PRETTY WOMAN
( chapter 8 )
WEDNESDAY AUGUST 29. When Y/n thought about how she knew she'd regret letting Victoria's boyfriend crash with them, she was a hundred percent correct. Only two weeks had gone by since that day. Two weeks. Fifteen days he's been living with his girlfriend and her friend and it was already so bad. Y/n at least thought he'd give it a month or two before he started to get too comfortable.
Within those fifteen days alone, the apartment had been in the worst condition it's ever been in since around a year ago when she and Victoria got the place. Vincent never threw away his trash or put his dishes in the sink, and the three or four times he did, he never washed them, nor has he once helped with housework.
'He's just going through a tough time right now' or 'Cut him some slack', Victoria would say. A grown ass man living like this isn't something one would expect, even worse in someone else's home. The guy was damn near thirty years old. At this point, Y/n was more than ready to move herself out.
For today, Y/n's plans consisted of staying inside and catching up on a show she liked to watch, but no. All she could hear was Vinnie's loud mouth in the living room and the sound of something shattering in the kitchen. She also heard other voices meaning Vinnie was not alone. Who the hell did he have in their apartment right now?
Y/n steps out of her bedroom and sees Vinnie sprawled off on the couch, a friend on either side. Near the front door, another guy stood, and one in the kitchen in between the counter and kitchen island, a shocked look on both of their faces. That's when Y/n notices a football on the floor along with broken shards of glass.
Two of Vincent's friends had been throwing a football around the house. A football. In the house. They broke one of the glass doors of the dish cabinet. And he sat his ass there and let them.
Victoria was currently at work and even if she was here and knew about what happened, she would easily let him off the hook. How foolish of her. She was such a pushover when it came to her boyfriend.
"Vincent, I need to talk to you", she says not hiding that she was upset. The disdain was present in her voice. She walks into the kitchen, standing near the broken cabinet. "You, move", she tells the other guy. Vinnie groans as if getting up from the couch was so inconvenient to him but walks over to Y/n and away from the others. She hadn't wanted to cause a scene.
"What?", asks Vinnie as if he has no idea what happened.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?"
Y/n was the type of woman to rarely ever lose her cool. She was calm and levelheaded and knew how to keep herself in check. But this man was nothing short of unbearable to her. She wasn't known much to swear either.
"Woah, woah. What did I do this time?"
"Oh, so now you're playing dumb?"
"Chill out girl. It's not that serious. This about the broken cabinet? I'll tell them to buy it back."
"It's you and your little unemployed group of friends that needs to chill out. Or you can leave and do all that nonsense elsewhere."
"You kicking me out right now?", he scoffs.
"Call it what you want, but you guys have got to go. You've been causing nothing but problems since you got here."
"Whatever.... fucking bitch...", he mumbles. He walks back over to his friends and tells them something before they up and leave.
Y/n rubs her temple and closes her eyes and sighs as she rubs her temple. She was so over this man being here every day. And of course, she was the one left to clean up the broken glass, soda cans, and food boxes scattered in the kitchen and living room.
HOURS LATER. Victoria had just gotten home and before she could do anything else, her first action was to reprimand her friend regarding her boyfriend.
"Y/n. Why did Vinnie tell me you kicked him out today? What the fuck was that about?" She sounded pissed off.
"I don't have the energy to argue with you today, Vic."
"No, we need to talk about this. We agreed that you'd-"
"What exactly did I agree on Victoria? Because I remember telling you I was alright with him being here as long as he acts accordingly. But no. Instead he has his friends all up in here and breaking shit."
Y/n rarely called her friend by her first name instead of a nickname. It was only whenever she had been seriously upset she would do this.
"Yes, you're right but you're being kind of hard on him. You've gotta give him a break at least. He's go-"
"Going through a rough patch right? Is that what you're gonna say? You know, it's starting to sound more like you're his mother rather than his girlfriend the way you keep making excuses for him. He's not some small child."
"Y/n. You told me you'd put your feelings about Vinnie aside."
"This has nothing to do with how I feel about him. But maybe I'd be able to if he didn't do stuff like this. Living here has been hell these couple of weeks and I won't put up with it. You need to put your boyfriend in check, Victoria. I'm serious."
This was putting a strain on Y/n's relationship with Victoria and sometimes she can't help but wonder if she was the one overreacting.
THURSDAY AUGUST 30. "Can we talk?" Y/n sighs hearing Vincent talking to her. "About?", she answers not looking his way.
