The oh-so-dreaded Monday morning has arrived, which meant it was the first day of Sasha's anger management. Yay. She dragged herself out of bed, sat at the table and poured herself a nice, healthy bowl of cereal. Marcy was still sleeping so she decided to leave her a note.
I'll be home soon, love you.
~ Your Sashy
Sasha arrived at the address given to her by the lady she spoke to on the phone when she made her appointment. She entered the building into what appeared to be some sort of typical waiting area and gulped as she saw a bunch of people of various ages eyeballing her down as they were seated, looking like they would kill her if she made eye contact with any of them for too long. A familiar face from yesterday then caught her attention.
Oh hell no. That douchebag from the gym.
The man looked up and noticed her. "Sup, lesbo!"
If he says one more thing, I'll wring his fucking neck in front of everyone.
Sasha rolled her eyes and took a seat as far away from him as she could.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged woman appeared and escorted everyone to a much larger room where there were chairs set up in the formation of a circle.
"Good morning everyone! I see we have some new faces here. My name is Audrey and I will be the guide to your destiny–a happier, healthier lifestyle where you are able to control your feelings before they control you. Let's begin by letting our newcomers introduce themselves! Tell us your name and a little about yourself and why you're here. Young lady with the blonde hair, lead the way."
Sasha cleared her throat and began speaking. "Hi, I'm Sasha Waybright. I suppose I've had anger issues my whole life. It interfered with my relationships with others, but it wasn't till I lost my job that-" She was cut off by the same man that had been harassing her since yesterday.
"We met already! She's a gay bitch."
Everybody gasped as Sasha's fist met his face and he fell back with his chair onto the floor. "AND YOU'RE A BIG STUPID ASSHOLE WHO HAS NO RESPECT FOR WOMEN!"
As he was down, she kept kicking him while everyone looked at each other in silence. "YOU WERE CLEARLY FLIRTING WITH ME YESTERDAY. YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS I WOULDN'T FUCK YOU!"
She then took the chair she was sitting on and threw it on top of him while he began coughing up blood and begging her to stop.
"PATHETIC. Y'ALL ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE ANGER ISSUES! WHY DON'T YOU STOP SITTING THERE AND HELP ME FUCK THIS GUY UP?"
"MS. WAYBRIGHT! STOP IT THIS INSTANT!" Audrey insisted.
"NO! I WARNED THIS PRICK TWICE NOT TO FUCK WITH ME AGAIN. HE ASKED FOR IT AND NONE OF YOU ARE EVEN GONNA BOTHER TO DEFEND ME? WHAT A BUNCH OF HOMOPHOBIC PIECES OF SH-" Before she could even finish her riot, she was lifted up by two security guards and handcuffed. At that point, the man she was attacking was no longer conscious and Audrey pulled out her cellphone to call an ambulance for him.
"That's enough, young lady. You're coming back to the station with us."
About an hour after Sasha left, Marcy woke up. She saw the note on the table, picked it up and read it. "My Sashy." She held the note to her chest, smiled and wiped tears from her eyes. She then helped herself to a bowl of the cereal Sasha left out and began sketching out new ideas for her webcomic.
Sasha was released from her handcuffs and locked inside a holding cell with a bench inside. She sat down and noticed two policemen bring in a familiar looking woman.
Wait a minute… Is that… Claire's mom?
"Let go of me right now! I'm telling you I haven't been drinking!"
"The breathalyzer tells us a different story, ma'am."
They threw the woman into the cell across from Sasha. "You will be hearing from my lawyer!" She then noticed the troubled psychologist she took her daughter to see the other day. "You, Doctor Dolittle. I knew it'd only be a matter of time."
"Touché. Where's your daughter while you're out getting drunk at 10 in the morning?"
"That's none of your goddamn business."
"You're right, it isn't. But do you think this is fair to her?"
The woman looks towards the floor. "No…"
"Your daughter is young, and you're not setting a good example for her. Is this how you want her to behave when she grows up?"
"No."
"I can't snap my fingers and instantly fix your problems. That's something you need to do on your own, but I can offer you some advice."
Silence.
"Every time you feel like drinking, think of all the things in your life you're grateful for, even if it's just one thing. Use that one thing as fuel to motivate yourself to be a better, stronger person, whether that's your daughter, music, favorite soap opera, some snobby famous guy you'll never be with…"
"Thanks, little girl. I'll keep that in mind. I guess I doubted your abilities."
Meanwhile, a biker dude entered the police station in handcuffs escorted by two policemen and noticed Sasha's leather jacket."
"Yeah! Fellow biker chick!"
"Actually I'm n-" He cut her off by growling at her. She flinched then decided to play along. "Nevermind, yeah that's me!" She gave him two thumbs up with a nervous smile.
An officer approached Sasha in her cell. "Okay Ms. Waybright, we're gonna let you go with a warning since the man you assaulted is now in stable condition and agreed not to press charges. You got anyone to call for a ride home?"
She sighs. "Yes."
"Alright, make it quick." The officer unlocked the cell and escorted her to the phone." She remembered she had a business card from the Aquarium of the Pacific in her jacket pocket, pulled it out, dialed the number and sighed as the phone rang.
Someone on the other end of the line eventually picked up the phone. "Aquarium of the Pacific." It sounded like a young man around her age.
"Hi, may I speak to Anne Boonchuy?"
"Yo frog lady, it's for you. Somebody from jail."
"Jail?" Sasha could hear faintly in the background. "Oh don't tell me-" Anne's voice became clearer as she got closer to the phone. "Hello?"
