Back to You

Heaven and Hell

I can't even with Jeremiah anymore. I have no idea what he was thinking bringing some random girl back to spend the night with him. Sure he had no idea that Belly was here, but I did, and it was all I could do not to wring Jeremiah's scrawny neck for such a crappy move on his part. 

The minute he came through the door and began walking toward the kitchen, the pungent smell of whiskey hit me. Great, I thought, another day of his drunken a** on the couch when I really just needed him to be gone. 

The girl he had with him was the exact opposite of Belly, with eyes almost as blue as his, curly blonde hair, and very little clothing, even though it must have been in the mid-thirties outside right now. I couldn't help but wonder if that had been a conscious choice on Jere's part to find someone so unlike Belly. 

"Con, my man, meet my lady...Sara," Jere said, throwing his arm over her shoulder as he got in my face. It's her birthday today, and she's feeling twenty-two," he laughed at his own attempt at humor, and Sara joined in, totally enthralled by him. 

"Yeah, cool. Happy Birthday, Sara," I said just to be polite. 

"It's Serena, actually," she said it like it was no big deal. But in my mind, it was huge not knowing the name of the girl he was about to take to bed. This just wasn't the Jeremiah I knew. 

"Oh s*** really, I could have sworn you said it was Sara," Jeremiah said, not really apologizing like he should have been, just rationalizing to himself for pulling such a jerk move. 

"It's fine," she said while overtly rubbing his chest, making me a little uncomfortable. I didn't want to be privy to Jeremiah's conquest of this girl or hers of him, for that matter.

I just wanted to make Belly's sandwich and get out of there. Leave them to whatever trouble they were planning on getting into. 

"Why don't you two take it upstairs?" I said a little more forcefully than I should have, but Jeremiah was kissing her hard now, and there was a little more tongue action than I cared to witness. 

Jeremiah laughed at me. "When did you become such a prude?" 

"F**k you.  I said, flipping him off now as he and Serena, fully laughing now, started up the stairs. 

I proceeded to make the sandwich for Belly that I had promised her and had just finished putting away all the supplies and wiped down the countertop when Jeremiah came bounding down the stairs in just his boxers.

"I thought you were occupied for the night," I said, losing my patience with him. He'd already screwed up what could have been a great day with Belly by showing up. His smug face was just begging me to punch it.

"Totally am. She is freshening up in the bathroom, and I came down here to get something to eat. That looks amazing," Jeremiah said, eyeing Belly's sandwich."

"Sorry, no, I made this for myself," I said, shielding Belly's sandwich with my hands. 

"Come on, man. You can make yourself another one. It's not like you've got a hottie waiting in your bed for you," Jere said clearly without knowledge that was indeed what I had waiting for me. Maybe not for the same reasons, but true, just the same.

"Not gonna happen. You're going to have to fend for yourself," I said, picking up the plate with the sandwich and starting up the stairs with him following right behind me. 

I should have kept my guard up. Jere had never liked not getting his way. And he had a habit of taking my things without asking. 

It felt like slow motion as I watched him pretend to pass me before grabbing the sandwich and taking a huge bite out of it before I  was able to grab it back.