The Truth Will Out
Hey, I’m not gonna even going to try to shit you. I used to live by the old saying “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”. But these days, I try to do it the old fashioned way. You know, as they used to say in Dragnet, “just stick to the facts”. Because, if truth be told, nowadays truth is indeed more often stranger than fiction.
So here it is. I go to an old friend’s New Years Eve party, this girl I hadn’t seen since college. I won’t bore you with the details of how this came about. Suffice it to say that coincidence set off the chain of events that followed.
I’m starting to question the whole idea of the randomness of things that occur in my life. It’s just getting a little to weird, even for me. And, if you knew me at all, that’s saying a lot.
Okay, so Sharon is the girl throwing the party. She had dated, or better yet, been involved with, at various points in time during my college years, two good friends of mine.
There was Glen who really fell for her. I mean he was crazy in love with her. He was a nice guy and all. Went on to be a doctor of no small repute. He was a good looking kid, very sincere and good natured. Hung out with the “cool” crowd, but retained some of his inborn nerdyness. And I think that is a good thing. He bought her flowers and did other corny things like sending her Valentine’s Day cards, in order to show her his affection. It’s just that Sharon, like so many of her ilk, was looking for more of a “bad boy” type.
Enter my other friend, Jake. There has got to be a Jake like character in every college and university in the Country. Extremely handsome, charming, sleazy soul. He knew his friend Glen loved this girl, and he also knew he had never done it with her. Jake would flirt with Sharon every opportunity he had, a constant stream of sexual innuendo.
He knew he was getting to her, that he could have her whenever he wanted. But for Jake, that wasn’t good enough. Now Sharon was no virgin, but she wasn’t an easy lay. She was pretty hot, short layered blond hair, sky blue eyes, great body, and a type of sex appeal only a girl in her late teens could possibly possess. What she saw in Jake was the opportunity for a unique sexual experience. And Jake was not one to disappoint.
We were all hanging out at the college dorm’s basement pub one night, all but Sharon and Jake. Glen was not very good at hiding his uneasiness.
He was no dummy, and the fact that his great friend Jake and the love of his life Sharon were both absent bothered him to no end. But he knew how much Sharon hated it when he showed any of his possessive inclinations, so he just sat there in silence, drinking a little more beer than the rest of us. Anyway, Jake and Sharon come into the pub with some other friends real late, about two in the morning. By all appearances, the whole group was partying at some other hangout till now. Sharon walks directly to Glen, gives him a hard, long, passionate kiss, and pulls up a chair to sit next to him. You could actually see Glen’s great sense of relief. He was worried for nothing, he said to himself. He could trust her, and he was glad he hadn’t acted impulsively earlier and gone out combing the campus for her.
As is usually the case, Glen was the last to know. And the most hurtful details, he would only find out at a much later date. Jake and Sharon had been together that night. And Jake had taken Sharon in pretty much every demeaning way imaginable. As it would turn out, their sordid affair would not become a one time occurrence. They continued their periodic “affair” all through college. All the while Sharon keeping up all outward appearances of being Glen’s loyal girlfriend.
So Sharon’s New Year’s Eve party turned out to be a reunion of sorts. For even though most of the old gang had settled down after college in Manhattan and it’s vicinity, as did I, we had not really kept in contact with each other. It was quite an interesting reunion at that, I must say.
So I walk in to the party, and practically all of my old college dorm is there, most with their spouses of untold years. Jake was quite noticeably absent. I find out that Sharon and Glen had tied the knot upon his graduation from medical school. They lived in this lavish Park Avenue apartment. They had two toddlers, presently asleep.
They played their hosting role of a greatly successful young and upcoming couple quite well. I had brought a date, Debbie, a girl I have been seeing for a little over a month. I met her at this publishing company I’m working at now. She’s a fellow editor. She couldn’t help herself from inquiring about the details of my associations with each and every one of my old classmates. She was especially interested in Sharon and Glen, and nagged me to the point where I just gave in and disclosed to her my knowledge of Jake’s involvement with Sharon during our college years.
As it turns out, nobody had a clue as to Jake’s whereabouts. For all anybody knew, he had just fallen off the face of the earth.
I hate parties. It’s like eveyone feels somehow obligated to have a good time. And you could multiply that exponentially tonight. All these people who hadn’t seen each other in quite some time. I think everyone was hitting the booze even more so than in college. They were really working hard to keep up a cheerful appearance.
Anyway, the real fun started at midnight. Everyone is counting down with this guy on the big screen T.V., and as the New Year is ushered in, this scraggily guy waltzes into the room. Now he couldn’t have entered through the main entrance, because that’s where I was standing. He’s unshaven, barefoot, sporting a white tank top and jeans. He’s a little wobbily, obviously innebriated. And loud. He’s goining around the room, glass in hand, hugging and kissing everyone he greets.
It’s obviously Jake. He’s telling everyone that he’s a “kept man”, that he’s been living with Sharon and Jake for years. When the couple finally realize what’s going on, they locate Jake and escort him out of their apartment, shutting and locking the door.
Sharon and Glen proceed to tell their invited guests the “true” story. They say that Jake turned up at Glen’s office about a week ago, in real bad shape. He said he’s flat broke, and had no one to turn to. Glen reluctantly agreed to put him up for a few days, but explained to him in no uncertain terms that this was a real short term arraingement.
Sharon chimes in that she was extremely pissed at Glen for even allowing Jake into their home, and after this evening’s spectacle, Jake was out for good. Glen seemed to agree with Sharon that he had to go, but said he still felt bad for the guy.
To be totally honest with you, I really don’t know which party to believe.
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