Apologize

"I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground
And I'm hearing what you say, but I just can't make a sound
You tell me that you need me then you go and cut me down, but wait
You tell me that you're sorry, didn't think I'd turn around, and say "It's too late to apologize."
I said, "It's too late to apologize"
I'd take another chance, take a fall, take a shot for you
And I need you like a heart needs a beat, but it's nothin' new
I loved you with a fire red, now it's turning blue, and you say,
"Sorry," like the angel heaven let me think was you, but I'm afraid...It's too late to apologize
I said, "It's too late to apologize" Apologize by OneRepublic


By the time Forrest got me home, I devoured my fries, sobered up and the reality of Sammy's call hit me. She broke up with Corey? But why? They seemed fine the last time I saw them at my housewarming. It didn't make any sense. What happened between then and now? I knew Amber was at work, so I sent her a text.

Me: You know what's up with Sammy and Corey?

Like the gentleman he is, Forrest walked me to the door when we got to my house and waited around to make sure Sammy made it safely. He showed me an hilarious video of Hip Hop Disney infomercial that I immediately posted on my Facebook, tagging Forrest in it too. When Sammy arrived, a few bags in hand, Forrest asked if we needed anything before he left. I told him we were good before walking him to the front door.

"Sorry for interrupting." Sammy said as I set the alarm.

"You didn't. We just got in from watching the  football game. Are you hungry?" I asked, motioning towards the food.

"No, I'm on a diet, remember? Do you mind if I take a shower?" She asked.

"No. Come on upstairs." I showed her the guest room, the bathroom and linen clothes were I keep the towels before giving her some privacy. Amber texted me back as I sat in the sitting room.

Amber: No... Something is up?

Me: Not sure. Call me when you get off.

Amber: KK

I changed into shorts and a t-shirt before Sammy reemerged. I was eating an apple pie and she grabbed one too.

"He cheated on me." Sammy started, picking at the pie.

"What?" I exclaimed, angrily. "How'd you find out?"

"He told me."

"Was it like a one night thing or an ongoing affair?"

"He says he didn't sleep with Tori-"

"Tori? As in his ex Tori?" I cut her off. It was 10 times worse that he did anything with her. Sammy knew Tori still had feelings for Corey and didn't trust her from the start. Corey cheating on Sammy with her was the ultimate slap in the face, whether he slept with her or not.

Fucking Corey!

"Yeah. That grimy, thirsty bitch. I knew she wanted him back. He said he had too much to drink-"

"What? I thought Corey didn't drink!"

"He doesn't. He said he had a few drinks on Labor Day..."

"Labor Day? He cheated on you on Labor Day and just now told you?"

Mother Fucking Corey!

"No, he told me back then..."

"Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped you deal."

"It was around the same time Trevor left. You had a lot going on and it's not like it's something I wanted to share with anyone. The only way I wanted to deal was to beat Tori's fucking ass but I don't know where she lives." Sammy explained.

"She knew what she was doing, but Corey is the one that cheated." I shook my head, still stunned Corey would hurt Sammy like that. After he tried so hard to get her to let down her guard, he betrayed her? It made no sense.

"I know. He had me so convinced back then that she took advantage of the situation until I found out they were crackheads together." She said, disgustedly.

"Wait! What?!? Back up and explain everything." I stopped her.

"They hung out on Labor Day when I was out of town for the single release party for Black Reign." Sammy started.

I recalled how angry she was when she came back from Austin and found out Corey hung out with Tori. When I asked if she thought something happened between them, Sammy said no.

"Apparently, he hung around his old friends and had a few drinks even though he doesn't drink around me. He claimed she came on to him, they fooled around, but he stopped it before it went any further than that. I found out over the holidays-"

"He really did slept with her?"

Lying Ass Mother Fucking Corey!

"No. I mean, he says he didn't, but I don't believe anything he says anymore. They used to do cocaine together." Sammy informed me.

I gasped. "Did they do it that night?"

"He said it was just alcohol but he felt so guilty about it he started going to AA meetings again. He claims that's the only thing he has done, besides a contact high with Bilal and Trevor."

"Do you believe him?"

 "Why should I if he didn't tell me the whole truth about his drug abuse? He made it seem like it was just partying- drinking, ecstasy and adderall. Not fucking cocaine and he never told me that he and Tori were addicted together."

"How do you feel about it now that you know everything?" I probed.

