Page 4 of Pulled By the Tail
She refused to be Kevin’s good girlfriend anymore.
Georgia grabbed a bag and stuffed it with the first things she grabbed from the closet. She’d crash with Freema for a few days until she could find a place of her own. She had money. She had a job, even if it was a job in Kevin’s office as his subordinate.
Yeah, she’d need to find a new job, too.
She dumped her toiletries into the bag and couldn’t think of another reason to stay. She’d be back in a few days with Freema to fetch the rest of her stuff, unless Kevin changed the locks, and then she’d put the fish in the heating vents.
“We’re out of strawberries,so it’s just a plain daiquiri.” Freema set two tall glasses down on the coffee table.
“Lame. I was promised strawberry daiquiris.” That wouldn’t stop Georgia from drinking her plain daiquiri, though.
“We drank all the rum, too, so I used the whiskey,” Freema said.
“That’s not a daiquiri.” She didn’t think it was anything. She took a cautious sip. Tart and sweet, it burned down her throat. Georgia sputtered but swallowed the awful concoction. “This is terrible. You ruined really good whiskey.”
“No one likes whiskey and we’re too drunk to go to the store or a bar. They won’t serve us.” Freema leaned against Georgia, holding the vile drink like it might explode. The glass tilted to its side. Spilling was a real possibility.
Georgia grabbed the glass and set it back down on the coffee table. “We’re not that drunk.” Probably. She’d been crashing on Freema’s couch for a week, too down in the dumps to do much of anything. She quit her job, so she did that. She showered, but only because Freema sprayed her with air freshener. Subtle, her friend was not.
That morning, they went to Kevin’s apartment and cleared out the rest of her stuff. She half expected to find her books, clothes, and favorite coffee mugs already packed in boxes and Janice moved in. Instead, nothing had changed, like Kevin expected her to come crawling back. After packing up her meager possessions, they stole Kevin’s expensive bottles of whiskey and rum.
All things considered, Georgia was proud of how maturely she handled the situation. She didn’t destroy Kevin’s property or dump dog poo on the carpet and start up the floor cleaning bot to smear the poo everywhere. She considered it but didn’t do it. See? Mature. She only took two little bottles of alcohol. He owed her.
Just before she left the apartment for the final time, she set all the televisions to Spanish and hid all the remotes. She wasn’tthatmature.
To celebrate, Georgia and Freema were determined to get falling-down drunk, watch bad movies, and eat pizza and junk food until they were sick. Or fell asleep. Whatever happened first.
“We’re going to be so sick tomorrow,” Georgia said. Her tolerance for alcohol had seriously diminished. In college, she could stay up all night, drink, eat junk, get only two hours of sleep, and be fresh as a daisy. Now? One beer was her usual limit. Anything more and she had a headache for days. She was so not looking forward to the morning.
She stuffed a handful of chips in her mouth, to soak up the booze.
A knock sounded at the door.
“Pizza’s here!” Freema jumped off the couch and raced to the door, sliding across the floor in her socks. “Um, Georgia. It’s for you.”
Kevin stood in the doorway, wearing a wool coat more expensive than her monthly salary, and looking around Freema’s small apartment with a judgmental frown.
“What do you want?” Georgia crossed her arms over her chest, aware that she was braless—girl’s night in, after all—and a cold breeze came in through the door. She didn’t want Kevin to think her nipples got hard just because he showed up. It was cold, dammit.
“This is where you’ve been hiding?”
“I’m not hiding,” she replied before she could think better of letting Kevin direct the flow of conversation. That’s what he did: steered her down a path until she agreed with everything he said, even if she disagreed. All their past arguments fell into that pattern. It had to stop. “What are you doing here?”
He reached into the inside pocket of his coat and withdrew an envelope. “I thought I’d drop off your last paycheck,” he said, voice cold. Georgia reached for the envelope, but he drew it back. “By the way, starting a rumor about Janice in the office was highly unprofessional.”
“It’s not a rumor if it’s true.” She shrugged. See, she could be cold and unfeeling too. “The director wanted to know why I was leaving. I didn’t mince words.” She had been fairly blunt stating that she no longer felt comfortable working with her ex-boyfriend while he was fucking the intern.
“I’ll have to mention it if anyone calls for a reference,” Kevin said.
Georgia narrowed her eyes, not sure what game Kevin played. Did he want an apology? A blowjob for a good reference?
“No, I don’t want a blowjob,” he said.
Shit. She must be drunker than she thought.
“I’ve had enough of your unenthusiastic blowjobs to last a lifetime.”
“Well, it’s hard to get excited about sucking your dick when you fall asleep.”
