Chapter 72 – The morning after the night before
Vince woke to Mia's angry ranting beside the bed around 2 the following afternoon. He squinted up at Mia and sighed. It was going to be a hellish day. He'd never planned on getting 'caught' as it were, sleeping with Torrie.
"Vince I can't believe you!" Mia yelled at him for the second time.
"Hush before you wake her up." Vince said and slid carefully out of the bed, untangling black hair from around his arms and neck as he went. He wondered how Dom put up with it as he pulled about 4 feet of hair out from around his throat. He thought, with considerable irony that Torrie's hair was like Medusa's snakes.
"She should wake up and be damn sorry for what she did!" Mia shouted, clearly very irate with her two friends, though it seemed with Torrie more so then Vince.
"Mia, she had some sort of mental breakdown last night ok? I couldn't leave her alone. She flipped out. Can we let her sleep while she will so we don't have to deal with her till we have to?" Vince sighed.
Things were very messed up and he didn't know how to make them right. He had, in fact, just spent the night with a girl who had a boyfriend who happened to be his oldest friend. But nothing had happened and Vince sort of thought that ultimately Dom would be happy that he'd kept Torrie safe. Mia, on the other hand did not seem to be happy about it at all.
Since Vince had seemed so sincere when he'd said that he didn't want to deal with Torrie again till he had to Mia calmed slightly and stopped screaming.
"What do you mean she had a breakdown?" Mia asked, not able to let things totally go till she had more details.
Vince picked up his shirt from the floor and then started to move Mia out of the room as he put it on. He didn't want to be seen by anyone else leaving Dom's room half dressed. He hated to feel guilty for things he didn't even do, he thought with a shake of his head.
"I mean things were ok till we got home, but she did do just what I was scared she would, if I hadn't been there to take her home she would have gone home with some other guy. She might have thought twice about it once she got somewhere with the other guy but by then it likely would have been too late. But she was too drunk to care about her and Dom fighting at least. Then when I got her home she flipped out." By this time Vince and Mia were walking down the stairs. "I'm surprised you didn't hear her screaming at me."
"Why was she screaming at you?" Mia looked puzzled.
"She told me she hated me for making her come home when she hadn't wanted to."
"Really?" Mia didn't seem to believe Vince at all. "She told you she hated you?"
"Yeah, she did. She might have picked up on the fact I was mad at her last night."
"Mad at her about what?" Mia inquired, wanting to understand what had transpired the day before so she could better deal with the aftermath.
"I think she was taking advantage of our friendship." Vince sighed. He wasn't sure how to go on, how much to tell Mia.
"How so?" Mia asked, eyes narrowed.
Vince knew he shouldn't have hoped Mia would let it drop with what he'd told her. He'd known that she was going to want all the details. He shouldn't have brought it up. He and Torrie could have worked it out on their own, but now Mia was going to be involved. He knew he'd have to tell her now.
"I think she did consider trying to get with me because she knew it would piss both Dom and Chris off. I mean, she didn't think about it when she was sober, not till she was drunk, but still. I though she and I were close enough that she wouldn't want to hurt ME like that. I mean sure, it would have accomplished what she wanted but it would have hurt me too." Vince growled.
"So you're mad at her too?" Mia asked, and it seemed like she was happy about it.
"I guess I am, but why does that please you?"
"I just think that no matter what went down Torrie went too far yesterday and it's the first time ever that when she pulls this shit you don't take her side and try to make everyone else feel bad for her, or at the very least stick up for her, even though she deserves what she's getting." Mia admitted.
"I guess that means everyone's pissed at her then does it?" Vince asked with a grimace.
"Maybe not Jesse." Mia said with a smile. Jesse was never mad at anyone. "I bet Let'll take Torrie's side." Mia frowned.
"Well, there's not a lot anyone can do about that. Let knows first hand how it feels to catch Dom cheating. Even if he really didn't this time Torrie didn't know that till she got home. So she really did think she'd caught him fooling around on her. And Let would've handled what Chris said with an even more violent fight so in a way we can be glad it was Torrie that this fight happened with." Vince ran a hand through his already very disorderly hair.
"I guess." Mia didn't seem to think they had to be that glad about it at all.
"We still have to decide how we're going to go forward from here." Vince stated then looked at the floor.
"How so?" Mia questioned.
