Women And the Demons Who Love Them

Bad At Love-4

Halsey- Bad At Love

Chapter Four: This Just Got Awkward

    Evan spotted him before I parked my car. She began to howl out for him. It got the attention a few people not just Oliver. Malcolm kept telling her to shut the hell up, which only served to make her bark at him like a rebellious teenager arguing with her older sibling. I just laughed. 

    "Hey," Oliver said coming over to us with Brutus prancing next to him. He had put a muzzle on him but he's still a very elegant dog. Evan had jumped out the window and was hanging by her harness kicking her front legs out wildly while I tried to get her loose. "Need some help?" 

    "Can you hold her?" I asked taking the clip off. As soon as her feet hit the ground she went over to them He laughed crouching down in front of him as I got her leash loose and clipped it on her harness. 

    "She's f*****g nuts," Malcolm said pushing the door angrily.

    "She's just smitten with her doctor," I said when she came over to me. "Leave her alone," 

    "Dumb dog," he said crossing his arm. I laughed. 

    "Oliver this is Malcolm. My brother. Mal this is Oliver, Evan's vet," they shook hands. 

    "Come on, I'll introduce you guys," he said motioning us to follow him. 

    "Oh, my god. You were not kidding. She's gorgeous," a woman shouted when she saw us approaching. Evan obviously knew they were talking about her because she approached the woman her tail wagging back and forth happily. "Look at you. You're a little princess. Yes, you are," 

    "This is Kelly," Oliver laughed as the woman cooed at Evan.

    "My wife," Tyler laughed coming over to us. 

    "Hi, I'm Lannyesville. This is my brother. Malcolm," 

    "Sup," Mal said awkwardly waving at them. 

    "Lannyesville?" she said looking up at me. "I thought the guys were making that up. I need proof of this," 

    "I have my I.D. That's really my name," I said reaching for my wallet. I took it out and handed it to her. 

    "Oh, my god. You have to have the coolest name ever! Lannyesville Halestorm," my heart skipped. 

    "What?" I asked reaching for it. It was my old Kansas driver's license. Why hadn't I tossed this out? 

    "Halestorm? I thought you were Doctor Porter," Tyler said looking over at me. Malcolm laughed next to me at the look on my face.

    "I am. Porter is my maiden name," 

    "You're married?" he and Kelly blurted out.

    "I was. I'm divorced," I said feeling my face heat up extremely hot.

    "This just got awkward," Mal laughed. 

    "Yes, it did," I said folding the stupid license in half. I shoved it in my back pocket. 

    "Hey, doctor Porter," Amber said breaking the silence. 

    "Hey, Amber," 

    "Is this your brother?" she asked. 

    "Yeah, this is Malcolm. Mal this Amber. We worked together when I first moved here. Now she works for Oliver," 

    "Nice to meet you," he said extending his hand out to her. "I'd like a coffee. Would you like to accompany me, Amber?" 

    "Yes," she beamed. 

    "Have fun with this," Malcolm said smacking my back. I laughed nervously watching him open the door for Amber.

    "I am so sorry. I wasn't ready for that to come out yet," I said looking at Oliver, Tyler, and his wife Kelly. 

    "It was my fault. I should have taken your word for it. I am so sorry," she apologized. 

    "It was my fault. I should have tossed this out a long time ago,"

    "How about we forget this and start over?" Oliver finally laughed. 

    "I am one hundred percent okay with that," Kelly laughed. 

    "Alright," once she introduced us to her brother and we all go together we all walked down to the event. 

    Malcolm, that little slut, started flirting with both Kalvin, Kelly's gay brother, and Amber. He had them both eating out of the palm of his hand. Tyler and Kelly went over to where ever their rough collie was when the show was about to start. Which left Oliver and I alone with our two dogs who wouldn't leave each other's side for a second. 

    "So, I can't drop it," Oliver said making me laugh. "You were married?" 

    "I was. For ten years," 

    "How old are you?" I cleared my throat. 

