by Liz Botts
A girl who didn’t look any older than me jumped off a supple looking leather sofa when Rory entered the living room. I assumed that must be Iona the Ex. She flung herself into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. I could feel my eyes get huge and my jealousy radar go off in spades. When she kissed him on the mouth I knew this wasn’t a crowd I could handle.
Rory adjusted his glasses, and set Iona the Ex down on the floor. She pouted prettily up at him, and then turned to me. “Is this the new girl? Oh, she so cute.”
I felt like an animal on display at the zoo as she circled around me, but then she smiled at me and I felt like prey being stalked. Maybe I hadn’t been so far off thinking that this place was dangerous, only in a totally different way than I had originally thought.
Iona the Ex gave me a cat that ate the canary smile, so self-satisfied that it was almost comical. Almost. If I hadn’t felt like I might throw up at any second. “Well, come sit down. We were just going to have some wine and play truth or dare. Do you play?”
I couldn’t hide my surprise as Rory came over, slipped an arm around me, and guided me over to the sofa. Iona the Ex poured four large glasses of wine. I twisted the stem of the glass between my fingers. There was no way one drop was going to pass through my lips. I didn’t want to embarrass Rory, but I’d have to look like a high school kid to his friends.
“No thanks,” I said, finding my voice and pushing the glass back to Iona the Ex.
She sneered at me. “That’s right. I forgot Rory’s dating a child. You can take a sip, though. Don’t worry, we won’t tell your mommy.”
“Leave her alone, I. She doesn’t want to drink, so what?” Rory raised his glass to his lips, and shrugged. “She’s underage anyway.”
“Actually my aunt is a recovering alcoholic. She’s in jail right now after she got her fifth DUI. So, yeah, I don’t drink, and I don’t plan on it ever. Thanks.” I leveled my gaze at Iona, wondering what Rory would think of this new information. So much for keeping my personal life private. I didn’t dare glance at him.
“Wow, what a buzzkill,” Iona said, and her friend laughed with her. In an attempt not to laugh himself, Rory choked on the mouthful of wine that he was about to swallow. That answered my question, and I felt my face flame red.
I sank back into the buttery soft sofa, and tuned out the three of them as they refilled their wine glasses, gossiped about people they knew, and launched into the game. The numbness that I had first felt earlier at the prom came back with a vengeance. First Jake, now Rory. These people that I had trusted with my heart were proving to be untrustworthy with such a fragile piece of myself.
“So what will it be, little girl?” The disdain in Iona the Ex’s voice drew me out of my own world, and I blinked at her.
“Huh?”
“Truth or dare?” She raised an eyebrow at me.
My mouth went dry as I tried to buy myself a moment to process what each choice would me. Since I didn’t know either girl very well, I couldn’t determine which decision carried the most risk. “Truth?”
Iona the Ex exchanged a look with her friend, whose gaze darted to Rory. “Okay, tell us about your first time.”
This girl was out to get me. She was drawing out all the things I buried deep inside, and had hoped to keep to myself for at least awhile longer. When I wanted to share this information I would, but alone. Not in front of his vindictive ex-girlfriend and her sycophantic friend.
“I’m not answering that. That’s private.” I infused my voice with as much bravado as I could, and crossed my arms over my chest as I stared at her.
To my surprise Iona and her friend laughed. “I knew the baby girl was too chicken.”
“This is ridiculous. I’m ready to leave. Take me home?” I looked at Rory.
He shook his head. “Sorry, Allison. I’m pretty buzzed. I don’t think I could drive a block.”
“Fine, give me your keys and I’ll drive myself home.” I held out my hand as I ignored the continued snickers from Iona and the other girl.
Rory frowned at me. “I don’t think—“
“Whatever.” I pushed myself off the sofa, and grabbed my purse. “See you on Monday. Have fun with your little friends.”
