Justin

I sat at the bar with Terry.

After I left the house, I felt like I needed to be far away from anything that reminded me of Amari. Good or Bad.

"Man..." Terry shook his head. "That's what happens when you get too attached. All women are bad. I learned that when my Mom cheated on my Dad only to find he had been on cheating on her. And guess what? They stayed together and was still cheating. It stressed me out so much, I decided no relationships. Ever."

I stared at him blankly as he continued on his drunken rant.

"Unless it's open. That wouldn't be too bad." He said. "You know, unless she left me for someone else like Amari did you. That would suck."

I just wanted to slap him. One good time.

"Justin?" I heard a feminine voice call me.

I turned around and immediately regretted it as I came face to face with Jessica.

"Hey." She smiled sitting beside me. "Did you go see Amari yet? That's all you were talking about Today."

"No offense, but I don't really need therapy right now." I said. "I need a Gin and Tonic if the bartender would be polite enough to mix one for me."

"Coming right up." He nodded at me.

"Cool." I mumbled.

"Right. Let's leave that for the office." Jessica nodded. "What're you doing here?"

"I'm with a friend." I turned to introduce her to Terry, but he was already gone. "He's on the floor, though."

"I'm here with a friend as well." She said pointed to a girl on the dance floor. "Where's Amari?"

I stared at her and she waved her hands.

"I'm sorry. Right." She said. "You don't want to talk about it right now. I get that. It's just weird talking to you outside of my office. I don't know what to talk about."

"Then let's not talk." I mumbled accepting my drink from the bartender.

"Okay." She nodded. "I can do that. Can I get a Shirley Temple? Heavy on the Grenadine, though."

"Grenadine?" I asked glancing over at her.

"Non-alcoholic bar syrup. It tastes amazing." She said. "It's tart and sweet all at the same time."

"Right." I nodded. "Shirley Temple is a weak drink, though. Should've ordered a Bacardi. That'll get you drunk quicker."

"I'm a designated driver." She laughed. "Anyway, Sunset Rum is where you turn if you want the worse hangover of your life! But it's so good."

"I bet." I laughed.

My eyes trailed over her outfit as she spoke with the bartender and thanked him for the drink.

She had worn a skin tight snake print dress with black lace up heels. Her hair was tied in a big ponytail on top of her head. Amari called it a 'puff'.

"You look nice." I complimented her.

"Huh?" She asked before glancing down at herself. "Oh. Thank you! Maybe I should wear stuff like this everyday if it gets you to be nice to me."

"Maybe we should start every counseling session with a few drinks and I'll be nice to you no matter what you're wearing." I said.

"Maybe." She smiled to herself. "But I like your outfit, too."

There was nothing special about my outfit. I had on a plain black v-neck shirt and some jeans. She was just being kind.

"It's simple." I laughed holding my arms out.

"Sometimes simple is better than being flashy." She smiled at me. "People don't get so distracted by the clothes and see the real you, instead."

"Yeah..." I nodded. "I like that."

"Feel free to use it." She said bringing her glass to her lips. "That one was free."

I laughed and looked down at my drink. What was I doing? I shook my head and followed her lead as I drank from my glass as well.

Amari

"Lana, it was downright awful." I sighed.

"Uh Huh." She nodded staring at the Tv.

"You're not even listening to me!" I said grabbing the remote from her lap and flicking the Tv off. "Did you hear anything I said?"

"No and I don't need to." She said turning to face me. "I bet it was about Justin and Tyler again. You're having problems in your relationship and it's the Jake thing all over again. Same story, different characters."

"Wrong. I don't have a relationship anymore." I said. "Justin dumped me."

"Like you did Jake in high school. Same story." She rolled her eyes. "Amari, allow me to be blunt with you. You're the problem, not Tyler and not Justin. You."

I went to say something, but she cut me off.