    "I will be twenty-nine in September," 

    "You got married straight out of high school?" I nodded. 

    "I sure did," 

    "Why? Do you have a kid?" 

    "That is rude to assume," I smirked. "And no. I was in love. It wasn't an obligation. We just didn't see why we should wait then," 

    "Okay, so what happened?" 

    "No, you have to tell me one of your secrets," he laughed. 

    "Okay, I have a son," 

    "What? Really? Where is he?" 

    "With his mother obviously," he snarked.

    "So if you knocked some girl up why didn't you marry her?" I sassed making him laugh. 

    "I didn't knock some girl up. Heather is my best friend. She's gay and when she and her wife were ready to start their family she asked me if I wanted to be part of that and I accepted. His name is Grayson and he'll be three in two weeks," I stopped looking up at him. 

    "Are you serious?" I asked unable to contain the admiration I felt just now. "That is the cutest thing I have ever heard in the history of doing selfless acts ever," 

    "I- no one has ever reacted that way before," he said looking down at me. 

    "What? Are you kidding me? That's the nicest, coolest thing I've ever heard. I think the only other time this has happened was when Pheobe was a surrogate mother on friends," he laughed. 

    "I have never watched friends," he said making me gasp. 

    "Have you ever lived? Let me guess. You're a Grey's Anatomy kind of guy," 

    "Yeah," he said looking away like I had just blurted out his deepest darkest secret. 

    "A few months ago, I came home early from work and I caught my husband in bed with his partner," I said sitting in the bleachers where he had motioned me to sit. 

    "His partner? It was a guy?" I laughed wishing so hard it had been. 

    "No, he's a detective. She is a very beautiful sss looking she-devil and now that I've thought about it for eight months, I'd f**k her too. She's a badass and I socked her without thinking that maybe she could have killed me with her bare hands," 

    "Wow," he said with a smile. "You did not take that divorce well,"

    "What makes you say that?" 

    "You're being excruciatingly cynical," I looked over at him with a glare. 

    "I think I am allowed to be cynical. I've sat in a loft hiding from this for a long time and you were the one that brought it up," he laughed. 

    "You have every right to be pissed," he said giving my arm a squeeze. 

    "I was pissed. I was so mad because I gave him everything. All of me and I waited every day for him while he was out being a hero. I thought I was everything to him and he to me and I realize I was just caught up in a fairytale story. s**t like that doesn't happen in real life," 

    "I don't know why but I like this cynical part of you," he smirked. I felt my face heat up. 

    "What about you? Do you have a tragic love story?" 

    "Yeah," he said looking over at me. "I bet you can guess," 

    "Give me a hint," I said petting Evan when she came over to me resting her head on my lap. Brutus joined her looking up at me. His bright honey-colored eyes made me reach for him as well. He let me pet him. 

    "He doesn't like people," he said. "It's why I put a muzzle on him. It's taken him a long time to like Tyler without jumping on him. If you pay close attention to how he walks you'll see that the only reason he prances the way he does is that his right hind leg doesn't work like it should. It was a lot worse when he was brought into the university. He couldn't even stand. I never got to fix him like I wanted. The only reason why he doesn't attack me is because he knows I was the one who fixed him,"

    "He seems to like me," I said. He looked up at me and nodded. "She was a loner. You tried to help her but she didn't think she was worth helping," 

    "Wow," he said taking in a sharp breath. "You hit the nail right on the head," 

    "Time for you to show me some that cynicism," he smirked leaning forward to untangle Brutus' leash that was wrapped around his ankle. 

    "We grew up together. Her dad was a piece of s**t and her mom was just gone one day. She has three brothers and four sisters. She was the oldest. 

    "By the time he was thirty-two, my dad had his own law firm and my mom is a cardiologist. Tyler was the starting quarterback and I just couldn't be like them. I didn't want to save anyone. I thought the world was just filled with a bunch of f*****g ass holes,"

    "It's not?" I asked playfully. He smiled at me. 

    "It has its virtues," 

    "So, what was her name?" 

