Listen To Your Heart ~ Book One.

You're an Asshole

"Kissing you. I know you teach lessons here on Fridays. Why do you think I drove here for? I can't take his shit anymore!"

"Kissing me isn't going to fix your marriage problems!"

"Won't make them any worse either. He's cheated on me!"

"You know how things are between me and Eddie, and now I'm supposed to push that shit aside and help him?"

"I didn't know what else to do, David! You know my feelings for you, and feeling your bulge, pressed tight against me now...I... want...fucked."

"We've talked about this before. I'm not messing with a married woman. Two wrongs won't make things right, as the saying goes... okay?"

"A television commercial. I want fucked and you quote a fuckin' television commercial!"

(She starts walking away.)

"Hey! What about the coffee?"

"Get the fucking coffee yourself!"

"Won't it look kind of suspicious to Eddie if you return without any coffee?"

(Valerie stops, turns... and stomps towards the diner.)

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

"I try." I reply.

(We soon return to the music store with 6 cups of black coffee and some food. After a lot of strong coffee, Eddie sobered up enough to talk about his favorite subject... building guitars. He joked about how shitty the guitars we had for sale were, compared to his that he built himself. I told him how much I liked his red with black and white stripes 'Frankenstein' guitar. We talk a while longer, then play a few songs together. I promise to keep the incident quiet. Valerie makes me promise to keep in touch. I did as far as letters and cards on the holidays and a few awkward phone calls, but after her and Eddie's divorce years later, I hadn't kept in touch as much. We never spoke of that night again.)

(Still, I figured there had to be some reason why she made me promise to practice a lot. So, I did whenever I wasn't busting my balls working for the A.S.P.C.A. Saving animals was a rewarding job, but we had been super busy lately.)

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(Five days later, Billie had just wrapped up more interviews and photo ops. Luckily, they had finished earlier than expected. 'Thank God for the weekend' she thinks. She lays on her bed, wearing nothing but a pair of black panties.)

(She stares at her cellphone. A Friday, with nothing to do. Billie knew she needed to catch up on her rest. She hadn't slept well in days, and it was affecting her, but she was afraid to sleep. Her night terrors and muscle ticks had only gotten worse since...since...Billie curses under her breath. She was thinking of David....again. She had to see him, but her therapist had warned her that he was only playing her. Was he? Wasn't he? She was going crazy thinking about it. Her therapist had suggested a meeting between the three of them. Yes, that's it. I'll just call him and ask him to come see me. She calls my cellphone. 'He might be busy, he's three hours ahead of me.' she thinks.)