I’m not much of a music fan but I do know some of the classics. While I may never have another girlfriend again, (which is to not only my delight but to the delight of those closest to me,) I’m mostly a romantic love song type of person if I had to choose. There’s one song in particular I know very well. It’s titled “One Is The Loneliest Number,” and if you don’t know who sings it, I’m not the person to ask because I have no idea. The point is that while I enjoy that song, I have to question those who actually do believe one is the loneliest number because to me, it’s not the loneliest number, it’s the only number. It’s the only number that matters to me and actually it’s my favorite number. It indicates that a person has no one to share anything with but on the other hand, it also indicates that the one person can get what they want without arguing or having to compromise or caring about what anyone wants or what anyone’s opinion is on anything.

As if never having a girlfriend isn’t enough to show how introverted I am, it appears that I can’t even maintain the one friendship I currently have in this world. I met my best friend in high school and we were inseparable. Man things have changed since high school though. His god damn fuckin hormones paired with his inability to be just a little bit selfish sometimes has turned him into the type of friend that I simply cannot stand anymore.

To show you how different we are, every little thing he does, every decision he makes, ETC has to be to the liking of his bitch of a wife that I can’t stand first of all but that mom only pretends to care what she thinks. When they got married 11 years ago, our friendship when to shit. I already couldn’t stand the ground that girl walked on but I also had to contend with a bunch of idiots from his extended family pushing me away from him as if I was a monster. At the time, I felt like he had just been pressured by those people to stay away from me. Well fast forward 11 years to present day and those people are deceased or no longer relevant in his life. The problem is that his wife hates me even though his extended relatives are gone. Whether the pressure just stuck with her or not, I don’t know but she still treats me like she did when they were around. This has made me very upset and while I used to frequently go to their house and visit them every other evening when I had nothing else to do, this has since stopped when arguments became more frequent which nearly escalated to physicality. Every rime we fought, the same formula presented itself. His wife and I would begin an argument which he would get involved in and defend her even though he should know she was wrong in whatever the fight was over. On a couple of occasions, it lead to minor physicality between myself and my friend. At one point, he hit me below the belt and then on other occasions, I grabbed him and attempted to rip his shirt while cussing him out.

One notable occurrence of this came the day my first nephew was born. Having already been to his house earlier in the day, I decided to go back as I had been sent the picture of my nephew on my cell phone. I don’t quite remember how this played out but I remember it enough to be able to recall the issue. I just don’t remember the cause of it. It started moments after I arrived the second time. After his wife and I started arguing again, I attempted to seek peace at his sister in law’s house, (who I had a much better relationship at the time.) I approached her door where she lashed out at me and said “I’M COMING” in a manner that resembled screaming, (their vocal chords don’t work well enough for them to speak as loud as one would have to speak to be considered screaming.) As it wasn’t a normal occurrence for me to have issues with his sister in law, I was mad enough to hit her but didn’t. As my friend witnessed this and did nothing about it, i confronted him by telling him to put his fuckin maid dress on and control the whore and his slut of a wife while ending by saying, “Don’t make me control you asshole!” In danger of assaulting both of the girls, I demanded that my friend join me outside.

He attempted to show that he’s worth something by taking his life in his own hands and confronting me by starting to say something to the effect of “This is my house we allow you in it..” ETC but I quickly interjected and told him off before he could finish.

“You listen to me you asshole. How many fuckin times do I have to tell you that those whores and sluts and bitches that you call women are of no interest to me? I will not put up with the shit that comes out of your wife’s mouth and I will put up with it even less from you or (insert name of his sister in law,) after everything I do for her and you despite you not deserving it. This was supposed to be a great time for me. I just became an uncle. This isn’t about them. Since you, not so much them, are my best friends, I wanted to share that with you. It was a special moment but it had to be ruined by the selfishness and stupidity of those two morons that you’re supposed to be in control of. If you see that they’re being rude to someone, you step in and make it right. Do you hear me? Because I was in a perfect mood before I came here. You’re my best friend, my only friend and you’re going to allow those fuckin little morons to put me in a bad mood? The only thing I’m teaching (insert name of my nephew) is that friendships never last and that he would be stupid to have any himself when he gets older. Those girls taught him that. Well I guess they are good for something.”

