I was at a party when I ran into Bryce. It had been several years since I'd seen him and it wouldn't have worried me in the slightest if I hadn't run into him for several more years. Or longer.
Bryce is what is commonly called the Ex. For a few years we had a red hot affair going but we'd finished up splitting apart and going our own ways. He's what is commonly referred to as a Jock. He's into sport, very macho, considers himself an alpha dog surrounded by puppies. That's part of what broke us up. I'm a strong, independent, and intelligent woman. I'm not a kitten to be stroked and then put to one side while the he-man goes and does he-man things.
Towards the end of the relationship things got rather heated between us. I will say one thing for him - he never hit me at all. If he had things would have been over a lot faster, but that bit of forbearance meant that I kept trying to make things work long past the time I should have said sayonara and walked out the door.
After Bryce I met Micky, who was my rebound boy, and subsequent to Micky I met up with and finally married Neale. The current party was being held by one of Neale's friends in celebration of something. I didn't know what and didn't really care.
So here I was at this party and I turn around and there was Bryce, a piece of fluff on his arm.
"Nardia," he exclaimed. "Fancy meeting you here. What are you up to these days?"
"Hullo, Bryce," I said. "Same old, same old. You know how it is. I'm married now. This is Neale."
I proudly presented him, a prize worth winning.
They shook hands and I was pleased to see that Neale gave as good as he got in the hand-crunching exercise. Why do men do that?
"Neale," acknowledged Bryce, sounding quite genial. (Fake of course. He'd rather I was hiding away in a basement bemoaning the fact that I'd lost him.) "I'm also married. This is Cherri."
Cherri was the bit of fluff he had on his arm. A brainless, blonde, bimbo, hanging onto him as though he was her personal saviour and hero.
We politely chatted for a few minutes and then we parted, much to my relief. Neale and I wandered around, talking to mutual friends. At some stage we drifted apart, him talking to some of his friends and me chatting with some of mine.
After a while I started wandering through the house, looking it over and making mental notes when I came across something that I thought was a good idea that I might want to pinch. That's when I recalled the reason for the party. A house-warming, as the friends had just finished building and furnishing.
I'd wandered into what was supposedly a guest room but would probably finish up as a child's bedroom. They'd have to completely redecorate it before they could install a child in it though. Far too adult a theme to please a child. Personally I'd have gone for lighter colours right from the start, but that's just me.
That's when I ran into Bryce again.
"Nardia," came his mocking voice from behind me.
I turned and looked at him.
"Bryce," I said in withering tones. "You know, you can be a real swine when you want to be, which is most of the time."
"And you can be a total bitch when you want to be," he said, making it sound a reasonable thing.
