Escaping the Void

Chapter Two

I have to admit, I'm more than lucky to be getting out of this apartment. Trevor usually doesn't take me anywhere because he says that I'm a constant embarrassment to him. So flattering of him to say. The hard part is yet to come, though. That would be actually getting out of here and back without anything screwing up and making Trevor the least bit upset. If something is to unhinge him, he's sure to find a way to make it seem like it's my fault.

A half hours passes by, and I find myself in the bathroom applying foundation onto my black eye. It's nearing seven o'clock, and I can sense that Trevor is growing impatient. I can hear him pacing back and forth in the living room by the front door. Then I hear him yell, "Get your ass outta the damn bathroom!" I sigh to myself and look in the mirror at my eye. I can still see it a little bit, but I decide that it's covered up enough for my own sake. I leave the bathroom and head into the living room. Trevor looks me up and down, his usual grimace back on his face. "Who in the hell are you primping for?" 

"No one," I say.

"Better not be. Now c'mon. Let's go," he tells me as he grabs me by the arm and practically pulls me out of the house. As if he has to. 

The car ride there is silent. Car rides with Trevor were always silent. He doesn't talk unless he absolutely has to; he likes to focus on the road. And he doesn't let me turn the radio on. He's not really into music. I always found that strange, but I've never said anything about it. We pull up to a restaurant entitled Feast of Eden. I've never been here myself, but I've heard about this place. I hear that it's remarkable inside, and the prices are pretty steep. Trevor must have gotten a pretty good pay raise for him to bring us here.

When we go inside, a maître d' greets and ushers us to our table for two right by a window. Trevor seats himself on one side as I sit on the other. He hands both of us menus and hurries back to his post. I hadn't even gotten the chance to open it and flip through the options before a waiter shows up, his button down shirt displaying a grease smear. He smiles at us showing off his white braces. He can't be any older than I am. "Hello, my name is Lennon. I'll be your server for this evening. May I start you off with something to drink?" he asks us.

"Water for the both of us," Trevor says. Lennon scribbles in his little blue pad that he pulls from his waistband. 

"Mmkay, I'll be back with your drinks in just a bit," he tells us. Lennon smiles at Trevor, then at me. I smile back, relieved to feel some type of human connection and compassion with someone other than Trevor. Trevor eyes me as our waiter leaves.

"What was that?" he asks me leaning closer to me over the table.

"What was what?" I ask back.

"That smile. What, you flirting with that guy?" he whispers. I swallow hard.

"I was just trying to be nice. That's all," I say trying to calm him down. Trevor glares into my eyes, burning holes through my whole anatomy. He leans back in his chair and clears his throat, his hands smooths over his shirt. I avert my eyes from his and open the menu, flipping through it. "So, uh, tell me about this raise at work you got."

Trevor's entire facial expression changes; he now seems elated instead of livid. It's the weirdest thing how he can go from zero to a hundred back down to zero so quickly. "Well, our old site manager had quit his job, so my boss was looking for a new one. He thought that it would be easier to promote one of his current employees with the right qualifications instead of hiring a brand new one. So he approached me and said that I was showing real potential out on the construction site, so he promoted me to site manager."

"Ah, that's so great, Trevor! See, I told you that all you had to do was work hard and show them that you're ready and willing. Now they realize how good you are," I say, actually feeling joy for him.