    "Caroline," he smiled. "It didn't know what it was like to want to be there for someone. I didn't want to save her. She didn't need to be saved. She was way too strong for that s**t. I did, however, try to stop her from doing s**t she didn't need to be doing. She thought I was trying to control her. She'd tell me to f**k off and I would leave and then we'd find a way back until I couldn't do it anymore. 

    "She wanted me to be there to catch her every time she fell but she didn't want to stop pushing her boundaries. She's married now and has two kids. Her husband is a Marine. He did what I couldn't do for her. He brings his two German Shepards in once in a while," 

    "That's f****d up," I laughed.

    "Not as f****d up as admitting you'd f**k your ex-husband's mistress yourself," we both laughed. 

    "Yeah," I agreed. "So now that we've got that s**t out of the way. What do want to talk about?" 

    "I want to ask you a question," I looked over at him. 

    "Which is?" 

    "Do you want to have dinner with me later?" I looked him in the eyes. His eyes stayed on me with unease in them. Like he was afraid of rejection.

    "Okay," I nodded. 

    "Are you sure?" 

    "Are you still in love with her?" 

    "Yes, I am," he nodded. "Are you still in love with him?" 

    "I am still completely in love with Joeseph," he smirked at the way I had said his name. "For the first time since I've come here though, I don't want to be anymore," 

    "That's funny because I feel the exact same way," he admitted. 

    "You want to stop loving my ex-husband as well?" he laughed playfully shoving me with his elbow. 

    "Shut up," he laughed his cheeks flaring up. 

    I can easily say I had never laughed that much in my life. If anyone ever asks me if I've been to a dog show I'd still say no because I have no idea what went on or how it was that Kelly and her dog won the second place of whatever they had done. We had been lost in our own little world. So were Evan and Brutus because they both playfully wrestled around. It's so easy to be around him. Easy to forget that there was ever anything wrong. 

    "I'll pick you up at eight?" he asked when we reached my beetle. 

    "Yeah, that'll be fine," I said reaching for my bag. I pulled a pen out ripped a piece off an envelope. I wrote my address down and handed it to him. 

    "I'll see you then," he smiled walking away with his dog. 

    "You have a date?" Malcolm asked jumping into the passenger seat. 

    "Do you?" 

    "Yup," he said smugly. 

    "Please don't tell me with both of them," 

    "Okay I won't," he sassed. 

    "You're gross," I laughed shoving him. 

    "I f*****g love California. I'm thinking about moving out here," he smirked looking out the window. 

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

    I stood in front of the two boxes I had brought up to my room. I swallowed the lump in my throat and grabbed the box opener and ripped on open. Right on the top sat a photo album. I had never seen it before. I reached for it looking over the leather book sitting down on my bed. 

    "No," I jumped when Mal came storming over to me. Evan jumped up barking at him protectively. "No, you can't do this s**t before you go out with the guy who might be the rest of your life. You are all about fairy tales and prince charmings. That's who Oliver is and you're going to let this f**k ruin your day with this s**t. 

    "You can look at these when you come home," he snatched it from me and put it in the box I had opened. Evan came over to me growling at him. "Shut up, you dumb dog. I'm helping her out here," 

    She growled at him before rushing down the stairs. He came over and sat next to me fixing the hem of my dress. 

    "Why was I going to do that?" I asked. 

    "Because it doesn't hurt that much anymore and you think you really need it to. I know what that's like. You're getting over this and it's a good thing, Vil. He's not coming back and even if he did, he's not going to change. It's always going to be trapped in the back of your head and you're going to suffer more than you already have. Just stop. I'm going to go through this s**t and I'll let you know the level of f**k him it's going to be before you dumb ass goes through it," 

    "Okay," I nodded. 

    "You look really nice. Like you might come back doing the walk of shame nice," I shoved him.

    "You're not coming home tonight are you?" 

    "Do I ever come home after dates?" we both laughed. 

    "You slut." 

