Page 146 of Wardrobe Malfunction

“Where to, love?” he asks me through the open window.

“Keno. About a mile past the elementary school. I’ll know it when I get there.”

“Okay,” he says. “You want your case in the trunk?”

“Please.”

He gets out of the car and takes my case from me. I climb into the backseat and put my seat belt on.

He gets back in the car, and then we’re moving.

I sit on my hands and try to pretend that they aren’t shaking and that my heart isn’t racing.

Twenty minutes later, the cabbie is driving past the elementary school. I recognize the upcoming turn.

“Left here,” I tell the cabbie.

He takes the turn and starts to drive down the driveway toward the farm.

“Keep going past the first house,” I tell him.

He drives past Vaughn’s parents’ house and then up to Vaughn’s house.

“Nice place,” he comments.

I pay him the fare and climb out. “I’ll get my case; don’t worry,” I tell him.

I lug my case from the trunk, and the cab pulls away.

I stare up at Vaughn’s house.

You can do this, Charly.

I take a deep breath. Legs trembling, I pull my case up onto the porch and knock on his door.

It’s silent. There’s no movement.

I knock again louder and wait. After a few minutes, I finally accept that he’s not here.

Shit.

What do I do?

I came all this way, thinking he’d be here, that I hadn’t even considered that he wouldn’t be.

I can go to his parents’, but honestly, I’m afraid to face them. What they must think of me.

I can wait here, but if he doesn’t come, then I’m stuck.

Fuck. I didn’t think this through at all.

A lump thickens in my throat. And I feel like I might cry. Only I can’t fucking cry. Not even yesterday when I had to tell Vaughn that I was married. My eyes welled with tears, but they never fell.

I’m broken.

I’m a screwed up, broken, fucking idiotic twathole of a person.

And I’m staring at his front door like it’s somehow going to magically open.