Unfaithful

Word Count: 1000

"Something smells good," I said as Deon threw some minced garlic into the pot of boiling spaghetti sauce. He took a whiff of it and smiled at me. The smile faded when he saw that I wasn't wearing my sweat pants and white tank top like I had been moments earlier. "Let me guess you have to run out for a few minutes."

"It's Erica, you know she's having a hard time. I just need to run over to her for a few minutes, I'll be back in a jiff and we can enjoy our night together." When he looked at me, it was as if he knew that I wasn't being truthful about where I was going. Many times over the last few weeks, I had thought that he was going to call me out for the affair that I was having with his brother. He had nearly caught us so many times that it would not have surprised me in the least if he knew. "Don't be like this. You know that Jack just walked out on her. She needs me, I have to be there for her right now."

"I'm starting to think that maybe he had the right idea. You keep rushing over to her, maybe you should spend all of your time with her. I could find someone who actually wants to be with me. A girl who actually wants to be with me and spend time with me, instead of running off every five minutes." He turned his back to me, I went up behind him to embrace him but he pushed me off. He dumped some onion salt into the pot and concentrated on ignoring my presence. Finally he seemed to realize that this was not doing any good, he turned to look at me, tears in his eyes. "What are you still doing here? Go play hero to someone who needs you. Just don't be surprised when you come home to a locked door one day."

"Bae, why are you being like this? You like Erica, she's your pal. You know how much she loved Jack."

"I also know that there is much more to the story than what she has told anyone. Like did she tell you that she was cheating on him?" Momentarily I was stunned, Erica hadn't mentioned to me that she was cheating on Jack. Though it might have been because I was talking to her about the guilt I felt about sleeping with Mike, and she didn't want to take away from my feelings. She was thoughtful that way. "Every man has his limits and I am very close to reaching mine. If you leave tonight this might be it for us. After begging and pleading with you for one night, you're going to disrespect me and walk out the door and go be with Erica? Maybe you should take everything with you."

"You don't mean that," I squared my shoulders, narrowed my eyes, challenging him. I knew him better than he knew himself and he would die without me. That was why I stayed with him instead of leaving like I had thought about so many times before. He took a pinch of oregano and added it to the other ingredients, which were now bubbling up. "So stop being an ass and just understand that my friend needs me for an hour, tops. I promise."

"The reason Jack left Erica is because he caught us having sex. She and I had been having an affair for quite some time. Neither of you suspected, so we thought that we were in the clear." My head was spinning. My best friend and my boyfriend had been having a torrid affair and I had no idea? This seemed next to impossible, neither of them had enough personality to cheat. "Jack was a lot quicker on the uptake than you were, of course that's no surprise given how self-involved you are."

"How dare you insult me!? Especially after you confess to sleeping with my best friend." One of the sauce bubbles exploded, just as the anger in my chest seemed to burst. A double betrayal by the two people that I should have been able to trust, how does one handle that? "This is too much for me to take in right now. What the hell were the two of you thinking?"

"Wow, you are so predictable. I told Erica that you would act like this when I told you. She begged me not to but there was no way that I could keep this from you," Instead of being apologetic or sorrowful like he should have been, he seemed to be enjoying this. He sprinkled the basil leaves into the sauce and stirred it. From the corner of his mouth, I could tell that he was still smiling. "Every time I wanted to tell you, to confront you with the truth, she had some excuse for me not say anything. 'It's a good cover for both of us' was my favorite. Oh yes, I know all about you and my brother slobbering all over one another. I found out one day when I went over to Erica's, when you were supposed to be there. Except you weren't. You were with my big brother, and she was all alone. Incidentally that was when she and I started up."

"Two wrongs don't make a right. There is no way I am going to let you justify what you did to me. Not only did you break my heart but you helped the one person that I trust in this world and betrayed me with her." I tried to summon the tears that were required to make this work but they refused to come. "How could you do this to me? We were going to be married!"

Deon turned off the stove, as if he didn't hear me. He turned to me, "The spaghetti is done, and so are we."