"For God's sake Dee, how many fucking times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Dave yelled running up the stairs after his wife. "Baby I love you! I never meant this to happen!" Danielle ran into their room, slamming the door as she went. She put all her strength into that door slam – but the bastard had stuck his foot in the door. It bounced back to her; she caught it just before it hit her and pushed all her weight onto it fighting against Dave on the other side. Finally, it began to close. There was still a gap where Dave was pushing, but she leaned her back against the door, and slowly let herself slide down.
Tears streamed down her face, those silent tears that hurt so much more, those tears that she had learned to keep silent. She wanted to scream, she wanted throw things, worst of all she wanted to hurt herself. It was all happening again – she couldn't cope, she needed to get out, not just away from him, but get away from her feelings.
Dave tried to push into the door, jolting her forward – her face hitting her knee. That did it, something broke inside of her. She began to scream,
"Just fucking leave me alone! Get out of here! I don't want to see you! I hate you right now, just get out!" With every word more tears streamed down her face, her voice cracked, her throat hurt, she felt ill. She continued to cry, not holding anything back.
"Baby I can't leave you, I'm worried about you" Danielle's attention turned to the window to her left. It was an arch shaped window that stretched from the floor to just below the ceiling, with one of those window sills you can sit on. It led, to what is usually a beautiful view of the fields surrounding the house, and in the distance the forest and the rolling hills even further away.
It was raining. The sky was grey, the air was grey and the usually lush green fields that lasted for miles looked dull and washed out. The hills were barely visible through the never ending shower that seemed to surround the building.
She felt the resistance on the door from Dave's body let up, and the door completely closed. Danielle quickly ran to the dresser to grab the keys and swiftly locked door. Dave sighed and buried his head into his hands once he heard the 'click' of the door locking.
"Dee I'm not leaving tonight. I will sleep in this hallway all night if I have to. I don't want to be away from you"
Danielle moved towards the window sill and sat down on a cushion that laid there. Her forehead fell against the window, her tears mirroring the rain outside. The crying had begun to physically hurt, literally gasping for her breath.
What was she going to do? Where was she going to go? Why did he do this? How could she cope? She stood up and looked around the room. She saw the mirror that stood on top of her antique dresser. She sat down on the stool and stared into the mirror, staring straight inside of herself.
Suddenly she began frantically searching though the drawers, opening the top drawer, throwing out all of its contents onto the floor. When she couldn't find what she was looking for she moved on to the next one.
Outside, Dave sat up; he could hear movement and general noise coming from inside the room.
"Dee honey, what are you doing?" She didn't answer, he just heard more drawers slamming and new one's opening.
Realisation suddenly flooded Dave, he stood up and began slamming his fist on the door.
"Baby you don't need to do this! I'm so sorry!" He heard no reply. He threw his weight onto the door, it didn't budge at all.
Danielle heard Dave trying to break through the door. This just added terror to her actions. She had looked through all of the drawers in the room. She looked at the door.
"You fucking asshole!" She screamed, running over to the door, tears overwhelming her again. "You took all of the vodka!"
"Yes! I did, honey I can't stand you doing this to yourself, your so much better than this. I wanted to protect you!"
She started to panic. She didn't know what to do, she needed to get out of here now. She stared to wrestle with the window, willing it to open.
"Piece of fucking shit" She mumbled to her self.
On the other side of the door Dave was getting restless, he could hear movements in the room, he needed to get in there before the love of his life did something she would later regret.
Dave took a run-up to the door, and finally it flew open, a piece of wood flew from the door frame flew across the room and landed on the floor.
The window finally flew open. Realisation overcoming Dave he grabbed her arm before she could go anywhere.
"Let go of me!" Dave pulled her away from the window and pushed her onto the couch in the other corner of the room. Danielle landed with a bounce. Dave quickly closed the window and turned to face her.
"Dee can we just talk?" he asked pacing back and forth in front of the couch where she now sat up, staring into the distance. "Danielle?"
"What do you want to talk about?" Dave sighed sitting down on the bed. He rubbed his eyes before continuing.
"Gee, I don't know, how about this argument?" Danielle looked up at him for a moment, a look of disgust that almost made Dave shudder.
"This is not an argument Dave," She told him, her voice seething. "This is the start of a divorce." Dave shot a look at Danielle, who seemed to be just as much in shock at those words as he was.
"Dee, you seriously can't mean that" He told her kneeling down in front of the couch.
"I don't know what I mean anymore Dave, I can't think straight." She told him walking away and sitting back down on the window sill.