"Hi Anne." Sasha said nervously.
"I knew it was you. Sasha, what did you do now?"
"I got arrested for kicking some guy's ass at anger management today. I'm not saying you need to come right now, but once you get off work can you please come pick me up and drive me back to my car?"
"Okay. Are they letting you out or-"
"Yeah, just please don't tell Marcy about this. I really don't wanna worry her."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Thanks Anne." The call then disconnected.
Anne found her boss and told him she had some personal matters to attend to, got in her car and drove over to Sasha's apartment where Marcy was presumably drawing and/or writing.
Anne knocked on the door and Marcy opened it from the other side.
"Anna-Banana! Aren't you supposed to be at work?"
"Sasha's in trouble, literally."
"What?! Where is she? Is she okay? She was supposed to go to anger management today! Is she hurt? Did she get into an accident?" Marcy was about to hyperventilate.
Anne put her hands on Marcy's shoulders. "Calm down Marbles. She's been arrested but they're letting her out and I'm about to go pick her up. She also told me not to tell you because she knew you'd be worried, but I felt like it was the right thing to do, so come on!"
Marcy threw on her jacket and a pair of shoes and left with Anne.
"Okay Ms. Waybright, two young ladies are here to pick you up." The officer said as he unlocked the cell.
Two? Oh Anne.
When she was released, Sasha approached the woman across from her. "I lost my job thanks to you, but if you and/or your daughter ever need someone to talk to, here's my number." Sasha handed the woman a piece of paper through the bars with her phone number on it.
Anne and Marcy were standing in the lobby and neither of them looked happy. Anne for having to leave work, and Marcy for Sasha thinking she was going to lie to her.
Anne drove them to the mental health center where Sasha's car was still parked. Sasha apologized and thanked her, then they got out of the car and into the red convertible.
Neither of them said a word the entire ride home, till they got back upstairs to the apartment.
"I didn't want to worry you, Marcy. I know you have anxiety and things like this aren't healthy for you. I'm not healthy for you."
"So you were just going to hide this from me? Sasha, there are two of us in this relationship."
"I know."
"And it's not fair to Anne and I that every time you go out in public, you get into a fight with someone. Maybe you should be in jail."
Sasha started sobbing. "I know I'm a terrible person, but you need to understand that I'm trying. I was arrested because I was defending us, our relationship, because nothing in this world matters to me more. You have to trust me when I say it wasn't some selfish act of hatred. Every outburst I've had lately is justifiable, and if you just took a moment to listen, I'd really appreciate it. I know I'm not perfect, but you need to be patient with me, please."
Marcy scooched closer to Sasha and rubbed her back as she cried. "I'm all ears Sash."
Sasha tried her hardest to catch her breath.
"That guy from the gym yesterday I told you about after we got home, turns out he's in anger management too. Well, he started harassing me again and I beat him up in front of everyone so they called the cops on me, even though they CLEARLY heard the homophobic slurs coming out of his mouth. I guess that isn't an excuse for kicking someone's ass, but he deserved every punch and kick he got for us, and for every other LGBTQ person out there. I will NEVER allow ANYONE to come between us, do you understand that, Mar-Mar?"
She nods and hugs Sasha. "Yes Sashy. I love you so much. Thank you for defending us."
"You're my world, Marcy." She sighed and put her feet up on the coffee table. "What a day! How 'bout we DoorDash something to eat tonight?"
"Sure, I'll pay. I just heard from the company that bought the rights to Amphibi-Anne and they're offering me even more money for Sasha Slaybright! Apparently most of my audience has a thing for blondes, and I can't say I blame them."
"Wow Marce, that's amazing!"
"And when that's finally published, I'll get another job, I promise."
"Hey, don't sweat it. Oh, I forgot to tell you, while I was in jail, I reunited with the woman that got me fired. She was arrested for a DUI. I guess she's an alcoholic and that's why she has a bad relationship with her daughter. Now that I think about it, her perfume did smell like the worst bottle of tequila I've ever had."
"That's awful, I hope they both get the help they need. Here, pick out what you want." Marcy handed Sasha her phone with her DoorDash app open.
Sasha saw what Marcy had already added to the order. "Chicken nuggets? Oh you're just the cutest little thing ever." Sasha gave her a noogie, messing her hair all up.
"Hey, adults can eat nuggies too!"
"NUGGIES?! HAHAHAHA, oh my gosh!" Sasha wiped tears from her eyes. "I wouldn't mind some nuggies myself actually." Sasha added an extra order of chicken nuggets along with some fries. "How about some cheeseburgers too?"
"Sounds delicious!" Marcy agreed.
"And soda."
"Uh-huh!"
"Well, there goes my workout. It should be here in about 30 minutes. And if it isn't, someone's…"
Marcy looked at her girlfriend in fear.
"…not getting a tip! It's a busy city so I can understand the delay. But I absolutely hate cold fries."
"I know, they're the worst!"
Once their DoorDash arrived, both girls enjoyed their food on the couch while watching War of the Warlocks for at least the thousandth time. Sometime during the movie, Sasha fell asleep and Marcy covered her with the crescent moon and star-spangled blanket she always used to use as a cape, just like old times.
"Mmm. It's a 3-hour movie." Sasha mumbled in her sleep."
"You always say that. I don't even believe you're actually sleeping anymore."
"Fine, you got me. By the way, you wore two different shoes to the police station."
Marcy turned red and crossed her arms while Sasha groggily chuckled. "Nerd." She was then fast asleep for real in a minute's time.