Authors: Alice Dee
“Can I stay tonight?” he asked after guzzling down the water. She liked the idea of him staying the rest of the night. When she smiled in response he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. She put the glass aside and snuggled up to his body which was cooled with a thin film of sweat. Even though, his body smelled of fresh shower scrub. He put an arm around her and the two fell into peaceful sleep, her fan humming gently at the foot of the bed.
33…She’ll pay for this
He was having a strange dream that took place in his childhood home. The last thing he remembered was mumbling “Jesus save me” as a demon reached out for him, about to possess his body. The shatter of glass on tile woke him in a snap. The room was darkened but through the beads he could see sunlight shining through the kitchen window. He realized Hope wasn’t next to him and the shatter he heard was real. He scrambled out of bed and swept the beads aside; saw Hope standing there with angles of glass at her feet. Before he could say anything he looked up at saw “WHORE” sloppily smeared across her refrigerator.
Fear and panic filled Hope from her feet to her head. She stumbled back into the counter and turned to run, bumping into Dominic.
“Someone one was here!”
She followed him into the living room where nothing looked tampered with. Her door was still locked and the curtain fell over her window in its usual manner. She took off down the hall with Dominic in the lead. She slowed down when she saw the sprawling all over the hall walls in thick, dark blue and black paint. The bathroom was empty and fine, the hall closet was normal. Dominic stopped before her bedroom door and hesitated to push the door open. Another fusion of fear watered through Hope and she sucked in a breath as he pushed the door open.
She covered her mouth with her hands when she saw that her room had been completely vandalized. Dominic’s jaw hit the ground when he saw the gut-wrenching smears of paint on the walls and especially her paintings that were utterly destroyed. Dominic quickly turned them over and piled them all together but she didn’t seem very concerned with the paintings. It was painful to swallow after reading the shit scribbled on her walls with marker. “Anywhere you kiss him, you’re tasting me” was one, very subtle insult compared to the others. It was hurtful to see those things. Who the fuck did Tristan think she was? Hope fought hard to keep the tears in her face. She was so pissed she could draw blood right now.
Dominic closed his eyes and shook his head. That fucking Tristan. He put his hand on her back, reading other disgusting shit Tristan left on the walls. He wrapped his arms around her, his eyes still scanning the room that was completely trashed with paint.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, baby.” He kissed her head and walked her out of the room, hiding the phone in his hand.
Hope sat in her lazyboy with her head I her hands, staring at her glossed pearly toenails. Dominic sat across from her on the bed with Tristan’s phone in his hand.
“I’ll pay for everything.”
She rolled her eyes up to him giving him a look that scared him.
“You want to pay for what she did?”
“No. She’ll pay for what she did. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Why shouldn’t I call the cops?” she said softly, trying to keep her tears behind her face.
“She’s pregnant. She’s hormonal.”
Hope looked away from him. She was breathing through her nose like a pissed off bull.
“I’m not defending what she did. I’m not. But there are other ways to make her pay for this.”
“I don’t care about the paintings. I don’t care about that.”
“Then what?”
“I brought this upon myself.”
Fearing she’d drop him over this, he grabbed her hands.
“I’m sorry Hope. I’m fucking sorry.”
“It’s my fault,” she insisted. “It’s my fault for getting involved with someone else’s boyfriend.”
“It’s not your fault. And me breaking up with her has nothing to do with you. Okay? It has nothing to do with you. And that still doesn’t justify what she did.”
Heated, Dominic grabbed his keys off the floor and headed for the door.
“Don’t worry. She’s not getting off the hook.”
34…No power over him
Tristan peered down from her bedroom window when she heard Dominic’s truck screech up to the curb. She balled her fists and muttered “fuck!” when she saw him slam his door and sprint up the walkway. She turned from the window and jogged downstairs. Before she could warn Josephine not to answer the door for him, her step mom was already at the door. Josephine, her dark hair wrapped in a silky up ‘do, turned her head and saw Tristan coming down the stairs. She slowed down when her eyes met Dominic’s.
“We gotta talk, right now.”
“Come inside,” Josephine offered Dominic.
“No thanks,” he said politely, eyeing Tristan.
“Please, talk in the living room. I’ll be in the kitchen,” she said with her sexy smile in her sexy accent.
Dominic gazed at Josephine who disappeared down the hall. He blinked and then looked back at Tristan. She was in a pink tracksuit gripping onto the banister.
“Why the hell did you do that? Are you fucking stupid?” He was trying his best to keep his voice low so only Tristan could hear him but it was super difficult to not shout at her, or even slap her one. Of course he wouldn’t ever hit her but there were times when he wanted to and this was one of those times.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”
He held up her phone. Tristan closed her eyes. She had hoped and prayed that she dropped the phone in Andy’s car.
“Are you this immature?”
“I was pissed, I have every right to be.”
“You don’t have any right to break into someone’s home and vandalize it, to deface their shit!”
Josephine paused over the sink as she rinsed a glass under sun glistening water. She turned the faucet and listened as best she could.
“What about what you did to me?” Tristan asked, putting her hand to her chest. “Do you even care that I’m carrying your baby?”
“I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. I can’t reach you. You’ve been playing games, as usual. And then you turn around and do this?”
Tristan remained calm and even a little smug, infuriating Dominic to the core.
“When she kisses me she’s tasting your puss, what the fuck?!” Dominic’s face was RED. “You shameless ass bitch!”
