Erin leaned against the counter and watched as he moved confidently around the kitchen. The aroma of the sauteed garlic and seasonings has her tastebuds salivating. Her stomach will be growling soon in anticipation for tonight's dinner, and while she doesn't want to rush him, she does wish she could snap her fingers and have the meal already prepared and plated. Jay adds the cut up steak to the pan and the sound of it sizzling in the butter makes her want to move closer to watch the whole process, but she stays put, allowing him to lead. He asked her out for a reason.
"Wine or beer?" Jay asked, his back still to her.
She smiles as she admires the half apron tied around his waist, "Um, wine is fine." Her gaze stretches down to his muscular calves appearing even more shapely and defined in the dark jeans he's wearing. His feet covered and kept warm by white socks, one more pushed down than the other making them appear lopsided and uneven, only adding character to his date night attire.
Jay moved to the fridge and pulled out a beer for himself and a bottle of wine. It was a nice one, not expensive enough to break your pockets but definitely on the pricier side. It was a flavor that pairs well with the dinner for tonight, and while she was happy about her first glass, she was even more excited about having it alongside her meal. He then moves to grab a wine glass from the cabinet above the stove, already knowing where everything is, showing evidence to his earlier remark about feeling at home. This was his home and the fact he can move around so flawlessly, grabbing what he needs without hesitation or without having to ask her about its location, only serves to showcase that he's right where he belongs and comfortable. So when he pops the cork of the bottle and her glass is half-full with the liquid, he hands it to her with the wink of his eye, she thanks him with a smile and decides to point out her observations, "How do you know where everything is? Out of the two of us, I'm usually the one that's cooking."
"All those days you sent me to the kitchen to make Emma a bottle, I've searched the cabinets enough to now know where everything is, including things that need to be restocked."
She'd be more impressed if he wasn't a cop. Making observations is a part of his job, and she honestly shouldn't expect anything less. Erin tips her glass, then takes a sip before smiling around the rim of it. The atmosphere between them is nice, it's comfortable and warm. Milo is somewhere in the living room asleep or in the nursery missing Emma, and the latter is somewhere probably driving her Aunt Kimberly crazy, but regardless of what her two dependents are doing, she's here, and she's relaxed and enjoying the moment. She is happy she accepted his offer for a date, even though there was a very small part of her questioning if this was a good idea. They had a good system, a working co-parenting relationship, and dating could potentially hurt that which would inevitably impact Emma, and both of them agreed to not let that happen, to not make a choice that could negatively hurt her in the future.
And while that was still a concern, she recognized that ignoring her growing feelings for him would not suddenly take that worry away. It would always be present. And she owed it to herself, to Jay and to Emma to try because maybe this will work out, maybe Emma will get the two parent functioning household she deserves with two present parents that will potentially love each other almost as much as they love her. Erin shakes the thought of Emma out of her mind, knowing that if she stays along that trail, she'll end up missing her and leaving in the middle of the date to pick her up. She forces her mind back to the present, back to watching as Jay flicked off the cap of the beer and took a swig before turning back to the stove. She nursed her glass of wine and resumed watching him. The way his back muscles appeared pronounced in his henley shirt that she's pretty sure is new has her enjoying every second of checking him out. She liked all of what she was seeing. Suddenly though, he turned around, spatula in hand, preparing to ask her a question when he catches her staring, or more specifically, checking him out. Maybe if he didn't ask her out, she would have been embarrassed or ashamed, but no such emotion filled her when his gaze captured hers. Erin just smirked, and continued to hold his attention, as if she meant to get caught. Jay grinned and came over to where she was leaning against the counter, spatula now left behind as his hands go to rest against the edge of the counter, locking her in his hold, "You're so fucking beautiful." The flirting has come natural now that they lowered their guard and allowed themselves to just be here with each other.
"...and you're so cheesy," she rolls her eyes. She gently pushes against his chest so she could freely raise her glass to take a sip without worrying about the stem bumping against him.
He shrugs, "I'm being honest. I'm calling it like I see it."
"You're trying to butter me up to get in my pants."
