She Won't Take it Quietly

Keisha hugged him tight. "Now you're talking."

*

Mark felt lighter. It was a strange, illogical feeling, but ever since he had determined to put his foot down and break up with Maggie, his fear had vanished, and he had been standing up straighter. Until now, he hadn't realized how bad his posture had gotten over the last few months.

Maybe, he reflected, it wasn't so illogical to feel this way. In the back of his mind, he had known this day would come. But now it would come on his terms. Life was about to deliver him a sledgehammer blow, and he knew it. But it scared him less now that he knew it wouldn't hit him in the back.

"Maggie?" said Mark. "I need to talk to you about something."

It was the perfect spot. They were in the shadow of the car-charging station, where people his age would gather on the grass to read books, talk, play games, eat and gab. There were about a half-dozen people within earshot, maybe more. Maggie would not be able to raise her voice without making a spectacle of herself.

"Yeah?" said Maggie, paying more attention to her phone than to him. Her tone was light but not lazy. She had the air of a bored queen accepting homage.

Mark bunched his fists. He had imagined Maggie staring him in the eye and demanding to know what was afoot. But why would she? She had no idea that he had something big to say, and she would have only known if she had bothered to look at him.

"Maggie, we can't keep seeing each other."

For one second, it looked like she didn't hear him. Then she lowered her phone a few inches, turned and fixed her eyes on him. Now she seared him with that baleful stare he'd been expecting. "Okay, what the hell?"

"I can't keep seeing you. It's just..." he decided not to lay out all the cards at once. "It just won't work between us."

She finally pocketed her phone and lowered the brim of her. "Okay, listen up. You do not just tell a girl you're done with her!" She said the word 'not' like it weighed two tons.

"Well, I would have told you sooner, but I didn't think you'd listen."

"Where is this coming from? What, you want a blowjob? You want me to suck you off right here? Forget it! No other girl's going to do that for you."

Mark clamped his lips shut, feeling his cheeks tingle. People were staring, listening in and trying not to look like it. Mark didn't blame them.

"You forced me," he pressed on. "You backed me into a corner and forced me to come home with you, and I can't be put through that."

"Bullshit I forced you! You never once said 'no!'"

"Well, now I'm saying it."

"That is complete bullshit!" she said again. "Look, Mark, whatever you're mad at me for, the least you can do is learn how to tell a half-decent lie."

"I'm not lying."

"I never forced you."

This emphasis on his consent was unexpected. But surely, she had noticed his discomfort, hadn't she? Of course not, he realized. Because she hadn't been looking. He decided to explain himself. "You intimidate me. The way you hover over me, you scare me." As soon as those last words left his mouth, he regretted them. Now what not the time to show weakness. But it was out there. In for a penny, he thought, in for a dollar... "And I went with you because I was scared to turn you down."

"You went with me for the sex, you fucking liar, and you know it."

"I didn't enjoy the sex."

That hit her so hard that she said nothing for a moment. Then she looked around, noticed all the eavesdroppers and said, "Listen, this is a totally inappropriate conversation to be having out here."

He felt a surge of courage and said something reckless: "Oh, now you notice?"

She exploded to her feet. "I'm not talking to you anymore. I know what's really going on." She mounted her motorcycle and savagely kicked the ignition lever. "I'm going to find Keisha and kick her ass."

*

Normally, Keisha would not have noticed her phone vibrating. Since it was her shift at the greengrocer's, she would not have answered it either, not normally. But she had been expecting a call and had gotten permission from her boss to answer it, so she ducked away from the counter and tapped her phone to receive the call.

"Keisha?"

At first, she didn't recognize the male voice on the other end. It was confident, clear and urgent. Then she recognized it. "Mark! How did it go?"

"I'm fine," he said, "but Maggie did not take it well, and she's on her way to you. I never mentioned you when I broke up with her, but she put it together anyway. She stormed off saying she was going to... confront you."

'Confront!' More likely Maggie had promised to kick her ass. But Mark would not put it in those crude terms, and Keisha appreciated that. "You did it, Mark," she said. "You stood up to her."

"She's not finished with us. You need to be on guard, Keisha, because I don't know what she'll do. Please be careful."

Keisha read the worry on his voice and made an educated guess. "Did she have her guns?"

"Yes."

"Do you..." she dropped her voice. "Do you suppose she's ready to use them?"

"I don't know. I haven't called the police, because it's not my place, but I think you should."

Keisha felt a chill. It occurred to her that she might die today, and that everything she had ever done and hoped for in this world would end here. "Oh."

"Do you want me over there? I can get a ride and be there before she finds you."

He was willing to be with her! She loved the thought of summoning him and having him by her side as Maggie came. But those were self-indulgent thoughts. It would do no good. "No, I'll handle this. Bless you, Mark, you've done the right thing. I'll talk to you soon."

"I love you." He hung up.

It took Maggie surprisingly long to find the grocer's. When she did, she was not stealthy. The door of the grocer's banged open, and Maggie stomped up to Keisha. She stabbed a finger onto the counter. "Bullshit you sucked him off!"

Keisha blushed. She looked around to find her boss, the other girl at the counter and all of the customers frozen where they stood, staring at her.

"You two," said Keisha's boss. "Take it outside."

Keisha obeyed without a word, and Maggie followed her like a thunderhead. With hand hands clasped in front of her, Keisha turned to Maggie and asked, "What did Mark tell you?"

"He told me he's dumping me for you. How the hell did you get him to do that? You sucked his cock, didn't you?"

"Is that what he told you?"

"Answer me!"

"He didn't choose me because I gave him more pleasure. He chose me because I made him feel comfortable."

"What?"

"You made sex an obligation, Maggie. It became something he felt he had to do because he was afraid to disappoint you. That's not the right way to treat someone you care about."

"You've been spying on me," she said.

"I haven't been spying. I've seen the way you talk to him, and I've seen the effect you have on him, and you've caused him nothing but grief. I offered him love and respect, and that's why he chose me."

"You're a damn fortune cookie, do you know that?"

Keisha hardened her expression a little. "Is there anything else?"

Maggie twisted her lip into a snarl. "Fuck you." And she walked away.

Keisha felt her heart settle down to its normal rate. At least the guns had stayed in their holsters. From the moment Maggie had made her first accusation, that had been her posture: accusation, not murder.

It only seemed fair to call Mark. Keisha opened her phone to dial his number, but then saw him coming down the road. "Keisha!" He ran to her.

Keisha took his hands. "It's alright," she said. "As you can see, I'm none the worse for wear."

"Oh, I'm so glad it's over."

She opened her arms, and he crushed her with a big, masculine hug. Then he softened a little. His fingers ran gently through her hair.

"It's just you and me now," she said.

She looked into his eyes and saw what she had hoped to see. The guilt was gone. Instead, he looked proud, not just in himself, but in her too. The fear had evaporated, and he radiated love. She could see it. She could feel it through his hands.

She became dimly aware of the customers staring at her through the storefront windows. It was gauche of her to do this on her shift, and she knew it. She patted his back. "I need to get back to work, but after that I want to hear all about it. Why don't you come to my place, at seven? I'd like that."

"I'll be there."

With effort, he let her go and left the store.

It was the easiest shift Keisha ever remembered working. And when she came home, she put on her sexiest dress and waited as patiently as she could. He called on her door, and when she answered, there was no fear and no doubt. It was just her and him.