Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Ritchie shuddered as he looked through the peephole. Before the door stood a pretty blond. She went to knock again just as Ritchie swallowed nervously and opened the door. “Hello, Heidi. What are you doing up so early?” Ritchie forced himself to be cordial and to smile. He detested Scott’s girlfriend and he dreaded the scene that would present itself when Heidi went to find Scott.
“Early? Oh, I’ve got some great news that I had to tell Scott in person, that’s all,” she replied arrogantly, pushing past Ritchie into the house. She began climbing upstairs. Ritchie hurried downstairs to where Scott and Angelica were still sleeping. Attempting to shake them awake, he didn’t hear Heidi come up behind him. She cleared her throat. Ritchie turned, opened his mouth to offer an explanation, then realizing that this was not his problem, he thanked everything holy and rushed back up the stairs. “Scott!” she screamed, her eyes aflame with anger.
Scott, startled to wakefulness, began mumbling incoherently. Suddenly he realized that his girlfriend stood over him, livid. “Heidi?! Ummm, Heidi…" he trailed off as Angelica awoke.
“Scott, who’s Heidi?”, Angelica asked, perplexed.
“I'll tell you who I am, you little slut!”, she retorted as she grabbed Angelica's arm, pulling her up to her level. "”I'm Scott's girlfriend! Who the hell are you?”
Angelica’s eyes opened wide in astonishment, before reacting to the girl's insults. “Listen, I'm not gonna stand around while some fuck wit tries to insult me. Sort this out, Scott. Call me when you’ve got an explanation.” She turned to depart the room. Without a second's hesitation, Heidi grabbed Angelica's arm, swinging her body back to face her. With an evil glare, she slapped Angelica across the face. It took all of Angelica's strength not to hit the girl back, knowing she couldn't stoop to her level of bitchosity. Holding her face in pain, she glared at Heidi and then at Scott. On her way out of the house, Angelica was stopped by Ritchie.
“Are you OK?”, he asked worriedly.
“Me? I’m fine…it’s Scott you should worry about. That girlfriend of his does not appear to be too happy…”, she answered dazedly, trying to ignore the sting in her cheek.
“Come here,” Ritchie said, reaching out to hug Angelica. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell you…”
Angelica shook her head, refusing Ritchie’s proffered hug. “It’s really OK, Ritchie. It doesn’t matter to me.”
Ritchie held her at arms length. “You know it does.”
“It doesn’t. It really doesn’t. Obviously Scott really wanted to be with his girlfriend all along, other wise he would’ve told me about her, or broken up with her or something. That’s pretty clear now.” She shrugged as if to let her surging emotions roll off her back.
“You don’t know Scott as well as I do. He doesn’t cheat…not ever. You mean something to him. I can’t explain why he never mentioned Heidi…that you’ll just have to ask him. But it’s obvious you really mean something to him.”
“Scott didn’t really even cheat on her though…I was a diversion…”
“No you weren’t…don’t feel that way.”
“Thanks, Rich. Can you give me a ride home?”
“Sure. No problem.”
As they turned to leave the house, loud screams could be heard from the living room. Angelica couldn't stop herself from halting in her tracks to listen.
“Heidi!”, she heard Scott yell from downstairs. “She means nothing to me! She's just some girl. Ritchie's friend or something...I don’t even know her name! We were all just watching a movie last night and she ended up falling asleep near me. You gotta believe me!”
Angelica clenched her fists, her nails digging painfully deep into her clammy, ice-cold palms. "Rich, can you take me home?" With that, they exited the house.
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Angelica slammed the door behind her. She leaned heavily against it, sinking to the floor. Her head raced with thoughts of Scott and her heart palpitated fiercely, threatening to erupt out of her chest with each labored breath. She needed to stay strong and not show her emotions, hoping somehow that this would lessen the sting of Scott’s lies and his last words that echoed viciously in her ears, throbbing incessantly and pounding into her brain, feeding their way into each conscious thought. Sluggishly, she pulled herself to her feet, walking towards the kitchen. Angelica felt the need to bury her troubles in a heaping bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. As she entered the kitchen, she saw Yelena standing at the stove, stirring around a pan of scrambled eggs. "Hey Len," she mumbled, reaching into the freezer.
"Angelica...where the hell were you?", questioned Yelena, turning to face her. "I really need to talk to you."
"Slept over Scott's...", she replied as she grabbed a spoon and sat down at the table. "What's wrong?"
"Wait, what's wrong with you?", Yelena asked, suddenly noticing Angelica's downcast, vacant eyes. "Are you okay Gel? What happened with Scott?"