"Like I can't do this shit anymore. I turned down moving to Austin because I wanted to work on us. That was before I found out he used to be a crackhead with his ex-girlfriend who wants him back. I can't keep worrying about him going back to booze or drugs or that cunt or all three. I have to love myself more than him right?" She said, looking at me for confirmation.

"Right." I agreed, watching her closely. She was abnormally detached from the situation while I was confused and conflicted.

If she was willing to work through the cheating, why not forgive him for not disclosing everything he did prior to meeting her? A drug addiction was a drug addiction- did it matter what drugs he was abusing? Did his past actions matter if that wasn't who he was today? Trust was broken, but couldn't it be fixed? All those questions ran through my head, but I didn't say anything. I knew too well that a relationship had to be worked out between the two people in it, not outside influences. All I could do was be there for her.

"You know I'm here for you, whatever you choose. You can stay here as long as you need to." I told her.

"Maybe just a week or two. I just need him to understand that it's over between us." Sammy informed me.

I nodded. "Ok. I'm gonna let you get some rest then. Goodnight Sammy. I'm really sorry it didn't work out."

"Yeah, me too. Night."



Sunday morning I woke up to my phone ringing. It was Amber, so I went outside with Justine to talk with her.

"Damn, I didn't see that coming. What the hell happened?" Amber yawned when I told her about Corey and Sammy breaking up.

"There were a few issues and she broke up with him." I relayed.

"We gotta go out. Tell Sammy we're having a girl's night. Drinking and dancing."

"I don't know if she'll be up for it, but I'll let you know." I said before hanging.

Sammy knew Corey would be at work, so she went over to her place to grab a few more things. I took that time to pick up some groceries and stop to check on Rocky. I hadn't heard from her in awhile and I just wanted to make sure she was ok. When she opened the door to her house, she was wearing old Baylor sweats and a t-shirt. Paint was splattered on her clothes.

"Why didn't you tell me you were painting?" I said, walking back to the nursery.

"Repainting. Brandon messed it up behind my back." She scowled as I looked around the room. It was an off-white wall with the alphabet stenciled across the top of of the wall. I thought it looked incredible. When I told her so, she cut her eyes at me.

"Well, it's not your nursery, it's mine. Your opinion doesn't really count, does it?" She snipped at me.

"Alright. I'll stay out of it. Can I do anything to help?" I offered, hoping to help calm her down.

"You could stay out of my relationship. I would appreciate that very much." She sneered.

"Whoa, where is this coming from?" I asked, throwing up my hands.

"Did you talk to Forrest about me?" She accused.

"No. I asked him if you were coming out with us last night, but that's it." I shook my head.

"Not on your little double date last night. Last weekend at your house while y'all were watching football? Did you talk about me to the guy I'm dating?"

It was my turn to scowl at her tone. "You're forgetting the guy you're dating was my friend first."

"So that gives you the right to butt in?"

"I didn't butt in. He talked. I listened then told him to talk to you. That's it." I defended myself.

"All while wearing tight ass pants and a tight ass tank top. If that's not disrespecting my relationship enough-"

"For your information, I changed into my tight ass clothes after he left. How can I be disrespectful to your relationship when you don't have one? Y'all aren't together remember? That's your choice." I said, gritting my teeth.

"He still likes me. Not you. That's his choice, remember? Don't tell him how I feel and stop trying to seduce him!"

"Wow...I don't know if it's the paint fumes or hormones that have you talking like a crazy person, but I'm going to leave. Call me when you know better or not at all if you truly feel that way." I said as calmly as I could before stalking out.

Sammy was back when I got home, and her mood was no better than mine. She didn't want to talk about it, and neither did I. We spent Sunday in our pajamas eating junk food and binge watching the first season of Jane the Virgin. Corey called and texted, but she only ignore them. Christian tried to FaceTime me, but I didn't answer.

"Don't ignore him because of me." Sammy said after glancing at my phone.

"I'm not. It's for me." I confessed.

"What's going on there? Y'all seemed booed up at New Year's." Sammy accused.

"No booing up. We were trying to be friends, but you know me. I have a hard time just being friends with guys so I'm taking a little time to myself." I said, frowning as I thought about my friendship with Forrest.

Sammy looked over at me. "You've been alone since September. Isn't that enough time?"

I scoffed. "Weren't you anti-Christian like a minute ago?"

"I thought you were just trying to get back at Trevor. But if you like him, do you." Sammy stated.

