“Get out of the car, Ray! I’m not gonna talk to you when you’re like this. Get out!” Julie screamed. An excuse, an apology, or perhaps a promise ““ one of those hopeful counterstrikes against the irate female ““ formed on the tip of Ray’s tongue, but due to his slight inebriation, he could not get the words together in time. He decided to cut his losses and scampered out of the car. He stood on the sidewalk in front of his house and watched her speed away. “Careful with my car, please,” he uttered pointlessly. “And my key! I need my house key! Julie!” He threw his hands up in distress, but she was already gone. He hung his head and began to chuckle. It was the laugh of a man so deeply in love; he could stand in the face of such a vehement argument and rest assured that the next day they would make amends and move on. That is what he told himself as he headed to the side yard in search of entry to his house.
The living room window was his only option, and he yanked out the screen. Gripping the inside of the frame, he managed to hoist himself inside in a far more clumsy fashion than one would imagine based on his young physique. Inside, a man, clad in black, sitting on the couch with his left leg resting gingerly over his right, observed him. It was not until Ray was halfway to the kitchen that he noticed this person. He turned abruptly and recognized his dear friend, Elliot.
“Elliot. What ““ what are you doing here? How’d you get inside?”
“A lot more easily than you did, I’ll say.”
Ray looked around, puzzled.
“Your front door was open,” Elliot murmured.
“It was unlocked?”
“In a way.”
Ray glanced at the front door and saw a jagged hole where the handle ought to be. Suddenly the unfortunate episode from a few nights prior came rushing back in his memory. The question, the answer, the accusation, the defense, the outburst, the retort, the shattered glass, the upturned table and finally the disembowelment of his door handle from a surprising feat of strength coming from Julie’s tiny arm. Best not to go into detail with Elliot.
“Oh, yes. I completely forgot. There was an incident the other night. Julie … she … well, I need to get it fixed up that’s for sure. See, I don’t have my keys because I’m a tad drunk at the moment, and Julie has my car and drove off””mdash;”
“Oh, I saw the whole thing and heard it.”
Elliot remained in his relaxed position and let Ray sort out the situation in his mind.
“Well, I can put on some tea or maybe something else …”
“I’ve already got a pot going actually. Goji berry. That’s all you have. Julie’s favorite if I remember correctly.”
“Yes, quite right. Let’s go in the kitchen.”
Ray wandered in and went to the stove. Elliot followed and settled at the island counter to peruse a collection of prescription bottles lying about. Julie’s name was typed on all the labels. Ray turned around with two steaming cups.
“I’m glad you’re here, but I have to ask, what’s the occasion? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“I’ve been petitioned to come talk to you.”
“Petitioned? By whom?”
“A lot of people. Namely the folks who attended that gala event with you the other night. The one you brought Julie to.”
“Oh, no. That wasn’t her best night. What were they saying?”
“That you were being strangely complacent with Julie’s cross behavior. But a whole lot of other things too. Some are saying you’ve developed some unhealthy habits.”
Ray scoffed. “So you’ve come to me with a basket of rumors, which I’ve been well aware of and trying to dispel. Funny, I always thought you were above the gossip, Elli.”
“Above it? No, you’ve got it all wrong. I’ve always been below it. Far below it. Down near the roots where I can verify its validity or lack thereof.”
“And in my case? Any truth to it all?”
“An abundance of it, unfortunately. It’s all plain to see, Ray. You’re tired and stressed and hard as hell to get a hold of nowadays. Your life’s out of balance it seems.”
“You are starting to be very blunt. I like the old Elliot who never knew when to stop joking around.”
“I like the old Ray, who would come get swashbuckled at my house and sing karaoke until 3 in the morning.”
“We’re not in college anymore.”
Elliot sighed and prepared. “No we’re not. Not at all. We’re at a time when we’re going to make some of the most important decisions we’ll ever make.” He paused to stare at Ray, then continued, “Like who we are going to marry. If it were three years ago I would have said “˜Hell, let the commander take a gander, he’ll see she’s not the one.’ But now, well, I don’t know.”
“I’m past the point of convincing, Elliot. I love her.”
“Ah, but you acknowledge you need convincing.”
“That’s not what I meant at all.”
“Not what you meant, but what your Id meant.”
“What my what meant?”
“Id. Unconscious part of the psyche where your most primitive instinctive impulses and drives reside.”
“Pff! Freudian bullshit. I believe in free will, sorry!”
“So do I! But I also believe your free will can be overtaken and subjugated.”
“By what?”
“Insane creatures.”
“Be more specific.”
“Julie.”
“You can’t say that! You don’t know a thing about””mdash;”
He stopped and swallowed his words.
“That’ll work with the other folks but not me, old sport.”
Ray looked down at his tea. It was true. Elliot had known Julie even before Ray did. He also knew a lot about her, maybe even more than Ray. Julie had an ambiguous past, a reckless present and, in Elliot’s opinion, a very uncertain future.
“I’ve got a perspective worth considering. I’ve known you longest and better than anyone, and I’ve known her longer than you have and I’ve observed how her relationships began and ended and everything between. And I’ll tell you right now, nothing about your relationship strikes me as particularly different than her other””mdash;”
“Look I get it, but can we talk about something else?”
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know. Tell me something interesting.”
“Fifty percent of all””mdash;”
“No statistics. You know I don’t like those. Tell me a story.”
Elliot paused a moment and then began, “There was once a very upstanding young man who was on his way to a very upstanding life until he met a very beautiful girl who consumed all his time, made him spend all his money, and …” he moved toward the pile of prescription bottles on the counter and started rifling through them, “… left her Klonopin and her Ritalin and her Valium all over his kitchen and apparently would lock him out of his own home when she was particularly mad at him.”
“Oh come on, she doesn’t do that really. So we’re in a fight right now ““ all couples fight. You came at a bad time.”
“Did I come at the worst time?”
“No! I mean yes ““ or I don’t know ““ what do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. Or maybe you don’t. You seem a little confused.”
“You’re starting to piss me off. I ““ I haven’t seen you in a while, and there’s a lot to explain and a lot about Jules and I that would be hard for people to understand. And I just need some time ““ time to figure out how to go about ““ well, not everyone is going to ““ Elliot, I””mdash;”
His hand reached out instinctively for the Klonopin. He recoiled realizing this, but it was too late; Elliot has already noticed. So to hell with it. He unscrewed the lid and popped a couple pills. Elliot drew back and said no more. If his friend couldn’t see what a mess Julie had got him into at that moment, he never would.
Elliot went for the door, but then turned to Ray.
“Remember when we were kids and we’d ride our bikes way out on the old Dry Creek trails? And it would turn dusk and then dark and you would get so scared that we were lost.” Ray’s lips curled at the corners in a half smile even as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. “Well I never told you “˜cause I didn’t want you to feel like a fool, but I always knew exactly where we were and it was never far from home. And that’s how I always found the way. I’ve never steered you wrong in the past, Ray, and I’m not trying to control your life now; I’m just asking that before you do anything else, consider the concerns of those people who have been there in your life since the beginning. The same ones that will be there always.” Then he left.
BY Jacob Ruiz