"Nothing...", Angelica replied, trying to avoid Yelena's glance. "Tell me what's up with you."
"Alright...", Yelena said, sitting down in front of her friend. "It has to do with me...and Mark."
"What'd he do now?, she asked, trying to force Scott and his tormenting words out of her mind to listen to Yelena.
"Well, I came home upset last night...and we were talking...and..."
"What? You have a fight or something? He decide to move out of the house again?", Angelica asked, chuckling.
"No...nothing like that...Well...we...got...jiggy...", Yelena stammered.
"You what? Got jiggy? So you...went dancing?", Angelica asked, looking at Yelena quizzically.
"No Gel...we...umm...did the horizontal tango? Mattress mambo?"
Angelica’s jaw dropped, her eyes wide with incredulity. "Len, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Damn it Gel! We fucked!" she finally blurted out in frustration.
Angelica began to laugh hysterically at the outburst, still not believing what she had just heard. "No you didn't...", she said between spurts of laughter. She rocked back and fell off her chair, her tempestuous laughter cutting quickly short at her best friend’s next words, uttered ominously seriously.
"Yeah...yeah I did."
Scott opened each cupboard drawer, perusing each one's contents before moving onto the next. Finally, he settled on a bag of salt and vinegar chips and walked with them lazily into his bedroom. He flopped down on the bed and began scanning through the various CDs sprawled around he room. When he came to one that interested him, he popped it into the stereo and sat back to relax and think over the Angelica situation. He knew he had to talk to her, but had no idea what to say.
He sat motionless for a long time, just thinking of a solution. Scott still couldn't believe what he'd done to Angelica. He cared so much for her, but now he might never be with her again.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps woke him from his trance. He slowly got up and surveyed the room. In the doorway, he could see Abs' figure standing, watching him with anger.
"What's wrong mate?", he asked, removing the headphones from his ears.
"You, that's what's wrong," he retorted, staring angrily into Scott’s deep blue eyes.
"I can't believe what you did to Angelica."
"You heard about that?", Scott asked, standing up to face him. He hadn't realized that word had spread so quickly about the situation. Scott made a mental note to yell at Ritchie about this later.
"Yeah, I heard....", replied Abs as he walked closer to Scott. "How could you do that to her?"
"Abs, this is completely none of your business. Why don't you just let me do what I want?", he questioned, glaring into Abs' eyes, attempting to look tough, against Abs’ more muscular frame.
"Look, if you can't treat her right, I sure can...I mean..." Abs closed his eyes in disbelief at what he'd just said. He'd promised himself not to let Scott ever find out about his feelings for Angelica. He stood waiting for his reaction.
"Is this what this is all about?", Scott asked, now infuriated at this news. "You're just trying to take my girl?"
"Well, if you've forgotten your little outburst this morning, she's not your girl anymore," Abs responded, smirking at the comment.
Scott had finally had enough of Abs' antics. He could feel his fingers beginning to curl together in a fist. His face was turning red, and he knew the vein in his forehead was surely protuding. Scott could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him, ready to burst out in a strong punch to Abs' face. Scott's hand slowly began to loosen as he tried to calm himself. He knew he couldn't punch his best friend like that, but he had to get his anger towards him out somehow. He couldn't believe Abs had been after Angelica the whole time. His anger was finally released in a sharp push directed towards Abs.
Stunned for a moment at Scott's unusual violence, Abs quickly regained his composure and responded with a shove back in Scott's direction. This quickly developed into a brawl, with each party attempting to shove the other as hard as possible. Suddenly, Sean, who'd been in his room at the time, heard the commotion. He quickly ran to the room and pushed the young men apart. They each sat breathless at opposite ends of the room glaring at one another.
Scott knew he had to talk to Angelica immediately. He couldn't lose her to Abs...
"Yelena!", Angelica shrieked, jumping up from the floor to face her friend. She still couldn't quite comprehend what she was hearing. "How? When? Oh my god..."
"It was last night...and I don't quite know how it happened," Yelena said, almost in a whisper. As she spoke, she could only look down at her hands, not wanting to look up and see Angelica's reaction. She could feel her face coloring to a deep crimson with embarrassment. "It's just that...I came home upset last night...and Mark was there..."
"So you fucked him?", Angelica questioned, trying to understand how something like this could have happened.
"Gel, it wasn't like that...I was crying...and he was so nice to me...and…", she trailed off as she tried to explain herself. She'd already spent the whole day going over the previous night’s events, trying to understand how she could have done something like that. It was definitely not a "Yelena" thing to do.
