The Arrangement Anthology 1(48)

Wearing nothing but a robe, I turn and lean against the closet doors. I slide to the floor and hold my face in my hands. Every second I stay in this room, I feel the walls closing in around me. There’s no air. I’m trapped. I tug at my hair, angry. I love him. How could I be so stupid? I close my eyes and sit there until the panic recedes. I can leave the room, but I have no clothes. I won’t get very far. The hotel staff will stop me before the elevator reaches the ground floor.

My phone rings. It takes me a second to recognize the ringtone. It’s Mel. I dart across the room, grabbing my purse and dumping it out on the floor. I answer just before voicemail picks up. “Mel!”

“Avery girl, are you all right? Shit, you don’t sound all right. Say something. Let me hear you talk.” Mel shushes someone in the background.

My voice is shaky. “I thought you were at work.”

“I was. I’m done. Guy was working on speedy issues.” Someone starts laughing in the background.

I recognize that chuckle. “Is that Marty?” Why are they hanging out together? They hate each other.

“Yeah, honey. Now tell me what that piece of shit did to you. Are you hurt? I’ll kick his white ass myself—”

I cut her off. “No, I’m not hurt. He got mad and left. I wanted to go after him,” I lie. I can’t tell her that I was going to leave the building. “But he locked the closet. I can’t get my clothes.”

“What’d she say?” I hear Marty asking in the background.

“Shut your face, Showboat. I’ll tell you later,” Mel snaps at Marty. Then she says to me, “This is easy. Go look at the door.” I walk over there, unsure of what she wants me to do. “What kind is it? Single door? Double doors?”

“Double. They close in the center. There’s no doorjamb down the middle. The handle is the lever kind.”

“Yeah, cuz that matters,” she says sarcastically. “Haven’t you ever busted into a room before?”

I stare at the phone like that’s the stupidest question ever. When I put it back to my ear, I say, “My roommate locks me out on a regular basis. What do you think?”

“Don’t get fresh with me. I don’t like to put my nose in other people’s business. How was I…?” Marty is cracking up in the background. He’s mocking her because Mel is always in everybody’s business. When she speaks again, her tone is terse. She doesn’t comment on Marty’s giggles. “Okay, Avery, this one is easy. Look between the doors, down by the lock. If you’re lucky, the lock is in there backwards and you just have to shove a credit card through the middle. If not, you have to work it in from behind.”

“How do I know which way will work?” I look at it, not sure what I’m supposed to see.

“The locking part is flat. If it’s in backwards, the part facing you is curved. What do you see?”

Peering through the slat in the door, I can see a gold piece of metal. “It’s curved.”

“Good. Pop that baby open.” Mel waits while I dig through my purse and grab my debit card. I push it into the space between the two doors and it slips right in. I pull the door and it opens.

“It worked!” I say surprised. I glance at the card. Damn. That was easy.

“Of course it worked. You think I don’t know stuff? Well, I do.”

Marty sings in the background, “She does!”

“Shut up, showtunes,” Mel snaps at Marty. “Listen Avery, if that messed up fucker hurts you, crush the button on your bracelet.”

“It’s not like that,” I say, as I look through the closet for my dress. Sean’s coat is hanging up next to my dress. I bump the hanger and his coat falls to the floor. Something falls out of the pocket. I pick it up and look at a crumpled ball of paper. “Listen, thanks for helping. I should be home for a little bit tomorrow. I’ll catch up with you guys then.” I hang up the phone.

Something about the paper seems weird. Sean has this really nice coat, but has garbage in the pockets? I think it’s strange, so I stick my hands into both pockets. They’re empty. I didn’t think he was the kind of guy to shove nasty old stuff in his coat. He’s too highbrow for that.

I look at the balled up paper again and open it. In that moment, everything changes. I stare blankly at the note, not fathoming the depths of what’s happening. People are like this. People do one thing and say another. It fits with Sean’s words when he walked out. He thought he could do it, but he can’t. Not this time. Something changed. Something’s different, and now I know what it is.