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I Don't Care

Author: Ali Parker
last update Last Updated: 2024-02-14 04:17:52

Mila

Skylar and I were at The Cottage again on Saturday night. This time, I felt better. I had slept most of the day and having a break from the ICU and all the patients that were fighting for their lives had done me good. I was laughing again, and I didn’t feel like I was being dragged down by life itself anymore.

I had on a mint-green summer dress and ballerina flats. Skylar wore blue that made her eyes look like ice, and we sat at the bar, laughing and talking and drinking. Jerrod was with us, and even though I hadn’t been on the best terms with him, we were getting along tonight. I couldn’t always treat him like shit because my life hadn’t worked out the way I had wanted it to.

We were having a good time. Skylar was telling us about something that had happened at the offices where she worked, and Jerrod and I were in stitches. Skylar was hilarious when she was tipsy, and it was only getting worse.

“Can I join you?” a familiar voice said behind me. When I turned, Ben stood there in
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    MilaI knew that Skylar wanted to gossip about Ben; this was nothing about safety-in-numbers the way we always did it when we went out to clubs. But I wanted to be alone. My head was spinning, both with alcohol and the confusion about Ben being here, and I needed a moment to breathe.When I pushed through the door that led to the restrooms, Ben was suddenly right behind me. We were caught between the doors that led to the ladies’ and men’s restrooms respectively, and the door that led back to the dining room.“Ben,” I said. He was catching me off guard a lot tonight. “What are you doing?”“I wanted to talk to you. Alone. It’s the reason I’m here.”I started shaking my head.“Why didn’t you call me back?” Ben asked.I narrowed my eyes at him. I was still pissed off. Why was he making this harder for me than it needed to be? We could just go our separate ways. I thought we had.“You can’t tell me you don’t know the answer to that,” I said.“Yeah. Look, I’m sorry. Okay? I was a jerk. Eve

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Something About Mila

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Best Friend

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  • Billion Dollar Man   A Coma

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  • Billion Dollar Man   All That's Good

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Epilogue Part 2

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  • Billion Dollar Man   All Figured Out

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Lessons Learned

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Have to Fix It

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  • Billion Dollar Man   There For You

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Seeing The Baby

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  • Billion Dollar Man   Spreading The Word

    BenI let go of Jerrod’s shirt. He stumbled back, his expression surprised. Maybe he had expected me to throw the first punch. He had been ready to fight me. But I wasn’t here for that. I hadn’t come to beat up my best friend. I had only come to set the record straight.“She’s a great person, Jerrod. You know that. She doesn’t deserve this shit.”I turned around and left the office. Jerrod stayed behind, gaping. I had never been one to back down from a fight. There had been enough fights in high school that had shown Jerrod that. But this wasn’t high school, and Jerrod was like a brother to me. If I ended up with Mila, he would be a brother-in-law, in fact.So, I wasn’t going to go there.Instead, I headed back home like a good boy to seethe in private.After I had taken the time to calm down, I phoned Mila.“How are you doing?” I asked.“Better,” she said, and I was relieved. “I came off my shift just now. I’m going to crawl into bed for a few hours.“Have you told your parents yet?”

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