"Wait, why were you crying?", Angelica interjected, wondering what could have made her friend so upset that she could have lost all of her senses. "Did it have something to do with why you left Scott's last night?"
"Yeah. I was talking to Abs...and," Yelena began, trying to keep from crying again. She'd been doing enough of that lately. "He was telling me how he liked a friend of his..."
Angelica's face perked up at that. "Was it you?", she asked hopefully.
"No…", Yelena replied, looking back at her hands sadly. She began to chip silently at her nail polish to avoid telling Angelica what Abs had said.
She didn't want to start problems with her and Scott knowing this could probably lead to some.
"So who was it Len?", Angelica asked impatiently. She couldn't understand why her friend wouldn't just tell her.
Finally, Yelena let the whole story out. She told Angelica about Abs' feelings for her, and how upset she had been. Then she went on to tell Angelica how she'd come home crying and Mark had comforted her. She ended with the final activities of last evening.
Angelica sat for a moment allowing all this incredible information to soak in. She couldn't believe Abs liked her. Finally, she spoke, "Len, I'm so sorry. You gotta know I didn't plan for this thing with Abs."
"I know Gel...still sucks though...", Yelena replied sadly. She decided she needed to change the subject. "So what happened with Scott?"
"Oh...yeah...Scott." Angelica repeated, stalling before she answered the question. Eventually, she cleared her throat and explained to Yelena all that had happened with Scott this morning.
When she finished the explanation, Yelena rose to hug her friend, but Angelica shook her head. "Really Len, it's okay. It wasn't meant to be I guess…” She added caustically, “I’ll live. Everything is for the best, y’know…”
Angelica stared into her steaming mug. The rich coffee aroma tantalized her senses. Her taste buds yearned for the caffeinated beverage, the soothing warmth and bitter acidity rushing through her. This would be somewhere around her 10th cup of coffee today. Actually, it was an almond cappuccino; she needed some variety. Caffeine seemed to take away the morning’s sting. Whereas most people hit the bottle, Angelica turned to strong coffee and assorted caffeinated beverages in times of great emotional stress.
She drank the potent brew slowly, savoring each sip. She sat alone in her favorite café. She’d been there for most of the day. Yelena had been with her for a short time, but then she’d had to go to work, so for the duration of the afternoon she’d been alone. The night was still young, but Angelica had no desire to leave the comfort of the café sofa. She listened to the beautiful jazz strains reaching her from what seemed like miles away, but what was really only about 50 feet. The notes reverberated through her head, ringing tinnily off the walls of her brain to reflect down to her hollow heart. The solitary notes drifted about scouring the emptiness inside. They bounced about, then died hauntingly. ‘Kind of like Scott and I…’ she thought to herself, stirring her foam idly. Suddenly, a familiar voice broke through her contemplative reverie. Startled she dropped her spoon, splashing hot cappuccino. “Gel…” Without turning around, she answered sullenly, “What?”
“Can we talk?”
This time she turned around, hearing the raw emotions enveloping Scott’s words. “Sit…” She moved over a little on the sofa and Scott gingerly sat next to her, careful not to touch her, lest he be slapped in return. Noticing his pained expression, Angelica softened her tone. “Rough breakup?”
Scott half smiled and replied, “You could say that…do I have a black eye yet?” Angelica giggled slightly at Scott’s answer and he said sincerely, “I thought I lost that smile forever this morning…whether you know it or not…I know I hurt you this morning. And I’m sorry…”
“It’s OK…I understand…well no I don’t, but I don’t really care. It’s not my problem; is it?”
“No, it’s not, it’s my problem, and I’ve dealt with it.”
“That’s good,” Angelica said absently, wiping up the spilled cappuccino.
“Can you at least act like you care? I’ve been all over looking for you…”
Angelica looked up at Scott, blinking slowly a few times pensively before she spoke. “Y’know what, I do care. But after what you said this morning-- yes I did hear you-- I didn’t think you cared.”
“You heard that?” Scott’s face fell. “I didn’t mean that…”
“Well whether you meant it or not…Y’know what?! Never mind!! It doesn’t matter…no hard feelings, OK? We’re still friends…I mean were we ever more than friends?”
“Can you please not take that tone? It makes me feel like an asshole.”
“Good.”
Scott shook his head in disbelief. “Good?”
“Yes, you pulled a major asshole maneuver. You deserve whatever pain you’ve suffered. But I’m still you’re friend…and whatever you want to talk about, I’m here.”