My rant towards my friend.

Outraged he tries to take his phone out and call mom to rat me out. I stop him immediately by threatening to break it if he attempts to dial the number. He screams, “Let go of me” as I attempt to grab his phone. As he pulls back, his hand hits the armrest of the bench he was sitting on causing a bruise.

“Look what you did to me!” he screams as he shows me the bruise on his hand.

“Serves you right asshole. Maybe next time you’ll learn to respect your elders. Especially ones who allow you to mooch off of their mothers after yours dies. But for now, you don’t need mommy and daddy to tell you what the problem is. I will. All you have to do is show me that fuckin hand of yours again. Don’t worry. I won’t break it. I point to his wedding ring. That’s your problem right there. That no good piece of metal shit on your hand. Every since you put it on, we’ve all had to deal with those two faced childish bitches that you love so much. I’ve had it with this but if our parents won’t do what’s right and force you to get a divorce, I can force it right now because I’m sick of this god damn shit. I don’t care what they say. They’re not family and they never will be. I’m doing you a favor by setting you straight. This metal is going in the garbage.”

As I attempt to pry the ring off his finger, he makes every threat towards me to stop me from doing so such as “I’ll tell our parents…this friendship is over, ETC. I remain unphased by the threats.

As mom was working at the time this was taking place, his dad, (who is also my stepfather,) arrives to settle the situation after he overhears a threat on the phone from another client who witnessed the entire situation unfold that police were nearly called. He stops me from getting the ring off and I tell him I’m no longer coming over and that I can’t stand the two girls. In the midst of all of this, mom finally calls and after hearing what had happened through my stepfather and the other client, she forbids me from visiting there unless situations warrant. Situations warranting a visit would be an event that our parents planned or to pick us up to go somewhere for the weekend, ETC. After taking some time off from going, I did continue to go back sparingly while having to contend with more of their BS while choosing not to react to it. I have since stopped going there frequently as I can no longer deal with their BS and finally coming to the realization that it’s not my problem.

So let me fast forward to present day. The incident I just described occurred on April 25 2024 so it was just under two years ago at the time of this writing. In those two years, there’s been a lot of situations that have occurred such as that one which have seen me put off things I want to do to wait for my friend to be able to do it, fights and arguments between myself and the two girls for various reasons, ETC. However, these days, I no longer care if I do stuff I want to do without my friend and as for me caring or not about those girls? I simply do not anymore. Before it was “OK (insert name of my friend,) I want to go to a movie or to a mall, ETC. Are the girls going home this weekend or not?” I should mention that the question of whether or not the girls visit their parents is relevant because at that point, their status over the coming weekend basically would determine his availability to me. However, most times with input from our parents, he would be available no matter what. Other times though, he would have to stay with them when they are home. At one point, them being home would usually mean for me to put off what I had originally planned to do to wait for him to be available. This has changed since then with my new attitude towards them. As I do not care about them anymore, I do things I want to do without any regard for the status of the girls anymore. If my friend can be there, great. But if he can’t, I will do it alone. I will not allow his wife and his sister in law to dictate my own life anymore. I remember that those girls are his problem not mine so why should I allow them to dictate my life?

Having said that though, the way I feel about putting things off when he’s not around is just how I feel. I found out the hard way tonight that this is not how everybody feels. One thing I failed to mention is that there was a rule put in place by our parents that even if the girls are home, my friend can still be available to me. However, in the case of them making plans to do things with us, their status will impact whether the outing happens or not because I fear that this will happen. This lead to a fight between mom and I tonight.

Part 2 of this story to come

By Jefferson Bert