Placebo

by Paul Allih

  Answering the phone, Kelly says, "Hello? Uh, sure…"

  Handing the phone to Emma, Kelly says with a grin, "It's for you…"

  Taking the phone from her sister's hand, Emma is taken by a moment of confusion as she puts the phone to her ear.

  Moving her eyes from Kelly's goofy smile, she says, “Hello?"

  "It's Donnie…"

  Taken back, Emma replies, "Oh, uh, what's up?"

  Donnie slowly says, "I just wanted to apologize about last night…"

  "You don't have to do that."

  "But I want to. I was pretty fucked up and I just didn't wanna rush into anything…no offense to you."

  Emma ignores the stares from Parker and Kelly, telling Donnie, "Look, it's alright… I overreacted because I was drunk. I shouldn't have done that."

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  Donnie replies, "It's okay, really… don't worry about it."

  After a short pause that felt so long in their state of awkwardness, Donnie asks, "Do you wanna do somethin'

  today?"

  Caught off guard, Emma looks at Kelly's smirk and reluctantly answers, "Uh, sure…"

  "Cool, how about I pick you up for lunch?"

  With the awkward attention of the room focused on her, Emma says, "Uh, sounds good…I’ll be here."

  Donnie musters up a time, "How about 12:30, 1 o'clock?"

  "Um, sure…"

  "A'ight! See ya then!"

  "Cool, bye."

  Hanging up the phone, she passes it back to Kelly as Kelly grins at her like a giddy school girl. Emma rolls her eyes and says, "It's nothing, we're just going out for a burger."

  "I didn't say anything…"

  Emma rolls her eyes, "Yeah, your look said enough."

  Sipping from her coffee, Emma ignores Parker and Kelly's dopey expressions. She thinks about going out with Donnie and wonders if maybe he is too nice for her. The kind of relationships she is has been in—Emma is used to being dominated. For her to play any kind of role dominance would almost be an out of body experience. As many times as she has been hurt, she has become comfortable with the urge to torment someone else in the same way. While keeping Matt on her hook of uncertainty boosts her ego, she ponders on having physical control over a seemingly weaker man that will bow to every whim.

  As Emma leaves the Kitchen, Kelly asks, "So when are you going?"

  Emma turns and remarks, "Is this fun for you? Are you getting a kick out of this?"

  "No, Donnie is a really sweet guy and I think you should go out and have fun."

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  Feeling the glares from Kelly and Parker, Emma is left with nothing to say. Shaking her head, Emma turns around and walks into her bedroom. Closing the door behind her, she is hit with a sudden thought. If she gets into any kind of relationship with Donnie there is a strong possibility that her sister will involve herself in some way because he is her friend. She has heard the horror stories from others in regards to dating friends of their family members. This is something that Emma has never had the misfortune of dealing with. Thinking about what will happen if she breaks Donnie's heart, what would Kelly think of her? How would Kelly view her if she just dominated over her best friend? With a sigh, she exhales the stress of her hyperactive thoughts and tells herself, "This just going to be lunch… that's all."

  As young as she is, there has never been a shortage of older male callers who have come knocking on her door.

  Since she turned fourteen, Emma appeared to be a fully developed young lady. She never found much in common with the boys at her school, so she would set her sights on older men, even though they would mostly use her for sexual favors. Most of these men were breaking the law by being with her, but they were not concerned with the potential repercussions. These kinds of relationships have left Emma with a sour opinion about most men, thinking that they will do anything for piece of action from a young girl.

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  CHAPTER 26

  It is slightly after 12:30 when Donnie arrives to pick up Emma. He wears his nerves on his shirt, breathing off beat and shaky. Since the night before, Donnie is aware that Emma is a take no non-sense kind of girl and showed herself to be fearless. These qualities intimidate Donnie and his sweetness is fortified by weakness. Donnie allows women to walk all over him because he often mistakes being a gentleman for his lack of assertiveness. The one thing that Donnie does not grasp is that most women do not want a man-dog who rolls over whenever they say when. Most women want a man who will stand on his own two feet and challenge her with purpose.

