Eric had come home and was in a state! He said he'd gone downtown and threatened Mark to stay away. Mark, of course, eluded to the fact that he and I had consummated our bizarre connection...and Eric flipped.
Like I cared.
As much as I detested Mark for what he'd done, I was a little happy that he confessed to Eric about our sex... I mean, Eric deserved it and there was no way I was gonna deny that I'd done it strictly for revenge. And you know what? Revenge is a wild thing because it feels so right when you're in it, but once it wears off-- you just feel as bad as you did before.
If not worse.
But there was NO WAY IN HELL I was gonna tell that to Eric.
"Eric, look we should talk about ending this once and for all. You made mistakes, I made mistakes -- I guess this just isn't meant to be. I mean, clearly, you're not ready for a monogamous relationship. And maybe, maybe I'm not either. So, whaddya say we shake hands and call it a day?"
Eric was stunned.
"You slept with him? After all of this, after all of my apologies, after I swore it would never happen again... still, you slept with him?"
"Yes. I slept with him."
"At least tell me you had safe sex, Andrew!" he screamed.
Of course I did. I was angry, not an idiot. But for just a minute, I wanted Eric to think we hadn't...so I asked, "Did you have safe sex with Mark, Eric? In the BATHROOM at Mocha Daze! Did you two have safe sex!?!?"
"Of course," he said sullenly. "It didn't get that far, Andrew."
"NO, Eric! That's because I came in and stopped it! Awwwww, hell! Here we go again, Eric. This is what I'm talking about-- it's the same old thing. I'm over it and you are too so let's just end this. I'm gonna move out. I'm thinking of sharing the guest house with Greg until I find a place. I know you're gonna assume Greg and I are involved-- you always assume the worst -- but for what it's worth, we won't. I never wanted it to end like this, Eric. I never wanted it to end, period. But what choice do we have?"
I'd gotten to him. I was sitting in the backyard and I knew I had won.
I could tell. He was very, very still. Very quiet. I had nailed him -- and this is what I realized about revenge. It's a dirty game with a dirty outcome. Yeah, you hurt the one you intended to hurt -- but does it help?
I had my answer. We were on the verge of ending our relationship.
