Silver Springs

Mary Lou Doyle walked through the café shop’s doors with a calm smile on her face. Her blond hair was braided in an ethereal crown on the top of her head and she wore one of those pale pink dresses she had gotten before she hated her life.

She put on her apron and her nametag which read MARY LOU on it and stood behind the counter with a content expression. This was then shattered by the man who walked in –Gunnar Lewis.

He looked around and when his eyes landed on her slight figure, with her wispy fake blond hair around her face, he stopped and said very lowly, “Come with me outside. Right. Now.”

“Gunnar, no.” Mamie said her words forcefully.

Gunnar’s voice came out even lower, “Trust me. You don’t want me telling you what I have to tell you in here.”

His dark eyes glinted with hatred and Mamie knew that he knew. Maybe she shouldn’t have ignored the frantic calls left on her phone by Billie.

She told her coworker she had to excuse herself and followed Gunnar out to the alley. He wore his black leather jacket; his hands were in the pockets. Mamie watched as he paced back and forth.

“You know, Mamie,” he started and then he teetered off into another angry pace, he slammed his fist into the brick wall and then said, “You fucked Billie.”

Mamie did not cry. She blinked emptily. “Yes.”

He raised his hands as if trying to hold himself back. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You could have slept with anyone! ANYONE! And you choose Billie, the guy I look at in the face every day? What the fuck is wrong with you? You let him touch you? Oh God.”

He stopped, looking like he was about to be sick.

“How long?” he manically whispered.

“How long what?”

“How long have you been sleeping with him? Were you fucking him last time we…?”

“No, I broke it off before,” Mamie answered hurriedly.

“How long before?”

“A day before,” she whispered.

“Fuck!” he groaned, “You’re disgusting, you know that?”

“We weren’t together!” Mamie suddenly yelled. “You and I weren’t together! You were fucking Jamie. I was fucking Billie.”

“Don’t be so daft, Mary Lou. You know those are completely different things! Did you do it to hurt me?”

“No.”

“Did you do it to fuck with me?”

“No! I didn’t do it for you at all.”

“So you like Billie, is that it?”

He got dangerously close to Mamie’s face. His voice was murderously low, “Did he make you scream?”

Mamie closed her eyes. “Gunnar, don’t.”

“No, I want to know. I have to know. Did he make you hot?”

Mamie’s mouth was a thin line. She was not going to tell him anything.

“That’s vile. I’m not telling you a thing,” she hissed.

He laughed. “You drive me crazy. You are literally driving me insane,” he yelled.

“I know! I drive everyone crazy. It’s in my repertoire,” she murmured.

“Why him? Why Billie?” he heaved. He ran a hand through his dark hair.

“I like Billie. I like him, alright? Is that what you wanna hear?”

“Yes,” he spat, “I needed you to say that. It makes the fact that you are a disgusting woman more concrete.”

“I’m a disgusting woman? Ha! You cheated on me over and over and over again when we were together! You think I didn’t notice? “

“Okay. I did. But I didn’t sleep with your best friend.”

“Fine. There. You’re right and you know that you’re right. I fucked up. I made a wrong decision and I hurt you and I hurt everyone and I’m sorry!” she finally yelled back.

Gunnar suddenly got very sober. “You know what, Mary Lou? Sex is a weapon. It can be used to hurt people. And you have certainly not considered that. You are not the girl I fell in love with. You’re not the girl I made love to. You’re just not.”

“Gunnar, I’m so very sorry. But maybe that’s a good thing,” she finally whispered and walked away, away from him.

She waited till she was back inside the café to cry.