"We can get over this, other couples have, baby I can't live without you, you can't leave me"
"We are not 'other couples' Dave, I can't just get over this. You slept with someone else! A blonde bitchy fucking slut at that!" Fresh tears began to form, "Listen, I can't stay here tonight; I'm going to stay at Lucy's apartment." She said starting to get some clothes together. Dave sighed before speaking.
"Are you still going to come travelling with us?" He asked watching her pack.
"I don't know, I'll think about it." Dave left the room for a brief moment while Danielle threw some more clothes into the bag. Dave walked back into the room holding an envelope.
"Here" He said dropping it on top of the bag she was packing. Danielle slowly opened it. "It's plane tickets. If you want to come, be at the airport by midday." Danielle put the tickets back into the envelope and stuffed it into one of the bag's pockets. She stood up, pulling the strap of the bag up with her, onto her shoulder. She walked past Dave, who was stood helplessly watching her leave. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes" She simply said walking into the large dining room, finding her purse on the table. She checked it quickly making sure that she had everything she needed.
"So this is it then, you're just going?" He asked her as she made her way to the front door, removing her mobile phone and car keys from her purse as she went. Dave followed her closely.
"It certainly seems that way" She replied, hoping the tears wouldn't fall. Danielle opened her car door, threw her bag on the passenger seat and placed her purse on the dash board. She climbed into the driver's seat, and put the keys into the ignition. Dave held the door open. The rain was still falling, soaking Dave.
"I love you" He told her.
"OK," She said, pulling on the door. Defeated he let it shut, and watched her drive away.
'That's it,' he sighed, 'She's gone'. He stood, fixed to the same spot for a few moments. He sighed again, running his hand through his short hair, realising for the first time that he was getting wet. He numbly began to walk back into the house.
The only thought in his mind was her. The pain in her eyes, the tears, the anger… and now the one word ringing in his head – divorce. She wouldn't leave him, she couldn't. Dave looked around the room; the house seemed obscenely large now that she had gone. Dave walked into the kitchen, and grabbed a fresh beer out of the fridge; he opened it, throwing the cap across the kitchen – it finally landed on the worktop across from him.
He knew where Danielle was going, and it definitely wasn't to her best friend Lucy's apartment.
Danielle drove as fast as she could, she didn't know where she was going, or how long for, but she was going to get there fast. The windscreen wipers were going at full speed, but still the water was coming down so fast it was hard to see the car in front. Danielle began to slow down. In the distance she could see a red light; she slowed down further and finally came to a stop.
She looked around and tried to get her bearings, everything looked familiar for some reason, but she couldn't place her finger on it. She saw a bar a bit further down the road, she knew that she shouldn't go in, but still she felt she had too. When the light had turned back to green she moved off and pulled into the bar's car park.
She shut off the engine, and leaned her head against the head rest – deciding whether or not to go in. She opened her door and climbed out, running as fast as she could to the entrance, trying to keep as dry as possible.
As soon as she entered the bar she knew that she had been there sometime before, she didn't remember much of it, but she had definitely been here, she could sense it.
It was a nice place, well it wasn't like the places she was currently getting used to going to, being married to a WWE superstar had its perks. Even if he was one day destined to cheat on you with some cheap backstabbing hoe.
However, compared to some of the low-life hovel bars that she had spent many nights in this was a perfectly good place. She walked over to the bar, and ordered herself a drink.
"I think I'll have a double vodka and coke please" The barman nodded and walked off. She looked around, the bar had a few people dotted around, she assumed they were locals, just out for a quiet drink. She paid for her drink and then found a small table in the corner. She quietly set her purse on the table, and sat down and nursed her drink thinking over everything that was happening to her.
After about her 7th or 8th drink her mobile phone began to ring.
"Hello?" She answered. There was a slight pause before anyone spoke.
"It's Lucy." She smiled slightly, it was her best friend Lucy. She had been there for Danielle no matter what for the last 15 years. She could count on Lucy for anything, they had so secrets, they never lied to each other.
"Hi babes, what's going on?" She replied, the alcohol had the temporary effect of cheering her up.
Lucy paused again before replying.
"Dave rang me; he said you were on your way over here over an hour ago."
"I just stopped off for a moment." Lucy sighed,
"Danielle, which bar are you in?" She tried to remember the name from when she drove in.
"The Corrie Tap" She said, not quite sure why she remembered.
"That's just down the road from me, I'll walk down and pick you up, and I'll drive you back in your car, as I expect you're in no fit state to drive." Danielle sighed.
"I don't need a new mother Lucy"
"You should not be drinking Dani, you know that, so your going to come back to mine so we can sort you out."
"Whatever" Danielle said hanging up her cell phone. She downed the rest of her drink, picked up her bag and quickly began walking out of the bar. She fumbled with her car keys. She wanted to get out of here before Lucy arrived – the last thing she needed tonight was a lecture about her drinking.
