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  As Liz opened the apartment door she instantly could tell something was going on. There were clothes thrown all over the living room. Women’s clothes.

  “Shit.” She heard Matt say from the bedroom.

  “What? What’s wrong?” A girl’s voice said.

  Just great Liz thought. Of course. Now he was bringing the girls home with him. Liz couldn’t take it anymore. She was tired of sitting by while this jerk walked all over her. This was more than any person could take.

  “What the hell is going on?” She screamed as she stood in the doorway to her and Matt’s bedroom.

  Sure enough, right there in her bed was the blonde bimbo from the night club.

  “Babe. It’s not what it looks like.” Matt said as he was sliding his pants on.

  “Hmm. Because it looks like my boyfriend is screwing a bimbo.”

  By this time the girl had figured out what was going on and was wrapping herself in the sheet and walking out of the room. She walked around the living room picking up her clothes, and then headed to the bathroom to get dress.

  “Babe, really. It’s fine. She’s leaving.” Matt tried his best to convince Liz that this was all normal. Nothing weird going on here. It was totally normal for a girlfriend to find her boyfriend in bed with a blonde bimbo.

  “Stop saying babe. That’s degrading and it pisses me off.”

  “I’m sorry babe.” Matt winced as it came out of his mouth again. It was pathological for him. He couldn’t help himself.

  “You can’t go one night without getting laid? Seriously Matt?”

  “She’s leaving Liz. Calm down. She’s leaving.”

  The girl was leaving. By this time she was almost running out the door. She didn’t bother to turn and look back, just straight out the door and down the stairs at the end of the hallway.

  “I’m done Matt. Even I can’t keep putting up with this shit.”

  Liz started to pull a giant suitcase out of the closet.

  “Babe. Seriously, it won’t happen again.”

  “Matt, I’m better than this. I can’t stay here another second.”

  “Fine! You want to leave? Leave me then. Go live on the street for all I care.”

  “Oh you don’t care. Don’t pretend like you do!”

  By this time Liz had long lost her ability to just sit idly by and let this guy walk all over her. Now he was just pissing her off.

  “Good ridden.” Matt said as he walked down the hall toward the bathroom.

  Matt started grabbing all of Liz’s makeup and other things and throwing them into the hallway.

  “Stop!” Liz yelled as she headed down to try and save her makeup.

  “Stop? Why? You want to leave. I’m helping you pack your shit.” Matt is beyond livid that Liz has finally decided to leave him.

  “Stop. Matt. You’re breaking everything.” Liz grabs his arm to try and stop him from throwing her makeup onto the ground.

  As Matt pulls his arm away from Liz, her arm goes flying into the picture on the wall. It shatters and falls right onto Liz, leaving a gash on her face and cuts to her arm. Blood starts pouring everywhere, immediately halting the argument.

  Matt is genuinely worried and goes to grab a towel. Without a word he wraps it around her arm and holds another up to her cheek.

  They sit there quietly on the floor of the bathroom. Surrounded by broken makeup and a tiny puddle of blood on the floor.

  Liz didn’t bother to pack all of her things. Instead, she grabbed just a couple outfits for her two jobs and filled a small backpack with them. Matt gathered what he could of her makeup off the floor and put it into a plastic grocery bag. They didn’t talk, there was nothing to say. It was over.

  Liz took a cab to the dorms at NYU and buzzed Bella’s room. She had tried texting her and calling her but Bella had not answered. There were two possibilities. One, Bella was out again and not checking her phone because she was at a club. Or two, Bella had finally crashed and was sound asleep. There was nothing that could wake her up when she was asleep. Not even a fire alarm, which had happened the night Liz first met Bella, two years before.

  Liz had been assigned to sweep through the floors when they did a fire drill. Liz was a little older than most the other girls, so it was assumed she was more responsible. Liz had gotten to Bella’s room and she was sound asleep. Not even shaking her could get the girl to wake up. Finally after about five minutes, Liz was able to get Bella up. When they got downstairs, the dorm supervisor started yelling at Bella and Liz told her to knock it off. It was at that moment Bella and Liz became friends.