Her phone started ringing again, this time, she turned it off.



Monday morning, it was like a switched turned on in Sammy. When I got up, she was already downstairs, on the phone, putting a bunch of frozen fruit in the blender. It was a complete 180 in her attitude. She was enthusiastic, almost chipper as she spoke on the phone. After she got off the call, she started the blender as she played on her phone.

"Check your phone. I just sent you my new number." Sammy waited until the blending stopped.

"You changed your number?" I filled Justine dog dish while I talked to her. I watched as Justine picked at her food before getting her water.

"Yep. That way he won't call me anymore."

"Have you talked to him at all?" I frowned.

"Nope. There's nothing to discuss. I'm done."

I didn't say anything else as I pulled out some eggs for breakfast.

"I made a hair appointment. Do you think gray hair is unprofessional?" Sammy pondered.

"I mean, it is a natural hair color. I think you could get away with it at your job."

"I take a lot of meetings now that Jeff is in Austin. Ron hasn't been down to hire anyone else. It's bad enough I have no idea what I'm doing half the time; I don't wanna look stupid too."

"Then leave your hair like it is."

"It took me so long to grow it back I don't want to cut it. I have to do something drastic to show my ex I'm moving on." Sammy commented.

"Guys don't think like that." I shook my head while frying an egg.

"Trevor did. He freaked when he saw you cut your hair. He told Corey you did the same thing when you were finally over Jake. Corey will get it." Sammy said, matter of factly.

I ran my fingers through my hair, shocked. Yeah, Trevor helped me dye my hair back to brown after my breakup with Jake, but that was more for me to get back to being myself. The blond hair was a representation of me being and acting like someone I wasn't so it had to go. Cutting my hair was just because I needed a change. Did Trevor really think I was sending subliminal messages through my haircut? Urgh.

"Do you wanna do that boot camp with me?" Sammy asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Is this losing weight thing another drastic thing you have to do? I think you should just take it easy, you know? Try to forgive Cor-"

"Fuck Corey and his apologizes and excuses and bullshit. This is about me." Sammy cut me off. "I wanna coke bottle figure, not a box. Do you wanna do the boot camp or nah?"

"Sure. Sign me up." I sighed.

"Ok. I gotta get going. I'll see you later tonight."

"See ya." I waved.

I sat my food down on the kitchen table and watched as Justine didn't eat her food.

"Yeah. I know the feeling." I said, patting her on the head before I sat down at the table.

I went to work early to find Dr. Clayton in a foul mood.

"What's up? Long Monday or is Fahri on a power trip again?" I asked.

Every time Adil wanted to incorporate something new, Dr. Clayton would say it wasn't about doing things more efficiently, it was just him trying to exert his power.

"It was a long weekend. I had to deal with my daughter's nonsense now I have to suffer through that arrogrant prick filming over the next few weeks." Dr. Clayton complained.

The Maverick's front office was shooting a video on health and well-being for the youth and was using the clinic as a shooting location. Apparently, Dr. Clayton had a not so pleasant run in with someone working on the project.

"Aw, I'm sorry you have to deal with that. Consider your daughter as a practice in patience." I said with a playful smile.

I was surprised when he returned my smile. "Don't be sorry. I told the crew it's not as crowded during the evening. That's when they be doing most of the filming."

"Just for that, I'm suggesting some new changes to Fahri." I threatened.

On my lunch, I saw that I had two texts.

Rocky- I'm sorry. Call me when you get the chance.

Corey- Have you heard from Sammy?

I answered Rocky first since it was easier.

Me- Keep your apology. We still need to talk I'll call tonight when I get off.

I had to think about what I wanted to say to Corey. I knew Sammy was at best freezing him out and at worst, ghosting him. After going through both with Trevor, I couldn't just not respond to him. He fucked up, but honestly, I didn't know if it was a deal breaker. That is, if he told the entire truth. I just didn't know what to say so I stuck with the bare minimum truth.

Me- Yeah, she fine. She just needs space right now.

Corey- Can you get a message to her?

Me- I can try.

Corey- Tell her I know I hurt her and I don't expect everything to be ok overnight. It doesn't change how I feel about her or us together. Tell her I'm sorry and I'm not going anywhere.

Me- Will do

I screen shot the message and sent it to Sammy. I didn't know what good it would do, but I keep my word. I wondered if he was serious about not going anywhere because I knew an apology wasn't going to be enough.