie Ansar
here until you guys get back.”
“Ok sweetie,” she softly said.
I went in my duffle and grabbed a pair of shorts and hurried to put them on before Danny came out of the bathroom. I plopped on my bed and watched Lauri as she fixed her hair and put on a little makeup.
“So tell me what that bitch said to you,” Lauri said as she blew herself a kiss in the mirror.
“Nothing I didn’t already know, Lau. She called me a skank and said that I was trying to bang her boyfriend. Then Ramsey went off on her. And then she called me a loser and told me that Ramsey would never like a girl like me, and that I was a joke to him,” I painfully told her.
When she was finished fussing with herself, she came and lay next to me on my bed. “Karen, you are beautiful and smart and funny and anyone would be lucky to have you love them. Just because David couldn’t see that doesn’t mean anyone else won’t. You are not a loser. You are good enough, for anyone.” Lauri went on to explain, “She’s the loser, Karen. She’s so pathetic when it comes to Ramsey. He found out that she had been cheating on him for months with this guy from Pinekill, he’s actually a pitcher too, just like Ramsey. Well, he broke up with her and she lost it. She just wanted to have her cake and eat it too. He was heartbroken, but never showed her that and that is what pissed her off the most.” She continued, “Honestly, that’s why I asked him to hang out with you. He’s been where you are and I thought he could help. I really didn’t even think something as bad as Nicole would happen. I’m so sorry, Karen.”
“Don’t be sorry, Lau, it’s not your fault. It’s nobody’s fault. It’s just another vacation ruined because I’m just not good enough for guys. You know the messed up thing about the whole situation, besides that girl crushing me? I was actually having a really good time with Ramsey. I felt like we were connecting in some way. I guess I was wrong about that too,” I said as Danny finally emerged from the bathroom, a cloud of steam following him.
He was fully dressed and whistled at Lauri. “Looking good girl. Let’s go eat, I’m starving,” he said as he walked over to the dresser and grabbed his wallet. He was putting it in his pocket when he asked, “Coming with us, Karen?”
“Thanks Danny, but I’m just gonna hang here and take a shower. I need to cool down after that confrontation.”
“Ok, so we’ll see you later then,” he said as he grabbed Lauri’s hand and helped her off of the bed.
“Karen, we’ll finish this conversation later. I’ll bring us back some wine coolers. See you in about an hour,” Lauri said as she kissed my cheek before they left the room.
As soon as they left, I went to the door to lock the deadbolt. I closed all of the curtains and began to take off my clothes before heading into the bathroom. I let the water run in the shower for a few seconds to make sure it was nice and hot. Once the temperature was where I wanted it to be, I hopped in. The water felt great as it washed the tears off of my face. I washed and conditioned my hair and even shaved my legs. I stayed in the shower for a while, just standing there, hoping the water would wash away my misery. Unfortunately, showers don’t do that.
I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a way too small towel around my body. As I emerged from the bathroom, there was a knock at the door, which scared the shit out of me.
I assumed that it was Lauri or Danny not being able to get in because I locked the deadbolt. But what if it was Nicole? My heart began to race. I slowly walked over to the door as someone continued to knock, and I peered into the peep hole. It was Ramsey. “Oh God, what do I do?” I whispered to myself.
“Karen, I know you’re in there. Open the door, I have your stuff,” he said through the door. My stuff. Shit, I completely forgot about my stuff. I needed my stuff, so I had to let him in.
Forgetting that all I was wearing was a towel that wouldn’t cover a toddler properly, I opened the door. I stood behind the door as I cracked it open, just wide enough so he could let himself in. As soon as he was in, I closed the door.
He wasn’t facing me when he said, “Well, Kid, you didn’t have to go to all of this trouble for me,” referring to the candles that had been lit by Danny and Lauri.
“Believe me, I didn’t,” I answered and he turned around at the sound of my voice.
When he set his eyes on me, they grew as big as his smile. His mouth dropped open when he said, “Well, you didn’t have to do that for me either.”
“Oh believe me, I didn’t,” I answered again, just standing there.
He exhaled. “So, here’s your stuff. Why don’t you put this towel on? It will probably cover you better,” he said as he handed me my beach towel. I guess Nicole was right. He wasn’t interested in me and handing me a towel to cover myself up proved it.
“Thanks,” I said as I wrapped the towel over the smaller one already on me. “I appreciate you bringing my stuff back. I completely forgot about it.”
There were a few seconds of silence. Awkward silence.
I spoke again and said, “Ok, so thanks again. I’m gonna get dressed now. See you later.” I wasn’t mad at Ramsey and I don’t know why it bothered me so much that Nicole told me he wasn’t interested in me, but it did. And that made me not want to be around him.
“I’ll wait out here while you change,” he said.
“Wait for what?” my attitude now coming out.
“Karen we need to talk about what happened down there. And you broke your promise to me.”
“Refresh my memory.”
“You promised you wouldn’t cry for the rest of the day, and you did.”
Attitude in full effect now, I said, “The promise wasn’t broken. I wasn’t crying because of David. I was crying because your girlfriend was a completely awful to me.”
“Ex,” he said.
“My apologies, your ex girlfriend,” I said.
He laughed. “Touché, Kid. Touché. Come on seriously, can we please talk?” He looked sincere as he looked at me, draped in layers of towels while my hair dripped water droplets onto the floor.
“Ok, stay here. I’ll go in the bathroom and change.”
I grabbed my duffle and headed in the bathroom. Heart racing once again, I scrambled to put something on, anything on. Not wanting to empty the contents of my bag onto the disgusting bathroom floor, I grabbed the first thing I could, which was a black bikini. I quickly put it on and then reached in and grabbed out my purple sundress. I was just hanging out in my room, so who the hell did I need to impress?
I ran a pick through my hair and left it down. I had gotten a lot of color that day and it was more predominant after my shower. I didn’t really need much makeup, so I swiped some mascara over my lashes and put a quick coat of gloss on my lips.
I gave myself a once over in the mirror and headed out into the other room. Ramsey was sitting back in the tweed chair, puffing on a cigarette. “Have a seat,” he said as he exhaled and motioned to the second ugly chair that sat across the table from where he was seated.
I sat down and grabbed a cigarette out of the open box he left on the table. Before I could reach for the lighter, his arm was extended in front of me, with the lighter at the tip of my cigarette. I slowly inhaled and said, “Thank you,” as I exhaled and the smoke came out of my mouth.
“Plan on going swimming later?” he asked, clearly curious as to why I had on a bathing suit.
“Yeah, I’m meeting Nicole at the pool around 5:00 for a dip. Care to join?” I sarcastically answered.
He laughed and then said, “You look really pretty, Karen.”
“Don’t,” I snapped.
“Don’t what?