She shakes her head. “You’ve done more than enough already. Last night was beautiful. I will always cherish it. But I don’t want to get in the way of your life.”
“Cleo, you are not in the way.”
“I should go,” she says and slips away from me before I can kiss her.
I know I can’t ask her to stay. That is not what she wants to do. But she should know. I should tell her how I feel.
Cleo rushes to the door and I call out to her so she stops in her tracks.
“I’ll be right here. You can come back here anytime you want. I am not going to get in the way of what you need to do, but I want you to know I felt something last night. For you. I’m not going anywhere.”
She is at the door with her chest heaving as she stares at me.
“I wish you didn’t say all that,” she says.
“It’s the truth.”
“I wish my life was less complicated. I wish I could explore this with you.”
“I’m in no rush,” I say and push my hands into the pockets of my jeans.
Her lips quiver and she shakes her head.
“I will always remember last night, Irwin, but it was a fantasy. You are better off without me.”
There is so much more I want to say to her, but she is already out of the door. There is no way for me to stop her now.
***
The moment she is gone, I regret it. I regret letting her go and I wish I’d done something to make her stay. I run to the door and to the top of the stairs but there is no sign of her. Instead, I see Shane, my roommate, walking up.
“Hey man! You waiting for someone?” he calls out to me with a grin on his face. He sees the disappointment I’m sporting and his brow furrows. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Everything’s fine,” I growl, shoving my hands into my pockets again.
“You had a visitor?” he asks, grinning again. I’m still shirtless and Shane is my best friend. We have been through a lot of shit together. I would probably not even be alive if it wasn’t for him. He kind of expects me to tell him everything, but somehow, I stay silent this time.
When I say nothing, he continues.
“You disappeared last night. Jimmy got us kicked out of the bar.”
I turn and he follows me to the apartment.
“Yeah, sorry about that. I should have been watching him but I got distracted.”
“By the blond chick? Yeah, we all noticed. You brought her back here?”
“Yeah, she just left.”
Shane thumps my back like he’s congratulating me.
“You look like you got no sleep,” he says.
“I didn’t because I stayed up all night thinking about her and now she’s gone.”
“So go after her, man.”
“I don’t know where she lives. I don’t know anything about her.”
We’re standing at the doorway of my apartment facing each other. Shane is smiling like he knows something I don’t.
“Well, we know she is friends with that brunette girl from the bar. And everyone knows her.”
“Who? Marsha?” I’m more than surprised to hear this.
“I don’t know her but Jimmy babbled on for a while about how they used to fuck.”
“Jimmy knows where Marsha lives?”
I don’t wait for Shane’s response. I run into my room to look for a shirt to wear.
Shane pours himself some coffee in the meantime.
“She really did a number on you, huh?”
I put on my shirt, run a hand through my hair and I’m ready to go.
“I’m going to go see Jimmy. I need to find out as much as I can about this Marsha chick.”
Cleo
Marsha stands blocking the door of her apartment. She has her arms crossed over her chest.
“What the fuck do you want?” she hisses.
“I’m here for my stuff and then I’m going to go. You can’t stop me from taking my property out of your apartment.”
I’m glaring at her. I’m not backing down this time. She’s had a hold over me for too long. When Marsha realizes that I’m serious, she steps aside but she still has a sour expression on her face.
I walk into the apartment and start putting my stuff into a bag. I can feel her eyes on me. She’s fuming.
“So, how was last night? Was it magical? Was it everything you dreamed of?” she asks sarcastically. I can hear the bitterness dripping from her voice.
“It was actually.”
“Oh wow. So you’re in love with this guy?” I know she is taunting me, but I can’t help taking the bait.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever see him again, but if I had the chance…if I was in a position to…I don’t know what could happen with him. Maybe I’d take it further.”
Marsha actually bursts out laughing. This is all a big joke to her. I should have known. I can’t believe I’m even answering her questions when all I want to do is get away from her.
I try to ignore her and focus on the packing. I don’t have a lot of stuff lying around so it doesn’t take me long. When I’m done I turn to see she has her eyes narrowed at me again.
“You think you’re going to change your life around? Without me?” As she speaks she comes towards me, taking a slow step at a time. “You would be nothing without me.”
“You know I will always be grateful to you for helping me out when I needed a place to stay, but I am not going to be chained to you forever. You should know that.”
There is a new confidence in me I didn’t realize existed. I have my head held high and my chin thrust out. Marsha is standing right in front of me now and I shake my head.
“I really wish you could be as good of a friend to me as I have been to you.”
“You are going nowhere until you have paid me what you owe me.”
“Marsha, seriously…” I
