“Is it true that you came to her apartment last night to guard her door?” she asks.
I cough, embarrassed.
“Allison told you about that?” I ask.
“We tell each other everything,” Jacqui says.
That means Jacqui also knows about our night together after Jesse assaulted her. I sigh and grimace at the thought.
“Right,” I say. “Well…I was a little drunk. And part of me believed what Jesse was saying.”
“Yeah, but it ended up being true, right?” Jacqui points out. “Jesse was there last night, even if he didn’t go inside. That means he knows where Allison lives.” She scowls. “I’d like to know how he found out.” Then she sighs. “Not that it would be too hard; Allison didn’t go very far. It’s important to her that she isn’t very far from the college, because it makes commuting difficult. We sort of hoped that Jesse would be too stupid to realize that she lived so close, but it looks like that backfired.”
“At this point, it might just be safer for Allison to get another apartment,” I say.
“Right!” Jacqui says, grinning. “That’s what I said to her. But she’s stubborn, alright. She says that it doesn’t make much sense for her to move when he hasn’t done anything worse than spray-paint her apartment building.”
“He did do worse,” I point out with a frown. “He grabbed her. Who knows what might have happened if I hadn’t walked past.”
Jacqui blinks, looking at me intently. I feel like I’m being x-rayed, and I shuffle uncomfortably. Suddenly, Jacqui grins.
“I like you,” she declares. “You know what? Allison is a little blinded; even though her relationship with Jesse sucked, and he was a violent shit that needed to be put in jail a long time ago, he never actually touched her, so she believes that it’ll be the same now. I don’t know why Jesse decided that his girlfriend was off-limits, I was only grateful for it. But Allison isn’t his girlfriend anymore, and she’s just the same as everyone else, now. On top of that, Jesse took their break-up hard and, from what she told me about the other night, he’s desperate for them to get back together. All that added up tells me that Allison doesn’t really know that she’s playing with fire right now.”
“And she’s too convinced that Jesse is a foolish coward to see otherwise,” I say with a sigh. “But…” I run a hand down my face. “There was a look in Jesse’s eyes. It was…crazy.” I frown. “Did he love Allison?”
“God, no,” Jacqui snorts, crossing her arms. “Fact is, they only stayed together so long because they were used to it. No, I think it’s more like he believes Allison is his, like a possession. That’s why he’s gone a bit insane; because he wasn’t prepared to have her leave him. Also, she did make his life a little better; she cooked and cleaned for him, and she bailed him out when he got in serious trouble, and the money she makes at her part-time job kept them afloat enough that he felt like he didn’t have to get a job.”
I grimace. “He sounds like a Grade A asshole.”
“Exactly,” Jacqui says, pleased. “Eventually, Allison had had enough and she left him, but she stuck it out way longer than she should have.” She snorts. “Not that Allison didn’t give as good as she got; that girl can curse like a sailor when she gets going, and she wasn’t shy about pulling her punches, either.”
I try to imagine this. The Allison I know, so far, is stubborn and independent. While it surprises me to know that she hung around in a shitty relationship for a very long time, it also doesn’t surprise me that she would have stood up for herself in that relationship until it ended on her terms.
“Either way, the two of them were terrible for each other and I threw her a party when she finally decided to leave him,” Jacqui says with a shrug. “If Jesse was smart, he’d realize that this was the best thing for them both. But he just wants her to come back and look after him again.” She rolls her eyes. “He never was very smart, anyway.”
“I’ll say,” I mutter. “Well, I still don’t trust him, and I trust him even less after all that. I’m going to keep watch on Allison’s apartment. If I keep watch outside…”
“You’re going to stalk her?” Jacqui asks, raising an eyebrow.
“What… No!” I say, flustered at the accusation.
“Then go up to her front door and tell her what you’re worried about her,” Jacqui says, shaking her head. “ Don’t just hang around outside and watch her window. Talk to her. Jesse was a coward. She doesn’t need you to be one, too.”
I blink at the comparison and she walks away.
“For the record, Allison and I aren’t together,” I call after her.
She winks at me over her shoulder.
“Yet,” she says.
Then, with a wave, she disappears around the corner. I stare at the space where she had been, bemused. Jacqui thought that Allison and I should start a relationship? I snort. I barely know Allison, and she barely knows me. It wouldn’t work.
Shaking my head, I turn my bike on and leave the campus. If I’m lucky, I’ll get there before Allison does on the far slower bus.
When I reach Allison’s apartment, I stow my bike in the alley beside it, locking it up tight. I don’t want Allison to see it if it’s really causing her that many problems. Then I make my way to the front of the apartment.
Al