Page 11 of Rosie and the Dreamboat
“Someone put me in there.”
I have never wanted to take something back more in my life. I pray he’s distracted. Please be on a call. No such luck.
“Who did that to you?”
“I was sort of bullied by this group of guys. Everywhere I went, I saw them. Bottom of every stairwell I needed to go down. In the parking lot. The main guy just had it in for me.”
“Why?” Leo hisses out a breath. “Sorry. It couldn’t have been anything you’d done.”
“I don’t know why. He was a jerk. He knew where I was all the time, and they’d just kinda ... be there. Just standing there, blocking my way, laughing at me. Campus security couldn’t exactly do anything about people standing around. I can’t explain it, but I couldn’t get past them, and my anxiety levels were through the roof. I was in a class with the mainguy, and he’d just stare at me, unblinking, like he wanted me dead.”
“May I have his full name and date of birth?” Leo asks sweetly. “Social security, too, if possible? I need to commit a murder, please.”
“It all culminated in me digging around in my car trunk for something one afternoon. Broad daylight. Next thing I know, I felt a tap on the back of my knee, and I went in face-first. They bundled my legs in, closed the trunk, and sat on it, laughing and smoking. My cell phone was on the passenger seat. I ... haven’t thought about this in a long time.”
“This probably isn’t the best time to revisit it. I’m not doing my job very well, am I?”
I shake my head. I’m determined to work it out now, even as my heart rate begins to increase. “Was it a frat thing? Why was I such a joke? From a guy’s perspective, why?”
“Most likely scenario is he wanted your attention, or your fear, and went about it like a knuckle-dragging psychopath.” Leo sounds like he’s very concerned. “Hey. I can hear you breathing too fast in there.”
“I can’t help it. This feels too similar.” The smooth metal above me, not giving, no matter how I push against it—
“But it’s me out here. Not them. And I won’t let anything bad happen. Breathe.”
And just like that, I exhale and lie still again. I find myself needing to end the story.
“I kind of dropped out of college after that. I couldn’t handle the stress, and I was too ashamed to tell my parents.”
“Those guys were escalating. Predators always do. You got yourself out of there. And that’s real smart.”
“The main guy is now a Wall Street trader, and I work in an indoor plant store. Plants are ... safe.” I try to rub my face,but the salt is unbearable. “I haven’t even told Bree that story. It’d be a cross-examination.”
“She’ll find out soon, because I’ll be on death row for killing that guy.” He sounds like he crowds even closer to the side of the tank. “I’ll say it again. Are you listening to me? You’re being really, really brave right now, and it turns out, you’ve always been brave.”
“Sure. I should have recorded it all. I should have made a police report, filed for a protection order—”
He sounds commanding now. “Stop. You did the best you could, just like now. You didn’t let it ruin you. You stayed funny and smart and kind. You survived. A lot of people don’t. Take my word for it.”
I can only imagine the strain this job must have on him. And yet he bounces into every room with a smile. I know that much about him.
His phone ringtone blares “Disco Inferno.”
“Frank? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Fuck, dude, I’m about to wrench the top off this like a sardine can. She can’t stay in there much longer. Yup. Bring it up, then, and if you ever call me Romeo again, I’m gonna insert it into your ass. Love you, bye.”
There’s the faint beep of a phone call being disconnected.
“We’re going to start. That lady Dionne’s going to kick up one hell of a fuss. And then she’s gonna watch us wreck eighty-five thousand dollars. Now, I want you to get yourself ready. It’s gonna be noisy. There’ll be lots of men’s voices above you. But you’re not in a trunk. You’re here, with me, and I’ll get you out like I wish I could have back then.”
“I know it. Thank you for helping me realize I’m a survivor.”
“Good job, Rosie.”
I am proud of myself, too. “I suppose this has all been a big adventure, hasn’t it?”
“Think of the amazing story you’ll have to tell one day.” He pauses for a moment. “Last time I told a woman that, it was this horrible old duck who’d somehow gotten her bare foot stuck through a sewer grate. She told me she was going to complain to the Fire Brigade Grand Chief Commissioner about my rudeness and my inability to be serious in a serious situation.”
“If such a person even existed, that could be a problem for you.”
