Here I go Again On My Own?

I had officially had enough of him.  He was always dictating when we meet, what we do.  Now I am a mistake?!   I got off the couch and went and had a shower and got ready for work.  I put on the ring from Joel, I had not worn it much since he left, but today I felt like I wanted to wear it.  But I decided to wear it on my left hand, maybe Mark would take notice and say something if he came in today.

I walked into the kitchen, my hair air drying as I made a cup of tea to go.  I grabbed my phone and looked at it, the screen was ok, but the case had definitely taken a beating. I saw a few texts from Mark and a missed call from Joel.  SHIT! I tried to call him back but I got his answering machine.  I hung up and didn’t leave a message.

I packed up my purse and grabbed my tea and left.  I had some time to kill before work so I decided to take advantage of this good weather and walk.  I had my earphones in and was almost at work when my phone rang.  I saw it was Joel and a big smile spread across my face...

Me: “Hey babes! I miss you!”

Joel: “Um I don’t know who you are, or why you are calling my boyfriend.  But...”

Me: “Um excuse me? Who are you?”

Girl: “I should ask you the same question....you called my boyfriend.”

Me: “Well maybe you should ask your boyfriend who I am before you go calling people”

Girl: “Look I am not in the mood for your attitude.  Stop call....” I heard Joel yelling at her and her yelling back....

I immediately hung up.  I stood in shock as to what just happened.  I had no idea who that girl was, and we weren’t actually official...but this hurt.  Ironically, Whitesnake’s Here I go Again started to play through my earphones.  I walked to work ignoring all following calls from Joel.  I didn’t really want or need to hear any explanation.  I stormed into work and straight into the back.  I grabbed my phone and saw several missed calls from Joel.  I still had a good 15 minutes to kill so I decided to listen to his messages...

Joel: “Bella I am so sorry, I don’t know why she called you back.  She is not my girlfriend...well maybe she was once upon a time but ... look call me back.”

Joel: “Bella please hear me out.  I don’t want it to end between us.  I am still trying to get to you...”

Joel: “Bella I know you’re mad but please don’t shut me out......”

I wasn’t in the mood right that second to hear him out.  I changed my outgoing message to me being at work, and will return calls when I am free.  I went about my shift, just trying to hold it together.  Arianna came in and saw me wiping the same table, almost scrubbing it and she knew something was wrong.  She didn’t’ want to bombard me with questions but she knew she needed answers. 

She came over and took the rag away from me.  She looked at me and nodded towards the back.  Thank goodness we had another waitress on shift, so we could sneak away.  We walked through the back and into the alleyway.  She pulled out a smoke for herself and one for me. 

Arianna: “Ok spill it.  What has happened?”

I gave her the rundown of everything that had happened between me and mark and me and Joel. 

Me: “I just don’t know what to do.  I was saving up cash to go out to California and visit him but now.....I just don’t know.”

Arianna: “Maybe she’s one of those clingy girls.  Or maybe she’s an ex.  You need to play it cool....you two aren’t officially exclusive.  And you kind of fooled around with Mark.  So really....just give it a day or two and then decide what you want to do.”

I nodded as I exhaled the smoke.  I knew she was right and who was I kidding I knew a guy as hot as Joel was not going to be celibate.  I crushed the cigarette gave me and gave Arianna a big hug and we walked back into work.  She told me not to worry about Mark, she would handle him.  I went about my day and even decided to stay on for the dinner shift.  I could really use the cash right now.  Plus it kept me from calling Joel back right away.

Arianna and I were working our way through the dinner shift; I had made some pretty decent tips.  I was happy that my 16 hour day was coming to an end though.  I walked up to my last table; there was a group of suits there.  I introduced myself and started rhyming off the specials.  I started to make eye contact when I was asking for their drink orders.  I made my way back to the bar and placed the order.  I sighed when I looked down at my ring and twirled it around my finger....Is Joel really going to come back?  Or did I just fall victim to another mans promises......