Video Vengeance

"It took my brother calling to ask me about my tits for me to realize that something was going on."

"Hey Nat," he said. "I thought your tits were bigger than that."

"Dylan you pervert," I said. "What the fuck are you talking about you've never seen my tits."

"Natalie, everyone in the world has seen your tits. What did you expect; you put the video on Video Tube?"

"I was too shocked to speak."

"Hey, next time you need a co-star, call me. We could do a really hot brother-sister incest video and..." I hung up on him.

"For the rest of that night and the next morning I left the phone turned off. I scrolled through my messages yesterday morning and found out that I had over three hundred voice mails. None of them were from Benny. I tried calling him over and over. I even tried calling his secretary. That snooty bitch told me that she wasn't allowed to take my calls and she wouldn't take a message either."

"Women have a sixth sense about these things and I was sure that she intended to make a move on Benny ASAP. I hung up on her too. I called Benny's hotel room in Denver and left a message for him there. I asked the man who answered the phone to tell him that there was an emergency and he needed to call home right away."

"Finally, I called Carla. She hung the phone up on me too. I left her a message begging her to call me back. We've been friends for most of our lives and have had our share of arguments. It took a few hours but she finally called me back. She wanted to know why just because I was fucking around on Benny, I decided to drag her into it. She thought that we were friends, but now that she knew what I really thought about her she intended to find new friends."

"Fine," I screamed at her. "I didn't need her friendship either. I don't need to be friends with a woman who'd fuck my boyfriend behind my back. Then Tim started yelling too and I just hung up the phone. "

"Early this morning, there was a knock on my door. I looked outside and saw Tim and a policeman. There was a lawyer with them too. They had a court order allowing them to remove Benny's personal property. The lawyer also gave me a check for one half of the rent on the apartment for the next three months until our lease ran out."

"I explained to them that it was all a misunderstanding. It was Benny's fault but I didn't want to break up with him. I just wanted to teach him a lesson. He didn't have to move out. He should just take his lumps like a man and come home."

"A little while later my dad showed up to help them move Benny's stuff. Tim and my dad sat down to try to explain to me. Tim told me that Benny swore he'd never cheated on me. Tim was also sure that Carla had never cheated on him. He asked me what made me think they had. My Dad was also curious. I showed them the video from our security system. Tim started laughing like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen."

"You think it's funny seeing that cow of yours fucking my fiancé?" I asked.

"Natalie, that isn't Benny," he said.

"Look at his right shoulder. Does Benny have a tattoo there?" he asked.

"For the first time I noticed the tattoo on the man. I hadn't seen his face so I couldn't definitely say that it had been Benny. All I'd seen was that fucking jacket."

"Natalie, that's me," he said. "Carla and I used your place because uhm...we still live with our parents and we don't get a lot of chances to uhm..."

"What?" I screamed.

"We should have asked you," he said. "But it's kind of embarrassing..."

"You're lying," I screamed. "You're trying to cover up for him."

"It was Wednesday night, right?" he asked.

"Then my dad spoke up."

"Carla, Wednesday night, Benny came over to formally ask our blessing for you two to get married. He took your mother and me out to dinner at a very swanky restaurant. He took your grandmother along too," said my Dad.

"That's why Nana called me," I choked out. "Oh God, what have I done?"

"Humiliated a man who loved you like there was no tomorrow and embarrassed your family," began my dad.

"Insulted and accused your lifelong best friend for something she didn't do," said Tim.

"Branded yourself a whore and became a worldwide laughing stock," continued my dad.

"Don't forget lost your job," said Tim. "And I'm pretty sure that they're not going to give you a recommendation."

"Okay, I get the picture," I snapped. It was just beginning to dawn on me that I'd lost Benny. All of the names I'd called him. The things I'd said and especially what I'd allowed that sailor to do to me. I'd even let him fuck my ass and everyone had seen it.

"I know what I've done, what I need to know is, how to fix it?" I asked.

Suddenly the room got quiet. It was so quiet you could hear the sounds of people breathing. It was so quiet that you could hear crickets chirping in the background and we were deep in the city. We didn't even have any crickets in our area. So you were hearing the crickets from somewhere else.

