Page 37 of Damnation
The guy turns in Thomas’s direction, confused. “I beg your pardon?”
Thomas looks at him with blazing eyes. “Oh, you’d better beg,because if I catch you looking at my girl’s tits one more time, I’ll make sure that the next thing you see is the lid of your fucking coffin.”
A vast disheartening silence settles over all of us. I put my face in my hands, while Vince presses his fist into his mouth to keep from bursting out into laughter.There’s nothing funny about this, I want to snap at him.
“I–I wasn’t…I wasn’t looking…” the guy stammers, trying to defend himself, embarrassment written all over his face. Thomas doesn’t let him finish, though, but instead abruptly points across the room.
“Go back to your seat; you’re done here,” he orders him angrily.
The guy doesn’t need to be told twice—he vanishes immediately. Thomas must be able to feel my indignant look on the side of his face because he turns his irritable gaze on me. “That guy couldn’t take his eyes off you.”
“It didn’t seem that way to me. But you do realize that you can’t threaten to murder anyone who looks at me, right?”
“I feel like we’ve already addressed this topic,” he declares arrogantly, lightly brushing his jeans as if clearing away invisible crumbs.
“Thomas, I’m not joking.”
“Neither am I,” he fires back insolently. “Let me try to understand you here; what were you expecting me to do? Just ignore the fact that he was undressing you with his eyes right in front of me? Am I supposed to pat him on the back and buy him a beer? Or maybe I’m supposed to slip him your number and invite him to shoot his shot? Maybe if he plays his cards right, he can see the rest of you tonight too?”
I stiffen, eyes wide with hurt. I must have misheard him. I must haveseriouslymisheard him. I harden my gaze and channel all my fury into my voice. “What did you just say to me?”
“Woah, woah… Okay, folks…I know we’re all a little amped up tonight, but let’s try to keep calm. Let’s all just take a deep breath, have a nice drink of water, and pull ourselves together here.” Vince’s eyes move from me to Thomas as he nudges our respective water glasses toward us. “Let’s try not to end tonight in a fight, thanks.”
“Apologize to me right now.”
“Meapologize?” Thomas exclaims, grimacing as he turns to face me.
I nod emphatically.
He breaks eye contact and gives Vince a derisive look, shaking his head at me.
“Do you even realize what you just implied about me? Do you think I’m slutty?” I ask through gritted teeth.
But the only thing that comes out of Thomas’s face is an arrogant snort.
“Bro, I am begging you, for the love of God, just tell her you’re sorry so we can get past this,” Vince pleads, exhausted.
But Thomas ignores us both, playing with one of the thick steel rings on his thumb. And that’s the last straw for me.
“Thomas, if you don’t apologize to me, I swear I’m leaving.” And this time, I am completely serious. I don’t care if his arrogant pride prevents him from taking anything back, humbling himself, or apologizing. Nor do I care that his lack of impulse control means he often says things he doesn’t really mean. I’m not going to sit here and pretend he didn’t just insult me.
Thomas’s back straightens at my threat to walk out of the restaurant. “You’re not going anywhere,” he snaps. “And if you want to avoid this kind of scene in the future, here’s some advice: the next time you leave the house”—he scans my body—“get dressed first.”
I stare at him, blanching, while Vince closes his eyes and gentlythunksthe table with his forehead.
“I am dressed,” I reply icily, giving him the dirtiest of looks. “And that was a real asshole thing to say. So you’re hypocritical as well as sexist! The fact that I’m wearing a short dress doesn’t give anyone the right to leer at me like a creep. And it doesn’t give you”—I stab a finger at him furiously—“the right to make me feel like I’ve done something wrong and brought this on myself. Move; I’m getting out of here.”
Thomas chews on his lower lip, scrubbing his face with his hand before exclaiming, “Come the fuck on! I know it’s not your fault, andI know it’s not the dress. Obviously, it’s not. I’m just pissed because that guy wouldn’t take his eyes off you. I wasn’t trying to offend you or be disrespectful.”
I stare back at him, my eyes narrowed to slits. “That’s it? That’s your apology?” I demand with a disdainful air.
“Bro,” Vince says, laughing across the table, “you must have a real primo dick, because you sure are terrible at this.”
My eyes nearly bug out of my sockets, while my cheeks redden. Thomas drinks his glass of water in one gulp, leaving a single mouthful, which he splashes at Vince. “Knock it off. I’m not good at this sort of thing,” he says defensively before turning back to look at me. “I am sorry, truly. I didn’t mean what I said, about you…about the dress…”
I look at him for a long time. His eyes are full of what appears to be sincere regret. I heave a long sigh and point at him. “Fine, you get a pass this time, but you have got to stop reacting like that.”
I’m half-expecting him to come back with one of his typical quips, allI do what I want, blah, blah, blah, but instead he just gives me a look halfway between a smile and a grimace, and nods. Then, to completely dissipate the tension, our number is called, and Vince goes to the counter and comes back with our meals, steaming hot and looking delicious. I immediately realize that Vince was telling the truth: These portions are generous. But the boys are extremely incorrect if they think that I won’t be able to put away every last bit of this bounty.