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  Donnie walks up to the front door with sweaty palms and a swelter across his brow. Trying his best, he tried to dress himself nicely, yet keep his youthful edge. He is dressed conservatively, in a button down short sleeve shirt and new pair of cargo shorts. His nerves run on edge, hoping that Emma finds him to be as attractive as he was to her last night.

  In slow steps, he attempts to get his body to catch up with his breathing. Taking a deep breath, he knocks on the door and exhales, telling himself, "be cool and collect".

  Emma looks at the clock in the kitchen as Kelly and Parker watch television in the living room. She shuffles around nervously and takes a glance at her phone. As she flips the top, Donnie knocks on the door. Closing her phone, Emma tosses her cell on the counter and runs towards the front door. She opens the door to find Donnie, catching him in his attempt to act cool. As he moves to step in, Emma pushes him back and yells, "Alright! You guys have fun, we'll be back later!" Closing the door behind her, she shuffles Donnie towards his car.

  Inside the house, Kelly snuggles up to Parker as they watch a re-run of a mind numbing sit com. Just as the two relax, they are interrupted by Emma's cell phone. It vibrates upon the kitchen counter as it rings with an obnoxious custom tone. Kelly sighs and tries to ignore it—waiting for the phone to go too voicemail. A few seconds after the phone cuts off, it starts ringing again. Annoyed, Kelly gets off the couch and stomps over to her sister's phone while swearing under her breath. Grabbing the phone from the counter, it vibrates in her hand as she glares at the caller ID screen. She sees that it is Matt calling Emma once again and she hangs up him.

  Tossing the phone back down on the counter, Kelly turns and starts to walk back to the couch. Halfway back to her seat, the phones starts ringing again. "Fuck!" she yells, turning around and walking back to the kitchen. Highly irritated, she answers the phone, "What?!"

  Matt asks, "Who’s this?"

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  "This is Kelly, Emma's sister…"

  Matt questions her, "Well, where's Emma?"

  Kelly quips, "She's on a date..."

  "Bullshit! I know she's there so, put her on the fuckin'

  phone!"

  Irritated by Matt's tone, Kelly snaps back at him, "She's on a date with a good man and she forgot her phone. So, don't call back ever, Asshole!"

  Kelly hangs up the phone and turns off the power, leaving Matt on the other end with a loud click, Matt hangs up and calls back again. On his end he hears the phone ring once and it transfers straight to voicemail. Angered, Matt hits the off button on his phone and throws it across his living room.

  The phone hits the wall and the force sends it into pieces, scattering fragments in every direction. Watching his phone go to pieces on the floor, Matt draws back and punches a hole into his living room wall. His fist smashes through the flimsy drywall creating a small cloud of dust in its wake. Grinding his knuckles into the smashed rock powder, he grunts as the rush of courses through his body.

  Pulling back, Matt paces around his living room, breathing heavy and feeding off of his raging emotions.

  Leaving behind the conciseness of self control, his first reaction is to lash out with violence. His head floods with visions of horrid inflictions on Emma and her sister. He imagines himself slashing through the soft flesh of their throats with a large hunting knife. With blood splattering upon his naked chest, he feeds off of their last gasps with a razor blade smile etched upon
his lips. Closing his eyes, he cannot differ from the reality of being in his apartment and the scene that he is painting in his head. This is Matt's drop off point and there is no coming back for him.

  Donnie sits across from Emma as they wait for their waitress to come back to take their food order. They are sitting in a booth across from one another at a local sports bar 213

  named Brady's Burgers. The place is you run of the mill sports bars that serve food and have games playing on televisions in all corners of the restaurant. Emma's eyes wander around the various Florida sports team décor and plays with her straw in her iced tea. Looking at an old Dan Marino jersey, she waits for Donnie to initiate in conversation.

  Its happy hour at Brady's so when Donnie ordered a beer, they brought him out two 16oz glasses of draft. Fidgeting with the napkin wrapped silver wear in front of him; he takes quick gulps from his beer. It has been ages since he has been on a date, so he attempts to inject liquid courage into his gut for assistance. Their eyes do everything but meet while Donnie awkwardly tries to think of something interesting to talk about.

