Free My Side by Tara Brown Page A

first semester. We’d known
each other for years; we were both in track together in middle school. One
month into the relationship, he proposed.”
    He made a face.
    It made me laugh,
“Right. Who does that?”
    He winked, “Britney
Spears’ boyfriends.”
    A smile crossed my
lips, relaxing me, “Right, but I don’t have millions of dollars or her sex
appeal.” He opened his mouth but I put a hand up, “I wasn’t fishing for a
compliment.” I ran my fingers through my hair, realizing how huge it actually
was. “Anyway, I broke it off because he freaked me out. It was my third
boyfriend who sucked. My first one, in tenth grade, cheated on me the entire
time. My second one, in twelfth grade, was a drug addict and stole my mom’s
tennis bracelet because his parents cut him off.”
    He snorted. I flashed
him a look. He nodded “Continue.”
    I sighed, “I broke up
with him and his dad started phoning me. They were threatening me, saying I had
to get back together with him. He was showing up at my classes. It was bad. So
I recorded the calls and got a restraining order. He and his family weren’t
allowed on the campus anymore. I moved back home with my parents and finished
my degree.”
    His eyes narrowed,
“Now, for the part you’re not telling me.”
    I sneered, “That’s
it.”
    He shook his head, “I
can tell you’re lying.”
    My throat was dry, thankfully the waitress brought the coffees. I dumped
cream in and swirled it. The white slowly dissolved in a twirling pattern,
until it blended completely.
    “I need to know.”
    “Okay,” I nodded. “He
attacked me one night. It was about five months after the ‘Do Not Contact’
order was in place. He hit me over the head with something and pulled me down
between two buildings. He was shaking me and hitting me, when a girl came. She
was walking by, minding her own business.” This was the part of the story that
felt like a demon crawling around inside of me with sharp talons. I took a
breath and a sip of coffee. “She attacked him. I think I blacked out but when I
came too, he was beating her. She had tried to help me, but he turned on her. I
grabbed a huge rock and smashed him in the head with it. We called the police
and cried holding each other. It was insanely frightening.”
    His hands slipped over
mine again. They trembled a bit, “Were you guys badly hurt?”
    I nodded once. “Her,
more so than me. She ended up so bruised and beaten. I was better off than her. I visited her in the hospital , she
looked so bad . I felt sick.”
    “If she hadn’t come
along…”
    “Yup.” The word came
out strong. I knew it was my self-defense kicking in, shutting down the fear I
was remembering.
    “Where is he now?” The
question was growled.
    I pulled my hand back
and drank with my left hand. My right needed to touch the mace. “Prison.”
    “Does he know you’re
here?”
    I shook my head, “No.”
I looked up, “He’s in jail for another year. This is my fresh start.”
    I hated the look on
his face.
    Our plates were
dropped down in front of us. I looked at the food and laughed, “Eggs Benedict?”
      My favorite food ever… Could he have
guessed that?
    He nodded, “It’s my
favorite. This place makes their own hollandaise and the home fries are dirty
good.”
    I smiled at the surly
waitress, “Thanks.”
    She cocked an eyebrow
and left.
    The first bite was
amazing. My poor stomach wasn’t sure though. I ate slowly, in case it was going
to come back up, which resulted in him stealing my home fries.
    He switched off the
weird, tense look and chatted between bites, “My mom always made eggs Benedict
for Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving. It’s the only time we were allowed to
have it. My dad has cholesterol issues.”
    I laughed, “My dad is
the opposite. He would never eat something like this. He runs marathons. That’s
how I picked Boston. We came here in 2008 for him to run the marathon, before
the divorce.”
    He cocked an