Chapter 3: Safe Sex
(Stephanie)
My head hurt like a, like a...well it hurt so much I couldn't even think of a simile to describe it. I opened eyes to almost complete darkness. I sat up and felt a wave of dizziness that made me lay back down. I had no clue where I was and had no memory of what happened after Jane and I started running. Well that's not completely true, I remembered hitting the ground and then I think I must have blacked out. So we'd been running from what we thought were half crazed rapists and then we fell, and now I'm in a strange place. I that seemed cause to panic. I don't know what most people do when they're panicking but Stephanie R. Wallace screams her head off.
So there I was sitting on what seemed to a crappy twin bed when this guy bursts into the room and turns on the light. The sudden appearance of light in the room blinded me for a second but I kept screaming at the top of my lungs. "What the fuck?" the guy yelled over my screams. "What's wrong with you?"
He moved closer to the bed but I pulled away and with all my gracefulness fell onto the floor with a undignified thud. I managed to pull myself off the floor and held my hand out to ward off the stranger from coming any closer. "Stay back!" I yelled. "Who are you? What happened? Where's Jane? Where am I? Don't rape me! Wait if you do please use a condom. You may be a half crazed rapist but there's always time to be safe."
"Will you just calm down," the guy said I guess he was trying to sound comforting but her really just sounded pissed off. "I'm not going to rape you."
He made to move closer again but I yelled again. "Don't come any closer!"
He heaved a sigh but remained where he was. Since I was done screaming I took a chance to observe my surrounding. It seemed to be a bedroom and not a very good one at that. There was hardly anything other than the twin bed, which I knew for a fact had a terrible mattress since I had been lying one it. A milk crate seemed to serve as a night stand and there was a dresser that looked like it was ready to collapse. The floor was littered with balled up pieces of paper and I was pretty sure I saw some decomposing food in one corner.
I turned up my nose in a grimace, talking a small break from my panic to be disgusted. "Do you ever clean this place?"
"Oh know that you're done screaming at me you're going to comment on my housekeeping skills." the guy sighed dryly.
"I never said I was done screaming," I said furrowing my brow. "I just needed to take a little break."
"Oh well please resume your totally unnecessary tirade," he said sarcastically
"Who are you?" I asked this time not yelling or screaming.
"I'm Roger," he answered. "And you are?"
"Stephanie," I said unsure of what to think of Roger. He was actually kinda cute but I didn't think I should have been thinking that he was cute. I mean for all I knew he could have brutally murdered Jane and was waiting to do the same to me. "Where am I?"
"You're in an industrial loft on the corner of Avenue B and 11th Street," he said his answer oddly specific. "In New York but I figured you knew that much."
I nodded but asked warily, "Where's Jane?" That was the million dollar question. If he answered that he murdered her I would need to think up an escape plan but I was hoping it wouldn't come to that because my head really hurt, and I didn't want Jane to be dead of course.
"She and Mark went to get your friends," he answered. "Something about them being in your car."
"Mark?" I asked.
"My roommate," Roger answered and I must have looked worried. "Don't worry your friend is fine."
"What happened?"
"You fell and hit you're head, actually I think you're friend pulled you down."
"That bitch," I said quietly. I suddenly remembered Jane grabbing my leg and to think I was actually hoping that she hadn't died. I touched forehead and found a protruding bump that hurt like hell when I touched it. "Ow!"
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," Roger said and it actually sounded like he was laughing slightly.
"Are you laughing at me?" I asked my eyes growing wide. "Don't laugh at me." I touched the bump gently and flinched but didn't voice my pain. I didn't know if the bump was swelling but I'd hit my head enough as small child to know that I was in for some pain and a really ugly looking bump.
Roger was watching and he suddenly began to back out of the room. "Don't go anywhere," he said as he disappeared.
"Like I was going to," I mumbled. "I don't even know where I am.
"Like I said, a loft on 11th street and Avenue B," he called
"I don't even know where Avenue B is!"
