***Mini bonus. Trevor's point of view
"You are a glass half empty
Sipping my ocean dry
Emotionally spend me
Till none of our planets could align
But I could stand you one more night
I like us better when we're wasted
It makes it easier to say it
Lay all your laundry on the bed
And then I'll lay in it instead
I like us better when we're wasted
Oh oh oh oh oh" Wasted by Tiƫsto
"We need another round!" I cheered after downing another shot of the three wise men. Sammy told me it was Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels and Jim Beam. All three were my best friends tonight.
"You need to slow down before I call Lily." Sammy teased me.
"Good luck. She can't talk. She's having daddy-daughter time." I said, taking the shot Corey declined.
I thought she was kidding when I called her earlier, but she really was spending one on one time with her dad. I guess I should've been glad they were getting along, but I wasn't since I couldn't win him over.
I know, I made a bad first impression. When I have a daughter, I wouldn't want some dude feeling her up in a pool. Well, maybe now I would be more understanding, but I understood it. We started off on the wrong foot, but I thought I could turn it around. Especially since technically, it wasn't our first time meeting. I thought he might cut me come slack.
He didn't. Mr. Ortiz didn't warm up to me the entire weekend. In fact, his chilly reaction turned frozen when the other groomsmen voted and decided Lily and I would be married next. I laughed into the glass of bourbon I was holding. Mr. Ortiz's gift to us had been nice, bottles of bourbon and flasks. "A man's drink" He and Mr. Reynold laughed. I've never been a bourbon fan, but I sipped on a glass with a ton of ice with the other guys.
"They've only been together 4 months. Leave the boy alone." Mr. Ortiz answered for me after finishing his glass.
"I would marry her tomorrow if she'd have me." I said with grin.
That got me a lot of razzing from the guys before they moved on to the next topic. Mr. Ortiz eyed me in a way that made the grin fall from my face. It was worse than when he caught me playing with Lily's bikini top.
An hour before the wedding, we gathered to head to the ceremony. Mr. Ortiz asked to speak to me, so I stayed back.
"Are you serious about marriage?" He asked me bluntly.
I smiled. The intention talk. I was ready for that. At golf, all we talked was business and work. You could tell Mr. Ortiz was passionate about his work. Don't get me wrong, I love coding, but it's definitely not something I live for. My job, it was just a paycheck.
With Lily, I could honestly say I lived for her. Loving her, seeing her smile and making her happy: I could easily commit to that for the rest of my life.
"I meant what I said about marrying her tomorrow. I wouldn't ask because Lily would freak out." I smiled, jokingly.
Anyone who knew Lily knew her love of drama. Her dad would be more than familiar with her freak outs.
"And marriage doesn't 'freak you out'?" He asked.
"Before Lily, it did. As soon as she's ready and with your blessing, of course, I will ask her to marry me."
Mr. Ortiz kept a straight face while I smiled. "I wouldn't give you my blessing. Lily's stubborn, so she'll do what she wants anyway, but I don't see you two working out."
The smile fell of my face. It was replaced with disbelief. "Mr. Ortiz, we work together." I disagreed.
"How? Fooling around in a pool? Lying about your hotel room? Disappearing before a family event? I know my daughter. She needs someone to keep her grounded. You don't do that for her."
"With all due respect sir, you don't know what I do for her." I fumed, in anger and embarrassment at him calling us out. "She doesn't need anyone to do anything for her. She's amazing and I love her."
"Lilian is amazing. She deserves someone to motivate, take care and provide for her. A partner, not a playmate. Love doesn't conquer all. I don't doubt that you love her, but love is not enough to make a marriage work."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, but it doesn't change how I feel." I told him before I left to join the others. I felt the anger growing inside of me and I had to get away before I said something I would regret.
His words weighed heavily on me. Then I saw Lily, and just looking at her took it away. Lily was with me. It didn't matter what anyone thought as long as I had her. Even though I decided not to worry, it didn't mean it was easy to be around Mr. Ortiz.
