18 Weeks of Twoey - 52. Week Eight Wednesday, October 22, 2014: Getting Dumped

“Everything will probably never be OK.”

- V. Putin

***

At times your friend is not in sync with you.

“I saw Kathy with cheating Cal yesterday.” Gary thought he was giving me a news bulletin.

“Yeah, I did too.”

“Well, what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing. She's free to go back with Cal.”

My best friend looked exasperated with me. Jeez, I told him, didn’t I? This doesn’t change anything.

Dad drove me to my Dr. Keating appointment this morning. On the way he told me in plain English. “David, you do know I love you, don’t you?”

“Thanks Dad. It’ll be a nice memory once I’m thrown out.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Your wife is going to exorcise me from the house because she thinks I have a demon. She’s gonna dump me.”

“Do you actually believe that?”

“No. I know it. My enemies are circling nearer every day. I’ve seen them.”

We arrived and parked. I jumped right out, but Dad was next to me in a heartbeat. He hugged me and told me to get the thought right out of my head.

I pushed back and studied him.

Then my dad gave me another hug!

I smiled at him, then walked into Dr. Keating’s building. His hug will be a nice memory to have.

When the session began I asked, “What do you want me to talk about? I have a few new issues since last week.”

“Why not start with the most pressing one.”

So I started with the Kathy thing, although it didn't really bother me most. I think I have it pretty much covered anyway. I was only interested in his take on my solution to the problem. I gave him essentially the whole story of how she created us as a couple and how I planned to end it.

“Are you comfortable with your plan?”

“Yes.”

“Are you comfortable letting Kathy go?”

“Yes, I never really connected with her.”

“Do you think your relationship with her brother is the most important one?”

“Certainly, and I came to that conclusion all by myself.”

“Well, while someone else might use a different approach, yours is sound, well thought out, and if you’re content with it, then you should do it your way. However if anything goes wrong, you need to be able to accept the consequences.”

“Thanks. I think I can handle that. In fact, I know I can”

Then I moved to the mother problem. I can't believe this thing with her is actually starting to eclipse my confusion with Twoey's relationship ...but it is!! It consumed the entire rest of the session, mostly my explaining the stupid church, the stupid pastor, the stupid church wives, her stupid actions of trying to keep me from seeing him, her stupid spreading rumors that I was somehow crazy because of it, her stupidly trying to keep me away from seeing Twoey, and finally my fear I was being isolated in my home and would soon be forced out of my house. I even mentioned Josiah Fucking Coulton praying for me in front of my own house.

“Do you actually believe she will throw you out of your home?”

“Yes. Without a doubt. It’s the only logical conclusion I can deduce.”

So he decided we needed to move up my next appointment, to Monday after school. The only thing accomplished today was making me accept responsibility for ending my relationship with Kathy and puking the problems with Tommy’s mother all over his rug! If I keep seeing him, he's gonna need a new rug!

Now to my devious plan! Second period was still in session as I approached the high school. Needing to delay my arrival, I dicked around at a nearby convenience store until third period had already begun. By the time I checked into the attendance office, we were about 10 minutes into third. I showed the lady my doctor's receipt and when she asked me what class I was going to, instead of saying math, I lied.

“PhysEd.”

She wrote me a pass for the gym. I went to the locker, dropping off my book bag and added Greg Barton above David Megal on the pass. Then I went to Greg's study hall and flashed the pass at the study hall teacher, telling her Greg and I were supposed to go to the gym to help spot kids for gymnastic jumps. She didn't seem very concerned. After all, Greg's a good guy. She barely looked at the pass, and called his name to go with me. I left the study hall.

A minute later he came out. When he met me outside the room, he gave me a ‘WTF?’ kind of look.

I said, “Sorry, but I have got to talk with you in private.”

He said, “Show me that pass.” When he looked at it, he started to laugh. “Jesus David, you didn't even match the pen color! It's a good thing she didn't look at it.”

I just smiled and said, “Perks of being a goody-goody!”

We went to the cafeteria, which was empty and sat at a corner table, with the pass visible in case a cafeteria lady or somebody walked by ...hehe. I took a deep breath and began to explain.

