Part 10: - "I Ain't Mister Right"
Again he wakes up, but this time in the evening ten hours later. Next to him, half way covered up by the doormat; there is a card he hasn't seen before. It says:
"You're
a part of me, and you don't even know it.
I'm what you need, but I'm too afraid to show it."
-
If you were my woman, he mumbles. - Shit,
my head...
He crawls towards the bathroom to get some Aspirins and lies down
on the floor to ease the headache as much as possible. It feels
as if he got the bottle of Jack Daniels cracked in the back of
his head, not as if he drank the Scotch inside. He crawls over
the floor and up to the bed where he falls asleep for the 3rd
time in 24 hours.
It takes
another 12 hours for him to be able to get out of bed and into
the warm shower. He has been sweating all night, and when he
looks himself in the mirror he only has two words:
- Disaster area.
While he stands under the hot water he tries to figure out where
Sarah might be. She doesn't have any brothers or sisters, she has
an uncle in Spain, her father in Sweden and her mother in
Augusta, Maine.
- Of course! She's with her mother in Maine! Damn it,
I hate planes.
It is really true, if there is one thing he can't stand it is
flying. So he makes up his mind and takes the car. After all he
has to see her somehow, so he has to pay her a little visit. But
it will take a little while to drive to Maine...
- Time is all I have enough of, he
smiles to himself in the mirror. - You look much
better, hotshot, he jokes and gets ready to
confront his best friend.
- What will I tell her?
He has absolutely no idea what to tell her, but he has plenty of
time to figure it out. It takes about 7 hours to drive all the
way from New York Cirty to Augusta.
After a few hours drive he stops at a gas
station to fill up the tank. As he gets out of the car a woman
runs towards him and throws herself in his arms. He looks awfully
surprised for a second until he finally figures out who this
excited cover-blonde is.
- Jennifer! Christ, what are you doing here?
he cries out.
- I work here! she answers and smiles
seducingly.
- However did you end up in a place like this? You of
all people...
She laughs at him and he remembers what they used to share. They
had been lovers at least 7 years back, and it was the most
passionate relationship he had ever been in. Then, all the
sudden, they just grew apart.
- Come with me inside, he whispers in
his ear and walks in front of him with her too short skirt and
tight sweater.
He pays for the fuel and notices that she
can't take her eyes off him. He doesn't mind the image of her
either, but knows that it would be wrong. Very wrong.
- We have to stop here, what if anyone comes by?
he tries.
But he lusts for her, and lets her open his blue shirt and kiss
his hairy chest. He also lets her slide her hands down in his
loose jeans. This makes him all crazy, and he lifts her up on the
counter ready to take her then and there, but his senses tells
him to stop.
- No! God, no! I can't do this! I'm sorry, Jennifer,
but I can't.
She acts really disappointed and jumps down from the counter.
- Why, darlin', why? We used to be THAT hot! We could
be even hotter! You know it, George. We were great together!
- I know, he replies and tries to fight his
hormones. - But, he continues, I'm
on my way to Augusta to apologise for something I shouldn't have
done.
- Like what?
He tells her the whole story about Tania, Sarah and everything
along with it. She smiles and says:
- You're in love with her!
- No, I just... I...
Without a clue why on earth he starts to stutter, he turns away
and blushes. For the first time since he was a teenager his face
turns all red, and he can't speak properly.
- Don't lie to me, George! For Christ's sake, you
blush like a 14-year-old boy in love! she laughs
He has to admit it to both her and himself. "I was a
fool who didn't see this at once", he thinks.
- You go get her, handsome. No one deserves true love
more than you do, she concludes and gives him a
last kiss good-bye.
He leaves the station the minute after and his ex-lover stands back with a weak smile on her face. She never forgot about him, and she never will. But there is nothing she wants more than for him to be happy. Mostly to be happy with her, but if he finds happiness with someone else - which he obviously has - she has to accept that. Another customer arrives, and she puts the thought of her ex-lover behind - if only for a brief minute...