Take Me Out

by Dawn Robertson

  We got into the car and drove in silence for most of the return trip. By the time we hit the outskirts of the city, the questions began to flow. It was my way of rationalizing what had happened.

  “Who do you think would do this? The wheels are turning in there and you’re shutting me out,” I snapped. My nerves were shot. I just couldn’t contain it any longer. “Talk to me dammit! Spit it the fuck out already! SPILL BENTLEY YOUNG OR SO HELP ME...” and like that he cut me off.

  “I don’t have any proof, Charlie. I only have suspicions, outlandish ones at that. This is a lot to process,” he began. “I think it’s Molly. I think after the run-in we had with her, it sent her over the deep-end. I don’t know if she’s crazy enough to burn somebody’s house down, but then again I barely know her. Judging by what I know about her and her actions that day, she’s the leading suspect in my eyes.” I could see the regret cloud his face. “I don’t know what she wants, or even who she is. But I don’t have any real enemies; I don’t go around acting like a douche to people. Of course I have a shitty record with women, but no one has ever taken anything this far. I’m just as baffled as you are, babe.”

  “I thought it was her the moment Drew told us. She did seem crazy, but you would think a restraining order would keep her away,” I replied.

  “Restraining orders don’t mean shit to criminals,” Bentley answered. Unfortunately, the same thought had already crossed my mind.

  We pulled into the parking garage at my apartment and I was able to breathe again. This was my sanctuary. No one would bother us here, at least that’s what I believed. I prayed nothing would prove those feelings to be false. We strolled to the elevator, only to have the doorman on duty stop me for a package which had been delivered this morning. I signed for it and wondered at its contents. I hadn’t ordered anything and there was absolutely no return address.

  Once inside the safety of the penthouse, I walked into the kitchen to grab a knife and open the box. The brown packing-tape opened smoothly and inside sat two pictures, in a pile of ashes. One photo looked like it was taken from a good distance of Bentley and Molly in a New York City bar, the other photo was similar, but of Landon and I months ago, in Boston. I couldn’t begin to comprehend its exact meaning, but I was sure of one thing. Not only was someone after Bentley, but they were after me too and they knew exactly how to fuck with us; by fucking with the only thing we truly had-- each other.

  I was nauseated with worry. Bentley contacted the police detective he’d spoken with just hours earlier and within minutes, they were at the penthouse.

  A month had gone by and things were quiet. The police found nothing but dead ends with the fire, the box, everything. The threat continued to loom over us. I was constantly sick or nauseated; feeling like the world could fall out from under us at any second. I lost all desire to leave the house and ice cream had become my best friend.

  I loafed around the apartment in a grubby pair of old yoga pants and a ripped Red Sox t-shirt that I refused to throw away. It was by far my most comfortable shirt. My hair sat on the top of my head in a hideous messy bun which probably had some kind of baby animal living in it by now because I was in desperate need of a shower.

  They couldn’t even pry me out of the apartment for a baseball game. With no suspects in custody for the fire, my paranoia kept me away.

  No matter what happened, Bentley was right by my side. Whoever tried to pull us apart wasn’t going to win. We were in it for the long haul.

  School would be back in session before too long. I was debating on dropping out for a semester until someone had been caught. Shay talked me out of it though; I wanted to be done with school and who knew if I would ever go back if I took a couple of months off.

  Drew started looking for a new apartment since our penthouse was becoming too cramped for two couples. As much as Shay didn’t want to admit it, I knew she wanted to go with him. But Shay had never wanted to be in love or get married. She refused to get in too deep after observing her mother’s history with men. I went out of my way to remind her she was not her mom and if Drew wanted to be the man in her life, she needed to embrace the opportunity.

  Shay walked into the living room and curled up on the couch, snuggling up to me under my blanket and totally invading my space.

  “When am I going to get you out of this dump?” She poked at me while she harassed me. It had become a daily thing.

