TANGLED HEARTS.
- WATCHED.
She’s never been one to pay attention to people who might not like her,she usually ignores it but Judith here is making it impossible to ignore. Nevermind the fact that they are sitting around the same table, it’s the fact that she’s facing her directly and not even trying to mind her own business. Judith has been giving Amerie this disgusted look since Shane took to the podium and now that he’s making his way back while the crowd claps for him, she puts on a complete different face, she could nail it as an actress.
Shane focuses his attention on Amerie, he stops next to her when he rejoins the table and puts his hand on her shoulder “Are you okay?”
She didn’t come here to cause a scene or ruin his evening so she smiles and nods, he narrows his eyes at her but doesn’t question it. He pulls his chair and sits then he rests his hand on top of her exposed thigh, Amerie looks at him and they smile at each other before focusing at the front again.
The rest of the evening is relaxed and everyone else is welcoming to Amerie, they are curious too but not in the way that Judith is. Their curiosity is based on the fact that they have never seen their boss with a woman before. He’s a closed off man, that’s for sure but none of them have ever seen him this close to a woman, not even by chance or mistake so seeing him like this is just refreshing, it’s like they are seeing a different version of Shane Matthews.
The food gets served as well as the drinks, Amerie keeps it light, she doesn’t wish to get tipsy and possibly do something that would embarrass both her and Shane. She won’t say it out loud but being here with him and all these people makes her feel like she needs to be a lot more reserved, unlike how she would be if it were her workplace and people or if she was with Leona.
She excuses herself to use the restroom and Judith sees that as an opportunity to get her alone. So she follows her and waits for her to exit the stall while touching up on her make up. When she hears flushing and Amerie comes out she eyes her throught the mirror. Their eyes meet and Amerie feels an immediate irritation. She doesn’t say anything to, she just washes her hands and gets ready to go back outside.
“Aren’t you going to touch up on your make-up?” Judith asks. She doesn’t know how else to open up a conversation with this girl.
“No, I don’t need to,” Amerie responds and no, she’s not being nasty. She’s just stating the truth. Leona is so good with what she does so much that the only time that Amerie will be touching her face is later tonight when she removes it and washes her face… And she invests in lipstick that does not need to be reapplied.
” Oh, I see. Tell me, Emily,”
“Yes, Julia?”
Judith scrunches her nose “My name is Judith”
“Mine is Amerie.”
“Amerie,” Judith stretches the name and Amerie holds off on the urge to scoff. Is this a grown woman? “What do you want from Shane?”
“What’s it to you?”
“I’m just asking as a concerned friend,”
“Shane once told me that he doesn’t have friends and you don’t strike me as someone he would even want to befriend,”
Judith scoffs at this, the nerve of this girl “I know your kind. You spotted a single, rich and older man then you dangled yourseld in front of him. Waiting for him to take bait and because he is a man, he took that bait and now you’re sinking your claws into him, wanting to make as much money as you can off him. I won’t be surprised if you turn up pregnant the next time I see you, that’s the best way to keep the check, right? ”
Amerie stares at Judith. Having listened to every word that she had just said and knowing that this is probably what more than half of the people in here are thinking makes her stomach turn. She can try and ignore people but she won’t always be immune to their words especially because she knows that this isn’t the truth at all. She’s not some gold digging skank.
“You don’t know me, Judith. You don’t get to make assumptions about me either,” she keeps her calm. She may have taken a slight knock from the words but she will never show it.
“Oh but I know you, or your kind, Amerie. Tell me, what do you even do for a living? Did you even go to school or have you always been a hustler?” Judith asks, looking at her like she’s nothing.
Amerie looks at this woman and decides that she’s not going to dignify that question with a response. She starts to make her way out when she hears Judith say” That’s what I thought, a girl whose using a grown man as a meal ticket, ”
Okay, screw it.” I’m an assistant pharmacist, Judith and I believe you know that for one to get that kind of job they must have gone to school. I don’t know you, lady and you sure as hell don’t know me either but in the couple of hours that I’ve been in the same room with you, you’ve managed to repulse me more than anyone else in this world. I don’t know what your problem is with me and I don’t care, you’re not Shane’s mother and even if you were, I wouldn’t grovel for your approval, what you think about me is irrelevant because it’s not your husband that I’m sleeping with. You’re nothing to me and to Shane you’re just the wife of the guy he hired and made partner. Learn your place and keep to it, Judith and keep your dumb assumptions to yourself, you’re too old to be acting like a jealous, mean girl. What would your husband even say with you poking your nose in another man’s business the way that you are right now?”she asks but doesn’t wait for a response. She just looks at Judith from head to toe and back up, with a much disgusted face then she walks out. Leaving Judith in complete shock.
When she reaches Shane, he immediately knows that something is wrong, especially when he sees Judith appear from the same direction “What’s wrong?”
Amerie shakes her head “Nothing, can we go get something to drink?”
“We can,” he says looking at an emotional looking Judith, her husband immediately goes to attend her and he takes her out to the balcony with him.
Shane goes to sit by the bar are with Amerie who appears to be tense, she gets a glass of wine and she takes a few sips then looks to the side. It’s as though she’s thinking of something or trying to calm herself down.
