Page 76 of Resting Grump Face
“So, when I was eleven, one day, the principal of my school came to our classroom and asked me to come with her. At first, I was worried I might have done something and somehow gotten into trouble. Even though that wouldn’t have made any sense since I was such an innocent, sweet little child.” Sienna chuckles at her own words. “Anyway, she said I needed to come with her, and so she led me to her car and began driving. I remember her lighting up a cigarette in the car, and another one right after. She asked me if I wanted one, which I thought was weird considering my age. When I declined, she must have realized that she hadn’t told me yet why I was there with her or where we were going. She took another turn, two long drags of her cigarette, parked the car and then turned to me. I still remember the stench in the air and her hand on my knee. Before she could say anything, I recognized the local hospital behind her. Mrs. Cloud was her name. She was nice, tried her best to remain calm.‘It’s your father,’she said.‘He was stabbed and they don’t know if he’ll make it.’Then she lit another cigarette and continued,‘I am sorry. I don’t have any more information than that. We should go in and find your mother.’” Sienna takes a deep breath and slowly exhales through her nose. It’s obviously hard for her to recount this story. “Well, and so we did. She took me by the hand and led me inside the hospital, and I remember standing in front of that elevator… and imagining that my dad was… just dead. I mean, I didn’t know, but what are you supposed to think in a situation like that? So we stepped into that elevator and it just…closed in on me. The last thing I remember was not being able to breathe, just my chest unable to lift, and then I passed out. When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed myself, tubes hooked up to my arm. The first thing I saw was my grandma, so I looked around and searched for my mom. And that’s when she told me that not only had my dad been stabbed, but my mom as well when she tried to intervene. They both died in the operating room.” Sienna grows quiet and rests her head against my chest.
I press a kiss onto her head and wipe a tear off her cheek. “That’s horrible. I’m sorry that happened. No one should have to live through something like this.”
No wonder she has some lasting trauma.
“Yeah, well, shit happens. That’s just how the universe works sometimes.”
I hold her tight and shower her in kisses because I don’t know what else to do. There is nothing to be done. Not even all the money in the world could heal a wound like this. I still wish I could make it better, somehow take the pain away.
“It’s been like 15 years, so I’m alright, really,” Sienna insists.
“Yeah, I suppose,” I agree and boop her nose, “except for those damn elevators.”
“Freaking deathtraps!”
“Do you know who stabbed them?”
“Some guy that my dad owed money to. A couple hundred bucks. Police caught him that same day and he was sentenced to three years in prison with possible parole after one.”
“Three years for killing two people? That seems… short.”
“That’s what I thought as well. He was rich, connected.” Sienna stops for a second and lets her eyes drop, not sure if she should continue. “You know, I had my revenge planned already,” she finally says. “I mean, I was still a kid and I don’t know if I actually could have gone through with it, but I was going to do to him what he did to my parents.” She shrugs her shoulders andplaces her head on my chest. “It never came that far because the guy got shanked in prison. Ironically, he owed some ramen to some other guy who apparently had a craving for ramen. I know that sounds terrible, but I don’t even feel bad about it. At all. I know a person died but…”
“I think everyone in your shoes would feel the same.”
“Still. A person died. That’s terrible, no matter what.”
“That’s it, isn’t it?” I say more than ask. “That’s why you’re like that. Why you take revenge on other people’s behalf, why you’re a volunteer vigilante in your free time.”
Sienna shrugs. “I am like that because sometimes it’s the right thing to do and because no one else seems to be doing it.”
“I get that.” I nod and think back to the pants incident. “But maybe we need to find a better system for it. You know, I fired Celia, my assistant, that day because she embezzled money, among other things.”
“Oh, did she?” Sienna responds, trying to sound surprised, but I get the feeling she isn’t actually.
“You already know.”
She lets out a barely audible sound.
“Barbara told you? What did you do to her?” I joke. “Barbara is too professional. She would never tell.”
“There might have been some wine involved, but,” Sienna puts her hand over my mouth before I can say anything, “you have to promise not to tell. She didn’t mean to divulge company secrets, and she’s the best thing that ever happened to you, so don’t fuck it up.”
I reach around her wrist and move her hand to my back, then place another kiss on her forehead and can’t hold back a smile.
Barb is great,I think.But she isn’t the best thing that ever happened to me.
We spend the rest of the night in bed together. And then the next day too. We only get out of bed to receive the pizza delivery and to have a shower, which we also do together, of course. I find out that Sienna loves massages, and subsequently that I love giving massages.She tells me about a weird kink that she recently discovered, and I spend a good amount of time reading to her. That way, I also find out even more about the little (not a) princess.
When Monday morning comes around, we’re still laying in bed, intertwined like a pair of mating snakes.
“No,” I say when Sienna slips out of my arms and sits on my lap.
“I didn’t say anything,” she answers and fixes her hair into a bun.
“We’re not going to work. We stay here, doing this.” I press my hips against hers and start fondling her exposed breasts.
“Not an option. You hired me to make you look good, not to stare at you while you look good. And you definitely didn’t hire me to sleep with you.”
