The Two Sues

William Smith was on a date in a greasy spoon diner at midnight. William Smith is a writer. A writer of murder mysteries in fact. He is in his early twenties. He chain smokes and almost always wears an all black suit. He has log black hair that he normally wears down and it spills over his shoulders. His date is a woman named Susannah. He calls her Suze for short. She's also in her early twenties. She's a short redhead with emerald green eyes. She's an intellectual with an appreciation for the arts. 1

"I just finished reading The Rose Murders." She said. "I loved the end where it turned out the guy was killing all the woman that broke up with him."2

"I'm glad you liked it Suze." He said. "The publishers are eating it up and asking for seconds. How couldn't they? Their gonna make a bunch of money off a book they didn't take the time to write."3

"I'll have to admit, I was kind of surprised when I first read your books." She said. "Your such a quiet, nice guy, yet you write about such brutal murders."4

"Such is the duality of man. Capable of extreme love or hatred, kindness or greed, treachery or heroism." He said. 5

"You are really something you know that?" Suze said, smiling.6

"Is that so?" William asked.7

"Yes it is." She replied as she leaned across the table and kissed him. Then she got up and went to the bathroom.8

William went back to people watching. He saw a tall blond woman that seemed oddly familiar in a way that he couldn't put his finger on. Maybe it was the way she moved. Whatever it was, he knew that he knew this woman.9

"Could I get a cup of coffee please?" She asked when the waiter walked by.10

"Sure." He responded. So this woman was a coffee drinker. That didn't help much, almost everyone he knew was a coffee drinker. Then the waiter came back to take her order. 11

"Could I get a bacon cheeseburger mid-rare, fries with cheddar cheese and ranch dressing on the side, please?"12

"Sure thing." The waiter said. Right then and there he knew who it was. There was only one person he knew that ordered that on a regular basis.13

"Of all the gin joints of all the towns in all the world." He thought aloud. Loud enough to get the attention of the blond woman. She turned to him and saw him. Her eyes went wide.14

"It's been a long time." She said.15

"Indeed it has Suzy." He said flatly as he looked her in those blue eyes that he stared into fondly all those years ago.16

"You're not still upset are you?" she asked.17

"Upset over what?" He asked. "Upset over the fact that after I fell in love with you and bared my soul to you and put myself in the most vulnerable position, you up and left me high and dry? No I'm not upset. I'm completely over that. I've moved on." He said. Then he turned away and looked down at the floor.18

"You don't seem all that okay to me." She said. "I dated you long enough to tell the difference. You always try to hide behind that poker face of yours."19

"So maybe I'm not entirely okay. Is that what you wanted to hear?" He asked, agitated. "You wanna know the truth? You hurt me worse than anyone ever has when you left me. After some time, the wound healed and there was just a little scab left. Now you appear out of the blue and it's like somebody ripped off the scab and poured salt all over the wound. Suddenly old wounds feel fresh all over again." He said.20

"I'm sorry." She said. "I-"21

"It's a little late for that." He said, cutting her off.22

"Look, I know it hurts to see me again, but there's some things I have to talk to you about."23

"Why don't we start with why you walked out on me. Walked out on us." He said.24

"I've got a lot of things to talk to you about, but this isn't the right time or place. Do you still live in the same place you did back when we were dating?" She asked.25

"Yeah." He responded.26

"I'll stop by some time and we can talk." She said. "What do you say to that?" She asked.27

"Sure, we could talk." He said.28

"I'll see you later then." She said before she went back to her seat. Just then Suze was returning from the bathroom.29

"Who's that girl?" She asked.30

"No one important." William said. "Just my first love."31

"She was your first love?" She asked. "What happened?"32

"Apparently she had no desire to be in a relationship with me anymore." He said. "Everything was great and I was crazy in love with her. We had been dating a year and then suddenly she left town and she said that she was never gonna see me again."33

"Damn. I'm sorry to hear that." Suze said. "It must be rough to see her again."34

"It was so many years ago. I'm over it. It doesn't matter." He said.35

"It's getting late and I have to work in the morning." She said. "I've got to get home."36

"I'll walk you home." William said. He walked her home and kissed her goodnight. Then he went towards the bar that was down the street from her house. He looked through the contacts in his phone and came across someone he called (Homo). He called him. After several rings he answered.37

"Hey homo, you wanna grab a few drinks at the bar with me?" William asked.38

"Only if you don't call me homo when you ask me." He responded.39

"Listen here you fucker, you wanna grab some drinks or not?"40

"All right." He said, laughing. "I'll be down there in a little bit." Less than ten minuets later, a man with short hair and an average build, also in his early twenties, sat down next to William. 41

"Hey gimme double shot of vodka and give this homo whatever he wants." William said.42

"I'll take a draft beer. Just because I write romantic comedies does not make me a homo." Williams friend said.43

"It does make you a little gay Steven." William said.44

"It doesn't make me gay, it makes me a good business man." Steven said. "Women got this unrealistic night in shining armor fantasy going on. I simply take advantage of that and let them live vicariously through the characters. That way they feel they can meet some incredibly sexy, ripped, sensitive, funny intelligent, courageous guy that wouldn't exist outside of their fantasies." He said.45

