Unexpected Encounters [B.H.M.]

38

"Let me get this right," Brian said, still holding me close. "He changed the locks and kicked you out of the house that you paid for with nothing more than a suitcase?"

"Yes, basically," I confirmed. It sounded crazy, and it was crazy, but it happened to me that way. "So... there I was, with nothing but a suitcase in the evening of what had started out as a normal day, but it ended anything but normally..."

"What did you do? Where did you go? Did you get back in?" He seemed to really care and that made me so happy. In a sad way, somehow.

"I didn't get back in, and believe me, I really struggled in that situation." The memories were still very fresh, even after years. "I remember I just stood there for a few minutes, trying to comprehend what had happened. From one second to the next I had gone from being in a happy, promising relationship to being homeless and single. That's not something that's easy to process in any way."

"No, I can imagine it's not... I never thought these things actually happen. Did you call the police?"

I shook my head. "No, I didn't. What could they have done? I didn't have my mind organised that much, I just ... I went to a hotel for the night. I was just so... overwhelmed, you know? I must have been so confused, I was just wandering around for hours before I finally made it to a hotel and got a room for the night, but I didn't sleep much."

"Didn't you have a friend whose house you could have stayed at?" Brian asked, a reasonable question.

I shrugged. "I did, probably, I probably could have gone to a few places, but... I didn't want to. I was just so embarrassed and upset, you know? I just wanted to curl up in a bed and cry and try to work out what had happened and not deal with everyone's nosy questions."

"I'm so sorry, Frida," Brian said softly, before he kissed my temple very gently. "That sounds awful. I wish I had known you back then so I could have helped you."

He was such a sweetheart, somehow he managed to make me smile even in this situation. "You're so wonderful... but... that would only have helped with a small part of the problem."

"That wasn't all?" He asked astonished.

I shook my head. "Oh no, that was only the beginning. So... I was in the hotel but I only had enough money on me for a night, so I went to work the next morning, with my suitcases which was horrible enough as it is, but... as soon as I got there I got called into the headmaster's office where my ex was already waiting for me with his disgusting smug expression, tearing my life apart even more when he watched me getting fired for nothing."

"Oh you mentioned that he could do that, I'm so sorry... that's awful. How could he get away with all that?"

I shrugged, snuggling close to him again. "I don't know... but he did. So there I was, homeless, unemployed and completely broke."

"That sounds absolutely awful," Brian sympathised, making sure I felt comforted.

"It was. But... somehow, despite everything, I managed to go to my--" I took a deep breath. "To my best friend's house..." Brian seemed to sense what I was saying because he gently caressed my arm. "But it was early in the day and she had work so she wasn't home and because this is London I spent the day, until she came home, sitting on her front step in the rain."

"Oh god, poor you," he mumbled. "It all just came together, huh," he stated, pointing out the obvious.

"You can say that, yeah," I agreed quietly. And I hadn't even told him the worst yet. That was coming now and I could feel a wave of sadness rush through my body. I closed my eyes for a moment, reminding myself that it would be okay, because Brian was there. "Eventually she came back from work," I continued before he could ask a question that would make me cry. "She was of course shocked to see me there and I know she was hoping I was joking at first, but ... obviously I wasn't. So she did what any best friend would do, you know? She took me in, made me shower, made me tea, all that," I said, my voice getting quieter before I wiped my eyes.