Lisa looked around. The orange dark sky smelt of jasmine, she thought. He was still there, although being held back by friends. Friends? No. Acquaintances. Customers, though loyal. He had drunk too much. What was new there?

"Give me some coke!" He demanded. He should know she had none. They had been in a relationship for three years and he knew she didn't do illegal drugs. Above, behind the battered door covered in looping names of graffiti artists, a bass line pumped and people screeched onto the breeze of the night. Laughter filtered through the heavy air and she craved the safety of the peeling paint, exhausted chairs and smoke stained drapes. She rapped the door again.

A boy of no more than eighteen opened the door , choking as he did so. His blond dreadlocks swept across his pink-tinted cheeks as he hailed her in with a gesteure. From his mouth, a plume of marijuana smoke. She fairly fled the doorway and sought refuge with anyone, anyone she knew.

Mary danced, solitary to a heavy -bass trip hop line, swaying her hips as though entranced. Swaying her hips, entranced. Her closed eyes slanted, the shadow purple and alluring against her feline cheek bones. Lisa touched her arm, tentative in disturbing the reverie. But Mary's eyes flew open in a split second and her face, formerly drawn and meditative, broke into a smile.  

"Alright, sweetness? Man, I'm so ^%@%ed... You ok?"

Lisa had tried to keep the fear from her eyes, but apparently failed. She embraced Mary. She knew Mary wouldn't mind. This was because she knew in  a second, Flash had not closed the door behind her. And he was on his way upstairs.

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Author guidance for This story

Lisa is twenty five, and at the end of an abusive relationship. She is intelligent, and educated, who once upon a time fell in - love? sympathy?- with a 'bad boy'. She has a job but hops from party to party, knowing that she must, at some point, grow up. But how? This story is about how we confront real life, get to now the adult in us, and struggle to be strong, wise, and mature when inside we're terrified.

updated Apr 27 '11 by tRiPz85