Claire
“Ready?”Beth asked for the thousandth time.
“Yep.”
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Fuck yeah. Seth doesn’t deserve this. It wasn’t his fault. He didn’t do anything wrong. Why should he be punished?”
“I agree. But is this the best way? Surely there’s a better way to do this.”
“We don’t have time. Now, let’s do it.”
“Okay.”
I took a deep breath, ran my fingers through my hair, and straightened my shoulders. I might have told Beth this was a good idea but the truth was, it was my only idea. While Seth had been out this morning I’d laid in bed, ignoring the spinning, reading comment after comment on the video some wanker had taken and posted online. The video that had cost Seth everything he’d worked so hard for. It wasn’t fair. People were calling him a thug and a bully. They wanted him thrown out of the competition. Some called for him to be charged with assault. Other’s demanded he give up his spot. He was supposed to be a role model, kids looked up to him. He couldn’t go around beating people up and getting away with it. It was all bullshit. And no one was defending him. He wasn’t even defending himself. And if he wouldn’t do it, if he couldn’t do it, then I was going to. I couldn’t sit here and let these keyboard warriors get away with it.
With one final deep breath, I folded my hands in my lap.
“Three. Two. One. Recording.”
Beth pointed at me, and it was time.
Even though I’d rehearsed what I wanted to say over and over in the mirror, now we were recording, I stumbled.
“Hey. Hi. You don’t know me. I’m Claire. I’m a friend of Seth Masters. And I’m sure you’ve seen the video of what happened last night. But what you didn’t see is the real story. I’m not going to lie to you, that’s not me, and it’s not Seth either. Seth did punch that guy. He didn’t deny it at the time, and he won’t deny it now. But what you didn’t see in that video was what happened in the few minutes before. The guy you saw lying on the floor had me pinned to the wall. He was grabbing my arm.” I lifted my arm and pulled back the sleeve showing the camera the dark bruises. “He was touching me. He wouldn’t let me go. And he was saying things I’d rather not repeat. Violence isn’t the answer. I know that. Seth knows that. But when a guy who’s not only stronger, bigger, and heavier than you, but also drunk and unbalanced is threatening someone you love, ask yourself, what would you do? Maybe then you wouldn’t be judging Seth so harshly.”
Tears filled my eyes, and I motioned to Beth who paused the filming.
“How bad was I?”
“You were honest. It’s all you can do. Look, I have to get home and get organised for work this afternoon. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“You going to post it?”
“You don’t think I should?”
“I didn’t…” I went to ask a question but Beth silenced me with her hand. “But after hearing what you said, even if it doesn’t change what’s happened, even if Seth still can’t play, you need to share the truth. No one should be crucified for that.”
“Thanks.” I hugged Beth tightly.
I waited until she was safely in the back seat of her Uber before I headed back upstairs, hoping Seth was in a better mood. I doubted it, and I couldn’t blame him, but a girl could wish. Right now, I doubted even a blow job would put a smile back on his face.
While I waited for the elevator, I bit my lip and loaded the video up onto my social media accounts making sure I tagged everyone and everything I thought could help. I didn’t give a fuck if I ended up looking like an idiot, as long as Seth didn’t look like a brute.
Almost instantly my phone started pinging. Too afraid to see what they were saying, I turned it off, stuffed it in my pocket, and went back inside. Finding Seth stripped down to his boxers and tucked back in bed, I slid in beside him and let my eyes close. Another couple of hours sleep where we could pretend the outside world didn’t exist sounded like heaven.