"No. Just listen." She shook her head. "Every time you're close to having a happy healthy life, you allow your feelings for Tyler to mess things up. Notice how I said, 'your feelings for Tyler' and not 'Tyler'. Because, and I'm sorry to break it to you, but Tyler can't ruin a relationship unless he's being invited into it. Justin doesn't want him there so that only leaves you. It's like leaving all of your money in the front lawn. You're just begging for people to come take it."

"Why would I purposely ruin my own life, Lana? That doesn't make sense." I scoffed.

"No, it really doesn't." She said grabbing my arm. "You're not doing it on purpose, at least I don't think you are... But you're doing it. Instead of confronting your emotions for Tyler head first, you're pushing them off and pushing Justin away. Don't you understand that?"

"Lana, I tried dealing with it in College. I thought I had dealt with it!" I said.

"No. In college, you swore off guys until graduation, but that was cut short when you met Justin." She said. "Honestly, you don't know how to be alone. You always need someone to make you feel important. Amari, if you can't handle being alone, how do you expect to move on from anyone?"

"That's not true." I laughed shifting in my seat.

"It is, though." Lana nodded her head. "You couldn't handle not being with Tyler once you left for college, so you held onto the thought until you found a replacement. You can't handle Justin leaving the house so you called me over. I bet you were like this when you were a kid, too! Is that why your Dad was always buying you pets? Whenever you're alone, you're in a depression. What's so bad about being in the company of yourself, Amari?"

"Nothing Lana. You're wrong." I said playing with my nails.

"But I'm not." Lana said. "What's wrong? Talk to me..."

I hated her psychology degree.

"Fine. I don't like being alone. I don't like the cold feeling when I roll over in bed and no one is there. I don't like laughing by myself. I don't like the constant empty feeling whenever Justin isn't home." I shrugged. "But that's normal. Lots of people feel that way. I've been alone all my life, Lana. My parents used to work a lot when I was growing up so I was in the house by myself. Tyler and Hunter were all I had, but as we got older, we drifted away more. Because Hunter found his own friends and Tyler found girls. I guess... I just wasn't ready to let go of him so I became what he wanted. And when it was over for good, I thought me leaving him would make me feel better, but once he was out of reach, that feeling came back. I roomed with you in college, but you had your own friends and went out partying all the time so I found Justin..."

I took a deep breath.

"He wasn't a solution to my problem. I actually like him. I love him so much, Lana." I sighed closing my eyes. "But he's a military guy so he leaves all the time. At first, I coped with that by working a lot, but now I'm pregnant and can't have that stress. So, I turned back to Tyler. I don't want to be 17 again. I like where I'm at, but I just keep messing up."

"Because you haven't talked to Justin about this." Lana shook her head. "Amari, I'm gonna go. You need to learn how to be with yourself before you marry anyone."

"Lana..." She cut me off.

"You'll be alright." She said grabbing her purse and kissing my cheek. "I love you, but this is for the best. Okay?"

I sighed and nodded.

"Don't call anyone, don't text anyone, and don't leave this house." She said pointing at me. "You're in full isolation starting now. I'll be back to check on you Tomorrow."

I knew Kyler was still upstairs asleep, but I wasn't going to say anything. She couldn't just force this isolation thing onto me. I'd stay in the house. I'd even ignore my phone, but I refused to be all alone. I wasn't ready for that. I hated that.

"Do you want me to lock the door?" She asked as I walked her out.

"No. I got it." I sighed. "Bye."

"Don't say bye." Lana said stepping outside them turning to look at me. "It's 'see you later'."

"Okay. See you later." I laughed.

"I'm serious." She said walking to her car.

I watched her drive off before closing and locking the door.

Silence filled my ears and my smile dropped slowly. I hated this house. It was dark and sad and lonely. I didn't want to be here.

This was the worse.

—————————

Alright.

Before y'all get on me for delaying Tyler's divorce (Because I already know y'all and know that that's what a lot of y'all are looking forward to right now), I'm working on it!

It was supposed to be in Chapter 40, I wrote up the draft and everything, but 40 had a weird flow to it so I moved it.

That's it. That's all.

Bye!