Twenty hours. 

For twenty hours after sending the email, I couldn't sleep. I couldn't relax. I couldn't stop berating myself for being so forward with Neil.

I'd received nothing from him. Not even the tiniest peep.

Though I didn't pretend to myself I was the center of his universe--especially with a pending divorce, a busy job, an actual life, and a kid in college--I'd hoped to hear something. Anything. 

Even "Curse you, tiny toilet, and the turd of a message you sent me."

A rude rejection would suit me better than waiting on tenterhooks.

My heart thudded against my ribs as I paced in the living room. Once again, I read my email, overanalyzing every word I'd written. Wondering where I'd gone wrong.

Should I backtrack in advance?

No, that's crazy. Just be patient and wait.

"I know exactly what you need." Emily plopped down on our much-loved, fraying sofa. "A girl's day out. You and me. We'll go to the movies like we used to do."

"That's a great idea," I said in a wary tone, "but my finances are a bit tight right now."

"I know." She wrapped her arm around my shoulders after I'd sat down beside her. "Which is why it'll be my treat."

"Oh, no! I couldn't possibly--"

"Look, I know you're paranoid about being like he-who-must-not-be-named."

"Voldemort?"

Emily grinned. "You could never be like The Leech, all right? Now let me be a friend and distract you from the whole Neil situation."

"Are you sure?"

"We both need to get out of this house for a reason other than work," she insisted. "How about that new DC flick? Birds of Prey?"

"The Fantabulous Emancipation of A Sociopathic Donut Smart Enough to Know Better?" I scrunched my nose. "Hard pass, thanks."

"You always say that about superhero movies," she groaned. "Then you watch it and tell me in this super-shocked voice how awesome it was."

"Marvel, maybe. But DC hasn't made anything decent since Nolan's trilogy."

Emily snorted. "You think all modern superhero movies are like those bad nineties flicks."

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Numbnuts," I sang, "Dummies in a half-shell."

"Turtle power!"

We chortled before Emily conceded defeat. "All right, all right, no Birds of Prey. But how about The Invisible Man?"

I pursed my lips. "Isn't that horror?"

"Yeah, but it's your kind of horror," she said, "like...more psychological thriller-y."

"Thriller-y?"

"I ain't on the clock. Stop crapping on my mastery of English." She paused in thought. "Or lack thereof."

"My bad."

"Look, it's got all the suspense of a thriller and all the emancipation of Harley Quinn without all the bullshit superhero crap."

"Sold."

"Woo-hoo!" Emily dug her phone out of her pocket. "I'll book tickets."

"Wait a sec!"

She furrowed her brow. "What's up?"

"Is it really dumb to be going to the cinema with everything going on?"

"Nah," said Emily. "COVID might be a bit of a problem on the continent right now, but it isn't as bad as SARS or MERS."

I hummed in thought.

"Our pre-sessional classes ended before it spread," she added. "All of my other clients have lived here for over two months. What about you?"

"Yeah, same." I scrolled through the BBC headlines. "Still, they reported that one dude in Essex had caught it today. Even though he hadn't traveled to any of the hot spots."

Emily shrugged. "So far COVID isn't any worse than a bad flu."

"Maybe not here, but look what's been happening in China," I insisted, showing her a scary graph of an evolving crazy town. "Thousands of cases. Almost three thousand deaths."

"You have to look at extra deaths," said Emily. "There are bad flu seasons that kill thousands of vulnerable people every year that no one talks about 'cause we take it in stride."

"Valid point, I suppose." I sighed. "China does have a huge population. We should research extra deaths later...if there are any reliable stats."

"Look, we've had a long week." Emily gave me a pointed look. "And a very exciting Friday. Let's relax. Have fun. The only virus you need to be worried about is Dude Obsession."

"Dude Obsession?"

"Yeah, quit worrying about Neil." She showed me the map for the cinema and asked me which seats I preferred. I chose two back row center seats. "He's great, but let it go. Be patient and he'll get back to you. I promise."

"What if I was too forward?"

"Neil likes it when people are direct," she replied in a firm tone. "I'm sure he has a very good reason for not answering you yet."

"But--"

"Dude, we're about to watch Elisabeth Moss being her usual kick-ass self." Emily nudged me in the ribs. "Ask yourself what would the protagonist of The Handmaid's Tale do?"

"She wouldn't give a shit about a guy and would enjoy the movie instead."

"Bingo."

"I can't believe it," I growled under my breath. "I dumped one guy only to start obsessing about another one. Jesus, I'm worse than Harley Quinn."

Emily grinned. "Look, there's nothing wrong with being smitten with an amazing guy. Just remember Neil wouldn't leave ya hanging without a reason. By which I mean: chill."

Chill. There's that word again.

I wouldn't know how to chill if she dumped me in a freezer and locked the door.

In fact, I might melt the ice. All by myself. Thanks to my lack o' chill.

After reading the synopsis, which reminded me of my former situation hyped up on several class-A drugs, I said, "If this movie doesn't cure me of Dude Obsession, I don't know what will."

We both giggled.

"I'm assuming we're gonna get a giant bucket of popcorn," said Emily. "Oh! Oh! And those awesome ice blasts. Let's mix the raspberry and cherry flavors."

"Are you sure that isn't too much?"

"Nah! It'll be a celebration!"

"Celebration? Of what?"

"Yeah," drawled Emily in a really bad rendition of a Brooklyn accent. "Moving on now that you kicked your own Mistah Jay to the curb."

"Mr. T?"

"Nah, only one dude gets called Mr. T, and The Leech will never get that privilege."

"Fair enough," I said, "but 'The Leech' sounds like the name of a supervillain."

"The Leech was a supervillain," retorted Emily. "And his superpower was extreme laziness. Enough to qualify as a potential victim for Sloth in the movie Seven."

"Daaaaamn."

"Seriously. I'd pay good money to watch that happen to The Leech."

As always, Emily was right. A movie was just what the doctor had ordered.

During the entire movie my eyes remained glued to the screen. It gave me an odd vicarious thrill to watch an abused woman move on and get revenge even though nothing so awful had ever happened to me. The two hours flew by, and I all but forgot about Neil.

After we left the screening, I turned on my phone in the restroom and got a gmail notification.

My heart skipped a beat.

___

Word count: 1,082
Total word count: 12,899/20,000