#Wattys2017 - A Glimpse of Freedom

Chapter Four - Daisy Miller

 Jenny's plane lifted off this morning and I won't hear back from her until night. Jenny wasn't able to sleep all night and kept me awake as well. She kept on talking about how much fun she was going to have with her friend. I was glad she was having fun, still disappointed about my situation though. There might be other ways to have fun around town though, who knows? Work will probably hold me back, though.

The drive to work was as it normally was; boring and uninteresting. Sometimes I wonder if falling asleep during these car-rides is even all that bad; might kill me, at least I'll get some sleep if I do. The only thing keeping me awake right now is coffee, after all. Maybe I can sneak in some sleep at work if I can help it.

Work goes as it usually does. I go to the breakroom at 2PM and find Daisy already there. I start making tea, and I look at Daisy. She seems sad, and I can see some tear stains on her cheek.

"Daisy.." I begin.

"No, stop." Daisy begins, "I know I look like a sad pile of shit right now, no need to point it out or pity me."

"Just tell me what's wrong." I say as the water in the kettle begins to boil.

"My husband is having an affair." she says, blurting it out right away before breaking into

tears and falling into my arms, crying on my shoulder. I try to comfort her by hugging her back.

"Daisy, you don't need him." I say after what felt like a long silence.

"Yes, I do." she replies, "I still love him, too."

"Daisy, you shouldn't.." I stop to think about what I'm about to say here.

"I shouldn't what, huh? I shouldn't what? Marvin? Are you listening?" she says. I can tell

she's incredibly upset about the situation. Of course she is - that's her husband cheating, after all.

"You shouldn't dwell on this. If he's a cheater, he's a cheater." I say, "He doesn't deserve

you. Why don't you ask Joey to take the rest of the day off?" I suggest.

"I can't," she says "he'll be there, waiting with open arms telling me that everything is

alright. I can't bear to see his face, his perfect smile."

"I see.." I respond, pondering my options now.

"Can I come over to your place? For the night? You wouldn't mind, would you? You seem to understand."

She doesn't seem to thinking about what Jenny might think. At the same time, though, Jenny isn't here. I doubt it will do much harm to let her over. She can sleep in the guest room. She seems to be thinking impulsively, but I have a feeling that if I say no she'll get mad, or worse, cry even more.

"Sure." I say.

She looks at me with a wistful smile and teary eyes and falls back into my arms once again, murmuring words of gratitude. We both go back to our cubicles and get back to work.

4PM hits and it's time for Daisy and I to head back home. Daisy normally takes the bus to work so we didn't have to worry about her car or anything. The entire drive home she was ranting about her husband, how she "should have known", and it was the most entertainment I've had on my drive home since the day I drove by a movie filming in progress.

We arrive home and Daisy asks me if she can watch TV. I let her and she switches on a romantic comedy movie. I let her watch what she wants and make dinner. I normally don't make dinner but my mom taught me how to make a few dishes just in case I never found someone to love. Her reasoning was iffy but at least it came in handy.

It's an hour before bed and Daisy asks for a beer. I say okay and search around the garage to find a couple cans, and sure enough I find a six-pack hidden behind a couple tires. We crack open a can together and drink, crack open another and drink more. We've both had three cans and are feeling pretty tipsy. I decide enough is enough and help her get upstairs; she was a lot more drunk than I was.

"Are you going to sleep with me?" Daisy says, drunkenly slurring.

I, being a tiny bit sober respond. "No." I say, and she looks at me with a pouty face. I don't know what came over me at that instant but I decided to hop into the bed with her, where she wrapped the covers over both of us and came closer. Both of us were so drunk, we didn't realize what we were doing and how wrong it was.

Wedding vows only bind you. I always told myself that if I wanted to feel free, I had to take risks. That was my only justification for what I did with Daisy tonight.