May I: Sleep Redux

He ate that pudding cup, because for the first time since the attack he saw her genuinely smile. A part of him didn’t want to see that bright smile go away--nor the happiness that made her glow over the sadness that was still there in her heart.

Taking in her puffy eyes, tear stricken cheeks-- he was for once without words. He didn’t know how to comfort her, so he ate every last bite. Pretty soon, she had finished her pudding and was throwing the empty, plastic cup in the garbage.

“Are you going to be okay sleeping in your office tonight?” Cal asked politely, finishing up his own pudding.

Gill looked up from brushing off her skirt. “Yeah. I’ll be fine, thanks.” She offered quietly. He stood up with a nod, holding the empty plastic cup in his hand as he excused himself to the door.  “Cal—” At the sound of her voice, he turned around. “Tell Emily, thanks for the pudding.”

With one meaningful nod to her, he went out the door and stopped to the side. There were those dams again, breaking open when he was around her. Because he seriously had to get it out of his head that he almost thought of inviting her to sleep at his place. So close, but the words wouldn’t come.

She stared after him, letting her own thoughts collect, before walking over to the couch. Draping the blanket over her arms--the one that he had laid over her last night—she walked over and turned out the light.

Blindly, she made her way over to the couch and sat down. She removed the sling; feeling that she wouldn’t need it tonight and carefully pulled the blanket up to her chest.  His scent was there, and for the first time she got the feeling that she was truly home.

---

Driving up to his house, Cal got out of his car and quietly made his way to the front door. He unlocked the front door quickly, to see the lamp in the living room on. Emily was there, reading a book in the dim light.

“Hey, what are you still doing up? I thought you’d be fast asleep in your bed by now. You have school tomorrow.”

Emily finished reading the page, and then closed the book. “Yeah. Thought I’d wait up. . . . How’s Gillian?”

“She’s still pretty shaken.” He took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack. Taking off his scarf next, he hung it on the rack above his coat. “What’s that book you’re reading?”

“Oh, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’.” Emily held up the book, so he could take a better look at it. “It’s for English actually, we just got it yesterday.”

“Yeah. . . For your English class with—”

“Mrs. Ryle.” Nodding, Emily stopped at the stairs. “You know she’s going to be okay--” She smiled at the expression on her father’s face.

“Who is this she you talk about?” He joked slightly, stopping just below her on the steps.

“Gillian.” She shrugged, leaning over and kissing him on the forehead. “I’ve got to get bed, don’t stay up too late.” She called behind as she trailed up the stairs.

He stood there for a moment, then followed suit to his own bedroom. Once he had finished changing, he hopped into bed; only to realize that he forgot to turn off the light.

Grunting, he pushed the covers aside and walked across the room. The house was silent, the time growing late as he flipped the light off absently and lay back in bed. As soon as he had turned off the light and walked back across the room, he had a fleeting thought: What it would be like to have someone lie beside him again.  

And with that thought in mind, he drifted off to sleep.   

----

Gillian found that she had fallen asleep only for an hour when she woke up staring up at the ceiling. For once it wasn’t her dreams that had woken her, but somehow she still couldn’t sleep.

Getting up, she suddenly had the need to clear her thoughts.  She got up, flipped on the light and scouted for her wine. Once it was found, she took it in her hand and was about to pour a glass when she realized that she was going to need something much stronger tonight.

Grabbing her jacket and purse, Gill walked out of her office—a chill running through her with the darkness that fell over the building. Without warning, she saw herself looking back to that night when she had been attacked. The fear on her face, and the hooded man that haunted her.

The image she saw made her heart beat wildly. But just when she thought that she saw him again, the thought disappeared and she only found herself standing in the middle of the hall.

She had to get out of here. She was seeing him everywhere. Passing the front desk, she quickly locked up without looking back and was thankful when she had parked so close to the building. 

Quickly she got into her car and locked the doors. Her fingers were shaking as she put the keys in the ignition. During the brief moment that she had started the car and driven out of the parking lot, she knew where she was going tonight.

When she had gotten to the location, she had already driven around the block three times. She parked the car and stepped through the door of the nearest bar. Sitting down at the counter and waiting for the bartender to turn around and address her.

His gold colored name tag on his shirt revealed his name: Matthew. He had jet black, spiky hair and piercing green eyes. “What can I get you?”

Nodding, she brushed away a stray hair and sat down at the counter. Scotch, please.” She answered quietly, placing her hand underneath her chin, she took a look around the bar and then back when the tap of the glass hit the wood counter.

“One scotch.” The other man announced with a smile, just as a group of muscular looking guys walked through the door. In fact, even before she had taken a second glance back over at him, she knew without a doubt: those men were trouble.

Gill casually took a sip of her drink “You know them?” She gazed at them from the corner of her eye. They were talking to a few people at the table and hadn’t seemed to notice Matthew yet, as they were too far away to spot him standing behind the counter—that is if Matthew happened to be their designated target.

“Know them?” He huffed and began wiping down the counter, gazing at them hesitantly. He was pushing with more necessary force as if there were an imaginary piece of food that he couldn’t get off with that wash cloth. ”They’ve been following me around like lost dogs hunting for a bone—“He offered in a displeased tone, half gazing in the direction of the two men. “that they’ve finally found.’”

“What do they think you did?” Curiously, she looked over at them. The man standing closest to the table had broad shoulders that sported tattoos. He looked over at her, giving a quick nod with a smile. Then his eyes followed over to him, and Gillian saw the man’s smile fade, exchanging for a look of disgust.

He looked over at her solemnly, the man turning to gesture something to one of his men. Her eyes flickered back from them to his. He licked at his lips. They both knew that they didn’t have a lot of time. “I’m a straight-up business man. Ranolli, the man on the right came in last Thursday, trying to make a deal with me. Well, it turns out that the deal was faulty when we looked into it.”

“And now they’re after you.” She stated, watching the men interact. They were arguing over something, and she knew that this was a stalling point; her time to react.

He nodded slightly. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I told you all this. I don’t even know you.”

“I get it. Can you excuse me for a minute? I need to make a call.” She offered hastily, seeing her chance and walked towards the bartender. “Excuse me, where’s your bathroom?”

The bartender pointed in the direction past where the men were standing. Just as she was going past them, they all turned to leave.

Once they were out the door, she glanced back at the door and watched the men disappear out of sight before she went back to Matthew. “It must have been your charmingly good looks that drove them away.”

“Yeah.” She absently touched at the scar, and looked over at the bartender. “That or the bartender was smart enough and he just called the cops.” Looking over just as the bartender hung up the phone, a smile edged at the corner of his lips.