“Love?” he says, getting her to look at him then he takes her hand in his then he kisses it “Will you talk to me?”
“I will, when we get home. Right now I don’t want you to be distracted, or to even ruin your mood. We came here to celebrate you and your company, baby. Nothing and no one else matters right now,” she reaches up to peck his lips and she channels her facial expression. She begins to look better and Shane decides not to push this but before the end of this night, he will know what made her upset and for the sake of peace, he hopes that Judith has nothing to do with it because he won’t just let it be, he didn’t bring Amerie here so they could be hostile toward her.
As the mood settles again, Shane gets himself a refill and he’s just relaxing when a tense looking Frank appears with Judith who looks like she’s been crying. “I think we will head out and call it a night,” he says and Amerie doesn’t miss the fact that he just gave her a side eye before focusing his attention on Shane.
“Is everything okay?” Shane asks out of courtesy.
Frank looks at his teary wife and then at Amerie and he looks so angry. To make matters worse, Amerie couldn’t even be bothered by how he is looking at her. “She will be fine, we’ll talk,” Frank says.
“Alright, drive safe,”
“You too,” he leads his wife and Judith catches Amerie rolling her eyes as she walks past her. Shane doesn’t bother commenting on that tense moment, instead, he goes back to enjoying his woman’s company and after two hours they also decide to leave. He says his goodbyes on his way out and others tell Amerie that they are happy to meet her and they hope to see her again. She just smiles and doesn’t confirm anything.
When they get to Shane’s house. The first thing she takes off are her shoes. She’s dead tired and just wants the bed but she has to wash her face first. Shane helps her take off her dress and she puts on her dark shade of red negligee that she specifically bought for the nights that she will spend here because back at her apartment she just needs her baggy t-shirt to sleep.
She leaves him while he’s still changing and goes to wash her face, she’s almost sorry that she has to undo Leona’s work but there’s no way she is sleeping with make-up on. It takes a while for her to get done and she’s expecting that Shane will already be sleeping when she walks out of the bathroom but he’s still awake and sitting with his back against the headboard.
He moves his attention from his phone to her as she quietly moves to the other side of the bed and slides under the covers. Before she can lay flat, he pulls her closer so they can both sit. “Talk to me about earlier,”
“Your friend hasn’t called you yet?”
“No, and you’re the one that I’m concerned about. Judith is Frank’s responsibility. Talk to me, love,”
She sighs then starts talking “Judith came for me in the ladies restroom…” she begins to explain and she tells Shane everything. How Judith made her out to be a gold digger and called her a hustler and in what sense she meant. He listens without interruption and has his arm around her the whole time so he can feel the point where she starts getting upset again. “I’m not with you for your money, Shane,”
“I know that, my love. That thought has never even crossed my mind and I’m sorry that you had to be subjected to such disrespect, I’ll talk to Frank-”
“No, don’t do it. I won’t stoop her level. I know she lied to her husband because she wouldn’t be crying like that when I just stood up for myself and told her to stop being mean and childish. I know she probably twisted the story to make me out to be a bad person and he obviously believed her because she’s his wife, I really don’t care if the two of them don’t approve of me. I just don’t want to cause problems for you, ”
” The only one causing problems here is Judith, not you and I will address this, Amerie.”
” Only if you’re asked, if not then please let it be. I refuse to give Judith that satisfaction. I really don’t care about her, ”
” Is that why you’re this upset? Because you don’t care? “he asks with a stern tone.
” No… I’m upset because Judith said what most people in the room were probably thinking. What people who see us together will probably say, part of me doesn’t know how to handle that even when I know my truth. Even when I know that I’ve got a job and can easily take care of myself, ”
” Amerie, I asked if you’re okay with us being public, ”
” And I said yes, I don’t regret saying yes, ”
” Everywhere we go, people will be there, people with different opinions… They will talk. ” Although Shane’s appearance doesn’t scream old man and he’s very much attractive, it’s still possible to see the gap between them and sometimes they will be judged harshly.
” I know, Shane, “she feels herself get frustrated.” I don’t want us to be hidden, I’ll get used to the judgements, ”
” I don’t want you to get used to the judgments, Amerie. That’s like a victim saying they will get used to the abuse. It’s not supposed to be like that, it’s never supposed to be like that,”
“What do you suggest I do then?”
“I suggest that you think long and hard about whether you want this or not. I want to be with you, I’m already yours and I want nothing more more than for you to be mine too but I want you to be sure because people like Judith will always exist. I have no right to tell you how to react because I’m not in your shoes but baby, if you are sure that you are in this then you don’t roll over and let them walk all over you. If you feel the need to set the record straight then you do, if you feel that you’d rather let it go then you do, as long as it pleases you, as long as it’s what will make you feel okay, Amerie, not them. You never do it for them, ever. ”
” I understand… However I react shouldn’t be me trying to keep the peace, ”
” Yes, you don’t ever accommodate people who go out of their way to make you feel uncomfortable, you deal with it on your own terms, exactly how you want to deal with it and I’ll always be there for you, ”
She nods” I’ll do that, ”
” Good, because my woman will never be a walk over, “he kisses the side of her head and they slide on the bed to lay down. She faces the other direction and he spoons her
” I don’t want you to fight with the people I found in your life, ”
” They must learn about boundaries. I will not bring it up with Frank, as you are requesting but if I’m asked about it I will not be quiet,”he says knowing very well that one way or the other, Judith will know her place.