"I mean…it worked before." He jokes, smiling as if serious but the look in his eye telling her that he didn't expect the night to go any further than dinner if that isn't what she wants.
"I was lonely before."
"And you're not lonely now?"
"Far from it," Her free hand tugs the v-line of his henley, lowering his head to her eyeline and allowing their lips to meet one another. The taste of wine on her tongue and the taste of beer on his mix and mingles as if the two beverages belong together. The glass of wine, now almost empty remains in her hand and both arms wrap around his neck, one wrist overlapping the other as he moves to balance his beer bottle onto the counter behind her so he can take full advantage of holding her hips, caressing the area of skin that reveals itself with her reaching further up to continue kissing him, to give him her all. Neither are disappointed when they run out of breath, both are left satisfied as Jay turns to finish making their dinner. Erin finishes off the rest of her wine, slams the glass down beside his unfinished beer, and moves forward to press her chest against his back and wrap her arms around his waist, "I was going to play some music, any suggestions?"
"Do you mind if we skip music for tonight?"
The question is a bit odd but she doesn't push it, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," he reaches to turn off the stove, "it might make me think of that nightmare, and I didn't ask you out to have a therapy session so I'd prefer to keep that far away from this. I don't want it to potentially ruin the fun we're having, and this bubble we found ourselves in."
"Well it's a good thing we don't need music to have fun."
Erin drops her arms and takes a step back. He tells her to go to the dining room, promising he'll be behind her in a few minutes once he has plated their food. She grabs the bottle of wine and her empty wine glass and does as instructed. Erin checks her phone and sees no message from Kim, making her assume that things are going well, but just to be sure, she sends a text to her best friend, checking on how she and the baby are doing during their first solo night together. As Erin waits for a response, she thinks of the last hour, how her guard has lowered, how relaxed both of them have been and she'd love to say it was solely because of him asking her out on a date but she knows Abby's text also played a part in this. Whether she was serious behind it or not, it did make them naturally feel more comfortable. They'll still monitor their surroundings and keep her as far from them as possible, but just a semblance of hope they have in believing that she's smartened up and found some sanity and self-worth allowed them to move on in their life. Erin's phone buzzed and she's met with a response from Kim, displaying a picture of she feeding Emma in her comfiest pajamas after a warm bath. Emma seems to be doing well with her aunt, away from her mama's presence and Erin doesn't know how she feels about that.
"You're thinking about her," It's not a question, it's an observation. He sets himself an empty wine glass down across from her in the seat that he'll be occupying then he disappears once more to return holding two plates. Erin looks down as the plate is set in front of her. It smells delicious and it looks even better, if it tastes as good as it looks and smells then she's in for a hell of a ride.
Once Jay takes a seat across from her, she decides to respond to his earlier observance, "It's hard not to think about her, I miss her. A whole lot."
"I get it, that's how I felt all those days I had to leave her here and go home."
"I don't know how you did it."
"Looking back, I don't either. I can't imagine having to do that now."
It's a late dinner, and she's starving so the second he hands her a set of silverware, she starts digging in, "Jay, this is so good, I'm going to need you to cook more often."
He smiles, blushing a bit at the compliment, "I can definitely hold down my own but my recipe range in the kitchen is pretty limited. It doesn't get much fancier than this."
"I don't mind having this exact meal everyday this week."
"You say that now but trust me, by day three you'll be so tired of it you'll never want a piece of steak again. This is a once in a few weeks type of meal, trust me, the time in between makes it worth it and you're guaranteed to not get tired of it,." Jay reopens the bottle of wine, then tops her off and then himself, "and uh, I hate to do this, to go back to talking about Emma when we're missing her but it's so weird not having the baby monitor on and seeing her on the screen."
"Who are you telling? A part of me wants to turn it on just to hear the static."
"I think it'll make it worse, we'll only miss her more."
"You're right, and this is a date night, a time for us to spend time together as Erin and Jay, not as mom and dad," she raises her glass, and he does the same, both of them extending their arms and clinking their glasses together before taking another sip, "this wine pairs so well with this."
