Harassenger: Backseat Admirer ✔️

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

I learned that a girl can only dodge so many bullets before she gets hit in the heart, and that's what happened to me. A was a little spec of dust in a small town, and yet I felt like I was the whole world when I kissed the lips of Mick Conrad.

After he kissed me, this time without an audience, I was certain I was in love with him. It wasn't something I had to think about, or ask myself to be certain; it just was.

I hadn't slept the night of our kiss. I laid in my bed looking at the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling, wishing the night hadn't ended so soon. The fan continued to circulate, and the room around me continued on as usual, and yet I knew things would never be the same.

I tossed and turned all night, irrational thoughts of love. I felt more like Trixie than I did myself, falling head over heels for a guy I just met, but I didn't care. Mick wasn't a summer fling, and I felt it in the way he wrote sweet nothings to me as he kissed me. I used a girl whose pages kept buffering, never getting too close for southern comfort, until that one kiss that's changed me.

As I fantasized about obsessively kissing Mick again, I got a call on my phone. It was four in the morning at this point, and no one should have been calling me unless they were in dire need of help. The last time I has received a call so early was the motor- vehicle accident.

"Hello?" I groggily answered the phone, praying for good news.

"Natalie, hey. I'm sorry to wake you up but I could really use your help. Della had too much to drink, as usual, and she fell onto the kitchen table and bruised her head." It was Holt's desperate voice on the other end of the phone that caught my attention.

"Say no more; I'll be right there." I clicked off the phone, deciding it didn't matter what time of day it was to help a friend in need.

I cranked up my Jeep and headed to the nearest hospital, calling Holt again to ask for the room number.

I hated hospitals, from the florescent lighting to the floors filled with sick individuals, only hidden by the fact of overused Lysol. I was in no way a germaphobe, but I like to think I'm cautious when going to the hospital.

Her room number was twelve, so since it was on the first floor, it didn't take long for me to get the air. I knocked on the door with my elbows, refusing to get any germs on my fingers. I could hear the couple arguing, saying something about not telling anyone about the accident, but the door swung open anyway.

I first spotted a disheveled Holt Andrews in a frenzy, raking over his tired eyes with his hands. Someone is going to have pink eye if he keeps that up in here.

"How's she doing?" I asked.

"I'm fine!" My eyes caught a distressed Della, looking less than fine,  as she claimed she was. It was the first time I had a glimpse of her with no makeup on, her dark-rooted hair sprawled out like groves on the pillow, and her outfit consisting of less sparkle, but you can blame the ugly hospital gown for that one.

I knew she liked to drink, and smoke, but I never knew it was to this extent. And yet she was trying to counsel me on my eating addiction.

As she continued to pout, I notice a striking difference of her upper lip than before the trip. Her lip was wider and thicker, and either a wasp stung her or she's gotten plastic surgery.

"Let's talk outside."

"Yeah, why don't the two of you talk? Since he tells you everything! Laugh it up at my expense!"

Holt guided me outside, closing the door behind him.

"Sorry, she's ornery. She doesn't think I should've called you, or her mother for that matter." He said, leaning against the wall, and acting as if he wanted to bash his head in.

"I should go then. I didn't want to make things worse."

"No, if she wasn't mad at you, she'd find something else to be mad at. She's never satisfied with any decision that I make, or anything I ask her to do. She's mad all of the time, so I let her do what she wants. She spent all of my money on those stupid lips of her; don't act like you hadn't noticed. I let her do it to get some peace and quiet, but it didn't help. She's up my ass everyday, and only now when she yells I have to stare at those God-awful Bubba Gump lips. I just didn't imagine married life to be this much of a struggle. And all I want is to sit down with a beer and a steak, and I can't have any of that. I'm dying here, Natt. I need out."

"I'm all for working out a marriage, Holt." I said.

"So am I, and I've tired. Maybe I rushed the marriage."

"Love doesn't have a time frame. If she was the right girl, you wouldn't be saying you rushed anything. You can meet someone in a day and marry them that week and it would all be perfect. Holt, I tried to warn you about your marriage before today, but you didn't listen. Although I've grown to like Della...a little...I still don't think the two of you are right for each other, but now it's up to you to see if you want to fight and work it out, or..."

"Or divorce. Divorce, wow. I shouldn't be thinking about divorce at my age." He tissed.

"Life isn't something you can plan. But Holt. I'd seriously consider every option and please, do me a favor and talk with your wife. She deserves to hear you out and she deserves to give her opinion to you. Maybe she's always fighting with you because she wants to be heard and she doesn't know how to express herself."

"Thanks, Natt. I know I can count on you to give the best advice. Tough advice, but good nonetheless." He gave me a tight squeeze before releasing me.

"Now go back in there and pay attention to your woman. While you do that, I'm going to grab a free cup of Community Coffee and leave before your girl snaps my neck off like a piranha."

"Alright, thanks for coming when I really needed you. It's so good to have someone to rely on, even when you feel your worst." I'd always be here for my friends; I'd drop everything to help the people that would do the same for me.

"It's no problem, Holt." And it wasn't.

Talking to Holt had opened my eyes just a little more about my own relationship. And yes, the thought of, gulp, marriage did cross my mind. Oi, what have I gotten myself into?