    "You might as well be asexual, b***h, shut up," 

    "I like to have s*x. I just don't go out and have it with whoever," he rolled his eyes. 

    "You're probably a virgin again. That's probably how long it's been for you," he tossed my ringing phone at me laughing. 

    "Hello?" I answered. 

    "I am outside," he voice kicked my heart into gear making me realize I was about to go out on a date with someone who wasn't Joe. 

    "I'll be right down," I said. 

    "Okay," was all I got. I stood up looking in the mirror. 

    I took a couple of deep breaths before deciding that this was okay. Moving on is perfectly fine. I walked down the stairs to see Malcolm sitting on the couch. He waved at me before giving me a thumbs up. I walked down to see him standing in front of his shiny black car, dressed to the nine in his dark blue suit. 

    "Wow," he said when I couldn't get anything out. I laughed agreeing. 

    "Yeah," I said motioning him. "You look very nice," 

    "Thank you. You look beautiful. Not that you don't usually. You always look amazing but- I-I- I'm shutting up now," 

    "Oh, okay. Good. I thought it was just going to be me who was going to make an ass out of herself tonight," he laughed. 

    "Why is this so hard?" he asked opening my door. 

    "I don't know but it's honestly perfect," I said truthfully. 

    He got in the driver's seat. We arrived at a really expensive looking restaurant. He came around opening my door for me. I thanked him as the valet came over and took his car. We were escorted to our table and given some fancy-ass menus. I laughed looking it over. I have never gone on a date like this. I think the most expensive place Joe had ever taken me was Disneyland I had loved him so much for that. It hit me then. We had both been kids. 

    "Why are you laughing?" he asked looking at me. 

    "I can barely read this. Is this french?" 

    "Yes," he smiled. "Would you like for me to order for you?" 

    "Can I trust you to not order snails?" we both laughed. 

    "This was a bad idea. I was trying to impress you," 

    "I am impressed. I was impressed from the moment you stopped my stupid dog from jumping off the end of the pier. Have you ever eaten here?" 

    "No," he laughed. 

    "Do you know French?" 

    "I do," he grinned. 

    "Can I trust you?" 

    "Yes, you can. I promise not to feed you anything gross," we both laughed. 

    He ordered in perfect French. I just sat here watching him charm the waiter. I looked around to see how expensive and beautiful everything is. The way everything is lit up. How everyone is dressed. I smiled to myself feeling like an i***t for saying what I had earlier. How could I believe that fairytale didn't exist?

    When I was a kid, my mom would tell me how all stories came from some form of reality. That the magic is in the perspective of the person. I had always been the kind of girl who believed in that magic. 

    I had let this get in the way of that. I had let him make me forget how amazing things really were. It didn't even happen the moment I caught him. It had been long before that. I had lost the magic to a dull reality a long time ago. I had forgotten what it was like to go out, what it was like to be the center of someone's attention. We had lost that and I had been so caught up in our future that I had missed what was in front of me. 

    "You look like you're overthinking," Oliver said bringing me back. 

    "I am. That's all I ever do," I admitted looking at him. 

    "What are you thinking right now?" 

    "This place is..." did I dare say it? 

    "Too much?" he asked. 

    "Maybe but no. This place is magic," 

    "What?" he grinned. "Are you reverting back into a princess?" 

    "Reverting? I didn't know I stopped," we both laughed. 

    "I thought you said there was no such thing as fairytales?" 

    "I changed my mind. Places like this don't exist in real life," he reached over the table pinching me. 

    "Owe," I said pulling my arm into me rubbing the spot he pinched me in. 

    "This is real, Lannyesville. You're not dreaming," 

    "That's for damn sure. I'd be having dinner with Tom Hardy instead of you right now," he scoffed giving me that "you're kidding" look. 

    "Ouch," he said placing his hand on his chest. "I deserve that for pinching you," 

    "Damn straight you do," 

    "Tell me something about you no one else knows?" 

