“Well, that explains why Prince Charming pulled a disappearing act,” said Jess flatly. The two women were now sat in a cramped staff cloakroom. Though the room was clean enough, the filament bulb above them hummed in a high-pitched key and the area smelled strongly of cleaning solutions. A tattered poster of the World War Two ‘We can do it!’ woman was taped to the back of the door in front of them. At some point, someone had given her a scribbled eye-patch over one eye and doodled a cigarette hanging from her pouting lips.
Alice dragged her focus away from the image and frowned. “What do you mean?” she asked cautiously.
Jess’s head was resting on the wall behind the bench they sat on as she stared up at the ceiling. She listlessly turned her head towards Alice and explained further. “He was probably hoping that you would be an alibi or something. Or maybe he thought that the guy from earlier would follow him home, so he needed to go to someone else’s.”
Silently, Alice considered this. It made sense after what had just occurred but then an uncomfortable thought arose, does that mean he knows where I live? She chewed her lip pensively.
“I think I should stay with you tonight,” Jess stated, unbidden. Her eyes had returned to staring blankly at the ceiling.
“What about your mum?” asked Alice. Jess’s home life had always been… complicated.
Jess wrinkled her nose. “Don’t worry about it.”
“You sure?” asked Alice.
“Yeah. She’s, well, it’s just been one of those weeks,” she answered vaguely.
Alice smiled sympathetically, taking Jess’s hand in hers. Jess smiled weakly in return, glancing quickly in her direction but avoiding making eye contact with Alice.
“Just us alley cats then,” Alice stated softly.
Another few minutes passed as they sat together in the stillness of the whitewashed room before the door creaked open slowly. The shorter of the two men, who had since introduced himself as Mark, poked his head through the opening. He had a kind face with just a hint of stubble, medium brown hair with brown eyes to match.
“You two alright?” he asked conversationally. Most of the concern seemed to have left his voice but a hint remained. Jess was still staring at the ceiling above, so Alice replied for the pair of them instead. She gave a quick nod before adding a hasty, “thanks.”
“Davey’s called a taxi for you. They’re going to let us know when it arrives so we can walk you out,” he informed them. “They should come quick with him being a bouncer. He’s got all the contacts, you know?” Alice could tell that he was trying to keep the tone light and good humoured. Not just a pretty face, rose the thought in her mind.
“Honestly. You’ve done more than enough to help. You don’t have to go through all this trouble for us,” she told him meekly. Jess might deserve it, but I don’t.
Alice was surprised when Mark flushed slightly, lowering his eyes in embarrassment. He still hadn’t fully entered the room either. Instead, he hovered awkwardly at the door as though worried about intruding.
“Yeah, well. That arsehole has caused you enough problems tonight. I’ll feel better knowing that you get home safe,” he replied earnestly. “If it makes you feel guilty, just say I’m doing this out of selfishness. I’ll be proper cranky if I’m up for the rest of the night worrying.” He flashed her a mischievous wink and disappeared from the door before she could argue.
Perhaps another 10 minutes passed before Mark appeared again. They were informed that the taxi had arrived and, despite offering multiple times, Alice firmly refused his offer to pay for their ride home.
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When they were both seated in the back of the taxi and Jess was explaining their destination to the driver, Mark apologetically held out a scrap of paper towards Alice.
“I’m not trying to give the wrong impression or anything. It’s just that… you know. If you need to go to the police or anything, I’m happy to give a statement as a witness,” he informed her before giving her a wry smile.
After a moment’s consideration, Alice accepted the offering. “Thank you,” she said simply before he closed the car door for her and thumped his fist twice on the roof of the car to indicate to the driver that they were ready to go.
The drive itself was a sombre one and the endless stream of ballads of unrequited love playing through the speakers did nothing to lift the mood. Alice had never been more thankful to escape from Sinead O’Connor singing ‘nothing compares to you’ as hastily shoved notes into the driver’s hands and staggered out of the car door in her high heels. Given the look of pure relief, it seemed clear that Jess felt the same way as she called out her thanks as the driver pulled away from the curb to leave them alone in front of the house. Alice watched it drive away before casting suspicious glances up and down the street.
“You’re still worried about that guy?” Jess asked, though her tone indicated that she already knew the answer.
“Just gives me creeps that he’s out there and I don’t even know who he is,” she answered honestly. A tingle ran down her spine and she shivered visibly, both from the thought and the chill night air.
“Yeah, I get that,” Jess replied, wrinkling her nose with displeasure. “Come on, unlock the door before your curtain twitcher neighbours start complaining about us youth.”
Alice led the way up the garden path towards the door and, after a concerted effort to locate her keys in her handbag, opened the door. She had barely stepped over the threshold when Jess nudged past, kicked off her heels and began to run upstairs.
“Is it ok if I borrow some of your pyjamas for the night?” she called down.
Alice’s heart was in her throat, and she went rigid with worry. She hadn’t expected Jess to head straight upstairs. What could she say at this point without alarming her friend?
Footsteps padded down several steps.
“Did you hear me?” Jess’s voice rang through the house again, louder this time.
“Keep it down Jess! I have neighbours,” Alice chided, hoping that she could mask the worry of Jess’s location as concern for the noise.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Also, your neighbours are deaf old goats anyway,” Jess called back.
Alice staggered back against the wall as she listened to the footfalls climbing the stairs. Panic threatened to overtake her. It’ll be ok. It’ll be ok. It’ll be ok, she repeated in her head. Praying that the mantra would hold true. Jess had been in her bedroom in the past, both alone and when it was dark, but each time shook her to the core.
“Why are all your pyjamas fleece material? Central heating is a thing,” Jess called down the stairs. Alice breathed a heavy sigh of relief. All was fine. They were both safe.
With heavy footfalls, Jess plodded back downstairs. Alice was surprised to see that her friend had opted to wear some of her old gym gear instead and was sporting a tank top tee with cotton shorts. Even more surprisingly, she wore Alice’s blanket draped around her shoulders. Jess must have noted her confusion as she smirked.
“You know we can’t have a sleep over without old faithful here,” Jess explained. “I know you still sleep with it. It was on your bed.”
Still drunk with relief, Alice said nothing. Instead, she watched Jess pad into the living room before quietly heading upstairs to change. Regardless of Jess’s jibes, the warm caress of fleeces was a welcome feeling that helped banish some of her anxiety.
When she returned downstairs, Jess was curled on one end of the small sofa in the living room. The TV was flickering from image to image as she scrolled through the available movies with a disgruntled look on her face.
“We could watch a romcom?” suggested Alice as she settled onto the sofa next to her friend.
“If I wanted a slow, painful death then I’d have gone home with the prick at the club,” she replied drily, without her eyes leaving the screen.
“So… Just someone else’s slow, painful death?” queried Alice as horror movie after horror movie swept before them.
That caught Jess’s attention and she turned to flash Alice a grin. “Everyone loves a classy horror!”
Alice glanced again at the TV’s current movie offering before raising an eyebrow.
“Is Zombeavers a classy horror?”
“Classy enough,” Jess said, snickering. She started the film before shuffling along the couch to sit closer to Alice. “What’re you doing about your work tomorrow?”
Good question, thought Alice numbly before coming to a quick decision.
“Sick day. I’ll call in the morning,” she stated simply as the pre-film credits began to roll, silencing them both.