Full Circle

by Dillon Watson

She smelled the alcohol and remembering the previous threats to Sara, made an effort to keep her tone pleasant. “Hey, you wanna let me go? We’re on our way out.”

  “But I just got here. Maybe you wanna change your mind.”

  Casey squeezed past Suzette and Beth to stand next to Mikaela. “Is there a problem?”

  “Good old Casey, still playing guard dog.” Nina’s smile was anything but friendly and she tightened her grip. “But this doesn’t concern you. Mikaela and I have some business to finish.”

  “Well, it concerns me,” Mikaela shot back, embarrassed by the attention they were attracting. “Now I asked you nicely to let me go. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

  “It concerns me too,” Beth said, hands on hips.

  Nina glanced at Beth, then back at Mikaela. “You already moved on to somebody else, I see. What, that white girl couldn’t keep up? Had to get back to black?” She laughed.

  “Back off, Nina,” Casey demanded.

  “No, you back off.” Nina let Mikaela go and pushed Casey hard enough to send her flailing back into Beth and Suzette. Only the crowd behind them kept them from falling.

  “You have lost your mind.” Mikaela rocketed into Nina’s personal space. “You need to leave me alone. Now, I’m going out that door and I hope I don’t see you again. But if I do have the misfortune to cross your path, don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, don’t breathe on me. I have nothing more to say to you. If you persist in harassing me and my friends, I’ll slap you with a restraining order so fast your head will fly off. You know Casey knows how to get it done.”

  When she tried to walk away, Nina grabbed her with both hands, spun her around and shook her. She leaned in to say softly, “You don’t get to talk to me that way in front of my friends. And you don’t get to walk away from me. Understand?”

  Mikaela’s breathing hitched as she struggled against Nina’s biting grip, struggled against the stirrings of fear. Every stalker movie she’d seen on the Lifetime channel came back full force. It didn’t help to note that she was now surrounded by Nina’s friends. “Let me go,” she begged unashamedly. “You can be the one to walk away, your pride intact. Come on, please?”

  “You trying to play me now?” Nina looked to her friends. “I look like a lapdog to you?” When they hooted, she turned her attention back to Mikaela. “I’m in charge. You better recognize.”

  She looked into Nina’s angry brown eyes and wondered who this stranger was. This testosterone-filled bully couldn’t be the woman she’d dated, lived with. “You won, okay? You can let me go now.”

  “Or what, little girl?” Nina yanked Mikaela’s arm.

  “Or this.” Mikaela aimed her knee at Nina’s crotch, missed, and then wasn’t fast enough to dodge the fist that snapped her head back. Her already precarious balance was lost. She bounced off one of Nina’s friends, and it was only the help of a Good Samaritan that eased her fall.

  “You okay?” he asked. “That was a serious hit.”

  She wasn’t sure which hurt worse: her head or her pride. “I’m…yeah. Thanks.” When he helped her into a sitting position, she saw that Casey was being held by two of Nina’s friends. “Let her go!”

  “Stop this right now,” Suzette said loudly. She held up her cell phone. “I caught the assault on my phone. Charges will be filed.”

  “That’s right.” The manager, who’d been summoned by Beth, motioned to the two burly guys with her, and they escorted Nina and her friends to the back. “Are you okay, Miss?” She stooped to Mikaela’s level.

  She nodded, though pain was kicking pride’s ass. “I used to be faster.”

  “Try this.” Beth handed her a napkin covering a bag of ice. She held up three fingers. “How many fingers do you see?”

  “Only the one in the middle matters. You got any pain-killers?”

  “I have a first-aid kit in my office,” the manager said. “Why don’t we wait there for the police? Can I assume you’re going to press charges?”

  Stronger words were on the back of her tongue. She settled for a simple but heartfelt “Yes.”

  * * *

  Mikaela woke up the next morning with a stiff neck, a raging headache and the inability to fully open her left eye. She grunted, brought her hand up to her face and gingerly explored the area made puffy by Nina’s well-placed fist. As she expected, it was tender to the touch. And most likely dark enough to stand out. Damn! She had a date in a few hours and there wasn’t enough makeup in the world to completely cover the damage.