A silence falls between them, only the occasional tapping sounds of their knives and forks brushing against their plates. Neither of them know what to talk about, do they discuss their day though they did spend most of it together, do they talk about work though that's their typical conversation topic over dinner and this is supposed to be a date, or do they talk about Emma, even though they just finished talking about her. Their lives cannot be this boring that they're struggling to come up with something to talk about, "It's weird," Erin starts, "because this is technically our first date but we know so much about each other already so first date questions aren't really necessary. We know what each other does for a living, we know about each other's family, we know each other's interests and hobbies, each other's fears, goals, favorite colors, shows and movies, what else is there to know?" He's convinced that she has read his mind.
A point was made, which speaks to how comfortable they were together in the kitchen. Neither one of them operates as if it's a first date. It's only one in name. This night has to be different, neither one of them want to end it feeling as if it was simply two friends coming together, but when the dinners before bordered on dates, it was hard to clear the cobwebs and toe the line between platonic and romantic. Jay intertwines his empty hand with hers, drawing her hand back to his mouth to press a kiss against each knuckle. A move to push the dinner towards feeling like a date rather than a shared evening meal. Once he finishes, he moves the back of her hand against the side of his face,"Tell me about New York," he proposes a new topic, "you never talk about your time there, unless it involves Eric. I'm sure there's a lot more it has to offer."
"Don't get me wrong, New York is way too crowded and they need to strengthen their no littering laws, and it's severely overrated but it was home." She pauses to take a sip of her wine, "I love it especially around Christmas time. The events, the decorations, it's a wonderland."
"It wasn't too cold for you?"
"Please New York winters have nothing on Chicago."
He laughs, "Don't let the New Yorkers hear you."
"It'll always be my second home. I did a lot of growing up over there."
"Would you ever go back?"
The question shouldn't have caught her off guard but it did. Her hand falls from his face and she reflects on his query, wanting to answer in all honesty, "I did when I first moved back, but only because I was so lonely here and I had no place to stay outside of my parents' place, and you've met my dad, you can imagine how that is," he can imagine but it doesn't mean he wants to, "but the more I got used to being back, the more I realized there's nothing left for me in New York, my family, my friends, you, are all here. But since having Emma, a part of me did want to go back for a few days, nothing longterm, to introduce her to the few people in New York that matter to me. I've sent them pictures, a few videos too, we've even facetimed once or twice but you know there's nothing like a face to face introduction. They keep asking when I'm going to visit. And my old boss, Olivia, keeps saying Emma has squeezable cheeks and she'll never forgive me if she doesn't get to pinch them before she loses all the baby fat."
Jay chuckles, already liking the sound of her support system back in New York, "That sounds like fun, and it sounds like it'll be good for you to go visit."
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" The question is rhetorical, more so meant for her than him, "I'll just probably wait for Emma to get a little older, I don't know how she'll do on a plane ride."
"...probably have to book a redeye so she can sleep through most of it."
"You've been doing your research or is that a piece of knowledge you just carry around with you?"
He smirks, "While I want to take the credit, I did a quick search after I entertained the idea of her meeting my brother and dad." Erin hadn't heard any updates on Jay's family in awhile, and now that he's opened the door, she's for sure going to allow herself to go through it.
"Speaking of them, have you spoken to Will recently? Or maybe your dad?"
"My dad and I have pretty much given up on any kind of relationship. What he wants for me, I don't want for me and we're not going to find common ground. I've come to accept that, with Milah's help of course, but I realize I have to love him from a distance."
"...and Will?"
"That's a bit trickier."
"Why?"
"He wants to meet Emma," Jay reminds her, and Erin nods because she remembers but Jay wasn't ready and she wasn't going to rush him, she's down for her little girl to meet her uncle whenever Jay thought it was best, but then and only then, "and initially he'd ask and when I didn't respond, he'd drop it but now he's getting more persistent. My brother and I have never, and I mean never Erin, talked as much as we do now since Emma has been born, and by talk I mean text or communicate in general. I don't know, it's like her presence unintentionally started to mend my relationship with him. He hasn't mentioned how much I disappoint him in months, it's like he knows if he says that, it's just going to push me to stall introducing him to his niece so he's trying to be on his best behavior, I'm just worried that once he meets her, because he'll get what he wants, he'll go right back to his old ways. I don't want you to have to see that, to hear the things he says to me, and I really don't want Emma growing up privy to those things."
