It was a little after 6 o'clock. The second that clock chimed, Mr. Mushnik was out the door, leaving Audrey and Seymour alone in the shop which wasn't uncommon, they both enjoyed their brief, but memorable, evening conversations. Seymour was busy sweeping the shop floor while Audrey was looking out of the window, intently watching the downpour of rain outside. "Oh, no…" whispered under her breath.
Seymour heard and snapped his head to look at her, "what is it? What's wrong?" He asked, his voice filled with concern.
She was touched by this. "It's nothing, it's just...Orin is picking me up in a few minutes and I left my jacket in my apartment." She looked down at what she was wearing. A skin tight, animal print dress with a low cut halter neck and black spiked heels. She was going to get drenched.
"Can't he just wait while you run and get it? It's only across the street?"
"I-I don't think he'd like that…"
Seymour was confused by her last statement. What was the big deal? He decided it would probably best to not dig into that subject too much right now, she looked pretty sad. Then again, she always looked miserable before one of her dates. "Well...would you like to borrow mine? It's just downstairs? I-I don't want you to be cold."
With that, a crash of thunder echoed and a flash of lightning illuminated the wet Skid a Row street.
She decided to swallow her pride for once. "Are you sure you don't mind, Seymour?"
"Not at all! Hold on, I'll grab it!" He ran down the basement stairs then she heard a small thud and a distant "ouch." Not even 30 seconds later, he was standing in front of her, presenting her with a bright red parka.
She smiled at him with an overwhelmingly strong appreciation for such a simple act of kindness. She wasn't used to this. He handed it to her and she pulled it tightly around her body, thrilled by the sudden surge of warmth.
Suddenly, the roar of a motorcycle was heard outside the shop followed by a bellowing voice barking "Audrey!"
"Oh, that's him! Good night, Seymour." She kissed his cheek and scuttled to the door, he followed behind to see her off. Standing in the doorway, he saw a leather clad bully wearing a scowl and far too much vitalis.
He menacingly arose from the motorcycle and stalked over to Audrey. Despite her heels, he was a lot taller than her. "What the fuck is this?" He grabbed her by the coat and shook her violently. He didn't even wait for her response before he unzipped it and threw it into a nearby puddle. She started shuddering with the cold which only enhanced Orin's enjoyment of the current situation. He glanced over to the doorway to see Seymour watching them, his mouth agape.
Orin could tell instantly that Seymour had a crush on Audrey, he was looking at her like a love struck puppy. He could have some fun here. He ran his hand up her arm and towards her breast, cupping it slightly. "That's better." He smirked.
Audrey was shaking from fear, embarrassment and the harsh sting of the Skid Row rain. She couldn't bring herself to look at Seymour.
Orin mounted the motorcycle and yelped "Audrey!", that was her cue to join him. She wrapped her arms around his leather clad chest and he drove off, managing to make both Seymour and Audrey feel unbelievably helpless.
That night, Seymour stayed awake and continued to watch for Audrey returning to her apartment. He needed to make sure she was okay. Three hours later, what he saw broke his heart. Audrey's hair was a mess of wet, wavy curls. She was limping, one of the straps on her dress was broken and her make up was running down her face.
"She deserves a prince, not a sadistic creep like him." He muttered to himself before climbing into bed. They both cried themselves to sleep that night.