Dating : The Asshole and the Good Guy..

Marty Shaw was feeling ecstatic. He had the foresight to move his company to online sales and it had been paying off in bigger ways than he could have ever imagined. He manufactured children’s clothes and he was shocked when Amazon gave him a contract to supply clothing for them to sell, and things got better when Walmart did the same. His factory had been working at peak capacity and that was because he had modernized everything over the years, and three quarter of the work was done by robots. Marty’s Dad had always told him to get in front of the curve and he had listened.

Marty had a great team at the Factory, and due to Covid-19 he had arranged for only three people to work in his fifty thousand foot warehouse. They basically made sure there were no breakdowns with the robots. The best news was Marty’s partner Lisa was brilliant, and when Covid-19 was first reported she made sure to double the production lines, so they would have enough merchandise ready to go till the end of twenty twenty two.

She was already introducing new designs into the computer, so the company was in solidly good shape in every area.

Marty was thinking about how fortunate he was, when his dog Mustard, told him in a not to subtle way that he wanted to go for a walk. He stood in front of Marty and barked till Marty got up and headed for the door.

The walk was going along very nicely when Marty noticed people heading towards him. They were walking their dog and having a seriously loud argument. ‘’Fuck you Amber, it isn’t my fault I can’t work. I gave a lot of money for the bills when I was on jobs while you just sit around on your ass. I wish I would have never married you. Fuckin’ worst mistake in my life. Thirty fuckin’ years of misery.’’

Marty stopped across the street from them, he didn’t want to get involved but he didn’t like the sound of the argument and he was worried it might get violent. The couple noticed that Marty had stopped. The guy looked over at hin. ‘’What’s your fuckin’ problem, mind your own business prick.’’

A chill went through Marty’s body, he knew the guy and he now recognized the woman. ‘’I just haven’t see you guys since High School and I wanted to say Hello. I’m sorry if I caught you at a bad time.’’

Both Earl Winthrop and Amber Gleason looked over at Marty again. ‘’It’s me Marty Shaw, we went to Churchill High together. I was the guy who used to watch you play quarterback every Friday night for the Churchill Marauders. I remember when Amber was the head cheerleader.’’

They both started to cross the road and Marty put up his hand. ‘’Nope, we have to stay at least twelve feet apart, Covid regulations.’’ Earl shook his head, ‘’Nope it’s six feet’’ Marty smiled, ‘’For me it’s twelve feet. So how are you guys doing?’’ Earl and Amber looked at each other. Amber meekly answered ‘’Well, we got married after High School. I went to College and Earl he was working as a Dry Waller, but since Covid, he hasn’t worked. We have a son, he’s living up North somewhere. What do you do?’’

Marty took a serious look at the couple. Earl was now jowly and overweight, he looked like a slug. He had been the High School stud, the starting Quarterback, the king of the jocks. He had been a good hockey player and had played for the local Junior team, but he had always been a miserable human being. He had treated those he deemed inferior with disdain and bullying, and that included Marty Shaw.

‘’I have a manufacturing plant, we make children’s clothes, it’s called M&L Clothing. We sell online and through Amazon and Walmart. We also export to different markets.’’ Earl’s face was turning red. ‘’You probably inherited that from your old man’’ Marty felt like laughing in Earl’s face. ‘’Nope, built it up from the ground. We started by importing clothes from China but we didn’t like the quality. We decided to build our own plant, right here and employ some local people. Things have worked out well. We have a good reputation and we are expanding our lines. Babies are being born every minute and they need clothes.’’

Amber had long stringy dirty looking hair and deep sunken in eyes. Her teeth looked less than perfect. She was looking at Marty who was in excellent shape, going up and down on his body with her eyes. Marty knew exactly why. Forty years ago, he had asked her out and she dismissed him in a loud and crude way. It took a lot for a fourteen year old boy to ask a girl out in High School and she had completely crushed him. He remembered her words. ‘’Nothing personal but Earl is the starting Quarterback, he is really good looking. I’m Head Cheerleader and you’re just not in my league.’’ She then walked away, catching up with some other Cheerleaders, turning around and pointing in his direction and laughing at him with the other girls for having the audacity to ask her out. Marty wondered what kind of league she now considered herself in.

‘’I’ve gotta go, nice seeing both of you. It has been a lot of years. I wish you a very happy life together.’’ Before they could answer he looked down at his Golden Retriever and said ‘’Mustard, let’s go home and relax.’’ As he walked away he felt a sense of relief.

Marty never looked back but he did hear Amber and Earl once again arguing loudly. Earl was yelling ‘’You probably wish you had gotten it on with that Marty instead of me back in High School.’’ There was a pause and Amber responded in a very loud voice. ‘’I wish I would have, that Marty was a decent guy all his life, you’ve always been an asshole. I made a mistake I wish I would have gone out with him all those years ago.’’ Marty heard them and laughed to himself. Roles had been reversed, he was now glad he had never gone out with Amber, and furthermore, he was happy that he had never been an asshole. Life always works out the way it is supposed to in the long run. Those words ‘’To thine own self be true’’ never had clearer meaning. He was a happy man and it was because he was proud that he never forgotten what was important in life, decency. As far as Earl and Amber, there weren’t two people on the planet who deserved each other more. It was obvious the old adage was true in their case ‘’Be careful what you wish for, cause it can come true.’’ Marty Shaw knew he would never give either of them another thought.