Flying at the door, I wrench it open and glare at Caleb standing in the hall with his hands on his hips. “Just shutupCaleb! What do you get out of this, huh? We hate each other. Living together is hell and I have tried to make it work, oh, have I fucking tried! It’s bad enough that we’re locked into this joint lease and can’t afford to move out, but at least I try to make it work, but you? You’re a disgusting wretch of a man, Caleb. Hell, you’re not even a man! What I do with whom is no one’s business but mine!”
“Noelle—”
“No! This is my time! You’re not a man, you’re a fucking weasel! Did you think I wouldn’t notice you taking money out of the joint account, which is the only buffer we have between us and homelessness? If that empties, what’s going to pay the rent and utilities, huh? And youhid!” I throw my hands in the air. “You hid from the loan sharksyouengaged with because you’re a coward. I had to face them, I had to deal with them. I have to pay the bills, put food on the table, cook, clean, work, scrape together rent, all while you sit around in your own filth!”
“It’s my account too so I can do whatever the fuck I want with it! Oh, fuck right off,” Caleb snarls. “You think it’s easy for me to get a job? You think I like living like this? With a fucking nagging bitch in my ear every two minutes? I want to live and relax but you’re always around like a fucking mosquito, so fucking noisy and so fucking useless. You’re draining me dry, Noelle. You’re a fucking vampire!”
“Who pays for a roof overyourhead!” I can’t hold back. Every word tears from me laced with furious venom. “So what if I wanted to bring a man home? This is my home!”
Storming past him, I stomp into the messy living room. “Look! You can’t even clean up the trash around your pit. It’s like allbasic human traits that keep people clean have left that thick skull of yours. And as for a job? I got you so many interviews that you never turned up to, which is your fucking failure, you hear me? I can’t believe I ever loved you. You’re utterly pathetic, acting like a child with my alarms and my phone and mykeys!”
“Shut up!” Caleb roars. “Shut the fuck up!”
He lunges at me, but I’m faster, ducking under his arm and racing to my room.
My door slams in his face just as he reaches it and he pounds against it with both fists while I hold it with my weight.
“I never loved you, you hear me? You were just an easy mark, which makes you infinitely more pathetic than I am because at least I knew what I would get out of it from the start! But you? You fucking fell for everything and you still would! Some flowers and a kind word and you fall for anyone who gives you attention because you’re nothing, Noelle. You only exist for others, you hear me?”
Again and again he pounds on the door while I hold it closed, my heart hammering and my body jolting from the force of his punches and kicks.
His words should hurt, and to an extent they do, but he’s said all of this before and much worse.
“I’m leaving!” I yell. “You hear me? I’m not spending one more day in this fucking house with you because unlike you, I actually have value. I do good. You? You’re a fucking waste and no one would miss you!”
“Fuck you! You wanna stay in there, fine! Stay in there!”
Silence falls suddenly and the door no longer trembles.
My heart races and after a few seconds, I dart away and drag my chair in front of the door.
I should call someone.
Who?
My friends won’t answer.
None of them like Caleb and it’s late.
Dragging my phone from my pocket, I dial 911 but as the call rings out, my stomach knots.
The last time I called them, they told us to work it out because no one had been hurt and we both can legally stay here.
I have no options.
Hanging up, I toss my phone onto the side table and sink down onto my bed in despair.
Hot tears sting at the corners of my eyes and I press my trembling hands flat, palm to palm.
Suddenly, loud crashes sound on the other side of the door.
The handle begins rattling immediately and after a final loud thunk, the handle collapses away from the door.
“You wanna stay in there?” Caleb roars. “Then fucking rot in there!”
After a final slam against the door, his heavy footsteps stomp away and silence falls.
A few minutes later, the front door slams.