  The two girls were inseparable for about a year before Liz moved out of the dorms to live with Matt. Now look where Liz was, stuck sitting outside the same dorm complex on a freezing cold January night.

  Chapter 5

  Luckily Liz didn’t have to wait outside too long before a student recognized her and let her into the lobby. Liz went up to Bella’s room and knocked a couple times, but there was no answer. Still not sure if Bella was home or not, Liz tried the door to see if it was unlocked. If Bella was home, the door was almost always unlocked.

  Unfortunately the door was locked. Liz slumped down and sat with her bags in front of Bella’s door. She was exhausted. It had been such a long night. Liz didn’t know where else she could go tonight. She had friends from work but it was now 2 o’clock in the morning, Liz wasn’t about to show up on any of their doorsteps at this hour.

  Tomorrow she would ask around at work to see if anyone had a couch she could crash on for a little bit. Surely someone would let her stay with them. That’s what she would do, she would just move around from friend to friend for the next semester. It was only a few months, Liz thought to herself. It wouldn’t be so bad.

  Liz closed her eyes for a second while she thought of the logistics of living on someone’s couch for the next five to six months. Where would she put her things? How would she find the time to get her school work done?

  Liz slowly drifted off to sleep as her mind worried about what was to come.

  “You can’t be here.” A stern voice hollered way to close to Liz’s ears.

  “What?” Liz said as she was disoriented and didn’t really remember she had fallen asleep in the dorm hallway.

  “You can’t be here.” The voice said again firmly.

  “I’m just waiting for my friend.” Liz said as her eyes focused in on the woman. It was Helga, the dorm supervisor. Oh how this woman got on every last nerve Liz ever had. But one thing Liz knew about Helga, she was a stickler for the rules and there would be no talking her into letting Liz stay there for the night.

  So Liz reluctantly grabbed her things and moved down to the lobby. Luckily Helga did not follow her, yet. So Liz waited in the lobby for a little longer, hoping Bella would come home soon.

  At about 3am, Liz saw a cab pull up out front and knew it was Bella. There were no other students in their dorm that would stay out until 3am and go against the curfew that was set. But Bella didn’t follow the rules like the other students did.

  “Liz. Oh my god. What happened to you?”

  For a moment Liz didn’t know what Bella was talking about. But then she remembered the cut to her face. She reached up to feel it and could feel how swollen it had gotten by this point. It felt like her cheek was twice its normal size.

  “Oh I’m ok. Matt and I got into a fight.”

  “What? He hit you? Oh I’ll kill him myself!” Bella was a tiny thing, but Liz knew she could probably take Matt down if she really wanted to.

  “No, it’s not like that. I knocked a picture off the wall and it hit me.” Liz could have made it seem like Matt had done this too her, but she just wasn’t that kind of girl. For as much as she had struggled in her life, the one thing she always tried to be was honest.

  Liz could still remember her mother saying to her “If you have nothing else in this world, you will always have your integrity.” She said that to Liz only a few short months before she passed
away from cancer.

  “Ok, if you say so.” Bella seemed suspicious of Liz’s story, but didn’t question her any further about it.

  “I came here because I don’t have anywhere else to go Bella. But Helga already saw me and kicked me out.” Liz was starting to feel pretty desperate. It was too cold outside to sleep out there.

  “Shit Liz. I don’t know what to say.”

  “It’s ok. Maybe I could go sleep in the file room at work?” Liz thought that actually sounded like a pretty good idea. It was warm there and no one would be there at all on Sunday. It would be perfect.

  “You can’t sleep on the floor of the file room, that’s crazy.”

  “What then? I can’t sleep here. I can’t go back to Matt.”

  “Sleep in my old bedroom at my Father’s house.” Bella said with a smile as she pulled the condo key out of her wallet.

