"Not now! Please, God, not now!"
Helen felt a touch of fear when her car started making weird noises just as she was driving through a shabby part of town. If she could only get to a gas station, she could use the phone to call one of her friends to come to her rescue... The engine died, and she hit the breaks. Steam came out of from underneath the hood, and she hurried out of the car and opened the hood.
"Ouch!"
The steam welled up and stung her hands and her face.
"Oh, that looks BAD!"
She turned around to see who had called out to her. There was a gang of teenagers, in different shades of black, sitting at a turned-over dumpster not far away. They eyed her with drunk, curious, rude eyes.
"Yep, ain't goin' nowhere in that one!"
"Nice piece."
"Her or the car?"
They laughed. Helen smiled nervously.
"Excuse me, does anyone of you know where I could find a phone?" she said. "I haven't got my cellular with me."
"Yeah, I know where you get a phone!" one of them said. "You could borrow mine!"
"Thank you!" said Helen, and walked up to them.
"It's up in my place," he said. "Right next to here."
"Oh, I thought you meant you had a phone with you," said Helen.
"Would have sold it for snow by now, then!" another guy grinned.
"So, you wanna borrow the phone, or what?"
"Well, I..."
Helen hesitated. She did need to use the phone, but all her instincts warned her not to go with this guy to his place – especially not if his gang was going to come along! She was just wondering how she was going to turn down his offer without making it sound like an insult, when...
"Helen?"
She turned around and dropped her chin in surprise to see a familiar face in this part of town.
"Rick?" she said.
"Hey, Ricky!"
"Wassup, man?"
"Hi, guys. Helen, what the fuck are you doing here?"
"Yo, Rick, you know this bitch?"
"Hey! She's no bitch, aight? She's an old friend of mine!"
"Awww..."
It was clear that the gang put a different meaning on the phrase "old friend" than Helen did.
"My car broke down," she explained to Rick. "The engine's on fire, or something. I need to call a tow truck."
"You can call from my place," said Rick.
Funny, the idea of going home with Rick didn't feel dangerous at all. Exciting, yes, but not dangerous.
"Thanks, Rick," she said. "But do you think it's OK to just leave my car like this?"
"Don't worry," said Rick. "My boys here will keep an eye on it, aight?"
"Aight, man!"
"You know it!"
"Come on!" said Rick, and gestured to Helen to follow him.
"Call if you need help, Rick!" one of the guys called after them, and the others laughed.
" Fucking crackheads!" Rick muttered. "Wouldn't know what year it is... And what the hell were you doing?" he added, turning to Helen. "You were setting yourself up to get gangbanged, girl!"
"I wanted to borrow a phone," said Helen. "That tall guy asked me to come over to his place, but I felt uncomfortable with them. I don't know how I would have gotten out of there if you hadn't showed up!"
"You wouldn't!" said Rick, and showed her into a worn-down concrete building.
They got into the elevator, and he pressed button 8 – one of few buttons that hadn't been demolished.
"Just like last time we met," said Helen.
Rick looked at her and grinned quickly. Helen blushed as she remembered that afternoon. The elevator at BiK, where they had been stuck for over an hour. Her claustrophobia, Rick's strong, comforting arms, Rick's hands, his...
"This is it!"
Helen pulled her eyes away from his jeans-clad crotch, and walked with him through a dark hallway. Rick unlocked a door and let her into a small,s habby apartment with very few and very mismatching furniture. An old black-and-white TV was blurting out music videos from MTV in one corner of the room.
"It's small," said Rick, and locked the door behind them. "But atleast it's my own place, you know."
"I know exactly what you mean," said Helen. "I love having my own place, where I can stay up late, and walk around in my underwear..."
"Yeah," said Rick. "I got tired of fighting with my mum and my sis. Moved in here about 2 months ago."
"Can I use your bathroom?" said Helen.
"Sure," said Rick. "Here."
He handed her a stack of paper napkins from McDonalds. She didn't comment on it, simply figured that he was out of toilet paper, and went to the bathroom through a door to what Helen had first thought was a cupboard. It looked even creepier than the other room. Small and dark and with a smell of dirt. Helen quickly finished her business, flushed, and washed her hands – cold water, no soap – and dried her hands on her skirt. The towel that hung next to the sink looked like it would only make her dirty again.
"Can I get you something?" said Rick, when she got out. "Beer, Pepsi..."