Chapter 6
Danny parked the car in the yellow fire lane in front of Jenny's apartment. Sarah thought about saying something, and then decided not to. She could understand his desire to get this over with as fast as possible. She had gone through a few ugly break-ups herself. Sarah looked over the car at Danny as she closed her door. His face had settled into that blank look he used for their class poker games.
"Danny, are you sure that you want me to go up with you? Jenny is bound to come unhinged when she sees me with you." Sarah felt she should point that out to him.
"She is going to come unhinged anyway." Danny said grimly. "I don't have to be a wise Asian master to know that one."
"Ok, just thought I'd tell you that women get really cranky when they see the person they think their significant other is sleeping with. Especially if they feel like they were the injured party." Sarah said, her duty done.
"Jenny's feelings are no longer my concern. She's made that very clear lately." Danny said over his shoulder as he headed for the elevator..
Sarah followed him with ill grace. She knew that in all the history of bad ideas, this one had to be right up there with lighting a match to see where the gas leak was coming from. To add insult to injury, the elevator was out of service.
"Perfect." Danny said, and the sarcasm that oozed off that one word encompassed a thousand profanities.
"What floor does Jenny live on?" Sarah was almost afraid to ask.
"Jenny lives on the eleventh floor." Danny turned to the emergency stairwell.
Sarah followed him, cursing softly. She couldn't believe they were climbing stairs to have a fight with Danny's ex-girlfriend. She wasn't fooling herself; it was going to be ugly. Everything Danny had said, and everything she had seen led her to the conclusion that Jenny was a neurotic time bomb. For his sake, she hoped she was wrong, but she was not holding her breath.
The long climb up the stairwell began quietly. Sarah was still swearing under her breath with every step she climbed, and Danny was either lost in thought or keeping up a silent litany of profanity as well By the time they reached the ninth floor, Sarah had decided that enough was enough. "Danny, we are not in a race you know."
"Sorry Sarah, I just want this over with." Danny said, leaning on the railing.
"Well, let's do this without being out of breath." Sarah sat down on the step.
Danny looked at the remaining stairs and then looked at Sarah. It was obvious that she was not going to move until she was ready. "Ok, we'll catch our breath and then take it slow on the last two flights. Will that work for you?"
"I think you can live with that." Sarah grinned up at him. Now that they weren't trying to break speed records, she felt her mood improving enough to pick on Danny a little.
"Oh, I can live with that? You couldn't catch me to kill me if you tried. More aerobic exercise there, Pez," Danny chuckled.
Sarah mock-glared at him, "Yeah, whatever Danny," and she climbed to her feet.
True to his word, they took the remaining stairs at a more leisurely pace. They arrived at the eleventh floor breathing normally. Danny opened the door and led the way down the hall. Sarah thought she could figure out the apartment herself, it would be the one with the two trash bags in front of it. Danny stopped in front of the door and opened the first bag.
"You bitch." Danny said softly.
Sarah leaned over his shoulder so she could see into the bag. It was full of Danny's clothes, and the contents of the kitchen trash. It looked like eggshells, coffee grounds, among other unidentifiable chunks mixed in with dress shirts and at least one pair of slacks. Bitch indeed.
Danny reached for the other bag. Sarah was not sure he should open it, after seeing the first bag. She was not fast enough with her thought. Danny opened the sack. It was full of torn up letters and ripped photographs, some of them in broken frames. Bits of glass twinkled in the artificial hall lights. Sarah was as surprised at the amount of the contents as their condition. She didn't know Danny was into poetry, but there were the shredded remains. She could read partial passages, but they sounded good to her. Sarah wondered if she could talk him into writing something he would let her read.
The door opened and another sack flew out, narrowly missing Sarah. Melissa Etheridge leaked into the hall from the opening. "Watch it Bitch" Sarah growled.
"Bitch am I? At least I'm not a slut!" Jenny spat back. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail or Sarah might have reached over Danny and grabbed it.
"I am not a slut! I could see where you could be confused, since you haven't had anything to do with reality for years." Sarah replied, moving around Danny for a better angle. "Maybe you'd better go take your medication, psycho."
"So now I am psychotic, just because I won't stand by and be cheated on! I hope you enjoy him while it lasts. If he cheated on me, he'll cheat on you."
"I never cheated on you!" Danny entered the fray.
"Oh really? Am I supposed to believe that all those late night study sessions involved topics other that anatomy?" Jenny's voice dripped contempt, "No matter what Lincoln said, you can't fool some of the people all of the time."
"The only fool around here is you. I can NOT imagine what Danny saw in you." Sarah cut in.
"Well that is one thing we have in common, because I can't see any redeeming qualities in you either." Jenny looked Sarah up and down before adding, "Unless maybe you're double jointed?"
Sarah smiled, and it didn't reach her eyes. "Are you this stupid naturally or did you take a course?"
"How many times did I drive by his apartment and see your bike, or his car at yours? All night? I am smart enough to do that much math." Jenny hissed.
"You know that I had to study late, there are only so many hours in a day. Sometimes we fell asleep at each other's place, but that's it. Nothing else! I had to study if I wanted to graduate. We had discussed how much of my time it was going to eat up. I told you how important becoming a police officer was to me, that I would be very busy until after academy let out. You said you were ok with that." Danny said as he moved to stay between the women.
"I was ok with that. What I wasn't ok with was the way everything became 'Pez said this or Pez did that.' You lit up every time you were leaving me to go to her." Jenny was right up in Danny's face now.
"Sarah is my best friend, I enjoy spending time with her. We have a lot in common, and we are going to school together. Of course I was going to talk about Sarah. That doesn't mean that I am having sex with her." Danny didn't back up an inch.
"Come on Danny, I saw you two at the bar last night! That green-eyed whore had her hands all over your" Jenny was cut off mid-insult as Sarah darted past Danny and landed the mother of all bitch slaps on her. The crack echoed down the hall.
"Shut up! I have never heard such a pile of shit in all my life! Danny spent the entire drive over here talking about how he didn't want to break up with you, how you were really a wonderful person. I hate to think that he's this bad a judge of character, but he must be. I have had enough. You don't have to believe either of us, but the next time you insult me I will personally throw you down those freaking stairs." Sarah growled.