There's No Price On Love

Myranda had the biggest look of disbelief plastered on her face when I told her about the guy in the alley getting arrested for ‘supposedly’ sexually assaulting me. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was hanging open to a point where I thought if someone threw something, they definitely wouldn’t miss.

She placed her Cosmopolitan magazine down on my bed and took a hefty sip of her chai tea latte before holding up a hand in front of her.

“Okay let’s get this straight here. You were in an alley with a homeless guy, shoved him and had him lying on top of you just as cops walk by so he gets arrested. Now he’s being held at the station with a bail on him until you claim whether or not he actually did anything?”

I nodded furiously, my dark brown waves tickling my shoulders. Myranda let out a little giggle and took another sip of her drink, offering me one after which I declined.

“So, do you actually think he prostitutes?” She asked in a hushed whisper, her eyes glinting with mischief. I gave her a gape mouthed snare and playfully slapped her arm, making a noise of disagreement.

“No! I don’t think he does . . . I don’t know . . . Maybe?” I replied weakly and Myranda giggled again, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder.

“I’d definitely pay for his service, homeless or not he’s definitely one of the finest boys I’ve ever seen in my life.” The boy’s image came back into my mind and I agreed with a ‘hmm’. It was just so strange how somebody like him could end up on the streets, not because he was good looking, but because of how well-kept he seemed despite his battered clothing and lightly dusted skin.

It just didn’t seem right to me.

“What were you doing in a dirty old alley anyway?” Myranda asked while tossing her empty plastic cup into the garbage can beside my dresser.

I pursed my lips and ran a hand through my hair, exhaling easily and wondering if I should just lie instead of telling her exactly what happened with William. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Myranda, I did more than anyone on Earth, it was more along the lines of me being embarrassed for being so incredibly stupid in the first place.

First off, Myranda would accuse me of actually liking the creep in the first place and of course, I’d have to reject and make her suspicions dig deeper. I wouldn’t blame her for thinking that I had something going on with him because it would all fit together perfectly. Why else would I go and hang out with some guy I hated more than the homeless guy I had just met?

Secondly, it would mean that I had to tell her about William drugging me and risk having her freak out and want to murder him. I don’t exactly know how William got a hold on the drugs in the first place and I didn’t want to find out. What had happened that night was more than enough to convince me to stay as sober as drunkenly possible without having to go through something like that again. Oh, and never have William at any of my parties ever again.

Last of all, I’d have to tell her about how William had come on to me while I was helpless, giving her yet another reason to kill William. Come to think of it, the whole ‘Myranda-killing-William’ thing didn’t seem so bad.

“Em? You know you can tell me, I won’t judge you for any of it.” I glanced up at her and gave her a reassuring smile, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and sighing.

“It’s not me that you’re going to be judging.” I muttered under my breath and then met Myranda’s gaze. “I trust you; I just don’t want to talk about it yet. I’m still pretty pissed off at myself.”

“Alright.” Myranda answered and shrugged her shoulders. That’s what I liked about her; she never pushed me to explain anything.

“We’ll just say that I had to thank him for something important. I’ll tell you eventually.” Another shrug from Myranda. I got off of my bed and went up to the window, squinting outside and crossing my arms over my chest.

I could still feel his body next to mine. Maybe he like, traumatized me or something for the rest of eternity.

“Sounds like a plan.” Myranda leaned back on my bed, her legs dangling off the edge. “So are you going to press charges against the guy?”

My lips tugged into a frown and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“N-no . . . He wasn’t even assaulting me.”

Myranda raised her eyebrows and smiled.

“I’d let him sexually assault me anytime.” She said with a provocative wink. I turned around and laughed.

“Imagine what Derek would say if he heard that.” I scolded her and flopped onto the bed beside my best friend. She grinned wickedly and rolled onto her stomach, brushing her hair out of her face carelessly.

“Whatever, Derek’s not here to hear any of the naughty things I say about that boy. Did you even find out his name?”

I shook my head then laid it on my folded arms, toying with the bracelet around my wrist.

“No . . . He asked for mine but I was so infuriated with him that I said we were nothing more than rescuer and rescuee.” Myranda’s head perked up in interest.

“He rescued you? From what?”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times before burying my head in the sheets of my bed.

“Biwiam.” I mumbled into the blankets and Myranda pulled my head up.