    "Hmm, that's a tough one. Mal literally knows everything probably knows more about me than I do," 

    "Then tell me something you'd only ever admit to Mal," 

    "I once purposely put soy in my meatloaf when my ex-mother in law came over. She's allergic and I only put a little. Just enough to give her a rash so she'd have to go home earlier than the amount of time she planned to spend with us," he almost spit his water everywhere. 

    "I can see you two had an amazing relationship," he said putting his glass down. 

    "She hated me. Hates me. That old hag is still alive and kicking. My mother used to say bad herbs are hard to kill," he laughed. 

    "You don't have to worry about that here. My mom passed away three years ago," 

    "I'm sorry to hear that. My mother passed away eight years ago," 

    "I'm just glad you didn't get to try and poison my poor mother. I was her favorite," 

    "In other words, she would have hated me as much as Lourdes did," he laughed. 

    "She hated everyone. My dad was the only person she wasn't mean to. So you would have had to not take it personally," 

    "I thought you were her favorite?"

    "I was but it didn't stop her from chewing me out for everything," 

    "In her defense, you probably deserved it," he smirked. 

    "I did. Tyler was always the prodigal son," he nodded. 

    "He looks like it. With his glasses and his perfect wife and his sphynx," he laughed liking my sarcasm. "What does he do?" 

    "He's also a doctor. He's a heart surgeon. Steadiest hands in California," 

    "That's cool," I said equally impressed. I looked over watching as the waiter came over with a dinner cart, he didn't have steady hands at all.

    We stayed silent watching him put our food on the table. He asked Oliver a few things to which Oliver answered and sent him away. I looked down at the plate in front of me. It's literally four pieces of steak covered in some kind of sauce and mint tucked under one of the pieces. On another plate were steamed veggies with melted cheese drizzled over them. What does look amazing is the soup.

    "This is cute," I said pointing at my food. 

    "It is. I can eat like six of these," he whispered. 

    "Six pieces or six plates," 

    "Plates," he laughed shaking his head. "This is cool though. I'll bring my dad here if it's good," 

    "Tell me about your dad," I said taking the soup spoon. I laughed when he pulled a piece of his steak off the plate with his hand and popped it in his mouth. 

    "He's old money. Snobby. Thinks the world revolves around him,"

    "So naturally you adore him," he smiled. 

    "Naturally, I do. Despite his flaws, he's a great man. He's helped so many people. Still helps people. He's an amazing lawyer. He can't go five minutes without insulting someone but makes up for it with his actions. What about you?" 

    "Touchy subject. My dad was a deputy. Was KIA but he was the most amazing person I ever met. He always made sure to tell us he loved us. Always made sure my mother knew he loved her. She was his life. He took Malcolm in after his parents died in a car accident. We're actually cousins but we just tell everyone we're brother and sister because that's exactly what we are. I once saw my father body slam a man who slapped his wife in front of a lot of people. It was awesome," 

    "What about your mom?" 

    "She was an elementary school principal. That woman had patience. When Mal was younger he was really rebellious and kind of a jerk. He wanted to be everything my dad was but he wasn't that person. It got a little worse when my dad died and we moved into the city. Turns out he was kind of gay. My mom was the one who figured it out. She was the most nurturing person ever. She always pushed me to be the best of myself I could be and whenever I face difficult decisions I always ask myself what would Claudia Porter do?" 

    "That's adorable," he said with a smile on his face. "How did you end up out here?" 

    "My divorce lawyer," he laughed shaking his head. "He's from here. He told me that a change of scenery might be a good idea after everything was over. When he finished my paperwork he told me Pepperdine was in need of counselors. So I applied and they called me that same day. He helped me get my loft. His name is Alan," 

    "What?" he began coughing. 

    "Are you okay?" I asked reaching for him. 

    "I'm fine. I'm okay. You said his name is Alan? As in Alan Sheldon Ward?" I sat back looking at him. Was that Alan's last name? 

    "I think so," I said reaching for my wallet. I opened it up to pull out his card. "That- yeah that's his name. Alan, is your father, isn't he? 

    "Yeah," he said. 

