Finding True Love

Episode 10

By the time Sally got home that evening, she was very tired and was just about ready for a hot shower, a hot dinner and her bed in that order. Except that none of these was to be. She parked her car and walked up to her door wearily. She was tired, but it was a good kind of tired. Unlike her coworkers who always complained about being tired after a long shift, Sally enjoyed her shifts very much. All the same, she was not a log of wood and was bound to get tired once in a while. It was her lifelong dream to own a restaurant one day. Despite Brian’s behavior, Mr. Robert had left her the usual generous tip and she had made a reasonable amount that evening. So, even though she was tired, she was still very happy. She put her key into the lock and was turning it to open the door when she realized that the light was on in her apartment. 

“That’s weird. I never leave the lights on.” She thought to herself, but did not bother too much about it, concluding in her mind that she had left it on today as she was running late. As soon as she stepped into the apartment, however, she gave a loud gasp and almost had a heart attack right there. Brian was sitting on her sofa, looking very comfortable and at home. She noticed something else, and that was that he was as drunk as a skunk. Immediately he saw her, he got up and weaved drunkenly towards her with a stupid smile on his face. His hair was disheveled, and he was still wearing the same clothes that he had worn to the restaurant earlier in the day when he came to harass her.

“How on Earth did you get into my apartment?” Sally asked him incredulously. She had refused to give him a key at first when he had asked as she valued her privacy very much and did not think that they were at that stage yet. However, she had later caved in and given him the key, only to meet him in her apartment three months after ramming into a strange looking naked girl who was on all fours. He had then proceeded to beat up the girl for daring to ask him why he would be dating two girls at once. She had collected her keys from him in anger after crying her eyes out and since then, he had had no access to her apartment. But here he was locked into her apartment without any sign of forced entry.

“I picked the lock, obviously.” He answered her question, his tone indicating that she was very stupid for even asking such an obvious question. “I don’t know what kind of relationship we’re having if I’m not allowed access to your house as your boyfriend. Remember that if not for me, you’ll be all alone. You should be grateful and show some respect. But no, you’re out there throwing yourself at everything with a d**k. I do not deserve this at all.” He informed her self-righteously, slurring his words as he stood in front of her on unsteady feet.

Sally rubbed her forehead wearily. This was not what she had bargained for at all. She had a raging headache, which worsened with each moment she stared at the dumb, drunken smile on Brian’s face. The last thing she was in the mood for was to exchange words with him, especially when he was drunk. Sally was wondering the best way to dispatch him when he got it into his head that it was a perfect time to kiss her. It would have been comical if he wasn’t dunk and she wasn’t annoyed. He looked so serious as he puckered his lips and brought his face close to hers, unsteady from the influence of the alcohol. He missed her lips totally, and the kiss landed somewhere between her cheeks and her chin. In great disgust, Sally shoved him away from her with all her strength, causing him to lose his balance. However, he righted himself at the last moment and fixed her with a drunken, hurt look.

“What gave you the effrontery to pick my lock and force your way into my house without my permission? You’re becoming something else and you had better get one thing straight. I’m so over this relationship.” She shrieked in outrage, forgetting her headache and being forcefully reminded when her head began pounding once again.

“Don’t tell me that! You’re mine and I’ll be damned if I sit back and allow you flirt with different guys.” He told her with fire in his eyes, his lower lips set in an unbecoming and ridiculous pout.

“Get out of my house!” 

How dare you speak to me like that? You have no right whatsoever. If you can recall, I was the one who got you the job at that restaurant. And how do you repay me? By sleeping with every customer that looks your way and talking to me in an insulting manner? You should be grateful to me. I gave you a life!”

Sally was sick of hearing this story over and over again. She remembered when she had run away from the last foster home at the age of sixteen. She had been sleeping in homeless shelters and had been looking for a job, no matter how small. She had finally gotten a job as a cleaner at a restaurant and had taken it wholeheartedly. It was a small restaurant, and the pay was measly, but to Sally it was everything and she had stayed there as a cleaner and later, a waitress for six years. By this time, she was no longer satisfied with the paltry sum that the restaurant paid her, plus it was on the verge of closing down. One of her fellow waitresses told her that waitressing jobs in Tulsa paid much more, so Sally had packed her bags and headed there. The job she found was not that great, but it was still better than the one she left. 

One day, about two months after she started the work, Brian had come to eat at the restaurant and he had asked her to help him choose from the menu. Later, they had met at a supermarket and when she asked him why he no longer came to the restaurant where she worked to eat, he told her that he usually ate at his friend’s parent’s restaurant. He mentioned the name of the place and Sally realized that it was one of the places in which waitresses were paid very well. So she informed him that she was looking for a job and he had talked to the owner’s and helped her get the job just like that. Since then, he had not let her forget about it. The pay was very reasonable too, far more than what she had earned in the former restaurant. While Sally was very grateful to him, she had no intention of letting him hold it over her forever.