  A light knock drew her attention to the open door. “Might as well come in.” Though she’d tried to convince Casey to go to Suzette’s last night, she was grateful her friend had chosen to come home with her.

  Casey eased the door open, caught sight of Mikaela and winced. “Heard noise, so I thought I’d check to make sure you’re okay. See if you need anything.”

  “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

  “Truthfully, it looks worse than it did last night.” She sat on the bed and reached for Mikaela’s hand. “I think we need to go to one of those after-hours clinics, have them check you out. Just to make sure nothing’s broken.”

  She shook her head and immediately regretted it. “I’m mostly okay. But you know what really blows is that now I have to call Sara and cancel. I can’t have her see me like this.” She pointed at her face. “I can’t believe that bitch hit me. I mean, I can’t even pretend it was some kind of accidental punch.”

  “I’m surprised myself. I would have thought she took that macho act too seriously to hit you.”

  “God, what am I going to tell people at work? I can’t go in looking like this.”

  “Take Monday off and wear gobs and gobs of makeup on Tuesday. If they notice, so what? You were assaulted. That’s not your fault. And as for Sara, if she’s all you think she is, she won’t care if you look like you went a few rounds.”

  “Yeah, right. I need to get up.”

  “Okay, but let’s take it slow. See how your balance is today.”

  She had vague memories of tripping over her own feet last night. “Please tell me no one I know saw me almost take a dive in the parking lot?”

  Casey chuckled. “That should be the least of your worries, but knowing you, it’s not. Rest assured you only stumbled around drunkenly in front of strangers and three friends. Now, up.”

  Mikaela sat up gingerly, feeling the pull of abused muscles to go with the throbbing in her head. “Note to self: learn to bob and weave.” When her vision didn’t swim, she eased off the bed and, under Casey’s watchful eye, slowly made her way to the bathroom. She found out on the way that more than her neck was stiff.

  Her shriek had Casey coming in at a dead run. “Look at me,” she demanded, pointing a finger at her reflection. A dark bruise fanned down from her swollen eye to her jaw. “I’m a wreck. No way I want Sara to see this. Hell, I don’t want to see this.” She turned from the mirror and used her hands to cover her face.

  Casey tugged at Mikaela’s hands. “Bet you five Sara’ll be upset you were hurt, not that you look…less than perfect.”

  “Good catch, but I’m far, far away from less than perfect. Some of my family would feel it necessary to point out that I’m ‘tore up from the floor up,’” she grumbled. “And I’m not paying you no five dollars. I’ll call, let Sara decide. Coffee first though, and something for this headache.” She opened the right-side drawer and came up empty. “You have any?”

  “Sure. You should grab a shower. No—make that a bath. Then I’ll make you an omelet and toast.”

  She kissed Casey’s cheek. “I’ll say it again. You’re the best friend evah.”

  Mikaela did feel better after the aspirin, a long soak and breakfast. Still, she delayed an hour before calling Sara. “It’s Mikaela.”

  “Hi. I was thinking about you.”

  “Really? Good stuff, I hope.”

  “Of course. How’s it going?”

  “I’ve…been better
. A lot better. Actually that’s mainly why I called. I was in a little altercation yesterday and my face is…let’s say, Frankenstein’s monsterish. So—”

  “You okay? It wasn’t The Three, was it?”

  Mikaela laughed. “I’ll have to point them out to you one day, so you’ll understand why that’s funny. It was Nina. She took exception to a lot of things last night, and I had the poor sense not to get out of the way of her fist.”

  “She hit you? She actually hit you?”

  “Yeah. Did a good job.”

  “I can’t believe it. Are you hurt anywhere else? Do you need me to come over and take you somewhere or bring you something? Go beat the hell out of Nina?”

  “That’s sweet, but she’s not worth the trouble. It’s not so bad. Mostly the left side of my face is affected, with a few twinges here and there thrown in. But I wasn’t kidding about the monster deal and I thought it would be best if you, you know, weren’t seen in public with me.”

  “You’re worried about me? No need. If you feel like going out, I feel like going out. But since you probably don’t, what if I come to your place and keep you company? We could watch Toy Story.”

