by Megan Rose
Mark started to follow her, but she was practically running. Then she took off both sandals and hurled them into the street. She wasn’t walking on the curb anymore. She was cutting through the grass. Something very bad had just happened.
Was this all his fault?
✽✽✽
5:45 that night Lacey was bundled up on the couch, wrapped in her afghan, eyes red from crying, candy bar wrappers everywhere, watching the news (okay, waiting for the news to end and the America’s Next Top Model rerun to begin).
Her doorbell rang and it startled her. Walrus Girl didn’t want to move. She didn’t want anyone to see her. She’d just pretend she wasn’t home. The doorbell rang again.
“Lacey?” a male voice called out. Lacey, who had been in the middle of chewing a newly-opened Hershey bar, completely froze, telling herself this wasn’t happening. “Lacey? Open up! It’s me!” Maxi Pad Man was at her door. “I know you’re in there! At least let me talk to you for a second!”
Lacey resumed chewing her candy bar and slowly got off the couch, pulling her afghan around her shoulders tightly. She walked to the door and began to reach for the doorknob. Then, she rethought her actions. She had embarrassed herself enough today. She didn’t need for anyone, especially the nice, patient Concerned Man, to see her in such a hideous, pathetic state.
“I can see your shadow under your door!” he called.
Lacey whipped the door open. “You’re looking under my door?!” She took a breath to tell him how creepy that was, but then she looked at what he was holding.
“No,” said Concerned Man. He stood there with a bag of takeout food in one hand and a pair of horribly disfigured sandals in the other. “I think we had a date,” he said. Lacey stood silently. “I don’t mean, like, a date date, that was just poor word choice. What I meant was I think we had plans. You look surprised to see me.”
“I figured you would be drawing up a restraining order by now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I seem to be crazy.”
✽✽✽
Mark walked into Lacey’s apartment, pushing her aside to do so. “Where should I put all of this?” He looked around. No wonder she didn’t want him to come in; it was a mess. She couldn’t be going through a midlife crisis – she only looked 25 or 26. That’s more like quarter-life, and Mark had never heard of a quarter-life crisis before.
"Here,” Lacey shrugged off the blanket that she had wrapped around her and tossed it on the couch. Underneath, she wore a pink and green matching pajama set and big, purple, fuzzy socks. She took the bag of food and placed it on what Mark would say was the coffee table, and she took the shoes down the hall and into what he assumed was her room.
“I wasn’t really…expecting company,” she said as she came back out of her room, now wearing a light summer robe that was white with green polka dots.
“No, that’s okay!” Mark quickly responded. “I just came over to have some takeout and watch Jamie Lee Curtis in something other than a commercial for fiber-enhanced yogurt.” Lacey smiled slightly and Mark felt something stir inside him. Like a warm feeling. Weird.
“I don’t have the best entertainment system set up here…” Lacey gestured to her small, bulky TV that was showing the news in black and white.
“A Streetcar Named Desire?” Mark took the movie out of the VCR and looked at it. He didn’t figure her for the kind of girl to watch something so dramatic. She looked more like a Sex and the City marathon type of girl.
“Oh yeah, it’s…my favorite…” She suddenly looked nervous. Was he making her uncomfortable? Did she not want him in her apartment? Was this a terrible idea?
“I don’t want to interrupt you’re evening if you’re – “
“No! It would be nice to have company, even though I’m not at all prepared for it. I’ll go get my VHS tapes – “
"VHS tapes? You mean you actually use this?” He kicked the VCR that was sitting sloppily on the floor, on top of all its own plugs.
“If it was good enough for the 90s, it’s good enough for me.”
“That’s a fair motto. I’ll get the food out. I thought I’d get pizza or something like that, but the pizza place was having a special on fajitas for some reason, I don’t know why, so I hope you don’t mind something spicy.
