IRRITATING AFTERTASTE

“Nice job pulling over before I told you to,” the cop said with a straight face.

“Yeah, I made a mistake there, sorry,” I said, already knowing what I did wrong.

“Yeah, sorry, I ain’t going to cut it.” He said, bringing out a paper to write me a ticket.

“Here you go.” He said he was handing me a ticket.

“Alright, thank you. Can I go now?” I said I was already getting frustrated.

“You seem to be taking this lightly.” He said.

“Excuse me, am I supposed to cry and make you feel better? Don’t you have more work to do? I said I was going to pay; how many fucking times have you seen me run a red light for fucks sake?” I said In anger, I started my car and revved the engine.

“Lady, who the..." he was saying.

“What’s going on here?” Another cop intruded.

“Oh God, fuck my life,” I said, hoping for the ground to just swallow me whole.

“Oh, Miss Everglade.” The new cop said:

“Wait everglade.” The first cop said that as his eyes opened up in surprise and his lips broadened downward, they both looked at themselves in awkward silence.

Yeah, it was obvious; he knew he was fucked.

“Uh, we are so sorry, ma’am; we really didn’t know it was you.” He said it with guilt and anxiety written all over his face.

“I don’t have time for this,” I said shifting the gear and driving off.

5:19.

My heart bled from the pain, and my eyes hurt from the tears. I don’t even know how to feel at this point.

Why did they do this?

My chest tightens whenever I ask.

How?

My chest tightened even more, and my breath was short.

I am confused. I am so confused it hurts. I have been home for 3 hours now, and I have been crying helplessly.

I wish I could call for help, but I can’t. The one who I would normally call for help is...

“ouch,” I said softly, holding my chest in tears, trying to calm down. My heart feels like it's in my mouth.

My eyesight dwindled, I got dizzy, and I got tired.

“am I passing out.” I said as my eyes slowly closed.

DAY 2

My heart felt numb and I had no more tears to cry; my eye bags were so heavy they were visible.

The bastard still texts me and asks why I don’t reply as much, lol.

Someone, please explain to me why bad things happen in the middle of happy things.

Mireya? She was my sister.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh,” I screamed, flipping the sheets and throwing the pillows.

“my life is a joke,” I said, laughing, as tears fell from my eyes.

“I see, I guess I was too gullible, right? I guess I loved it too much.” I said, deepening my hands in my hair as I grabbed them firmly.

I will not forgive them for this; I swear on my life.

Three days later

I will be meeting with that bastard today; he called me earlier this morning, saying he misses me and wishes to see me.

Yeah right, I will go along with the plan.

I won’t say much; I don’t care at this point, I know I love him but I hate him more than I love him now, I wonder if I will be able to bear his sight without showing disgust.

3 hours later

"Hey, babe, I’m outside.” He said with a tone sprinkled with excitement.

"Okay,” I said plainly.

“Remember, this is just an act; hide your emotions and flow,” I said to myself before leaving the room.

“Hey,” I said, coming outside the main door.

He was sitting on the hood of his car, on his phone.

“There is my pretty, sexy queen.” He said it with a smile as he jumped off the hood and approached me.

Seriously, that’s the best you could do. How the fuck did I not see all of these things?

“How are you doing?” I replied with a fake smile, hiding my disgust.

“I’m good.” He replied, stretching his arms wide open as he gave me a hug, grabbing my ass in the process.

“Stop,” I said abruptly.

“Why?” He asked me, narrowing his eyebrows and moving his head to the side.

Fuck, I may have messed up here.

“My parents are around,” I whispered to him.

“Oh sh*t, my bad.” He said this as his eyes opened and his lower lip broadened, exposing his lower teeth.

“Oh, uh, okay, come in,” he said, rushing to open the door for me.

“Why didn’t you tell me they were over, babe?.” He said this as he drove outside the gate.

"Well, I am also surprised myself; they came yesterday night when I was asleep,” I said.

“Oh,” he replied.

“Yeah, I knew, because I saw all the workers already done with their duties by 4 a.m., and that is a phenomenon that happens when my parents are around,” I said to him:

“Oh.” He replied, nodding his head.

“Anywho, we are going to a beach house.” He said it with a smile.

Why a beach house?

Wait, what did he say he was going to do today?

“oh interesting,” I said it with an anxious smile, though he didn’t see it.

It took us 45 minutes to get there, and it was a pretty glamorous place with only a few people around.

Oh, I get it; it’s a private date.

“Aww,” I said as we entered the place.

This is just perfect; this is the perfect place to be done with all of this once and for all.

“Hey, hey.”

Oh fuck.

Sitting at our table was someone I really didn’t want to see, and now I am not sure I can hide my disgust.

I put on a fake smile after a brief moment of shock.

“Hey, sissss,” Mireya said, jumping up in excitement to come give me a hug.

I also pretended to be excited to give her a hug back.

“Been a while for real.” She said this, holding my hands.

“Yeah, we haven’t seen since the trip with my parents,” I said to her.

“right!!though, I missed you.” She said she was holding my hand and walking with me to our table.

“Hey, Mateo.” She said as her voice changed to be slightly soft, her smile reduced to an obvious but not-so-obvious smirk.

Wait, huh, wow, wow, now I get it, I have heard this tone change a lot so this is what it meant, huh?

“what sup, Mireya?” He replied with a smile, extending his hand for a handshake.

We walked to the table and sat as I hid my disgust behind awkward smiles and fake laughs.

We chose a Meal from the menu and as it was cooking, they brought in the appetizers.

“so what’s the plan for the festival tour, You know, we have been planning this for a month.” Mireya said, looking at me.

“Oh well, I think we've finalized all we need,” I said, raising my eyebrows and looking at them both.

“Well yeah, but I've got something to add,” Mateo replied, dropping his phone.

Well, that’s rare. Mateo rarely drops his phone; it's not like he doesn’t talk, but as he does, he is always replying to someone, watching videos, or doing something like that.

“So imagine this...” he was talking as my attention shifted to Mireya, who was clearly interested in all he had to say. With her hand on the table, she rested her jaw on her palm.

The way she was watching him brought back flashes of them on top of each other.

I feel irritated; I can’t take this.

She still had stuff to eat right in front of her, but it was less important. Because she was busy biting her lips as her eyes focused on his every move, his words captured her attention, and her nods confirmed it.

My irritation grew, but my smile grew with it.

“you get it right,” he said at the end.

“yeah, yeah, I do; I agree,” I said with a smile

Bullshit, I hate this, I feel sick, and I think I will throw up.

Yeah, I don’t think anymore; I know I will if I spend even a second more here.

“excuse me, I need to use the restroom," I said, standing up and rushing out of their presence.

As I got closer and closer to the restroom, my vision blurred and I could feel myself about to shoot out vomit.

“barf..” I let it all out on the sink, I don’t feel good for real, I haven’t eaten for 3 days now, I guess that’s why I am like this.

"Bullshit,” I said as I stared at myself in the mirror, I know very well why I puked, I know very well that this is all their fault, I don’t care at this point, I am done pretending I can’t take this, I don’t deserve this, I will go out there and they will answer my questions.