  Her heart fluttered. Score one for Casey. “That works for me. That really works for me.”

  “I’ll bring Speedy so he can watch himself on the small screen.”

  “I have popcorn.”

  “I’ll stop by the drugstore, pick up M&M’s. Plain, right?”

  “Right on the money.” Mikaela ended the call, placed her phone on the sofa beside her and spared Casey a glance. “I’m not paying you a penny.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sara arrived at Mikaela’s place early. Even with a stop at the drugstore, the trip only took her a little over ten minutes. She’d allotted twenty. She debated waiting in her car, but decided that was dumb. She didn’t care if Mikaela knew she was eager to see her. And she wanted to make sure for herself Mikaela was okay. After keying in the code, she pulled into a visitor’s spot and grabbed the bag of goodies and get-well balloons she hadn’t been able to resist.

  When Mikaela opened the door, her hair was loose around her face. It still didn’t do enough to cover the vivid bruise that circled her eye and trailed down to her jaw. Sara smiled around the sudden knot in her throat. A knot that made her want to hunt Nina down and do some damage in return. But right now she was needed here, and doing that wouldn’t do much for Mikaela’s pain and suffering or her peace of mind. “I hope you like balloons. If not, I can go get flowers.”

  “Love them.”

  Sara gladly accepted the warm hug, extended it. “How are you really doing?”

  “Okay as long as I get up and move around every so often. I didn’t realize how many muscles are affected by a punch to the face.”

  “I’m so sorry it happened.” She drew back so she could look Mikaela in the eye. “Is she going to be a problem? And if so, what can I do to help?”

  Mikaela exhaled. “Before last night I would have said no way, but now, I honestly don’t know what she’s capable of. I pressed charges, so maybe that will give her the jolt she needs to stay away. And since you haven’t run away screaming, you should come on in. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “I’m good right now. And before I forget,” She produced a colorful gift bag with flourish. “M&M’s, plain, and an emergency chocolate bar. Not that I’m trying to sabotage your diet. Thought you might be feeling down and I know how much you enjoy chocolate. You’ll also find a replacement toy car. They didn’t have Speedy.”

  “Just what I need after last night.” Mikaela placed the bag on the coffee table and lowered herself onto the couch. “How about you? You feeling any better about that situation with your aunt, your great grandfather, the money?”

  “Working on letting the anger go. It’s hard going because I’m still pissed that she got money for taking me, a lot of money, and then turned around and treated me the way she did. I tell myself there’s nothing that can be done about it now, but…” She shrugged. “Then this morning I started wondering about who this heir was. The one who decided I didn’t warrant the extra money or seeing about. It’s a good thing I don’t plan to have kids because they’d be getting the greed gene from both sides.”

  “There are worse things to pass on. Look at me. Not that I plan to have kids either, because hey, my family is doing a good job of making sure there won’t be a shortage of children. But say I did plan to have them. I wouldn’t let having irresponsible parents stop me. And calling them irresponsible is probably letting them off lightly, mind you.” Mikaela frowned, pursing her lips. “I had a point in there somewhere. Really I did. Oh, you can’t let fear stop you from doing what you want to do. There are no guarantees when it comes to kids, to human beings. And there shouldn’t be. Living is all about taking chances. If you’re not doing that, then to my way of thinking, you aren’t living. And as usual, that’s the long answer when you probably wanted the abridged one. Added to that, I’m not sure you even asked me a question.”

  “Doesn’t matter, because I like hearing your views. Skewed as they are.” Sara gave Mikaela’s hand a squeeze. “And I know somewhere in there was a point about me needing to let go. Very clever.”

  “I wasn’t an A student for nothing. Now I’m going to go pop the popcorn, get the drinks and we can start the show. I’m starting your education with the story of a jealous action figure who ends up having to find his way back home with the action figure he’s jealous of. Take notes. There may be a pop quiz afterwards.”

  Sara pulled a face. “You’re strict.”

  Soon the smell of popcorn wafted into the living room. Sara retrieved Speedy from her coat pocket and placed him on the coffee table facing the TV.

  “Here we go.”

