Love Games

Elijah

After leaving the therapist, I was really in my thoughts. Ms. Andrews seen what I seen and honestly it scared me. I wanted to be with Mailan all my life. I had a dream of having kids, growing old and dying with her. They say everything happens for a reason, but sometimes when things change, it hurts people.

I won't lie and say I'm not heartbroken, because I am. I'm just glad that it wasn't just me that seen right through Mailan's deceitful ways. It's hard to come to the realization that the person I wanted to be so close with, I may end up having to love at a distance.

The whole ride to Derrick's house, I'm tearing my brain apart trying to figure out what it is that I don't know yet about Mailan. Is she cheating? Is there something about her past that I don't know about? Is there something that I did to make her not want to tell me whatever it is that she's hiding?

I snapped back to reality when I heard Derrick asking me something.

"Eli, you good?"

"Yeah, I'm alright."

"You know I never liked her right?", Derrick said.

"Yeah. But, can I ask you a question?", I said.

"Yeah, wassup?", he said.

"In the past, I know I came to you about a lot of our issues. But if you didn't like her, why did you encourage me to keep trying in this relationship?" , I asked as I tried not to drift back into my thoughts.

"Well if I'm being honest, I didn't want you to do what I did with my past relationship and regret it in the end.", he said as he looked down.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You remember the girl I dated a while ago? Stephanie?" He asked.

"Yeah. What about her?" I asked.

"Well, we were having problems. Just like you and Mailan. She shut me out on certain things, she wouldn't tell me things truthfully when I asked, I eventually got fed up with it. I instantly thought she was doing something sneaky. But when things got too hard, I called it quits..."

"May I ask, why do you regret it?" I said.

"She committed suicide a week after we broke up. She left a note and she basically said that I was her only happiness. She kept things about her past from me in fear that I was gonna judge her or change our circumstances. I was her only happiness..." he said as he started to tear up a bit.

"You don't have to..." I started to say before he cut me off.

"No no no, you have to hear this. I don't want you to make the same mistake as I did. I'm not saying Mailan is the same way as Steph, I'm not saying that Mailan has the same issues as Steph had. I'm not telling you to believe every word Mailan says, either. You feel as if she's being dishonest, then go with that. You guys have your issues and that's that. But my advice to you is, don't end it without finding out what the root of the issue is. You never know what could be going on with her." He said.

Derrick was really my best friend. This is the reason why I kept him around for so long, he's like my brother.

"I hear you." I said as I pulled up to his driveway.

Where I'm from, there's a difference from listening to someone when they speak, and then there's hearing them. Which means not only were you listening, but you truly understood.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt man. Don't stick by her if she out here cheating and shit." He said.

"I sure hope not." I said as I lightly chuckled.

"My girlfriend is on her way here. That cool with you?" He asked.

"Yeah it's cool." I stated.

----------------------

It was going on 10 o'clock and Derrick and his girlfriend were acting crazy. She was all over him. Dancing, singing, showing how much she means to him. It reminded me of how Mailan and I used to be.

I didn't want to be the downer out of the three of us. I wished Mailan and I could go back to how we used to be but, I had to come to terms that, that might never happen.

Right about now, Derrick and his girlfriend, Nicole, are drunk. She was dancing on him and honestly it was funny. I decided to take out my phone and record them on snapchat so I could show them the next morning. Mailan watched my snap story and I couldn't help but think about her. But I wasn't going to dwell on it. I was proud of my best friend. Even if one of us didn't have it all together, at least the other one did.

Derrick, his girlfriend, and I passed out on the couch while watching a movie. When I woke, I checked my phone and noticed that it was going on 2 a.m. and I still haven't heard from Mailan.

"Maybe she tried to call and the call just didn't come through?" I thought to myself.

Even if that were true, I wasn't going to put forth the effort to make conversation with her first, especially after how she acted at the counselor's office. It may sound childish but, how much more does she want me to try? Everytime I try, I end up disappointed and an argument takes place. So from now on, I'll take a step back and let her come to me.

After about another hour or so, I felt myself slowly drift to sleep again