The Heartbreak Factor - Part Four

This part is from George’s point of view

Walking out of the lobby from the hotel, I shoved my phone into the pocket of my jeans and straightened out the collar of my shirt. The hire car was parked just down the road from the hotel as by the time we got back from Disneyland the night before, all the car parking spots in the hotel’s car park were already taken. By the time I reached the car and got into the driver’s seat, the clock on the dashboard was already showing quarter to eight. I had arranged with Justin to meet him at a bar in downtown LA for eight o’clock. I had no idea what Los Angeles traffic would be like at this time, let alone how long it would take me to get there. Not that I cared. I really didn’t want to go but I was doing it for Sammy. Even though she wasn’t making me do it, I felt like it was something I had to do. 

As the car began moving down the street, I flicked the switch to turn the radio on and Disney songs began playing through the car. Sighing, I changed from CD to radio and began tapping my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the songs that were being played on the local radio station - Los Angeles’ version of Capital FM I suppose. 

Half an hour after I set off, I finally arrived at the bar. Fifteen minutes late maybe but at least I still arrived. As I parked the car up in a local car park and walked across the street to my destination, part of me was hoping that Justin had turned up, waited ten minutes and left. Opening up the door to the bar, I walked in to realise my hoping hadn’t done a blind bit of difference as there he was, sat smugly on a bar stool, drinking his drink with his back to me. 

Sighing to myself, I walked over to him. 

“Sorry I’m late,” I reluctantly said, apologising as I sat on the empty stool beside him. “Traffic was a nightmare.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Justin smiled. “Beer?”

“Sure.”

As Justin called the bartender over, I looked around the bar. It was surprisingly quiet considering the time and location. But then I noticed there was two suspicious men on the other end of the bar to us. One had their phone out, but it was positioned with a sort of angle that it was obvious they weren’t texting - they were taking a photo of us. 

“Um, Justin, do you mind if we go sit in one of the booths?” I asked. 

Justin looked at me as I discreetly pointed at the obvious paparazzi. “Can’t go anywhere without them following. Yeah, of course.”

Once the bartender had given me a bottle of beer and taken down my details for a tab, we made our way over to one of the secluded booths. 

“I really appreciate this, George,” Justin smiled. “I know it can’t be easy for you but I do appreciate it.”

I nodded as I glugged away at my beer. There was no way I could be sober for the entire night. I already felt like hitting his smug face but I resisted temptation and kept the peace. 

“Can’t believe the news about you guys having twins,” Justin said, breaking the silence after a few moments. “I bet you two are over the moon.”

I nodded. “You can’t tell anybody though. We’re keeping it secret just until we know nothing can go wrong. I wasn’t even supposed to blurt it out to you but..”

“You wanted to get one up on me so you thought the best way to do that was tell me she was pregnant with your baby, well, babies? I know. I get it,” Justin replied. 

“Can you blame me though?” I asked. 

Justin shook his head as he put his beer bottle back down on the table in front of us. “Nope. Best man won though.”

“She’s not a competition. She isn’t a prize you win at the fair,” I spat in disbelief. “She’s a human being.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I..”

“I think this was a bad idea,” I paused. 

“Maybe,” Justin sighed. 

“Since it’s obvious we won’t be able to have a pleasant drink and we will just be talking about Sammy, can I ask you something?” 

Justin looked at me. You could tell by the look on his face that he was considering saying no but he reluctantly nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Are you sure?” I questioned. 

Justin nodded. 

“Did you love Sammy?” 

Justin paused as he reached out his hand to pick up his beer bottle. Placing it to his lips, he looked at me as I waited for a response. I could tell he wasn’t expecting that question, but I still needed an answer. 

“It was complicated,” he replied. “I wasn’t in love with her, but I did love her. It’s hard not to love her.”

I knew what he meant but I didn’t want to nod as he could take it as an approval. 

“I could have been in love with her. I felt myself falling for her but I stopped myself because part of me knew it wasn’t going to last. You could tell by the look on her face when your name was mentioned that she was still madly in love with you. You could tell by the look in her eyes when Katy cried for ‘daddy’ that she missed you. I suppose, in a way, I tried to ignore it to stop myself from seeing it but I did see it. I noticed it every time she looked at her phone, hoping that there’d be a text from you or a missed call from you. I noticed it every time there was a knock at the door that she’d be hoping it would be you coming to fight for her. It killed me to know she didn't actually want to be with me but I suppose I tried to convince myself that she would soon give up wanting you to fight for her and fall in love with me instead.” 

In a way, I felt sorry for him. I could tell that he was gutted things didn’t work out between him and Sammy. 

“I..” I paused. “What do you mean you could have been in love with her?” 

“If you two didn’t get back together, I could have really fallen for her. I guess it was too soon for me to fall for anyone else since I had only just broken up from a serious long-term relationship so my feelings were all over the place, just like Sammy’s were, but I knew if we both gave it time, we both could have been something real.”

They could have been something real? How dare he say something like that? They couldn’t be anything real. They wouldn’t be anything real. What Sammy and I had was real. What he made fall apart was real. 

“Real?” I laughed sarcastically. “You don’t know the meaning of ‘real’.” 

Justin looked at me in confusion. 

“What Sammy and I have now is real. What we had was real. You got in-between something real and that was real,” I added. “Not just some crush. It was real. It still is.” 

“Okay,” Justin paused. “But, can I ask you something?” 

I nodded. It wasn’t like I had much choice in the matter. I could tell he was going to ask me regardless. “If what you had was so real, why did you end up with another girl?” 

It was in that moment that I realised Justin knew more than I realised. Fuck. How was I supposed to answer a question like that, especially after saying what Sammy and I had was real. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out. 

“If you and Sammy really were ‘real’, why did she have to walk in on you and another girl? Do you realise that the night she walked in on you and that girl, Sammy and I nearly kissed but she didn't want to hurt you? I think she was going back to your apartment to make things right between you. So don’t you dare accuse me of getting in-between something which was real when it was your actions alone that stopped you and Sammy from being together.”

I had had enough of listening to some guy who didn’t know the real Sammy and I talking about stuff that had happened in the past. I didn’t need to be here. I didn't need to listen to this. I poured the rest of the beer down my throat before standing up and heading towards the door. 

Getting in my car, I glanced at the clock to realise it had only been twenty minutes but I didn’t care. I had had enough.