  “Hey, you shouldn’t be carrying that.” Sara jumped up and hurried to relieve Mikaela of the tray that held a bowl of popcorn and their drinks. “You’re on injured reserve.”

  “It’s mainly my face.”

  “Can’t be too careful. Sit.” Sara handed Mikaela the popcorn and positioned the drinks on coasters. “What should I do with this?” She held up the tray.

  “Put it under the table for now. Oh, you remembered to bring Speedy.” Mikaela exhaled and blinked her eyes. “After last night…well, that makes my day.”

  “I wasn’t a B student for nothing.” She was pleased when Mikaela laughed.

  Mikaela powered on the TV and the DVD player. “Prepare to be awed.”

  Sara enjoyed Mikaela’s reactions as much as she enjoyed having Mikaela snuggled under her arm. The physical pull, though strong, was outweighed by the sense of contentment. This was better than going to the movie theater, she realized, and she could have stayed in the same position for many more hours than the movie lasted.

  Mikaela placed the empty bowl on the table as the credits rolled. “What did you think?”

  “Pretty good. Who knew toys had feelings?”

  “Please, don’t tell me you don’t know about the Island of Misfit Toys.”

  “Uhm…okay?”

  Mikaela sighed. “Your education is sorely lacking. You’re lucky to have moi to school you.”

  “Lucky,” she parroted, eliciting a smile from Mikaela.

  “You’re a nut.”

  Sara pulled Mikaela closer, dropped a quick kiss on her lips and said, “You’re nuttier. I like it.”

  “I like you.” Mikaela pulled Sara in for another kiss.

  Sara tightened her arms around Mikaela, deepening the kiss. When she licked her lips, they opened and she slid her tongue into the salty, chocolate sweetness of Mikaela’s mouth.

  Mikaela twisted to get closer and bumped the side of her face against Sara’s arm. She broke off the kiss with a pain-filled yelp.

  “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

  She nodded, covering the knot with her hand. “Not your fault. I’d forgotten all about it, thanks to your wonderful company.” She grimaced. “It’s still tender.”
/>
  “What can I do? You need ice, aspirin?” Sara could have kicked herself for forgetting Mikaela was injured. “I can run to the drugstore and get anything you need.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll pop some more pain-killers and try to remember next time that I’m, as you put it, on injured reserve.” She eased off the sofa.

  Sara stood and put her hand against the small of Mikaela’s back in case she needed extra support. A smile touched her lips when Mikaela leaned into her hand. She followed her to the kitchen. “You probably should lie down after this. I should leave so you can rest.”

  Mikaela paused in the act of dumping pills in her hands. “There is a part two we could watch if you don’t have to be anywhere.”

  “Here. I want to be here. I think Speedy would get a kick out of watching himself again.”

  Mikaela leaned into Sara. “I really like you.”

  “Back at you.” Sara’s kiss was light as a feather. “Take your meds so we can get on with the show.”

  Mikaela fell asleep halfway through the second movie. Sara adjusted her to make sure her neck wouldn’t get stiff. It was an unfamiliar emotion to want to protect someone else, to want to give comfort. She was used to worrying only about herself, thought she didn’t want to have anyone to worry about. To her, worry led to care, care led to love, and love always led to hurt.

  She’d obviously let worrying and caring slip past her, she acknowledged, as she studied the bruises. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that she didn’t want Mikaela to be hurt or afraid of what Nina might do. Friends thought that way. They wanted to protect their friends, wanted them to be okay, to feel better. But she hadn’t felt like this about her friends in high school.

  Only partly paying attention to the movie, Sara tried to pinpoint the moment she’d lost control. The park. That morning in the park when she’d reached out, asked Mikaela to spend the day with her. That was the first time she’d ever sought another’s company for something other than sex. She’d been off balance and yet some part of her had known Mikaela was the answer, the road to level ground.

  That part of her had been right, she admitted with a rueful smile. And sneaky enough to keep chipping away on the inside, in concert with Mikaela chipping away on the outside, until Sara opened herself up. Until being with Mikaela was so much more than sexual release. So here she was worrying and taking care of the woman cradled against her side. A woman who was making her feel things she’d never meant to feel.