I'm Not Who I Used to Be

"Excuse me, ladies," she loudly giggled, "I've noticed the questionable looks on all of your faces, so, please allow me to be the first to tell you that; Yes! Michael Taylor has asked me to marry him, and I very happily accepted his proposal. We haven't set a date yet, but because we're all sorority sisters, I'll make certain that each and every one of you all receive invitations to our wedding...!"

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Sarah's announcement was the ice-breaker that immediately melted the tension that began building the second she and I arrived at Taryn's house. However, as soon as Sarah finished speaking, every female there immediately rose from their seats and made their way to greet Sarah, with warm smiles and hugs, accompanied by happy tears coming from every girl there; and why not?

Sarah had known almost all of these girls ever since our freshman year in college. I recognized all but a small few of them, yet I hardly knew any of them, because of the highly acknowledged, and also highly criticized, horse shit social status ratings amongst the "cliques and/or groups" on almost all college campuses throughout the United States; and don't get even me started on the Fraternities and Sororities. These supposed "honorable societies" were made up of a bunch of spoiled punks and bitches, most of which who came from wealthy families. These were the people I detested the most, not only because of how they treated the students whose families were not as fortunate as theirs had been, but also how these idiots were nothing more than a bunch of snobs who could've cared less about getting a good education. They were only there to party, hence the reason they paid others to do their work for them.

In reality, the guys spent their parents' money on drugs, booze and condoms, and the girls spent their parents' money on drugs, booze and "Morning-After Pills", which, when the "Morning-After Pills" didn't work; the money was spent on abortions instead.

Granted, there were a small few of us that went to college to get a good education and got our degrees. For those who read this and want to cry "Foul", I'm simply going to laugh, because I saw that crap happening first hand; and that's what makes what I just mentioned not only the truth, but the truth that's based on educated fact, facts that I had seen and witnessed firsthand.

I also know that not all Fraternities and Sororities are bad either, and that most of them serve a greater purpose; but from what I saw, those Fraternities and Sororities are very few and far between, and meet the standards that I just mentioned...

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When I look back on my college years, I left the U of H campus with two things that mean the most to me. One was my degree, and the other was our band, Odyssey. Don't get me wrong, while I met Sarah at college and will love her with all of my heart, and for the rest of my life, please keep in mind that she and I didn't get together until a full year and a half after I left Houston and moved to and was now living in the greater Los Angeles area...

