Never Again

Chapter Five - His girlfriend

That day he had picked me up from home and we drove for a while, talking about a lot of things. At one point, while driving to one of his friends' house, I saw Dana, walking along a blonde girl. Dana didn't seem to notice us, even though she knew him, but the other girl's reaction immediately caught my eye.

She saw the car and started looking at it, turning her head after we had passed her. She stood still for a moment, still looking at us speeding away. Ray didn't show anything. He was still, looking through the windshield. But I knew something was utterly wrong. I couldn't yet make a connection between him and that girl, but I knew there was one. I couldn't just blame him yet, I needed more before doing so. But more will soon come.

We reached his friend's house and went into his backyard, sitting at a table. We were making conversation and laughing, I don't remember about what. I was constantly looking at Ray's phone because I knew that, if he really was somehow involved with that girl, maybe she would try to call him. I decided against texting Dana about it. I didn't want to have any reaction, I was just waiting for one.

I had almost forgotten about it when my phone started vibrating on the wooden table. It got everyone's attention and, even though Ray immediately looked at it, he didn't betray any emotion. I took the phone in my hand and saw that the caller was hiding the ID. I was sure of it. I was sure it was her.

I got up from the table and made a few steps away from it. I breathed deeply and answered.

"Hello?"

"Can you please give Ray the phone? I have to talk to him."

"I can, of course. But who are you?"

She sighed. "Please just give Ray the phone."

"I will do that after you tell me who you are."

She sighed again, this time more frustrated. "Okay. I am Anna, his girlfriend."

I didn't say another word to her. I didn't need to, I didn't intend to. I just gave him the phone. He hung up. I sat down at the table, because I didn't want to cause a scene in front of his friend and his girlfriend. I could see how his eyes avoided mine and I could sense he was feeling guilty. He even looked guilty.

The phone rang again a short while later. I got up again and again answered it.

"I am sorry. He didn't want to talk to you."

"Can you please try again?" She seemed desperate and I could understand her. I was in the same situation as her. I just wanted to know who he was cheating with and who he was cheating on.

"I can. I just have a question. For how long have you been his girlfriend?"

"I don't know. About two to three months."

I couldn't believe it. We started hanging out two to three months before, so that meant he had started dating us both at the same time. The only thing I couldn't understand was how. He was always with me.

I gave him the phone again, this time locking the screen. My phone at the time had this feature where you had to press the lock bottom two times for it to unlock the screen while in a call. He didn't know how to unlock it and hang up, so he just opened it and took the battery out. His friend started noticing something was going on and, even though my demeanor didn't change, I think he knew what happened.

I waited patiently for the visit to end. When we left, I was fuming. I got into the car and waited for him to say something. It seemed he didn't know how to begin.

"I'm sorry, Angela." He put his hand on my knee before he drove off, but I pushed it away.

"You better start explaining, because I don't have much patience left."