43: Strangers

Erin

     I wake up to Bryce kissing me again, and I smile.

     "I like waking up like that," I say quietly and worry about morning breath.

     "As long as I'm the one that does it, I like that you like it," he mumbles with a smile before kissing me deeply. I guess there's no point in worrying about morning breath anymore.

     "I made pancakes," he says and lightly kisses me once more. "Something I actually know how to really cook."

     "What time is it?" I ask while stretching.

     "Nine, lazy butt," he answers and playfully swats my behind.

     I feel my face register my shock as I say, "I guess I was tired."

     "And I'm hungry. I even made coffee. Get up before I eat everything in sight." Suddenly his eyes twinkle with a private joke.

     I decide to test him. I stretch again, scratch my head a little, roll over and say, "I'm too tired. I'll reheat everything later." Then I pull the sheet up over my head.

     "Oh no you don't! I slaved over a hot stove for you, so you're getting up," he says sternly, pulls the sheet off me, leans over a little, and before I know it, he's picked me up and thrown me over his shoulder.

     "Bryce! Bryce, put me down! I have to pee! Put me down!"

     He starts laughing and puts me carefully on my feet. "Well?" he asks, gesturing to the bathroom. I flounce in with every intention of crawling back into bed when I'm done. I'm happy he fixed breakfast, but he should have asked before he went through the trouble.

     I exit the bathroom and turn towards the bed only to find him smiling at me as he sits on it. Damn. He knew I'd do that.

     "Dining room is that way." He points to the door.

     "I'm tired," I whine and look longingly at the bed as it calls to me.

     He stands up, wraps his arms around me, and turns me around as he says, "Nothing a little coffee can't cure." I grab a shirt on my way out of the bedroom.

     The pancakes taste delicious.

     We go shopping to get me a new cell phone, Bryce mumbling teasingly about my talent for destroying electronic equipment. I get mad and playfully step on his toes.

      When we get back to his place, not five minutes go by when Jesse knocks on the front door. I'm a little surprised to see that Marie is with him.

      "Simon's really gone and fucked up this time!" Jesse yells to Bryce. Then, he turns to Marie and asks her to tell him why. She stands there with her arms wrapped around her torso and looking like she wants to disappear.

      "What happened, Marie?" Bryce asks quietly, I guess hoping that a calmer approach than Jesse's might work better.

      "Simon just made a pass at me is all."

      Bryce folds his arms and asks, "And what did you do?"

      "I slapped him across the face," she answers with a touch of anger in her voice.

      Bryce runs a hand across his chin thoughtfully, looking like he's trying to figure out what to say, and his cell phone rings in his pocket. His eyebrows raise when he says, "Speak of the devil." He answers it and listens for a while before telling him to calm down, that he'll take care of it.

       I start to get mad even though I'm merely a quiet observer. Take 'care' of it?! If he doesn't take Marie seriously.... Ooooo.

      Bryce scratches the side of his ear with a wince.

      "What did the fucker say?" Jesse growls.

      Bryce gives him a 'shut up' look and asks Marie to tell him everything, starting at the beginning.

      "He started... Oh, I can't do this! It's nothing I can't handle. I'm sorry for leaving the bar. I'll get back there now if someone would drive me." She looks around at us expectantly.

     Bryce looks stern now as he says, "Marie, I've heard his story. Now I want to hear yours. He started what exactly?"

      Marie puts her hand over her face and speaks in a tortured voice, "He said he hoped we could really grow to enjoy each others company, and then, while we worked on serving customers, he would brush against me in suggestive ways. Then, after I'd put something on the bottom shelf and stood up, he wrapped his arm around my waist and said that maybe we could take advantage of this free time. I told him to stop it, and when he didn't, after wrapping his other arm around me, I slapped him across the face." She looks like she wants to crawl into a hole in the ground and hide.

       "Well, Simon left out the brushing up against you part, but that matches his story. He claims he didn't know he was making you that uncomfortable."

      I glare at Bryce.

      "I know. I'm sorry. I overreacted," Marie says quickly and tries to walk down the hallway.

      Jesse wilts for a second and takes Marie's arm for only a moment. He lets go immediately from the look she gives him, and then he says, "Marie, I was there. You were shaking."

      "I overreacted," she says, maintaining her story.

      Jesse turns to Bryce now. "You heard her. She told him to stop, and he didn't."

      "He said he didn't think she meant it," Bryce claims.

      "That doesn't matter! He should know he can't do crap like that, especially if she told him no."

      "Jesse, you don't have to teach me this."

      "Apparently, I do because you still haven't either gotten into your car to drive over there or picked up your phone to fire his ass."

       "I'm not going to up and fire him without just cause," Bryce argues back.

       "What more 'just cause' do you need? Do you want a sexual harassment suit?" Jesse gets more pissed by the second.

       "Marie says she overreacted."

       "That. Doesn't. Matter!" Jesse yells to the ceiling.

       Who is this jackass that's taken over my boyfriend? I think as the two of them continue to argue. Bryce accuses Jesse of letting any feelings for Marie get in the way of his judgement, saying he's not thinking rationally. He keeps arguing that if Marie realizes she overreacted, then that settles it. 

       I notice Marie starts backing into the hallway. 

       Jesse yells at Bryce saying that whether or not she says she overreacted, Simon still crossed lines. Bryce brings up the events of last Friday night. Now, Jesse really gets pissed off. I've never seen either man act like this. They're up in each others faces. 

      Marie scoots farther back into the hallway and then turns to make an escape. I dart out after her, leaving the two strangers arguing in the kitchen.

      I uncharacteristically call out to her once we're both outside. "Hey, Marie, wait up."

      She turns around and looks at me worriedly. "I'm sorry," she says. "I just can't stand fighting."

      Someone that knows SimFu hates fighting?

      I work at not letting my thought show on my face as I say instead, "I don't like them fighting either. It's so unlike them. Well, as I've come to understand them. At least that harshly." What do I know anyway?
      We both stand here quietly, neither of us minding the quiet, as we stare at the waves where they break before reaching the sandbar.

      "What Simon did was wrong," I turn to her and say bravely.
      Marie turns to look at me and say, "Maybe, but I still overreacted. He thought I wanted that."
      "But he didn't stop when you asked him to."
      "It was a mistake," she says with her teeth clenched.
      "Marie!" we hear Jesse call out from Bryce's front porch. It doesn't take him long to spot us, and he comes running over. "Please help me convince Bryce that Simon needs to be fired. He won't listen to reason, and he won't do anything unless you complain."
      Marie turns to look at Jesse. I'm guessing she's trying to figure out a way to tell Jesse to calm down.
      Bryce's stern voice carries over to us. "Marie, I'll take you back to the bar." Then, he turns to Jesse to ask, "Shouldn't you be at work?"
      Marie nods and starts walking in Bryce's direction. Jesse reaches out to stop her, but she does some twisting, circular motion with her arm that causes him to breathe in sharply in pain. He lets go immediately. She gets in Bryce's car, and the two of them leave.

       Jesse stops scowling for a minute before he asks me, "Didn't he want you to not be by yourself?"
       My eyes widen as I suddenly wonder where Sean is.
       "I can stick around if you want me to until he gets back," he offers, looking like he's thinking about something else.

       I suddenly get a vindictive idea. "No. You need to get back to work after all. Take me with you." I turn on my heel and march off to... Mary? Martha? ...his car. He laughs quietly behind me, obviously catching on to what I'm doing. Bryce doesn't fear for Marie, and he pushes her back in the company of that creep. Then he leaves me in the process when who knows where Sean is. Let him panic.