“If not, I got this…I don’t really know what it is, but the guy suggested it. Looking at it now, though it looks kind of gross and moldy, so I can go get something else if you want – “
“Did you go to Ay, Yo Pizza?” She came from the hallway carrying an armful of VHS tapes.
“Yes.”
“Yeah, don’t expect pizza when you go there. Our town’s culinary scene is very unique. The Chinese food place is trying to Americanize itself as much as possible – once a week they have New Orleans night. The pizza place used to make really good pizza, but now the owner’s son is going to culinary school, so whatever they’re working on in class he practices by teaching everyone at the restaurant. Then they make it for a few days until he gets his next assignment. They had pizza once I think, although I seem to remember goat cheese, pesto, and pancetta.”
“Apparently I haven’t really gotten around town very much,” Mark said as he took a tape and popped it in the VCR. “I’ve pretty much been to my apartment, to my store, to the grocery store, and…here.”
“Well, there’s not much else besides that. Some clothes stores, a mall a little bit outside of town, a town bar, the park … “
“Is that where we were eating lunch?” Mark broached the subject carefully, willing Lacey not to cry at the thought of lunch.
"That’s the back of it, yes. The whole park is actually very nice and really big. They have events there sometimes – concerts, movie nights, fairs, that kind of thing. Do you mind sitting on the floor to eat?”
“No, that’s fine. I’ve been sitting on the floor in my apartment for a while so I’m used to it.” Mark took a breath and relaxed. Maybe she was less crazy than he thought. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
Mark and Lacey talked through all the movies until it was 11:00. They discussed themselves and high school, their careers, their parents, American Idol (that had turned into quite a heated argument over the best winners and the best judges – they had moved off of that subject quickly, as Lacey clearly was not going to accept anyone else’s point of view), the movies they were watching, and Lacey even shared some of her candy with him after they were done with dinner.
She told him about her dream of finding a precious Wonder Ball and he told her about his dream of meeting Jon Bon Jovi (and she had tried not to laugh too hard at him).
Mark explained how the space he was using for the store and gym had been left to him. Lacey told him about her aspiration to open up a princess-themed children’s salon, and Mark seemed genuinely interested.
“Well I probably should be getting home,” Mark said. “You’re going to need your rest if you plan on skipping on the curb tomorrow, though I highly discourage it.”
“Maybe I’ll wear sneakers,” Lacey said, but Mark knew she wasn’t serious. He headed towards the front door, and Lacey stopped him.
“Actually,” she said, “would you mind going out the back door?”
“Oh, sure.” Mark tried to look neutral, like he was always asked to go out of girls’ apartments through the back door. “Good thing you’re on the ground floor,” he said.
“Why?” She looked perplexed.
“Well, if not no one could leave through the back door. You’d be stuck kicking them out through the front. Or pushing them over the balcony.”
“Oh, I think you – “
“It’s okay, I understand. Some boyfriends are just really overprotective. You’re doing it more for me than you, right? Although if your boyfriend doesn’t trust you to hang out with some other guy then – “
“Mark!” It looked like she had been trying to get his attention for a while, but he wasn’t really paying attention. Then she said his name. Had she ever said h
is actual name before? Maybe once. For some stupid reason, that made him happy. And then he looked at the sliding glass door in front of him and frowned.
“Mark,” there it was again, “I’m not asking you to leave through the back so no one will see you. I’m asking because my neighbors get really angry when people leave through my door down here once it’s past, like, 10:00. It’s really heavy and it can be really loud when you close it. It echoes throughout at least the whole second floor because of the stairwell. I’m the only apartment down here, so if someone closes my door everyone knows it was me. Then I get nasty looks from people I don’t even know.”
“Oh. Yeah, I just wanted to make sure that –“
“But you’re right, any boyfriend I have should trust me.”
“Well, good then...So yours does? Trust you?”
“Nope.”
