Fooled by the Same Dick

Chapter 49

She, who had been all lit up, laughing with that bright white smile, let the happiness drain from her face like someone had suddenly flipped off the light. The glow vanished, her expression dropped between "awkward" and "unbelieving."

"Uh..." she murmured, reaching out and taking the phone from my hand.

Me, dumber than ever, I asked:

"What is it, Diana?"

She took a few seconds, long enough to kill me inside, and then she opened her mouth:

"Wow... that's hot..." she said, lying straight to my face, trying to hide the truth I already knew.

I laughed in disbelief.

"Whoa, looks like you didn't like it. You that much of a dyke?"

The tease came out half mocking, half nervous. What I really wanted was to poke at her, see if she'd crack, spill the beans.

"No, it's just... I feel like I've seen that dick somewhere before, it looks familiar..." her voice came out shaky, like she was thinking out loud.

I forced a mocking laugh.

"What kinda talk is that? Diana, dicks are all the same, right? They don't vary much... maybe that's it."

And I shut my mouth. I left her there, silent, with her brain gears grinding in her head. I knew. She knew. But I wanted to see how far she'd go. I wanted to watch the realization hit. Look, I'm not bad, and I didn't have much right to complain either—in that mess, everyone was in the wrong. But fuck it: I was pissed that she was sleeping with my guy, just the same.

"Where'd you meet him, Jully?" she asked, with a calm that sounded practiced.

"On the bus. He was heading to pick up his damn car from the shop, we swapped numbers and started dating."

She sighed, heavy, almost a swallowed sob.

"Can I see a photo of him?"

Inside, I laughed. I knew: it'd hit her like a punch to the gut if I showed her. I'm such a bitch, holy shit.

I scrolled through the phone in her hand, and of course, a bunch of indecent pics popped up in the gallery—pussy, dick, even a shot of my stepdad jumped out to scare me. But Diana didn't blink, her eyes just hunting for a face.

"Here. That's him..." I showed her, my voice almost flat.

There. The mask dropped. No more smile, no more glow. Just a pair of red, swollen eyes, welling up. Her expression was a mix of anger, disappointment, and pain.

For a second, I got scared. Real fear that my phone would fly out the window, smash against the wall, who knows. I reached out, trying to grab it back before she lost it.

"You guys are going to the motel tomorrow... what time?" she asked, and her voice was now a thread.

"In the afternoon, around three... why?" I replied, almost choking.

The tear slid down her face without fanfare. It hit the sheet and sat there, a wet smudge between us. Then she placed the phone between us, like returning evidence, and threw herself back, stretching her arm to reach the nightstand on the other side of the bed.

In the second drawer, she pulled something out.

The picture frame.

Right then, the hell I was already carrying in my chest burst into flames. That's what I wanted. She handed me the frame and I, playing innocent, pretended I'd never seen it before, stared at it fixedly, saying nothing, like it was news to me.

"Jully... my boyfriend is your boyfriend. We're both being played." Her voice came out broken, but firm.

I laughed crookedly, not finding it funny at all. I could've thrown it in her face that the only one played was her, that he'd never committed to me, that I had no ground to complain since I was always hooking up with my "cousins." But the truth is, it hit me with sadness. I wanted him to commit to me. I really did. I even hatched a dumb plan to introduce him to my mom, like it was official.

And that's what slipped out of my mouth, genuine, raw:

"Fuck... I introduced him to my mom as my boyfriend! This sucks, man! Now she's gonna nag me to death!"

Right then, another rotten thought sprouted in my head: should I still go to the motel with him? Even thinking it was wrong, he'd been the one lying, not me. If he didn't catch me, then only he was wrong, right? Deep down I thought: only the one who gets caught is wrong. I could totally sleep with him tomorrow and then decide whether to tell or not. But then the doubt crept in: what if Diana spilled and said I already knew beforehand? Then I'd look like the biggest fool in the story.

"Fuck, I'm so pissed!" I said out loud, feeling the blood really boil.

"Me too, Jully. Me too." Diana replied, wiping the tears that were still escaping.

But inside me, the anger wasn't even that much about him. What ate at me most was thinking that Diana, this badass woman, wouldn't want to look me in the face anymore. And all because I was too stupid.

"And now?" I asked out loud, but the question was more for my own thoughts than for her. Still, she answered:

"Now we tell him we know. And move on. Why fight, right?"

I stopped, hugged my knees on the bed, and rested my chin. I thought, thought, and more stuff kept surfacing.

"I knew it was too weird that he never wanted to come down your street... he always dropped me off at the corner down below." I said, remembering and biting my lip in anger.

We started breaking down the dates and times, like two cheap detectives. Most of it lined up perfectly: when he wasn't with me, he was with her. And when he wasn't with either of us? Well... he must've been with some other slut. That cheating bastard, probably filled that old car with whores.

Diana turned to me with an even more outraged look, her eyes red with anger and disgust.

"And now, Jully... what do we do?"

I looked at her, did that pause only a troublemaker knows how to do. "I ain't worth shit, I know I ain't worth shit."

"You already said it: we tell him we know..." I said, with all the calm in the world.

But what she saw on my face right then wasn't calm at all. It was the most devilish look I'd ever given in my life. Because I had another plan. I was gonna stir up trouble again.

For the first time, she laughed for real at me, half scared, half curious.

"Girl, what's that look? What are you thinking?"

I tilted my head and replied, almost coy:

"You trust me?"

"No." she shot back quick. "But spill what you're thinking."

I built suspense, let the air hang heavy. A well-timed pause, until she shifted impatiently.

"You don't wanna come over to my place sometime?" I let out.

She narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

"Julia, I might come... but tell me what you wanna do!"

I couldn't hold it and fell back on the bed, laughing hard, the laughter shaking my whole body.

"Uh... meet our boyfriend!"

"Jully, I don't even wanna see that guy again, you know? I think I'd lose my shit. Let me tell you something, you know the day he was coming back from the shop and met you? Know who paid for the car repair from the crash he went to pick up? ME!"

I looked at her, thought...

"Look, I never paid much attention, but I'm sure he was picking up the car to swap for some fancy exhaust system he had installed, that pipi popo modern shit—he talked about that crap all week! Didn't say a word about a crash."

"What a son of a bitch, I went through hell lending him money I didn't have, and when I asked why his car was making that noise he said the tire was flat and he didn't have cash to fix it! He'll pay for this."

"Yeah, there was no crash. I remember, he went to Geraldo's shop and that's all about sound systems, rims, and bling for playboy cars."

I confess that seeing she'd gotten screwed over more than me made me happy, but I was still pissed and he was gonna pay. I grabbed my phone and looked at her.

"We need help and I know who can help us."

"Who, the cops?"

"No, the most feisty woman on the planet."

"Who? Your cousin?"

"No, my mom!"

And I called, and that son of a bitch was gonna see what was coming.