Only In It For A Minute

“I knew there was something off about the guy,” John said, banging his fist against his dashboard. “I’m going to fucking kill that guy!”

“John, no,” I said, sternly.

“No? NO!?” John said, looking at me with wide eyes. “How can you say no?”

“Lucy already told me she doesn’t want us to confront him,” I reasoned.

“But Tash, he raped your best friend, the guy can’t just get away with it,” he shook his head.

“And he won’t, but this is down to Lucy to report,” I told him, looking over as he stared out of the front window of his truck. “Right now, I just need to get away from him.”

“That’s fine, grab your stuff and you can come live with me.”

“I have work John, I can’t live in Phoenix,” I said.

“Yeah, work with him,” John spat. “How can you work with him? And where do you think you’re going to live?”

“I’ll just book into a hotel or something for now and I guess start looking for a new apartment,” I sighed. “As for work, just because I have to see him everyday, doesn’t mean I have to speak to him and certainly doesn’t mean I have to be nice to him if I do.”

“Seriously, how are you being so calm about this?” he asked.

“Because, like you said, she’s my best friend,” I told him. “It wasn’t going to be any help to her if I starting panicking about myself.”

Me and John sat in his truck for a while longer as we worked out what we were going to do. Once Lucy and Lizzie had checked in for their flight, I had stayed at the airport as I really didn’t want to be in the apartment on my own with Jamie right now. John couldn’t get flight into LAX any time soon so had decided to make the six hour drive to get here.

Once John had arrived, I jumped straight into his truck, took one look at him and burst into tears. As soon as I’d managed to compose myself, I explained everything to him. Lucy had told me and Lizzie what had happened before they left to go home, although it broke my heart to hear her say it and to see them both leave and not be able to do anything to help.

“Let me go in first,” John said, as I put the key in the door to my apartment.

“John, I just wanna go in and get a bunch of my stuff, it doesn’t matter who goes in first,” I said.

“Just humor me, alright?” he said, to which I nodded.

As we walked in, I could hear noise coming from the living room, which I guessed was the TV so I presumed Jamie was home. I hadn’t seen him since we got home from the club. I led John straight to my room and shut the door behind us, before immediately repacking my suitcase. We must have been doing this for about 20 minutes as fast and quietly as we could before we heard a knock on my bedroom door. John and I looked at each other before he shot me knowing look. He knew I was dreading this moment. John got up from my bed and opened the door to a smiling Jamie.

“Hey! I thought I heard noises,” he said. “Hey John, how’s it going?”

“Yeah, good man,” he answered, flatly.

“Didn’t realise you were coming to visit,” Jamie said, still sounding upbeat. I couldn’t even bare to look at him.

“Neither did I,” John mumbled. Jamie looked from John towards where I was sat of the floor folding clothes into piles.

“Going somewhere, Tash?” Jamie asked. I honestly didn’t know how he could act like nothing had happened.

“Erm yeah, I’m not going to be staying here for a couple of days,” I told him, still continuing to fold and pack my clothes.

“Oh right,” he said, he face falling into a frown. “What about work?”

“I’ll still be at work, it’s just with John here, it’s not fair to expect you to be OK with him being here all the time,” I lied.

“You know I don’t care,” he said.

“Yeah, but like I said, you shouldn’t have to be OK with it,” I repeated. “also, me and John want to a bit of alone time, you know.”

“Alright, well I’ll leave you to it then,” Jamie said, walking back out of my room.

Once we were alone again, I groaned and pulled a face.

“That bad?” John laughed softly.

“Worse,” I said, flashing him a look. “How could he? I mean, what kind of nutter do you have to be to do that to your flatmates best friend?”

“They always say it’s the ones you least expect,” John shrugged. As I zipped up my suitcase, I looked at John, where I’d left him packing my tops. I’d packed as many of my clothes as I could into my suitcase and two holdalls, although I didn’t want Jamie to know how much of my stuff I was taking with me. I made John stay at the front door as I went to tell Jamie that I was leaving.

“Hey, so, we’re heading off,” I told him, standing in the doorway.

“Alright, well I guess I’ll see you at work?”

“Sure,” I nodded.

Once me and John got back out to his truck, we threw my bags in the back and got in the front.

“So where to?” he asked, turning to face me.

“Away from here,” I mumbled. “However I am starving! Take me to get some food?”

We drove to the nearest Taco Bell, ordered and I think I stuffed my face in record time. Since Lucy had told me, I’d lost my appetite for a few hours and focused on the current situation. For now though, there was nothing else I could do, which only meant it was time for me to get my food fix.

As John and I walked out of the restaurant, I sighed, knowing we now had nowhere to go. It was late and I felt lost for the first time since I’d moved here.

“What do I do now, John?” I asked, mainly just looking for support.

“You come with me,” he said.

“John, I’ve already told you, I need to be here,” I sighed again.

“I didn’t mean to Phoenix,” he told me. “My friend Dirk, I think you’ve met him a couple of times, he lives here in LA, you can stay there.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah, I’ve already asked him and he said it’s cool,” John smiled. “We’ll head over now if you want?”

I nodded and smiled, “where would I be without you?” I asked, leaning into his body as he started up the truck.

“Not here in the first place,” he huffed. As he drove, he took my hand and squeezed it. “I’m sorry, Tash.”

“Don’t you dare start blaming yourself, John,” I told him. “You never made me take this job, that was my choice to be closer to you. So you don’t you dare blame yourself.”

“But Tash-”

“No John,” I cut him off and looked away as we spent the rest of the journey in silence.

It had been a long day and this was the last thing I needed.