There's No Such Thing as Second Chances

Shake on It

"Do you want to keep this?" My mother's nose turned up in disgust and waited for me to answer. She was holding onto a statue of a man and women embracing on their wedding day. It was a gift that was sent to us by Derricks aunt.

He was pissed off at the gift, saying that it cost a measly fifty dollars, and since she had a net worth of over a hundred million, he felt that she should have been a little bit more generous.

I, on the other hand, loved the statue and didn't care about money the way he did. We made enough of it on our own and didn't need people to gift us large sums.

"No. Put it in the give away pile" I smiled and tried to push the memories aside.

"I was thinking more of you taking it outside and smashing it. You know, let off some steam. Take out your anger" she threw the statue over in my direction and wiggled her eyebrows encouragingly.

"It would be such a waste though" I ran my hand over the carved wood and saw that a bit of the stain had chipped away.

"So was your marriage but you can't smash that on the ground. This is the second best option. Go on" she grabbed a few more items, including picture frames and gifts he gave me, and stuffed them in a box "let's go. Out with you"

Minutes later we were standing on the street with her loudly cheering me on.

"Fine. Ok ok" I grabbed the first thing I touched and threw it onto the ground. I heard a large smash and watched as my wedding picture laid there underneath a shattered picture frame.

"Again" she yelled even louder. Soon I was smashing everything I had in the box while she was stomping on them like a lunatic. She looked so crazy that I couldn't help but laugh.

It felt nice to laugh after crying in my bedroom for days.

I was enjoying the show and giggling so much that I almost didn't hear the "ahem" that came from behind me.

"Jason, what are you doing here?" My mom was the first to get in his face. She loved Jason but clearly she loved me more. I chuckled at the sight in front of me and his apparent fear of my mother.

"I'm here in peace" he threw both of his hands up in surrender and took a few steps back "I was worried about Charlie and brought over some food"

He gestured towards the porch where a few fast food bags were placed on the front steps.

"You're lucky you're so cute or you'd be barred from coming here" she ruffled his hair and brought the food inside before he could complain.

"Unbelievable. Your mother has a way of making a grown man feel like he's five years old" he tried to smooth his hair down but was having some difficulties. She messed up the gel and now it wasn't sitting right.

"She's the best at everything she does" I smiled and started waking towards the house.

"Charlie, wait" Jason engulfed me in a hug and held me for a few seconds "I'm so sorry that my best friend is such an idiot, but I do want you to know that I love you like a sister and don't want to lose you as a friend. I know I'm laying in bed with the enemy, but I swear I'm Switzerland. I don't have a side although it would obviously be yours. I promise I can keep the two of you in separate compartments." He let me go and gave me a goofy smile.

"Fine. We can be friends, but you're not allowed to tell him anything about me and I don't want to hear anything about him. Deal?" I pushed out my hand waiting for him to take it.

"Deal" he shook it eagerly and pushed me towards the door. "Let's get in there before your mom eats all the spring rolls."

"I don't think we could have been fast enough to prevent that from happening".

My mom laid out some plates and cutlery and, after grabbing her own food, left me and Jason alone.

"So what's your plan now?" He asked in between bites.

"I'm planning on taking the ferry into Mayne, renting a nice little cottage on the water and write another book. I've been putting it off for too long so there's no better time than the present. I think I have a lot of ideas for the new book and feel that it will write itself" I smiled sheepishly. I just informed his best friend that I will be writing a book about the lying, the cheating and the divorce.

"Will there be a handsome bestfriend hero type in the book. One that the heroin eventually falls in love with?" He gave me the biggest grin and blew me a kiss.

"Oh of course. Actually the heroin realizes she loved him all along" I teased back

"if only that was true" his face turned serious for a second before it was back to his goofy playful self.

Weird.

I spent the rest of the morning talking to Jason before finally seeing him off. He gave me another big hug and I did a quick mental list for the things that I needed to get done before the day was over.

I was almost done packing, needed to message the airbnb guy, and lastly, I needed to buy the ticket for the ferry.

All in all, I felt good and optimistic for the next chapter in my life.