  “I don’t know yet. Shay. Has Drew found a place, yet?” I asked. When she pushed me about leaving the house I gave it back to her in the form of prying about the relationship she didn’t want to admit she was having.

  “Yeah, he found a penthouse about a block away. He should be moving out in about two weeks. It’s really nice actually.” Her face was sad. I could see the sorrow behind her eyes. She didn’t want to admit it, but she would miss having him around.

  “Why don’t you just admit you want to be with him and move in with him? I know you have an open invitation. Stop torturing yourself like you always do. Let yourself be happy for once, Shay.” I reached over and snuggled her under my arm and gave her a bear hug. “You can always come back if it doesn’t work.”

  “You know, for once in my life, I’m going to go where my heart guides me, Charlie. Thank you.” Shay gave me a big hug and headed for her room with her cell phone in her hand.

  A goofy picture of Jake stared back at me when my phone started ringing. Mr. M.I.A had disappeared for the past month. He had been chasing some bitch and was finally ready to come back to reality.

  “Hey, stranger,” I answered.

  “Helloooo, Doll!” Jake nearly screamed into the other end. Something made him happy and I had a feeling it was something to do with him going solo on the Fourth.

  “Finally coming back to the real world? Where the hell have you been?” I asked.

  “Oh, you know. It always has to do with a girl!” Jake laughed.

  “Or a guy,” I sassed him back.

  “I think I found the one this time! I want you to meet us tonight at Boston Beer Works at seven. You and Bentley. I won’t take no for an answer! See you then!” He hung up before I could refuse.

  There was never a dull moment with Jake and now I was being forced out of the damn house. Maybe Shay could take pointers from him?

  Chapter 15

  In Walks Crazy

  (Bentley)

  We were going out to dinner with Jake. He had some new arm-candy he was obsessed with and after he’d been missing in action over the last month, Charlie was dying to see him. I had no clue what she saw in that guy but I was going along for the ride. As long as she was happy, so was I. It was encouraging to finally see her get out of the house. I hated seeing her mope around.

  It was even better when she decided to actually take a shower and throw on some makeup. She was truly acting like herself for the evening.

  It was beautiful out, not too hot for a Boston summer night, so we decided to walk to the bar. It had been hot as blazes lately. I thought a California summer was bad, but man, New England seasons sucked. If they even considered bi-polar weather seasonal.

  As we turned the final corner before the bar, Charlie pulled me in for a little kiss. It was the small sweet things like this that made me know she was the one for me. She made all the craziness of the last month okay. If not for her, I may have killed someone. She’d been so understanding and tolerant of all the drama I had brought into her life. She hadn’t tried to run.

  “In a better mood?” I asked. Her face brightened and a smile spread across her lips. “It really is nice to be out for a little bit.”

  We found a booth big enough for all four of us and ordered drinks while we waited for Jake and his date. Charlie ordered her typical Shirley Temple. For a girl who loved her booze, she also loved a drink most seven-year-olds were hooked on. We spotted Jake making his way across the main floor with a redhead on his arm. At first we couldn’t see her face but the closer they got, the clearer it all became.

>   “WHAT IN THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING JAKE? WHY THE FUCK IS SHE HERE?” Charlie exploded as she lunged out of the booth with a look of horror on her face. I recognized his date’s face. It was Molly, in the flesh and as drunk as a Freshman Sorority girl at a Frat party. Jake got between the two of them.

  “What are you talking about, Charlie? How do you know Molly? What the fuck is going on here?”

  I hadn’t seen her this pissed in a long time, maybe not ever. Her face was red with anger. But who could blame her?

  “Is this some kind of a sick joke?” I could see her murderous stare turning to one of genuine terror on her face.

  “The new love of your life came to my house, breaking shit a couple weeks before the fire, Jake. She was claiming to be pregnant with my child, even though I never slept with her. But clearly, she’s not pregnant since she smells like a distillery.” I said with reason. Cool, calm and to the point. I didn’t want to see this bitch fly off the handle, again. “I also have a restraining order against her after she trashed my apartment. She is probably the psycho who torched it too.”