“You know, it was never my intention to be Kathy's boyfriend. When I was suspended for a week, she sorta created the relationship. I admit, I didn't stop her. I thought it would be harmless and simply end a natural death as most high school relationships do. She's a nice girl and I like her and I knew she was hurting. We've been to the movies a few times and the dance, of course. We even went Syracuse with my friend Nels and his girl Lauri, but in spite of everything, it isn’t working in a romantic way. It never did. It never will. It's nobody's fault. It just isn't happening. I think she got through the tough period, but it’s probably time for the both of us to move on. I don't want you to think I’m abandoning or trying to hurt her in any way.”

“How are you going to dump her?”

“Actually, from what I've seen and what some of my friends have seen, she’s gonna dump me. I’m OK with it. It’ll probably be easier on her anyway, if she’s the one who does it.”

“She's cheating on you with another guy?”

“I don’t know if ‘cheating on me’ is the right description. She's sorta hooking back up with her old boyfriend.”

You should have seen the rage mounting in Greg's eyes! I put my hand on his arm and said, “Notch it back! It's OK. Really. It doesn't bother me. Really. Maybe Cal just needed this little withdrawal to appreciate what he had. Don't go do something stupid.”

He looked at me and said, “David, there’s something else going on here! I can smell it. You’re too nice a guy to suspect it, but I do.” I was sorta surprised. But then he added, “I need to have a little talk with my sister. Maybe you and I have both been played.”

“It doesn’t really matter at this point, does it?”

“It does to me.” Greg looked seriously pissed off.

When the bell rang, we quickly started to get up, and then he and I looked at each other and laughed! This is our lunch period, so we went over and, for once, were first in line!

As my table filled up, Sam asked if I was OK because Gary told him I had a doctor’s appointment this morning. I told him yeah ...no problem. But he didn't ask, so I didn't hafta lie.

Erik got his smile back when I said, “Hey, Twoey’s going to be home sometime Saturday.”

“Oh thanks David, I’ll have to get over there, maybe Saturday night.”

“He’s obviously not going to be back to school for a while. I’m going to sort of tutor him until then, to help him catch up.”

“Hey, can I help out?”

I really didn’t want Erik anywhere near Twoey, but what could I do? I decided to be a decent guy, even though it went against all my gut instincts.

“Sure, that’s cool. Do you share any of his classes or teachers?”

We checked his schedule and found while they only had gym together, he did share a few teachers. He'll be able to get him caught up with those subjects. Actually, the more I thought about it, the better it was. A third person there will change the Twoey-David dynamic. Maybe this problem was going to work itself out! I hope so. But I still don’t like Erik, sorry.

Matty was quiet today as we ate our lunch, but he sorta stared at me a few times. Everybody thinks I’m crazy now.

As I was leaving social, Burch said, “You need to control your temper. You need to pray for help.”

I ignored him and simply walked out. The asshole has no idea how well I control my temper. If I didn’t, he’d be living at the morgue, I think.

‘Real’ PhysEd: I don't like the parallel bars. 'Nuff said.

I was thinking about Tommy's mother as I started XCountry practice and I know it made me run like she was chasing me! When we got back, I fell onto my hands and knees and was gasping. First I thought my chest was going to explode, then I was gonna puke, but neither happened. Maybe my demon is growing stronger too!

I froze in the doorway of my room.

It happened again. I had the same feeling something was a little off. I smelled the same faint whiff, which vanished too. I checked around, and couldn’t detect anything different. Going to the calendar to record it, I noticed each other time was a Wednesday! Finally a pattern.

After I showered I stayed naked, as usual, and sat on my bed to begin my meditation. I retired Joe. The Kathy problem was no longer a problem. I put it in a box and put it up on my mental shelf. You know, I think Heller died the year I was born. I'll hafta check it out. But he worked this problem pretty fast! Maybe it’s because he was a writer. Writers have all these magical insights into people and their relationships. I wonder if he wrote anything else besides Catch-22. If he did, I should read it. That book was like amazing!

