Bad Enough for You (Currently Editing)

She Was in the Corner of Shame

On any other day besides today, I would argue that Eli managed to bring out good things in me. He brought out a sort of sexiness that I wasn’t even aware that I had and a joking, teasing side that could be directed at anyone. There were times, however, that Eli brought out the bad in me. He always made me feel ready to argue, to freak out over the little things. Today was the worst of those days.

Not only was I ready to have a serious showdown with Eli Dunn that would probably end badly, I wanted to tear him apart. I couldn’t understand how he could have done what I read and never bothered to mention it to me. Of course, I couldn’t believe that something like this could have gone public and not one person in my life felt the need to tell me when it became quite obvious that Eli and I were fooling around. Even if our relationship didn’t seem serious to anyone else, I felt a slight jab of betrayal from each of my friends.

I just didn’t understand how they could keep this from me.

They weren’t the ones that did what this article suggested that Eli had and because of that, I found myself outside of Eli’s brother’s apartment, slamming both of my fists repeatedly on the door and waiting for him to open up. I was standing in the third floor hallway, causing such a riot that it was amazing that none of the other occupants came out demanding to know what could possibly cause someone to freak out like this at one in the afternoon.

As I thought this, I realized that this was probably a usual occurence for them. I had reason to believe that Eli really was as big of a player as he suggested. Knowing my own gender, I figured that most girls didn’t take too kindly to having their hearts ripped from their chest, thrown on the floor, and then stomped on by a boy who should have been melting hearts from the pages of a magazine. This probably wasn’t the first time that a girl in a fit came storming to this very apartment, beating on the door until her hands were red and yelling until her voice was practically gone.

“Eli! Open the fucking door!” I yelled, continuing to beat my fists on the door. I really wished that he would have hurried up for I was beginning to lose the anger and stamina that had propelled me here in the first place. Planting my hands flat on of the door, I pressed my forehead against the door, voice falling to a whimper. "Please, Eli? Just open the door."

I wasn't sure why exactly I was feeling so emotional about all of this, but what I had read had made me extremely uncomfortable. To think that Eli would do that to his family, that he was honestly so selfish, so unwilling to go without sex that he had done this made me sick to my stomach. I had felt nauseas since the moment I had read the article and the more I thought about it, the more I felt as if I was going to vomit.

I had always known that Eli was bad, but I never thought this bad.

Just as I was thinking of where I could possibly throw up without doing it on his innocent brother's doormat, I heard the sound of the lock being undone. Peeling myself off of the door, I barely lifted my head when it finally swung open. Fists clenched on either side of me, I began talking before I even looked at the person standing in the doorway.

"I'm going to give you five minutes to explain what happened or I'm leaving and I swear to god, Eli, you will never see me again." I shook my head, staring at the bare feet sticking out from beneath a pair of darkwashed jeans. Shaking the strands of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail in my panic attack, I raised my eyes, still really not seeing anything in front of me due to the amount of anger that was coursing through me. "I can't believe that you would put your parents through this. That while your father was off in rehab, you decided that you were going to have an affair with the VP of his company. Did you think you were going to be able to take it over? Did you really come to California with a get rich quick scheme? And how much older is this lady than you? I know you're a whore, but I never thought you chased after cougars. Seriously, Eli, I've been sick the entire way here. I can't believe you didn't tell me about this."