Evelyn carefully closed the front door behind her. She took off her shoes and sneaked with both shoes in her right hand through the hallway. She looked into the living room but only the tv was on. The room was illuminated by the tv screen.

“Where the hell is he?” she whispered to herself.

She tiptoed into the living room and headed to the kitchen to check there. She stopped before she even touched the door handle. Before she even moved her hand forward. The moaning and pounding made her stand rooted to the ground.

“Who’s the slut now?” she mumbled and walked to the front door. Before she walked outside, she took a purple umbrella that stood leaning against the wall next to the door.

She wanted to slam the front door behind her but still closed it silently. She could slam it, Nick would probably be too busy to care about a slamming door. On the other side, you never knew what he would do. He could also be storming out of the kitchen and then he would scream at her. That was the last thing she wanted.

The rain decreased a little, but it was still raining too hard to walk without an umbrella. She unfolded the umbrella and held it above her head. She stood staring at nothing in particular for a few seconds.

She tried to think of someplace she could go to. Susie was no option, she would have Carlos on her hands. Of course, she had other friends in New York but she couldn’t go there at night. Her female friends were in the same business so they were either still at work or sleeping. Her male friends were either in jail or in such a deep trouble that she could barely hang out with them.

At that moment she realized how lonely she was. She hung her head down and tried to hold back a sob.

Don’t cry now, Eve, she thought. You have to dance it off of you. Everything. Like you did before.

She took a deep sigh, looked straight forward and started walking.

She had just enough money for a cab to Club New York, the entrance costs and one or two drinks. She knew she could get a guy to pay the rest of her drinks. Plus, she could save more money because it was Saturday night. And on Saturday night the ladies only had to pay 10 dollars to get in.

Being a woman has its advantages eventually.

After she dropped off her coat and umbrella at the wardrobe, she walked inside the room. The club had been open for a while, it was 2.30am. In half an hour it would close already. But that didn’t matter to Evelyn. She just had to dance.

When she went to the dance floor while dancing, Miami 2 Ibiza by Tinie Tempah and Swedish House Mafia thumped through the enormous speakers. Everyone danced even more. Girls started grinding against the crotches of men, men groped women’s asses and barkeepers started giving out more shots.

She stood on the dance floor for barely five minutes when a man came from behind her and rubbed his crotch against her ass. He placed his hands on her hips. She didn’t refuse, this is what she came for.

She closed her eyes and enjoyed the music that tingled her ears.

***

“Wake up.”

Why should she? She was having the most amazing dream.

Stubbornly, she kept her eyes shut. Go back to the dream.

She felt a hand shaking her shoulder carefully. A voice whispered close to her ear, “Wake u-huuuup!”

She screamed in her mind. Out of annoyance she waved her arm through the air and felt it connected with skin.

“Hell!” a raspy voice screamed. “The fuck! Why did you do that?!”

Her hand tingled from the slap. Slowly, she looked over her shoulder to see a man covering his cheek. “Damn woman, what was that for?” he said, half laughing, half annoyed.

It was no use to pretend to be sleeping. She stretched her arms and laid her hands under her head. “You deserved it. I don’t like to be waken up like that.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, thanks for letting me know this way.”

She just shrugged.

“At least you’re awake, finally. I almost thought you were in some sort of coma.”

She recognized the man now. It was the man from last night, the one who tried to commit suicide. Two familiar brown eyes looked back to her. Wrinkles formed at the corners of his eyes as he smiled. She didn’t know why he smiled but it was contagious, she smiled back.

“I thought you would never wake up. Maybe in a 100 years just like Sleeping Beauty,” he smirked.

That was pretty cheesy, she thought.

“Change it to a 1000 years. Sleeping Beauty woke up by a kiss from a prince. I don’t have one,” she said and yawned.

“You actually beat Sleeping Beauty. You woke up after,” he looked at his watch, “10 hours.”

“That’s not fair. I woke up because you.. you.. just woke me up! She woke up by a kiss. Sorry, but she still wins, even if she waited a 100 years for it.”

