She turned to him and cleared her throat. “Yeah?” As soon as the word escaped her mouth, he kissed her and his hands slid up the back of her shirt. “Greg, stop!” she said firmly, pushing him away. He looked at her questioningly. “Don’t you think you’re moving a bit fast?”
“No. Come on, Lauren,” he said, kissing her again, much more forcefully this time, as his hands again began to wander.
“Greg, no. I don’t want to do anything!” she exclaimed, beginning to panic. This time, he totally ignored her and went to take her shirt off, but she rolled out from under him onto the floor.
“What is your problem?” he cried angrily as he hit her across her cheekbone. She turned away, and tried to stand up, but he kicked her in the ribs, not hard enough to break them, but certainly hard enough for it to hurt badly. She screeched in pain, almost drowning out the ringing of the telephone. He crossed the room to turn the ringer off, and Lauren saw this as her only chance. She scrambled to her feet and bolted for the door, opened it, but could not beat him.
“Fine, Lauren. You want to leave?” he said calmly. He pushed her out and she fell, causing her to scrape her hands and knees, and slammed the door shut.
Lauren curled up into a ball, shaking uncontrollably. She ignored the rain soaking her thin clothes and concentrated more on what could have caused her to let her guard down. After several minutes, she heard the pounding of his footsteps inside, or was it the pounding of her heart? Either way, she needed to get away from there before he changed his mind and came after her.
Her feet began to carry her in whatever direction, and she did not stop running until she hit a gas station and realized she had no way to get home and no money. Jessica was at Elaine’s house, and she couldn’t remember Elaine’s number, address, or even her last name. She reached into her pocket to see if she had brought her wallet, but came up with only 39 cents and a crumpled piece of paper. “What’s this?” she muttered, opening it up. It was a number. Nick’s cell phone number! “But he’s a creep. I can’t call him!” she exclaimed to some unknown presence. A voice inside her screamed differently. “Do you have a choice? You can’t just stand here in the rain and freeze to death!” Quickly, she put 35 cents in the payphone and dialed the number.
He picked up after one ring. “Nick here.”
“Nick?” she whimpered.
“Yeah, who is this?” he replied.
“It’s Lauren,” she answered.
“Lauren? My God, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned.
“Something, uh, something happened, and I’m stranded here at the gas station on the corner of…” She paused to get the street names. “20th and Gilbert Street. Jessica is at a friend’s house, and I have no way to get home.”
“I’m only four blocks away from there, Lauren. Hang tight. I’ll be right there,” he said. She heard a click, then a dial tone. Sure enough, a minute later, a green Durango pulled up, and she got in.
“You must be freezing!” Nick exclaimed, taking off his jacket and handing it to her. “Hang on, I think we have a blanket in the back.” He reached behind him and pulled an afghan to the front.
“I can’t believe I was stupid enough to wear shorts and a tank top today,” Lauren mumbled.