Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > Down and Out
Julia watched the glass fall off of the counter in slow motion. She shuddered as it crashed against the linoleum floor and she felt some of the smaller shards embed into her bare feet and ankles. The world stood still for a minute before it started.
“What the fuck did you just do you clumsy bitch!” The dark figure loomed over her as she kneeled trying to pick the glass up with her bare bands, as fast as she could.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I guess I just bumped it with my elbow.”
“What happened is that you’re a dumbass! Get up dumbass!” He yanked her up by her wrist.
“I’m sorry Nick! I really didn’t mean to do it!” she pleaded.
“No,” his voice sounded calm and she let out a sign of relief, “you never mean to do it, do you?” He smacked her hard across the face, and before she could defend herself he shoved her hard to the floor, grabbed a chunk of her hair and pushed her face against the glass-covered floor. She closed her eyes in time, but felt the glass cutting in to her face. A silent tear escaped down her cheek. “Clean up your mess bitch!” He let go of her hair, stood up, and began to walk away.
Julia laid silently on the floor for a moment, waiting for him to leave the room. Suddenly he stopped and out of her one open eye, she watched his feet turn around and come toward her again. She braced herself as his foot connected with her back hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs.
This time, when he turned to walk out of the room, he actually did. Julia waited as the seconds passed. Waited for the air to fill her lungs again.
***
Julia stepped out of the shower a few hours later. It had taken her over two hours to get the glass out of her skin using tweezers, and with every piece, realization hit her hard. She had been with Nick since high school. He had always been the sweet and wonderful boyfriend who showed up on their dates with flowers for her. It was only since they had moved in together a few months ago that he had become like this. Almost every night he drank and almost every morning Julia had a new bruise forming on her skin somewhere. She couldn’t bring herself to leave him, because the image of the old Nick was still stuck in her head. But tonight, after plucking what seemed like hundreds of slivers of glass out of her skin, she could finally bring herself to do it.
She tiptoed into the living room where she found Nick passed out on the couch, half empty bottle in hand and some hillbilly comedy show that she couldn’t stand on the TV. She then tiptoed into her room, closing the door noiselessly behind her and taking out an old book bag. As she threw whatever would fit into the book bag, she formed her escape plan. Julia whipped out her phone and pressed down the number three speed dial button, a man’s voice answered, “Hey kid, what’s up?” she could hear noise in the background and knew that she had interrupted a social gathering.
“Will, where are you? I need your help. Can you come get me?” she whispered into the cell phone.
“Julia, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t talk about it now. Can you come?”
“Yeah, are you at home?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’m about two hours away from you right now. Are you okay for two hours? Do you need me to call anyone?”
“No, I’ll be okay until then, but when you get here don’t honk or call me or anything, just wait a little ways down the block with your lights off. I’ll be out there in two hours.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah.”
“Julia, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just hurry up and get here. Goodbye William.” She hung up her phone, finished stuffing stuff in her bag and tiptoed to the hall closet, throwing the bag inside.
She looked over at Nick sleeping on the couch. ‘Time to get this over with,’ she thought to herself as she walked across the room. “It’s time to go to bed Nick, come on,” she helped him off the couch and into the bedroom, laying him on the bed and crossing to her side of the bed.
Once she got under the covers, pretending like she was going to go to sleep, she felt Nick behind her, beginning to cuddle up to her, “Hey Baby, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t really mean to hurt you,” he kissed her, and it tasted like stale beer. She wanted to vomit, but knew that if she was going to pull off her plan she would have to play along. She kissed him back, as he started to remove his clothing and hers.
***
Almost two hours later, she climbed out of bed, careful not to make any noise. Not that it mattered much. When Nick was drinking (which was all the time) he would be passed out for hours and a hurricane wouldn’t wake him. She put her clothes back on and grabbed a black hoodie and her book bag and purse out of the hall closet, crept through the house to the front door, stepped outside and closed it quietly behind her. “I don’t ever want to see you again,” she whispered into the air. She meant Nick. She meant the small house they shared. She even meant the small town they lived in. She didn’t want to see any of it ever again.
She began to walk down the street her arms wrapped around her own torso. She spotted William’s car at the end of the street and began to run toward it.
He must’ve saw her running toward the car, because he got out and walked to the sidewalk. She ran right into his long arms and he engulfed her in a hug. He was so tall, and smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and the aftershave he had used for years, even before he was old enough to have any hair to shave off. Old habits die hard I guess. The smell brought back a thousand memories, all good ones, and Julia melted into him as he held her close. He broke the hug and opened the passenger side door for her. “Give me your bags.” She slid them off her back and handed them to him and he threw them in the back seat as she took her place in the front seat.