    The two of us burst into a fit of laughter getting the attention of those around us. The waiter came over to us and asked us to tone it down. When we were done he drove us down to the pier where we had met. 

    "What are the odds of this happening?" he asked. "I think I just had my first princess movie experience. Your Highness,"

    "There are no odds. Things like that don't happen," I laughed. 

    "Well, it did happen. How did you find my dad?" 

    "Malcolm, he defended Malcolm when his old boss and his son beat the crap out of him when they found out he was gay or as he likes to say. Kinda gay," 

    "How is he kinda gay?" he asked. 

    "He likes women and men equally. He thinks it's all in the personality of the person. Whether they're male or female. So as long as they love him as much as he loves them," 

    "That makes sense. I'm sorry to hear something like that happened to him and yeah. It sounds like a case my dad would take. I remember he said he had business in Wichita," 

    "No one in our city wanted to take the case. So we reached out further. Alan didn't even hesitate. He was in that courtroom with us the next day. When I contacted him a month later and told him what had happened. He came and sat down with me and helped me weigh out my options. He actually wanted me to take as much as  I could but I just wanted everything to be over," 

    "Wait you let that fucker keep everything?" he asked stopping. I looked back at him and nodded. 

    "What would I need any of those things for? I didn't want anything from him," 

    "What did you keep?" 

    "His car," I said looking out towards the beach.

    "The beetle?" I shook my head. 

    "When we first got married right before he went off to boot camp he said one day he was going to own a Dodge Demon. After he came back from his second tour he got it. It was glorious but he couldn't put it under his name at the time. He loved that car a lot. Put some serious money into it. I sold it for thirteen hundred bucks on f*******:," he mouth fell open. 

    "You didn't," 

    "I did. I used that to buy my beetle and take a trip to Texas where I met my beautiful Evan," he laughed shaking his head. 

    "You are something else," he said. "I would have just about died. Cars are sacred," 

    "So were my marriage vows," he grinned leaning into me. 

    "He deserved so much worse than that," he said softly. 

    "I stabbed him," he flinched. 

    "What?" 

    "When I found them I thought someone had broken in. I took a knife and went to assess the situation myself. When I tried to walk away he grabbed me and I turned around and stabbed him in the arm. I meant it when I turned around but regretted it as soon as I realized what I was doing. Only the tip of the blade pierced through. I freaked and fell down the stairs. I nearly broke my ankle and my face," 

    "That's brutal," he said shaking his head. "I can't even imagine it. The idea doesn't even compute to me," 

    "Catching your wife or cheating?" 

    "Both," he said looking at me. "I went home and cried the first time I had s*x with someone who wasn't Caroline," 

    "What?" I asked covering my mouth. 

    "Yeah, I felt filthy. I waited for her to fall asleep and I got the hell out of there. I changed my number," I pressed my lips together trying to think of something to say. 

    "Wow," I finally said looking over at him. "She screwed you up, man," 

    "She did. Heather wanted to kill her," I laughed. 

    "Malcolm wanted to kill Joe too," 

    "You don't have friends outside of him?" 

    "I did but they were his friends too. I didn't want anything to do with them after what happened. They knew. My girlfriends all knew when I told them and none of them said a single thing. I didn't want for them to tell him how f****d up I got those few days after I found out. I called in sick and I wasn't sober for six days straight. I probably would have died like twice if it wasn't for Malcolm," 

    "Have you gotten that drunk again since you sobered up?" 

    "Hell, no. I never want to do that again. I was sick for three days after that and I don't remember most of it. I was so ashamed of myself. Never again," I swore for the millionth time. 

    "I didn't drink but I was high out of my mind for a few months. Not days," I laughed leaning my head against his shoulder. 

    "I'd do it again," I said. 

    "Get f****d up like that?" 

    "No," I said shaking my head. "Fall in love like that. I'm going to do it again," 

    "What if it falls apart again? How would I survive that feeling again?" 

    "What if it doesn't? What if it's everything you've ever wanted and so much more?"