Chapter 2: Love and Ice Cream (part 2)

Love. Many believed in it and invested in it and Trudy was definitely one of those. She had loved James since college. Secretly admired him until he made a move on her and in just a few months, they were a couple. She thought James would be her "forever" and was so glad that he proposed after two years in their relationship. Now, all those dreams shattered in a heartbeat.

As much as I pity her, I was actually glad that they broke up. I haven't told her, but James actually tried hitting on me on several instances. The first few months they officially became a couple, he had sent me flowers in my locker. I confronted him about it and knowing James, he denied it to death. Then, there were the insane things he did.

One of them is he tried to kiss me when we were all in a bar. I went to the ladies' room to pee and he followed me there, trying to harass me. It's a good thing there was a lesbian with lots of tattoos who interrupted. She was heavy-built and James was smaller than her so she scared him away. As for me, I made sure she becomes a friend of mine in case of "emergencies".

"Call me when that a*hole tried to harass you again," she said and gave me her calling card. It turned out she actually owns a motor shop and one of the advocates of women's rights. She hates guys who take advantage of women as she was a victim of violence herself. Her former boyfriend tried to kill her. It's a good thing she ran away and jailed him for life. Since then, she never had any more boyfriends, but girlfriends only.

"Women are much better partners," she said.

I wonder if that is true. I am just starting to understand human psychology in general and practice my profession. It's amazing how you can learn so much from people. But one thing I still can't understand, in my twenty-seven years of life is love. I guess I am just so idealistic about it that I can't grasp the idea of how a person can be in so much pain and still love that person who actually hurt them.

"I can't believe he will do this to me," Trudy said, in between sobs. "I hate him so much. I wanted to kill him."

"Do you want me to do that for you? Let me know and I will find that prick wherever he is," said Heather, the ever so feisty one in our group. She would definitely do anything not to let anyone hurt one of her friends.

"No. I still love him. But I totally hate him," and she started wailing again. My eardrums felt like they would break with all the loud crying.

I just rolled my eyes and went straight to her kitchen. I placed the two cans of Ben and Jerry's in her freezer and took a spoon from one of the drawers. One thing that Trudy cannot resist is a can of cookies and cream flavored ice cream.

I walked back into the room and saw Jane coming in from the door.

"Oh, Trudy! Come here," said Jane, and Trudy embraced her and wailed. All the saliva and snot that came out of Trudy were transferred to Jane's light pink dress. She is wearing an Ann Taylor dress and I can't help feeling disgusted looking at it. I would never let her ruin a perfect dress like that. That's a good thing about Jane though, she doesn't mind it. You can even probably throw up on her and she will just wash in the bathroom like it was nothing.

I gave Trudy her can of ice cream and a spoon. She grabbed it like a hungry lion ready to devour its prey. Her face somehow lights up as she started taking a few spoons.

"Are there more?" asked Heather.

"Yes, in the freezer. But that's not for you," I told Heather, sternly. "You finished a whole can last night, that's why we ran out."

Heather smirked and sat with her arms crossed on the loveseat like a little kid denied of a lollipop.

"Okay, now you are calmer, tell us what happened."

"Well," Trudy started, in between chewing, "Last night, after you guys left, he called me. He said he had something for me and he wanted to come over. So I told him yes. He brought a bouquet of roses and-"

"Then he broke up with her," Heather finished the story. "Can't we just skip the whole little details and just tell them the reason why?"

"Heather, I hate you," Trudy said, narrowing her eyes at her.

"What? Just tell them. This jerk just dumped you and you still wanted to tell the story of how sweet he is when actually, he is a total ass for leaving you with your cousin."

The waterworks started again as Trudy wailed upon remembering it. I gave Heather a stern look like "what the hell?".

"What? I'm just saying. He gave this stupid love note, telling her how much he loves her blah-blah-blah, and then at the end of it, it says 'I'm sorry, Trudy but I love someone else.' What kind of jerk does that! Days before your wedding day and you ran off with someone else. Not just someone else but her cousin! Eunice, the maid of honor! For goodness sake! If that was me, I would have ripped that love note and went straight to his house and ripped his head off while he is asleep."

Jane gasped. If there's one thing that Jane hates are the gory and murder stories. That's why she never comes to us whenever we watch a horror movie or anything that shows blood.

"Oh please, not his head!" reacted Jane and closed her eyes. "Now that image just stayed with me for the rest of my life."

"Don't worry, Jane. It's not that head. She was referring to the bottom part," and I laughed. Heather laughed with me and eventually, Trudy followed. While Jane was moving her head from side to side, her eyes still closed.

"Even worse! My god, you guys!" Jane said.

"But seriously, Trudy, you got to let go of this idiot and tell your parents what happened," I told her and sat beside her.

"Yes, I agree," said Heather.

Jane nodded in agreement as well.

"Okay," and Trudy sighed. "Will you help me tell them?"

"Of course," the three of us said in unison and laughed.

"Thank you, guys. I love you," she said. "Group hug?"

And we all hugged each other.