I took one step forward, now to see if I'll take more, go back, or off a cliff in a flaming Monte Carlo... I gave Beth the head nod to let her know who was coming, a brief moment to get her mind right, and got my own stories straight. Aaron was an alcoholic, and he was drunk like any self-hating douchebag in a failing marriage should be. He's no amateur though, so only the people who knew him best knew that he was plastered beyond reasoning. Everyone else was somewhat oblivious (until his jackassery shined through). Aaron comes in, smile on his face, no worries... He gravitates right to me.
"DY, sup man - I can't say thanks enough, man."
"Just doing what I can, dude. Tired though."
That little bit of hesitance is all this piece of shit needed to burn meter on his wife again. I knew the drill already. I show any kind of empathy or admit that I'm taxed by the situation, and he has his audience - it didn't matter that I was the only one who believed his bullshit, I was the crowd. Aaron put on a show regardless.
"Beth, you're lucky there's guys like DY still around. No one else wanted to come here and deal with this sort of thing. I'm only here because I have to be. If I didn't HAVE to be here, you know I'd be in the courtroom right now trying to get this divorce finalized."
I was busy trying to find a response that would keep him placated and oblivious while keeping Beth from throwing a chair but to my surprise I didn't hear anything from her. She was just staring at him, no noise or tears just silence. ... ... Okay, maybe she's checked out or giving him the silent treatment. I still have a job to do. And I still have a stage to set.
"Aaron... don't worry about it, man. I'm here because I know how rough this road is. If you need me, I'll be in the waiting area getting something to eat. Its probably going to be a long night."
So yes. I absolutely left her in there alone to sit through some gut wrenching verbal abuse. I felt that it had to be done. I wasn't going to be the one to step between them. They'd never be able to truthfully step in front of judge and say that what I said is what caused them to break it off. It had to happen this way. Beth was going to have to endure a verbal electric chair that would fry what was left of her marriage and I would get a vanilla coke down the hallway. I wasn't about to feel anything because of it either - which was definitely a new thing to me. My whole life I'd been all about saving people from heartache whenever I had the chance - that's why I cut off the pastor and took the mic at my mom's funeral when I was 16. This was when I realized that I'd changed though. Beth was a good woman who loved this dude despite all of his flaws and she was going to get changed in the same way I had been. Before she tapped out, she was going to let him stomp her mind into the mud. And Aaron is a long-winded talker, so it was going to be a while... As I walked out, I gave the cop the heads up on the situation then kept to my promise of hitting the waiting area - after I talk to some social workers and call up the do-nothings back at my unit. Vanilla Coke on point, I'm overdressed, nothing to do but wait for the fireworks.
Took like 10 minutes tops before I see Aaron getting chased out the room by Beth. No breaks. She was still hooked up to all the monitoring equipment too so the scene in the hallway is some zombie looking thing that's either melted of cried off all of her make-up or melted chasing a dude that looks like he's in the process of changing his name to something Canadian. She looks violent. Like... removed-violent. I move to break them up along with cops, just for the sake of whatever dude holding a cellphone. But this was not to go run to Beth's side or anything like that. I needed to make sure Aaron was gone on a certain type of terms before anything else. Beth was that rare type of angry/hurt that ends in a person getting stabbed 40 times and decapitated anyways. No point of me being near that for the time being. Aaron's in the process of being escorted out, so I play my part and walk him to his car that he shouldn't be driving. He's walking that Ididn'tgetmyassbeatbyagirl walk and I'm channeling Buddha himself to keep from laughing...
"She just ain't worth it man. This is why I never should've got married DY"
"I feel you bro. You tried. Its not on you"
"How the fuck is she going to be jealous of me like this man? lol... you just can't trust bitches"
"You try to bro. Its all good though... you can finally go and party like you want now without someone all in your shit about dumb stuff now. You ain't even gonna trip on this man."
"She gonna be on the streets without me haha. And you remember old girl? Ellen? Yeah - I got girls waiting to hop off the bench."
"Ain't even a thing man... ay, you got my number man. Hit me up whenever you trying to party, bullshit, or chill. Feel me?"
"You good people, DY. I got you"
*dap*
Yeah, this white kid just got dapped up for probably the first time in his life. That was like the best Christmas present ever to him. Aaron smiles like he just won life and drives off into the sunset. I kinda wondered about Ellen for a brief moment, but she never came off like an idiot... I couldn't see her opening her door let alone answering the phone for this dude again. At this point, I had no interest in Ellen at all. She was cool people, but between my ex, this officer that didn't believe me when I told her I was not an officer, Beth, and sight of my balls regrowing, I didn't really have any attraction left to spare on her. Attraction is weird like that. Yes, I knew some gorgeous, interesting women - but all the energy I spent NOT wanting anything to do with them prevented me from even seeing myself with someone else. At this point, Beth had my undivided attention. So back inside to put nails in the coffin without touching the hammer.
