The Uber

1

I couldn't stop staring at the sinister snakes. Some of them twisted forward menacingly, mouth open, forked tongue exposed, fangs at the ready to sink deep into someone's flesh. Come closer and we'll strike. 

Luckily, these snakes weren't real. If they were, I wouldn't be standing there so calmly, admiring the details. I wouldn't be focusing on this instead of across the night club, where my scummy soon to be ex-boyfriend stood with a group of his friends.

I watched the perfectly still serpents. What if they sprang to life-- impossible, but still, I was always imagining impossible what-if scenarios like that. I would think about what I would do if some kind of disaster struck—how I would defend myself or where could I run.

Goddess Playground was a new night club in the next town over from mine and this was my first time, so I scanned the room for the closest exit. There, around several displays of various mythological creatures, across the crowded dance floor, and in a hallway, I see the doors to the restrooms and the corner of a red exit sign. 

It's always good to know the exits.

My brain's random what-if scenarios had saved me in the past. Imagining all possibilities kind of took away the element of surprise...in most cases. And in any case, it kept boredom at bay, when I found myself in situations like this, where I should never have came and now I regret it, but I'm kind of stuck because I rode with my friends, who were having fun being chatted up by a couple of guys nearby.

They were still there, girl-next-door Krista, with her natural beauty and big curly brown hair, a smile like sunshine on her face. And always pageant worthy Ronnie, in a blue dress that complimented her blonde locks. She took a second to glance over at me, meeting my eyes and giving an approving look of wide-eyed excitement before looking back normally at the guy she was talking with. 

Good thing she was enjoying herself, I thought, but not in a bitter way. It wasn't either of their fault that I was here, I had decided to come in a burst of anger once I heard the rumor that Krista had heard earlier that day. It was my decision and now I was beating myself up about it. 

I looked back at the statue, the cold stone hand holding the severed head of Medusa. There must be about twenty snakes covering her head, I thought. 

Snakes, like Nolan, afore mentioned soon-to-be-ex. 

Don't think about it, I told myself. I studied Medusa's face, the silent O of her lips, exposing sharp fangs of her own. It was kind of sad, when I pondered the story behind Medusa's curse. She was beautiful once, I've read. But now, as I look at her frozen features I'm kind of afraid of her and that fear morphs into sadness. It was never her fault. She didn't want to be transformed into that monster. She would still be a beautiful maiden if Poseidon had steered clear of her. Had it not been for him, she would have served Athena for life and lived a long happy one.

"Lexi?" Nolan shouted above the music that filled the room--some song I wasn't familiar with that I had been working hard on ignoring.

I ripped my eyes away from the display and focused on him, even though I'd rather not. I don't think he even suspected I knew anything. Well, I knew more than he knew that I knew, that's for sure. Secrets didn't always stay hidden, especially not when you're doing things you shouldn't around people on campus. Word gets around. Krista had told me that she heard from someone else that he was kissing Whitney in the common room while I was in my dorm studying. Not cool.

Suddenly, four months of dating went down the drain. But I can't say I didn't suspect it. What-if scenarios and all, I knew how I was going to react.

"I already know about Whit." I get straight to the point. I'd rather save everyone's time and cut to the chase rather than draw this whole thing out in front of everyone we knew and have everyone hear us argue all night.