Anyway, I have a big new problem and it's gonna require a new helper. This is the mother problem ...the mother of all problems ...hehe. I was finally able to bring myself to a new healing place in my brain by counting down ...I can't even remember how many, but a lot of times. Getting here this time was lots harder than with my other problems! It explains how much it's eating at me. I was finally sitting in a swivel chair in front of some kind of control panel. I had no idea how any of the buttons and keyboards were supposed to work or even what they were supposed to do, but it looked damned complex! The big screen was in front of me, but it was currently blank. The elevator doors were there too. This is how I discover my helpers. They walk out the door and I see them for the first time.

Behind me was a floor to ceiling window of heavy glass. The view was of the Pacific, with large rocky islet’s and crashing surf. It could have been in my mind from a thing I saw on TV, filmed in either Northern California or Oregon. At first I was taken aback, thinking it was somehow ominous. Slowly I became aware it was having a very calming effect on me. I swiveled back toward the control panel to continue.

I always attempt to make sure the problems are clear, so the correct helper will appear. What were my problems with Tommy’s mother? She makes me go to a church which is so fucked up it must be obvious to anyone with an IQ of more than 13 it's a fraud. She gossips about me to the slimy pastor and with those faceless church hags. She tries to poison me with horrible food ...well maybe the last one was extreme, but my idea of food and her idea of food are different substances, for sure! But I suddenly realized I've always had those problems with her.

So what was new? Why is she so troubling now?

First, she doesn't want me to have the boy I love as a friend. Second, I feel her isolating me and forcing me out of my family, no matter what reassurances I get from Dad or Ginny. What would my life be like without my father or Liz? What would my life be like without TOMMY??? I don't think I could face a life without Tommy. Seriously.

I figured the problems were now delineated ...sorta. I walked over to the elevator doors to see who would walk out to be my helper for this huge problem. The bell dinged, the doors slid open, and out walked ...Vladimir Putin?!! Well ...sonofabitch! My subconscious must really be fucked up to need him to straighten me out. HA! ...I just realized what I said ...straighten me out! ...And with Putin! I wonder if it's a Freudian slip.

So what do I call him?

“Well you're mine, so I'll call you Vovochka, if you don't mind. OK Vovochka, what are we gonna do with this problem?”

He explained (Jeez, he even speaks with a Russian accent) he will work on it for me and will try to determine why she does what she does and then how we can make the outcome more to my liking. Seems maybe I just might have gotten the right dude for the job!!

I slowly came back to consciousness feeling a hand rubbing my naked back. I looked over and Tommy was sitting on the bed next to me, also naked! I glanced at him up and down and gave him a WTF look.

He chuckled. “I was gonna to take a shower but your phone was drivin’ me fucking crazy! You left this dumb piece of shit in the bathroom when you took your shower, I bet to piss me off.” But he winked.

“I didn't wanna scare ya, so I figured I’d rub your back.”

I thanked him and then he kissed me on the cheek. The last thing I saw were his cute little buns flitting out the door and disappearing into the bathroom. See what I mean ...how could I live without him?

I looked at my phone and there were a couple missed calls from Twoey and fifteen from Kathy with a voicemail from her too. I just smirked. She's gonna dump me by phone. What incredible technique! Pure refinement. Such style!

Her message said, “Call me. It's important!” Fine, at least I didn't get dumped by voicemail.

“You wanted me to call?”

“Ahh ...yeah David ...um David, ...um well this is sorta hard but ...um ya know I don't think our thing is working out too good ...and um ...I ahh um ...maybe we should sorta go our separate ways and ya know maybe find somebody that is ah ...better suited for us.”

There were sooo many things I could say or do now, but I took the high road. “I understand.”

She tumbled the rest out so fast I could hardly understand. “I hope you're not mad at me because I really, really like you and you were so nice to me and I really, really want to keep you as a friend!”

“Sure Kathy, I understand. I sort of got that feeling too, so this is no big surprise.”

“Oh ...I feel SO much better now!”

“Good. Well I hafta go now. See you in school.”

I almost said, “Give my love to Cal.” But I'm better than that. It would have been perfect though.

So that problem is all wrapped up with a neat little bow and flushed down the toilet! I don’t want her anywhere near the shelf in my brain! Next I called Twoey to tell him I just got off the phone with Kathy, who dumped me.

“Over the phone? What a pig!”

Haha ...I had to explain everything to him and the fact it meant absolutely nothing to me except my worry about her brother Greg. “I can't believe you forged a pass! You're turning into a delinquent, David!” So we had a little chuckle, and then talked.