  Wishing he had smoked to calm himself earlier, Donnie says, "So, uh… you know, this place serves some pretty good burgers?"

  Emma looks at him and asks, "Is that really what you wanted to say?"

  Confused, Donnie looks at Emma like a deer trapped in headlights and stutters, "Wha, wha, what do ya mean by that?"

  Sitting up in her seat, she looks Donnie in the eyes and explains, "We're sitting here acting as if we're fucking teenagers, jittering and fidgeting around all while there really is no need for this."

  "There isn't?"

  "No. I mean, we already know that we wanna fuck each other so why are we acting like we are in the dark?"

  Struggling to find a response, Donnie just raises his hands as his eyes stray from Emma's. Seeing that she made him slightly uncomfortable, Emma tells him, "Look, just take a couple of deep breaths and just be natural… we'll both just be ourselves."

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  Lowering his arms, Donnie takes a deep breath and sits back in his seat. Exhaling he says, "I see you reading all the time, what do you usually read?"

  With a smile, Emma answers, "Fiction, mostly… I really dig vampires so paranormal fiction, mostly the young adult style."

  "Oh, alright… I don't read that much. I like watching comedies."

  "So, you don't read?"

  "Here and there, but I mostly watch movies."

  Shaking her head, Emma asks, "How can you not read any books?"

  With a smirk, Donnie fires back, "Don't give me any shit… you read shitty vampire books for teenagers and I'm watchin' movies… we're both wasting our time."

  "Wasting our time, huh?"

  "Yeah, it's just more people can relate to my way of dumbing down."

  Taken back, Emma grins and shakes her head in shock.

  She is in disbelief that Donnie could insult her while throwing himself under a bus in such a rightful yet humorous way.

  Laughing it off, she says, "Nice… who would have thought that a stoner could be so quick?"

  "Hey now, that's not fair… some of the greatest entertainers are or have been stoned during some of their best works."

  "Really?"

  "Yeah, and Stephanie Meyer is a sober Mormon, so what does that tell ya?"

  "Hey, I really like her books!"

  With a chuckle Donnie remarks, "Oh yeah, I'm sure you do…"

  Emma sighs and asks, "Well, have you ever read any of her work?"

  "I tried… one of Parker's roommates is a big fan and he sent one of her ebooks. I couldn’t get past how superficial it 215

  all was. The characters were shallow… I found nothing likable about any of them. Not to mention how bad the writing was. Sparkling vampires? Jesus, give me a fuckin'

  break. "

  Giving Donnie a snide facial expression, she says, "Well then, maybe I should just go out with Parker's roommate instead of you?"

  Donnie grins at her mischievously, "Doubtful…"

  Emma grins at him mischievously, "What, you don't think that I could snag him?"

  With a grin, Donnie answers, "Nope…"

  "Why, does he have a long term girlfriend or somethin'?"

  "No…"

  Fed up, Emma breaks down and whimpers, "Well, what is it then?!"

  "He's gay."

  Emma’s confidence drops as she says, "Oh…"

  Leaning back, Donnie takes a sip from his beer and replies, "Yep."

  In the midst of their quiet, the waitress finally comes back to take their order. Donnie almost hits bottom of his first beer with a big smile as Emma stirs her straw around her iced tea sheepishly. The waitress, who does not seem like she wants to be at work, takes their order and rushes away from their booth. Looking at Emma, Donnie wonders where this sudden burst of egotism has come from in her. He remembers being around her before and how she was always burying her face in a book. Now she comes off as a sexually charged woman equipped with the arrogance that she can get any man she wants. As much as Donnie wants her, Emma's new found way of being is a turn off for him.

  Wanting to say something to her, Donnie sips from his glass as he thinks of a diplomatic way to approach the subject. He watches her as she stares at herself in a Florida Panther's mirror on the wall across from their booth. His aggravation for the way Emma is acting has drowned out his 216

  nervousness. Telling himself to leave it alone, he tries to find something else to talk about. Moving on becomes impossible as he keeps following her eyes back to her own reflection.

