Page 26 of The Most Dearest
“There is no such subcommittee. As president, all suggestions of subcommittees must come through me, though I should warn you, I will not entertain the idea of a morality subcommittee coming from someone like you,” she finished, shutting her door in my face.
No new subcommittee. No pamphlet. Fucking Miranda again. I kept walking into this. Did I want this to be my life? No, I didn't. She never stopped. Cordy said long ago that Miranda had the most energy of anyone she knew. That she was the hardest worker she'd ever met. I guess Miranda had found a cause dearto her heart and it was unlikely she'd ever relent. I could report her for harassment, but for most of her pranks, I had no proof it was her. She rarely took responsibility.
My heartbreak over Emma had lasted only a week or so, and I realized my pride hurt more than my heart. I began to look at Cordy again. She was so beautiful, and her relationship with the jerk next door seemed so easy. They hung around like lazy assholes a lot but seemed to enjoy it. They also went out a fair bit with his friends or spent time with her family. I remembered the Bard get-togethers fondly. It was a chaotic family, but they were so much fun. They were warm and loving. Miranda was right when she said they'd welcomed me. They bickered a lot, but they also loved a lot. I'd been welcomed into the fold like a son and had thrown it back in their faces.
I was stuck in my thoughts, realizing too late that I was still standing outside Peggy and Reg's door, when I heard it open. "Yes officer, he's still on the step. His pants are still on at this stage," Peggy reported into her landline phone. Yes, a landline.
"I'm going, I'm going," I muttered as I ran back to my house. As a pharmacist, I couldn't afford to have a sex crime on my record. Brian had no doubt spread word in the industry that I was into teenage girls, so I definitely didn't need this as well. I was tired. My career was on shaky ground, and I'd lost Emma, though that sting was lessening every day. I'd lost Cordy. We'd been so happy. I lied when I told her that we'd been becoming distant. We hadn't. I just wanted soft, sweet Emma and look at how that turned out.
There was no way Cordy would take me back, especially with the bastard next door now on the scene. I guess I owed her something. If she felt as shitty as I did now when she found us that night, then I owed her that much. Should I give her money or the house? I had Peggy and Reg on one side, and Damon onthe other. Hardly a peaceful existence. I had to sort myself out. I had my pride though, and giving up was a hard pill to swallow. I had to stick it out just a little longer, or I’d come out of this disaster with absolutely nothing.
Chapter 26: Cordelia – Excuse me?
Nothing in his life became him like leaving it.
Macbeth, William Shakespeare
Harrison had stopped being such a sad sack, but it was almost worse now that he wasn't with Emma. He was always home, so I minimized my presence in the house even more. I think my parents were sick of me, and Miranda's housemate Skye had actually asked me if I'd moved in. I felt like a nomad, with no real place to call home. Harrison had started to text, asking if I would be home for dinner, like we were a couple or something. I completely ignored him. After his third text in about two hours, I decided to put him out of his misery and sent him a single image.
The stupid asshole messaged me again, so I sent him another meme with the caption, “Are you still here?”
Did he really think I'd have dinner with him? We put the 'fuck no' in dysfunctional and we hadn't been on good terms since the night he fucked a teenager in my house. I'd asked Miranda to maybe ease up on the pranks. He was obviously unraveling, but I was becoming concerned about his mental health. I didn't need that on my conscience. He had to break but not break too much.
On one of my “assert my legal rights” visits to my home, Harrison asked me if I would ever consider trying “us” again. I was very clear that in no reality would we ever be together. I told him it was offensive that he'd even ask that. About 10 seconds after I said that, the asshole downloaded Tinder right in front of me. He was seriously spiraling. This wasn't the Harrison I had known and fallen in love with.
Peggy and Reg were furious about Harrison confronting them. I was expecting some kind of subcommittee proposal about temper control any day. Miranda had learned about his underwear incident from Peggy a day after it happened, so she'd decided to push the envelope with a little fraudulent Neighborhood Watch action. Peggy liked Miranda because my devious sister had made it a mission to become besties with her. I was concerned she was taking it too far, but Harrison diddeserve it. He was arrogant, entitled, and heartless. He'd fucked another woman under my roof, on my bed for two weeks. Who knew if he would have told me if I hadn't caught him. And he was so close to ending this ridiculous war; I could feel it.
One Friday night, I was chilling out with Damon on the back patio enjoying the warm weather. Harrison poked his head out and informed me he was going on a date. Whatever. Like I gave a shit.
“I'm not your mother. I don't care,” I said.
He was back an hour later, so obviously that had bombed, or he was a minute man. Miranda and Cam dropped in later and gave him shit. Why was he hanging out with us? Well, I wouldn't really call it hanging out. He kind of moped around in the background, not speaking to us. He seemed lonely, like he wanted to be around other humans even if they hated him. I glanced at him. No wonder his date hadn't shown up. She probably saw him through the window and left. He was wearing a leather jacket and ridiculously tight leather pants.
“What happened Kenickie? Were you stood up?” Miranda taunted, noting the leather.
“No, she just wasn’t my type.” He slipped out of the room, declaring that he was going to bed. When would he get that nobody in this house cared what he did?
“Shame he was stood up,” Miranda commented, absently flicking through her phone. She knew something.
“What did you do, Randa?” Cam asked.
“Nothing. You're always so suspicious, Cam! ... Okay, so I may have created some profiles and catfished him using women who were well out of his league. Then I may have set up a date and let him sit there alone.”
“Miranda, I told you he's unraveling,” I chided.
“Well, he's fucking stupid. I used pictures of Gal Gadot and Megan Fox. Gal Gadot was dressed as Wonder Woman for God's sake. And the Megan pics were badly cropped screenshots of IMDb. Does he live under a rock? He makes it so easy it's not even fun anymore,” she mused. “I'm starting to get bored.”
I had to hand it to Miranda; her Tinder ploy finally broke him. The next morning, while Damon was snoozing in my bed, he approached me as I sat with my coffee on the back patio.
“Cordelia, can I please speak with you?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“I want this to end. I love this house, but all the neighbors hate me ... and well, I think I just need a fresh start. I fucked up my life, and I don't even know why. I'm sorry. I know I hurt you and you'll never take me back. And boy, have I paid for this over and over. I want to leave, and all I ask is what you put in at the start. Fifteen thousand. You'll have to take over the repayments, though. I'm not paying anything else.”
“Ten thousand,” I said flatly without blinking.
“Deal,” he responded, slumping his shoulders in defeat.
