Chapter 12

Alita pulled her thoughts away from the enormous burden she had placed on them.

In the middle of her fight to forget what to had found, she walked past a boutique where she spotted a dress she felt would be perfect for Sarah and dashed in to buy it for her. As she checked it out, she hoped that it would draw attention to Sarah's femininity and indicate her appeal to others. The low neckline, the tightly fitted bodices, and the extravagantly designed skirt are all highlights of the dress. Sarah would appear bare-armed and stunning as a result of the reflective material.

She bought the dress and hit the road again, this time walking much quicker than she had been. She couldn't wait to see Sarah test the outfit. She imagined the look of delight on Sarah's face when she finally put the dress on.

Keeping a smirk on her lips as she gripped the box that the garment was bundled onto her breast, Alita said, "This would definitely get you a date, Sarah, long time so see, too long."

She pulled the door open and noticed that Sarah had already arrived home. She pulled her head backward as she squinted her eyes shut. "All right, early bird," she observed as she checked the clock on her phone by tapping the screen. "Can you tell me what's up? 'You're home early," Alita muttered, placing the package on the table and covering it with her jacket.

Sarah crossed her over her chest and she hummed. She smiled as she feigned a funny expression. "Party..." She drawled a little.

While moving closer to the bed where Sarah was sitting, Alita splayed her hands in the air, "Oh, sure, party." "You don't look like you are coming from a party," says Alita as knelt on the ground beside her. "Can you tell me what went wrong?"

"Everything!" Sarah moaned and groaned.

"Okay?" Alita reached out and took Sarah's hand in hers. "Let it out girl, talk to me."

"Mr. Astor wasn't able to accompany us," Sarah said, clenching her teeth. "He bolted out of his office, clearly furious over something, and no one has seen or heard from him since," she said. "We were on the verge of losing the deal because he wasn't there, but we made it. We had to cover for him, and I also had to deal with Luke the entire time," she said, a scowl on her face at the mention of Luke. His denial of her before Benson had left her enraged, and she had carried that resentment with her since that day with Alita at the office. When Alita splayed her hands in the air, Sarah shot her a scowl that conveyed the message that she didn't want to hear anything Alita had to say in Luke's defense.

What she tried to forget came pouring back into Alita's memory, and her expression closed up. "Right, I'm the lucky one to get to see him like that," she said with a snarl in her voice.

Sarah fanned her lashes in anticipation of detail from Alita.

"He returned with a dismal expression on his face and barely saying anything. "He appeared to be tense and disturbed," Alita responded, her gaze fixed on nothing in particular. "However, he appeared to be rather menacing."

Yea, tell me about it," Sarah said, a feeble smile on her face.

"I'm curious as to what it is that has him back to being frighteningly grouchy," Alita wondered out into the air.

"Hey, I know that look," Sarah said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't start snooping around. You're not going to like what you find. Let things be, just let things be."

Alita agreed, saying to herself, "Right, Where were you when I needed you to warn me?" 

As Sarah pointed to a slice of pizza on the couch, she said, "Well, I ordered pizza."

"Oh, pizza," Alita yelled . She stretched her body towards the couch, but she was unable to get to the couch. She snarled, softly lifted herself, and drew the pizza closer to her face and mouth.

"You're such a baby," Sarah said with a smile. They both burst out laughing.

"I bought you a dress on my way back," Alita said sweetly. It is over there and I'm unable to get off the ground right now, so you'll have to go get it yourself. Sharing the pain of your Precious Astor has rendered my feet numb," she said, gesturing to the table in the center of the room, as she moved to the side to allow Sarah to go and retrieve the package. Immediately, Sarah leaped out of bed and hurriedly walked to the center of the room, a smile on her face throughout.

"Oh my god," Sarah exclaimed as she began to remove the contents of the box from its packaging. 

Alita threw the pizza to the ground and lifted herself to her feet, a feat that surprised even her. "Do you like," she asked, crossing her hands across her chest and flashing a radiant smile. "You like," she asked again. The fact that the gown was blue, which was Sarah's favorite color, played a significant role in her decision to acquire it.

"Sure, yes," Sarah said, expressing her approval. She pushed the frock up against her nose and smelled the perfume that emanated from it. She was in love. "It has a pleasant aroma about it. Expensive!"

Sarah dashed towards Alita, her arms held wide. They wrapped their arms around one other in loving embraces. Alita motioned for her to put on her dress.

Out of too much excitement, Sarah removed her top without realizing she wasn't wearing a bra. She guffawed as she lifted her face to the mirror and realized she was entirely naked from the waist up. With her lips pursed, she hurriedly slipped her legs into the gown and pulled it up, then spun around to ask Alita for help zipping it up.

Sarah admired herself in the mirror, and her eyelids fluttered as she gazed at herself.

Tears ran down her cheeks when she spoke the words, "It's perfect," she said.

Alita's eyes were aglow with tears as Sarah spoke. However, even though they were unable to attend her planned dinner date, the evening had already turned out to be a memorable one for her. The two of them got yet another pizza and a bottle of wine, and they ate and laughed the rest of the night until they fell asleep together.

****

After making sure Julie was sound asleep, Benson dragged himself to his bar. His hand reached for a bottle of whisky on the shelf. He gulped it down until half of the contents of the bottle were gone down his neck.

He picked up his phone and dialed his younger brother's number, just as he had promised. Even though the phone rang, no one answered, he tried a second time but the same thing happened. He then hung up the phone and downed the second half of the whisky in one swallow. He was beginning to feel dizzy by this point.

He is likely feeling jolly right now and forgetting they have phones

When his brother didn't answer his phone, he was relieved since he was still trying to think out what he should tell him and how he should say it to him.

His entire day had been ruined, and he had been drinking heavily all day.

Suddenly, he had the strong urge to vomit and dashed to the bathroom. He threw up in the basin and flushed it down the toilet. He was too weak to move so he cautiously let himself slip down the wall until he eventually found himself sitting on the cold floor. Finally, after a long day of battling it and pretending that it didn't hurt so much, he allowed himself to feel every bit of the anguish he had been fighting away, and tears streamed out of his eyes as he did so. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his mouth. More tears streamed down his chin as he recalled the day of the accident that he had been in.

He had a minor altercation with Charity, his former wife. He drove away from the house, enraged, and determined to go somewhere else, anywhere else where he wouldn't have to deal with his nagging wife.

He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he was completely unaware that he was approaching a turn. He attempted to control the vehicle, but it was moving too quickly for him to maintain control. Unfortunately for Benson, a delivery truck was making the same turn from the other side of the road at the same time as him. He ran into the truck and the last thing he recalled was the beeping sounds that woke him up in the hospital, where he was covered in bandages all over. He was required to stay in the hospital for a month, undergoing a series of treatments and examinations. When he was released from the hospital, he was told the heartbreaking news that he was impotent.

He divorced his wife a few months after he was able to stand on his own two feet again, primarily because she had failed to visit him while he was in the hospital and because he was simply fed up with their marriage. He would still be a wholesome man if it weren't for her constant prodding.

Benson eventually fell asleep on the restroom floor, where he remained until the following morning.

He awoke about midday and found himself in his room, dressed in different clothes and with no recollection of how he had gotten there.