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Finish Her Story
Before He Cheats

Before He Cheats

Charlie accidentally wakes me up at 6 AM by smacking me in the face when he turns.

My head is pounding and when I turn to see a naked Annabelle and a naked Charlie, I remember last night. I lie back down and internally panic. I can hear my heart beat getting faster in the quiet early hours of the day, and I know I'm fucked.

I cheated on Evangeline.

It's one thing to get drunk and maybe kiss them. Some people are just friendly while drunk, I know I am. I'm a lightweight but I didn't drink that much. I can't blame this on the alcohol, and even I did I'd be a damn coward.

I've gotta stop acting like whatever I do doesn't matter.

I have made my bed, and I am literally lying in when I try to find ways to not turn in an anxious mess when I first see Evangeline. I try to think of excuses but what do I tell her? I guess I could tell her I tripped.

I imagine a scenario where she believes the stupidest lie in all of mankind.

"Yes, I tripped, and everyone was naked Evangeline," imaginary me tells her. "It happened more than once, don't ask why were all naked!"

Even in the imaginary scenario Evangeline kills me and Sheriff Grant pretends that he didn't see a damn thing. After a few minutes of trying to come up with an excuse, I give up and crawl out of bed, careful not to wake up Annabelle and Charlie.

While in the shower, having an existential crisis, I realize that I can simply never tell her. We could all swear ourselves to secrecy, and she would be none the wiser. But all it takes is one person admitting what happened, and by the end of the day, all of Edelweiss will know.

I lean onto the tile of the shower and groan.

"I am so fucked," I say to myself. "I am royally fucked."

A knock comes at the door and I flinch.

"Can you hurry up, I really need to take a piss," Charlie says.

I finish my existential crisis, and trade places with Charlie in the bathroom. Annabelle is busy looking for the bottom half of her swimsuit while wearing only the top, and my eyes wander.

"Pervert," she tells me.

"Sorry."

She finds the bottom half underneath the bed and gives me a weird look while I continue to panic in the bedroom. I open my suitcase and contemplate never coming back to town. I put on my briefs and think about changing my name. While putting on my pants I finally calmed down because I would never do all of that.

"Annabelle, what are we doing," I ask her.

"Getting dressed," she replies.

"I'm serious. I think I have to tell her. I don't think I can keep this in me."

A flush comes from the bathroom, the sound of a faucet turning, and a naked Charlie steps out of the bathroom.

"Think this through very carefully," Annabelle says. "It was a one-time thing. It won't happen again, right Charles?"

Charlie makes another of his signature weird faces and finds his boxers on the floor. He looks like he's thinking about what words to choose carefully, but knowing him it still might come out sounding weird.

"I think I don't mind," Charlie said quietly.

"Oh," I mumble.

It's dark in the room, and I open the blinds. We're greeted by the sunrise and can see people already out on the beach, getting an early morning swim in.

"You can't look outside to avoid talking about this," Annabelle says.

"I'm not doing that, it just looks pretty," I lie.

"What would we do after you tell her," Annabelle asks. "What do you think would happen if we did more of...this?"

She gestures wildly to the both of us and I lean my head on the window again. I'm trying to stop the stress headache I have, but the more we talk about it, the worse it gets.

"I don't think you should tell her either," Charlie says. "But I don't think you should stay with her either."

"And then do what," I ask him.

"I don't know, but if you ain't gonna tell her, then don't stay with her at least," Charlie shouts. "You want to start banging the entire town now?"

"Quiet, please," I plead. "Don't wake her up."

"She can't hear us all the way on the other side of the suite," Annabelle assures me. "We'll be okay."

Charlie scoffs and shakes his head no.

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"I don't care. I'm tired of your shit Nick," he says. "You can't decide a damn thing!"

"Well, what would you do Mr.Perfect," I snarkily reply.

"Tell her or leave her," he says. "I wouldn't expect her to be happy, but I would be doing the right thing."

"Okay. Okay, I'll make a decision. When we get back to Edelweiss I'll talk to her. I promise," I tell them.

Annabelle looks like she doesn't believe me, and just leaves. Charlie goes to take a shower, and I am left alone with my thoughts. They are not my friend right now.

I get a green t-shirt from my suitcase and order room service. Then I go to the living room and notice the beer bottle is still on the floor. Irrationally, I believe its the source of all my problems, and decide to smack it against the wall in a moment of anger. Glass shatters everywhere, and my right hand is cut up all over.

I stare in shock like a toddler that touched a hot stove for the first time, and I panic even more.

I can't write without my hands.

"Fuck," I say quietly. "No..Nonnonoo"

A lot more blood that should be coming out is coming out and it's getting all over the hardwood floors. Evangeline comes walking down the corner, and then rushes toward me when she sees the blood and glass everywhere.

"Nick what happened," she asks.

"My deposit is not coming back," I reply.

"This is serious, there's a lot of blood everywhere!"

A soft ding-dong goes off and Evangeline opens the front door. A confused waiter is trying to understand what she's saying because she's talking so fast it sounds like it's a long word.

I make my way to the small kitchen and try to find some towels but there are none. The waiter takes the food off cart, then takes off the entire fancy linen cover on top of it. In the lower part of the cart are cooking utensils, and he takes out the biggest knife I have ever seen. In one long cut he takes off a piece of the linen and wraps my hands.

"Shit this hurts," I complain. "I think there are pieces of glass still in my hand."

Charlie enters the kitchen looking for some water and then another panicked person tries to help. He runs off to our room and comes back with some pain killers. I swallow it dry, desperately, and Evangeline calls 911.

"I don't think it's that serious," I mumble.

"Ignore him, he's saying weird stuff because of blood loss," Charlie tells Evangeline.

"I'm fine," I lie. "Perfectly fine."

I sit down on the tiled floor and I start to feel even worse. I haven't eaten or had any water yet, and the entire room feels like it's moving. The waiter tilts my head to the side, and tries to keep it upright. He gives me a water bottle in my left hand nut I look at it like I've never seen one in my life.

"Give me that," Charlie grumbles.

He unscrews the top and instructs me to drink. I don't feel real, but I drink anyway. Soon some very nice EMTs arrive and tell me that I have severe blood loss. I smile and nod, because my mouth feels heavy. Annabelle comes to the kitchen next, and screams at the sight of blood everywhere.

"Too loud," I mumble.

I lean my head on Charlie's shoulder because I feel so tired, and before I know it, I'm asleep.