"...maybe that's something you should tell Will, set that boundary with him early on, and naturally when boundaries are violated there are consequences, if he violates yours, not seeing Emma will be a consequence of that." Erin reaches her hand across the table, opening it up for his to intertwine with hers again, "and as for me seeing that, it'll be a cold day in hell before I believe anything negative someone has to say about you, not when I know the real you."
"Considering global warming, that cold day in hell doesn't seem so unrealistic."
"How about when pigs fly on the twelfth of never? Your brother would probably leave here hating me if he even thinks I'll let him utter one disrespectful thing about you in my presence."
"I didn't realize that meeting you would have been the best thing to ever happen to me."
She smiles. That compliment is a heavy one, so much meaning piled into it because though they're coming up on a year of knowing one another, it seems as if she knows him better than anyone, including himself. He squeezes her hand reassuringly, hoping she doesn't read too much into his words because he doesn't want her to panic. It's the truth. They already see each other as best friends, it's not so farfetched to know they're on the verge, the clear path of becoming something more, feeling something more. He raises her hand and kisses the underside of her wrist, "Thank you for agreeing to this date."
"Thank you for asking me out."
Abby gagged, the sight of them making her feel sick. The flirting, the touching and the way they look at each other has her ready to break her phone but she cannot afford to look away otherwise her mind will drift and she'll conjure up an imaginary night that'll make her feel worse.
The two of them rose from their seats and worked in sync to clear the table. He washed the dishes and she dried them and put them away. And the way they move, neither bumping into the other, operating as if they can predict the other's next move tells Erin that this was never going to be a regular date. They know too much about each other and they are too comfortable with each other for this to ever be a typical date night, and instead of focusing on trying to make this a stereotypical date, they should focus on making it enjoyable for both of them.
"All done," Jay wipes his hands on the dish towel, "did you want to watch a movie?"
Erin definitely didn't have that in mind, that would be too much like a normal weekday for them, "Nah, not really," she takes a step forward, her hand lays against his chest, the fabric of his henley is soft and she clenches it, "that's too predictable."
"Want a drink?" He nodded to the cabinet above her head where he knew she kept the alcohol.
"...weren't we doing that all throughout dinner," she tilts her head to the side.
He chuckles, and tries to formulate another proposal, "anything else requires us to leave the apartment and I doubt either one of us wants to do that. What do you suggest?"
"This," she leans up to press her lips against his, deepening the kiss once he welcomes it. And he surely does welcome it, he intertwined his hand into the back of her head, raveling his knuckles through her locks, disheveling her perfectly designed hairstyle in order to push her mouth closer to his. Now this is the biggest difference between their typical night of dinner and their current date. This is what neither of them allowed to happen since boundaries were put in place. And when Jay feels Erin's hand slide from his chest, down to his belt, he pulls away briefly.
"Now who's trying to get into who's pants now?"
Erin's laugh filling up her belly, rising up to her chest before spilling out has him all googly-eyed, and damn, he knows if she doesn't try to get into his pants, he'll try to get into hers.
Abby watches as Jay leans back in to initiate the next kiss, their hands moving wild and free, pulling at shirts, ripping off belts, and pushing down pants all while moving towards his bedroom, and seconds later, they're out of sight. And Abby grows furious, shutting off her phone and reaching for her shoes, she's filled with so much rage that she needs an outlet. And apparently, her apartment is destroyed enough that she has nothing left to break.
