Worth It

“Did you come here to drink or to text?” Rachelle asked Mariem, obviously irritated. Mariem had been fiddling with her phone ever since we arrived at the bar.

“Sorry, it’s boyfie. He’s checking up on me,” Mariem apologized while still busily typing at her phone.

“What are you, sixteen?” Rachelle said with her brow raised.

“Hey, leave her alone. She has to report to her superior,” I teased.

“Wow, thank God you’re here Jason. Otherwise there would be no one on my side,” Mariem shot back as she tried to hit me on the head.

“Yeah, you’re one to talk,” Rachelle said, now smirking at me. “You still text your ex every day. And now you’re even trying to win him back.”

“How’s that working out for you, anyway?” Mariem asked as she looked up at me.

“Hey, wait a minute, we’re talking about Mariem here, not me.”

“Whatever,” Rachelle said before she took a swig of her beer. “You’re both the same. You make fools of yourselves because of your guys. Take Mariem, for instance. She’s a free-spirited girl. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, is boring. I mean, he wouldn’t even come with her when we go out for a drink. And yet he wants her to report to him everything that she does while she’s out.”

Mariem fell silent.

“And how exactly am I the same? I cheated on my guy, remember?” I pointed out. “Now I’m trying to make things right.”

“Yes, but you’re not the type of guy who flourishes when leashed. You said that yourself,” she argued. “And yet now you’re trying to win him back. Why go through all that trouble?”

I fell silent for a moment as well. Why indeed?

“Because I realized that he’s worth it,” I answered.

Mariem smiled. “Yes, they’re really worth it, aren’t they?”

We looked at each other and laughed.

“To the guys who are worth it,” I said as I raised my bottle.