  “Bella. No. We talked about this.” Liz refused her offer.

  “Let’s think of this reasonably Liz. My father said he was going to Boston for the week, right?” Bella had that mischievous smile on her face that she always got when she was about to cause some trouble.

  “Yes.” Liz didn’t know where this was going yet, but she could never resist that smile of Bella’s.

  “So you will go stay there for this week while he is gone. It’s perfect. You can get things figured out and you’ll have a nice warm place to sleep.”

  “Hmmm” Liz was trying to come up with a good reason to say no, but this idea actually didn’t sound so bad.

  “See it’s brilliant. I’m brilliant. Now let me give you some cab money so you can head over there.” Bella handed Liz forty dollars and the key before she could even say no.

  “Well if you’re sure your father is gone.”

  “Yes, silly. He’s opening that new office in Boston, I’m sure.”

  “Ok. I guess I could stay there. Just until he’s coming home. You call me the second you hear when he is coming home. I don’t want to be there when he’s there.” Liz was firm about that one detail.

  “Of course! I’ll call him every day to keep track of him. Now go.” With that, Bella hugged Liz and headed off to bed and Liz headed to the Upper East Side condo of Bella Wellington.

  Chapter 6

  “I’m a friend of Isabella Wellington,” Liz said to the doorman as she arrived at the Upper East Side condo.

  “Yes, Ma’am.” He answered politely.

  “She gave me the key. I’m spending the night.” Liz pulled the key out and showed it to the doorman.

  “Yes, Ma’am. Go on in.” He nicely opened the door for Liz and waved her into the building. Possibly her story was so believable because of the bruising to her face and the large amount of personal belongings she was carrying. But for whatever reason, Liz was grateful he didn’t bombard her with questions.

  All she could think about was getting into a nice warm shower and going to bed.

  The apartment was impeccable. The last time Liz was up there she had been so busy avoiding eye contact with Harrison that she had not taken the time to look around at all.

  Modern furniture was stylishly placed around the two bedroom condo. Not a single thing looked out of place. In fact, it looked like no one even lived there. The condo looked more like one of those furnished rental apartments. Everything was brand new, and nothing looked worn or used at all.

  Liz couldn’t help but look around the condo. She took her shoes off and set her bags down by the front door before setting off to explore.

  In the kitchen, she opened the fridge to see what was in there. This wasn’t a regular refrigerator; it looked more like a walk in cooler from a large restaurant. The fridge was enormous, yet hardly a parcel of food inside.

  Liz peeked in some of the take-out containers and quickly closed the lids. They looked like a science experiment. There was plenty of beer and other drinks throughout the fridge though, and Liz grabbed herself a beer while she continued to explore the kitchen and rest of the condo.

  There was a door off to the side of the refrigerator, as Liz opened it she found what could only be described as a child’s paradise. The pantry was full of almost every kind of junk food available. Chips, crackers, cookies, and candy were on almost every shelf. Harrison certainly liked his sweets!

  Liz finished her beer as she peeked in every cabinet throughout the large kitchen. She then grabbed another one as she started to explore the living room. Pictures of Harrison and Bella were everywhere. The two of them in Paris, Berlin, and even the Great Wall of China. Liz might be older than Bella, but she certainly wasn’t as well traveled.

  Liz threw her second beer into the trash and grabbed a third. At this point in her night, getting drunk seemed like a good idea.

  Soon Liz found herself pillaging through Harrison’s bedroom. First his closet and the impeccably well-tailored suits he had color coordinated. Then she started opening drawers. Sock drawers, t-shirt drawers, and finally the nightstand drawer.

  The nightstand was where Liz stopped.

  Inside was a large variety of condoms, every style and flavor you could imagine. He also had toys in there. Harrison had a blindfold, feathers, handcuffs and some lube.

  Liz quickly closed the drawer. Her face flushed with embarrassment. Or possibly it was flush from the three beers she had just finished.