Jay kicks the door closed behind them, neither of them wanted Milo to interrupt the fun. A trail of clothing is discarded and left behind as Erin backs up as far as she can until the base of the bed knocks against the back of her legs and sends her tumbling backwards. She lays in her bra and underwear, leaning up on her elbows to watch as he crawls above her in only his boxes. His bare and muscled chest presses against hers, "Erin," he meets her eyes, scanning for any inclination that she's second guessing this, "This is going to change things," his hand cups her cheek as he lays above her, hovering to ensure all of his weight wasn't pressed down against her. Though she wouldn't mind at all, she's worked up, she's ready and he's taking too long.
"I know it'll be different," she nods, biting her lip. Even though this isn't their first time sleeping together, this time is different, he's not even inside her yet and both of them know it already because they both want something more, the hurdles of the past aren't present anymore.
Erin removes her bra, figuring that's the best way to show him that she's on board. He becomes speechless at the sight of her breasts. She doesn't give him much time to take it in before she's squirming beneath him to remove her panties. The act turns him on; her eagerness drives him closer to his peak and he's not even inside of her yet. Please, he thinks to himself, please don't let her regret this, and now he starts to finagle above her to remove his own underwear, all while she watches in patience and intrigue. But, once he's done, he looks down at her, his hand back to caressing her face and he leans down to pepper a kiss against her lips, "It's going to be hard to go back if we do this, I just want to make sure you're sure, I'll be devastated if you regret this."
"There has to be a this for me to regret," she jokes to mask her impatience.
But he's serious, "Erin-"
"The only thing I'll regret is if this doesn't happen." She tilts her head up to kiss his lips, and he hopes its the logic speaking and not her sexually tense body, "I didn't make this decision lightly, we have too much on the line, too much at risk if this doesn't work out so just know I thought this through, and I'm ready. I want you. I want-" and before she could finish, he pushes inside, so gently, so carefully because it's been awhile for both of them. She knows she's tight, and he knows he's fragile, he doesn't want this to end so soon but it looks as if neither of them have any control over the matter. Though there is little hope for both of them, gone was the foreplay and the teasing, they'll save that for round two because right now all they needed was this physical connection, to have a part of him disappear inside of her and reappear milliseconds later. To be joined as one, to fall into the other and become one. She looks down, and he follows her gaze, and the sight they land on sends him into overdrive. He increases the speed, and both of them should have known from the beginning that this wouldn't be drawn out, they were too worked up, too sexually frustrated and tense for any type of slow and steady.
His lips come down to meet hers just as they reach the precipice of their release, one falling over seconds before the other. He swallows her moan and she inhales his gasp as they work each other through the last moments of release. Jay grinds down and her hands drop to his ass, she pushes down in a desperate need to feel that again. And he abides. And that works them both back up, but this time, they take their time, they move in sync, they switch positions, and for the next hour and a half, they work each other up with hands, with mouths, combined with every ounce of energy one could have at this time of night. And by the time they fall back, heads hitting the pillow, they're out like a light. The sweat, the exhaustion, the muscle fatigue has them both asleep with Erin waking up two hours later, staring up at the ceiling. Her chest rising and falling with each breath she tries to catch. She turns her head to the side, staring into the side of Jay's face, hoping that the sight of him sleeping peacefully will help her settle. She can't fall back asleep no matter how hard she tries because she just keeps thinking about Emma. Is she asleep? Is she giving Kim hell? Does she miss her? Erin thinks about the things she didn't pack, toys that Emma might want to play with, a warm enough outfit for the drop in temperature tomorrow or maybe even her hand mitts, Emma has been scratching her face a lot more lately. Erin glances over at the digital clock on his bedside table, realizing that it only just turned eight o'clock. She'd definitely thought it was later than that, which now has her wondering if she'll make it the whole night sleeping without being under the same roof as her daughter.
And what if Emma does some type of milestone and she misses it? That's it, that seems to be the tip of the iceberg. Erin has to go pick her up. She throws the covers off her legs and tries, but obviously fails to get out of bed without waking him, "You don't have to go." He rolls over onto his stomach, face partially muffled in his pillow but she still hears him mumble, "Stay…please."
"I'm coming back," he frowns when he sees her reaching for her clothes. He pushes himself up to rest against the backboard, she sees the pout on his lips and leans forward to kiss it away, "I promise. I'll be gone for about an hour tops. Then I'll strip down and crawl right back in."
