Free Stuck with Him by Ellen Dominick Page B

world, not whatever promises Matt had for me. In the back of the cab, he was still holding out his hand, waiting for me to grab it.
    "You can still change your mind," he said.
    "Nope, sorry," I said.  
    I slammed the door shut. The cab sat there for a moment, and then started to pull away. Matt didn't take his eyes off of me until they were so far off in the distance that I couldn't make them out amongst the sea of other cabs.
    "I've made up my mind," I said, half to him and half to myself.
    Then I was alone. I walked up to the door of my apartment building and a strong smell of urine hit my nose. I recoiled. Gross!
    I was definitely back in the real world. After being trapped in the library, the paparazzi, and everything, it felt strange. My block looked like it always had. As if nothing had happened, and I was just coming back from work like any other day.
    Yes, that's right. I was just going to go back to my life and pretend like this never happened. It was just another day at the library. That's all.
    The old gate creaked as I opened it and made my way upstairs. One of my neighbors was already having dinner, and the smell of spices seeped into the hallway. As I passed their doors, I could hear TVs blaring. Mrs. Richards was watching her telenovelas.
    Finally, I got to my apartment. I opened the door and was hit by the smell of grease and beer. Before I could take two steps, another body ran into mine.
    "Penny!"
    Kiara wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into deep hug.
    "You're okay!" she yelled. Her tears wet the side of my face. Then she pulled back and punched my arm. "What's wrong with you? Why didn't you come back early like everyone else? I couldn't get through to your phone! I even called Linda and she said you decided to stay late. Do you know how worried I was? I even ordered Chinese for you!"
    I looked over to the kitchen table and saw three half-eaten boxes of cold noodles and chicken. Next to them were two bottles of beer, one closed, and the other open and nearly finished. I turned back to Kiara and raised an eyebrow.
    "What?" she asked. "I got hungry!"
    Kiara pulled me inside and slammed the door behind me. The TV was channeled to a "news" station. The headline read, "Who Was the Mystery Woman Found with Matthieu Eamon Dufour?" I grabbed the remote and turned off the TV.
    "What happened with you and that guy?"
    "Nothing. I don't want to talk about it," I said. I took off my coat and flung it on the couch.
    "Nothing?" Kiara asked. "There is no way I would be stuck with that guy and nothing would happen. He's fine ."
    I clenched my jaw. Couldn't she just get off the topic?
    "Yeah well, he's not my type." I grabbed the bottle of beer and took a long swig before plopping onto the couch.
    "Really? A super hot billionaire is not your type? Right ."
    I turned the TV back on, changed the channel, and raised the volume until I couldn't hear Kiara's chattering anymore.
    "Look," I said, "there's nothing to say. So let's just change the subject."
    Kiara stormed over and stood in front of the television. She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.
    "Penny, you're going to tell me everything that happened, or you're going to have a fun time explaining to your mom that ever since you left home you started drinking, partying, and getting up to strange antics with white boys in libraries. "
    My eyes opened wide. "You wouldn't."
    "Try me," Kiara said.
    I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wasn't joking, and I didn't have the energy to deal with my strict mom yelling at me over the phone line. Kiara won this war.
    I slumped forward, burying my face in my hands.
    "Fine…"
    That was all it took. Kiara jumped into the couch next to me.
    "So, so, what was he like?" she asked.
    "He was…" I searched for a word that didn't give away too much. "Nice."
    Kiara jabbed me in the side. "Nice? Just nice?"
    "Okay, maybe not nice. He was cute. He was… Hot. Okay? He was hot!"
    Kiara smiled. "Now that's more like it!"
    "He