Chapter 19
“Uuuugggggggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!” Sydney let out a loud extraordinarily frustrated and furious groan as she let herself into Michael’s apartment. She slammed the door behind her as hard as she possibly could before screaming once more, that time adding, “Men are by far the foulest most loathsome evil creatures to ever walk the planet!”
“Um,” Michael tentatively poked his head out of the kitchen. “We’re sorry…”
“Oh, not you,” she sighed before flopping down on the sofa.
Noting that her tone was much less hostile, Michael figured it was safe to emerge out of the safety of the kitchen. Cautiously, he walked into the family room and stayed at least a few feet away from her while asking the most dreaded question, “What happened?”
“That asshole Peter,” she muttered.
“Oh no,” Michael’s expression fell. “Is it about the divorce? Is he contesting it? Does he want alimony?”
“He’s sleeping with a student!” Sydney screeched.
“WHAT?!” Michael gasped.
“Oh yeah. Totally. God I’m so reviled that I was ever married to that,” she said while her entire body shivered.
“Wait, wait, wait, go back, explain I beg you,” Michael said, sitting down on the coffee table across from Sydney.
Sydney took a deep breath and began her tale. “So I’m at the mall returning those red shoes that didn’t match my dress and as I’m standing in line waiting for the totally incompetent sixteen year old sales clerk to process my return Jamie Wesley comes up behind me and is all, ‘Hi Sydney, sorry about your divorce et cetera’ – you know, the usual.”
“Right…and who is Jamie Wesley?” Michael asked.
“Oh she teaches tenth and eleventh grade English at the high school where Peter works. Anyway I told her how I was fine because I was the one who filed for divorce from him and apparently Jamie didn’t know that and she goes, ‘Oh, thank god – I thought he divorced you because of you know…that thing.’ So naturally I asked her what she was talking about and then she tells me. Apparently Peter has been spotted around with this girl – Britney, Cookie, Betty – whatever some name that gives her the IQ of a potato chip and the cup size of a Victoria’s Secret model. Anyway, she was in his homeroom last year.”
“No way!” Michael gasped.
“Absolutely,” Sydney continued. “So then the girl behind the counter chimes in and starts explaining how this seventeen year old tramp was rumored to be doing some extracurricular sextivities with more than one teacher to get grades and stuff, so it wasn’t really surprising that she ended up in bed with one of them. So then Jamie proceeds to tell me that she heard the same rumors and there was actually an inquiry made by the school district about it.”
“About Peter?!” Michael asked, utterly floored that straight-laced Peter would do such a thing, especially with one of his students.
“No, with some gym teacher. Anyway, rumor has it that Peter was all sad and lonely after I left him – which is understandable – and Cookie-Betty-Whore chummed up to him in homeroom towards the end of the year and after she graduated – BAM! My side of the bed isn’t even cold yet and she’s already in there dirtying up my pink sheets with her STDs,” Sydney said.
Michael laughed softly. “Gee, Syd, if I didn’t know you were already with an incredibly sexy guy I’d say you sounded jealous.”
“Jealous?” Sydney snorted. “Me? Jealous of Bambi who now gets to sleep beside Mr. ‘Yeah good job man you were great tonight!’ – as if. I’m just…offended that he went from me to that… I mean he clearly has no standards so what the hell was I?!”
“You were far too good for him,” Michael assured her with a smile.
Sydney smiled as well. “Thanks… This is just…really shocking.”
“No kidding…meanwhile, isn’t it illegal for him to be sleeping with the seventeen year old?” Michael asked cautiously.
“Probably…but she might be eighteen by now,” Sydney pointed out. “Whatever…I swear to god, though, if I have to see them around town I’ll vomit all over them,” she muttered. Then she sat up straight and gasped, causing Michael to jump back about a foot. “Oh no!! I’ve become that person!”
“What person?” Michael asked cautiously.
“The bitter ex wife!” Sydney wailed before smashing her face down into the sofa.
“Aw honey you’re not a bitter ex-wife…you’re not even an ex yet,” Michael told her with a slight laugh. Obviously this didn’t help Sydney any so he tried again. “Syd come on this is just a freak situation – even I’m nauseated by it… I mean, how would you feel if Peter wasn’t dating the bra model but dating this Jamie Wesley person instead?”
“Well…I’d think he had a serious English teacher fetish but I wouldn’t throw up on him…,” she said hopefully.
“See, there you go,” Michael smiled at her. Then he slid over onto the couch beside her and put his arms around her. She nuzzled her face into his neck and sighed.
“This is weird…”
“What is?”
“Being a bitter ex-wife…I mean, what happens now? Do I just never see Peter again? Bump into him at the mall and have intensely awkward conversations? Should I send him a Christmas card? A birthday card?”
“I dunno, Syd,” Michael sighed. “I guess that’s your call. A birthday card might be nice…I think it all depends on how amicable a divorce ends.”
“Yeah…oh god, it’s hitting me,” she groaned. “I’m divorced. I’m an ex wife. I’m a divorcee. I’m only two failed marriages away from being Ross on Friends!”
Michael couldn’t help but laugh. “Syd you’re blowing this way out of proportion. Do you know how many people in the world have been divorced once? Twice even? Tons. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like this is the 1920’s and you’re going to be branded as the loosest woman in town.”
“I guess,” she sighed, “but it still sucks.”
“Yeah…but I have a feeling the next time you get married it’s gonna stick and you won’t end up divorced again,” Michael told her.
Sydney glanced up and smiled at him as tingles filled her spine. “Oh yeah, how do you know that?”
“Dunno,” he sighed with a grin. “I just do.”