“Well, go to sleep again, then I’ll make sure you win.”

She looked surprised at him. “What?”

An awkward silence filled the air. They looked at eachother. Suddenly he burst into laughter.

“Why the hell are we talking about Sleeping Beauty?”

She crossed her arms. “You started it.”

He just laughed. “You had a rough night, girl,” he said while he walked out of the living room.

“Rough? What do you mean rou- ooow!” Evelyn put both hands on top of her head and fell back into the huge blue pillow. A massive headache pounded, like the music of the night before, through her head and it seemed like it made her brain shake. As if someone tried drilling through her skull.

“Make it stop,” she groaned. Short after, a glass of water and 2 aspirins were being shoved in front of her.

“Take this,” the man said and gave the glass to her. She quickly swallowed the two pills, hoping they would do their work soon.

When the glass was empty, she gave it back to the man. “What happened last night by the way?” she asked.

“I watched how you were grinding against some pervert. I recognized you and kept an eye on you because I didn’t trust that guy at all. You already had a lot of drinks when I saw you. You probably received most of the drinks. Then all of a sudden you sunk to the ground and I ran to you. I took you to my home after that and lied you down on the couch. Then I went to bed,” he explained.

“I barely remember anything. The only thing I remember is when I walked to the dance floor and started dancing. From there my memory is a blur.”

“They put drugs in your drinks. You’re lucky you didn’t get an overdose or else you would’ve been lying somewhere else,” he said grimly. “Anyway, you want something to drink? Juice or something?”

“No, thanks. The aspirins were all I needed,” she said.

Evelyn looked around when a silence fell between them. She let her eyes rest on a wedding picture that hung on the wall.

She saw him, dressed in a white suit. Next to him stood a woman. She was very pretty. She was dressed in a black wedding dress. Her hair was held up with white roses. Her smiling lips were decorated with bright red lipstick. Evelyn thought the clothes were very odd, she never saw a bride in a black dress. The dress didn’t even look like a wedding dress.

She rather looked like someone out of Moulin Rouge.

Evelyn looked at the next photo. A cute girl of about four years old smiled back at her. One of her braided brown pigtails was pressed against a dark brown teddy-bear which she held firmly against her.

The next photo was a family portrait. The man together with his pretty wife and his cute daughter. They looked so happy.

“And then he broke into my house and slaughtered my family.”

Evelyn sighed shakily and felt a lump in her throat. She started to understand why the man wanted to commit suicide. She didn’t know what it was like to be married, or to love someone unconditionally. Neither did she know what it was like to have a child. But she did know what it was like to lose a loved one.

“Aren’t they beautiful?”

She startled from her thoughts. She just nodded. She noticed she had been sitting straight up and had her arms wrapped around her knees.

He kept staring at the pictures for a while, she couldn’t see which one of the three. Evelyn looked at her feet and started to feel uncomfortable. She should leave, back to Nick. If he finds out that she’s not at work she’ll get in trouble.

Before she wanted to speak, he said, “My name’s AJ, by the way.”

“Evelyn,” she said.

Another silence fell, but it wasn’t awkward. She thought about the kiss. It definitely wasn’t just a kiss. She remembered how her fingertips tingled, her heart pounded in her chest. 

She wondered if he was thinking about last night and desired for that kiss too.

She blushed as if she was afraid he knew what she was thinking about. She bit her bottom lip as a giggle escaped her throat.

Shit, what’s wrong with me?

“Ehm.. Maybe I should go. Thanks for saving me and taking care of me and.. stuff,” she said and got up.

He grabbed her hand. She looked at him in surprise.

“Please stay, I could use the company,” he whispered with a pleading look in his eyes, then he let go of her.

Evelyn sat down. She really had to go home, take a shower, get dressed and go to work. Before Nick would find out she was way too late.

But she’d feel guilty if she would leave now.

She could stay some longer.

Just a little longer.