Straight To The Heart

"Why, what's wrong with it?" I asked as I looked down at the navy blue floral print dress I had on. The hemline stopped just above my knees.

"Everything! You look like you're going to school or something. Tess, you're not going to impress anyone at Greg's party. You told me you like that guy Tom from your english class. Well, he's going to be there. Do you honestly think you'll squeeze a dance out of him dressed like that?" said Susan. She stood next to me in front of the full-length mirror. I looked at her and the first word that came to my mind was slut. Susan was wearing a black bra with a transparent white shirt over it, not buttoned but the ends tied in a knot just above her navel. A black miniskirt hugged her curvy figure and her hair was teased up. She wore a black choker around her neck with a silver heart pendant dangling in the front of it.

"I'm not going to change. I'm comfortable in what I'm wearing now."

"Fine, fine. If no guy wants to talk to you this whole night, I'm not going to say 'I told you so'. We're not going to leave that party early if you decide you're bored. Is that clear?"

"Of course." I walked over to our green pin-striped sofa and sat down on the arm. I put my leg onto the coffee table and bent over to tie the shoelace of my Keds. Susan stood in front of the mirror applying eyeliner to her eyes. Wouldn't it be funny if she poked that little brush into her eye and went blind? At least then I could go to the party by myself. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, let's go." Susan stated as she sprayed a mist of Exclamation around her neck. The perfume filled the air immediately that I felt kind of dizzy from the fumes.

When we got to Greg's house, the party was already underway. The sound of Jesus and Mary Chain filled the whole place. There were hors d'oeuvres on the dining room table and empty beer cans mixed in with Johnny Walker Black Label half-filled liter bottles littered in every corner of the living room. People dancing, people talking, people laughing, people kissing, people sharing a joint. So many people in this small brick house. Susan left me standing alone in the middle of the living room. She ran over to Greg and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I felt so left out.

I squeezed through the dance crowd and found a spot to stand in. I had the priviledge of seeing the city from where I was. Sure, the window was tiny, but it was better than nothing.

"You see anything you like?"

I turned around and came face-to-face with the gorgeous guy I had a major crush on. My heart started beating faster and my palms got sweaty. At this moment I wished I had worn something sexier to keep his attention, but reality hits--I didn't.

"I'm Tom. What's your name?"

"I'm Tess. Aren't you in my english class?" I said. As soon as the question was out of my mouth, I felt like the biggest asshole in the world. Great Tess, you're really smart for asking a rhetorical question.

"I am, but I hope you're not planning on asking me about the assignment we have due next week."

"So, who'd you come with?"

"I came by myself. My girlfriend backed out on me at the last second. And you?"

"Oh, I came with my friend Susan."

"The one who's wearing the black miniskirt and black bra?"

"Yep. That's Susan alright."

"Do you want to go outside? It's kind of noisy in here and too much alcohol smell in the air." asked Tom.

"Sure." I replied. We went outside and sat on the granite front steps.

"Look at all the stars in the sky. They're all so bright. When I was young, my mother told me that if I wished on a falling star it would come true."

"I did that too when I was young." I said. Almost as if coincidental, we saw a shooting star. It was so beautiful. I looked at Tom and he had his eyes closed and his hands were clasped together as if in prayer. Then he opened his eyes and looked at me. "What did you wish for?"

"A kiss from you." he said. He inched closer to me and pressed his lips onto mine before I knew what was happening. The moment his lips touched mine I felt a tingling sensation which then made me feel so warm inside. His left hand touched the contour of my face while his right hand brushed against my dress and wrapped itself around my waist. He kissed the nape of my neck and kissed my left earlobe. It felt kind of ticklish, yet so good at the same time.

"Oh my God! Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes is making out with Mr. Hunk. What will her mother think?" howled Susan through the screen door. Tom and I turned to stare at her. I had anger in my eyes because of the disruption. The moment was gone just like that. Susan laughed as she returned back to the party.

"She sure knows how to ruin a good thing. How do you ever put up with her?"

"I guess I'm used to it. I mean, she's my roommate."

"Don't you ever wish you could get her for all the times that she interrupted whatever you were in the middle of? If she was my roommate, I'd kill her."

"Well, that's the way she is. You can't change her."

"But you can change your situation and make your life easier. Just kill her."

"If only that were so simple as it sounds."

