In Another Life

192

Somehow, it didn't seem like enough. "It was nice to see you too ..." I added. I hoped he knew I really meant it. I noticed Justin walking back towards the car, so I put my phone screen down on my lap. We didn't need another argument started over nothing. 'Was it nothing though?' my subconscious asked. "Shut up," I murmured again. Maybe I really was going crazy. I hadn't talked to myself like this since I was on drugs. He opened the door, smiled at me and passed the bags of food over before climbing in. "So they didn't have the sauce you wanted, so I just got Ranch. That's okay right?" I snagged a fry out of the bag and nodded my head. "Yeah, that's fine. I love Ranch." He nodded, and we pulled back out onto the road, making our way through all of the traffic. I heard my phone ding in my lap and just instinctively knew that Colby had texted me back. I picked it up, trying to turn it ever so slightly so that Justin couldn't see who the text was from. "Hey T. No problem. I had a great time today. I hope I get to see you more..." I smiled, looking at those three little dots, and rolled my eyes. He just had to one up me. "Who's that?" Justin asked, snapping me out of the zone I had been in. I jerked so hard that I almost dropped my phone. "Um, no one. I mean, it's Denise. She wanted to know if I was free this weekend for a girls night." He looked at me quizzically. "Why are you acting weird?" I furrowed my eyebrows at him. "Weird? I'm not acting weird. How am I acting weird?" I asked, doing my absolute best to keep the nervous tremble from my voice. I hated lying and didn't believe that it had any place in a serious relationship. I hated that I was lying right now, but it seemed necessary. I didn't want him freaking out over a text. "Okaaayy," he drawled out, still looking at me like I was crazy. I texted Colby back quickly, keeping the phone averted from his wandering gaze. "Yeah, I hope so too. I've got to go. Justin is home and we're about to have dinner. See you around Colby." I stared at the message for another moment, then decided to add his trademark little black heart. It just felt right. I hit send, just as Justin slammed on the brakes. A truck had zoomed out in front of us, almost clipping our front end. My phone flew from my hands, as the seat belt tightened around my waist and on my shoulder, bruising me. It landed, screen up, in Justin's lap. I tried to reach over and get it, while he was busy screaming obscenities at the driver of said truck, sticking his hand out the window and flipping them off. My seat belt was locked and I couldn't reach the damn phone. The screen was still on, my texts to Colby staring up at me. I stretched over, my fingertips just grazing the bottom of it, where it was placed on his leg farthest away from me. He must've felt me trying to get it, because he stopped his yelling and glanced over to me, then down to his lap. He was quiet, at first. He reached down with one hand and grabbed my phone, keeping one hand on the wheel. I held my hand out for the phone, praying that he didn't see it. Instead of passing it to me, he held it up in front of his face, glancing at it, then glancing at the road. "Justin, before you get upset, let me explain," I started trying to smooth over the situation. He let out a short, sharp bark of a laugh. "Let you explain. Let you EXPLAIN?" He yelled, looking over at me. "EXPLAIN WHY YOU JUST LIED TO ME ABOUT TEXTING YOUR EX? EXPLAIN WHY IT SAYS HERE THAT YOU SAW HIM TODAY BUT I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT IT. YES TERRA, PLEASE EXPLAIN, BECAUSE IT JUST LOOKS LIKE YOU'VE TURNED INTO A LYING WHORE TO ME!" His words cut me to the core, and pissed me off at the same time. I wasn't a whore. In the past, maybe I was, but I had not ever slept around on him. For him to suggest such a thing hurt badly. "That's not fair Justin," I exclaimed, looking at the road, as he slammed on the brakes again, after riding this lady's bumper. She stopped suddenly, and he had to swerve to avoid hitting her. "You need to calm down and drive like you've got some sense before you wreck us," I stated, holding onto the "oh crap" bar that was above my right shoulder. He laughed, a little maniacally, and shook his head. "Like I've got some sense. WELL, I GUESS I DON'T HAVE ANY OF THAT T. I thought that my girlfriend, my partner in life, was telling me the truth and that I was overreacting but now I see that I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG." He swerved again, hard, causing me to sling into my door. "JUSTIN, CALM DOWN BEFORE YOU GET US BOTH KILLED!" I yelled, holding onto my door as he sped up, swerving in and out of traffic, which was basically impossible in LA. The car jumped up onto the sidewalk and had people lunging out of the way. "I know what I'm doing! Still waiting on that explanation T. Did you sleep with him? You go out in the middle of the night, meet him at some bar. I bet he got you to drinking and you guys went back to his place huh? Or some skeevy hotel even? Yeah I bet that was how it went down," he spat out, his eyes full of rage. I had never seen him this mad before. The way he was acting and his driving was scaring me. "Justin, I know you're upset, but baby please slow down. Pull over and let's talk about this. I didn't sleep with him, I promise," I tried to coax him to pull over. I felt like we were going to slam into another car any second now. He burst out laughing at my words, shocking me into silence.