This Bitch Just Blew Me Away

“Shit shit shit shit!” Lizzy shouted as she walked up to her front door to see another paper stuck to it. She only had a week left to vacate the apartment. She’d been trying with everything to find a place to go, with no luck, and even less luck at finding a job. She was showing more now, and the one call back she’d gotten on a job had been for an interview and then she never heard from the company again. She had been spending some time with Blower, but refusing as usual to allow him to help her with anything.

She’d always been expected to fend for herself, from the time she was 9 years old. She’d always cooked for herself, and cleaned for herself and she only got things she needed from her family. Anything she wanted, like toys or CD’s she’d been expected to earn, be it through house work or babysitting to earn money. So to accept someone’s assistance was out of her comfort zone.

She’d also spent a lot of time on the phone with Austin. He was really easy to talk to, and because he was in the middle of a divorce they both had an easy time listening to each other and venting all their stress. He’d probably become her best friend in just the few weeks that she’d known him. But, he like Blower, tried to get her to let him help her.

She pulled the paper off the door and threw it in the garbage without looking at it. She just didn’t care anymore. She’d been out running errands all day and her feet and back were killing her. She took off her jacket and let it fall to the ground with her purse and opened her refrigerator. She pulled out a bottle of milk and drank from the carton before dragging her body to her bathroom and turning on the water in her bathtub. She undressed and lowered herself into the tub of hot water and then she groaned as her cell phone started to ring.

She reached for her jeans and pulled her phone out to see that it was Austin calling. She answered the phone and took a deep breath. “Hey Austin,” she said.

“Hey, babe,” he said. There was somberness to his voice.

“What’s up?” she asked and leaned back and closed her eyes while her muscles relaxed in the warm water. He took a deep breath.

“Just the same old shit,” he said. “I ran into my wi…ex-wife,” he said. “It didn’t go very well.”

“I’m sorry, we can talk about it if you want to,” Lizzy answered.

“What are you doing? I don’t want to bother you,” he said.

“I’m taking a bath…” she said without thinking.

“That sounds like fun,” he said with a cocky tone. She rolled her eyes.

“Austin, don’t,” she said. He laughed.

“I’m sorry,” he said. She smiled to herself.

“It’s okay, I forgive you this time. So what happened with your ex wife?” She asked. He sighed and there was a brief silence.

“I guess she just wasn’t who I thought she was. You know, I married her thinking she was like, the one or whatever. But she expected too much I guess, and I couldn’t give her what she needed. So now when I do run into her, she has to make a point of things. Always about how her new, whatever he is, is so amazing and perfect and makes her so happy. What the fuck do I say to that shit?” he said.

“That sucks, what a bitch,” Lizzy said with aggravation. From what she’d heard, she didn’t like his wife at all.

“And, the divorce is going like fucking hell because she fucking thinks she needs every fucking thing I have. She took the house, she took the car, she’s trying to get money…everything she can get she’s trying to get. I don’t even know why she wants half of the shit she wants.”

“I’m really sorry to hear that, Austin. I don’t understand that either, you’re such a nice guy, I don’t understand why she wants to hurt you intentionally like that,” Lizzy sighed. “If you want you can come to my apartment for a while, I’ll make you dinner,” she offered. She heard him laugh a little bit.

“That’s really sweet of you, Lizzy,” he said. She smiled again.

“I need some company, I’m really stressed today too,” she said.

“Why is that, babe?”

“Because I have a week left, and no place to go and no fucking job.”

“If you need a place to stay, you are welcome to stay with me for a while,” he said. She groaned with frustration.

“I can’t ask you to do that for me, Austin,” she said. She heard him sigh.

“You’re not asking, I am insisting. I’m not taking no for an answer,” he said.

“I can’t stay with you, Austin. I have to figure this out myself.”

“So you want to stay on the street, while you’re pregnant?” he asked. She thought about it for a minute. He had a point. If it was only her, she would probably just stay on the street until she found a place to go. But she had to think about her baby, and how would she have a healthy pregnancy on the street with no money?

“I feel so bad asking for pity,” she sniffed.

“It’s not pity; it’s being a good friend. You’ve been amazing to me since I’ve met you. You listen to all my bullshit, you’re one of the only people that does,” he said.

“It’s because I’m a woman,” she smirked. She heard him laugh.

