Chapter 5:
Each one of them had a story to share.
‘He said it would make us closer…’
Everyone had their excuses.
‘We just needed a little more excitement, you know, a spark to keep us going…’
After a while the responses to William’s question of ‘Why are you here tonight?’ seemed to pretty much blend together with answer to the last swinger he met.
‘Are we going to do this or what?’
*~*~*~*~*~
“I’m William Pratt.”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t blink. She did nothing but stare at him.
“Uh…ya…look—“ he started.
“So you got me huh?” Buffy interrupted, “I’m your partner.”
William took note that her eyes were blood shot and that her hair was in disarray. As he looked over her shoulder he saw strands of toilet paper covering the bathroom floor.
“Miss…”
“Misses…” Buffy corrected harshly, “I’m Mrs. Buffy O’Connor, Mr. Pratt.”
William was sure she was going to hit him, that look in her eye and the way her body shook with rage made him pretty sure she was going to snap.
“Mrs. O’Connor…”
He didn’t get another word in edgewise after that. Buffy snatched her earring out of his hand and stepped back to slam the bathroom door.
*~*~*~*~
Her black leather high heels were neatly placed on top of the rim of the bathtub, lined up one behind the other. The plastic shower curtain was ripped from the rings from a spontaneous burst of rage. On the ground, on top of the white shaggy rug, Buffy’s pink painted toe nailed feet were sprawled out as she propped herself up against the locked door.
Her tired eyes shifted from the night time sky outside the small window to the small tiny clock that sat on the shelf next to the mirror.
‘2:42 am’
Ten minutes later than the last time she checked.
She groaned and closed her heavy eyes once again.
*~*~*~*~
A light tapping noise from the other side of the door where Buffy’s head leaned back against, jolted her out of her sleepy trace and crawl back away from the door in a bit of panic. She looked back over to clock to read the time; it had been two hours since she slammed the door in Mr. Pratt’s face and she hadn’t heard a peep out of him since then.
“Buffy?”
It was him again.
‘He’s still trying to get sex out of me…’ her eyes widen at the thought.
She figured he went off to bed in one of the vacated rooms in the house—giving up when he realized he had been paired with an unwilling partner.
‘That asshole…’ she thought, ‘He promised to leave.’
“Go away!” she called.
“I’m just checking in to see if you’re okay pet.”
‘Sure he is…’ she thought sarcastically.
“Get away from me…” she took one of her shoes and threw it at the white painted door and caused a little dent.
‘Good Buffy, show him you have no problem with violence…’ She told herself, ‘Show him no mercy…you took those kickboxing classes for a reason, for men like him.’
“Look love, I’m not going to hurt you…I promise…” he said calmly.
On the opposite side of the bathroom door, in the main hallway, William slid down the wall adjacent to the room she was hiding in. He was well determined to get his story straight with this girl.
“Don’t take this personal…but I don’t believe you.”
After a beat she whispered to herself, “I can’t even trust my own husband.”
William wanted to comment on that last statement, he heard very clearly through the door. However, he let it be…for now.
“Look, pet, I don’t force myself on girls…I’m not so desperate to have sex that I’d do that to you. I’m not that type of guy.”
Buffy bit her lip; the tears were starting up once again.
“Why won’t you leave?” She asked quietly as she wiped her streaming tears with the back of her hand before grabbing a bunch of toilet paper to dry her eyes.
William sighed and said, “I can’t, I sort of have this weakness for girls that cry…can’t bloody stand it.”
“Then you must be helpless as a newborn baby…” she joked as she yanked a black towel from the towel rack and covered her cold bare legs.
He laughed and smiled, “Ya…you pretty much hit the nail on the head there love…”
‘Good, progress…’ William thought to himself, ‘I can deal with baby steps…’
“Well I’m sorry if I’m such a nuisance to you Mr. Pratt…if I feel the need to get weepy I’ll make sure to turn on the shower or flush the toilet while doing so.” She said bitterly.
‘Okay…’ he thought, ‘…two steps forward resulted in five steps back…I'm going to get no where with her at this rate.’
“You’re not a nuisance Buffy…I know why you’re upset.”
“Oh do you now?” she scoffed out.
“Doesn’t take a bloody genius to know that you weren’t expecting to come here tonight.” William explained, “He-he tricked you into coming didn’t he?”
Buffy didn’t answer for a moment, she wanted to choose her words carefully, “I wouldn’t call it tricked…it’s more like...trapped. He trapped me.”
“I know the feeling…” William whispered.
“Stop that!” she yelled.
“What?”
“Stop trying to relate to me…you don’t know a damn thing about what I’m going through!” She took her other shoe and threw it at the door.
‘Okay…no more Mr. Nice Guy…if she gets to be pissed off and direct all her anger towards me then I can do the same to her.’ he thought.
“I think we can relate pretty well pet since our partners are down the hall fucking each other.” He retorted harshly.
It was a low shot and he knew it. Plus, it didn’t help him feel better at all; if anything it made matters worse.
“Oh good, we found common ground between us….lets be best buds, or better yet, lets go have sex on the couch in the living room…after all, that is what everyone expects us to be doing now since you’re my stupid partner.” She said sarcastically.
He let out a long tired sigh, “I’m not going to have sex with you, Buffy.”
“That’s what you want me to think…then as soon as you get on my good side you’ll slip me something in my drink and away to happy land you’ll go!”
Buffy waited for a nasty remark back, but when she didn’t get one…
“William?”
She tried again.
“William?”
Buffy listened for a moment before she got to her feet and leaned her ear against the door to see if she could hear him.
Nothing….
He left.
TBC....