“You’re kidding, right, Court? Court?”
Oh God…she didn’t just say she wanted to be fucked, did she? This is going to be one long night.
Since Joe’s was just a few blocks from our house, Courtney and I decided to walk.
When we had both stepped out in white dresses and cowboy boots, Courtney had insisted we do rock-paper-scissors to see who would have to change. I’d won, and she had changed into a cute pair of Miss Me jeans and a baby-blue sheer top.
As we strolled along the street, I glanced down at her boots. “When in the hell did you buy those?”
She stopped and looked at her boots. She peeked up at me and smiled. “These? Hell, I bought these the same day you told me we were moving to Texas. I needed an excuse to buy them, and you gave it to me. ”
I thought back to the day I’d checked out of the hospital. Courtney and I had gone to the apartment I shared with Roger to pack up my stuff, and we’d only taken the things I needed, leaving behind my favorite pair of cowboy boots. Really, they were the only pair I’d owned.
New York
A Few Weeks Earlier
As I opened the door to the apartment that I shared with Roger, my heart was pounding, my body ached, and my head had never hurt so much in my life. I knew Roger wouldn’t be home, but I was still scared shitless. Courtney had told me she would meet me and help me get the items I needed.
Walking around the apartment, I looked around at everything. I couldn’t care less about any of it. I stopped and picked up a picture of Roger and me on graduation night.
We look so happy. What happened to us? What did I do to make him treat me like this? I never could make him happy.
I jumped when I heard someone knocking on the door.
“Whit, it’s me!” Courtney yelled.
I ran to the door, opened it, and pulled her inside.
“Shit, Court! Be quiet. He might have told one of the neighbors to call him if I came home early. We better move fast. We just need to grab the most important shit. ”
Courtney nodded. “Got it. I’ll get your clothes, and you get your shoes. ”
She took off up the stairs, and I couldn’t help but laugh at what she thought was important and what I thought was important.
I walked over to my desk and took important files I would need. I found some boxes and just started dumping files, photos and my laptop into them. I took a box up to Courtney and told her to grab all my stuff out of the bathroom.
By the time the closet and bathroom were empty, the home phone began ringing. We both stopped and stood still as we listened to it ring. Once it stopped, we looked at each other.
“Fuck!” we both said at the same time.
“Go, Court! Just start putting it all into your car. If we can’t get it to fit in your Beemer, just leave it. ”
Courtney smiled. “Oh, honey, I went and bought myself a truck. ”
I stopped and turned to look at her. “What? When in the hell did you buy a truck?”
“Last night, after I left the hospital. I just stopped at the Toyota place and said I wanted the most loaded, tricked-out bitch they had. ”
I shook my head and started grabbing shit to take out to her truck.
By the time we were done, we had my clothes in the backseat and all the boxes in the bed of the truck. I ran up to the apartment one more time to take one last look around. I felt sick to my stomach, thinking of all the times I’d allowed him to treat me the way he had.
Never again. I’ll never let another man ever lay one finger on me.
The phone started ringing again. I walked up to it and picked it up, but I didn’t say a word.
“Hello? Whit? Baby, are you home already? Why didn’t you tell me they’d released you early?”