No matter how hard she tried she couldn't seem to get her keys to go in the door. When she next looked up she saw Lucy running towards her.
"Danielle Bautista get your ass away from that car now!" Defeated Danielle held up her hands and moved away. "Oh honey, what's happened to you?" Lucy asked, wrapping her arms around Danielle's shoulders. Danielle didn't do or say anything, she moved further into her friend's arms and began to cry again. Lucy sighed and stroked her friend's hair to at least try and comfort her.
"Right Dani," Lucy told her, helping her standing on her own two feet. "Give me your car keys" Danielle dropped the keys into her hands. Lucy unlocked the car, moved her bag from the front seat, then struggled to get Danielle sat down and belted up. She moved around to the driver's seat and began to drive.
"You know," Danielle said, trying to concentrate on her words. "I thought this area looked familiar. Now I know why!" She said like it had just dawned on her.
"Yes Dani" Lucy said keeping focused on the road. "I've lived here for 2 months now" Lucy wasn't impressed with Danielle's current state. Danielle over dramatically sighed and banged her head on the window. Lucy sighed.
"I haven't seen you this bad in years Dani" Lucy pointed out, "What's happened?" Danielle didn't say anything; she was just concentrating on not being sick. "Dave's really worried about you" Danielle laughed. "What's so funny?"
"He slept with someone else" Lucy pulled into her parking space.
"He did what?!" Lucy asked shocked and surprised, beginning to get out of the car, grabbing Danielle's stuff as she did.
"Yep, with Stacy, that blonde bitch he works with" Danielle spat out 'her' name.
"Well how do you know?" Lucy asked helping Danielle walk to the elevator, the doors opened and Danielle stumbled in. Lucy pressed the correct floor and the girls waited.
"He told me tonight, I've never been so disgusted with him."
"And this is why you're drinking again"
"I'm so sorry, I swear it's only been tonight" Danielle said almost crying again. The elevator doors opened and once again Lucy struggled carrying all of Danielle's stuff – and Danielle herself.
"Don't be sorry honey, we just worry about you." Lucy somehow managed to walk down the hall to her apartment. She opened the door and allowed Danielle to stumble in. "Your going to have to sleep on the couch, is that ok?" Danielle nodded incoherently. Lucy slowly allowed her to drop on to the sofa. "Your bag is just down here ok?" Danielle nodded, already half asleep. "I'll just go and get you a blanket"
Meanwhile, Dave had lost count of how many beers he had drank that night. He leaned back further on the black leather sofa he was sat on, in the background he could hear the television, telling him he should buy some exercise bike, or was it an all in one food blender? He wasn't listening. His mind was still fixed on one thing – Danielle. She could be anywhere, he hoped Lucy had found her. He knew that phoning Lucy would piss Danielle off, but he didn't care. As long as she was safe.
Danielle was a recovering alcoholic. She hadn't had a drink for over a year now, and Dave was so proud of her. He would never forgive himself if he had driven her back there, back to her addiction.
He looked down at his watch, it was 11pm. Dave sighed, and turned over the television channel. He tried to take another sip of his beer, but found it was empty.
"Damn" he muttered, standing up and walking back to the kitchen. Suddenly he heard the phone ring, he ran to where the cordless phone sat on the coffee table. "Dee?" He asked hopefully.
"It's Stacy" With those two words Dave fell back into his coma state. "How are you doing?"
"Stacy I'm not in the mood" He told her staring at the TV.
"Well I am!" She said laughing. That laugh made Dave shudder.
"Stacy leave me the hell alone!" He shouted hanging up the phone. As soon as he had hung up the phone it began to ring again. Dave rolled his eyes. 'This is fucking ridiculous' He thought. "What?" He shouted picking up the phone.
"Dave, it's Lucy" He had never felt such relief at the sound of a person's voice before.
"Lucy, I'm so glad you phoned, you found her then?"
"Yes, she's at mine sleeping now."
"That's great news" He smiled, opening another beer. Lucy paused for a second before continuing.
"You never told me why she was so upset with you" Dave didn't say anything, he knew that Danielle would of told her everything. "How could you?"
"Lucy, it's not how it sounds." He responded weakly.
"You slept with someone else."
"Yes, but I was drunk! I didn't even know I did it until a week later when I was told!"
"Your not supposed to be drunk, your not supposed to be sleeping with other people, your supposed to be supporting your wife!"
"OK Lucy, thanks for the lecture." He said wanting to wrap the conversation up. "But I've got to go"
"Whatever Dave, I hope you can live with yourself." She hung up, looking over at her sleeping friend. She sighed sadly and covered her with a blanket.