Relapse (Phan)

TWENTY-FOUR

The minute I stepped through the door of the record shop Paloma's arms were around me in a tight embrace. "Phil!" She squealed, looking me over. "You look good! Like you've actually been getting enough sle—Wait," she shot me a confused look upon noticing Dan who was still lingering in the doorway. "What is he—"

"Come with me," I grabbed her arm, pulling her along with me to the back room. She looked wildly confused, but she followed without argument.

"What is he doing here?" she asked once we were alone.

"Can you keep it down?" I shushed, "He can still hear us you know."

"Um, Earth to Phil!" she waved her hands in front of my face as if I had lost my mind—in retrospect, maybe I had—"What are you thinking? Are you mad?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, still trying to quiet her down.

"Why is your ex-boyfriend in my shop?" she asked, finally speaking in a hushed tone.

"Why are you so bothered by it?" I defended.

"Um, in case you've forgotten, let me refresh your memory," she said bitterly, "Last time he was here you two had a row, scared away my customers, and broke half a box of records by knocking it off a table! So you'll forgive me if I'd like to know why he is back!" She was very worked up now, and a worked up Paloma is not a fun Paloma to work with.

"Well you won't have to worry about that," I promised, trying to calm her down.

"Why is that?" she asked, giving me an uneasy look. "Did you two—"

"I have no idea how you are planning on ending that sentence, but the answer is probably yes," I said.

"What about Jason?" she asked, knitting her eyebrows, "Did you break it off?"

I wrung my hands, nervously. "Well, see, about that—"

"You haven't broken up with him?" she asked, fuming.

"I didn't want to do it over the phone, I wanted it to be in pers—"

"Oh, you didn't want to end it over the phone, so you thought it'd be better to cheat on him?" she bellowed, "Great logic, Lester! Very sound, indeed!"

"Look, it isn't as bad as it—"

"Isn't as bad?? How on Earth could it—"

"If you would just listen to—"

"I can't believe—I mean, I know you make stupid decisions, but this is just—"

"He hit me!" I said, silencing her. There was a tense moment of quiet as she stared at me, seemingly trying to wrap her mind around what I had just said.

"He what?"

"Jason hit me," I repeated.

Paloma covered her mouth with her hand, stunned. "Oh my God."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I just—"

"I should've known—"

"There's no way you could've known," I said, trying to comfort her, but she looked as though she was about to have a break down.

"I knew you were getting worse than usual but I had no idea—Phil I—" she sighed, wiping her face with both hands. She sighed, regaining her composure. "So you told him?"