The Out

Chapter 12

Lulu called David at work. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked.

"What?"

"I, uh, I drove Stacy home last night. Total coincidence, we were at the same nightclub, yadda yadda yadda. But I left my purse at your place and didn't realize until the next morning. I only got into my apartment because the landlord let me, but I wasn't going to call him that late, so I still had to sleep at a friend's place before calling him in the morning. I'm sorry. I must have been discombobulated at seeing her."

"Does she know about us?" David asked.

"She didn't know me from Adam."

David sighed. It would be awkward to go home and right out again, but he could make an excuse. "I'm sure I can get it to you tonight. Is that enough?"

"Yeah. I have a second house and car key, and I brown-bagged my lunch, so I can survive without my purse for a day. It's not all bad. I can function. But I'd like those things soon, if possible."

"Of course. I'll see what I can do. When do you get off work today?"

"8 o'clock, when the mall closes."

"Do you want me to meet you at the mall or at home?"

"Try home. Eight-thirty?"

"It's a date."

Lulu smiled. At least there would be some silver lining to this.

___

While they talked, Stacy examined the purse at home. She read the driver's license and recognized the address. Last night was foggy to her, but she remembered Lulu. She also recognized the street. Or did she? It looked similar, but she wasn't sure. She put the purse away and waited for David to come home. When he did, she held the purse and said, "Whose is this?"

"Someone drove you home from the club last night," David said. "She must've left that." He took the purse. "I'll take it back to her. Don't worry."

Stacy grabbed it back. "No, I'll take it to her." She heard the sharpness in her voice and attempted to modulate it. "I mean, um, it was my fault she came here anyway. I was in no shape to drive. I should be the one to fix this. And, uh, I'd like to thank her!"

David briefly worried about the virtue of this idea, but put it out of his head. Stacy was clueless, and Lulu had never met Stacy. Heck, Lulu had never even been to this house before. Maybe it really was two ships passing in the night.

___

Lulu answered the doorbell in a slinky bathrobe. When she saw that it was Stacy, she immediately tied it more securely.

"You left this," Stacy said.

"Thank you!" Lulu said.

"Thank you for driving me home. You didn't have to do that." Stacy looked around. "May I come in?"

"Of course," Lulu responded, hoping that her new guest would think the candles and soft music were normal for her, just her way of unwinding at night.

"I sometimes wonder why you did it," Stacy said.

"You almost fell off that bar stool," Lulu said. "If you got behind the wheel, I worry you would have killed yourself or someone else. Driving is no joke. You can't do that with half a brain."

"And you want me alive."

"Why wouldn't I?" Lulu asked, eyebrows starting to raise.

"You know who I am, don't you? I don't know, but you do."

"Your name is Stacy. I saw it on your bar tab."

"Your name is Lulu," Stacy responded. "I saw it on your mailbox. When I followed my partner here. And you fucked him."

Lulu sucked in some air, hissing through clenched teeth. She felt her pulse rise. She was caught. She had never felt like it was wrong before, and she still couldn't be convinced of its immorality, but she knew that it offended the person standing just a few feet from her. She tried to imagine herself in this situation, but she'd never been dramatic like this. It was always the other woman who got dramatic, the other woman who made a show of it. Lulu wasn't sure what to do. She tried a bit of short-form evaluation on herself:

What stands between myself and feeling fine? Stacy.

What describes this problem? Stacy is angry at me. I think she's about to kick my ass. Or convince David to break up with me.

What emotion resonates: Afraid. I'm afraid.

As Lulu acknowledged her fear, she was able to make peace with it. She had survived worse and she could survive this. She could probably talk her way out of a beating. As to the second threat, that could wait, it's wasn't as immediate as getting her ass kicked.

"I'm sorry," Lulu said. This seemed like a reasonable thing to say to the injured party. And it was true, in a way: she was sorry for Stacy.

"You're only sorry you got caught," Stacy huffed. "Sorry is supposed to mean you won't do it again. But you probably will, won't you?"

Lulu remained quiet. There was no good answer to this question. She bowed her head in submission like a dog. Tears rolled down her eyes. She wanted to do it again, damn it!

Then Stacy said something surprising: "What do you see in him?"

"What?" Lulu asked, head curiously up, not sure if she'd heard correctly.

"I mean, he's not even that good in bed. There's no chemistry. He has a boring job, few interests outside of it, and he's just dull."

Before Lulu could stop it, she responded. "If that's all you see, why are you with him?"

"Because we live together. We have a child together! A home, a life!"

"But are you happy with him?" Lulu pressed, aware that the conversation had shifted from away from an ass kicking and to Stacy's mental state, and relieved with this awareness.

"What does happiness have to do with it? He supports me and I raise our child."

"You don't have to live together to do that," Lulu said.

"You'd have me be a single mother because you want to steal David?"

"I'd have you be a single mother because that wasn't a happy person I saw at the club last night. You're not happy. He's not happy. And if David hadn't slept with me, it would have been another woman. You know this. Heck, you were pretty flirty at that club too."

"That's self-serving," Stacy scoffed.

"Maybe," Lulu admitted. "But what if it's true? What if you left David and went back to college? Your child is old enough for daycare. She could play while you attend class. You'd have lectures and books and a whole set of learning ahead of you. What do you have to look forward to now?"

Stacy blinked. "David told you I dropped out of school for him?"

"Didn't you?"

"I didn't think he cared."

"David wants you to be happy," Lulu said.

"Then why did he fuck you?!" Stacy shouted back.

"Why do you obliterate yourself with drink? You think David likes that? That's distracting you far more than I'm distracting him. At least when he comes home from me, he's happy and relaxed. You come home from the club, you're vomiting."

"Fuck you! You don't know me!" Stacy exclaimed as she stormed out of the apartment and slammed the door behind her.