“I want to talk about us. Heidi and I are over. I’ve wanted to get out of that relationship forever--”
Angelica cut him off. “So I was an excuse?”
“No! You were not an excuse! Would you let me finish?!”
“Sorry! That just…pissed me off right there…continue.”
“OK…Heidi jumped to conclusions this morning. I tried to explain things as best I could, but I just can’t get through to that chick sometimes…she has this perfect vision of me and her, which I just don’t share…” Angelica nodded, listening and sipping her cappuccino. “I mean, I want the perfect relationship as much as the next lad, but not Heidi’s perfection…I couldn’t handle her…”
“But that doesn’t explain why you never told me about her.”
Scott clenched his jaw, muscles flexing as he thought. “I know…I honestly don’t know why I didn’t. I loved what we had, and I didn’t want to ruin it, I guess. I know I still look like an asshole…”
“But an honest one now.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sorry…I’ve never cheated on someone before…I hate cheating and lying. But…” Scott trailed off.
“But what?”
“But…I wanted to be with you so bad…at the time hooking-up with you made perfect sense…”
“Does Heidi know that’s all we did?”
“No, she thinks we slept together…She did find us asleep together this morning.”
“Yeah…” Scott traced Angelica’s jaw lightly with his fingers. Angelica could faintly smell his cologne as she tried to turn her face away and hide what was written there. They both had dark circles under their eyes, remnants of the early rising and stress of the day. Scott’s forehead was creased with large wrinkles, his head tilted down a little, his eyes looking up into Angelica’s. “Do you wanna go home now?”
“Home?”
“Do you want me to walk you to your place?”
“Oh, yeah, sure.”
“So how much coffee did you drink today anyway?”
“Oh I dunno…more than 10 cups…I was at the café like all day.”
“Wow, you must be wired!”, Scott remarked in amazement. He put his arm comfortingly around Angelica’s waist. She in turn, did likewise. The night was cold and no stars were visible. The dark sky was clouded over and the scent of rain was in the air. And yet despite the impending downpour, electricity engulfed the two hurrying figures. Emotions ran rampant. The morning was practically forgotten. They were so intent on each other and the smiles on their faces, the gleam in their eyes, the touch of their hands.
And then the rain came. It fell from the sky suddenly and like a release of all the bottled–up negativity that had yet remained. As the myriad of crystalline drops struck the ground and the two smiling faces, soaking everything in its refreshing, cleansing euphoria, they stopped. Regarding each other almost speculatively they grinned ecstatically and Angelica dashed swiftly away, with Scott not far behind. As she ran, Angelica reflected on everything concerning her and Scott up to this point. It seemed he was constantly chasing her, whether figuratively or physically. Splashing madly through a muddy puddle she tripped. She sprawled on the wet pavement, dirty and drenched. But with her fall, she’d come to a conclusion. More a question than an actual conclusion; what was she continuously running from?
Ritchie witnessed the scene before him, aghast with feelings of betrayal. There sat his lovely Sunny, laughing, twirling her hair flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes, eating her lunch delicately, and all without any regard to her supposed boyfriend, himself! And yet he couldn’t be mad at her, basking there in all her beauty and innocence. He rapped his own head sharply. ‘She’s not innocent, you idiot! Look at her there, that little slu…little angel…how exquisite can a creature be…’ He struck himself again. He rubbed his eyes, trying to focus on what he saw, that not being Sunny’s immaculate looks, but her evil ways.
Ritchie shook his blond head exasperatedly, donning his sunglasses quickly, believing it to be an effective disguise. It wasn’t good enough. A hand tapped him lightly on the shoulder. He turned abruptly, shocked. “Ritchie, right? Do you remember me? Terri…Sunny’s cousin…”
Ritchie gazed at Sunny’s gorgeous cousin, brilliant in her casual, but tasteful attire. Her long dark hair was tossed over one shoulder, a few locks cascading elegantly around her striking face. Ritchie fiercely fought back the impulse to tuck those shining locks behind her ears. He clasped his hands behind his back to restrain himself from touching Sunny’s equally beautiful, yet completely opposite, cousin. Finally, he stammered out a response. “Uh, yeah, I remember you…Honey Bunches of Oats…” They both chuckled at Ritchie’s quip about their favorite cereal.
“Are you hear to meet Sunny?”, Terri inquired ingenuously.
“No…I was just here to make some reservations…but I’ve changed my mind.”
“Oh…”
“Why, are you here to meet Sunny?” Ritchie seemed suddenly more interested.