"Do you really have to go?" He asks, and the question now makes him realize he doesn't know exactly where she is going. He assumed she was going to the restroom, then when she started dressing, he thought she was going to her bedroom, but none of that would take an hour.
She turns around to look at him lounging in bed, his hands crossed behind his head and his body on full display to her. She considers his words as her eyes trace the muscular lines of his toned legs, moving up to his hips where the muscles dip into a v, guiding her attention towards the already hardening member that drove her to passion not more than a few hours ago.
"I really do," she tells him, pulling the tight material of her jeans up before buttoning and zipping them, "I need to pick up Emma from Kim's place," she grabs her t-shirt and pulls it on over her head, "but I did have a good time even if maybe this shouldn't have happened so fast."
"I'll go with you, but just so you know I don't regret it, not even a little bit."
"I know," she replies, pulling on her boots, "but you should. It was our first date. It's too much on the line to move so fast. We should have at least waited until the second one to do this."
"I'm glad to hear we'll be having a second one, also," he remarks before raising one eyebrow, his forehead lines crinkling, "I could never regret sleeping with you that first time because if I did then that would mean I regret Emma. And I'll never regret her. Or you. Whether it happened after the first date or the second, I don't regret it happening and I look forward to it happening again…and again, and again, and again for as long as you'll have me."
He must have said something right before she crawled onto his bed, leaning over to press her lips against his, deepening the kiss with the force and pressure of her lips against his. His hand goes to the back of her head, tangling in her uncombed strands, holding her in place. She nibbles against his lip, he smiles and pulls her over top of him. His hands go to the bottom of her shirt, raising it above her head and tossing it across the bedroom. Slow is for suckers apparently, and slow apparently isn't what either of them want so why torture themselves and force it, they've been going slow since his break-up, and honestly since before that. They deserve this, they deserve each other, time spent together, a night away from the baby, a moment of pure, unadulterated bliss, reaching climax after climax, moving from position to position until both of them are spent and their muscles are too weak to move, and not to mention drive.
It looks like Emma will be staying with Kim just a little longer. And it looks like Abby found what -or better yet who- will be her outlet for this pent up anger.
Milah finally submitted her last note. She'd decided to stay later to catch up on notes so billing can submit them to insurance tomorrow. And she hates bringing work home with her. She shuts down her desktop, and rises to her feet, stretching her arms above her head and rolling her neck to work the cramp out of it. She's the last one here, which isn't odd considering she owns the practice and tends to be the first one in and the last one out, unless her kid had a basketball game then she made sure she left early enough to get there to get a good seat. Milah grabs her purse, searching through to ensure she has everything before grabbing her phone and texting her son.
He doesn't respond back right away which tells her he's most likely playing video games. His phone is usually glued to his hand unless he's on the game. She figures he ordered food since she cash-apped him a few hours earlier to order delivery because she would be home late. She throws the strap of her purse over her shoulder and walks out of her office. She pokes her head into each office space, ensuring no one else was there before turning off the last light in the lobby then locking the main door to the building behind her. It's a pretty chilly night considering it's not winter, which makes her worried for what the change of seasons will bring to her and the other residents of Chicago.
It's early October so the fall temperatures border cold. She ties the strap of her jacket tighter around her waist, buries her face into her scarf and shoves her gloved hands into her pockets as she does a light jog to her car. She gets there in a matter of seconds, and grabs the key fob to unlock her car door, "Milah?" A familiar voice calls her name just as she opens the driver's side door. It startles her, causing her purse to drop from her hands and some of the contents to spill out. Milah gasps, clenches her heart and then turns around to see the friendly face of one of her many clients. "Alice," she expresses in relief, "what are you doing out here this late? It's almost ten. We don't meet again until next week."
"I really need to talk to you."
Milah shakes her head, absolutely confused because Alice isn't one of her clients with a high probability of falling into a crisis, "I'm off from work. If it's an emergency, I need you to call 911. Are you in any danger to yourself? Do you intend to harm or kill yourself?