When he came to Dallas, I stayed quiet and let Lily have her time with her dad. I knew Lily was confused by my attitude, but why should I continue to try when he already made up his mind about me? I had the rest of my life to prove to Mr. Ortiz that I could give her what she needed. That's what I was going to do. It might take the rest of my life, but he would see it.
It bothered me seeing how friendly Mr. Ortiz got with Jake right away. He assumed I couldn't give her what she needed but got chummy with the guy who treated her wrong and made her feel like crap? It pissed me off.
When Lily pointed out how strange I've been acting, I let it go. I learnt how to hold in my anger and frustration when I was 10. Living with my dad was like walking in a minefield; you never knew what would set him off. Me getting upset just fueled his rage. The risks were higher now. At worst, my dad would just curse and yell. Now, I could lose Lily if I made the wrong move.
I figured I wouldn't have to worry about it much longer. Lily and her dad weren't super close. He would be back in California and we would continue on with our lives in Dallas. Then Lily got suspended from her job and she went to California. She wanted her dad to take care of her, not me. She trusted her dad to fix everything, not me. A part of me understood that. He was her dad. Another part of me wondered how I was ever going to prove myself if she ran to him and not me. How could I tell her that without sounding like, for lack of better words, a pussy?
That's why I was at the bar with Sammy, Corey, Lance, Patrick, Chris, Jordan and a few other people taking back shots of bourbon. It burned a pit in my stomach, but I keep going,
"Stop all the damn crying!"
"Go run to your momma, boy!"
"Grow the hell up!"
I keep drinking to push my dad's voice out of my head. It faded away the more I drank. Now I kept thinking about how much I messed up.
Why didn't I try harder with her dad? Why didn't I think to look up his baseball stats? Why did I tell her not to worry about her job? Why didn't I think to hire a lawyer to clear her name? What was Mr. Ortiz saying about me? What was Lily thinking?
No wonder I wasn't good enough.
I don't know how I got home. I just knew Sammy and Corey were trying to talk me into going to sleep. I couldn't without talking to Lily. I needed to tell her I loved her. I tried to explain that to Corey and Sammy. That even though I couldn't take care of her or support her or provide for her, that I loved her. I loved her more than anything in the world and I would do whatever it took to be with her.
After I finally put the code in my phone, my phone lit up with notifications. I thought it was Lily so I checked them. It was. She added pictures on Facebook. I had always subscribed to Lily's Facebook profile. From back when she lived in California and we weren't really talking. She didn't post often, but when she did, I wanted to know: What she was doing, how she was doing, who she was doing it with.
I pulled up her Facebook and saw she didn't add the pictures. Christian did. He tagged her in them. I hurled my phone across the room.
Sammy yelped when it crashed into the mirror. The one Lily bought for my birthday. It broke with a satisfying crack.
"Are you ok?" Corey rushed over to Sammy's side.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Trevor, what the fuck?" Sammy turned on me.
"He was right. Love's not enough." I answered her.
That's the last thing I remembered before passing out on the bed.
Oh man I feel for trevor. it is very painful to love someone so much and even though you're not marrying their parents you still want them to approve of you. Everything her dad told Trevor he probably thinks her dad is telling lily those things
ReplyDeleteAww poor Trevor!
ReplyDeletethe thing i dont get, is if this had been lily acting like this, people would be all over her saying "grow up lily, you're acting like a child. just talk to him"
ReplyDeletewhy does trevor get to jump to conclusions?
He went and got drunk that's about it. If his behavior continues then yes I would comment that he needs to just talk to her. In fact just because people feel bad for him doesn't mean they don't think he should just talk to her.
