Chapter 4 - Brown eyes
2280 Words
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Chris
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“Why are you here? What’s all this?!”
“Can you at least pass me a towel? Or move so I can get out of the shower first?” she asks, stepping up to me.
“Fine,” I step out of her way, and she wraps herself in a towel after stepping out of the shower, but I don't wait for her to get out of the bathroom. I need answers now.
“I know I should have called first before just moving in. I-”
“-You didn’t call cause you knew I would never allow this-”
“-Can I just explain, please?”
“Fine.”
“I got into a big fight with my sister this morning, and I couldn’t handle her judgy ass anymore-”
“-So you decided to come here?! Rene, it’s your house. If she’s making you feel uncomfortable, then she needs to move out, not you-”
“-I know, and she will. I gave her a month to get her own place. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you first.”
“You can’t stay here.”
“I know, and I’ll move out tomorrow morning, I promise.”
“No, you need to move now. Check into a hotel or something. I’ll get Sam to take you, and I’ll pay. I don’t mind, but you know how I feel about my space. I-” I tell her, following behind her as she exits the bathroom, but I don’t get to finish my sentence. She cuts me off, her face immediately changing from pleading to outright pissed. What the hell?
“Space?! Your f*****g space?!” she screams, slipping into her dress before stepping up to me. “I have a problem, and you treat me like some stranger! Like some f*****g w***e who’s trying to trap you! After everything I’ve been through because of your coward ass, I-” she shouts, and it's my turn to cut her off, feeling my anger starting to rise. She knows how I feel about boundaries. “Be careful now, Rene, or-” I start to say, but again she doesn't let me finish. She starts laughing like crazy, and I look at her, baffled by her behavior. What the hell's gotten into her? She's never spoken to me like this. What is she even talking about, things she’s been through because of me? I’ve never put her through anything.
“Or what?! What, Christian?! You’ll dump me and move on to your next victim?!”
“Victim? What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about you treating me like I’m your stupid puppet! Three f*****g years – three f*****g years, Christian! I have been waiting, waiting for you to become a man and recognize what you’re doing to me is wrong! You know I’m in love with you, you can see it, but you still force me to pretend like I’m not because you’re too scared to open your heart and let anyone in! The big bad Christian Muller, scared of commitment.”
"I don't love–you know what? I’m not doing this with you.” I’m not going to stand here and listen to this s**t. She knows the rules. Who’s fault is it when she decides to break them?
I walk past her to go downstairs, but she follows me.
“Fine. Go ahead! Runaway! I’m done with you, Christian! I never want to see your coward ass again!” she screams, and I feel my anger rising even more, but I don't reply. I keep walking.
I get to the door and grab my car keys, but she blocks my way when I open the door, still screaming at me. I tell her to get out of my way, but she doesn't, so I grab her by her shoulders, causing her to let out a whimper.
“I’m giving you an hour to get your s**t and get the f**k out of my house!” I scream in her face, unable to control myself anymore, and she flinches, tears falling from her eyes as I let go of her and walk out.
I take long strides to my car and speed out of my driveway, feeling like I'm going to burst with anger. I don’t even know where the hell I’m going, but I had to get out of there before I did something I would regret. How the hell do you just move into someone's place with all your s**t without their consent and expect them to be okay with it? She knows how I feel about that s**t – about relationships. I never lied to her nor gave her any false hope. If she couldn’t handle it, she should have walked. She knows the door is always open. I'm not forcing her to do anything.
My car makes a sound, and I realize I’m low on gas, so I head for the next gas station.
.
.
“Good evening, Sir,” An attendant says, stopping next to my window, and I ask him to fill up the car, my voice coming out lower than intended
I slide down the right side window, desperate for the fresh chilly air on my face, and I close my eyes, taking deep breaths while tightly gripping the steering wheel, struggling to calm myself as everything that just happened plays back in my head.
“Will it be cash or card, Sir?” the attendant speaks again, snapping me out of my thoughts and I open my eyes and reach for my wallet, telling him I'll pay with a card, but I realize I don't have it.
“s**t!”
“Sir?” he says, hearing me cuss, and I tell him I left my wallet at home before adding I will make a bank p*****t while looking for my phone, but I soon realize I don't have it either.
“f**k!”
“Forgot your phone too?” he asks, and I turn to him and apologize before asking if there’s a phone I could use. I have no other choice now but to call my brother or Kyle to come help me out. I can't believe this f*****g s**t. The guy tells me he will be back and walks away.
I take deep breaths, now beyond frustrated, as I desperately fight the urge to scream, and just then, I hear a voice speak on my right. I turn my head to look at the source, and it’s her – it's the woman we saw with that guy at the restaurant earlier today – the one who had Kyle all f****d up.
