It Happened in Vegas

Chapter XX

Dalia walked away and left Elise to her phone call. "What do you want, Albert?" Elise answered, not in the mood to hear her ex's voice let alone listen to what he has to say, but she had some things she needed to tell him, so this conversation was necessary.

"Hey, I wanted to give you some time to relax and I wanted to tell you what is going on and hope for some forgiveness and acceptance. Please just hear me out." Albert rushed out, hoping Elise wouldn't hang up in his face. 

"OK, I'm listening," Elise responded, needing to have an open mind and wanting nothing more than the same thing from Albert. 

"OK, thank you... Cyrus and I are going to continue our relationship. I know this isn't what you want to hear but I think I am in love with him. I still don't think I'm gay, but if that's the label I must take on to be with him, I will. Please believe me when I say that I do love you too but not in that way. I appreciate everything you have ever done for me and please accept who I am and the decision I have made and please don't try to make me choose between having you or Cyrus in my life because it will split me in half. I want you as a friend still, because you are the most magnetic person I have ever met and I still love you." Albert confessed, the words spilling out of his mouth too fast to be a lie and too stumbled-over to have been rehearsed. Elise could hear his tears and could hear faint sounds of Cyrus consoling him in the background.  

There was a long pause as Elise took into consideration what he'd been saying. "Albert, you know I could never stay mad at you for too long. I have forgiven you but I need some forgiveness of my own. I have a bit of a confession of my own to make." Elise began. 

"You have my attention and thank you for forgiving me," Albert responded.

"I had an affair with Dalia shortly before we walked in on you and Cyrus." Elise let the confession roll out of her mouth and braced herself for the impact of his anger, but it never came. 

"Go on Elise, I sense that you're not done," Albert said, after a long pause, he was likely recovering from the shock of her confession. " I think I'm in love with her, I think I have been for a while now. I think it was just that I was afraid that Dalia and I could never be together with the way that I need because I'm not gay. " Elise confessed.

Albert cut in, hoping Elise would recognize his understanding.
"Ah, I see. You thought that it was-"

"It was just a phase, and my love for you would eventually outweigh my feelings for her. My thought was 'it just happened in Vegas. Y'know, lesbian experiences happen and it was a Vegas fling'... But I was wrong. I'm madly in love with my best friend and business partner." Elise finally said that words that she should have told Dalia years ago. Her heart felt light, and she had never been so sure of her feelings before.

"Do you understand how much that hurts me?" Albert asked after a long pause.

"I understand Arson, and I hope you can forgive me, this experience has made me appreciate and love you in an entirely different way. I really pray that you can forgive me like I have forgiven you and Cyrus."

"You didn't let me finish, El. It hurts me that you have neglected yourself and dealt with me this long knowing deep down inside that you were in love with Dalia. I forgive you and I hope we have time to talk when you get back to California, right now, go and spend time with your woman."

"Thank you, Albert."

With that, Elise hung up the phone, put it in her locker and walked toward the door, hoping to see her girlfriend. When she passed a row of benches and saw Dalia sitting in the center of them, now fully dressed with her head in her lap, she furrowed her brow and made a beeline toward her.

"Hey baby, why are dressed?" Elise asked rubbing her hand across Dalia's back. 

"I want to go home, so I'm gonna go," Dalia answered, shrugging Elise's hand off her back. She looked up and Dalia could see the tears starting to form in her eyes that she could tell that Dalia was holding in. She'd only ever seen Dalia cry twice before during their entire friendship together, once when her father died and again when her grandmother died. Elise wondered who'd died this time. 

"OK, whatever you want, Love," Elise responded. 

"Whatever I want, you say?" At Elise's nod, Dalia continued. ''I want to ride alone back to the hotel to pick up my RV and I want to go back home alone. This has been too much for me, all of it has been too much." Dalia began. She finally let the tear in her eyes fall down her face.

"So much has happened, Vegas has been too much for me and I wanna go home and I don't want to be with you anymore. The only relationship I think we should have is a business one until one of us sells the other out of the company.  Until then, I think our relationship should be strictly business." Dalia lied, hoping to save Elise the trouble of having to end things herself.  She had vowed to herself a long time ago never to be anybody's dirty little secret ever again and she loved Elise but she respected herself too much not to keep the promise she'd made to herself. 

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Elise asked,  tears now forming in her own eyes. "Wha- what are you saying this for?"

"Elise, every relationship has a beginning and an end. These things happen."

 Elise couldn't even form the words to ask for an explanation.  Dalia walked toward the heavy door of the locker room and before she walked out the door and let it close behind her, she muttered, "We had our beginning and end, Elise. It happened in Vegas."