Beautiful PRICK by Sophia Kenzie

answering machine. That
might have something to do with it.” I snap at him.
    “It wasn’t real.” He sounds like a sad, whiney child.
    “Go to bed, Nick. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
    “You’re going to call me?” He keeps up his whiney voice.
    “I’ll call you.” I am barely paying attention.
    “I love you.”
     
    I don’t say it back. I can’t. He’s not on my mind. My sights
are set on something much greater.
     
    “Bye Nick.”
     
    I hang up. I take a deep breath. I check my mirrors to make
sure no one is lurking outside of my car.
     
    Then I step onto the sidewalk. I walk to the door. I ring
the buzzer.
     
    “Hello?” His voice crackles on the other end. I feel a jolt
of electricity spring through my body as I prepare to respond.
    “It’s Caroline. Can I come up?”
     
    The door buzzes open.
     
    I take the stairs. He’s only on the fifth floor, and for
some reason, I have energy that I desperately need to exert. I feel empowered,
enlightened.
     
    For the first time in two weeks, I finally am coming back to
myself.
     
    The door is open when I reach the top of the stairs, and
Johnny is standing in the doorway.
     
    He’s wearing a tight white tee shirt that clings to his cut
muscles, and a pair of light gray sweatpants with a drawstring hanging out of
the front. His hair is shaggy and in his face, and his eyes are half closed, as
if I woke him up.
     
    But his look is of concern.
     
    “Is everything okay? What happened?” He steps toward me.
     
    I’m quickly alarmed, as this Johnny is not the one I see
everyday in the studio lot. This Johnny is not the one who yesterday threw his
daily script pages at me because I highlighted them in yellow and not green. This
is the Johnny that carefully rubbed ointment on my ribs and asked his sister to
drive my car out to my apartment. This is the Johnny that made me wonder if
there was something to Julia’s comment about me being “special”.
     
    But that’s not the Johnny I need right now.
     
    “Are you okay?” He asks again, obviously worried that I have
yet to respond.
    “I’m fine.”
    “Then… then what are you doing here?”
     
    I see a quick glimmer in his eye, as a knowing thought comes
across his face. He’s a man, and a good-looking one at that, and there are only
a handful of reasons a girl would show up at his apartment in the middle of the
night.
     
    “I’m not here to have sex with you, Johnny.”
     
    His face drops. It’s kind of cute.
     
    “Then…”
     
    I cut him off as I confidently step into his apartment.
     
    “You’re going to teach me how to fight.”
     
    I smile the first real smile in maybe my entire life.

 
     
    CHAPTER FIFTEEN
     
    “Now? You want me to teach you how to fight now?” He wipes
the sleep from his eyes.
    “Not right now, no.” I half laugh at his worried look. “I
just mean…”
     
     I stop myself and look around at the darkened apartment. It’s
the middle of the night. What did I think was going to happen? Did I want to
start now? Did I think he would just have boxing equipment sitting next to the
door, ready to be used at a moment’s notice? Or did I really just come over
here to ask him to train me sometime in the near future, and now I’m going to
go home? Am I really going to go back out there alone and walk to my car? Am I
ready for that? In this darkness?
     
    I feel the weight come back to my chest. My breathing
becomes labored. The room starts to spin.
     
    That jolt of adrenaline that got me here without the
slightest ounce of fear has dispelled, and all that is left is the person that
had spent two weeks curled up in bed, jumping at every odd crack or creak. I
feel my knees try to give way, and I grab onto Johnny’s arm for stability.
     
    “Caroline? What’s happening?” Johnny places his hands on my
shoulders, helping to steady me.
    “I just… I wanted to…” I look at him, helplessly. I can’t
pretend I’m okay; I’m not. Not yet, at least.