She had been sitting on the couch trying to finish a task on her laptop. She had barely been there two minutes before he started to talk to her.
"Yesterday... You were right about what you said yesterday. Sorry about that", says Vincent.
"Alright."
"Alright?", he repeats but in the form of a question. "That's it? Listen Y/n, I'm trying here", he slurred his words a little bit.
"Then stop trying. You don't need my approval now, do you? Because you didn't care yesterday, or the days before that. Let me guess, Victoria put you up to this?"
"She's not making me do anything. I realized I was being unfair to both you and her."
Was he being sincere? Probably not. "The cabinet you guys broke, it's antique and you and your friends owe two thousand to replace it."
"Two thousand fucking dollars for that old thing?"
She looks at Vinnie and he sighs. "Whatever. Are we good now?"
"Sure." She realizes he has a half-empty bottle of liquor in one hand. Great. He was drunk and probably getting ready to throw up all over the bathroom floor in a few. He was truly pathetic. Vinnie makes himself comfortable next to Y/n on the couch.
"You can sit anywhere else you know." She moves over, further from the drunken man.
"Don't be like that Y/n. I said I'm sorry, c'mere." He scoots closer and there is no more space for Y/n to move away.
Unlike with Hange, she didn't like the way her name rolled off his tongue. She never had a problem with her name, yet coming from him and in this state, she found it almost repulsive. He was looking at her weirdly and she didn't like nor did she appreciate that either.
When she tries to get up, she only makes it so far before a hand is pulling her back down by her own. In an instant, she felt lips on hers.
What. Was. Happening? It was like her body had frozen up at that moment. Though it only lasted a second or two, it felt like forever that his disgusting lips were on hers. The taste of stale liquor transferred onto her lips and her mind was moving at light speed. The unwanted kiss is broken up when Y/n pushes Vincent back harshly by his chest and slaps him across his face.
Her nail had managed to dig into the skin of his cheek leaving a small scratch in its wake. It was nothing too bad but to her, he deserved worse.
She wanted to yell at him and hit him again. She stuttered a bit, not even knowing what to say at this point. Y/n watches as he touches the side of his face where had been scratched.
She storms off into her bedroom and locks her door. She wipes her lips trying to be rid of the kiss. Victoria was taking a later shift at her job today and wouldn't be home until around ten that night. Y/n sits on her bed, deep in thought. She felt violated. But how would she break the news to her friend? Better yet, should she?
After what felt like a full twenty-four hours of going about in her mind what she'd say, she settles on not mentioning it at all. She knew this was one of the worst things possible to keep a secret, but she just didn't want to cause Victoria any pain.
She didn't think that made her a bad friend for deciding to keep this quiet. Victoria would be crushed and she knew that, even more so when it's her closest friend. It wasn't like she left Vincent alone the first three times, though those were probably only the times you heard of. She'd likely think Y/n was making up stories because of her feelings about the guy, which is weird because she had never been a liar.
The distraught woman doesn't even leave her room when she hears Victoria arrive home around eleven that night. They hadn't spoken much today either. Just a simple 'Good morning' from both and a 'Are you leaving for work now' by Y/n to which Victoria responded with a nod and saying she'd be late.
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 4. It's been days. Four days since Y/n was kissed by her best friend's boyfriend and the other woman didn't have any knowledge of this.
Guilt has been eating Y/n up. She could barely look her friend in the eyes. Why? It wasn't her fault, no. But the two never kept secrets from each other. That was her first mistake. Those four days gave her more than enough time to think, and she cracked. She'd tell her today and get rid of this weight weighing on her.
Vincent took Victoria out tonight on a 'date', which pretty much meant they went to some fast food place and the woman paid the majority.
Without wasting a minute, Y/n shoots two texts to Victoria's cellphone.
We need to talk when you get back
It's serious
That was her second mistake. Seconds later, she sees that the text has been marked read. The three dots appeared to show that something was being typed back, but it disappeared as soon as it started. Y/n would have to play the waiting game now. Just a couple more hours.
Pacing had always been a nervous habit of hers and that's what she had been doing when the couple arrived home later in the evening.
"Vic, hey. Can we talk now?" Y/n completely ignores that Vinnie is there next to her. But for some reason, Victoria looked... angry?
"Yeah, I think we do need to talk Y/n."
Taking her arm, Y/n tries to get Victoria to come with her someone private. "Come to my room, we'll-"
"You kissed Vinnie?", Victoria cuts her off while shrugging her arm out of her friend's grasp. This caused Y/n's eyes to widen in shock.