“You’re probably right,” he said, “But either way, it’s nice to have someone to talk to when I need to get some shit off my chest.”

“I don’t know, Austin, staying with you would be so against my character,” she said.

“I told you, it’s not an option,” he said. She sighed with frustration.

“We’ll see when I have to move out.”

“Lizzy, be rational.”

“I’m perfectly rational! Why am I irrational?! I just don’t think it’s in either of our best interests for me to live off of you,” she said.

“Look, it’s just until you get back on your feet, Lizzy. Because I’m not about to let my friend sleep on the street, especially while she’s pregnant,” he said with a little bit of firmness. Lizzy sighed again. She was pretty sure she wasn’t going to win this one.

“Fine,” she said in defeat. “I have to get all this shit put some place,” she said.

“I have room here for shit,” he said. “I have a garage, and a spare room where you’ll be staying. It will work out,” he said confidently. She sighed and worked her way out of her bath water and got her bathroom on while still on the phone with him, making arrangements for moving in with him. She wasn’t sure it was the best idea, but she knew he had a point. What would she do on the street with her baby? And there was always the chance that she wouldn’t find a place in time for her due date. Then what would she do? She defiantly couldn’t sleep on the street with a newborn.

“Are you coming for dinner?” she asked as she lay on her bed in her room and closed her eyes.

“Yea, I’ll come for dinner,” he said. “What time do you want me to come over?”

“Anytime is fine,” she said and yawned. “Call me when you get here, I may have fallen asleep,” she said.

“Alright, babe. I’ll see you in a while,” he said.

“Bye, Austin,” she yawned again and hung up her phone and within minutes she was asleep.

Two days later he was helping her get all of her stuff out of the apartment and taken to his house. She wanted to help so much, but every time she tried to lift something that weighed more than two pounds, he’d take it from her.

“Austin, come on, you’re doing everything! If you let me help, we’ll get done a lot faster,” she said with irritation. He didn’t say anything to her as he lifted another box of stuff and started to take it outside for her. “Why didn’t you like get movers or something?!” she protested.

“I figured if I showed up here with anything other than my truck, you wouldn’t let me in. Considering how fucking stubborn and mule like you are,” he said and put the box in his car. She glared at him. He laughed out loud.

“You’re a jackass,” she said.

“Oh come on, Liz, lighten up,” he grinned. She continued to glare at him with her arms crossed over the top of her stomach. “When we finish, we’ll get you some clothes,” he said.

“I don’t need clothes!!” she cried as she followed him into the apartment again. He turned around and gave her a once over and then looked in her eyes.

“So, you’re going to go naked? Because what you’ve got isn’t gonna fit much longer,” he said. Her jaw dropped and she slapped his arm. “I’m not complaining! You’re welcome to be naked in my house whenever you want.” This earned him another hard slap and he laughed as he rubbed his arm.

“I don’t need you to buy me clothes!” she insisted.

“I don’t care if you want me to or not, I’m taking you shopping for something that will fit you, okay?” he said. She glared at him and started to open her mouth in protest again. “Okay, perfect,” he said for her and continued taking her things to his truck. They eventually got most of her things loaded up between both cars and she followed him back to his house. She’d sold all of her furniture since she wasn’t going to need it for a while.

“Alright, well this is it,” he said as he walked into the house with her trailing behind him. “It’s not a lot, but it’s not bad either,” he said. “My other house is nicer, but you know how that goes…”

“Yea…” she said looking around the house. It was much better than any place she’d ever lived in before. He led her to the room she would be staying in and she marveled at the bed. It was much bigger than the double bed she’d had in her apartment, and there were night tables and a dresser. “Why do you have all this shit, I thought you were a man,” she said.

“Well…I have a confession to make…” he said. She looked at him with suspicion.

“What kind of confession?” she asked.

“Probably not what you’re thinking, freak,” he said with his eyebrows furrowed together. “When you agreed to move in here, I did some shopping,” he said. “This room didn’t have anything but junk in it when I talked to you.”

“That was only two days ago!” she said. He laughed.

“I know…I work fast,” he grinned. “I have some shit to take care of, so make yourself at home. There is food in the kitchen and everything, you have your own bathroom through the door there,” he said and pointed to a door in the room. She nodded.

“Okay, well thanks,” she said. He nodded and then he left the room. This was going to be interesting.