“What…”
“Because I don’t have a boyfriend,” she said and smiled. Feeling a little dopey, he was about to say something (probably stupid) about her lack-of-boyfriend, when she said, “Look at me – I’m a mess! Who wants to be with this?” She spoke in a joking tone, but Mark could sense that that she wasn’t really joking.
“You’re not a mess – “
"It’s okay, really. I’m just…joking anyway. I’m actually a real catch. I mean, men line up to date me.”
“Lacey – “
“You should probably go,” she said, pointing to the clock hanging above her dining room table.
Mark went to open the door and then asked, “How do you unlock it?”
“Oh, it doesn’t lock.”
“What? What do you mean it doesn’t lock? It has to lock!”
“The lock broke. I haven’t gotten it fixed yet. It’s such a hassle, cleaning up so the repair people can come in and interrupt your day while they make lots of noise and take way longer than they should and raid your refrigerator and take all your candy and talk about…”
“Lacey, you can’t not have a lock. You need a lock.”
“Okay, that was redundant. No one’s going to come in here – and plus, even if I had a lock, the glass is so thin someone could easily break through it and reach around to the doorknob. This is a crappy apartment. That’s why I got it – it’s so cheap. It used to be where the landlord lived but he moved out years ago, and I’m the first person to use it since then.”
“You can’t leave it like this.” Mark took out his cell phone. “You need a whole new back door. What’s the number for maintenance?”
“Mark, go home. I’ll be fine. I don’t want maintenance coming. This is Whindry, New Jersey, it’s not Camden, okay? I’m perfectly safe. And don’t worry. Based on the complaints about music and TV, my neighbors can hear anything that’s going on down here. Believe me, I know. I’ve gotten notes.”
Mark started to protest again. “Go,” she said as she opened the door and pushed him through it. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Was that a promise? Lacey closed the door and, subsequently, the blinds.
Chapter 3
Lacey walked into the salon the next day with a fake smile plastered on her face and the feeling of vomit creeping up her esophagus. She just had to deal with Lana for a few days – she even had the weekend off. A few more days, and then Mayra would be back and everything would go back to normal.
“Oh Lacey,” Lana said as she walked in, “don’t you look…nice.” Lacey looked down at her outfit. Walrus Girl hadn’t felt like getting out of bed at all that morning, let alone getting dressed.
She was wearing a somewhat old pair of jeans, one of those t-shirts portraying the love between peanut butter and jelly, and (yes, she did it) sneakers. She wasn’t in the mood for Lana’s petty remarks. Pretty much, with the mood Lacey was in, Lana would be lucky if Lacey didn’t rip her precious hair from her head and give it to Ms. Stinson for wig-making.
“Morning, Lana. You look...whatever,” she mumbled and walked to her station.
“Oh, good comeback,” Lana murmured and giggled to a girl standing next to her, whom Lacey didn’t recognize. “Okay ladies,” Lana announced at the front of the room and clapped twice. “I would just like to say that I am honored to be working with y’all –“ Okay, hadn’t she just moved here from LA? Where was this “y’all” coming from? – “and I think we’re going to make this a great week! I want you to give these comment cards to all of your customers and have them give them to me, and – “
“Comment cards? Lana that’s ridiculous! You’re working here for a week – you have absolutely no say over anyone’s position in the company. There’s no reason for you to be evaluating people.”
Lana sighed. “I’d like for my superior to know that I did an above-average job, seeing as I may want a job here as a makeup artist in the future. Talk of a higher position has also been abuzz, so I’d be nice to me if I were you.”
“Oh, God here comes the throw up.” Stifled giggles everywhere. She didn’t even mean to say it; she thought she had just said it in her head.
“Lacey, I have connections around this town that you couldn’t even imagine,” she said, making her way over to Lacey’s station, “and you might be wise to –“
“Connections? What connections? You just moved back here from LA. This town is no longer a shrine to you. You don’t have devoted fans anymore. You’re just a regular girl who thinks she’s better than everyone else because she won some crap in high school. How are the plastic dollar-store crowns, by the way? They holding up okay?” Lacey smirked.
