The Choice (a Painful Past)

95

I paused, unsure of what to write next.

"Um, I'm not sure if I ever told you about him, but yeah. I love being his mom. It's kind of all I have going for me right now. Anyway, I just really wanted to tell you how proud I am of you guys and say hi, I guess. Maybe I'll talk to you soon." I reread the message a hundred times, before I finally hit send.

I was so nervous that my hands were shaking.

Why? It was just Colby! I knew why though.

I had let our friendship die, and now here I was begging for them to talk to my kid. I didn't ask Colby about that, because I wanted to see if he would even talk to me first. I wasn't close to Sam, so it was different with him.

I wasn't as anxious about it, although I still felt bad. I felt like I was just trying to use them, but it wasn't completely like that. I really did want to talk to Colby, and Sam, too.

I guess doing this for Ben is what finally pushed me to reach out to them. I missed Colby, more lately than I had in a long time. He was one of those things that I had pushed out of my mind but watching all of their videos brought it back to the surface.

I was anxious about them replying for a few days, but when I received nothing, I let it go.

Will was still contacting me, trying to get me to come over with Ben. Only he was just using Ben as an excuse, because he wanted to leave Ben in his room, on the game, while we went to the bathroom and had sex.

"Will, I already told you that I'm not doing that. Plus, you're with someone. I already know that, so don't try to deny it. I won't help you cheat. I know how that feels. Please leave me alone." I texted back.

"Who said I was with someone? I am not! I mean, I've hung out with this girl a few times, but we aren't together! I swear, Callie. I love you. I'm just lonely sometimes." He replied.

I groaned and closed my eyes. He was literally exhausting. It still hurt to think about him with someone else, in bed with someone else, and all of that.

I was trying to not let it  bother me though.

"I'm not having sex with you. If you want to see Ben, then I'll bring him over for a couple of hours, but I'm not letting you use him as an excuse to get laid." I responded.

"Whatever. Never mind. Don't come. I'll call Kelly." He sent back a moment later.

Tears stung my eyes, as I read his reply, but I sniffed and wiped my eyes. I would not cry over him again.

That wasn't the end of his advances though. He started posting pictures of him and her on Facebook, stating that he was in a relationship. I only knew about it because Denise had told me.

She told me that she had to say something, and it pissed him off. I laughed, but I wasn't really feeling it. My curiosity got the best of me though, so I opened Facebook and went to his page.

Sure enough, there were a dozen pictures of him and her that had been posted.

The caption read "Me and my boo thang. She's all I need. Better than the last."

I felt a sharp pain in my chest and sucked in my breath. It was fine. Let her have that mess.

I started reading the comments and saw that Denise had really laid into him.

"I never liked you, but this is lower than low. You're a piece of shit. I can guarantee that you won't find another woman like Callie. She gave you way more than you ever deserved, and you treated her like shit. I hope this chick knows what she's getting herself into. If you see this, baby you better run as far away from him as you can get."

"Wow." I whispered, with a smile.

Then, I kept reading.

"Fuck you, you stupid ass bitch. You're the reason why she left me in the first place. You left Mikie, and then she left me. Y'all had this planned. Get the fuck off my page, before I come beat your ass." Will's reply was typical for him but blaming Denise for us breaking up was laughable.

"LMAO! How is her leaving you, my fault?! That doesn't even make any sense! You can bet that I'm gonna show her how much fun being single is though and just how many amazing guys are out there. She's gonna get dicked down so good, she won't even remember your name. Stupid fucking piece of shit asshole. Fuck you. Go choke on a dick." I started to laugh at her last reply.

Will went on calling her names and such but he had nothing that made any sense. Then I couldn't take it.

I called him.

"Hey, what's up?" He answered, sounding pleased.

"You can't blame Denise for me breaking up with you!" I exclaimed, skipping the niceties.

His tone changed automatically.

"OH, YES THE FUCK I CAN! IF YOU HAD NEVER BECOME FRIENDS WITH HER, THEN WE WOULD STILL BE TOGETHER!" He yelled.

"No, we wouldn't be. If we were, it wouldn't be for much longer. Denise had NOTHING to do with me breaking up with you. YOU were the cause of that! Take responsibility and stop trying to blame others for your shitty actions!" I replied, letting the anger take over.

"Whatever. I KNOW you two had this planned. So, you could go out whoring together, or something. I'm not stupid, Callie. I just look this way." He replied, acid in his tone.

I laughed, but there was nothing funny about this. I just couldn't believe his stupidity.

"Oh my GOD! YOU'RE SO FUCKING STUPID! If Denise had anything to do with this, it was just showing me that it was possible to get out of a shitty situation, no matter how long you had been in it! So, what? You're gonna blame her for showing me that I didn't have to be a weak ass bitch and keep putting up with your shit?" I was seething.

My body was trembling with anger, and I wanted to reach through the phone and throttle him.

"YES, I WILL BLAME HER FOR THAT!" He exclaimed.

I couldn't believe it. He really just said that. I sighed, letting all of the emotions leave my body.

I was done with this.

"Fine. Blame her if you want, but it won't make any difference. You are the reason I left you. The cheating, the lying, the stealing, the drugs. A person can only take so much."