Debt

8: You Got Me Wrong!

Abrielle pushed Shawn off her. "You can get out now," she said plainly.

Shawn looked at her as if she was speaking some foreign language that he didn't speak. He couldn't believe she would want him to leave.

"Bri-"

"Let me tell you something, Shawn. My vagina does not control my brain. Other way around. So you can leave now."

"Abrielle, I just told you that I love you."

"And believe me, you didn't whisper it. I heard you," she informed him coldly, looking up at him, waiting for him to get off her.

"Abrielle-"

She rolled her eyes and tried to push him off, but he didn't budge and in fact put his weight down so that she couldn't move him and she was pinned. He kissed her lips, forcing them apart. She bit his tongue, but he only ran his fingers through her hair while she pushed against his chest. He bit her back, and she tasted blood. But she didn't know whose it was.

Finally, she managed to get Shawn off and was breathing hard, wiping the blood off her mouth.

"Get out, Shawn. I'll fight you!"

Any other time, this would have been hilarious! But right now, it wasn't. He wanted her to forgive him, to say everything was back alright between them. That they could continue the way they'd been going.

"Your mouth is bleeding," she informed him, going to the bathroom.

"Abrielle!"

He followed, but she locked the door behind herself. He stood banging on the door, and she began to run herself a bubble bath. She never did get to have that for herself. And right now, she felt like she deserved it. And while she let the water run, she went over the bath products on the counter, deciding to use a bath salt, pouring the pink crystals into the hot water.

She turned on the radio and let the soothing sound of Melanie Fiona fill the room, stripping down, singing along to Bang Bang.

She slipped into the tub, resting her head against the bath pillow, tuning out Shawn on the other side of the door, banging, begging her to let him in. "Bri."

She relaxed her entire body, using a technique she'd learned during the yoga lesson in freshman p.e, tightening and relaxing her muscles, starting from the neck down.

When she got out of the bathroom, in her robe, there was Shawn, still standing there in his night clothes. "Abrielle, I apologize," he said sincerely, looking down into her eyes.

She took a deep breath and tried to walk around. But he took her in his arms. She didn't even bother to fight him this time.

"I fucked up tremendously this morning. I know that I did. And I'm sorry, Abrielle. I love you. I mean it."

He looked down at her, and she stared up at him, silent. She could feel his heart against her chest, beating hard.

"You came in here last night, held me like the world would end, and then walked out of here this morning without saying a single word. Am I expected to forgive that before the day is out?"

"I said I'm sorry, Bri. I am. Last night, I was still so worried about you. How you was holding up. But this morning, I remembered that you had to call me because you didn't bother to look at the paper. Not even a single time. You could have tried it. Just once."

"I'm sorry that I didn't look at the paper. But if that was the issue, you should have said that when you came in here last night."

He nodded his head in understanding and lifted her chin, kissing her lips softly. She allowed him in, and he put his arms around her waist.