"Well, Torrie lives here. It seems that she and Dom are still together, though if he finds out what she pulled last night, that could change. Dom's not going to like the fight that Torrie and Chris had and you know he's gonna take Torrie's side. It's two weeks till Dom comes home anyway. For those two weeks it's gonna be Torrie and Let against everyone else. But Letty's my girl too and I don't want to fight with her, but I know she's gonna be pissed at me for being pissed at Torrie and so Letty's gonna be all angry with Chris too. It's such a mess."
"Yep, it is. But it's a mess that's just going to have to work itself out." Mia said and started to cook lunch. "You have an unpleasant conversation a head of you yourself." Mia told Vince with a pitying look.
"What'dya mean?" Vince asked with a genuine look of confusion.
Mia went to answer but then the obvious meaning for what Mia had said donned on him.
"Aw shit." Vince looked almost scared. "Mia, could you..."
Mia cut him off.
"No, I will not try to explain things for you. You need to do it yourself." Mia looked slightly pissed at him for even suggesting that he not explain to Chris what had happened on his own.
"But Mia, it's just gonna make things worse. You know I'm no good at this sorta stuff." Vince whined.
"Too bad." Mia turned back to the vegetables she was cutting up and told Vince with her posture she considered the matter closed. Vince sighed and walked to the living room to think for a few minutes about what he was going to do about things.
*~*
Torrie came to consciousness with a groan. Her head was pounding, her limbs didn't want to work the way her brain was telling them too, her mouth tasted really bad and she had no idea how she'd gotten home.
She remembered going out, remembered her fight with Chris, remembered almost running Vince down with her car and her wild flight on the way to her friends. Remembered the first part of her evening of dancing with random, though very cute guys at the club Lex had picked out. Remembered how as the guys hands had gotten more and more familiar with her body, hers had returned the favour on theirs. That was where things got hazy. She honestly didn't remember the rest of the evening. She didn't remember leaving the club, how Lex got home or how she did. She didn't remember how she got into bed, how she got into Dom's undershirt. She didn't understand why she was lying on Dom's pillow and why hers smelled like Vince's cologne.
But thinking of Vince made her remember that at one point she'd had a very stupid plan to try and get with Vince to exact revenge on both Dom and Chris, sort of killing two birds with one stone. Surely if she'd done so she'd remember it.
She giggled even though she knew it wasn't really funny when she thought that maybe Vince wasn't very memorable in bed. Giggling hurt her head but she told herself she deserved that for thinking thoughts like she had about Vince.
As she lay in her bed trying not to need to throw up again she slowly remembered her fight with Vince after they'd gotten home. Remembered telling him how she didn't want to care, how she hated him for taking her home when she hadn't wanted to.
She remembered how patiently Vince had helped her and tried to comfort her. She'd been totally ungrateful and he'd still stayed with her. Played Dom's roll while she was ill, helping her with her hair and helping her wash her mouth out when she was done. Helping her back to bed and holding her while she cried after each time when she was awake enough to think of the mess her life was in.
She'd done some pretty stupid stuff. She'd be willing to bet that Mia was mad at her for what she'd said to Chris in the heat of the moment. Mia mad at her was almost more then she could stand. Mia didn't get mad easily. Torrie thought about the fact that Vince and Mia, and likely Brian and Leon, were mad at her.
She suddenly felt a panicked need to flee the house for awhile. She didn't want to face up to what she'd done and she was going to do the only thing she thought she could, run. Run as fast as she could. With that thought she got out of bed. She started for her dresser but after she'd only taken a few steps she heard heavy treads on the stairs.
Worried that it was Vince or Leon coming to make sure she was still alive, and to yell at her if she was she took a dive back into bed. She didn't bother with the blankets and made sure her butt, which was only covered by her brief thong panties was hanging out.
She figured that would make whoever uncomfortable and they'd leave and let her wake up on her own. She did her best to make sure her breathing was deep and even, like it would be if she were still asleep and she hugged Dom's pillow to her, as though she'd been sad and lonely in her sleep, thinking if she looked pathetic whoever it was would be more likely to leave her alone.
She heard the footsteps stop outside her room and struggled to keep her breathing from getting shallow and panicked. She heard the door creep open.
"Torrie?" She heard Vince's dearly familiar but unwanted voice call from the door.
