14 A Little Favor #2
He pushed me, and I was so angry I pushed him back.
I couldn’t believe what I was doing. I’d never fought back against him before.
His features stiffened, and I stepped back.
He knocked my glasses off my face. He knew how expensive they were, and he knew my parents couldn’t afford to buy me new ones. And now I could barely see.
“You fucker!” I said. “I can’t believe you!”
“Whatever. Tell your new boyfriend to buy you another pair.”
He went on destroying everything he could lay his hands on: clothing, framed photos, a calculator.
There was nothing I could do to stop him.
And yet, it was almost as if my failure to react made everything worse, as if he wanted me to scream or break down in tears.
He stomped on my glasses and then grabbed a book and threw it at my face. I barely managed to dodge it.
“You asshole!” I shouted. “You nearly broke my nose!”
“Like I care! You broke my fucking heart!”
I was frightened that his rampage would begin again, but luckily just as Monty clenched his firsts, the door opened and Chris peeked in. “Hey, guys,” he said. “I’m sorry, but I’ve been getting noise complaints, and…what the…?”
Monty picked up his jacket, which he’d slung on the bed, and pushed brusquely past Chris on his way into the hall. I stayed there looking at the wreckage with tears in my eyes.
“Are you OK?” Chris asked.
“Yeah,” I responded, surprised at how self-assured I sounded.
“Should I call someone? The cops?”
“No. I just need some time to clean all this up and then I’ll go.”
“Sure. Do you want me to help you?”
“No, Chris. Don’t worry about it. Thanks. And sorry. Tell whoever complained that I apologize for the noise.”
He nodded, turned away, and closed the door.
I looked around at the wreckage. It was like a hurricane had struck.
A favorite T-shirt I had left behind, one I’d held onto for years, was torn down the middle.
And my glasses… I had wanted those frames so bad, and I remembered how my parents had tried to convince me to get a generic pair and I had begged and pleaded.
It had been such a sacrifice for them, but they’d bought them to make me happy.
And now they were crushed, shattered, because of one jealous idiot.
I sat on the floor and cried hot tears and buried my face in my hands. Then the door opened again.
It was Ross. He looked confused and deeply worried.
“Dammit,” I cried. I had hoped Chris wouldn’t tell anyone.
It was stupid—I was grateful Ross was there—but I had to get out my frustration some way.
Ross must have known this wasn’t the time to get angry, to plan revenge, to say I told you so , because he held very still for a moment, then knelt and asked in a soft voice, “What happened?”
“Monty,” was all I could manage to say.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head.
“OK,” Ross said, kissing me on top of the head and beginning to patiently push everything torn or broken into a pile.
I joined him. For the fifteen minutes it took, he said nothing.
I picked Naya’s photo of me out of the pile and smoothed it out.
At least that was one thing I could save.
I wanted to say something, to thank him, but I was afraid I’d start crying again.
Finally, I turned to him and said, “I’m an idiot. ”
“This isn’t your fault,” he responded. “There’s only one person who did this, and it’s him.”
“It is my fault.” I reached under the bed, where I had left a small rolling bag, and stuffed everything that was on the floor inside of it. “It’s my fault for not handling this sooner. If I had, we could have avoided this. I am a fucking idiot.”
Ross came closer and said, “There’s no way you could have known that this would happen.”
“I could have, though.” My voice cracked.
“It’s always like this with him. I tell people we don’t fight, but it’s not true.
We’ll be happy for a while, he’ll buy me presents and stuff, and then he’ll get pissed about something that’s not even my fault and fly into these rages where he destroys things.
I mean, never like this, and he usually says he’s sorry right afterward, but… I could have known.”
I closed the suitcase and put it on the bed, pulling back my bangs, which had fallen into my face.
“Thanks for helping me, though,” I added. “Can we take this to the trash?”
It wasn’t just the aftershock of our fight that had upset me, or all those broken things I’d have to explain to Naya.
It’s that I was ashamed. Ross pulled me in for a hug.
I didn’t have the strength to resist him, and anyway, I was grateful for contact from another person that wasn’t being screamed at or being shoved.
“Naya will understand, Jen. She loves you. And I can pay her back for whatever.”