“I think I need to hear this more than the sheets do.” She said seriously and I sat up and crossed my legs.

“It’s about that thing I said I didn’t want to talk about right now.” I replied, looking more at my toes than her face. Myranda’s face fell and I immediately felt like the worst friend in the entire world. “But . . . Maybe . . . Maybe I can tell you now so then I can get it off of my chest already.”

Myranda beamed me a smile and looked like a little girl ready for Disney story time.

“Last night, I was looking for Sam and I went outside. By then I was pretty drunk and didn’t really understand what was going on, all I knew was that I wanted to find Sam already so he could maybe look after me for a bit. I got outside and ran into William, who turns out, was sober and more than willing to ‘take care’ of me.” I paused for a moment to chew on my nails, a bad habit I had when I got really nervous. “We ended up getting into a huge argument because I believed that he didn’t understand the complexity of my life and he kept saying that he did. He started to say these things that made me re-think my opinion of him and for a second, William wasn’t just some rich bastard out to get laid. William . . . Was showing that he’s actually got feelings and the ability to act like a human being.”

“So you guys got into an argument, then what?” I twirled a piece of hair around my finger and furrowed my eyebrows, the memory replaying itself in my head through bits and pieces.

“He asked me to go for a drive with him and I said no the first time. Then he started saying all these different things that related us together and then I finally agreed. So William and I left hand in hand to his limo. I had no idea what to expect and really, I should have known better once he cracked open the bottle of champagne. I wasn’t looking at him when he poured it out and when I got mine, it tasted weird. It was off, not like normal champagne so I brushed it off as a bad year and kept drinking. Then things started to get funny, the world became loud and blurry, not the way it was before when I was just drunk. I think . . . I think he drugged me. Then he said something and I can’t remember what it was then before I knew it we were tumbling on the ground with him groping me until that guy pulled him off.” I avoided Myranda’s gaze for a second and covered my eyes with my hands. “I’m such an idiot.”

Myranda hugged me and patted my back as I started to cry, tears trickling down my cheeks like a small waterfall. Truth be told, I was happy I had told her now. It made it easier for me and it helped keep strain off of a friendship I needed.

“You’re not an idiot Em, everyone makes bad choices. If anyone is an idiot, it’s William for taking advantage of you the way he did. You’re just lucky that someone was there to help you.” I nodded and wiped my eyes, sniffling quietly.

“That’s why I needed to thank that boy but in the end, he was a bigger asshole than William.” Myranda stifled a laugh and I glanced at her sharply. “Seriously, some of the things he said were unreal!”

“I have a hard time believing anyone could be worse than William.” Myranda answered while hiding another giggle using one of my pillows.

“He is! I said to him: ‘I wanted to thank you for saving me from that boy . . . The one who tried to take advantage of me last night.’ Then he got the weirdest expression on his face, whistled and laughed then said: ‘Oh wow. Are you sure that it wasn’t me trying to take advantage of you ‘cause you know Rudy gave me a little too much to drink last night.’” I couldn’t believe he had the nerve to say something like that to me!”

Myranda burst into a fit of laughter, nearly rolling off of my bed and onto the floor if I hadn’t grabbed her.

“It’s not funny Myranda! It was crude and repulsive of him!” Myranda shook her head but kept laughing, her eyes brimming with tears. She wiped them a way and slapped her knee before settling down to little giggles here and there. I sat and stared at her, a stony expression on my face until she completely stopped.

“Sorry.” She said after letting out a big sigh to calm down. “I couldn’t help myself.”

“You’re awful.” I replied and gave her a dirty look. Myranda then sat perfectly still, folding her hands in her lap like a good school girl.

“Sorry.” She repeated and cracked a small smile before hiding it again. I raised my eyebrows and then let out a small giggle.

“I guess it is kind of funny.” I admitted with a smile. Myranda nodded with a grin and then patted my arm.

“Now what are you going to do? The guy saved your ass; I think you ought to save his too.”

I placed my head in my palms and blew my bangs out of my eyes.

“True, we just have to find out how much we need for his bail. Oh, and his name of course because the last thing I want to do is release a guilty guy.” Myranda saluted me and got to her feet, pulling her long blonde hair into a ponytail.

“Let’s go rescue us a hobo!” She shouted with a victorious punch in the air.

