Perfect Impurrfections

Chapter 11

Walk of Lame

                Crystal’s body slid through the window with such speed she didn’t have time to check her surroundings before she landed.  As she lay inside the dumpster covered in the remains of other people’s meals, she decided that maybe choices made in drunken haste were not the best to follow through with.  Pushing herself up she took stock of her situation.  She seemed to have lost one of her shoes in the depths of the dumpster but decided to leave it as she couldn’t find the black pump among the black trash bags anyway.  She flicked potatoes and noodles from her dress as red sauce ran down her face from her hair.  She reeked of various dressings that coated her arms and her legs.  Wiping the sauce away before it fell into her eyes, she grasped the ledge of the dumpster to help steady herself as she stood up.  Her gaze fell to the place she had just been laying to find that a couple of bags had broken open upon her impact which explained why she was covered in food.  Taking a firm hold of her dirty purse and single shoe she pushed off with her legs feeling her left ankle twist as she hoisted herself up.  She draped the uninjured leg over the edge gritting her teeth hoping she didn’t cause herself further harm. 

                Crystal startled when she felt a pair of hands help steady her on the edge of the dumpster.  Her eyes widened when she met the eyes of the waiter who had waited on them.  Keeping a hold of her he helped her slide down the front of the dumpsters and place her feet gently on the pavement.  Looking down she frowned seeing even more gunk on the front of her dress then there had been before.  Sighing in defeat she brushed herself off the best that she could while the waiter wandered back over to the ashtray to finish his smoke break.  Crystal opened her bag retrieving a fifty from inside and limping over to the man who had helped her.

                “I’m so sorry you’ve had such a hard night.  Thank you for helping me too.”  She offered him the money which at first, he refused.

                “It’s for putting up with that jackass in there.”

                “I couldn’t possibly accept this.”  He stated trying to be nice to the woman who was obviously having a worse night then he was.

                “I insist.  Think of it as a bribe to get you to spit in his food for me.”  Shocked by her words he was too caught off guard to stop her from stuffing the bill in his half open hand before she limped her way out of the alley.  Gritting her teeth in pain Crystal tried to keep as much of her weight off of her ankle as possible as she made her way back to the bus stop.  She sat down on the bench to wait for the next bus home hoping it showed up before David drove past after his meal.  Looking herself over she sighed in disappointment at the lone shoe she held in her hand.  She felt nothing like cinderella who left her shoe at the ball.  In fact, if David happened across her shoe and brought it to her she was going to punch him square in the nose.  Looking to the waste bin beside her she tossed the remaining shoe figuring there was no point in keeping it anyway.  She should have just left it behind in the dumpster to begin with.

                The bus pulled up while Crystal was examining her twisted ankle and feeling sorry for herself.  It was beginning to feel like either someone in the universe had it out for her or she did something so heinously bad in her last life karma was getting its dues now.  Getting up from the bench Crystal flinched from the pain that shot up her leg once she stood.  Limping to the bus she slowly made her way up the stairs watching the steps, so she didn’t trip up them.

                “My word what happened to you?”  Irene cried out coming down to help Crystal up into the bus.

                “Bad date.”  Crystal answered cringing at how close Irene was to her knowing she reeked to high heaven of garbage.  Irene didn’t even bat an eye as she helped Crystal to a seat at the front.  Looking her over the older woman tsked at the state of her shaking her head in dismay.

                “How did this happen?”

                “Escaped out the bathroom window.”  Irene’s eyebrows shot up into her hair line.

                “That bad huh?”  She asked already moving away back to the driver’s seat.

                “Let’s just say Dell was the highlight of my night.” 

                “Sit your butt back in that seat Dell she didn’t mean it.”  Crystal jolted up from her slouched position to see Irene giving a stern look in the large rear-view mirror.  Turning her attention behind her she spotted Dell, still on the bus, slowly slink back into his seat at the rear.  Crystal released the breath she had been holding once he was seated making no further moves to come join her in hers.  Irene pulled back into traffic as Crystal pulled her phone out of her clutch dialing in Anna’s phone number.