“I’m not afraid of you, Lana. And I’m not afraid to tell you that nobody likes you, so if you want to use your “connections,” you might have to use them for the whole town.”
Oh, God. Why was she saying such mean things? They kind of weren’t even really true. Everyone still worshipped her. Why was she playing with fire? “What I really mean – “
“That’s okay, Lacey. Let’s get it all out in the open. You don’t like me. I respect that. I don’t like you either, and you have to respect that. I know it’s hard to imagine someone actually not liking you, because everyone’s always so nice to your face, right? Well, I’m telling you to your face: I don’t like you.”
Her voice suddenly took on a professional tone. “And I am not going to use my feelings in my evaluation of Ms. Harris,” she announced to the room. Everyone went back to work. Then she whispered to Lacey, “You really have no clue who you’re talking to, do you? I used to reign over this town. You’d be smart to be nice to me – extra-nice after what you just said or you’ll be sorry.”
“What do you think this is, Lana? A crappy high school movie? Who even says things like that in real life?”
Lana glared at Lacey for a moment. Then, loudly she said, “It’s so nice that we can have these chats with each other, be honest and get things out in the open so there’s no hidden animosity between people, isn’t it?” She looked at Lacey, smiling with a look that screamed insanity and eyes burning through Lacey’s soul.
✽✽✽
Mark wasn’t looking out the window for any particular reason. He was just surveying the land around him, getting a feel for the town. He didn’t keep glancing at the door of the salon waiting for a perky little blonde to skip out and probably fall flat on her face.
Okay, fine. He was waiting to see Lacey leave for lunch. He wanted to have lunch with her again. She had come off as insane, and Mark thought that assessment might be correct, but he had actually enjoyed his evening with her last night. She was kind of fun. And a little cute, too. Like a bunny. She reminded him of a bunny.
Just as he told himself he was being stupid and what was he, a high school freshman waiting for a girl to come out of the locker room, he saw the door to the salon open and a blonde head pop out. She didn’t look very happy. Just as Mark ran to grab his lunch and go with her, he thought maybe he should wait.
He didn’t want her to think he had been waiting for her or anything. Because he hadn’t been. He just happened to notice her leave for
her lunch break, and he just happened to have his lunch break at the same time. And they just happened to both choose the same place to eat.
Okay, he’d wait five minutes. Then he’d leave.
✽✽✽
When Mark had finally reached the park next to Julio’s, he had expected Lacey to be in the store, buying lunch. Instead she was sitting on the bench with her head in her hands. He stood still. He could still escape. He didn’t have to find out what was wrong and try to help her. He should just leave her alone and not get tangled up in her overemotional crisis...but he couldn’t just leave her there all by herself. And he wanted to know what was wrong.
He guessed it was something to do with that evil prom queen that was working at the hair salon. She had mentioned her about 15 times the night before – always with a different insulting name.
“Hey,” he said quietly as he made his way towards the bench. She looked up.
“Damn it!” she yelled when she saw him. He took a step back – had he done something wrong? He couldn’t think of a thing.
“I didn’t think you’d come back here after yesterday! After you became aware of my emotional instability.”
“I’m sorry. I can go.” He started to turn around.
“Every time I see you, I’m either flailing around like an idiot and falling to the ground, or I’m crying. Not once have we had a normal encounter in which we exchange pleasantries and just talk like normal people. I spill candy on you whenever you come near me. No one’s even supposed to know about my candy addiction. Except Mrs. Whithers, but she thinks it’s pudding so that’s fine. I keep having fits in front of you, sobbing hysterically, throwing things…”
“I’d like it if just once you happened to come upon me and I was in my element, cheery and normal and happy. Like when I’m cutting hair. Or even if I found you one day having an emotional breakdown of some sort – then maybe the playing field would start to be leveled. But this is just ridiculous! You must think I’m a luna – “ that last word was cut off by a giant sob.