"No way", she thought. She looks over at Vinnie who is looking everywhere but at her, refusing to make eye contact with a pursed smile on his face.
This guy... He didn't care about Victoria one bit. But she's too blind to see that. He didn't think about his girlfriend for a moment when he was wasted and trying to make a move on you.
He knew Y/n would go and tell Victoria about what he did to her eventually, so he made sure he told her first, to make her believe his side of the story. He was smart about it. This is what Y/n was afraid of, the reason why she said nothing earlier in the first place. Deep down, even if she didn't want to believe it, she knew that when push comes to shove, Victoria would choose Vincent over her.
The way she was accused of something so vile, Y/n couldn't even form a proper sentence.
"No, that's not it, I didn't-"
"You're just a good-for-nothing whore. You could've gone after anyone else. Anyone! But for some reason, you chose my boyfriend. Are you jealous of me or something? Is that it?!", Victoria continues to shout in Y/n's face.
"Vic, can you just fucking listen to me already?! Vincent kissed me, not the other way around."
She scoffs. "So that's what it is... You're jealous of my relationship, aren't you? That's why you always acted the way you did whenever Vinnie was around. And you've been weird with me these past few days too. I never thought anything of it before but now it's all making sense."
"Why can't you get it through your head that I don't give a damn about your relationship or your boyfriend? I'm telling you he's the one that kissed me. It took me a while to realize what was happening but I pushed him away! You know I'd never-"
Y/n had been cut off again. But not with words this time. Victoria had slapped her. Her face stung where the blow landed and she was hit hard enough to leave a handprint.
Even Vincent looked surprised, clearly not expecting things to escalate this far.
"Get out", says Victoria.
Still in shock, the words went unheard by the younger female. She lifts her hand to her cheek and feels the imprint forming. How badly she wanted to cry, from the slap, Victoria's hurtful words, the lack of trust, all of it was getting to her. But she held it in already feeling embarrassed enough as it is. They didn't deserve her tears. She nor Vinnie.
"Are you fucking deaf? I said get out!"
"What the- I live here too Victoria. You're not kicking me out."
"Get the hell out. Now. I don't care where you go, just leave and don't come back here unless it's to collect the rest of your things..."
So that's what she did. She left. No bag or anything, other than her phone in her pocket and herself. She probably looked crazy walking in these streets at night in pajamas. Victoria refused to hear any sort of reasoning. Being around her right now was not it and honestly, Y/n doesn't think she ever wants to see or deal with her ever again. To hell with her and her failed relationship.
She felt so bitter at that moment. Was she wrong for wishing the worst for her ex-friend at that moment? For wishing that her relationship falls apart even more if that's even possible?
Y/n walks around for a bit, nowhere in particular as she had no other place to stay. The air out had been chilly causing goosebumps to form on her skin and the hairs on her arm to stand up. It was particularly cold for a summer night.
Where could she possibly go right now? She had no money on her. Staying with her mom was out of the question as she hasn't seen her in years. She could probably find a cheap motel somewhere that would accept checking account payments, but she had no means of transportation to get there.
She would need to start learning how to ask others for help, especially during times like right now. There shouldn't be any shame in it.
Upon reaching an empty bus stop, she sits on the bench to take a rest.
She takes her phone from her pants pocket and goes to her contact list, tapping on a name. For a good five minutes, she just stares at the contact. Her finger hovers over the call button for a few seconds as she internally debates with herself on whether or not she should press it.
Eventually she does. The phone gives three rings and she is about to hang up when she realizes the call has connected. She is the first to speak.
"Hange? Hey... I hope I didn't call at a bad time..."
"No, you didn't. What's up? It's pretty late. Is everything alright?"
"I uh...", Y/n starts then pauses, not knowing what to say or how to say it. "Something happened and... I didn't know who else to call... Is it okay if I stay with you for a bit?"
Silence ensued on the other line. Y/n sighs. Of course asking them was a terrible idea. "Actually, forget I said that. I'm sorry I-"
"Where are you?", they speak up cutting her off. "I'll come and pick you up." That was the one time that night Y/n was grateful to have her sentence cut off.
"I'll send you my location."
She disconnects the call shortly after and sends to Hange where she is. About an hour later, Y/n spots the familiar car pulling up in front of the bus stop she sat at and gets in. Neither says anything to the other and the car is moving once again as quickly as it got there.
PRETTY WOMAN
( end of chapter 8 )