LLL PornStar or Help! My Girlfriend's a Pornstar

The Primordial Serpent

It was a warm night during the closing days of March when we first met. The bar was closing and I was finishing off my drink to head home. "Should I read you your fortune for the end of March?", Maril asked. Maril was the bartender for the Hyacinth Girl. She was a thickset woman who rarely smiled, though you would never call her unpleasant. As far as I knew she was the only bartender that worked there. She made a sport of wearing exotic shades of lipstick that by some miracle always managed to complement her choice of outfit and chocolate-brown skin to the T. I had enough sense to compliment her achievement on my first few visits to the bar, and so had managed to get in well with her. Today's was a bumble bee arrangement of vibrant yellow and oil black stripes.

"Yes please." I said. A pleasant smell of cocoa butter washed over me as she walked from behind the counter. In the far corner of the bar, which was very cozy and eastern styled, was a large square pond. The water shone black and smooth as glass in the soft light. Maril dipped a red toy fishing rod into the pool ruffling its surface, and after sometime pulled up a plastic koi fish. She opened up its mouth and unfolded a slit of paper. She cleared her throat as she read the fortune.

"Your reluctance to act will ultimately be your downfall." She unceremoniously tossed the fish back into the pond and balled up the fortune.

"Well that's about as general as it gets." I said. She shrugged her shoulders,  replacing the rod.
      "But it applies especially to you, especially for the end of this month."

  ______

I stuffed my arms through the sleeves of my suit jacket and walked out onto the streets. Except for a rowdy group of men exiting a bar across the pavement, the city was dead. A woman walked ahead of the group, her eyes glued to the ground. The men seemed to be taunting her but, it was hard to tell from this distance. Ignoring the group, I continued down the sidewalk stopping at the crosswalk. Sounds of muffled conversation reached me from across the street. The group had caught up with the woman, forming a half circle around her. One of the men grabbed her as she backed away. I quickly turned my attention back to the crosswalk signal. The neon numbers taking their time to count down to zero. 13, 12, 11. Oh for heaven's sake hurry up.

"Let go of me." She yelled. One of the men had her by the arm, she was trying to reach into her purse. "Oh for fucks sake." 9, 8, 7 the signal continued to tick. Screw this. I hurried through the crosswalk. Home was only three blocks away. Maybe she had done something to deserve this. She let out a sharp cry. Dammit. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911. The screen was black. My phone had died earlier that day at work. The woman became more sporadic, flailing and yelling at the guys. The crosswalk light finally changed giving the signal to walk. Of course I thought of Maril's fortune. This didn't count as a reluctance to act, there was nothing I could do. I'd make it home in time to charge my phone and call the cops. Or perhaps I'd run into a brave stranger on the way. As I reached the other side of the street, the woman unleashed a  stream of curses. She was fighting for her life. Fuck me, I thought. I looked both ways before I nervously scampered back towards the group. The lady was laying into them, but the man was pretty big and held her arm tight. The three other men were looking on nervously.

"Let her go." My voice sounded surprisingly confident. I stepped over the curb. I can do this.

"And who are you?" The man slurred drunkenly. He was at least a head taller than me and reeked of alcohol.

"Who I am doesn't matter, I've already called the police." The man and his friends looked around.

"I don't see any police, I guess we'll beat your ass until they get here." The large man swung at me. I cowered to the ground before his fist even found its mark. I put my hands over the back of my head and lay in fetal position as they stomped me into the concrete. Fuck, this hurts. Fighting had never been one of my strengths. The men, in their haste to beat me, had all but forgotten about the woman. She stood to the side rummaging through her bag.

"I know it's in here somewhere. Ah, found it," she said pulling out a small canister of pepper spray. The men yelled in pain stumbling over one another as she sprayed them down, cursing and clawing their face to her obvious delight. She stood over me until they ran off the city street and into the night.

"My hero." Her voice was bell soft and tinged with primal anger and sarcasm.

"Well, we can't all be Superman," I said dusting off my business attire. My white button down had a large boot print on it. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said placing the canister back into her powder blue gucci bag. "I'm surprised you're not all bloodied up." She reached out her hand and helped me off the ground. She was beautiful and out of breath. Hmm, What have we here? They say all men think with two heads when it comes to women, and my second head had a mouthful to say about this one. She had a naturally pretty face, and a... well this isn't the situation to take notice of such detail. Her eyes were only half open, but I could tell by the brown bottom half of her iris that they were very large. There was a coat of glassiness to them as if they were doll eyes. I looked away from her face. She definitely noticed my wandering eyes, though her face betrayed nothing of what she thought. "Do you live in the area?"

    "Yes."

    "Great I'll walk you home." We limped over to my apartment stopping outside the entrance.

    "Well this is it, thank you." I said.

    "I'll accompany you up." She walked through the door and held it open. "You coming?"
                         ______