I could hear Rory calling my name as I wrenched open the front door, clattered down the three flights of steps, and out the front door into the spring night. When I got to Rory’s car, I kicked his front tire. My sneaker bounced, and a sharp pain bit my toes. I swore, louder than I would normally have done, but since no one was around I didn’t have to worry about decorum. I leaned against the SUV, giving him a chance to follow me down, make a gallant rescue. After five full minutes passed, I pulled out my phone and wondered what I should do.
There was a bus stop not far from here, and according to my public transport app there was one coming within the next fifteen minutes. I stuffed my phone back into my pocket and started walking. Despite the gentrification of the neighborhood, I knew how stupid it was for me to be out at this time of night.
The heavy sound of footsteps caught me by surprise. My heart beat faster as the person approached behind me. Without turning around I knew it was a man, and I knew I should turn around and face him, but fear held me captive.
I walked faster, but the person behind me kept pace. My stomach churned, then knotted, and I felt like I might throw up. Briefly I wondered if I should get out my phone to call 911, but the thought fled quickly when I realized that the person could just grab it away.
Visions of horrible ends throbbed in my mind. The image of my broken, battered body was all I could see. Adrenaline pumped so hard in my veins that I thought they might burst. Could I outrun him? Was there someplace nearby that I could go for help?
If I screamed would anyone hear me?
Behind the terror rage simmered, ready to bite. How dare Rory let me leave without a way home! How dare this guy stalk after me and put me in danger! I wished that I knew some kind of martial art. The thought popped into my head that I could fight back. With that I slowed because there was no way I could escape so I had better face my fate.
There was a second where the world slowed down around me, and the night was silent.
When he grabbed my purse and ran I actually felt relieved. The movement was so fluid that I barely had a chance to react. As I stared at his retreating figure, all my muscles began to tremble and tears slid down my face.
I paused along the side of a building until I stopped shaking. As the reality of what had happened sank in, I realized that without my purse I had no money for the bus. My phone dug into my hip, and I slid my hand into my pocket and closed my eyes. I needed to call someone, but who?
“Hey, I need help.” My voice came out small, high, and tinny.
“Where are you?”
“Downtown.”
“Downtown? Are you kidding me?” Jake swore under his breath. “What happened to lover boy?”
“Please, Jake, don’t. Some guy just stole my purse.” My voice broke, and I knew I was in danger of crying.
Jake swore again. “I’m down at the river court. How far are you?”
I looked around trying to get my bearings. When I repeated the nearest address Jake said, “Stay put. I’ll be there in two minutes.”
The brick felt cold even through my jacket as I pressed myself into the wall. I couldn’t believe how helpless I felt. For years I had built up my reserves, getting tough, figuring out how to handle things for myself. And now here I was just a little ways off from graduating and truly being on my own, and I was falling apart.
“Al.” Jake’s arms were warm around me before I even saw him. His breathing was heavy like he had run all the way from the river court. “Are you okay?”
I nodded into his chest as I swallowed my tears. “It all happened so fast. The guy just took my purse and ran. Can we go home now?”
“Of course.” He kept an arm around me as he steered me back toward the river. I didn’t care if we were fighting or if we
were drifting apart. I wanted to be near Jake. I needed him.
“Thanks for coming to get me.” I took a stuttering breath.
“You can always count on me,” Jake said softly. “Where’s Rory? How could he let you walk around down town at night? What a moron.”
“Jake, don’t. I can’t deal with that right now.” I grabbed his hand with my own, and held on.
“I won’t say anything else,” he promised. “Just…Al, you can do better. Don’t get mad. I mean it. I just want the best for you.”
I was quiet for a minute before saying, “I know you do, Jake. Things have just been so weird lately.”
“You can say that again.”
We walked back to the river court where a bunch of Jake’s basketball friends were gathered. He told a couple of the guys what happened, and they were so incensed I thought they were going to start a vigilante mob. Instead they settled for a game of two on two.
I settled down on the top of a picnic table, pulled my knees up to my chest, and closed my eyes. I just wanted to forget all the things that had happened in the past few hours. The rhythmic thump of the ball drove away all of it, and left me with a temporary feeling of peace.
