Finding Her

F O U R

Drunk Actions

V A L E R I U S '   P O V :

My knock sounds at Katerina's front door. It's Saturday night and I'm taking her on a date.

I've never been on a date before Katerina. I didn't know people still enjoy outings with their partners. This will be our fourth date together. I'm taking her to a high end restaurant. One with traditional Italian food.

I knock again. There isn't a response.

I don't hesitate to break the door open. "Katerina!?" I shout but there's nothing. I shout it again.

Panic starts to build within me.

My eyes scan the house. It looks empty. I think it is for a minute, then I hear a quiet muffled sound coming from upstairs.

I follow my first instinct to dash up the stairs and I find Katerina completely distressed in her bedroom. Clothes are thrown everywhere, things have fallen onto the floor. She's pulling her curly brown hair from the roots, her eyes wired shut. She shakes her head repeatedly.

"Katerina!" I breathe out. I grab her shoulders. "Who hurt you? Who did this?" My concern is short lived.

"Fuck you!" She screams at me, pushing me back. I almost stumble. Shock zaps through me. Confusion clouds my mind. "Fuck you..," She sobs. Something stabs at my gut.

"Katerina? What.. what is it?" I breathe out frantically.

"I trusted you!" Her voice cracks. Katerina has a broken look on her face. Like she truly believes I've done something wrong.

"I don't understand. Tell me what happened."

Katerina jumps forward, she throws her hands at me. She slaps, punches, cries.

I anchor myself not to fight back because I don't want to be violent towards her. I grab her arms and push her back against the door to hold her in place. I smell the stench of alcohol radiating off of her. She tries to get out of my grasp but I don't let her.

She's drunk. Very drunk.

"Get off of me!" She screams like I'm the one who's hitting her. "Stop!" Katerina cries. "Stop!"

I let her go. She's quick to slap me across my face. My head turns from the surprise of the impact.

"You're drunk." I tell her. My voice is low, quiet.

"Why? Why did you do it?"

"Do. What." My patience is thinning.

I have no idea what she's talking about.

She pushes off of me and grabs a pair of panties, shoving them at me. "You're a fucking liar! And a cheater!" She shouts. Katerina pushes me again but this time I go no where.

I drop the skimpy piece of fabric because I don't know who the fuck they belong to.

She thinks I cheated on her? What the fuck?

"Why the hell would I fuck someone else in your house?"

"To make a fucking joke out of me! To embarrass me! I hate you!" Her head shakes. "I hate you." Her voice drops down to a whisper.

I grab her, tilting her chin up so her eyes lock with mine. Her eyes show flames.

"Get one thing straight, Katerina. I am no cheater. I have never done anything to dishonor you and I never will. But, accuse me like that again and I'll give you someone to hate."

I refuse to give in by yelling or getting mad. My voice stays calm.

"Fuck you!"

When I look into her eyes now.. I don't see the woman I know. There's something beyond the aqua color of her eyes. Something too darkly familiar.

Her words are slurred, her eyes droop. She's tired.

"Go to bed." I sit her on her bed, helping her lay down.

"You—"

"Just sleep." I whisper.

I sit with her until her eyes close and she drifts off.

• • •

"Get in a fight with a bird? what are those scratches from?"

I look up to Marcello. He walks into my office without warning.

I catch my appearance shining off the blackness of my computer screen. A few scabbed scratches lay on my cheek from last night, my skin red. A bruise lays on my cheek.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing." His eyes roll. "Seriously though, are you good?" Marcello points to the scratches.

"Fine."

A few minutes pass, I type on my laptop. The clock ticks in the silence. There's an awkward tension between us.

"Well..," Marcello breaks the silence by getting up. "This was awkward." I give him a blank stare. "Goodbye. Hope your scratches heal." He points to them. "I bet whoever did that got exactly what they deserved." Marcello jokes with a soft laugh. "No one would dare hurt the 'mafia king' without death awaiting them." His teases leaving me unamused.

Without death awaiting them.

I think about his words. I wonder why I let Katerina do that to me. I wonder why I couldn't stop her. Do I care? Is that why? Do I just care too deeply for her?

The door shuts softly.

I look over to my phone which pinged with another text from Katerina.

My Blue Katerina

I'm so sorry, baby.

Turns out they were just
one of my friends they
left here.

Didn't mean to over react.
Date rain check tonight? :)

I stare at it. It was just a misunderstanding. It really didn't hurt me, I don't care. It's not like she was intentionally trying to hurt me. She was just drunk.

I text back.

My Katerina

See you at six.

What I thought was a mistake eventually turns into something I never saw coming. I didn't know it then but that wouldn't be the last time Katerina Watson hit me.

• • •