Chapter 19

19 A Real Friend

My eye rested on the name of a friend from my days in university. We had known each other since the first day of university and had gotten immediately close. He, or she as he would prefer to be referred to, was against the idea of me marrying so early in life and we lost touch since I married George. It’s so ironic that the failure of my marriage is the reason why I’m going to give him a call now.

“Hi...it’s me. I know that it’s been a very long while but...” I said timidly through the phone.

“Oh girl! I thought you would never call. I was going to call you, but I didn’t know how things were on your end. Anyways, I’m so happy that you called!” the voice replied.

“Thank you...honestly...I...” I said before my voice broke and I started crying.

“Where are you? I’ll head there right now to pick you up, ok?” Justin said comfortingly.

“Yeah...ok...” I mumbled through my sobs.

“Hang in there, girl. I’m here for you, ok? Just hang in there...” Justin said.

“Ok...” I whispered softly before hanging up.

My throat and chest felt tight as I tried my best to hold in my tears. I sniffed repeatedly before wiping some tears away from my eyes with the back of my hands. Closing my eyes, I tried to take deep and long breaths to calm myself down. I need to be strong...I need to be strong...

.....

...

A bright red sedan pulled up right in front of me. Looking up, I saw the friend that I had been waiting for. It felt like I had fallen down a wet and slippery well and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t climb up. While staring at the light coming in from the opening of the well, the silhouette of my dear friend appeared along with the hope that I could be saved.

“You look like a mess, my angel,” Justin said as he shook his head from side to side.

“I just fell out of heaven...” I muttered as I tried to smile bravely at him.

“The landing must have been tough from that height...” Justin said before pursing his lips.

He got out of the car and came over to me before throwing his muscular arms around me. The sweet floral smell of his perfume enveloped me, and I hugged him back. If you have a friend who you can count on in times of crisis like this, the life you’ve led wasn’t a complete failure or so I would like to believe.

“Let’s get in the car. I’ll take you back to my place for now so dry your tears, ok? You’ll ruin your beautiful face, and we can’t have that,” Justin said as he pulled me to my feet and led me to the car.

While in the car, I tried to give Justin a download of what had happened in my life after my graduation from university. It was hard for me to keep talking without bursting into tears. However, I felt like I would go insane if I didn’t keep talking.

“You don’t need to talk about it if you don’t want to...” Justin said before glancing over and smiling a little at me.

I must have looked like I was in so much pain to him. However, I did owe it to him to tell him my version of the story. When I was married to George, he didn’t like it when I spent time with my friends who weren’t exactly from the high society. He would say that it would look ‘bad’ if I hung around ‘those people’. As a result, I didn’t meet up with Justin and my other friends as often, but we did keep in touch. Clearly following George’s advice as a huge mistake.

Now that I’m in the deepest dump ever, it’s ‘those people’ that were willing to help me and none of the connections that I had formed in high society. What a rotten joke.

We arrived at Justin’s condominium after a while of driving. I followed him up to his room which I found out was much larger and well decorated than I had imagined at first. Not like I was looking down on him, but I didn’t know that he was doing this well for himself.

“Wow. This is a very nice place,” I said as I looked around.

“Sit down and just rest, girly,” Justin said as he gestured to the sofa in the center of the living room.

I wondered what Justin was doing for a living now. If I remembered correctly, his parents owned a mid-sized company that dealt with importing and exporting. Of course, I didn’t know much beyond that. Last I heard the relationship between him, and his parents were strained because of his career aspirations and to a certain extent, his sexual preferences. Personally, I loved the fact that he was gay. It made him feel like a sister that I never had.

“I’m sorry...about everything...” I said softly as I hung my head low.

I felt so ashamed of myself, and I didn’t have any excuse to offer to defend myself. I was wrong. Period.

“It’s not your fault. I’m not mad at all. Listen, who you choose to marry isn’t any of my business, girl. It’s ok. We all make mistakes and I’m not here to rub it in. Plus, I know that most of this was your parent’s idea anyways,” Justin said reassuringly.

“Still...I’m sorry, Justin,” I said truthfully.

“Don’t worry about it. We’re friends. I love you. Just get some sleep, you look like you’ve been through a hurricane!” Justin exclaimed in his booming voice.

“I think it’s a lot worse than that...” I said teasingly.

It did feel like it was a lot worst though...

“Oh...I can’t say that I can imagine...” Justin said with a soft laugh.

“Honestly, I don’t know where to go from here,” I admitted.

“I know...you’re crushed about losing George and everything else that came with it,” Justin said, sounding empathetic.

“It’s not just that. The thing is...George left me a debt of around 700 million dollars, and this is after selling off every single thing that we both have to our name,” I announced.

“What?! Are you...serious?!” Justin cried out in shock as he placed a hand over his chest.

“Yeah. Everything is gone. Even my handbags...my shoes...everything down to like my branded silk underwear...I guess...” I said sarcastically.

“Well, I did tell you that those thousand-dollar panties were a bad idea...” Justin reminded me.

“You were right,” I said as I clapped my hands together and laughed at his joke.

“Holy...girl...what are you going to do now?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I’m not stupid and I realize that my situation is shittier than a pile of shit right now. I married George right after my graduation so although I have a degree in business, I have absolutely no work experience. Unless you count dressing up pretty and building up connections with the rich and famous a job...” I said followed by a depressing sigh.

“Actually...there’s a job similar to that...and it pays...really fucking well,” Justin said as his eyes widened in excitement.

What is he talking about? Is there really a job like that?

–To be continued...