  Poor Jake looked like his puppy was run over by a garbage truck and Molly knew the jig was up. She looked pissed, sad and confused all at once. So many emotions were running through her eyes, all while still holding onto Jake’s hand like her life depended on it.

  “Jake, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you knew each other. It was all just a big mistake. A big misunderstanding.” Her mood changed from apologetic to rage in an instant, almost like my comments had just registered with her. “WAIT?! --Torched your fucking house?” Molly realized I was accusing her of arson. Whether it was true or not, she was the only suspect I had in my mind.

  “Yeah, torched my fucking apartment. As in I have no place to live because it’s a pile of fucking ashes, you dumb bitch!” Okay, so much for being calm. I couldn’t hold it together anymore. All the anger which had been building over the past month boiled to the surface. But I didn’t want to make any more of a scene than Charlotte had already made.

  “Can we take this outside?” Jake whispered, looking like a deer in headlights. You could tell all of the details were slowly starting to sink in, but he was beyond lost. Hell, anyone in their right mind would be lost over this soap opera. When had my life become so fucking complicated?

  I pitied him. What a shitty way to find out you’re dating a creeper. “Good idea, why don’t we take this outside,” I said while throwing a twenty on the table.

  Jake and Molly walked away first, heading towards the door. I turned to Charlie and she was shaking. I wasn’t sure if the cause was anger or adrenaline, but she was ready to blow. “It’s okay, relax and we’ll talk it out when we get outside. Jake didn’t know any better. Clearly he was blinded by something he sees in her. Just relax.” I pulled her into a hug and placed a small kiss on her cheek praying she wouldn’t fly off the handle. Here I thought we were going to have a nice quiet evening out to dinner and it turned into another episode of Jerry Springer. I could understand Charlie’s reclusive tendencies, seeing of how much of a drama-fest had been created by stepping outside the safety of the penthouse walls. It was enough to send a man back there for good.

  We walked out onto the crowded sidewalk. Charlie held my hand in a vice-grip. Jake had put a noticeable distance between himself and Molly. She wore a pair of ripped jeans, with a black tank top and red heels.

  “Spill it...” Charlotte said, her voice laced with latent rage. Molly stared back in disgust.

  “I fucked up; I know. I came to Boston thinking I could win him over or something stupid along those lines. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend,” Molly sneered.

  “So you thought it would be okay to try and blackmail him with a fake pregnancy for some quick cash? Real winner here, Jake!” Charlie rolled her eyes and looked away.

  “Believe me, if I’d known he was involved with someone, I wouldn’t have bothered him. My only thought was to throw out the pregnant story. I’m not pregnant but I wanted him and I was miserable and broke.” You could see Molly was genuinely upset and ashamed about what she had done.

  “So it was just about money? You thought you would trap me with a fake baby for money? We never even had sex!” I said, shaking my head. I crossed my arms over my chest.

  I felt horrible for Jake. This had to be one of his worst nightmares come true. You could tell that he’d finally begun to care about someone, which from what I’d heard was probably a first for him.

  He turned to me, “Bentley, can you tell me the truth of what happened between the two of you?”

  I looked over at Charlotte and waited for her approval. I was sure she wanted to know as well since I’d never gone into details. I wanted to forget the whole night. With a nod from her, I started the story.

  “I was in New York, visiting my brother. It was the night before I was supposed to come home and Charlie had just changed her Facebook status. It broke my heart. She posted something about Tupac and moving on. I couldn’t stomach thinking about her moving on without me.” I wiped my brow and let out a huge sigh. I hated reliving those moments in my mind.

  “I was upset so when we went out to the bar, I asked Molly if I could buy her a drink. I think, honestly, we both had already had too much. I was really surprised I could even get it up. We went back to her place and I let her blow me. Nothing else happened. Afterwards, I left. I think it pissed her off because I didn’t stick around, but I just was too hung up on Charlie.”

