To Prue an empty bedroom started feeling almost normal.
There was the gray silence, the vast ceiling with its reflections of streetlight and leaves. She hadn't closed the curtains, nor had she closed the bedroom door. There was a draft tugging at her exposed chest. She pulled up the blanket, shivering.
Her phone rang.
She rolled to the side of the bed, grabbing the little machine.
"Peter?!"
Julia's name was on the screen.
"God, he's an
ass
hole," Julia said, spitting out the word.
"He promised to come over and talk," Prue said, her voice hoarse from disuse. "He never did."
"I know," Julia said. "We talked this afternoon and I made him promise to see you and talk the whole damn mess out."
"I guess he got cold feet," Prue supposed.
"Hmmm," Julia grumbled. "More of a hot cock, I'm afraid."
"What do you mean?"
Prue's voice went up in dismay.
"He came to my apartment around six, about three, four hours after I left him at the tearoom where we chatted - Mitzy's, you know it."
Prue didn't answer. She knew by now that things would be bad.
"Right at the front door he came on to me, grabbing me, pulling at my blouse and trying to kiss me," Julia went on. "I pushed him away, of course. He stank of booze."
Prue still didn't say a thing.
"He looked awful," Julia proceeded. "And he wailed that you cheated again and humiliated him. He said 'mummilated,' he was so drunk. And he said he needed someone to hold him. He cried, you know, tears and all."
Prue bit her lip, holding the phone, but unable to say anything.
"Are you still there, Pruts, honey?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"I made him sit down on the couch and poured hot coffee into him," Julia resumed. "When he seemed to sober up a bit, I told him to take a shower. He stank, you know. But I guess I shouldn't have offered that."
"Why not?" Prue asked, slowly getting over her shock.
"Because, when he returned, wearing one of my robes, he started all over again, bawling and grabbing. God, he's a real wuzz. I never knew that."
"Where is he now?" Prue asked.
"On my couch," Julia answered. "Totally out."
"Can I come over?" Prue asked.
"I... I wouldn't do that if I were you," Julia said with a hesitant voice.
"Why not? I need to know why he never showed up."
"That's exactly what I mean, honey," Julia said. "You see, he
was
at your house and he saw your lover leave. Goddammit girl, you are one stupid bitch."
A choking panic left Prue speechless. Then she squeaked:
"What do you
mean
? There was no one here,
nobody
! No lover, not anyone! I was alone, waiting for him. I waited for hours!"
There was a sigh on the other end of the line.
"He
saw
him, Pruts. He saw the asshole run from your door to his car and tear off, leaving rubber."
A new flash of panic hit Prue. Hyperventilation brought her to the brink of fainting. Her voice sounded distant.
"No, noooo. It isn't
true
! Nobody was here with me. Nobody! What is happening?"
"You tell me, girlfriend."
Julia ended the last word with a sigh.
"Wake him up!" Prue suddenly cried out. "Get him on the phone. I need to explain. No, not explain. Nothing happened! I need to
talk
to him. Get him on the phone!"
After a silence Julia sighed again.
"Not now, honey. Bad idea. Try to sleep a bit. Call me tomorrow."
The 'click' cut straight through Prue's desperate '
nooo.
'
***
Peter woke up with a hangover.
Maybe it was the constant buzzing and hammering in his head that made him puzzle at where he was. The white ceiling could be anywhere, but somehow it didn't look like his. Turning left, he got a shock.
He was in a strange bed and obviously not alone.
The long blond hair on the pillow looked disheveled. A white, bare shoulder peeped from the blanket. All he saw was the woman's back, but he knew who she was.
Memories returned and they didn't improve his hangover.
Curiously enough they seemed to work backwards. He remembered fucking a woman, but all associated feelings were muted. Then he recalled talking to her over a lot of booze.
The woman was Julia; her face swam in and out of his mind's eye.
Her big mouth featured prominently, blood red lips moving over white, shining teeth - smiling, laughing, but most of all talking. Then he saw that same mouth sink over his hard penis, the blond hair bobbing.
What happened; why was he here?
Worming his brain deeper down into time, he recalled running into a tree-lined street, a well-known street. A wave of anger flooded the memory. He saw a man running from his house,
Prue's
house. He jumped in a car and raced off. Then the meaning of it all returned, and Peter groaned.
The blond head on the pillow turned at the sound; blue sleepy eyes opened.
"What is it, honey?" her mouth said.
The lipstick was smeared. A long, white arm slid from under the sheet, following a crawling, red-nailed hand.
Peter moved back, away from the hand.
"Did we fuck?" he asked, his voice thick.
The woman chuckled. She rose to her elbows, making the sheet slide off her chest. Two pale breasts tumbled free, nipples bloated and red.