“Yes, as a matter of fact.” A glint flashed in Terri’s eyes. “We’re on a double-date, actually.” Ritchie’s face fell, and Terri almost felt bad. “Oh…a double-date…with your boyfriends?”
“Well, I don’t know about Sunny, but I don’t have a boyfriend…Sunny gets all the guys. Probably ‘cuz she’s blond…”
“Maybe, but I like brunettes…”
Terri smiled and said, “Why, thank you…but it is true, most guys do go for blonds…I wonder why…”
Ritchie shrugged. “I don’t know. But say, are you busy tonight? I know it’s short notice--”
Terri interjected with an eager, “No!” and then relaxed her tone and said more calmly, “No, no, I’ve got nothing planned so far. Why?”
“If you’re not busy, do you think you’d want to do something with me?”
“OK, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. What did you have in mind?”
Ritchie couldn’t repress his smile any longer. “Well, I’m really into cooking and I’ve been told I’m quite good at it, so maybe you’d like to come over for a nice, quiet, candle-lit dinner, specially prepared by me?”
Terri’s brown eyes sparkled with excitement. “Wow! That sounds wonderful! I’d definitely be up for that!” Ritchie slipped her his arm through hers and escorted her into the restaurant, finalizing their plans.
A vintage red convertible pulled up in front of the restaurant. The driver hopped out of the car, leaping over the seat and throwing his keys at the butt of his exiting passenger. She yelped and tumbled out of the car as a firm hand followed the keys in striking her behind. She grabbed the keys and chucked them back, aiming for the man’s head, but he caught them just in time. He tossed them lazily to the valet and smiled demonically at the girl. “Come here, Katie…”, he growled advancing menacingly, making a dive for her rear, but receiving a pointed and painful kick in his own instead.
Ritchie fretted around the kitchen, completely stressed out. He had successfully kicked all the guys out of the house tonight, which was a plus; about the only plus, though. Terri was due to arrive any minute and he still wasn’t dressed. He stopped what he was doing, breathing deeply to alleviate his anxiety. ‘Everything will be fine,’ he told himself. He adjusted the oven temperature and then made his way upstairs to change.
Running his fingers through his blond hair and taking a final glimpse in the mirror, he rushed down the stairs to answer the door. He had butterflies in his stomach. This was extremely unusual…he never got nervous around girls. He supposed Terri was different, though. He hadn’t REALLY spoken to her ever. Hopefully the evening wouldn’t be too awkward. As he opened the door, he assured himself that he wasn’t doing this just to get back at Sunny. If he were, wouldn’t he have taken Terri someplace public…?
“Hello, Terri, and how are you this fine evening?”
“Wonderful, and you?”
“Oh, well now that you’re here…”, Ritchie beamed as he said this, and was afforded an incredible smile in return from Terri.
“What do you have planned for tonight, Ritchie?”, Terri inquired sweetly.
“First, a candlelit dinner, prepared with love by yours truly, then I was thinking a ride around the city in a horse drawn carriage…”
“Oh my god! Ritchie, that sounds so awesome…way to seduce a girl.”
“I try. But really, who’s seducing anyone now…I think the seduction has already been quite successful.”
Terri blushed and said, “You are quite the charmer.”
“Well, follow me this way and we’ll see if I’m quite the cook, too.” Taking Terri’s hand gently, he led her to the dining room. Terri gasped as she surveyed the sight before her. The table was absolutely beautiful. There were four exquisite silver candleholders with twinkling alabaster tapers, platters of sumptuous food, maroon napkins in silver rings, a bottle of champagne chilling in a stainless-steel ice bucket, two fluted crystal champagne glasses, and a single red rose on the plate in front of the chair Ritchie politely seated Terri in.
When Terri finally regained her powers of speech, all she could mutter was a breathless, “Wow…” She had never been on a date this spectacular before. All the guys she’d dated before had been, to put it bluntly, crude and ill mannered. But Ritchie, on the other hand, was amazing. This date was a dream come true so far. A candle-lit dinner, made by a Prince Charming that could cook! Still taking everything in, Terri was again speechless.
Ritchie couldn’t tear his cerulean eyes off of Terri. Her dark, wavy hair cascaded about her slender shoulders, her eyes sparkled in the candle light, her simple, yet sultry, black dress came to her knees, but had a slit that extended wonderfully high up her thigh, she had a delicate silver chain around her neck, and her make-up was flawless. Ritchie, too, suffered from speechlessness. Appearance-wise, Terri was the girl of his dreams, and he had the whole evening to determine if her personality chimed with his.