Page 20 of The Boardroom: Cassidy
“What the fuck man?” Ben yelled at Cassidy. “That’s my fiancée. What the hell are you doing kissing my fiancée like that?” Cassidy was so shocked by this turn of events that he barely even registered Ben’s fist coming at him, and seconds later they were in an all-out fistfight.
“Stop!” I yelled. “Ben! Cassidy! Stop! Please, I can explain, I really can!”
Oh shit. Could I?
“Who the fuck is this, Eliza?” Ben yelled. “How long has this been going on?”
“You’re engaged?” Cassidy exclaimed, looking genuinely heartbroken, and by god, I could not remember ever feeling worse.
Cassidy was stronger than Ben by far, and I grimaced as I watched him push Ben into the brick wall that we had been making out against only minutes earlier. Cassidy held him up for a few seconds, ready to punch him square in the face, when suddenly Ben kicked him in the groin and he toppled over, allowing Ben to hold Cassidy down and punch him in the face repeatedly. I winced, trying to think of a way to make the fighting stop but unsure of how to interfere without getting hurt.
Ben was still holding Cassidy down, and I saw blood running down the side of his face.
“Ben! Stop!” I yelled. “Please, just stop!”
I finally managed to pull Ben off of Cassidy, who was lying in a heap on the pavement looking absolutely awful. I gasped when I saw him and kneeled down to wipe the blood off of his face with some Kleenex.
“Get up, Eliza,” Ben said. “Leave him.”
“No just,” I shook my head, trying to find the words. “Just let me clean him up and explain, okay?”
“Explain what? How the fuck do you explainthisEliza? That you’re cheating on me? Please.”
I ran to Ben for a brief moment and put my hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down.
“Look, I understand that you’re angry.”
“You think?”
“But please, just go up to Sabryna’s apartment and wait there. I promise I’ll explain everything,” I said.
“I’m sure you will, Eliza.” Ben scoffed, turning to go inside. “I’m sure you absolutely fucking will…bitch.”
I ran back over to Cassidy, who was still lying bleeding on the sidewalk.
“Are you alright?” I asked, propping him back up. “I’m so sorry about—”
“Your fiancée? You’reengaged?”
I bit my lip nervously. “I’m afraid so. It’s uh…it’s kind of a long story. I promise I’ll explain the rest later.”
Cassidy looked at me angrily, the brightness in his eyes fading to a deep stone blue-gray. “I really don’t think there’s anything else that needs explaining, Eliza.”
I felt my heart sink as Cassidy stumbled to his feet, holding onto the wall for balance. His blue button down that had looked so flawless an hour ago was now stained with blood that was still dripping from his nose. He looked like a complete mess, and a devastated one too.
“Let me call you a taxi” I said, helping him find his balance. “Let me at least—”
“You’ve done enough,” Cassidy said, looking at me coldly. “I’ll walk.”
My stomach lurched as I watched Cassidy turn down the street and stumble home. In a matter of minutes and some dreadfully unfortunate timing, I had managed to lose everything. And upstairs was Ben, waiting to remind me again of the long line of mistakes now stretching out behind me.
