Write In The Middle Of It

Erik watched a Law and Order marathon as he twisted Mekayla's hair while she slept. He shifted an oversized pillow to give his back more support. She called him when her train stopped to refuel, and he couldn't believe his ears. Kevin was cheating on Mekayla and she caught him.

Not the perfect wonderful Kevin that Erik had heard so much about.

Not the man Mekayla told him on several occasions he needed to be more like.

He hated to tell the girl he told her so but everyone knows that long distance relationships are a relative nightmare. Trust is always in question no matter how much reassurance is given.

Assumptions are made when communication is lacking.

Feelings cannot be understood adequately when not expressed face to face.

Emotions are put aside so that weekends are not spoiled.

Erik knew all of this but when he heard her crying over the phone, he decided to keep it all to himself.

The light on Mekayla's answering machine was blinking since they had come in the door. She told Erik to turn off the ringer to the phone and turn down the volume to the answering machine.

Erik looked at her skeptically but respected her wishes. At the end of the second night, when Mekayla finally got around to taking a hot bath Erik took the opportunity to listen to some of the messages. There were six. Five from Kevin, and one from Prudence. Erik decided not to erase them in case Mekayla was up to listening to them later.

He had been there for about a week and the most that Mekayla asked for was something to drink and what time it was. He was starting to get cabin fever and wished she would get up and talk to him so he could yell at her for taking this so hard. She had to pull herself together. Erik was sure that Kevin wasn’t sitting around moping over her, so why should she stop living because of him. There had to be more to the story but he would wait for Mekayla to tell him.

During a commercial Mekayla lifted her head and squinted at the TV.

"Hey you, " Erik said, "How you feel?"

"Hungry." Mekayla said through a yawn.

"It's about time,” Erik said playing in her hair.

Mekayla rolled over so her head was laying face up in his lap. She looked at him with a confused look on her face,

“And I had this dream, that I was Briscoe from Law and Order."

Erik busted out in laughter.

Mekayla frowned her face, "What?"

"It's a marathon,” he said smiling.

"Oh,” she said unfazed and closed her eyes.

Erik kissed her forehead, "What do you want to eat?"

"Mmmm, “she said with her eyes still closed, "I guess I should go light so my stomach don't go into shock."

"I can’t believe that you are carrying on the way that you are.” Erik said.

Mekayla just gave him a confused look.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he snipped.

“Are you mad at me?” Mekayla said sounding hurt.

“Not mad just sick of seeing you mope around here feeling sorry for yourself.”

Mekayla sat up in anger, “I caught my man cheating on me. I have a right to be angry!”

“No, in all actuality, you saw your man dancing with another woman. That is not cheating,” Erik responded.

“Infidelity is the committing of any act that would anger you if you knew your partner did it.” Mekayla spat back.

“I’m really sick of hearing you say that.”

“It’s true,” she said lying back down on the pillows.

“Well in that case,” Erik asked, “Weren’t you an infidel by giving Brett your number?”

“No,” Mekayla paused, “I was an infidel when I let him kiss me.” She got up and went over to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. Erik speechlessly watched her until she came back over to the pillows to lie down. They continued to stare at each other until Mekayla blurted out,

“What?”

“What the fuck you mean what?” Erik snapped frowning.

“So I was wrong for that?” Mekayla asked smirking.

Erik sighed and hung his head, “You have anything to drink in here?”

Mekayla shook her head no.

“When did this happen?” He asked.

“The night I left.”

“And why are you just now telling me this?”

Mekayla smirked, “Please, if I were to tell you this, you woulda been pissed at me.”

“I’m pissed at you now!” Erik snapped.

“Why?” Mekayla whined back.

“You can’t be serious?”

“I am.”

“Would you listen to yourself?” Erik said. “You have been in a functional coma for almost a week because you think Kevin was cheating on you, and reality is…”

“Reality is,” Mekayla interrupted, “I was on my way down there to tell Kevin what I had done and then…”

There was an awkward block of silence between the two of them. Erik got up and shifted his position so he could twist Mekayla’s hair again.