Vince woke to Mia's angry ranting beside the bed around 2 the following afternoon. He squinted up at Mia and sighed. It was going to be a hellish day. He'd never planned on getting 'caught' as it were, sleeping with Torrie.
"Vince I can't believe you!" Mia yelled at him for the second time.
"Hush before you wake her up." Vince said and slid carefully out of the bed, untangling black hair from around his arms and neck as he went. He wondered how Dom put up with it as he pulled about 4 feet of hair out from around his throat. He thought, with considerable irony that Torrie's hair was like Medusa's snakes.
"She should wake up and be damn sorry for what she did!" Mia shouted, clearly very irate with her two friends, though it seemed with Torrie more so then Vince.
"Mia, she had some sort of mental breakdown last night ok? I couldn't leave her alone. She flipped out. Can we let her sleep while she will so we don't have to deal with her till we have to?" Vince sighed.
Things were very messed up and he didn't know how to make them right. He had, in fact, just spent the night with a girl who had a boyfriend who happened to be his oldest friend. But nothing had happened and Vince sort of thought that ultimately Dom would be happy that he'd kept Torrie safe. Mia, on the other hand did not seem to be happy about it at all.
Since Vince had seemed so sincere when he'd said that he didn't want to deal with Torrie again till he had to Mia calmed slightly and stopped screaming.
"What do you mean she had a breakdown?" Mia asked, not able to let things totally go till she had more details.
Vince picked up his shirt from the floor and then started to move Mia out of the room as he put it on. He didn't want to be seen by anyone else leaving Dom's room half dressed. He hated to feel guilty for things he didn't even do, he thought with a shake of his head.
"I mean things were ok till we got home, but she did do just what I was scared she would, if I hadn't been there to take her home she would have gone home with some other guy. She might have thought twice about it once she got somewhere with the other guy but by then it likely would have been too late. But she was too drunk to care about her and Dom fighting at least. Then when I got her home she flipped out." By this time Vince and Mia were walking down the stairs. "I'm surprised you didn't hear her screaming at me."
"Why was she screaming at you?" Mia looked puzzled.
"She told me she hated me for making her come home when she hadn't wanted to."
"Really?" Mia didn't seem to believe Vince at all. "She told you she hated you?"
"Yeah, she did. She might have picked up on the fact I was mad at her last night."
"Mad at her about what?" Mia inquired, wanting to understand what had transpired the day before so she could better deal with the aftermath.
"I think she was taking advantage of our friendship." Vince sighed. He wasn't sure how to go on, how much to tell Mia.
"How so?" Mia asked, eyes narrowed.
Vince knew he shouldn't have hoped Mia would let it drop with what he'd told her. He'd known that she was going to want all the details. He shouldn't have brought it up. He and Torrie could have worked it out on their own, but now Mia was going to be involved. He knew he'd have to tell her now.
"I think she did consider trying to get with me because she knew it would piss both Dom and Chris off. I mean, she didn't think about it when she was sober, not till she was drunk, but still. I though she and I were close enough that she wouldn't want to hurt ME like that. I mean sure, it would have accomplished what she wanted but it would have hurt me too." Vince growled.
"So you're mad at her too?" Mia asked, and it seemed like she was happy about it.
"I guess I am, but why does that please you?"
"I just think that no matter what went down Torrie went too far yesterday and it's the first time ever that when she pulls this shit you don't take her side and try to make everyone else feel bad for her, or at the very least stick up for her, even though she deserves what she's getting." Mia admitted.
"I guess that means everyone's pissed at her then does it?" Vince asked with a grimace.
"Maybe not Jesse." Mia said with a smile. Jesse was never mad at anyone. "I bet Let'll take Torrie's side." Mia frowned.
"Well, there's not a lot anyone can do about that. Let knows first hand how it feels to catch Dom cheating. Even if he really didn't this time Torrie didn't know that till she got home. So she really did think she'd caught him fooling around on her. And Let would've handled what Chris said with an even more violent fight so in a way we can be glad it was Torrie that this fight happened with." Vince ran a hand through his already very disorderly hair.
"I guess." Mia didn't seem to think they had to be that glad about it at all.
"We still have to decide how we're going to go forward from here." Vince stated then looked at the floor.
"How so?" Mia questioned.