  I felt bad rehashing it all. I marveled at what a scumbag I was. I’d never felt bad about it until I was outlining my wrongs. To me, women had always been a dime a dozen, but looking at how damaged Molly was made me feel bad for even buying her the first drink.

  “I’m sorry for how I treated you, Molly. It was wrong of me. Looking back on it, I should have never even approached you.”

  Molly stared daggers at me and looking back at Jake waiting for some kind of reaction.

  Jake turned to talk to Molly and I noticed Charlie’s face looked paper-white. It was as though her face had been drained of blood.

  “Bentley, I don’t feel very--” Charlie passed out before she could finish her sentence. If I had not been so close to her, she would have hit the sidewalk. As I caught her mid-fall, Jake grabbed his cell phone and dialed the police. Moments later, we were in the back of an ambulance heading towards the closest emergency room, when she started to come to.

  “Where? What?” She mumbled as she blinked and held up her hand to block the bright lights from her sight. She was disoriented and had no idea where she was.

  “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay. We’re going to be at the hospital in a minute and your father is meeting us there,” I said as calmly as I could, even though I was freaking out on the inside. I couldn’t let anything happen to this woman. It would wreck me.

  “What happened Bentley?”

  “You passed out. We were out in front of Beer Works with Jake and Molly and you just fell over.” The ambulance came to a halt and her father appeared next to a mob of hospital staff all in white jackets and scrubs. I guess it kind of paid off to be his daughter.

  They whisked her away for every test known to man. Blood work, CAT scans. If one could name it, she probably had it done. Hours seemed like mere minutes, but no matter what, I didn’t leave Charlie’s side. There was no way.

  With each beep of a machine or tube of blood they took, my heart clenched. This was all taking way too long. I wanted to know immediately she was going to be all right. After all the tests were run, Charlie had fallen asleep waiting for the results. I sat by her bedside holding her hand and waiting to hear something. Her father came and went a dozen times.

  Around midnight, a familiar face walked through the door. It was the doctor who had been ogling me at the Fourth-of-July party.

  “Charlotte, Dr. Borgeo. I take it you remember me?” She said in a soft and friendly tone.

  Charlie nodded at her, but was still too exhausted to speak des
pite her nap.

  “Your test results are all back and it seems as though you’re healthy as a horse. Everything was clear, but we did discover a little something you may not have been aware of.”

  We both looked at her, confused. Come on already lady! Fucking spit it out!

  “Congratulations, you’re pregnant!”

  Charlie shot straight up in her hospital bed, just as shocked as I was.

  “I’m WHAT?! It isn’t possible! You’re going to have to re-run those tests because I’m on birth control.” She looked white as a ghost again, I could have sworn she was going to pass out all over again. Pregnant?!

  “Charlotte, sometimes birth control isn’t as effective as we would like it to be, especially if you had any kind of unprotected sex before, or within the first week after you started your contraception.”

  The morning of the shower flashed back to me. The first time we had sex without a condom, but I came on the damn floor! It couldn’t have been then. It had to be the birth control. It had to have just... not worked. What the fuck!

  The room was spinning with all the information I’d absorbed in the past minute. How could something like this have happened?

  All of a sudden I started to feel like I was going to hit the floor and it was the last thing I remember.

  Chapter 16

  And Baby Makes Three

  (Charlotte)

  Just when I thought we had seen enough people hitting the ground for the evening, Bentley went and passed out on me. Dr. Borgeo was delivering the unbelievable news when he started mumbling to himself and checked out. Luckily my father was able to catch him.

  But what made it worse, my father witnessed the entire thing. He heard the results of my test and you could see how extremely pissed he was. But the results explained everything. I’d been sick, tired and had absolutely no desire to do anything. All along, I thought I was depressed and upset about whoever was after Bentley, and the entire time it was a baby.