The Last Thorn

7. The Ring

The street is deserted and creepily quiet. Florence can’t walk straight in her shoes, so she just takes them off and keeps walking barefoot. Her heart is palpitating and she’s breathing heavy. Her surroundings are somewhat familiar, but it’s so blurred out that she has to stop for a bit. Everything has turned into color patches. She guesses the red one on the left is the library, so the blue one in front of it is the bus stop.

So it means she’s barely walked 2 kilometres, but she’s already exhausted.

She clumsily finds the bench of the bus stop. She decides to rest before the bus comes. She won’t be able to go home by herself. She’s too drunk to realize that the bus isn’t coming in nearly 4 hours. “I’ll just rest my eyes,” she tells herself loudly, “I’ll hear the bus coming.”

The next thing she remembers is a black car stopping in front of her. Everything’s too hazy, so she doesn’t recognize people who get out of it. Somebody takes her by her shoulders and takes her towards the car. Her gut twists by the sudden movement and it makes her throw up uncontrollably. “For god’s sake! My shoes!” she hears a man moan. It sounds like he’s shouting from a far, but he’s right beside her. Someone’s laughing in the background.

The moment she stops, she feels like she’s dropped on something soft, like a sofa. She starts sobbing uncontrollably. “They don’t pay me enough for this,” she hears the same voice and a car door shut.

It feels like she’s moving forward. She wants to know what’s happening, but she’s too tired to keep her eyes open and passes out after a few seconds.

….

It feels too hot in the room. Florence is sweating and her throat is dry. She wakes up as she grasps her breath. She’s surprised when she realizes she’s in her room.

She looks around confused. She’s in her pajamas laying on top of bed covers. It seems odd that her room is cleaner than she left it yesterday. Her clothes are back on hangers. Did Eugene come back from the club and cleaned her room? It doesn’t add up.

She doesn’t remember how she got home. Her memory is hazy and she’s not sure if all of it was a dream or a reality. It feels like she’s gonna throw up, which reminds her of that weird guy from yesterday. Was he a taxi driver? Did she call the cab?

She stumbles on her feet. As she focuses her vision, she spots the dress she wore yesterday. It lays on her chair. Now she at least knows for sure that she threw up yesterday. She doesn’t see her shoes anywhere, but she’s pretty sure she won’t find them anyway. Her feet are dirty and she’s dying for a shower.

It always helps to take a shower and clarify the thoughts. She still tries to figure her situation out, but she doesn’t seem to find an explanation. She should talk to Eugene. He definitely will help her put pieces of puzzle together. She probably had a terrible nightmare which integrated into the night they were having. Yeah, they probably just got home and Eugene helped her out with getting to bed.

He’s so nice cleaning up her room even. “Yeah, it was just a terrible nightmare. Everything’s normal,” she tells herself.

She gets out of the shower and feels way fresher. Her stomach is still pretty upset with her from yesterday, but she’ll live today. She spots a super strong hair gel and realizes it’s not Eugene’s. Now she takes a closer look around the bathroom. There are some things that weren’t there before. There’s even another toothbrush.

She suddenly has got a bad feeling. She gets dressed and goes out of the bathroom. She can hear Eugene and Garrett talking in another room. Garrett never spends the night. They usually go to his place if they want to spend a night together.

The floor squeaks and they both go silent. Florence hears that someone comes to the door and opens it. It’s Eugene. His hair is messy, the eyes are puffy, but it looks like he’s gloating from happiness.

“Good morning, princess. Had a nice sleep? I feel like I’m still not sober, wooo” He says as he drops in the couch. “Sorry that it didn’t go well with that girlie of yours. We can make a parteeey today as well. I’ll ask Candace bring her too if you want.”

She notices that Garrett is standing in the doorway. He’s looking at her like a pest, but Eugene doesn’t see it, because he’s behind him. Florence goes pale as she realizes that everything was for real. Garrett’s smile becomes sinister, but he masks it when he says sweetly, “Eugene, I think we should finally bring the news.”

 She doesn’t need any explanation now. She knows what’s about to come. Garrett’s gonna split her up with her best friend. Should she say he’s lying? Should she break Eugene’s heart like this?

However, Garrett comes and snuggles next to Eugene. Her friend looks like he’s in a bliss. She doesn’t have a heart to tell him about all those nasty things Garrett told her yesterday.

She just doesn’t belong here anymore. They’re both right. It’s time for her to grow up.

Eugene looks very uncomfortable. “Nah, there is no..” he starts, but Florence interrupts him.

“You know, I was thinking,” she says, trying her best to conceal the pain she’s feeling. It’s hurtful to realize her friend thinks he can’t make it on her own. “Thank you for being the best flat mate there is, hon, but I think I should try to make it on my own.” Garrett raises his eyebrows. He didn’t expect her to be so easy to get rid of.

However, Eugene seems slightly relieved, but concerned ”How do you expect it to pay for everything? You know, for the place, water, electricity. There are groceries, too, you know. Don’t tell me your mom made you come back to her place.”

“It’s okay, hon. I’ve got a promotion, remember? I’ll manage,” she says in order to encourage herself more than Eugene.

Her friend turns to Garrett whining, “Please, help me talk sense into this one.”

“Well,” Garrett says, slowly, “Considering everything I think it’ll be better.. for Florence of course, to try to get out there in the real world. However,” he says sweetly as he looks her in the eyes, “we’re all friends here. Don’t be shy and ask if you need help with getting out or something.”

Eugene is a lovely person, but he’s too naive. He doesn’t see how bad Garrett wants Florence to get out of his hair. He thinks  Garrett’s actually considering Florence’s comfort. He hugs him and says, “I’m so happy to have such a considerate man in my life. However,” Eugene says, as he enthusiastically sits up in the couch, “I wanted to wait a little, but I think it’s the right moment.” He puts his hand in his pocket and takes out a ring.

He turns to Garrett. “You knew I would say yes,” he says as he puts it on and kisses him deeply.  

Florence puts up a smile and applauds. She wants her friend to be happy. “Aw, you guys. I’m so happy for you two,” she hugs both of them while pushing the tears away. She feels betrayed. It turns out that her friend of almost fifteen years doesn't even believe in her.

“However, hon,” Eugene says, “Please don’t rush with moving out. It’s no problem.”

“Yeah, no problem at all,” Garrett says and looks at her intently. You can’t hear it, but It’s obvious that it’s actually a huge problem for him.

This whole situation as well as Garrett's snug face makes her blood boil. She’s not a victim. She is strong and independent. She can’t let everyone say otherwise. Not anymore.