Unwrapping Holly

“Technically,” Malcolm said matter-of-factly, “it’s not your car. It’s a lea—”

“I know what it is!” I yelled… and then suddenly stopped. No less than ten people were staring back at us now. I knew most of them just from hanging out on Malcolm’s floor. Back when we were dating, I’d come here a lot.

“What?” I sneered at Glenn. “You need something?”

Glenn shook his head silently, all at once looking very uncomfortable as he sat back down in his cubicle. I had to keep myself from bursting out laughing, it really was that comical.

“You know I would’ve paid out the lease,” I explained to Malcolm… and the rest of the eighteenth floor. “You know I would never have screwed you on that. But I at least thought you took it back to turn it in. In your own strange, militant little way, I figured it would bug the shit out of you until it was back at the dealership. But now—”

I was scanning the room, going from person to person, head to head. My gaze stopped dead on a young blonde girl in a very tight pony-tail.

All the color drained from her face.

“Her?” I swore in utter disbelief. “She has my car?”

“Like I said, it’s not your car,” said Malcolm. He reached out for me, as if to usher me back toward the elevators. “Come with me Holly, I can explain.”

“Fuck your explanation,”

I seethed. My eyes stared daggers at the girl in the ponytail. The only thing keeping me from charging like a bull was the fact she looked utterly terrified. There was zero challenge in her eyes. Hell, she could barely keep from looking at the floor.

“You have any idea how cold it gets waiting for the bus, Malcolm?”

My voice broke. Suddenly there was a lump forming in my throat.

Uh oh.

“The wind stings, Malcolm. No matter how much you bundle up, one cold snap and you’re standing there shivering, your hands in your pockets and—”

I felt it coming on fast. The choking up with emotion, the crying, the eventual red eyes. I didn’t want any of it. Especially not now, not in front of these people.

“You know what? Fuck it.”

I pulled out my keychain and slid the little Volkswagen fob off it — the one Malcolm had given me on my birthday, along with the lease. It shined cold and silver in my hand.

“Here…”

I tossed it through the air, thinking the blonde with the ponytail would catch it. Instead she ducked. It flashed brightly beneath the fluorescents, sailing past her head, clattering loudly on the desk behind her.

God, I looked like such an asshole.

Malcolm opened his mouth to say something else, but I turned away. I was back at the elevators, choking back tears. Pressing the down button frantically, as if the more I pushed it the faster the car would arrive.

My car. He gave away my fucking car!

The glowing button went double as my eyes glassed with tears.

To a perfect stranger!

I shuddered, feeling the icy stare of a hundred judgmental eyes against my back.

To some girl…

Somehow I held it together until the doors closed behind me.

Twenty

HOLLY