"It is. Just buy a gun and find a time when you're alone with her. Then shoot her."

"You can't be serious." I said with a slight smile. The only weird thing was Tom wasn't smiling nor joking. "Oh my God, you are serious."

"Why wouldn't I be? Someone like her deserves what's coming to her."

"I got to go. It's getting late." I said as I got up. Tom grabbed my arm.

"Give me your number. I want to call you." Tom said. I looked into his eyes and couldn't help but drown in them.

"I don't have a pen."

"Here." Tom said as he whipped out a pen from his back pocket. I smiled mildly as I wrote my number on his left hand.

Susan and I got home about 1 in the morning. The whole neighborhood seemed so quiet, except for the sound of the few cars left roaming around aimlessly on the street. I went straight to the shower while Susan slipped out of her clothes and crawled into bed. She was snoring by the time I came out of the bathroom. I, myself, drifted off into the world of dreams half an hour later.

The next day I got up early to go to work. I worked part-time at a law firm. Susan was still sleeping like a log. She had no classes on Friday mornings and never went out to find a job. It didn't matter because her family was loaded with the big bucks. The hours at work seemed to go by slow. I got off from work about 6 PM and went to a small market before heading home. It was my turn to do the grocery shopping. I arrived back at the apartment to find Tom sitting on the sofa talking with Susan.

"Hey, Tess you're home! What'd you buy? I hope you got those frozen fish sticks by Weaver. God, how I love them." Susan said as she dug into the grocery bags to search for her favorite microwaveable food.

"How you doing Tess?" asked Tom. He came up to me and took a hold of my right hand and kissed it gently. "Tess, I have some news to tell you, but not here." Tom led me to the bedroom and closed the door.

"What is it?"

"I got it. It's a .32 magnum pistol. It's small enough to fit in your purse with no problem and it holds up to 6 bullets. I got some bullets, also."

"Are you crazy? Why did you go buy a gun? You can hurt someone with it."

"Keep your voice down. I figure we'll be done with it in 5 minutes and be out of here in another 5-10 minutes before anyone gets suspicious and calls the cops down. I know where we'll go after it's done."

"What are you talking about? Do what? Go where?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"No. I won't be a part of this. You're truly insane. Don't pull me down to your level." I said as I ran out of the room. "Susan! Get out now! He's crazy! He wants to kill you!"

"What kind of a game are you two playing?" Susan asked as she sipped red wine from a crystal wine glass.

Tom pulled out the pistol from his jacket's breast pocket. He pulled the safety back. I grabbed his hands and wrestled with him with all my strength, but to no avail. The gun went off and Susan stumbled backwards tripping on the rug and pulling the tablecloth from the dining room table down with her. Her wine glass went crashing to the wooden floor and the red wine splattered all over like a smashed berry turned liquid. Everything happened so fast, yet all seemed like slow motion. I dropped to my knees and opened my mouth to scream, but it was muffled by Tom's hands, which he used to cover my mouth.

"Listen to me, Tess. Pull yourself together. She deserved it. She was a nuisance to you, to me, to the whole goddamn world, and now she'll never bother any one. We did it together, Tess. All the anger and hurt you've ever been through has been revenged. No one will miss her, Tess."

"How can you say that? You don't know what I thought of her. You don't know how I felt. You don't know anything about me." I screamed in between sobs. "My God, I've just helped a maniac kill my friend. Oh Susan!"

"Pull yourself together, Tess. It's over and done with now. You have to know, I have fallen in love with you and I'll make sure we stay together forever. No one will be able to separate us, I promise." Tom declared as he put his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. He pulled me to my feet. "We've got to leave now before the cops get here. Come on."

"How do you know I want to go with you?"

"You have no other choice sweetheart." Tom said. He grabbed my purse, a jacket out of the closet and grabbed me by the arm. "We have no time to lose. I already bought us tickets to go to Virginia. The bus leaves in 20 minutes." Tom pulled me out of the apartment.

We boarded the Greyhound at 8:50 PM. I stared out the window the whole time while tears rolled silently down both sides of my face.

"Tess, we're going to be happy together. I have a good feeling about this. Don't you feel like we're Bonnie and Clyde reincarnated? God, it feels great to get our way! Don't you agree, honey?"

Jump to another story ----A World Apart or All Caught Up or Under The Skin

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This page was last modified December 31, 2003.