Idiot - Laura Clery Page 0,26

went quiet. I covered my mouth. It was eerie.

Then she started BANGING ON THE DOOR WITH ALL HER MIGHT.

“Damon, I need you! YOU SAID YOU LOVED ME!! DAMONNNN!!!”

Eventually it became silent. Meanwhile, I had put on some goddamn clothes. She had given up and left. When it finally seemed safe to talk again, I asked Damon, “Who the FUCK was that??”

Damon sighed, “My ex-girlfriend, Natalie. She’s fucking crazy. She doesn’t matter, I swear. I only love you.”

Okay, that wasn’t what I asked, but okay. Good to know he loves me. I let it go.

Unfortunately, Natalie did not.

Another night came that I had plans to shoot with Lavan. Damon and I got into this huge fight before I left, which was typical, but Damon tried to step it up this time. I was trekking down the four flights of stairs, gown in hand, and he was following me, yelling—

“If you go, then I’m not letting you back in!!”

I should mention that he had never let me have a key to the apartment. I had been in New York for two months by then, and that whole time he had to be home to let me in if I went out. And if he was out, I couldn’t leave, because I had no way to lock the door behind me. Isn’t that soooo cute and relationship-y and not psychotic or frightening at all?

“Fine! Don’t let me in! I don’t give a fuck. Your apartment’s disgusting anyway!”

I made it to the bottom of the stairs, and Lavan was there, waiting to meet me. We were gonna walk around the neighborhood this time, finding some cool walls to shoot against. We might have done really well if Instagram had been around at this time.

Damon barreled over to Lavan. “Stay away from my girl! Stay the fuck away!”

Lavan put his hands up. “Dude. We’re just friends. I’d never even touch her.”

Okay, rude.

As per usual, Damon wasn’t in the mood to be reasonable. Or sane. “Just stay away, bro!”

I crossed my arms. “Can you stop being a fucking asshole, Damon? Like, what the fuck!”

Damon looked at me full of rage, grabbed the cell phone out of my hand, and SMASHED it on the concrete.

Great. You know what? I didn’t need a phone anyway. Especially not one that he bought for me. I wasn’t putting up with this tonight. I started walking away. “Let’s go shoot, Lavan. I didn’t put on all this makeup for nothing.”

Lavan followed and Damon just paced around a bit and fumed like a fucking child. He eventually went back inside.

Lavan and I stayed out late after shooting. I don’t think he wanted me to go back; he was really worried. Frankly, I didn’t want to go back. I called my parents on his phone, to say hi and hear their voices. I spoke to Colleen for a bit, too, just to see if she was still an aviation-loving asshole.

But I’m telling you, I was so committed to Damon. I knew he was batshit crazy and I was terrified of him, but it was like I was brainwashed. Leaving him didn’t feel like an option.

I finally got back to the apartment at around two a.m., climbed up the stairs, and knocked on the door. No answer.

I felt around in my pockets for my phone. Then I remembered Damon had smashed it. FUCK.

No answer, no keys, no phone. Shit.

He must be sleeping. I knocked louder. “Damon!” I yelled, trying to wake him up. “Hello?! Damon?! OPEN THE DOOR, Damon!” Wow, I sounded crazy. I wondered what the neighbors thought, hearing girls scream at Damon’s door so frequently in the middle of the night.

Finally, the door opened. Only it wasn’t Damon.

It was a slender woman with dark brown hair and a menacing smile. Or maybe it was just a normal smile. That green light really made things look evil.

She glared at me, gripping the door like her nails might puncture the wood. Yep, she was menacing.

“It’s not so funny now, is it?”

Apparently she remembered me laughing at her. Under different circumstances, this would be an adorable meet-cute.

“You’re Natalie? Damon’s ex?” I gasped. I was horrified. What was she doing here? Where was Damon? My second question was quickly answered when Natalie opened the door wider to reveal a half-naked Damon, passed out on the mattress with an empty bottle of vodka next to him.

The blood drained from my face. I felt shaky and numb and every emotion at the same time. He cheated on me