  Slamming down the remainder of his glass, Donnie grabs his second beer and takes gulp.

  He feels his head start to float on the ocean of his building buzz and becomes disgusted with his date. Unable to hold his tongue as she plays with her hair while admiring her figure, he asks, "Why do you keep looking at yourself in that silly mirror?"

  Startled by his question, Emma replies, "Uh, um, I wasn't looking at myself."

  "Yes you were. For the past two fuckin' minutes I've been sitting here watchin' you staring at your reflection in that shitty Florida Panther's mirror."

  "You're nuts!"

  "Calm down, a'ight? I just want to know what made you take this radical change. You used to be easy goin' and now you're actin' like your cunt is made of gold."

  Feeling her nasty glare, Donnie takes a long sip from his beer, waiting for her to say something in response. In the back of his mind a voice tells him that he should not have started this argument. However his fresh testosterone levels from his cheap drafts tell him otherwise. Looking into her angry eyes, he knows that he could not have continued through lunch without commenting on her attitude. Donnie does not drink often, so every sip of his sudsy alcohol goes straight to his head. Beer number one set him up and now halfway through beer number two, he is ready to keep speaking his mind.

  Throwing a fit, Emma grabs her purse and slides out from the booth. Standing in front of Donnie, she gives him a long dirty look and storms off towards the front door. Donnie sips his beer and debates whether or not he should chase after her. He turns to look out the window next to him to see how far Emma is willing to walk off in anger. Taking another gulp 217

  of his beer, he tells himself to stay put and let her come back to him. With his buzz, comes his need to put his foot down and take his stance as an alpha male. If Emma is going to act like she deserves to be praised, then Donnie will act like she needs to respect him.

  Staring out the sports bar window, he watches Emma as she makes her way out of the parking lot. Thinking of Kelly and how she would inflict serious pain on him if anything were to happen to her sister, Donnie bursts out of the front door after her. She hears him making tracks for her, but Emma keeps showing her anger towards him. Coming up behind her, Donnie grabs her by the arm and spins her around to face him. Resisting at first, she turns and looks him in the eyes. Having her attention, she glares at Donnie as he breathes heavily.

&nb
sp; Catching his breath, Donnie says, "I didn't mean to piss you off… I… just… I just liked you the way you were before… and I… don't think… you should let anyone ruin that for you… as a person."

  Emma drops her angered façade and thinks about what Donnie just said to her. Unable to look him in the eyes, she looks down at the ground. She asks herself in wonder at what point that she took a turn towards becoming the kind of person that she once despised. Raising her head, she looks into Donnie's eyes and is suddenly taken over by the wholesomeness of his honesty. Knowing that she has strayed from the person who she used to be, Emma can only hold herself back from the verge of tears. Donnie sees her in her weakened demeanor and puts his arms around her. Holding her close, Emma apologizes to him as Donnie runs his fingers through her hair. Closing her eyes, she sighs with a heavy breath into his chest. After she calms down, she slides her hand into his and the two walk back towards the restaurant.

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  CHAPTER 27

  Parker and Kelly softly nap on the couch under a large blanket as the day runs down. The television screams with a run of the mill sit com as the couple is held in the arms of relaxation. With the lights turned off, they are radiated by the glow of TV screen. They have drawn the shades to shut out the heavy rays of daylight. With the doors to every bedroom closed, a soft darkness fills the house. Lulled in by comfort, Kelly and Parker begin to fade away from their consciousness. Their eyes tightly close and they slip into a momentary slumber.

  Standing outside of Emma's bedroom window, Matt pops out the screen and slowly lifts open the sill. Emma keeps a series of holes in the screen for an easy exit. From the time they moved into the house, the lock never worked on the window. She never asked to have it fixed, so many of nights 219

  she could get in and out without a problem. Exploiting the house’s known weakness, Matt gains easy access. Matt opens the window and peers in through her blinds. Seeing no one inside the room, he reaches around and pulls the drawstring down. The blinds slowly raise and then he locks them in place. Taking another quick look, Matt picks himself up and slides in through the window.