Cops, nurses, and social workers had been talking obviously because they parted ways for me. They'd been talking and had probably figured out what I was going for and how I'd been skating the lines of affiliation and escorting "as directed" on a microscopic level. My job was still very much on the line and so was theirs. And now that they suspected the latter, they were somewhat less ready to speak with me past a certain point. People don't want to help as it is... when they can get burnt doing it, they might as well be Casper. But they still did their jobs. Cops peeled out after I signed as her 'guardian'/suicide-watchman for the night (which actually sucked because I did this before seeing her after the fight). Nurses were gradually rotating away from the whole situation too. Didn't matter too much at this point though. Went back to Beth's room and she's looking as I expected distraught, drained, and just plain sad and broken. I suck at giving words in moments like that. I'm the kind of person who believes in there always being a perfect response to each situation and here there was none. So I just came into the room, sat down next to her, and just sat with her. I mean shit, I DID plan all this out - but what would you say here? You shut the hell up and wait and hope to hear something from that woman first, that's what you do.
"I still love him though"
"I know you do."
"..."
Okay. Fuck it. I'm tired of acting, the nigga in me is about to come out. I came here to fuck this dude and I'm not leaving til I bust.
"Beth, its time you start thinking about protecting yourself"
"What do you mean? You seriously think he's going to try and hurt me? I know him better than you do - He'd never lay a ha-"
"Financially and legally. You got a joint account, right?"
"Well... yeah"
"And who's name is on the lease to your apartment?"
"Mine"
"Look, I know you don't want to have to think like this right now but you need to get on to protecting yourself from this situation now."
And she surprised me. Instead of getting the tears I expected, she took a deep breath and nodded in agreement.
"DY - its not really a joint account. It kinda is, but I only put in a little of my money. All of his money from his check is tied into allotments. I keep my income separate."
Wait, why the fuck did she give me all of that out of nowhere?"
"Beth, can you check your phone real quick? Check and see if he's taken any big withdrawals today. Maybe you got a text too btw..."
She checks. Nothing unusual except 55 bucks spent at an Applebee's. Which means someone was too fancy for a 2/20 and had to get all fancy - and with drinks too. Aaron just had himself a date before getting into it with his wife. And she got two texts. One from Aaron, one from Calvin. Both said, "You mean everything to me". I think she laughed at both. Glad she did, because I wasn't about to be telljokesatthewrongtime guy.
"Look, here's what I'm going to do, Beth... I'm going to not lie to you and remind you of where I stand in this situation, okay?"
She nods for me.
"You need to protect yourself, you understand where I'm coming from?"
She nods again.
"Okay. I'm going to go outside and speak to a social worker - its someone that I was talking to when I first came in along with the officer that was looking over you before I arrived. I'm going to bring them in, and I want you to explain to them that the apartment is in your name and that you have joint account."
"But I don't want him to be out on the street or anything."
"That won't happen. As long as he's in the military, he has a room in the barracks waiting for him. He'll be fine."
"I'm worried though... Maybe I should pull some money out for him first before I start closing accounts out?"
"You do realize this guy is out telling every person that will listen that you're costing him his job and clearance, right?"
"Not much. Just enough to get a hotel at least."
"Okay... we'll do that."
"Alright... I'll talk with that social worker now. Let me just grab my keys. Nurse said I was good to go 2 hours ago. We can both ride back since Aaron kinda stranded you here."
Done. Bout to get the wheels rolling on this. I was close to actually pinning adultery on Aaron along with some other shit - mainly the violating his no-alcohol probation. If I could get his wife to write a sworn statement on that, as well the fact that he was throwing taxpayer bought medication out the window. Both would ensure a dishonorable discharge. I was hesitant about the adultery thing though... I didn't want to drag Ellen into this if I could help it. Because she was military too, she'd be just as fucked as him and it wouldn't even be her fault. Had more work to do there, still got a lot done though. Cops knew what to expect if they ever saw that number pop up again, nurses were down for the team, social workers were happy to see a military divorce that they could actually be a help to someone....
And after all my planning I realized that I'd forgotten something. Aaron and Beth only had one working car. I was about to drive back with Beth. Whose car was Aaron driving?
