Good Evening All! I am so happy with the wonderful reviews I received for the first chapter, seriously made my heart smile :) Before y'all jump into reading first just let me say the beginning is a flashback of sorts to the night of the party. I hope its not to confusing for anyone lol. I would have had this chapter out last night, but I was so stuck on the ending. I had a clear view on how I wanted it to go but I just could not get it to flow. But! Thanks to the wonderful, amazing and talented EnglishPoet18 the ending is perfect now. So if you love it as much as I do let her know, seriously I cant wait for y'all to read it she blew it out of the park for me :)

So without further ado, I give you chapter 2!

My damn birthday and I am the one that is miserable, Carol thought. Continuing her scan of the crowd, her eyes finally landed on Ed. Carol let out a soft growl. This was his doing and she wasn't going to just let him get away with it, not without a fight. He never listened to her, but tonight after everyone was gone she was going to give him a what for.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder Carol turned, taking in the very stunned face of Maggie Greene, her very nearest and dearest friend. It was clear that Maggie had just come from work, still dressed in the red Buy More polo. She even had her Hello! My name is Maggie tag on. It was then that Carol noticed the bottle of wine and the birthday cake she had asked Maggie to bring. In her excitement, Carol had indulged and ordered herself a fancy cake from the Buy More bakery. After all, you only turn twenty-nine once.

"I thought your party was tonight?" Maggie asked, her eyes still wide in shock. Looking back to Maggie, Carol finally let the tears she had been holding back flow freely. Quickly Maggie set the wine and cake to the table, dropping down closer to Carol as she wrapped her arms around her friend.

"I'm sorry hon." Shaking her head, Carol wiped her face with the back of her hands, giving Maggie a watery smile. "You should head home, Mags. Its late, and I am not much in the mood for company right now," Carol said.

Nodding, Maggie gave one last look around before turning her gaze back to Carol, "You sure? I don't mind." Carol hummed, her eyes hardening as she finally located Ed in the throngs of people. Standing, Carol brushed her hands against her shorts, giving Maggie a small smile, "Yeah, Im sure."

Stalking over to the patio table Ed was currently at, engaged in what appeared to be an arm wrestling match, her attention was momentarily shifted to the other man at the table. He was huge, all muscle. Carol was pretty sure he wasn't a friend of Ed's, at least not one she had met. She was pretty sure she had seen him around from time to time, mostly in the company of the maintenance man, in fact Carol was fairly certain they were related.

The table erupted in hoots and hollers and focusing back on the table, Carol watched Ed's face begin to turn red. He was straining to hold his own against the other man. His arm was beginning to shake with the strain. Moments later, Carol heard the thunk of flesh hitting the plastic table.

"Woohoo! looks like I win the pot," The large man said jumping up from the table, a wide grin plastered on his face. Ed sneered, shaking out his left hand. Popping his knuckles, he let out a soft chuckle, "Yer the first man to beat me in a long while, Dixon." The man nodded as he thumbed through the stack of bills he had collected from the table. "First time for everything," he said with a smirk.

Carol was furious, making eye contact with Ed she shook her head. Storming away from the table she headed back into the apartment. Taking in the mess her hands clenched and she felt more tears welling up. Taking a few deep breaths, Carol tried to force down the sob that was threatening to rip from her. Hearing someone coming up behind her, Carol spun around, her anger mounting as she looked Ed over, beer in hand. He looked as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"You have no idea how angry I am with you right now," Carol said. Ed snorted, "What the hell you so upset about?"

Carol sputtered. What the hell was she so upset about, really? "This was my birthday, and you've ruined it!" Carol shouted. Her head swiveled around to keep Ed in her sights as he pushed past her heading into the kitchen, laughing as he passed. "If you'd had your way this night woulda been boring as shit," Ed said, reaching into the fridge pulling out another beer and flicking the top into the sink.

Carol opened her mouth, ready to let lose all her frustration at Ed that she had let build up over the last few months. Before Carol could even get a word out Ed help up his hand, cutting off whatever Carol was about to say. "I ain't in the mood to listen to your bitching and moaning right now," Ed growled. "Just lost a shit ton of money and your yacking ain't gonna help." Livid, Carol stomped over to Ed, knocking the beer from his hand, the bottle shattering as it made impact with the kitchen counter. For several heartbeats, silence filled the room. Carol had never reacted in that manner before, but here she was acting just as childish as she was about to accuse Ed of being. Taking a step back Carol raised her eyes to Ed, ready to apologize. It happened so fast. It wasn't until the pain exploded on her left cheek and her head whipped to the right that she even registered Ed had hit her...hard.


Dipping the knife into the mustard and swirling, Carol slathered it on to the bread, last night and this morning's events replaying over and over in her head. After Ed had hit her, he had stormed off into the bedroom and she hadn't seen him for the rest of the night, opting instead to sleep on the couch. She had used the morning clean up as a way to distract herself from what had happened. If she was being honest with herself, she had no idea how to react to the hit. She was angry and shocked and she had never been afraid of Ed before, but now being stuck in the apartment with him was making her tense.

Finishing up the sandwich, she cut it and placed it on a plate with a handful of chips. Grabbing a soda from the fridge, Carol headed into the living room with Ed's lunch. Her cheek throbbed as she took him in sitting slouched on the couch, some sporting event on the TV, and his feet propped up on the coffee table. Carol thought about Ed's apology. He had blamed it on the booze and his anger over losing money. He swore it would never happen again, that it was a one-time thing. Then he had asked her to fix him something to eat. No, she thought, he didn't ask, he told me.

It was then that Carol realized that she had let Ed off the hook, that she hadn't even put up a fight. She had accepted the apology and moved on to do as he had told her.

Carol plopped the plate down onto the coffee table with a loud thunk. Ed's eyes drifted over to her, finally acknowledging that she had even entered the room. He narrowed his eyes at her obvious attitude and shfited to lean forward. "Problem?" He snapped. That did it. Carol snapped. Placing her hands onto her hips, she mustered up every last bit of courage and strength that she could. "Get out," She said. Ed's eyebrows lifted in surprise, "What?" "Do not make me repeat it Ed. We're done. This is my place and I want you out," Carol said firmly. Ed slowly stood and regarded her quietly, as if trying to figure out if she was serious or not. She kept her gaze steady and her expression firm. "Carol-" "Get out!" Carol screamed at the top of her lungs. Ed jumped a little at her sudden shout, but then he shook his head and began to move about, grabbing up his things and muttering to himself. Carol tensed as he brushed past her, but he didn't touch her like she expected. She held her body rigid as she listened to him move about in the other room, gathering his things no doubt. Ed paused at the door like he was going to say something, but instead he just opened the door and walked out, slamming it shut behind him.

Carol finally let her body relax and she sat down on the couch. It felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she felt pretty good about her decision overall. Satisfied with herself, she picked up the plate containing the sandwich that she had made for Ed and took a bite. Grabbing the remote, she turned the TV to a show that she liked and settled back onto the couch. It felt good to have her place back and the sandwich was just the icing on the cake.

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