Tristan laughed out loud.
“Did she cry like a baby?”
“You’re not taking this serious are you? This is serious Tristan!”
“You can’t prove it was me.”
“I found your phone there you fucking-“ he bit his tongue.
“Lower your voice Dominic. You’re making a complete ass of yourself.”
“I found your phone there.”
“Give it here,” she said, extending her arm.
He held it back. “No.”
“Give me my phone.”
“Why should I? She’s going to cops and I’m going to hand over this phone. And don’t think I’m stupid. I know you weren’t in this alone.”
“How you gonna’ prove it? Last I recall, I left my phone in your truck.”
“We’re going to the cops.”
“You would do that to me? You would call the cops on me after what you did to me?”
“I broke up with you!” he shouted. “You’re a childish fucking brat!”
Josephine wiped her hands with a hand towel and reluctantly headed for the hall.
“You know what? Call the cops. Do it.”
“Pay for what you did. You and that fucking devil you call a friend. You pay for the damage you did or I’m going to the cops. That’s it.” He turned and walked out. Josephine appeared at the end of the hall.
“Is everything okay?”
Tristan ignored her and went after him. As he was walking down the pathway she grabbed his arm. It stung her when he jerked it away from her.
“Don’t touch me!”
“Why do you hate me? What did I ever do to you?”
“Just fix this!”
“What about us?” she cried. “What about this?” she referred to her stomach with her hand. “She’s more important to you than us?”
“I can’t talk to you right now. I can’t be around you. The sight of you makes me sick.” He left her standing there and drove off fast.
Dominic entered his apartment and was happy to see Hope sitting on his couch. She didn’t look happy at all and he couldn’t blame her. He figured in due time things would be good again. He would do whatever he had to put that smile back on her face. He had just gotten back from the mall where he’d met up with Tristan’s friend Krystal, who handed over a small envelope with money inside; Tristan’s way of paying for the damages. He sat on his coffee table and took her foot in his hands.
“I know this won’t make things better, what she did. But she is sorry and she wanted me to give you this.”
Hope looked at the envelope.
“To pay for the damage.”
Hope stayed quiet.
“I’ll take care of it. Tomorrow at lunch I’ll call, have someone come out and clean it up. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take care of it all.”
He would do anything to bring her out of her funk.
“I’m sorry this happened.”
“Just don’t apologize,” she said.
“I feel like it’s my fault.”
“It’s not. It happened ok, it’s over now?”
He massaged her foot, slowly making his way up her leg.
“Stay with me tonight? Stay until your apartment’s fixed up.”
Hope didn’t feel very comfortable in his apartment. There were still pictures of Tristan and Dominic all over, and little traces of her everywhere. Dominic figured this way the problem so he asked her to go out and pick up some groceries for them. She knew he was trying to get rid of her for some reason so she sighed and accepted his keys.
“Anything else you need?”
“No, just that. Be careful.” He pressed his lips against hers and then waited till she drove off in his truck. When she was gone, he went under the sink and tore a trash bag from its roll, shook it out till the bag expanded with air and cleared his bathroom counter of all Tristan’s shit. Her toothbrush, her hair brush, half empty box of tampons and bar soap, shampoo and all the other things she left behind. Next, he went into this bedroom and stuffed another bag with some rags she left in his closet. He took a picture of the two of them off his bedroom mirror and dropped them in the bag.
He took down every picture of them together from his refrigerator, emptied picture frames into the bag. By the time Hope was back he had all Tristan’s belongings bagged in the back of his closet. Hope hadn’t noticed the change right away until she went into the kitchen and saw something was different, like his refrigerator was a lot barer. She looked at him suspiciously.
“I want you to feel comfortable here.”
She didn’t know what to say but that was okay because he wasn’t expecting her to say anything.
“I’ll cook us some dinner, we’ll watch a movie and…we’ll go to my room and knock out, all right?”
“Okay.” She handed him back his keys. “I’m going next door to change my clothes, ok?”
“Yeah, yeah. Take your time.”
Hope went back into her apartment, turned on the lights and stared at the dreadful word “WHORE”. She went to her bedroom closet and rummaged through spray paint cans till she found the color she wanted. She went back to the kitchen and sprayed over the word. It took a while to get it completely covered because the letters kept showing through. Afterward she went to shower and change clothes.
That night Dominic and Hope lied in his bed for the first time but they didn’t fool around. She didn’t like the fact he had been with another girl in that very bed. It made everything feel dirty. Dominic fell asleep early and Hope stayed up staring at the blaring television mounted on his wall but the volume was muted. She sat there with the sheets pulled up over her breast, tucked under her arms. Her eyes were everywhere; the walls, his dresser top. She turned over on her side and saw a plastic hair clip clamped onto one of the bars of his headboard. When Dominic woke up at four the next morning, Hope was gone.
35…Cotton candy
After her smoke break in the parking lot (where she spent a few minutes puffing weed in her car) Hope slipped into the restroom and checked her face and hair in the mirror. The lights in the restroom were soft yellow and made her skin look unblemished with a glow from within. There were various girls crowding the restroom but all of the stalls were empty. A small cluster of girls congregated in the corner and snorted white powder while the others hovered over the marble counter top, adding extra coats of mascara or reapplying lipstick and eyeliner. A few were employees, some were clubbers. What set them apart aside from the dancers’ costumes were the pastel bubble wigs the dancers wore.