"No, no, of course not," Alice shakes her head, immediately dismissing that line of thought.
"Alice-"
"My name isn't Alice," Abby snaps. She's frustrated. She's angry. And the raise in her voice causes Milah to take a step back. The woman standing before her doesn't act and doesn't look like the Alice she has been working with, she sounds like her, her mannerisms are similar but overall this person before her isn't the same. Yet she is. Yet she tells her that Alice isn't her name. It's pretty late so Milah chalks her confusion up to the time of night.
"Alice, it's late…"
"My name is NOT Alice. It's Abby."
Milah shuts up. She silently blinks and grows concerned that she's outside alone with a client obviously experiencing some type of psychosis. She's absolutely confused and if it wasn't so late then maybe she'd have a better chance at following along. Milah sets her purse down on her seat, the contents of it still spilled around her feet, then turns to give Abby her undivided attention, "If your name isn't Alice, why'd you tell me it was?" She crosses her arms as her client steps closer.
"...because I knew if I told you the truth then you'd tell him and probably call the police."
"Tell him?" Milah probes for further clarity. She's in the business of following along but if she is being honest, she's absolutely confused and lost in the midst of this conversation.
"You ruined everything," Abby tearfully expresses, slowly and carefully pulling out a knife, the blade of it sparkling under the streetlight, "there is no going back now. They're together," she says through gritted teeth, "I saw it with my own eyes, on camera." Abby lunges forward to purposely startle her, knife at the ready and Milah jumps back, holding her hands out in an effort to maintain space.
"Abby," her client comes to a halt, "something obviously happened, and I'd be happy to schedule you in first thing tomorrow morning if you'd like, but in the meantime I can get you help, I can call for an ambulance to take you to a hospital so you can be evaluated, it'll make you feel better. Trust me."
"Trust you? They had a date because of you," Abby says, moving along in her story as if her therapist didn't even speak, "he cooked for her, they ate together, they laughed, the way he looked at her Milah, I can't compete with that and it's all your fault, you did this," Abby takes a step forward and naturally Milah takes a step back, "you got in his head, you made him think he doesn't need me, that he's better than me, that he deserves more than me. It's your fault," Abby presses her finger into Milah's chest, "that they're sleeping together again. You suck at your job! You fucking suck!"
"Alice-" Milah briefly forgets that isn't her name.
"My name isn't Alice, stop calling me that! I already told you it's fake and you're not listening to me! I only used it so you wouldn't tell Jay about me coming to see you!"
"Tell Jay?" Milah repeats, momentarily blacking out as she flashes through the file of names in her head. Abby gives her time to connect the pieces, and by the time it registers, Abby can tell by the sudden shift in Milah's expression. Her therapist, as lovely as a woman as she is, turns frantic, quickly turning around to reach into her car, desperately grabbing her bag in search of her phone, only to realize and remember that it's on the ground, near her feet. But just before she can reach down to grab it, she feels something sharp and painful. She screams, and Abby's hand goes over her mouth to muffle the sound before the knife is pulled out and shoved back in.
Tears are brought to Milah's eyes, the pain at an immense high, the burning sensation engulfing her nerves and when Abby twists the knife and yanks it out, Milah wishes the pain would end. She falls to the ground and Abby steps down on her back, "You should have stayed out of our relationship. You shouldn't have convinced him to leave me. This isn't my fault, it's yours. I didn't want to do this. This isn't me, it's not like me, but you wouldn't stop. You should have left us alone." Abby raises her foot and brings it down, once and then twice until Milah's fidgeting and groaning stops. Then when she feels the strokes of angry flames still simmering within her, she raises her foot again, using the underside of her boot to strike down onto Milah's face until she's unrecognizable, until all of the anger inside of her is gone. Abby is out of breath, the force of the stomping has her panting, "Oh my gosh," she gasps in disbelief at what she just did. Gone was the anger and in its place was fear. She backs away in a frightened panic and turns to run, taking off down the road, turning the block to where her car was parked in a dark alleyway to obscure her from anyone potentially looking out their window.