"Yeah women are all messed up in the head." William said. "They say they want someone sensitive, yet if you act too sensitive and nice, they perceive it as weakness and then they don't want anything to do with you. On the flip side, if you're too much the other way you're an insensitive asshole." He said just before he downed his vodka on the rocks and got another. "Then there's that rule about how long you're supposed to wait to call them after you get a phone number. If you call too soon or call too often you look desperate which drives them away. If you wait too long to call, or don't call often enough, you look like you don't care and that can drive them away."46

"Well, what can I say, the female is a strange creature." Steven said. "I don't fully understand them either. I only know enough to sell them books. The female psyche is one of those great mysteries of the universe that will probably never be solved."47

"Speaking of women, I ran into Suzy earlier." William said.48

"You mean the one that pulled the Houdini on you?" Steven asked. 49

"Yeah, that one." William said. 50

"So did you get an explanation?" Steven asked.51

"No, but she said she has some things we need to talk about."52

"So she randomly returns after five or six years and wants to talk to you like nothing happened?"53

"Yeah, pretty much." William said.54

"What did you say to her?" He asked.55

"I agreed to talk to her. I'm not sure what good it'll do, but I'll talk to her." He said. Shortly after that it was closing time and they left. Steven went home. William went by the store and bought a bottle of vodka before going home.56

He sat at his kitchen table with his head buried in his hands. His radio was set to play Wild Horses, by the Rolling Stones over and over. It was a song that Suzy and him both loved, and it was unofficially "their song." He had a glass of vodka in front of him and the bottle right next to it. He thought of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca in that famous scene where he's drinking alone at his bar waiting for Ilsa. He thought of Buddy in The Wanderers drinking in his kitchen, depressed over his troubles with his girl, Despie.57

He thought of all the times he and Suzy had together. How deeply he fell for her and how he was blindside by the break up. The more depressed he got, the more vodka he drank. The more vodka he drank, the more depressed he got. Eventually the sun came up and he was sitting at the table looking at the sun through his window. At some point he passed out.58

He was jolted awake by the sound of someone knocking on his door. He woke up, still drunk from the night before, and went over to the door. He opened it to find Suzy standing there on his doorstep. Next to her was a little girl, about five or six. She had long blond hair just like Suzy's. He looked into the child's eyes. They seemed oddly familiar. Almost like he was looking into a mirror. Then it him like a head on collision. It was a sobering notion.59

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked Suzy.60

"I didn't know how you'd take it." She said. 61

"I deserved to know that I had a kid running around!" He yelled. 62

"Just let me explain." She said. There was an awkward silence for several seconds.63

"I'm waiting." He said.64

"Laura-Lynn, go wait in the other room honey." She said to her daughter. She sighed and went into William's living room. "Look, I found out I was pregnant and I knew we couldn't afford to take care of the kid. You were just a starving artist and I was just a grocery store clerk." She said. "The only way I could get support would be to move to my dad's place in California."65

"It wasn't your choice to make." He said. "She's not just your baby, she's our baby." 66

"I did what I had to do. My dad never really liked you. One of the conditions of him giving me support was that I would never see you again. Now I can support myself and Laura-Lynn. I've also heard you're doing pretty well with several best sellers and everything. So now I've com back."67

"You think we can just pick up where we left off and pretend the last few years didn't happen?" He asked.68

"Not quite." She said as she started to tear up. "It's just that I loved you with all of my heart and I still do. I wanted to be with you all this time and I still do."69

"I loved you to." He said. "I still do. There's a part of me that always will. However, we had our time together and it's over. You broke my heart worse than anyone. Now I've moved on and I'm with someone else. So even though I still love you, I could never be with you ever again." He said. She started crying when he said this. "I will give any help you need with our daughter and I want visitation rights."70

"Done." She said, still crying. "I'll give you my number and we can call sometime later and talk about it." She said. "Come on Laura-Lynn. it's time to go!" She yelled. Laura-Lynn ran to her side. She locked eyes with William as she went by.71

"It's nice to meet you kid." He said just before he turned away because he could no longer hold back the tears. Suzy and Laura-Lynn left. He shut the door behind them then collapsed by the door. He wished he had another bottle of vodka as the tears flowed down his cheeks.72

He went to the store and picked up another bottle of vodka. He resumed his position at the table with the glass and bottle. He new deep down that the vodka wouldn't make it any better. Suddenly the phone rang.73

"Hello." he said when he picked it up.74

"Hey honey." It was Suzy.75

"Hey babe. How's it going?" He asked. 76

"Oh it's going." She said. "How are you doing?"77

"I'll be all right." He said.78

"What's wrong?" She asked.79

"That first love of mine came knocking on my door. She also happened to bring our child with her. So I just found out I'm a daddy."80

"Wow." She said quietly.81

"I'm pretty drunk right now." He said. "Can I talk to you later?" 82

"Sure thing hon." She said. "I love you."83

"I love you to, bye."84

"Bye." They both hung up.85

Love is a crazy thing. William thought to himself as he poured another glass of vodka. He was burned bad by Suzy, and got burned several times since. Now here he was, taking another stab at the romance game with Suzy. Was love just a game of chance? He asked himself. Was it just like playing the lottery? Would one hit the jackpot if they played long enough? Maybe he would hit his jackpot, maybe he wouldn't. One thing was for sure though. Even with the risk involved, it was sure as hell worth a try. 86