“You know you are wrong, don’t chu?” He eventually said to her.

Mekayla nodded ever so slightly as to not disturb Erik from his twisting.

“You know you can’t be mad at him right?”

“No, I can still be mad,” Mekayla answered, “But I’m mad at him for the wrong reasons.”

Erik chuckled, “Okay explain that to me.”

Mekayla let out a huge sigh, “It’s like this. I have been asking Kevin to come see me for weeks now and every week he has another excuse why he can’t. Now they are valid reasons, mind you, but nonetheless, I still don’t see him. Then, I go down there, and he is drinking and dancing with another female, that I don’t even know. It’s funny that he doesn’t have time for me, but he has time for everyone else.”

“So you cheated on him?” Erik paused twisting her hair for a moment.

“No the kissing was before I went to see him, and I know why I did that.”

“Do you really?”

Mekayla turned to look at Erik, “Yes, I do.”

“May I ask why?” He asked.

“Mekayla turned around, “What are you my therapist?”

Erik went back to twisting her hair, “Someone needs to help you.”

“I did what I did because I’m not getting enough attention.” She said hesitantly.

Erik sighed, “So why didn’t you tell Kevin this?”

“For what, to start and argument?” She asked.

“No. You are the one that always says communication is the key. So why didn’t you communicate?”

Mekayla shrugged, “I dunno. I guess I was scared.”

“Of Kevin?" Erik said somewhat surprised.

“You say that like you know him.” Mekayla responded.

“No, I know you. And from what you tell me Kevin wouldn’t harm a hair on your head.”

“I’m not talkin physically.” She closed her eyes as if looking for thought.

“What if he is doing everything he can to make me happy, but I’m still not happy?”

“Since when were you not happy?” Erik asked.

Mekayla just shrugged.

“What is it then?”

“I’m hungry.” She answered dismissively.

"I could run down to the Italian deli and get that slimy stuff you eat."

Mekayla opened raised her eyebrow at him, "Ugh, what slimy stuff?"

"That soup,” Erik responded also wrinkling his nose.

"That's Italian Wedding Soup, and it’s not slimy." She said shutting her eyes.

"Well what's that green stuff?" He said still frowning.

Mekayla sucked her teeth, "Spinach."

"It looks slimy." Erik said pushing his point.

"Not as slimy as okra." Mekayla snapped back.

"You say that like I eat okra?"

"I'm sayin." She paused for quite some time, "Are you gonna get me my soup?"

She whined looking at him.

"You a pain in the ass." Erik said playfully as he lifted her head off of his lap so he could get up. "Is there anything else you want?"

"A gun." Mekayla responded matter of fact.

“Lawd I’m afraid to ask."

Mekayla sighed.

Erik poked his head in on the way out the door, "Pepsi?"

"Yes please." She said not looking up. "I love you."

"Love you too." Erik said on his way back out.

"Erik!!!" Mekayla shouted.

"What dammit?" He said playfully after reopening the door.

Mekayla looked over her shoulder, “How come we never hooked up?"

"Cuz I don't like you." He said smiling.

Mekayla laughed and Erik just winked at her and shut the door. Still smiling she got up and walked over to the answering machine and toyed with the idea of listening to the messages. She decided against it. Instead she walked over to her desk drawer and took out the joint that she put in there over a week ago. She lit it, took a hard hit and straddled the computer chair while resting her head on the back of it. She couldn't figure out what made her more upset, than Kevin was cheating on her or that she found out because she was cheating on him. She spun herself around a few times as she contemplated what she was going to do.

As bad as she wanted to talk to Kevin, she had to sort her own feelings out first. She was confused and hurt in the same breath. She stopped spinning and went into her bedroom. She looked at the back door and took one more, hard hit off of her joint before unlocking it and stepping out onto the fire escape. When she did she saw Brett looking up at her from the alley.