Rachel slammed the door behind her as she stomped her way down the walk, towards her car. This was the last straw; she didn't have to put up with his bullshit any more. Where did he get off telling her whom she could and couldn't see? He was just possessive, controlling, whining, jackass. Yes, she thought to herself. A jackass was exactly what he was.
"Fine, then!" he screamed out the window. "Leave! But I'm not coming after you!" He slammed the shutters and she could hear him screaming to her things inside his house.
Who cared if he wasn't going to follow her? That wasn't the point this time…she was REALLY leaving. For good!
The car door screamed in protest as Rachel yanked it open, hinges nearly coming apart. She plopped down in to her seat and slammed the door, and then…and then she just sat there. Rachel stared at her lap, furiously, listening intently to see if Quentin was coming out after her.
Nothing.
Not a sound came from outside the door except a couple of cars driving by.
Well who cared? She certainly didn't, she was leaving this time. For good! She glanced back up at the house, but no one was running outside to stop her from driving away. Slowly, she pulled the car keys from her pocket and placed them in the ignition. The car started with a sickening growl, seeming to be hollering something about needing a muffler. Rachel popped it in to reverse and with a gut wrenching lurch began to back out of the driveway.
She paused at the street, looking both ways, and then back to the house and both ways again before one last glance up the walkway. Rachel sighed and pulled on to the street, driving in a sort of dazed state that probably would have gotten her pulled over if any police cars had been patrolling. She didn't even realize where she was headed until she pulled in to the parking lot of the apartment building.
Jasmine would know what Rachel should do. Jasmine was a regular fountain of good advice, especially since she had known Rachel for so long. Rachel jerked the car to a halt and got out, slamming the door without bothering to lock it. Nothing in there was more valuable than the cost of a new window, let anyone rummage around in it that wanted to.
Rachel walked slowly up the steps to Jasmine's apartment. She'd no doubt be given the "I told you so" lecture yet again by her friend. It seemed like every single time Rachel hooked up with a new guy, Jasmine sat her down and warned Rachel about all the things that were going to go wrong. And somehow, she was always right! He would either be a gambler, or a druggie, or an alcoholic…sometimes they were crooks, sometimes they were actually gay, but Jasmine always saw them for who they were in the first.
"He's not gonna be good to you, sweetie," Jasmine had said about Quentin. "Look at those beady eyes, lookin' at you from across the room. He doesn't want any other guy to be talkin' to you. He thinks you're his property, and he's never gonna give you any freedom."
Rachel had protested, of course. She always did. Her guy was always going to be "The Guy." The Guy to sweep her off her feet, The Guy to take her away from her working class life, The Guy that she was going to live happily ever after with for ever and ever.
Maybe Jasmine was a little bit biased, though. She had come out while the two girls were in High School. Rachel had been shocked, but it hadn't bothered her at all like it had bothered some of their other friends. Jas was the same old Jas, who cared if she wanted to be with girls instead of boys? Everyone was free to make his or her own decisions.
Quentin had argued with Rachel many times about Jasmine, however.
"That fucking dyke just wants to get in to bed with you," he had shouted. "You go over to her house and she thinks that it's cause you think she's hot! She doesn't like me and just wants to take you away for herself!"
Rachel had argued again and again that that was not true. Jasmine was her best friend, gay or not gay, what right did anyone have to tell Rachel that the two of them were anything less? But sometimes, out of the corner of her eye, Rachel spotted Jasmine looking at her a little bit…oddly. A little bit of a glimmer in her eyes as she looked at Rachel's body. But whenever Rachel looked over in Jasmine's direction, Jas always looked away quickly.
It was unimportant if Jasmine was attracted to Rachel, it didn't hurt their friendship at all.
Head hanging low, she knocked three times on the thick door in front of her. In very little time, Jasmine answered.
Jasmine seemed to fill the doorway, even with her tiny frame. She was petite, short, with smallish breasts and thin arms, which were now crossed over her chest. Her hips were the biggest thing about her, adding the only real shape to her otherwise straight and narrow body. Her hair was cut short, not more than three inches long and stuck out in all directions, wild, untamable and blue at the moment. It matched the bright blue glass in her spectacles that she insisted on wearing at all times perched on her sharp nose.
Rachel looked at her friend, tears still running down her red cheeks. Her eyes were puffy and sore, her nose stuffed. She took a deep sniffing breath through her nose and shrugged, as if admitting defeat. Jasmine unfolded her arms and put one around Rachel.
"I told you so," Jasmine said.
"Can you please not start right now?" asked Rachel imploringly.
"Alright," said Jasmine, "But I saw this comin', you know. I knew he wasn't gonna be right for you, none of the guys are gonna be right for you. Just come in and wash your face, then we'll talk some, alright?"
Rachel nodded and pushed some dark hair away from her face. She allowed Jasmine to lead her in to the bathroom and set her down on the toilet seat.
Jasmine turned on the sink and grabbed a towel from the bar beside the mirror. She ran the towel under the flow, and knelt down in front of her friend.
"Let's have a look at you, huh?" she said softly, dabbing at Rachel's face tenderly with the towel.
"I dunno how it happens, Jas," she sniffed as Jasmine gently bathed her tear-stained face. "One moment it's just so perfect…SO perfect…then the next second we're screaming at each other for reasons I don't even remember. One argument after another, he threatens to leave me, I threaten to leave him…we threaten to do this and that to hurt the other…and then moments later, we're just," she lifted her head to the ceiling, taking a deep breath and shrugging her shoulders again. "The next moment it's like we want to pretend that none of it ever happened. A few awkward apologies during which neither of us really says we're sorry, then sex, then sleep. And then it's the same thing the next day. I have had enough! I just can't live life like that, not knowing what kind of boyfriend I'm going to be facing when I get up…maybe he's just too…like me."
Jasmine nodded in agreement, kneeling up and embracing her friend.
"I know, sweetie, I know. It'll work out one of these days, I promise. You'll find the right person, be able to settle down…no more of this emotional bullshit you love so much." Jasmine smiled in to Rachel's face. "Now how about some popcorn, huh? Popcorn and a Mel Gibson flick. Want to see him go 'Mad Max' on some poor bastard's ass?"
