Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,12
hand up in the air, make a fist, and punch him as hard as I can.
"You bitch, you bitch!” he yells after me, cradling his bloody nose.
I run out of his hotel room before this gets any worse.
8
Jacqueline
I run out of the hotel room with my hand on fire. With all the blood gushing out of his nose, it's probably likely that I have broken it. I cross the street running without waiting for the green light and then go around the corner to make sure that he can't follow me.
Suddenly, I start to laugh. I laugh wildly and it comes from somewhere in the pit of my stomach, a deep bellowing laugh.
"Jacqueline?" Allison asks, running up to me. "I just got your message. Are you okay? What happened?"
She looks at my throbbing hand as I elevate it to try to prevent the blood from pooling. There’s blood everywhere even on the hem of my skirt.
I tell her everything.
"Oh my God, what an asshole!”
"Yeah, I was so pissed. I mean, he has a fucking wife and he thinks that it's okay. Fuck him. And then he called me a slut and I.. I just lost it."
"So you just punched him? How did you do it?" Allison wants to know every single detail.
She starts to laugh.
"We have to get out of here," I say. "The hotel is right there. I don't want him coming after me."
"Yeah, of course."
She grabs me and we get the next available cab.
Back in her apartment, she hands me a bag of frozen peas and makes me elevate my hand, placing them on top.
"No, they're too cold and too heavy."
"Oh, stop being such a whiner. I mean, you got in a fist fight, you're going to have to pay the price.”
I start to laugh again.
She grabs a quarter pint of ice cream, chocolate chip, out of the freezer.
"I think you deserve this."
I'm tempted to say no. I'm still trying to be good with my food intake, but she's right. I do deserve this.
That evening, we drink two bottles of wine and eat all of her ice cream and order pizza. We talk late into the night and it reminds me so much of our time as roommates back at Dartmouth.
Men would come and go, but it was this friendship that kept us going.
"We haven't had fun like this in a long time," Allison says, clearing up the dishes and putting them in the sink.
"I'd offer to wash them," I say, "but you know, I'm injured."
"Yeah, right."
She rolls her eyes.
I stand next to the counter finishing my wine and she tells me how much she has missed us hanging out like this.
"I've missed it a lot, too," I say. "It's been so long since ..."
"Why do we get involved with guys in the first place?" she asks. "I mean, they do nothing but ruin things."
"I know," I agree.
"Hey, I was thinking about something," she says, taking the last plate, washing it and rubbing a sponge over it a few times. "What if you were to move in with me?"
"What do you mean here?"
"Yeah."
"No, I don't think I can do that," I say a little bit too quickly.
"Look, I know that before you had a whole thing with your roommate about her boyfriend, but I'm not getting a boyfriend anytime soon. I'm not looking for a boyfriend and neither are you.”
I tilt my head.
“Two married men in a row. That’s not a good streak you're on."
I narrow my eyes and then smile. I know that she's just joking.
"Look, your mom is better, right? You're in the city all the time to go to school, do your thesis. Why not just move in here? Help me pay the rent. We can go out, we can hang out, we can have all these nights together just like we used to."
The offer is definitely very inviting. I can't help but want to say yes, but still I hesitate.
"I don't want to pressure you. I can tell that you're uncomfortable. Just think about it. No harm done either way."
I nod. "Okay, I'll think about it, I promise."
As soon as I get home the following morning, after traveling on the train, I realize that it's about time that I move back to the city. I'll be done with the semester and hopefully have my degree by August and I'll be starting to look for work.
Most of the jobs are in Midtown, which are very close to where Allison lives. Who knows, maybe they'll even