                Once they reached the bus stop close to the complex, Irene put the bus in park while she jumped up and helped Crystal to exit in one piece.  Standing there waiting for her was Lewis and Crystal would have been annoyed with Anna for sending him if she wasn’t so grateful.  Irene carefully handed her over to him making sure that Lewis got her to the car okay before reentering the bus to finish her shift.  Crystal apologized for getting his car dirty, but Lewis brushed it off as he looked at her with worry.  They drove in relative silence which she was thankful for knowing Casey would probably fill him in anyway after his date ended.  She inwardly cringed as she thought about Lewis telling Casey about the state he picked her up in.  Why she even cared she had no idea.  It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen her in just as bad of shape as she was now.  Heck, she even gave him the play by plays of each disastrous encounter before.  It shouldn’t matter to her now but for some reason it did.  Crystal chalked it up to the fact that she had seen his hot date and was maybe just a little ashamed of her own since he saw it firsthand this time around.

                As Lewis helped her up the front steps of her home the door flew open revealing a very worried Anna standing behind it.  Rushing forward she took Crystal off Lewis’s hands and she bid him goodnight as she helped Crystal inside.  Moving slowly through the house Anna took Crystal to the downstairs bathroom knowing she couldn’t help her up the stairs.  When they made it inside tears sprang to Crystal’s eyes as she saw a bath already drawn and a new set of comfy pajamas sitting on the sink.

                “When you called earlier, I got everything ready while Lewis went to pick you up.  I also have a pizza on the way and a tub of ice cream in the freezer for dinner.  After your bath we’ll eat, and binge watch the entire season of Maid Sama.

                “I don’t deserve you.”  Crystal said while wiping away her tears.

                “I know.  Now strip and spill your guts girl.”  Crystal laughed as Anna settled in on the closed toilet seat waiting for her to tell all.  As Crystal bathed the gunk away, she gave her every detail of the evening including seeing Casey and his date.  Anna dutifully cringed at the bad parts and laughed at the funnier moments of the night.  By the end of her tale Anna was shaking her head in wonder.

                “I have no idea how you end up with these jerks.”

                “That makes two of us.”  Crystal stated as Anna helped her get dressed.  She sighed as she looked at her ruined dress that she had tossed into the waste basket when she stripped.  Anna followed her gaze before turning back to her helping her from the bathroom.

                “A word of advice.  Stop buying dry clean only clothes for your dates if they’re just going to end up in the trash at the end.”

                “Maybe your right.”

                “Of course I am.”  Anna chirped in response as she settled Crystal onto the couch before going to answer the door.  While she was paying the delivery person for the pizza B.B. creeped across the couch sniffing cautiously towards Crystal.  He began bobbing his furry body up and down with each step while chirping and staring her down.  Crystal watched him wondering what he was doing as she had never seen him act like that before.  Once he was next to her he climbed on her calf near her knee and proceeded to hump her leg.  Shocked at first Crystal stared wide eyed at her cat as he kept an obscene amount of eye contact with her while going to town.  Crystal tried to pull her leg away, but he merely followed it no matter where she moved it.  Anna’s laughter drew her attention as she looked over to her friend only to find her recording the whole sordid deal.  While her attention was elsewhere B.B. was able to climb back up and continue with what he had been doing.

                “Don’t stand their recording this help me.”  Crystal growled in annoyance as she tried to push B.B. away.  The cat was determined, and it took coaxing him with pizza to finally get him to leave her alone.  Anna plopped down in the recliner next to her still laughing too hard to eat.

                “I’m glad I amuse you.”  Crystal pouted taking a massive bite of her slice.

                “You are definitely my cheep entertainment.”  Anna answered as she sent the video to Casey and Lewis.  Crystal rolled her eyes at her friend turning her gaze to the TV as Anna started the first episode of the anime.  The two of them settled in for a girl’s night in as the opening song played through the room.