They talk a bit longer before she starts falling asleep and he’s left thinking about how much he loves her and will miss her when she goes home for Christmas, then he will be counting down the days before she comes back so they can cross over together into the new year.
.
.
.
Days pass and Amerie leaves for Christmas. Shane isn’t in the best of moods when she leaves, he has grown used to her presence in the house so much that it feels colder and lonelier now that it has had a taste of the warmness that she brings.
He hasn’t been to the office much, so he decides to pop in today. Most of the staff is already on their December holidays so he’s not expecting to find a lot of people there. Frank is there though because he saw the light in his office, they haven’t spoken about the Christmas event thing, in fact, they have hardly spoken since. He’s not sure if Frank is angry but he doesn’t care, he will not entertain this until it lands right in front of him.
He’s just gotten comfortable on his chair when there is a knock, when he tells the person to come in, Frank walks in. “Hey, are you busy?”
“Not yet, do you need something?”
“Actually, I want us to talk,”
This gets Shane’s attention “oh, about?”
Frank shuts the door and grabs a seat “About your… I don’t know what to call her… Amerie,”
“About my woman,” Shane says calmly and Frank forces a nod “what about her?”
“She was disrespectful to Judith the other evening and my wife has been upset since. I’m not sure if she told you what happened,”
“She told me everything,”
“Everything? Or her side of the story?”
“I see no reason why I shouldn’t believe her, you believed whatever your wife told you, isn’t it?”
“I did but that’s different,”
“How so?”
“Judith is my wife,”
“And Amerie is my woman,” Shane says.
“But you’ve known Judith longer than you have known Amerie,”
“And that is how I know that your wife went and poked her nose in something that has absolutely nothing to do with her,” Shane says and Frank gives him a surprised look, he wasn’t expecting the conversation to go this way, he thought that Shane would tell Amerie to apologize so they could move on.” Judith overstepped, I don’t appreciate her cornering my woman and calling her gold digger when she doesn’t even know the first thing about her except for her name. I do not appreciate people who insert themselves into my personal life and you know this, I also don’t get along with people who disrespect the woman in in my life. Your wife is special to you and you only, you’re not going to sit there and expect me to overlook the fact that she hurt Amerie’s feelings that night. What did you come here for, Frank? An apology? ”
” Well…I… I thought you could talk to her, ”
” Who? My woman? ”
” Yes, tell her to apologize-“Shane stops the madness before it goes far
” Apologise for being verbally attacked by your wife? Am I hearing you right? ”
” Look, even if Judith said some things to her, she was just looking out for you, ”
” Did I ask her to look out for me? Frank, I don’t belong to you and your wife. You both don’t get to feel like you can have opinions about my life and who I see. If my spending time with you is what led you to be this comfortable then maybe we need to go back and reaffirm these boundaries because under no circumstances will I let your wife think she has a say in my life, ”
” Judith meant no harm, ”
” But she harmed Amerie with her words and no one asked her to take my business and make it hers, ”
” Okay… I hear you. I’m sorry, I don’t want us to fight. I just thought we could talk it out and fix things but now I see that it won’t be possible, I don’t want our friendship to be affected, “he gets up, he would rather leave now before things get more heated up.
” Frank? ”
” Yes? ”
” Tell your wife that the next time she does what she did to Amerie that night, I will not be this calm. She must never think she holds some authority or place in my life, she’s your wife, not mine, she must never get that fact confused.”
Frank leaves and Shane doesn’t see him for the rest of the day until he leaves. Even then, by the time Shane gets to the parking lot, Frank is long gone.
He decides to pass by the shops for his regular stock ups, it’s an impromptu visit to the stores but he mentally tells himself that he won’t take up much time before he goes back to his house where he will sit and be miserable. It’s crazy how this life works, one moment you are okay with being by yourself, and then someone enters your life and gives you a taste of something new and different and suddenly when they aren’t there, you aren’t able to even function well. That’s the dangerous thing about love.
He goes into checkers and takes a trolly then he goes isle by isle, taking what he can think of at the top of his head, mostly for meals that he will be making. He might even make himself a nice meal for Christmas day, he always does this. He avoids restaurants and public places because they always tease him with the one thing he doesn’t have, family. He tries not to think about it so much but he can only push away these thoughts to a certain level before they force themselves back into his head and he ends up drinking himself to sleep.
He’s still doing his shopping when he feels like someone is watching him, he snaps his head in that direction but he sees no one except the people who are busy with their own things. That was strange, maybe he imagined it. He looks again, still no one.
He shakes off the feeling and continues then goes to line up so he can pay, for the rest of the time that he spends in the shop, he can’t help but feel like he is being watched and he gets tired of turning only to find nothing so he ignores it and goes about his business. Maybe his loneliness is starting to mess with his head.