It wasn’t until William got into the door himself that he noticed her face. The automatic light turned itself off as he closed the door, but he switched it back on and touched Julia’s shoulder lightly, “what is this? Did he do this to you? Did fucking Nick do this to you Jules?” he motioned to her face.
She grabbed his hand and put it down on the seat between them. She nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek.
“I’m going to kill him!” William started to get out of the car, but Julia grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“No! Will, let’s just leave.”
“I can’t just leave! You’re one of my best friends Jules and you were abused by a scumbag who I once thought of as a friend. I can’t just let that go.”
“You’re going to have to William. Please. I want to leave quietly, it’ll make more of an impact. Besides, he would kill you in a fight anyway. You look like you haven’t eaten since the last time I saw you.”
“Fine. We’ll go, but I don’t like this. And I have eaten! Jeez! Why does everyone keep saying that?”
***
They arrived at William’s apartment about an hour and a half later. He unlocked the door and threw the keys on a nearby table. They had spent the entire car ride ignoring the elephant and talking about random things, from how his band was doing to how Julia’s psychology major was a pointless endeavor unless she planned on getting a masters later. Now William led her over to the couch and they both sat. “Tell me what happened.”
“Let’s talk about it in the morning Will.”
“No. We’re going to talk about it now.”
“At least let me get ready for bed before we talk. I mean, it is only,” she looked at the time on her cellphone, “3:23 AM. Where’s you’re guest room, so I can park my stuff in there?”
“I don’t have one.”
“What? You don’t have a guest room,” she was clearly shocked by this revelation.
“I’m a twenty year old single guy in a band and I’m rarely home. Why would I need a guest room?”
“Well where do people stay when they do sleep at your place?”
“They don’t. Or they sleep on the couch. Or sometimes they sleep in my room,” he raised his eyebrows jokingly.
“Eww! You perv! Where I am supposed to stay then?”
“You can stay in my room.”
“No! I’m not going to let you give up your bed to me and make you sleep on the couch!”
“Who said I was giving up my bed to you? It’s a king size. We can share it,” a smirk crossed his face as he contemplated how she was about to react.
“WHAT!? NO!! Eww, William!” She threw a random pillow at his head and he laughed.
“Relax. Not in a sexual way. Like the way we used to sleep at each others houses when we were in middle school and high school.”
“That’s only because my mom thought you were gay,” she laughed.
“Oh yeah,” he remembered back to a few interesting situations with Julia’s mom and laughed, “It was pretty funny when I told her I wasn’t.”
“Yeah, I know. She almost had a conniption,” Julia giggled, but sobered quickly as a wave of exhaustion hit her body, “I’m sorry, but can I please get ready for bed?”
“Oh, yeah of course. I’ll just lock up everything out here while you get ready for bed, then we can talk in my room and pass out.”
“Okay,” Julia picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She headed down the short hall to what she figured was William’s room, as there was only one door. She stepped inside and found a typical guy room. There was a huge, unmade bed against one wall, with sheets that were tangled together and didn’t match. The dresser that stood against the other wall didn’t seem to be fulfilling it’s purpose, as most of Will’s clothes were strewn across the floor. A picture of a half naked girl was tacked on one wall, and a poster of guitar chords tacked on another. There was his old acoustic guitar, sitting on it’s stand in the corner, and a handful of beat up looking picks thrown on the dresser. Julia chuckled to herself, “this is going to be interesting.”
She pulled out a pair of pajama pants (the only ones she’d been able to bring due to lack of luggage), and an old Black Sabbath t-shirt, then found the bathroom that was attached to his room and began to wash her makeup off and brush her teeth. When she entered his bedroom again, William was in there, hurriedly picking up pieces of clothing and gathering them together into a laundry basket. “Sorry about this,” he said, “I really wasn’t expecting visitors, so it’s a bit messy.” He moved over to the bed and started to straighten the sheets. Julia got on the other side to help him, and then climbed into the bed. William stripped his shirt off and threw it in the basket as well, and Julia couldn’t help but notice that his scrawny, skinny boy body that she had seen so many times in high school had developed into a more mature (yet still incredibly skinny), man’s body. “Do you mind if I just wear boxers to bed?” he asked her. She didn’t. It wasn’t like she was attracted to William or anything. They were just old friends.