"Well, Torrie lives here. It seems that she and Dom are still together, though if he finds out what she pulled last night, that could change. Dom's not going to like the fight that Torrie and Chris had and you know he's gonna take Torrie's side. It's two weeks till Dom comes home anyway. For those two weeks it's gonna be Torrie and Let against everyone else. But Letty's my girl too and I don't want to fight with her, but I know she's gonna be pissed at me for being pissed at Torrie and so Letty's gonna be all angry with Chris too. It's such a mess."
"Yep, it is. But it's a mess that's just going to have to work itself out." Mia said and started to cook lunch. "You have an unpleasant conversation a head of you yourself." Mia told Vince with a pitying look.
"What'dya mean?" Vince asked with a genuine look of confusion.
Mia went to answer but then the obvious meaning for what Mia had said donned on him.
"Aw shit." Vince looked almost scared. "Mia, could you..."
Mia cut him off.
"No, I will not try to explain things for you. You need to do it yourself." Mia looked slightly pissed at him for even suggesting that he not explain to Chris what had happened on his own.
"But Mia, it's just gonna make things worse. You know I'm no good at this sorta stuff." Vince whined.
"Too bad." Mia turned back to the vegetables she was cutting up and told Vince with her posture she considered the matter closed. Vince sighed and walked to the living room to think for a few minutes about what he was going to do about things.
*~*
Torrie came to consciousness with a groan. Her head was pounding, her limbs didn't want to work the way her brain was telling them too, her mouth tasted really bad and she had no idea how she'd gotten home.
She remembered going out, remembered her fight with Chris, remembered almost running Vince down with her car and her wild flight on the way to her friends. Remembered the first part of her evening of dancing with random, though very cute guys at the club Lex had picked out. Remembered how as the guys hands had gotten more and more familiar with her body, hers had returned the favour on theirs. That was where things got hazy. She honestly didn't remember the rest of the evening. She didn't remember leaving the club, how Lex got home or how she did. She didn't remember how she got into bed, how she got into Dom's undershirt. She didn't understand why she was lying on Dom's pillow and why hers smelled like Vince's cologne.
But thinking of Vince made her remember that at one point she'd had a very stupid plan to try and get with Vince to exact revenge on both Dom and Chris, sort of killing two birds with one stone. Surely if she'd done so she'd remember it.
She giggled even though she knew it wasn't really funny when she thought that maybe Vince wasn't very memorable in bed. Giggling hurt her head but she told herself she deserved that for thinking thoughts like she had about Vince.
As she lay in her bed trying not to need to throw up again she slowly remembered her fight with Vince after they'd gotten home. Remembered telling him how she didn't want to care, how she hated him for taking her home when she hadn't wanted to.
She remembered how patiently Vince had helped her and tried to comfort her. She'd been totally ungrateful and he'd still stayed with her. Played Dom's roll while she was ill, helping her with her hair and helping her wash her mouth out when she was done. Helping her back to bed and holding her while she cried after each time when she was awake enough to think of the mess her life was in.
She'd done some pretty stupid stuff. She'd be willing to bet that Mia was mad at her for what she'd said to Chris in the heat of the moment. Mia mad at her was almost more then she could stand. Mia didn't get mad easily. Torrie thought about the fact that Vince and Mia, and likely Brian and Leon, were mad at her.
She suddenly felt a panicked need to flee the house for awhile. She didn't want to face up to what she'd done and she was going to do the only thing she thought she could, run. Run as fast as she could. With that thought she got out of bed. She started for her dresser but after she'd only taken a few steps she heard heavy treads on the stairs.
Worried that it was Vince or Leon coming to make sure she was still alive, and to yell at her if she was she took a dive back into bed. She didn't bother with the blankets and made sure her butt, which was only covered by her brief thong panties was hanging out.
She figured that would make whoever uncomfortable and they'd leave and let her wake up on her own. She did her best to make sure her breathing was deep and even, like it would be if she were still asleep and she hugged Dom's pillow to her, as though she'd been sad and lonely in her sleep, thinking if she looked pathetic whoever it was would be more likely to leave her alone.
She heard the footsteps stop outside her room and struggled to keep her breathing from getting shallow and panicked. She heard the door creep open.
"Torrie?" She heard Vince's dearly familiar but unwanted voice call from the door.