Page 186 of Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal
“I’m serious. It was Ansel. We have video footage. It wasn’t me.”
“It was your brother?” Uncle Dwight says. “You’re going to blame it on your brother? How does that make it any better? You probably told him to do it.”
“No. Fuck.” Atlas looks up to the sky. “Please... please just listen to me. I’m trying to tell you...” He gets choked up, and he takes a deep breath, then his eyes meet up with mine. “Please believe me, Betty. I know I fucked up, but I’m telling you the truth.”
“Why does this feel so familiar?” I ask. “You begging me to believe you? Oh, because this keeps happening. You keep asking me to believe you. No relationship should ever have to deal with that.”
“Relationship?” Uncle Dwight asks.
“I’m sorry,” I say, turning toward him. “I’m... I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, but I fell for him, which was clearly his plan all along, and he did a good job at it. And I’m stupid; I know I am. I know I should never have crossed you because now”—I suck in a sharp breath as a sob wants to escape—“I’m just broken.”
I move past them, but Atlas grabs my arm. “Please, Betty.”
But Atlas is quickly shoved into his truck by Uncle Dwight. “Don’t fucking touch her.”
Atlas holds his hands up again. “I’m sorry. I just want to explain?—”
“You’ve explained enough,” I say and then take off, leaving both of them behind as I find my car and start driving back to my cottage.
I need to get out of here.
I need to get my things, and I need to go.
This entire thing has been a joke.
A fallacy.
And I don’t want to be a part of it anymore.
Chapter Thirty
Max
Narrator: Why did I know that diagram was going to come back to bite him in the ass?
And why did he think it was okay to keep it?
Men . . . am I right?
That’s harsh though. Not really sure if he will be able to fix this, because if I were Betty, the last thing I’d want to see is Max’s face. Then again, she was falling for him, so there might be a chance.
We shall see.
“I knew you were going to hurt her,” Dwight shouts. “I fucking knew it. The moment I told you to stay away from her, I could see it in your eyes. I could see you wanting to get back at me. Well, you did. Congratulations. You hurt an innocent woman who was just trying to get her feet back on the groundafter losing her business. Congratulations, you fuck. You just destroyed her.”
“That . . . that wasn’t my intention,” I say.
“It wasn’t? So you weren’t intending to make her fall for you only to break her heart in the end to save your stupid, outdated farm?”
I don’t know how to fucking deal with this. It’s too much, because he’s right. He’s absolutely right. That was my intention. It’s clear as day on the stupid diagram that I drew, but I quickly realized I couldn’t make her fall for me, because I was falling faster.
Now it’s all fucked up, and I don’t know how to handle this.
“That’s what I thought.” Dwight looks me up and down. “You’re pathetic. You know that? You were a pathetic loser back in high school, and you’ve only carried that through into adulthood.” He shakes his head. “I hope you’re ashamed.”
He starts to walk away, and I say, “I am, Dwight. I’m fucking ashamed.” He glances over his shoulder, so I keep going. “I’m ashamed of what I did to her. I’m ashamed I even came up with the plan. I’m ashamed that I didn’t try to handle this in a more diplomatic way. I’m ashamed that I haven’t spoken to you, talked to you about all this animosity between us but rather let it fester over the years to the point where it is today. I’m ashamed that I let my pride get the best of me. The only thing I’m not ashamed about is falling for Betty. The feelings I have for her, they’re genuine.” I get choked up as I continue. “She... she means so much to me. I’ve never met anyone like her, and I know I never will again. She’s special, and I hate how everything started with her, sparked by animosity, but that quickly faded as I got to know her and spent more time with her. A genuine fondness developed, and that has turned into love.”
“Love?” Dwight asks, blinking. “You’re telling me you love her?”
