Page 3 of A Man for the Holidays

Feeling angry and humiliated, I turn around and begin walking away, ignoring his pleas for me to turn around and go back. I continue walking until I get to the end of the street, then hail a cab and give the driver the address to my apartment.

Once inside my apartment, I place my bag in my room, then walk out into the lounge room where I find Paige sitting on the couch, her face buried in some book.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hi. You’re home late.”

“Yeah, you’re not going to believe what happened to me tonight.”

“What?” she asks, as I take off my coat and place it on the armchair.

“You know that clothing store I go into every single day?”

“You mean the one where you check out Mr. Plastic with the fake dick?” she laughs.

“Ha ha,” I reply, sitting down beside her.

“Come on, you have to admit, it’s pretty fucking hilarious that you find a mannequin hot.”

“Have I told you lately that you’re a bitch?”

“Constantly. But at least I’m not in love with a mannequin.”

I glare at her, then get up off the couch and make my way toward my bedroom, slamming the door shut behind me as I throw myself onto the bed. Rolling over I place my hands behind my head, staring up at the ceiling. The deafening silence is broken by the loud sound of heavy rain that’s just started to fall outside as it pelts hard against my window, then I hear a knock on my door.

“Go away,” I say.

I hear my door open but keep my focus on the dark ceiling. The last thing I need right now is for my best-friend to give me a hard time about something that she thinks is a stupid fantasy. Yeah sure, okay, I know it does sound creepy and pathetic, but like I said, I’m a hopeless romantic who just wants to catch a break.

“I’m sorry Spencer; but you must admit, it is kind of disturbing.”

“Did you come in here just to tell me that?” I ask.

“No. You said something happened to you tonight, what was it?”

“It doesn’t matter,’ I say, rolling over.

The rain continues to fall outside and there’s a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud roar of thunder a few seconds later.

“Except that it obviously does.”

“Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it, now can we please drop it?”

“If you insist,” she says.

There are more flashes of lightning and sounds of thunder outside my window. I sit up and anchor my elbow so that my head rests in the palm of my hand, then I reach over and turn on the lamp resting on my nightstand.

“Jesus, it sounds like this storm is right on top of our roof,” Paige says.

“Yeah,” I say, quietly.

“Hey, you know I’m only kidding around. If you ever want to talk to me, my door is always open, you know that, right?”

“I do. Thank you. But right now, all I want to do is go to sleep.”

She gets to her feet and heads toward the door, then gives me a smile before walking through it. The rain continues to fall heavily outside, with the wind crashing against the apartment. Yawning, I reach over and switch off the lamp, then slide beneath the covers and close my eyes.

The sound of loud knocking on my front door wakes me some time later. I roll over and look at the digital clock display on my nightstand which reads midnight, as the knocking continues.

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