After removing his pants, he climbed into the bed next to her. The moment she was dreading had arrived. It was time to tell him her story.
“What the fuck did you just do you clumsy bitch!” The dark figure loomed over her as she kneeled trying to pick the glass up with her bare bands, as fast as she could.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. I guess I just bumped it with my elbow.”
“What happened is that you’re a dumbass! Get up dumbass!” He yanked her up by her wrist.
“I’m sorry Nick! I really didn’t mean to do it!” she pleaded.
“No,” his voice sounded calm and she let out a sign of relief, “you never mean to do it, do you?” He smacked her hard across the face, and before she could defend herself he shoved her hard to the floor, grabbed a chunk of her hair and pushed her face against the glass-covered floor. She closed her eyes in time, but felt the glass cutting in to her face. A silent tear escaped down her cheek. “Clean up your mess bitch!” He let go of her hair, stood up, and began to walk away.
Julia laid silently on the floor for a moment, waiting for him to leave the room. Suddenly he stopped and out of her one open eye, she watched his feet turn around and come toward her again. She braced herself as his foot connected with her back hard enough to knock the wind out of her lungs.
This time, when he turned to walk out of the room, he actually did. Julia waited as the seconds passed. Waited for the air to fill her lungs again.
***
Julia stepped out of the shower a few hours later. It had taken her over two hours to get the glass out of her skin using tweezers, and with every piece, realization hit her hard. She had been with Nick since high school. He had always been the sweet and wonderful boyfriend who showed up on their dates with flowers for her. It was only since they had moved in together a few months ago that he had become like this. Almost every night he drank and almost every morning Julia had a new bruise forming on her skin somewhere. She couldn’t bring herself to leave him, because the image of the old Nick was still stuck in her head. But tonight, after plucking what seemed like hundreds of slivers of glass out of her skin, she could finally bring herself to do it.
She tiptoed into the living room where she found Nick passed out on the couch, half empty bottle in hand and some hillbilly comedy show that she couldn’t stand on the TV. She then tiptoed into her room, closing the door noiselessly behind her and taking out an old book bag. As she threw whatever would fit into the book bag, she formed her escape plan. Julia whipped out her phone and pressed down the number three speed dial button, a man’s voice answered, “Hey kid, what’s up?” she could hear noise in the background and knew that she had interrupted a social gathering.
“Will, where are you? I need your help. Can you come get me?” she whispered into the cell phone.
“Julia, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“I can’t talk about it now. Can you come?”
“Yeah, are you at home?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, I’m about two hours away from you right now. Are you okay for two hours? Do you need me to call anyone?”
“No, I’ll be okay until then, but when you get here don’t honk or call me or anything, just wait a little ways down the block with your lights off. I’ll be out there in two hours.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“Yeah.”
“Julia, are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just hurry up and get here. Goodbye William.” She hung up her phone, finished stuffing stuff in her bag and tiptoed to the hall closet, throwing the bag inside.
She looked over at Nick sleeping on the couch. ‘Time to get this over with,’ she thought to herself as she walked across the room. “It’s time to go to bed Nick, come on,” she helped him off the couch and into the bedroom, laying him on the bed and crossing to her side of the bed.
Once she got under the covers, pretending like she was going to go to sleep, she felt Nick behind her, beginning to cuddle up to her, “Hey Baby, I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t really mean to hurt you,” he kissed her, and it tasted like stale beer. She wanted to vomit, but knew that if she was going to pull off her plan she would have to play along. She kissed him back, as he started to remove his clothing and hers.
***
Almost two hours later, she climbed out of bed, careful not to make any noise. Not that it mattered much. When Nick was drinking (which was all the time) he would be passed out for hours and a hurricane wouldn’t wake him. She put her clothes back on and grabbed a black hoodie and her book bag and purse out of the hall closet, crept through the house to the front door, stepped outside and closed it quietly behind her. “I don’t ever want to see you again,” she whispered into the air. She meant Nick. She meant the small house they shared. She even meant the small town they lived in. She didn’t want to see any of it ever again.
She began to walk down the street her arms wrapped around her own torso. She spotted William’s car at the end of the street and began to run toward it.
He must’ve saw her running toward the car, because he got out and walked to the sidewalk. She ran right into his long arms and he engulfed her in a hug. He was so tall, and smelled faintly of cigarette smoke and the aftershave he had used for years, even before he was old enough to have any hair to shave off. Old habits die hard I guess. The smell brought back a thousand memories, all good ones, and Julia melted into him as he held her close. He broke the hug and opened the passenger side door for her. “Give me your bags.” She slid them off her back and handed them to him and he threw them in the back seat as she took her place in the front seat.