Roger suddenly reappeared holding a can of beer which he extended to me. "Here," he said simply.
I looked at the beer and then up at him. "Um, no thanks." I didn't see how beer would help the situation, I wasn't even old enough to legally drink.
He let a sigh that showed he was pretty damn annoyed with me at that moment. We were standing closer than we had been before but when he moved to touch me I recoiled slightly. He let out another aggravated sigh and grabbed my arm. I don't what I was expecting but it wasn't for him to press the can to forehead.
"Oh," I said realization dawning on me. "The cold will help the swelling go down."
"Yeah," he said his voice short, he obviously used to dealing with teenage girls or at least teenage girls like me.
He removed his hand from the can and I placed mine where his had been. "So, um, Roger," I mumbled. "I guess I should like thank you or something."
"Or something," he said. "You'll want to thank Mark, it was his grand idea to help you two. Why did you guys start to run anyway?"
I blushed, "Oh it's not important."
"You guys freaked out didn't you," Roger said giving me a grin that was truly wicked.
"We've only been in the city a few hours and we were lost, you can't really blame us," I said defensively.
"How old are you?"
The question caught me off guard. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-four," he answered.
Damn. I thought. I'd been hoping he wouldn't answer so I wouldn't have to but it appeared I would have to now. "I'm eighteen."
"You're only eighteen and you were out wondering the streets of New York! Are you stupid?"
"I resent that," I said furrowing my brow. "I'm not stupid I'm naive."
"Oh and there's such a big difference," he said with a role of his eyes, which I couldn't help but notice were green.
"I don't have to justify my actions to you," I said sticking up my chin in what I hoped was a dignified manor. I tried to push past him in a huff but ended up stumbling and almost falling flat on my face but luckily, or I guess in a way unluckily, Roger was there to catch me.
(Jane)
"She's in there?" I asked Mark pointing to the door he had indicated as his roommates room.
"Yeah I think so," he said with a nod.
"We're hungry," the Katies said together.
"Oh God," I mumbled quietly. "They're taking in unison again." I quickly made way out of the main room of the loft because one, I didn't want to hear anymore creepy Katies talking in unison and two, I wanted to check on Stephanie. But mostly the Katies were creeping me out. When I walked into the small bedroom I was instantly glad I had arrived when I did. Stephanie was in the arms of our attacker!
"Don't rape my friend!" I yelled as I pounced onto the man. I pulled myself off his back and glanced around. "I don't even see a condom," I said disgusted. "If you're going to rape my friend at least practice safe raping. For all I know you could have AIDS!"
"I wasn't raping your friend," the guy said trying to get off the floor. "She fell I caught her, end of story."
"That's what all rapists say!" I shouted back trying to pull Stephanie as far away from the guy as possible.
"Don't you remember me?" the guy asked. "We met on the street."
I narrowed my eyes at him and suddenly recognized him as Mark's roommate. "Oh I'm such a silly goose. You're Mark's roommate Rick."
"Roger," he corrected.
"Whatever," I said waving my hands. "No hard feelings about the tackling to the ground, right?"
"It's okay," he said with a shrug. "I kinda figured you were a crazy bitch when you pulled Stephanie here to the ground."
"Just trying to protect her from the rapists," I sighed. "But I guess that didn't work because she ended up here with you anyway."
Roger rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to respond but Stephanie cut him off. "Hey speaking of rapists, are Lillian and the Katies here?"
I nodded, "Yes they are, and they are creeping me out."
"Well lets go see them before someone actually gets raped or brutally murdered."
The three of us walked into the main room of the loft where Mark was sitting as far away from the others as humanly possible. He was clearly freaked out by the Katies as much as I or maybe it was the fact that Lillian had bitch slapped him early, I just didn't know.
"Hey," Stephanie said waving to our three friends.
"Everybody," I said clearing my throat and gesturing to Roger. "This is Rapist."
"Jane," Stephanie sighed.
"Fine," I sighed. "This is Roger." Everyone seemed pretty happy but then I added. "The rapist."