  Liz had not drunk more than one drink in a long time. She was always too focused on being responsible. It was time to go take a shower, soon Liz knew she would be tired and fall asleep. But she had to get this dried blood off of herself and clean out the cuts from the picture breaking.

  The bathroom near Bella’s room was designed for her. It was filled with flowers and pink accessories. Normally Liz would have thought about some funny remark in regards to the amount of pink she was surrounded by, but she was just too tired.

  As she slipped out of her clothes, she noticed they were covered in much more blood than she had originally realized. Liz laid them by the door and turned the shower on as hot as it would go.

  The warm water felt amazing on her back, and Liz stood there for a good five minutes just letting the warmth sooth her aching muscles.

  How did she end up at this point in her life Liz thought? She was homeless. It had finally happened. No one except a few friends that cared about her. No, boyfriend. No, family. Even her friends might just feel bad for her, and Liz wasn’t sure if they cared at all. Soon the tears were flowing.

  Liz couldn’t bear to stand even. Her body was exhausted. Emotionally she was a mess. The alcohol wasn’t helping. The warm shower was making her so tired. Liz thought about just turning the water off and going to sleep right there. It seemed like too much effort to stand back up though.

  Emotions overwhelmed her as Liz sat there on the shower floor. The tears just wouldn’t stop. This wasn’t like here. She never got emotional. But tonight, it was different. She just couldn’t take her life for another moment. All she wanted to do was have this life that Bella had.

  Liz wanted to have a nice apartment where she could visit her family. A Mom who was still alive or a Dad, who cared about her. Liz did not want her life anymore.

  “Hello?” A man’s voice bellowed from outside the bathroom door and down the hallway.

  Who could it be? Maybe it was the doorman from downstairs. Perhaps Liz had dropped something out of her bags when she was coming up in the elevator.

  “Um, Hello,” Liz said tentatively.

  “Isabella?”

  “No.” Oh no. Oh God. Oh shit. It was Harrison!

  “Elizabeth? Is that you?” Harrison said, now standing right outside the bathroom door.

  Liz tried to clear her voice and cover up the crying she had been doing. But her efforts didn’t work.

  “Yes. Bella gave me the key. I needed a place to stay.” Liz said.

  “Are you alright?” Harrison offered kindly.

  Liz was about to say yes, but as she stood up she lost her footing in the shower and slipped back to th
e ground. The combination of alcohol, emotions and the wet floor sent her tumbling to the ground roughly. She let out a loud cry as her head it the wall.

  “Shit, are you ok?” Harrison said as he cracked the door. “What the hell happened!” He was now standing in the doorway looking at the pile of bloody clothes on the floor.

  “I’m ok.” I just slipped trying to stand up.

  “No, what the fuck happened to your clothes. Why are they covered in blood?” Harrison was angry. Not that Liz was in the condo or even because she was in the bathroom. He was angry that something so horrible would happen to Liz and worried at why she had fallen in the shower.

  Harrison could still see Liz’s silhouette though. Instantly his body fought between his worry over the bloody clothes and the amazingly sexy silhouette he was looking at through the shower door.

  Gathering up her strength Liz stood and peeked out of the shower door. It was a solid glass door but had a deep coating to prevent people from seeing inside, only she didn’t realize that Harrison could see her silhouette.

  For the first time, in a very long time, Liz looked Harrison right in the eyes.

  “I’m fine. Let me get dressed, and I’ll tell you what happened.” She said with the best fake smile she could muster.

  Harrison just stood still. Liz had been crying, he could tell. She had blood all over her clothes, and her face looked like she had been beaten. His mind reeled with the possibilities.

  “Ok.” He finally muttered as he backed out of the bathroom.

  Chapter 7

  Liz could feel the effects of the alcohol taking a hold of her now. She wrapped herself in a towel and put her hair in another one. In her haste to explore the condo and get in the shower, Liz had forgotten to grab some clean clothes out of her bag. The thought of putting her bloody clothes back on was not appealing, so she decided to go grab her clean ones.