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After Sarah had informed her friends about our engagement, she also let them know that our college band, Odyssey, was the indeed same band named, Odyssey, which by now they'd all heard our music playing on the radio. After she'd made that little "announcement", all of the people who'd been in attendance at the party were now asking me for my autograph, and for those who'd brought cameras to the party, I stood with them so that they have their picture taken with me. While all of this was happening, I noticed Sarah and Taryn sitting at a table together, talking with one another while they watched me interacting with the people who, a little less than two years earlier, had all once treated me like I was sub-human...

~~~~~~

HER

"I can see that we were all wrong about Michael," Taryn said, while the two of us sat at a poolside table, watching him interacting with the people some of whom, had treated him like shit in college, "He turned out to be a really good looking guy."

"Girl, that's nothing," I softly told her, "He's even more beautiful on the inside than he is on the outside...and he loves me, Ryn; he really loves me."

"And I remember how badly it used to piss you off when he'd stare at you in class, too," she said, with a look in her eyes that I couldn't quite read, "I need to ask you something, particularly after the news of your engagement to him."

"Go right ahead," I quietly replied, a bad feeling beginning to rise in the back of my throat, "Ask me whatever you want to."

"Alright then," Taryn unexpectedly and coldly replied, "What made you change your feelings toward Michael in such a short period of time, especially after having detested him for at least four years that I know of?"

It took me a minute to understand why Taryn had unexpectedly begun acting the way she had, until I quickly recognized it. She was jealous, I'd know that look anywhere. It was at that moment in time that I finally began to see my so-called friends through the eyes of the one person on Earth that I knew would never hurt me, my beautiful Michael...

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Until a few precious moments ago, I thought that Taryn was one of the last people on earth who would ever betray me. The statement she'd just made to me reiterated what Michael had told me only the day before...Most of the people we run into during our lives are nothing more than simply acquaintances, nothing more. True friends come very few and far between.

I say this because I knew that Michael had been right; a true friend would have never said what Taryn had just said to me, especially about someone that I loved. And it was definitely due to the little stunt she just pulled that made me decide that the time had come to give her a dose of her own medicine.

Consequently, I leaned back and told her about what all had taken place on the night right after Dennis Worley punched me in the face. Although I'd never told her that I was aware of it; I knew that Taryn had always had "a thing" for that piece of shit back then, so; I let her know what a coward her "heartthrob" was, because not only had the force of his brutally chicken-shit sucker punch forced me to fly back against the table, it subsequently caused me to fall onto the ground where my I received a rather hard crack on the skull, which knocked me semi-conscious.

I also told her how Michael had not only beaten that dickless asshole within an inch of his life; but also how he had come to my rescue while everyone else had just stood there in a drunken stupor. Suddenly, and it must've been a result of talking about all of the crap that had happened to me back then, a long repressed memory from that night unexpectedly came to mind. Even though a few of the images in my brain were still somewhat foggy I randomly began to remember that Taryn had also been one of those same heartlessly drunken idiots who'd simply watched what was happening to me and hadn't so much as lifted a finger to offer me any type of assistance whatsoever. Also with that sudden memory came a feeling of hurt that ran so deeply within me that I could only stand up from the table and turn to walk away.

"Wait a minute," Taryn finally spoke, "Where are you going, Sarah?"

"I'm not going to simply sit here and let you run down the man I love." I quietly seethed, "Especially because you're jealous...just like you were about Dennis Worley, too; only Michael is nothing like that fucking animal, and he never will be," and then before Taryn could reply, I quickly turned and walked away, but not before telling Michael what had taken just place, after which I asked him to take me home...

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ME

While she hadn't said a thing one way or the other, I could tell that something was wrong with Sarah as I drove us back to her parents' house that night.

"What's wrong, Sarah?" I asked her, "Is there something you might want to talk to me about?"

"Yes, there's something wrong," she softly replied, kissing the back of my hand after taking it into hers, "And, yes, I want to talk to you about it...just not right now, okay, baby?"

"Of course," I warmly replied, "You take all the time you need, my love."

I could tell that must've satisfied her for the moment which was evident by the smile that she began to wear on her face. However, I still failed to see the SUV that had been shadowing our every move for the past two days...

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THE NEXT MORNING

After we'd said our goodbyes to her parents, Mr. & Mrs. John and Mallory Caine a little over an hour ago; Sarah and I were driving down highway 288 when I saw something in my rear-view mirror that looked a little strange. It was the SUV that had been following us...a Chevy Suburban that was painted black; and with the exception of the front windshield, which had a highly reflective surface, it had black tinted windows all the way around it, hindering the opportunity to see who was inside the vehicle itself. At first I didn't think anything about it until I realized that it began mirroring our every move, and shadowing us at every given opportunity.

Without alarming her and as calmly as I possibly could, I informed Sarah about the SUV that was following us and that I was about to take a quick right off the highway to an upcoming shortcut that I knew of and asked her to get ready for it and strap herself in...

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I slowed down and brought the SUV closer, staying in the far left-hand lane for as long as possible. And then the moment I knew that the SUV would get knocked into the flowing traffic and cause a major crash if they tried to pursue us, I quickly shot across the highway to the off-ramp, making certain that our pursuers were unable to follow us. Whoever they were, I made certain that could see me openly laughing and flipping my middle finger at them through the window, as I left them walled-in by the traffic and being forced to continue on down the highway, having to travel at least five miles before the next available exit...

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"Who the hell was that?" Sarah fearfully gasped, panting as she tried to catch her breath, "And why were they following us?"

"I don't know, baby," I cautiously replied, "But I'm going to find out just as soon as we get home." After traveling at seventy miles per hour down the road the off ramp had connected with, I came to slow down and quickly took a sudden right-hand taking a well-covered dirt road; which was not only a short cut to my family's house, but also a path that wasn't known but to a very few people, but I hadn't traveled in almost seven years...I only hoped the landmarks I'd once used to navigate this road were still there...

~~~~~~

Once Sarah and I got to my house I relaxed a little bit. We made all of the usual greetings with the exception of Dad, Uncle Jack and Uncle Brian, none of whom had yet had the chance to meet Sarah; and of course all three of them started acting like loopy-eyed teenaged boys, just exactly like I'd done, the very first time they laid eyes on her.

"Hi, Sarah, sweetie," Dad smiled, placing his arm around Sarah's shoulder "I'm Mike's father and it's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too, Mister Taylor," Sarah smiled, "I can see where Michael gets his good looks from," leaning in and kissing Dad on the cheek, eliciting a bright red color on his face which made all of the females in my family, especially Mom, fall into fits of girlish laughter.

"My name is Jack, Miss Sarah," Uncle Jack grinned, as he introduced himself, "And you can call me just plain old Jack, instead of Mister Taylor."

"I believe you mean Uncle Jack," Sarah giggled, showing him the engagement ring I'd placed on her finger, "You're Mark's father, am I right?"

"You're right, Susan," Sarah knowingly smiled at Mom, who'd missed nothing and had seen Sarah's ring the moment we walked through the front door, "Men aren't very observant, are they?"

"Who, wait a minute," Dad gasped, "When did this happen, son and why didn't you tell us about it?"

"It happened a couple of days ago," I smiled, pulling Sarah into my arms "And one of the rea sons I brought Sarah down here was to tell you guys about it, so; cut me a little slack, will ya?"

"Congratulations, you two," Dad happily smiled, looking back and forth between us as he pulled Sarah and I into his arms, "You two are gonna have some really pretty grandbabies for your mother and me to spoil," as he lovingly gazed into my mother's eyes, "What do you think, Mom?"

"I think you're right, honey," Mom softly smiled, leaning in and kissing Dad on the lips...

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While Mom, Aunt Dorothy and my sisters took Sarah into the kitchen table to talk about the things that women talk about when one of them is about to get married; I took Dad and Uncle Jack into the den to inform them about what had happened with SUV, as well as the fact that I felt like Sarah and were being followed.

"Did you get the license plate numbers?" Dad asked, as I handed him the numbers Sarah had written down while I was evading the SUV, "I'll get your Uncle Brian to run these numbers and see what we can come up with..."

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THE END for now...

Let me know if I should keep going with this story.