*

Bail turned out to be $10 000 firm. No exceptions, they didn’t even lower it when I straight out said the guy was innocent. Basically it screamed that I was screwed and there was no way I could get the guy out. Charlie would be bound to notice that 10 grand went missing from his bank account. $1 000 was nothing, $3 000 was pushing it but 10? I had better luck robbing a bank.

“Are you sure that’s even the right bail for the guy? You know, the one who was brought in earlier on for sexual assault?” The cop laughed heartily and raised his heavy eyebrows.

“M’am, do you know how many men are brought in a day for that sort of thing?” The cop asked and folded his hands over his protruding gut. I rolled my eyes and leaned casually on his desk.

“Fine, was there a golden haired, green-eyed, 6’0” homeless guy brought in here earlier on today? If there is, then that’s my guy.” The cop closed his eyes in thought for a second then sat up taller, flipping through files and glancing at them briefly until he stopped at one.

“Jace Fox?” The cop asked and looked up from the file. “He fits the description perfectly: Blonde, tall and green-eyed.”

“It’d help if I could see the file.” I said politely as possible and took the file gratefully, glancing at the picture. There of course, was that boy with the most idiotic smile on his face. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as I handed back the file.

“That’d be the guy.” I muttered and crossed my arms over my chest. “Is the bail still the same amount of money?”

The cop gave me a tight smile and nodded.

“’Fraid so, it’s a bummer but the boy got himself into some hefty trouble. He’ll be out in a week or so.”

I fiddled with a strand of hair and glanced back at Myranda. She was thinking and I could tell by the way her eyes were lowered and the way her mouth collected to one side of her face that it was going to be something good.

I ran a hand through my hair and sighed heavily, wondering what on earth we do now.

“Can I at least speak to…err…Mr. Fox?” The cop seemed to contemplate this for a second then stood up, yanking his too tight pants higher.

“Sure, I don’t see why not. Especially since the only victim and witness claims he’s innocent.” I gave the guy a grateful smile and beckoned for Myranda to follow me. She did and we entered a back room after the officer.

“So what do we do? Charlie’ll notice if I just suddenly dish out 10 grand. He’d kill me!”

“I’ll figure out something.” Myranda whispered and then was stopped by the officer leading us to Jace’s cell.

“Sorry Miss but right now only this little lady gets a visit.” Myranda gave him the rudest look she could muster while muttering ‘I’ll bet you’re sorry’ then spun on her heel to head back into the lobby. I watched her go and then pressed on, suddenly nervous to see this idiot and tell him what was going on.

We entered an empty room and the cop allowed me to sit down then mentioned something about going to get Mr. Fox. He said he’d be back in a second and in the end, I waited nearly 10 minutes until a door opened and a flash of brilliant gold hair appeared.

Jace’s hands were cuffed together in the front rather than the back, making it easier for him I supposed. He gave me a dirty look then sat down, waiting for the cop to leave before saying anything.

“Oh now I definitely know that my life is a fairytale. Cinderella is actually chasing me now.” He said rudely and gave me an evil glare. I pursed my lips tightly and clenched my fists. Okay God, remind me why I decided to play nice and help out this geriatric fuck.

“I’d shut up if I were you Jace considering I’m planning on bailing you out of here.” I threatened, sounding much more vicious than I really was. Jace glanced up in surprise then lowered his eyes.

“Sorry but since we aren’t even considered ‘acquaintances’, I don’t want you to even think about my name.” His words were cutting deep and I couldn’t blame him for feeling pissed. I did get him arrested after all.

“Look, I get it. You’re mad and you don’t want my help but I could walk out of here right now and tell that officer I lied and you really did assault me. So either you shut up or you get sent to jail. Your choice.”

Jace clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at me.

“This is probably some whole ‘repay back a favour’ thing for you isn’t it? Well sorry to disappoint you but I didn’t do it to save you.” I eyed him suspiciously and clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking.

“Whatever, all that matters is you did and I’m grateful for it. I want to help you.” I replied sternly and tried to make my words come out controlled.

Jace laughed sarcastically and rested on his elbows, the right side of his face pressed against his left forearm.

“I don’t need your charity so why don’t you just go home and do your nails or something? Whatever girls like you do.”

“What do you mean by ‘girls like you’?” I challenged, moving my chair closer to the table. Jace gave me a look and raised an eyebrow like I was stupid or something.