DeleteAnd another thing the only thing that may sound like "jumping to conclusions" is the throwing the phone because of pics. he has every right to be upset about what her father said to him. If lily didn't run off to California he wouldnt have had a rough night. From both sides they need to talk because she ran off and wanted her dad's help. (From lily's last post we see she would have stayed if she didn't invite rocky. and he hasn't told her what her dad said so of course she didn't know why he was more distant ) everyone has moments where people say grow up we are human, Lily has had a good amount of times though lol she's working on it
Poor Trevor! Mr Ortiz is a judgmental jerk. The fact that he knows Lily, loves her, accepts her and wants to build a future with her--all this is worth more than gold and if Lily's dad is too dumb and blind to see that then he is not worthy of calling her Lily's father. Trever makes Lily happy, and love CAN be enough if the people who love each other commit to be together and work to build a life together. What does Mr. Ortiz think a good match for Lily looks like anyway? Cam, his own son, certainly approves of Trevor for Lily. Doesn't that count? I mean really. I am sure Lily will stand up for Trevor and smooth over that Christian tagged her on FB, but let's hope she can also knock some sense into her idiot dad's head. His family likes her and Mr. Ortiz needs to see that Trevor is the best thing for Lily.
ReplyDeleteTrevor said it best, he needs to stop acting like a baby (I prefer not to say the other word). Whatever happened to just showing the dad that he was man enough for her? Yeah Trevor act like a big baby that will put you on his good side.... not. Going out to get wasted solves nothing, he should've just waited to talk to Lily. And did he even look at the pix? He would've seen that Lily wasn't in any of them and he would've probably seen Christian's gf.
ReplyDeleteI don't get how the dad could tell by just hanging around them for such a short period of time, that they are not right for each other? Or is he gathering info from Cam? Not that I completely disagree..... I like Trevor, he's a fun loving guy, but I don't see much depth. And no, love is not always all you need. Life is not just about having fun and being chill, there's so much more. One thing that bugs me is that he's not happy at work but does nothing to better his situation. He's working on one website but is just recently starting to charge for his work.
He is right there is a reason Lily run to daddy instead of coming to him for help subconsciously she knew daddy would take care of it (even though she ended up not letting him help her).
Is Lilly's dad being judgmental or protective of his daughter. After all don't parents just want what's best for their kids?
Luita
I think Trevor was not being a baby. He tried to hold his emotions in because of Lily's dad's reaction to him as he did when he was younger, but when Lily had a crisis, she turned to her dad and the timing of that must have hurt. Lily's dad's reaction was a lot like his own father's criticisms. All this happened so close together in time and when it hit the fan, Trevor snapped. We all despair from time to time and this is the first time we have seen Trevor hit rock bottom. And frankly, he took his despair out on himself (and on his phone.) by getting drunk. Her dad dissed him, she left the state and he saw pictures Christian tagged when he was drunk. He took his anger out on his phone. Lily did the same thing when Ethan wrongly shamed her. He does work hard, and frankly is a lot more motivated and better off than lots of 26 year olds I have known. I think her dad is just being protective, but really, he doesn't know Lily--at least not like Trevor knows her. Her dad doesn't trust her to make her own choices and that is not respectful. Trevor is more than a playmate; he has helped Lily grow as a person more than any of her other friends (except maybe her aunt and her brother.) I hope Lily can make her dad see how important Trevor is to her.
DeleteI agree!!
DeleteJust want to say thank you so much Janay for posting, you're one of the nicest poster
I don't know how you can say her dad had any mysterious info about Trevor to make him not like him. From every backhanded rude comment her dad has made, he clearly is controlling and not looking at what is really best for lily; nor does he see love as an need at all, he's proven that with his history.
