“I cannot believe you are acting like this!” She stomped her foot like a two year old during a tantrum. Her hands were in fists and her perfectly placed hair bounced in a fury. But he couldn’t stop looking at her chest.
“I cannot believe you are acting like this,” he calmly stated. “Like a baby.”
Her eyes widened and she wound her coat closer to her frame. She was shivering, the night not caring that their argument was obviously important, not enough for it to raise the temp, that is. Stupid weather.
“Me? ME? Like a baby?” She briskly walked backwards and leaned on a tree. During this season, it looked dead—dried up, bare to the bone, her coat scraping on the trunk.
“No, no, no,” he said. “She wouldn’t do that. She’d never lean against a trunk and have her precious coat be dirty. She was like that. Come.” He extended his arm out and she took it.
She was trying to suppress a sigh. They’d been over this a million times, apparently it was all wrong. All wrong, all wrong. He’d get this little wrinkle in between his eyebrows and she knew that he was dissatisfied with it and in a minute or two she’d have to do it all over again.
“Didn’t we establish that your voice has to be louder when you said, ‘Me? ME?’”He gave her a look and stared as she licked her lips. They were pretty chapped but they were nice lips.
He took out his chap-stick and offered it to her. She stared at his hand, covered in gloves. She slowly shook her head and said, “No thanks.” Right, right, he remembered, she wasn’t Trina, he’d forgotten.
When she was walking towards him, the sun right behind her head, she was all Trina. The shape of her face, her luminous hair, her stature, even the way she walked but as soon as he took notice of the little things he saw she wasn’t. He didn’t really know what to make of this…he was attempting to figure out some stuff…it was all confusing. He didn’t know if it was because of what was occurring or the before happenings.
She did it again and again and again, until she got the notch of it and became Trina.
Who this Trina was?
He said it was an ex, said he wanted to figure out what went, ‘sour at the end.’ She didn’t question anymore, she was just glad that she was getting paid for it, cash up front. In a big city like this, it was hard to get by, so she’d take what she could get, even if it meant keeping company to a lonely guy.
“I…I think I understand why now,” he said as he sat on the metal bench. He patted the empty space and she obliged, still as Trina.
“Go on.” She took his hands in hers, cozying up to him. There was silent for a few, just staring at the ducks that broke into the water. The quaking could be heard in the distance, but what she heard was his breathing right next to her ear.
He inhaled and said, “You were angry. You were always mad about one thing and another. The start of the relationship was great but then…it slowly descended. You wanted to move in together, I said no. Then I had to meet your parents—well you know how wrong that went.”
She said nothing, only listened as she felt his arm snake around her shoulders, his hand touching her collar bone. She tried to focus on his words instead of his finger tapping on it. “Kept pushing me to find a better job. How do you push a guy to get a better job? I mean, it’s not like we’re married or anything. You aren’t me working where I am. I like my job.”
He took in the back of her head and he rested his chin on it. Her hair smelled delicious. Everything about Trina was delicious. “And then I saw you during your, ‘girls night.’ But you weren’t with any girls.”
Oh? Trina, Trina, what were you up too, she asked herself.
“You were with a stupid rat-faced asshole.”
She began to say something but he stopped her, his fingers adding pressure to her neck. “I fucking hated you in that moment. You had the audacity to say that I was embarrassing you. I was embarrassing you when I went in there and was furiously shouting away. I. Embarrassing. You.”
She took a hold of his hand and tried to gently get it off. “B-But I’m not Trina. I’m not.”
“Right,” he said as his hold loosened. “You’re not. You can’t be.” He abruptly stood and dragged her up. “It’s not like you rose from the grave. I’m made sure that no one will find you Trina.”
“What?” She asked, goosebumps prickling her skin.
“Yeah. Bashed your head in and then dragged you into the water, where the ducks keep circling.” He pointed to that area. “So yeah, this is definitely a dream. Has to be.”
Holy shit, she thought. And with that she shook his hands away and ran. She didn’t care if he was shouting, “What the hell Trina?! This is my dream! I have the say when you can go!”
“This can’t be happening,” she muttered. Her knees hurt and she had lost a shoe but she didn’t stop, not until she was safe inside the police station. No more acting jobs for her.