I look at her, unable to find my voice, and she says she overheard I forgot my wallet at home and offers to pay for me, just like that. I decline immediately. I can’t let her do that. I mean, why the hell is she even volunteering to? And why her?
She insists, shocking me and making me even warier, and again I decline. I’ll sort this out myself. The last thing I need in my face right now is a woman, but I don’t tell her that. I only tell her I’ll figure it out, but she cuts me off, insisting some more, and I finally look into her eyes, baffled by her persistence. But I shudder the moment I do, feeling things I can't explain as the brown orbs peer into my soul, and before I know it, I'm no longer angry. I don’t know long, I stare at her, but I snap out of it when her face turns into a frown, realizing I'm being rude. I smile and immediately see a relieved expression on her face as she smiles back at me, and I accept her help.
.
.
She makes the p*****t, and for the first time in my life, I have a woman who’s not my mother paying for me. I thank her again and pull out, so I can get out of the way. She also heads to her car, assuming we are done, but we are not. I can't let her go without making arrangements to pay her back and at least get the name of my savior.
I park on the side and exit my car just as she opens the door about to get into hers, and I call her. Was she seriously leaving and not caring if I paid her back?
She turns around, and I proceeded to her. I introduce myself, and she does the same. I ask her how she would like us to handle this p*****t situation, and leaves it up to me. I get her number, and just then, she receives a call and is running late to where she's going. So I let her go and bid her good evening after thanking her again for her help.
I walk back to my car, and I don't even realize I'm still holding a smile until I look into the rearview mirror.
“You don't need that," I call myself back into my senses, turning on the engine, deciding to head to Kyle's place. I don't want to bother my brother so late.
I get to his place and ring the doorbell, and the door opens just as I'm about to ring it again, and Kyle's face immediately turns into a frown, seeing me.
“What the hell, man? Why are you ringing the bell?” he asks, stepping aside, and I enter, telling him it's a decent thing to do.
“It’s what a decent person does at someone else’s house. They don't just let themselves in.” I add, and he scoffs.
“I’m never ringing the bell at your house. You can forget about it.”
“And I will never expect you to. As I said, decent people do it.”
“Yeah, whatever. I thought we were leaving from your place?” he says as we go inside the bar, and I head straight for the whiskey bottle.
“We were until s**t happened,” I reply, pouring myself a big glass before doing the same for him, and his frown deepens.
“What happened?” he asks, taking a seat next to me and grabbing his glass.
“Rene’s at my place with all her shit.”
“What do you mean by all her s**t?”
“I mean all her belongings.”
“Why?”
“She got into a fight with her sister, and she needed somewhere to go. So she thought it would be a good idea to just move into my place without asking me and just tell me she’s sorry she didn’t ask me first, like that s**t would work.” I reply and gulp down the liquid before pouring myself another, getting worked up all over again.
“So, she’s at your place now?”
“She better not be. I told her I’m giving her an hour to collect her things and go check into a hotel or something, and the hour should be up now.”
“Just like that?”
“I tried to speak to her calmly. I even offered to ask Sam to take her. And offered to pay for the hotel or whatever, but she wanted to move tomorrow morning.” I explain, pouring another shot and Kyle remains silent for a moment before he speaks again.
“Look, man, don’t get me wrong, but she spends nights at your place all the time-"
“-I consent for those times. She didn’t ask me, Ky. She just moved in-”
“-And she apologized for it. It was probably a last-minute thing, and she was moving out tomorrow morning-”
“-What if she was lying and had no intentions of moving out in the morning?”
“Come on, man. You don’t know that. Plus, you could have just kicked her out in the morning as you did now,"
“Who's side are you on?"
“I'm always on your side, but that was cold, man. Look, I know how easily you get suffocated, and I know how it drives you crazy. However, this is Rene we are talking about. She gets you. She has never put any pressure on you, even though it’s clear she caught feelings a long time ago. I think giving her the benefit of the doubt wouldn’t have been so bad," he says, and I sigh, staring at my now empty glass, realizing he's right. Maybe I could have handled the situation better.
“You're right. I just – I panicked, and the panic turned to anger.”
“Well, you were probably not as angry as you thought cause I know you when you are angry, you would have still been fuming when you got here,” he says, causing my mind to drift to the brown eyes I haven't been able to get out of my mind.
“I saw her, man, and –and she did something to me.”
“Who? Rene?”
“No, the woman from the restaurant.”
“Okay, now you’ve completely lost me?”
“Remember the couple we saw at the restaurant today?”
“Yeah.”
“I saw the woman, and she paid for my gas.”
“Why? I don’t understand. I thought you didn’t know them.”
“I don’t. I mean, I didn’t. I still don’t know the boyfriend, but her name is Natalia, and she has the most beautiful eyes.”
“Huh?”
- Writer