“That’s the thing, though. She shouldn’t have to be paid back. This should just never have happened.” I put my hands on my knees, looked down, and took a deep breath. I didn’t want to cry anymore. I just wanted to get out of there and forget what had happened.
When I stood back up, I pointed at the suitcase and asked, “Can you grab that? It’s a little heavy for me, and honestly, I just don’t want to touch it.”
He nodded and picked it up, and we walked downstairs.
There was a group of girls there talking.
They must have heard the commotion. Chris looked at me warily, probably worried I was angry with him for calling Ross, but he didn’t say anything and I wordlessly handed him back the key.
Anyway, I realized now I owed him. When we reached the car, my phone buzzed, and I almost startled thinking it would be Monty.
But it was my sister. I asked Ross if he minded, then picked up.
“Hey there,” she said, bubbly as ever. “Guess who just found a fifty-dollar bill on the street? Should I have tried to find out who dropped it? Maybe. Did I go buy myself a new pair of shoes? Yes…”
“Shannon,” I interrupted her. “Monty came to see me.”
“What? At your friend’s apartment?”
“No. On campus. He did the jealous boyfriend thing right in front of everybody. And it was way, way worse than it’s ever been. He tore up the clothes I’d left with my old roommate, he broke a bunch of her stuff, he stomped on my glasses…”
I knew Ross was listening, even though he pretended to be distracted. But he deserved to hear it. I should have been more honest with him before.
“Please tell me you kicked him in the balls,” she said.
“Honestly, I didn’t really know how to react.”
“Are you OK? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“I’m fine,” I responded. “I’m with Ross.”
“That son of a bitch,” she said. “I’ll take a shotgun to his house right now. I’ll be damned if someone’s going to do that to my sister.”
“Shannon, it’s over.”
“It better be, because I swear to God, if I found out you’ve called him again…”
Frustrated, I said, “Thanks for being so understanding.”
“Let me talk to Ross.”
That was the last thing I wanted to do, but she wouldn’t stop insisting. I had no idea what she was going to tell him. But Shannon wasn’t someone you could say no to. So I sighed, turned to Ross, and said, “She wants to talk to you.”
He took my earbuds without hesitation, said a polite hello, and listened to her for a few seconds. I leaned in to try to hear what she was saying, but the noise of the traffic was too loud. For a few moments, Ross’s expression was neutral; then he grinned at something, clearly amused.
“Yeah, good,” he said. “Not that I know. Sure, of course. Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
After a few more of those vague comments, he handed my earbuds back. Shannon had hung up. I asked Ross what they talked about.
“A gentleman never tells,” he said.
I grimaced and stuck my phone back in my pocket.
When we came across a dumpster, I tossed the suitcase in it.
I was happy never to see it again. Monty had bought me that suitcase.
I remembered that day, how he’d pretended to be so proud of me because I was going off to college.
I only hoped I would never see him or it again.
Anxiously, I asked Ross, “I know this is weird, but do we have to go back to the apartment right now? I honestly just don’t want to deal with other people. ”
“Not if you don’t want to. Did you have something else in mind?”
“Maybe we could catch a movie?” I asked shyly.
“Now you’re speaking my language.”
“I’m sad, though, that means this time I get to pick.”
“I can’t wait till I’m rich one day,” he said, “and I’m going to buy my own movie theater.
It’ll be all superhero movies and comic movies, and I’ll never have to care what anyone else thinks.
I’ll be able to sit there by myself—or with you, if you behave—there won’t be anyone talking or making noise, and I’ll have unlimited popcorn and soft drinks. ”
I smiled, looking out the window. Ross had managed to make me forget Monty for a moment.
He had a talent for transporting me away, and I appreciated it just then.
He put on some music, which was just what I needed.
Because it was a weekday, the lot was almost empty, and Ross parked right by the door.
We argued over what to see—there was a poster with blood splatters on it, which was like catnip for him, and I said I wanted to see a comedy.
Finally we settled on a mystery that was starting so soon, we didn’t even have time to go to the concession stand.
The film was passable. We were almost alone in the theater. There were a few tense moments where I grabbed Ross’s arm. Apart from that, nothing special.
At least, not until we got to the sex scene.