Issues / ROMAN GODFREY / #wattys2019

Seven.

Mariana woke up the next day with a throbbing headache. She sat up in confusion, looking around an unfamiliar bedroom. A thin sheet was draped over her body that was still dressed in her costume, only her heels were taken off. She climbed out of bed and walked to the nearest door, opening it up to find a fully furnished bathroom.

She used the bathroom before looking at herself in the mirror, seeing that her face had been wiped clean of makeup and her boob was peeking out of her costume. After a quick adjustment, she walked back into the bathroom to see Roman was sitting on the bed.

"I brought these for you," he stood up, putting a few pills into her hand and a bottle of Fiji Water. Mariana swallowed them down and drained half of the container.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" he asked.

"I... I remember we left the dance and Letha's pregnancy..." she said. Roman's eyes hardened when she mentioned Letha, but didn't say anything, and she continued on. "And the man screaming on the road... What happened, Roman?" she asked, looking up at him.

"He's at the Institute, they're going to do some mental evaluations," Roman said, digging into his pockets and pulling out a cigarette. Mariana snatched it from him before he could light it. He glared at her, "What the fuck?"

"Now is not the time!" she said. "Why did he call you a murderer?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know? I know just as much as you do," Roman argued, watching as she started pacing back and forth. "He's probably a fucking psycho, who in their right mind would go running through the woods in the middle of the night?"

"He was running scared, and he mentioned Ourobo-"

"And who is this, Roman?" another voice piped in, an English accent that was rather suave. She was a tall, dark-haired woman of pure beauty, but by the look on Roman's face, he wasn't happy she showed up.

"This is Mariana, and Mariana this is my mother, Olivia,"

Mariana remembered the day in English where Roman compared her to Lady Macbeth. She was wearing a white knee-length dress with matching shoes that clicked as she approached them. Mariana held her hand out to shake Olivia's hand, but the matriarch only stared at it in distaste before giving a rather fake smile to her son whose eyes were once again hardened. "Bringing girls home again without introducing them to your mother first, Roman?" Olivia said, making his nostrils flare.

"It's not like that, I gave her a place to sleep, she wasn't feeling well after the dance," he snapped, his expression eventually softening to a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Now if you'll excuse us I have to take her home," he said, gripping Mariana's arm and practically dragging her out of the room.

"It was nice meeting you?" Mariana called out before Roman could rush her out into the hall, and she knew Olivia mumbled something in response, but it probably wasn't anything nice.

Roman dropped her off, and she knew her dad never made it home last night after the lights she left on for him were never turned off. Mariana poured a glass of orange juice and sat at the breakfast bar, seeing that her phone had died overnight. She set it on the counter before realizing they never talked about why she passed out, and she didn't have Roman's number after all this time.