“What I mean is girls who care more about their nail beds than their families. Girls who spend two hours on make-up, girls who use boys for social status, girls who don’t know the difference between Life the Game and Life the cereal.”

I curled my lip and got out of my chair, slamming one hand on the table and the other on his thigh, narrowing my eyes dangerously while gritting my teeth.

“You know nothing about me; you don’t even know my name.” I growled and Jace smiled, revealing his perfect white teeth.

“I don’t have to know your name to know that you’re superficial.” He shot back and glowered.

“I’m not superficial!” I shouted and pulled away, covering my eyes with one hand. Jace tapped his fingers on the table and waited until I turned around.

“Looks like I struck a nerve. Sorry Princess Perfect but it looks like it’s to jail I go.” I stared at him for a second then laughed lowly.

“You want to go to jail, don’t you?” I said, making my way back toward him.

Jace looked thoughtful for a moment then grinned.

“Beats picking garbage and sleeping on cold ground. Not that you’d be able to understand that considering you’ve eaten nothing but gourmet and slept on brand name mattresses.” He answered with the smile still on his face and his voice colder than a winter day.

“What my life is like is none of your business.” I replied darkly and nearly didn’t notice when the cop entered the room.

“You’ve got five minutes left, Ms. Taylor.” He informed before exiting again and giving Jace and I one last look.

“Miss Taylor?” Jace questioned with one eyebrow raised. “Well five minutes is a little bit too long for me so I’d like if you’d just leave and never come back Joyce.”

I gave him a confused look and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Joyce? Who’s Joyce?”

Jace shrugged and dropped his gaze away from me.

“Nobody. Just was taking a stab at trying to find out your name. You look like a Chelsea, no . . . A Shelby? Nope. What about Katherine?” He kept pressing and pressing with different names until I finally got annoyed enough to yell:

“Emma! My name’s Emma you idiot hobo!”

Jace gave me a crooked smile and laughed.

“Jace Fox, the idiot hobo. I like the sound of it. Sounds like a perfect name for a stripper.” His face fell back to a blank canvas. “Now seriously, go away. Girls like you annoy me.”

I placed my hands on my hips sternly and scowled at him.

“Well I’m going to bail you out of here just to ruin your life further!” I shouted before turning and storming toward the door.

“Emma?” I stopped and glanced over my shoulder at Jace. He waggled his fingers at me with a sarcastic smile.

“I’ll miss you . . . . NOT.”

I flipped him the middle finger and made sure to slam the door. I let out a loud growl of frustration as I stomped down the hallway, knocked open the lobby door and grabbed Myranda. I turned to the officer and smiled courteously.

“We’ll be back tomorrow. In the mean time, tell Mr. Fox to have a pleasant evening for me.” I choked out and dragged Myranda out of the station with me.

Myranda jerked her arm back and followed, her face covered with questions. We stopped once we needed to hail a cab, both of us exhausted and me incredibly pissed.

“What the hell happened in there?” She demanded and hollered at a cab passing by, it didn’t see her.

I kicked a rock with my stiletto and frowned furiously.

“That idiot of a boy . . . He’s a complete asshole! I swear, if he didn’t save my ass that one night, I’d let him rot in that cell!”

Myranda shushed me and glanced around her.

“Jesus Emma, people are looking at us like we’re crazy.” She muttered and yanked a cigarette out of her purse. “What’d he say?”

“What didn’t he say!? He pretty much insulted me and said he’d rather stay in jail!” I shrieked and clenched my fists. “Why couldn’t it have been Sam instead of him? Why wasn’t Sam with me so that I wouldn’t make that mistake!? Why did it have to be some hobo asshole!?”

“You realize that you’re screaming out the word ‘asshole’ and people are now whispering.” I turned to Myranda and began screaming out ‘asshole’ repetitively until Myranda covered my mouth. “Sorry people! She forgot to take her meds this morning, you know, people with Tourette’s syndrome!” She laughed weakly.

“I don’t have Tourette’s!” I hissed at her as a cab finally stopped for us. I yanked the car door open and threw a wad of bills at the driver, knocking him in the head as I snapped out directions.

Myranda just shook her head and smiled at the cab driver.

“You know girls and PMS. You guys don’t realize how lucky you are.”