****
When Jake pulled into his driveway, he turned toward me, and I knew he wanted to talk. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, though. I shook my head. “No, Jake. I don’t want to fight with you. Thanks for bringing me home. I appreciate it. I’ll see you Monday at school.”
“Night, Allie,” Jake said in a soft voice. I knew I was being a bad friend again. Jake deserved so much better than me right now. Maybe he was better off with Mary Beth. I wanted to tell him all the things that were spinning around in my head, but when I tried to speak the words got clogged in my throat.
I trudged up the front steps to my house and let myself in. Never before had I been so glad that I kept my keys and phone in my jeans. The only thing the mugger had gotten was my wallet with some cash in it. Maybe ten dollars? I had no credit or debit cards and no license since I took the bus all the time. I supposed if he wanted to check out some books with my library card I might get some hefty fines.
“Allison? Is that you, honey? How was the prom?” My mom’s voice drifted in through the open living room door.
I paused at the bottom of the stairs. “It was fine,” I called. “I’m really tired, though, so I think I’ll just go to bed if that’s okay.”
“Of course, sweetheart. Get some rest. Night. Love you.”
“You too.”
At the top of the stairs fatigue hit me. All I wanted to do was go to bed. I was passing Lauren’s room when she called my name. With a sigh, I hesitated outside her door before going in. She and Brooke were sprawled out on her bed painting their toes. Lauren’s bed was an enormous king. She’d used all her graduation money the year before to buy it.
When she saw me, Lauren’s eyes opened wide with concern. “What’s wrong?”
I shut the door behind me and crawled onto her bed before I let the tears flow. Pressing my face into her pillow, I sobbed. I felt a hand rubbing my back, but I didn’t move until I was spent. When I finally emerged, I peered up at my sisters. Even Brooke looked worried.
“What happened?” She whispered.
The story spilled out in a jumble of words punctuated by hiccups and snuffles. I realized that the most painful part to tell them was about Jake rescuing me, and our subsequent conversation. My brain was too fried to analyze why that was the case. All I knew was that my heart ached whenever I said his name.
When I finished, Brooke said, “Well, I think you should call the police and report the mugging.”
“You have to tell Mom and Dad,” Lauren said. “And you should dump this Rory jerk.”
I sat up so quickly blood rushed to my head. “You don’t understand. Rory is perfect for me. He’s not a jerk at all. I was the one that left. I was the one that put myself at risk.”
Even as the words left my mouth I could hear the doubt in my tone. Why was I working so hard to convince them that he was a good guy when I was still mad? Or was I just trying to convince myself?
I lay back down on Lauren’s bed, my head pounding, and closed my eyes. Sleep took over before I could think about anything else.
Chapter Twelve
I refused to talk about any of it on Sunday, preferring to stay holed up in my room. Brooke and Lauren made me tell our parents about the mugging on Monday morning at breakfast. So I missed the first three periods of school so that I could go report the incident to the police, who told us what I already knew: there was little hope of finding the guy. Luckily I didn’t have that much important stuff in it.
Jake didn’t try to talk to me in class, and as I watched him and Mary Beth whispering with their heads together I wondered if the day could get any worse. More than anything I was dreading going into the station to talk to Rory. He hadn’t called me since I’d left the apartment.
“Marika wants to see you,” Chloe informed me as I set my backpack down on my desk.
I stifled a sigh, and rolled my eyes. When I glanced at my friend, I was surprised to see that she was frowning at me. She shuffled the papers in her hands, stood awkwardly by my desk for a moment, and then walked away without saying anything else. For a moment I forgot about having to talk to Rory and about having to deal with Marika. I just felt the pain of a friendship ruined. The new position wasn’t having the effect on my life that I had hoped it would.
With leaden feet I trudged to Marika’s cubicle. “Hi. I’m in now. “
Marika didn’t glance up. She paused in her typing, handed me a folder, and said, “Here’s your assignment for the day. None of yours were good enough again. Please try harder for next week.”