DeleteAlso Janay has done a great job at giving Trevor depth, we saw a large amount at Easter with his uncle and family. And his romantic side like helping with the proposal and the slide show etc..
how can you really say he should have looked at the pictures to see she wasn't in them, he was drunk. Deep down (part of his depth) he wasn't upset so much that she left it was because the rude things her dad said that reminded him of how his father treated him. just like we say with lily, don't expect him to be perfect. Deep down Trevor wasn't so much upset about her leaving he was upset how her dad disapproved of him like his jerk of a dad did.
also there's nothing wrong with not having your career set in stone at 25, and some people are OK with not loving their job but working to live not living to work. which he is changing with that website, anyone who has started over or started a business knows you don't make money right away .
lily's dad isn't being protective he is being controlling and doesn't care about love.
Love can conquer, it isn't just chill and fun, love is an action and Trevor and lily are building that love
I'm not saying there's mysterious info, but isn't it weird that he doesn't think he's right for her after just spending so little time with them? Or is it dad's intuition.
DeleteAnd I agree it's ok for him to change career paths. Heck if my bf told me he was unhappy at his job and wanted to start over I would support him 100%, but Trevor doesn't do that. He took a no-paid leave to work on a website without a contract? He got no money for all his hard work because he didn't think about it seriously. I would have done things differently. Maybe he comes from money and that's why he doesn't think about those things, but I do because love doesn't pay my bills.
Lilly's dad is a hard worker and makes lots of money he just doesn't want his daughter to go without so I see where his worries are. I have a friend who married a guy that changes his mind about what career he wants every semester and her parents are very frustrated with him because they have a kid and she has to work full time while he pursues his dreams.... I would be ok supporting my man as long as he knows what he wants to do and is actively working for it. Maybe that's what Lilly's dad is worried about? I don't know, I'm just putting things out there.
Luita
If you wanted to start a new business or even have an internship you usually don't get paid. Obviously he had enough in reserve to keep his apartment and live while he took a long time off. Besides Trevor started doing the website before lily and him dated, he shouldn't have been thinking about supporting a family when he wanted to take a risk on an opportunity. And he's not like your friend he hasn't kept switching jobs he is staying at the job he has now to pay the bills.
DeleteLily's dad makes rude comments about lily and we don't agree with those so why agree with the comments about Trevor. We are giving him too much credit. Also his first impression of him was Trevor playing with her bikini top, for the type of controlling opinionated dad he is that was a big enough reason to worry or be mad about. he's not concerned Trevor isn't rich enough for her, and if he is then he's even more of a tool. He doesn't care if love is involved and I don't think he wants his daughter married at all. In regards to her dad having more info, when he listed why Trevor wasn't good enough for lily the list was only about stuff from that wedding weekend (lying about hotel room etc) no where did he say because he didn't make enough money, based on everything he has said her dad wouldn't have held back. It isn't dad's intuition either he's just oppionated, he doesn't want lily in texas, he didn't like her career choice, doesn't approve of her bad eating habits, thinks she plays around too much, forces her to cut her hair etc..
Trevor even said he had time to prove to him he is good enough, he just had a rough night hasn't everyone. And you say love doesn't pay the bills but Trevor pays his bills and hasn't shown as this bum.
Thank you so much for the bonus post, Janay!! I love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI think Trevor needs to sober up (because no good decisions are made while drunk) and surprise Lily in Cali with some names of lawyers that could help her case. I think that would show her dad that he is capable to taking care of his daughter (not that she needs to be taken care of...she is an adult woman that's perfectly capable of taking care of herself) while also proving how much he loves her by being there for her. Trevor is a good guy and I believe he loves lily. And I know, I'm talking about fictional characters but Janay is just so damn good at writing!!
I am not a fan of Lily running away, but I think we have all had moments in our life where we just wanted to go home to our parents and let them take care of the problem and let them comfort us. Trevor is great, but there is nothing like letting your parents help you in your time of need.
Dating-and-commitment.blogspot.com
Cheers!
Charli
If I remember correctly, she called trevor first and when he didn't answer... She broke down and called her dad
ReplyDeleteTrevor was at work, it was in the middle of the day, I call my husband throughout the day and he can't always answer. Also there no way of knowing it's a issue
ReplyDelete