It wasn’t until William got into the door himself that he noticed her face. The automatic light turned itself off as he closed the door, but he switched it back on and touched Julia’s shoulder lightly, “what is this? Did he do this to you? Did fucking Nick do this to you Jules?” he motioned to her face.
She grabbed his hand and put it down on the seat between them. She nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek.
“I’m going to kill him!” William started to get out of the car, but Julia grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“No! Will, let’s just leave.”
“I can’t just leave! You’re one of my best friends Jules and you were abused by a scumbag who I once thought of as a friend. I can’t just let that go.”
“You’re going to have to William. Please. I want to leave quietly, it’ll make more of an impact. Besides, he would kill you in a fight anyway. You look like you haven’t eaten since the last time I saw you.”
“Fine. We’ll go, but I don’t like this. And I have eaten! Jeez! Why does everyone keep saying that?”
***
They arrived at William’s apartment about an hour and a half later. He unlocked the door and threw the keys on a nearby table. They had spent the entire car ride ignoring the elephant and talking about random things, from how his band was doing to how Julia’s psychology major was a pointless endeavor unless she planned on getting a masters later. Now William led her over to the couch and they both sat. “Tell me what happened.”
“Let’s talk about it in the morning Will.”
“No. We’re going to talk about it now.”
“At least let me get ready for bed before we talk. I mean, it is only,” she looked at the time on her cellphone, “3:23 AM. Where’s you’re guest room, so I can park my stuff in there?”
“I don’t have one.”
“What? You don’t have a guest room,” she was clearly shocked by this revelation.
“I’m a twenty year old single guy in a band and I’m rarely home. Why would I need a guest room?”
“Well where do people stay when they do sleep at your place?”
“They don’t. Or they sleep on the couch. Or sometimes they sleep in my room,” he raised his eyebrows jokingly.
“Eww! You perv! Where I am supposed to stay then?”
“You can stay in my room.”
“No! I’m not going to let you give up your bed to me and make you sleep on the couch!”
“Who said I was giving up my bed to you? It’s a king size. We can share it,” a smirk crossed his face as he contemplated how she was about to react.
“WHAT!? NO!! Eww, William!” She threw a random pillow at his head and he laughed.
“Relax. Not in a sexual way. Like the way we used to sleep at each others houses when we were in middle school and high school.”
“That’s only because my mom thought you were gay,” she laughed.
“Oh yeah,” he remembered back to a few interesting situations with Julia’s mom and laughed, “It was pretty funny when I told her I wasn’t.”
“Yeah, I know. She almost had a conniption,” Julia giggled, but sobered quickly as a wave of exhaustion hit her body, “I’m sorry, but can I please get ready for bed?”
“Oh, yeah of course. I’ll just lock up everything out here while you get ready for bed, then we can talk in my room and pass out.”
“Okay,” Julia picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. She headed down the short hall to what she figured was William’s room, as there was only one door. She stepped inside and found a typical guy room. There was a huge, unmade bed against one wall, with sheets that were tangled together and didn’t match. The dresser that stood against the other wall didn’t seem to be fulfilling it’s purpose, as most of Will’s clothes were strewn across the floor. A picture of a half naked girl was tacked on one wall, and a poster of guitar chords tacked on another. There was his old acoustic guitar, sitting on it’s stand in the corner, and a handful of beat up looking picks thrown on the dresser. Julia chuckled to herself, “this is going to be interesting.”
She pulled out a pair of pajama pants (the only ones she’d been able to bring due to lack of luggage), and an old Black Sabbath t-shirt, then found the bathroom that was attached to his room and began to wash her makeup off and brush her teeth. When she entered his bedroom again, William was in there, hurriedly picking up pieces of clothing and gathering them together into a laundry basket. “Sorry about this,” he said, “I really wasn’t expecting visitors, so it’s a bit messy.” He moved over to the bed and started to straighten the sheets. Julia got on the other side to help him, and then climbed into the bed. William stripped his shirt off and threw it in the basket as well, and Julia couldn’t help but notice that his scrawny, skinny boy body that she had seen so many times in high school had developed into a more mature (yet still incredibly skinny), man’s body. “Do you mind if I just wear boxers to bed?” he asked her. She didn’t. It wasn’t like she was attracted to William or anything. They were just old friends.
After removing his pants, he climbed into the bed next to her. The moment she was dreading had arrived. It was time to tell him her story.
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