Super Avenged

“I knew I should’ve called a taxi,” I muttered beneath my breath as I walked down the lonely sidewalk. The sky overhead was a murky, unyielding black, like Earth had been shrouded in a giant blanket. I wrapped my arms around myself and glanced around as I passed from dome of light to dome of light. The streetlights provided the little domes of light that I stepped beneath, but some were spaced far enough apart that I would pass through several feet of shadowy sidewalk before the gold light splashed across my face again.

I didn’t enjoy New York City at night. Judging by the deserted sidewalks, no one else did either. A few cars still passed by, but downtown was the real place that got all the nightly action. I had multiple reasons for not liking New York at night. The main one was the thugs that crawled out from beneath their rocks to prey on innocent young women like me who were foolish enough to leave the art gallery without bothering to call a taxi, when a taxi wouldn’t just be driving by at all if she changed her mind.

I shivered as a cool breeze snaked down my collar and swirled across my spine. But finally, I was on the block where my apartment building was located. I relaxed a little, but didn’t let my guard down. As I passed by an alleyway beside a bar, I heard the sound of someone throwing up. Not a lovely sound by any means, and I would’ve probably sped up to get away quicker if I hadn’t glanced over and recognized the person in the dim alleyway.

“Well, looks like you’ve really accomplished a lot since we last met,” I blurted out before my brain could even think about saying anything. I mentally slapped myself for even bringing attention to the fact that I was there.

“Yep,” Jimmy answered, one hand braced against the alleyway wall. He spit and straightened up, looking over at me. “I’m pretty damn good at accomplishing things like this.” He motioned towards his pile of, well, puke.

“Yeah, it sounds like it’s a great thing to achieve,” I said, focusing on his face. He looked quite pale—paler than usual, I mean—and the whites surrounding his light blue eyes were bloodshot.

“Oh, it is,” Jimmy agreed, stepping towards me. He swayed a bit and braced his hand against the wall again to keep upright. “Now, to just get home without being mugged, robbed, raped, or murdered.” He sighed and straightened up, obviously trying to walk with upright dignity. He failed horribly, and had to brace his hand against the wall again.

“Aren’t your friends here with you?” I asked.

“Nah,” Jimmy answered, stopping completely and leaning against the wall. “They’d think joining my pity party would be a drag.”

“Pity party?” I repeated.

“Yeah,” Jimmy said, “pity party. I was having one in the bar right here.” He patted the wall he leaned against.

“Why?” I dared to ask.

“I’m pretty sure it had something to do with you,” Jimmy answered. “But I don’t really remember.”

“Me?” I squeaked.

“Yeah, you,” Jimmy said. “You were so harsh when you turned me down. A simple no would’ve done it, but you had to elaborate and call me a penis with a brain attached to it.”

“Well, if I had known it would affect you this way, I wouldn’t have said it,” I told him.

“Bleh,” Jimmy grumbled. “I bet you would’ve anyway, to get rid of me. I understand, though. I can tell that you’ve had your heart broken before, because of a man. I understand that you could be, well, cautious about another relationship.”

“Heart...broken?” I repeated, drawing back slightly. I hadn’t known that I was so transparent.

“You bet your bottom dollar,” Jimmy answered. “Of course your heart was broken. Otherwise, you wouldn’t think of males the way you do. Unless you’re a feminist.”

“No, I’m not a feminist,” I told him.

“Then, you were heart broken.”

“I was not!” I said indignantly. I drew myself to my full height, but even when Jimmy was leaning heavily against the wall, I wasn’t even close to being as tall as him.

“Oh, Miya, stop with the hard ass act,” Jimmy said. He shoved himself away from the wall and started towards me again. “It’s okay to have a broken heart. Really, it is. And it’s okay to have to recover from it, sew up the jagged edges left behind. But maybe the best recovery is to start over.”

God, when did a drunken man get so damn wise all of a sudden?

“Start...over?” I asked.

“Of course,” Jimmy said genially. “You know, start dating again.” Jimmy straightened up and stepped out onto the sidewalk. He looked up and down the street with another sigh. “I guess I better start walking.” He turned to head down the street, but I grabbed his arm. He turned back towards me.

“You can crash at my place,” I told him. Jimmy just blinked down at me out of surprised blue eyes.

“Run that by me again, will you?” he asked, turning his ear towards me to make sure he heard correctly.

“You can crash at my place,” I repeated. Jimmy straightened up and blinked down at me again.

“But I thought you hated me,” Jimmy said perplexedly.

“I don’t hate you,” I reassured him. “I just dislike you...strongly.”

“But yet you’re offering to let me sleep at your apartment when I’m drunk,” Jimmy said. “Either I’m really, really drunk, or I’m getting mixed signals.”

“Believe me,” I told him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him down the street. “I’m just as confused about this as you are.”