"Come on guys," I pleaded with them. "You have to help me get him back. I know what I did. But it was just a reaction to what I thought that he'd done. Actually, when you look at it, none of this is my fault. If Tim and Carla hadn't done their drive by fucking in my apartment none of this would have happened. And if Benny hadn't loaned Tim his jacket..."

"Uhm, Benny gave me that jacket," said Tim. "He said he hated it."

"Whatever," I said. "It's still not my fault. I think we've all learned that."

"You're never too old to learn something stupid," said my dad. "Nat, I love you but this IS all your fault. You jumped to a conclusion and without looking where you leaped. You landed badly and fell on your ass. All I can say is next time look before you leap."

"Thanks Dad," I smirked. "I'm sure you got all A's in clichés. Now I need to think about this to figure a way out."

"Well we're all done packing most of his stuff," said Tim. "I need his keys."

"He picked up Benny's keys and took two keys off of the ring and of course the Ford fob."

"No Tim you can't take his..."I began. My voice trailed off to nothing as I hung my head and began to cry.

"Sorry, Nat," he said. "More than anything else he wants his car. He made sure I understood that there were only two things in the world that used to matter to him; you and his Mustang. Now that you two have broken up, that car is pretty much his rock."

"They left then and I sat there alone thinking about my life. The apartment that had up until then felt so much like home, just felt empty. Even the thought of being there without Benny was foreign to me. He'd left me a check for half of the rent but there was no way I could swing the expenses without him. I hadn't paid any of the rent since we moved in. Even if I tried to subsist on Ramen noodles and tuna I couldn't make it."

"I thought about everything I knew about Benny. He loved Mustangs and he was a news junky. He also had to keep his image looking above board. His company had very high standards for moral behavior. Then it came to me. Benny was always watching news shows. He watched them all, the TV news, the internet news, everything. All I had to do was to make a big enough stink that I became news and he'd see me. If he saw what I was willing to do just to talk to him, he'd have to agree to talk to me or everyone in the world would think he was a dick. If I got a chance to talk to him, maybe I could get him to forgive me."

"So officer, I woke up this morning made myself a nice hearty breakfast, dressed warmly and crawled my narrow ass out onto this even more narrow ledge in hopes of getting on the news so that my heartbroken boyfriend can forgive me."

The cop just looked at me and shook his head. His expression had changed. He'd lost some of his professional demeanor.

"God damn it, Natalie," he said. "That's some story. I knew I knew you from somewhere," he smiled. "But until now it didn't hit me."

"Where do you know me from?" I asked. "Was it school or maybe church?"

"Nah, we watched your video down at the station," he smirked. "We couldn't believe that guy got his..." He looked at me sheepishly.

"Sorry," he said. "Oh wait, do you have your phone on you?"

"No," I said.

"Where is it?" he asked.

"It's just inside on the kitchen table." As I watched, he ducked back inside and came back out with my phone. He placed it on the ledge and moved away from it.

"Pick it up Nat," he smiled. "There's a call coming through that I think you're going to want to take."

I inched my way slowly over to the phone prepared to jump back the second he reached for me. I picked up the phone and almost dropped it as it rang and vibrated scaring the shit out of me. "Hello," I said.

"Nat, baby come down from there," said Benny. My Benny, the man I love. "Tim explained to me what happened and I'm still angry about it, but I really do love you. We have a lot of issues to work out. It may take a very long time to get back to where we were, but I'm willing to try if you are."

"I love you too," I said. "Of course, I'm willing to try."

"Well, we can't talk with you up there and me all the way down here," he said.

"I'll be right down, but you'll probably have to talk to me in jail, honey," I said.

"The chief of police is down here," he said. "He told me that I can talk to you in your cell while they figure out what to charge you with. I love you Nat. Come down here to me."

"I'm on my way," I said. I was happier than I'd been in days. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. Who cares if the entire world thought I was a slut. Benny still loved me. My heart grew wings as I thought about it. Benny still loved me after everything I'd done. I was so happy that I thought I could fly.

That was when the photographers started taking all of pictures and the flash bulbs disoriented me. I tripped and fell off of the ledge. The only thing shorter than my fall was the landing. I expected it to hurt but I never felt a thing. I was conscious for a brief second. Benny ran over to me and his last words to me were, "Uhm Nat, baby. I thought you were going to take the stairs."

The end.