I told him I needed to run and then do dinner with his mom and I'd call him tonight. The weather was cold today and you notice it more at night, so it was a brisk run. Maybe I'll used sweats instead of shorts if it's this cold tomorrow night. At least there’s only one more night, unless I decide to keep the night run on my own, which I might. But at least I could skip snowy days.

When I arrived home, I slowed down, checking for Josiah Fucking Coulton, as I’ll always do now. But he’s staying away, at least at the present. Using my sneaky backdoor entrance and exit, I showered, avoided Medusa and was soon on the way to Ginny's.

“I'll try to come over Sunday to visit Twoey and start tutoring on Monday. I'll be a little late Monday because I have my next appointment with Dr. Keating after school.”

She interrupted me. “I thought your appointments were on Wednesdays.”

“He decided to move this up. I must have scared him or something.” I chuckled, but she seemed concerned.

“I found another boy who knows Twoey and has the same teachers for a couple of his classes, and Erik will help out too.” I thought I saw her raise her eyebrow when I told her. (??) She can’t possibly know Erik.

“So what happened in the session today?”

“I mostly spent the whole time going through all the problems with my mother!”

“I think it's good you get those on the table with Dr. Keating. I have confidence in you David! You're going to come out of this in great shape because you understand what you're doing in there.”

Well, I'm not sure about that, but it's nice she thinks I am, I guess.

Today we made a meatloaf. Ginny explained how important it was to sauté the onions and not put them in raw. Then we added eggs, breadcrumbs and some herbs, but before she let me form the meatloaf, she said now was the time to add the secret ingredient. Ginny opened and drained a small can, about the size of a tuna can, of crushed pineapples! So I mixed everything together and formed it. We coated the top with some ketchup, and baked it. And when we ate it? OMG what the pineapple did for the meatloaf! Well that one is sure going into my book!!!

After the meal I asked her if we could talk. We sat on the sofa. This time she sat right next to me. Needing to get everything out in front of Ginny, I began about Tommy’s mother and the pastor and the church wives and Burch and the gossip and beginning to feel isolated. It was a continuation of yesterday's talk but with more background and more details. I even mentioned Coulton. I couldn't bring myself to tell her what he and that bitch said about Twoey. I couldn't say it to his mom. Then I got much more emotional when I talked about living life without my family, especially my younger brother Tommy. I mentioned how lonely it would be on the streets, and I probably would take a bus to NYC to live with Grampa. Saying I would never see Twoey again is when the waterworks started. Now I know why she sat next to me, because she was hugging me and telling me everything was going to be alright.

Finally, after I had sobbed myself out, I apologized to her but she said I could always come over and cry my problems out in her arms. Aww ...that's the way a mother is supposed to be!! Even if she is a witch and doesn't let him get away with anything, Twoey is one fucking lucky guy!!

I told him exactly that when I called him later. We talked and talked. We never seem to have any problem talking and we always lose track of time! Poor Twoey was trying so hard to comfort me. I probably shouldn’t have told him anything. The guy is fighting to heal and I’m no help at all! Finally his Nazi nurse broke us up and we said goodnight. After I hung up I said, “I love you sooo much!”

I became depressed when it truly sunk in. When I move to NYC, I’ll never see him again.

I cried myself to sleep.

Twoey

Mom brought over some clothes today. I'm SO ready to be out of here! I was able to keep up with David's breakup in almost real time. It started with Gary and him seeing Kathy with that weasel Cal, to his pass forging and meeting with Greg, to her final breakup via phone. He never threw a low blow, although he could have like a million times! I don't know if I could have stayed so nice. But ...my Angel is nice. It’s one reason why I love him so much.

I also got a text from Erik saying he would help out in my tutoring for a couple classes where we share teachers. I know where that idea came from too. You can't fool me, Angel!

Our nighttime call went on and on, as usual. I tried to comfort him. I tried to do anything to make him feel better. This thing with his mother and her cult is taking its toll on him ...big time. He even told me I was lucky to have a mom who would listen to his pile of troubles and hug him while he cried. Well, nice to hear ...but it's MY JOB!!!

I can't wait to get home!

After I hung up I said, “I love you sooo much!”