Chapter 5: apology?

Jenna spiraled into the passageway after we bought her lingerie set. She had turned into playful Jenna again. Sometimes, I wondered if they were the same person. I secretly thought she had a switch inside of her brain that tripped off at certain times. She was really excited. I loved seeing her happy without a care for this world.

I unconsciously looked into our baskets. "I think that's all we need. Let's get going."

"Uh... No," Jenna smirked, "We haven't bought my package yet."

She pulled me to the adult section of the supermarket. The most dreaded section. It was the section where you saw things you couldn't unsee. And I mean unsee. I groaned.

Jenna squealed as soon as we found it. "This is it. Look at it, sitting there in all of it's splendour and glory."

I looked at her pitifully and then rolled my eyes. I picked one up and threw it into my basket.

"Oh my gosh, Roxy, I can't believe you just treated her so terribly!"

Her?

I rolled my eyes at her before responding. "It's not living Jenna. Besides, you're gonna end up treating it worse when you're done with it. It's gonna end up in the waste bin or even worse, flushed down the toilet." I smirked at her reaction and laughed hysterically.

She smirked. "Well at least I know how to use it properly."

My laughs abruptly stopped and the corners of my lips tipped downwards. I knew exactly where this was going.

"Jeez Jenna! I have fucking implants, damnit. I don't need condoms like you do and besides Eric doesn't have any STD's. Implants are much safer. At least I know that I'd definitely not wound up pregnant."

"Eric has no STD's?" she laughed out loud. I glared at her. "You can never be too sure. They call 'em swinging dicks for a reason."

I rolled my eyes and rested my gaze elsewhere. I cursed under my breath and snapped my eyes to the opposite direction when I saw some dick enlargement oils.

"Of course he has none. We both got tested last year."

"Well, if you're so sure about your relationship, I see no reason why you got implants."

"That's my business." I narrowed my eyes. "Not everyone is ready to start popping out babies."

She rolled her eyes.

How many times did we have to go over this conversation? I pushed my basket forward and walked away. I didn't constantly keep buting into her relationship so she didn't have the right to do that to mine. There's a limit to every friendship.

"Roxy," Jenna called. We were strolling towards the cashier of the supermarket to turn in everything we picked. "I'm scared that he's going to hurt you."

I stopped walking and turned to her. "What? Eric's not like that. And besides, you know why I can't break up with him."

Jenna looked away for a brief second. "You have got to be kidding me."

"No, I'm not. When my parents died, he was the only one that stuck with me. Without him, they'd be no me. He offered me a place to stay even though we were dating for barely two months. At least I should be considerate enough to stay."

"Good luck with that. Appreciation can never be replaced by love. It just wouldn't be enough," she eyed me before handing the cashier her credit card and basket. I rolled my eyes. We were obviously going in circles with the conversation. He checked all her items and slotted her credit card into the machine as I ran my fingers through my hair.

I hated arguing with Jenna or whatever this was. "Jenna, are you mad at me?"

She turned to the window.

"Oh, fuck it, Jenna."

She sighed. "I'm not mad at you. I just don't understand what you're doing. I only want the best for you and Eric isn't the best," she said.

I nodded in agreement. Jenna turned towards the window and I rested my head on her shoulder. Remembering I hadn't checked my phone for a while, I pulled it out of my skinny jean and switched it on.

"Shit!"

"What happened?" Jenna said.

"Eric. He gave me nineteen missed calls and a lot of messages." I scrolled through my phone.

She chuckled. "His guilty conscience finally got to him."

I glanced up at Jenna to see a smile on her lips. I rolled my eyes at her. Jenna crouched her head in such a way that she'd be able to read the messages too.

Roxy, dollface, where are you? Call me when you get this message.

I've been calling but you don't answer. Roxy, please don't leave me. Stay with me.

I love you. Last night was a mistake. I'd never hurt you. I'm sorry, dollface. Please come back.

Roxy, I'm going insane. Please come back. If you leave me, I'd die.

Why aren't you responding? Are you gone already? Damn it! I know I messed up but I didn't think you'd leave.

You're killing me slowly, Roxy.

Jenna and I simultaneously burst into bouts of laughter. I couldn't even finish reading all of the messages.

"Talk about clingy," she snickered, recovering from her laugh.

"It's my boyfriend we're talking about. Watch it!" I laughed a little more before returning my gaze to my phone. I smiled and put it away. Jenna picked up her's and started scrolling through her social media. I laid my head on her left shoulder and stared at all the pictures and videos people linked to her account posted.

The driver stopped at my driveway and helped carry all my grocery bags up to the porch. "Bye Jenna." I waved at her retarding figure, watching as the taxi zoomed off. I started laughing after that. Anytime we went out together, I'd always end up being dropped off first and Jenna would end up paying the entire fare when she got to her destination.

Remembering that I was outside my house, laughing like a maniac on my porch, I opened up my purse and searched for the house key. When I eventually found it, I slotted it in the keyhole and tried to wiggle it. It didn't budge. I tried again. It still didn't give.

"Fuck." I looked down at the keyhole. The key didn't even fit half way through. I leaned against the door and started thinking. It was then I realized that it was a Saturday night and Eric would probably be home and must have locked the door from inside and left the key at the keyhole.

Groaning at my own stupidity, I pressed the doorbell. In less than a minute, the door of our apartment swung open and I was greeted by its cozy smell and aura. And of course, Eric's delicious cologne.

"Nice of you to finally show up to your own home," Eric said.

I walked into the apartment and found everywhere surprisingly spotless. I guess he must have found a more productive way to channel his energy.

Eric swung into the kitchen as I was arranging all the groceries I'd bought. "Where have you been?"

I ignored him again and that seemed to get him really irritated. "I said where the fuck have been, Roxy? Do you know how worried I was?"

That was it. What was wrong with him? Did he think he could yell at me? It was me who was mad at him!

"Well I have this thing that I do. I go there every day and at the end of every month, I get paid for my services. That's where I was today but then I don't think you'd understand because you can't seem to get your priorities right. Oh and for the love of fucking Fridays stop fucking yelling at me!" I ended my statement, matching his tone.

"I'm sorry. I realized you were at work so I stopped calling. But why are you home this late? I mean your closing hour is 4pm." He crossed his arms over his chest.

Why did it feel like I was the one being interrogated for doing something wrong? He thought he could turn the tables so easily huh?

I snapped. "You're not blind, are you? I fucking went grocery shopping." His face fell and I realized that I was being too harsh.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to get you upset," he said. That was all I needed to hear.

I closed the door to the fridge. "Eric, what happened last night?"

I heard him walk towards me and the next second, I was facing him. "It was the Spanish twin's birthday yesterday. Fernanda and Fernando invited us to a club and that was it."

I searched his eyes for the truth but something didn't sound right. I decided to play the detective's card. "What kinda club?"

"The strip club," he said.

"Wow."

"Dollface, I promise you that nothing happened. I didn't dance with any girls or anything. I just went there to have a few drinks."

"Then what about the drugs huh? Look, I know it's what we do. We party with them. We get stoned just for the fun of it but why so often these days?" I said. My gaze desperately searched his eyes for the truth but something changed in them.

"That's none of your business," he mumbled, looking at the floor.

"What?"

"I said, it's none of your fucking business." He let go of my hands.

What?

What?

He grabbed his converse from the room and walked towards the door. "Don't bother waiting up for me tonight. I'm not coming back." And with that, he slammed the door behind him.

I didn't move from my position.

What the hell just happened?

**************

-C.