My jaw came unhinged as I gaped at her. The list of potential story ideas that I had submitted the previous Friday had been well thought out and well researched. A surge of anger flared in me, but I clamped my mouth shut, turned and went back to my desk.
I sank into my chair; still feeling like a huge invisible weight was being pressed into my chest. When I opened the folder to study my story assignment, I almost tore the paper in half. I was being sent to the Abbey to interview a bunch of nuns. I knew they did great social service work feeding the hungry and caring for the poor. From the list of activities that those ladies were involved in I was surprised they weren’t all up for sainthood, but it wasn’t my story. How could I make it relevant to my viewers if I had no connection to the piece?
Edna’s Eats had been different. Edna had reminded me of my grandma, and the fact that she had decided to start a business after retirement made her in the same league as both my grandparents. I had felt a sincere attachment to the story as soon as I did it, but a bunch of nuns? Worse, our family was a bunch of lapsed Catholics. I bet those women would smell the scent of my sacrilege the moment I stepped through their doors.
With a groan I put my head down on my desk. As if things couldn’t get any worse, Rory chose that moment to approach me. I could see him from the corner of my eye. He hovered nearby waiting for me to acknowledge him. When I finally sat up, I just stared at him. I definitely knew how to hold a grudge.
“So, listen, about Saturday…” Rory rubbed the back of his neck as he looked everywhere but at me. I felt a surge of vindictive glee as he looked more and more uncomfortable.
“Yeah? You know what happened to me on Saturday after I left? I got mugged.” I crossed my arms over my chest, and sat back staring up at him, waiting for his reaction.
Rory’s mouth dropped open, and then snapped shut. His eyes widened, and his breathing got fast and shallow as he got nervous. “You’re joking, right?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why would I joke about something like that? It was terrifying. You abandoned me to play dirty games with your ex-girlfriend. No woman should be walking around down town at night, but since you didn’t come after me I had to walk to the nearest bus stop. Well, let me tell you, I never made it.”
&nb
sp; “Allison,” Rory said, his voice strangled. “I am so sorry you had to go through that. If I’d known you were really uncomfortable with Iona we would have just left. I thought you wanted me to stay.”
My eyes got so squinty I could barely see. “Are you a moron? What girl wants to see the guy she’s dating stay with his ex? Seriously?”
Rory’s mouth opened and closed like he was speaking, but nothing came out. Just as well, every time he said something, he was digging himself into a deeper hole. I really wanted to smack him or scream at him, but that wouldn’t do me any good, especially in Marika’s eyes, so I just kept quiet.
Finally I snorted in disgust, and returned to my desk to figure out some angle on my piece that would make it relevant to me and my viewers. I reread the file twice, and then spun around on my desk chair for a bit to try to clear my head. The anger that simmered just below the surface made me feel sick to my stomach. I wondered if Rory and I were going to break up. Part of me wanted to go do it, throw it in his face, but another part of me was scared that he wouldn’t even care. What would that say about me?
“You need to meet your camera crew.” Chloe broke through my fretting, and gave me a look that bordered on annoyed. Did her tone have a touch of snarkiness in it or was that simply my imagination?
“Thanks,” I said. “Hey, Chloe?”
“Yeah?”
The words jammed in my throat, but I wanted to tell her that I was sorry for jumping ahead of her in responsibility, and that she deserved a role like this too.
“Just, thanks,” I said.
Chloe shook her head at me, and that time I knew I hadn’t imagined the look of disgust on her face. My heart clenched in my chest, but I didn’t have time to dwell on my sorrow. I grabbed my new purse, my file folder, and my pad of paper.
A new cameraman and sound guy met me in the building’s lobby. Neither man was chatty, so we went to the news van silently. The sound guy drove, while the cameraman rode shotgun. I buckled myself in back, and stared out the window as we drove toward the Abbey. Given the fact that I had spent less than five minutes on this story, I had no idea how to connect with the subject matter. My mind drifted from Chloe to Rory and back again. Then my thoughts drifted to Jake and school. I had such bigger problems than planning that stupid prom, I thought bitterly.
