Good Girl

Mallory still tried to hold herself together when she got home. She had left work an hour early with permission from her boss. There was no way she was able to focus after her lunch break. She almost wished that she’d waited until after work to go to the doctor. But, she was glad that she knew what was going on with her body now.

She’d gone straight to Erin’s after leaving the office, thankful that Brian wasn’t there. The look Erin gave Mallory when she arrived made her breakdown. It was like Erin just knew. Mallory fell apart for over an hour, sobbing and asking what she had done wrong. She wanted to know why Matt had done this to her. Erin had pieced Mallory back together after some time, comforting her. Mallory knew Erin was right in telling her to confront Matt. Mallory just didn’t know how to.

Mallory was somewhat glad that Matt wasn’t there when she got home. She wasn’t sure if she could look at his face at the moment. She just wanted her questions answered. If she was prepared for the answers, that was.

Mallory prepped herself like normal. She changed out of her professional attire and into a pair of black yoga pants and a plain white v-neck. She was her face of the makeup that she tried to keep in place throughout all of her crying. She splashed cold water on her face to get rid of the redness. She tied her ombre hair up into a messy bun on the top of her head. She was exhausted from the stress already.

Mallory swallowed the lump in her throat when she heard the front door close. She still didn’t have a plan. How was she supposed to tell him that he’d given her an STD? That she now knew that he’d been cheating on her?

“Mal?” He called out.

Mallory’s legs carried her down the stairs, her heart racing all the way down. It was more from anger than anxiety. When she got to the kitchen, Matt was just letting Bella outside.

He smiled at her. “Hey, babe. You just got home?”

Mallory just blinked at him, her face hard and stoic. She didn’t even have words to answer such an irrelevant question right now.

“Bad day at work?” He wondered out loud.

Mallory quickly dodged him when he leaned down to kiss her. She took a step back from him. He raised his eyebrows in confusion.

“I know you’ve been cheating on me,” Mallory stated lowly. She hated actually saying the words.

“What did you just say?” Matt’s demeanor was suddenly more alert and tense.

“You’ve been cheating on me,” Mallory repeated, her voice stronger and more audible.

“You really think I’m cheating on you?” Matt shook his head. He stepped around her, ready to the leave the kitchen. “You’re insane.”

Mallory pointed a finger at his back and spoke firmly. “No. You’re not going to make me seem like the crazy one. I know it for a fact.”

“How do you figure I’m cheating?” Matt asked, pausing at the doorway with his back still turned.

“You fucking gave me an infection, Matt! That’s how I know!” She rarely ever cursed unless she was extremely pissed or frustrated. Her own tone of voice surprised her. “I went to the doctor today, and low and behold, I’ve got an STD. You ever heard of trich? Evidently, you’ve got it too. Just thought it was courtesy to let you know.”

“Fuck,” Matt muttered under his breath.

“Are you not hearing anything I’m saying?” Mallory threw her hands up in frustration, staring at his back.

“I’ve… already been checked and treated….”

“You- what?” Mallory shouted, speechless and wide-eyed.

“I don’t want to repeat myself.” Matt turned around to face her, rubbing his hands over his face in distress.

“You would actually let me suffer with an STD that you gave me?” Mallory asked in disbelief. “You would intentionally let me find out on my own instead of being honest with me? How fucking dare you, Matt.”

“It was one time, Mallory,” He tried to explain. “It was an accident, okay? I was going to tell you, I swear.”

“When?” Mallory shouted. “When I caught AIDS? Herpes? There’s no such thing as ‘accidents’. You don’t trip and land in someone else’s pussy. That’s not how it fucking works.”

“If you’d let me explain-”

“Explain what? There’s nothing to explain. I get it. It was a ‘onetime thing’. Maybe I could forgive you, but something’s telling me that it wasn’t just one time. If you’d just… if you’d just been honest with me, but you said nothing.”

“I can be honest now,” Matt said, attempting to redeem himself. “You’re not even giving me a chance to explain.”

“Bullshit,” Mallory’s tone was vicious and stinging; something that she didn’t use too often. “I don’t want to hear the lame excuses.”

“Well then, what do you want to hear, Mal?” Matt shouted, taking a few steps forward to approach her. “I cheated on you one time and I’m sorry, alright? What else do you want me to fucking say?”

Mallory narrowed her eyes. She laughed bitterly, shaking her head. He really thought sorry was an effective apology.

“Who was it?” Mallory whispered. She just needed to know. “If it was one time, who’d you fuck, Matt?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because I have the right to know! If you’re around catching stuff from some other girl, I want to know who it is!” Mallory justified. “You’ve already been caught, so you can lay it all on the table. You can’t do much more damage. So, who was it?”

“Are you seriously asking me that right now?”

“It’s really fucking pathetic that you can cheat on me, but won’t fess up and even tell me her name,” Mallory spat. She wished that he could man up and grow some balls. She bumped him with her shoulder as she passed by him, muttering under her breath.

He reached out, his large hand grabbing her small wrist. He yanked her backwards, making her stumble into him. He looked down at her, his hazel eyes cloudy and threatening. He scoffed in her face. “What are you gonna do, leave me?”

Mallory raised her eyebrows at his sudden arrogance. Surely, he wasn’t talking to her like that. She pulled her arm from his tight grip. “If you don’t think I can leave you, I’ll show you. But if you actually have the audacity to continue to stand here and lie to my face, then you’re not the guy I said ‘yes’ to.”