The Art of Life (82 page)

               
We dance for a while.
 
It has a different feel to it this time.
 
A little while later, a really heated song
comes on.
 
I mean, really heated.
 
I take a step back from Jeremy, and am about
to walk to the table, because….yeah……but I don’t get anywhere.
 
Jeremy grabs my waist and pulls me against
him.
 
My back is to him, and he slides
his hands around me.
  
As we dance, he
pulls me tighter against him.
 
It takes
my breath away.
 
I never knew dancing
could feel this way.
 
At some point, he
takes my arms and brings them up to go around his neck.
 
Jeremy gently slides his hands back down them
and my sides.
 
My breath actually gets
caught in my throat.

               
He brings his lips to my ear and
whispers, “Isabelle….”
 
It’s then that it
all comes swarming back, the night we spent in each other’s arms.
 
It’s like a punch to the stomach.
 
I can’t, I can’t do this again.
 
I pull away from him and start to push
through the crowd.
 
I hear Jeremy yell, “Isabelle!”

               
I just continue to push through
the crowd, suddenly I smack into someone.
 
“Sorry,” I snap.

               
The guy turns around and I feel
like my world has stopped.
 
Howard grins
at me.
 
“Why if it isn’t you, I see you
dressed up this evening.”

               
Suddenly, I can’t breathe and my
eyes start to fill up with tears.
 
I
instinctually grab my throat.
 
“No, no,
no, no,” is all that comes out.
 
I spin to
run and fly into Jeremy’s arms.
 

               
He looks down at me.
 
“Isabelle, why did you run away?”
 
Jeremy pauses and looks at me.
 
“Isabelle, what’s wrong?”

               
“No, no, no, I have to go, we
have to go,” I cry.

               
“Isabelle, what is wrong!?”
Jeremy yells.

               
All I can say is, “Howard, I
can’t, I can’t see him.
 
Please!”

               
A look of fury passes over
Jeremy’s face.
 
“Where!?”
 
Turning I point straight at him.
 
Jeremy pushes me to the side and in an
instant has Howard by the shirt.
 
“You
piece of trash, you think it’s alright to assault girls, why don’t you pick on
someone your own size!”

               
Howard sneers at him.
 
“Whatever that little witch told you is a
lie.
 
She threw herself at me.”

               
“You are mine,” Jeremy
growls.
 
He suddenly pushes Howard
back.
 
There is a wall there.
 
They impact into it at full force.
 
Jeremy grabs him by the throat and lifts him
off the ground.
 
“How does it feel to
have no control, to have hands choking you?
 
Does it feel good?
 
I dare you,
take one swing at me.
 
I want you to.
 
Swing at me, one free shot.
 
I give that to you.
 
After that you are mine.”

               
“Jeremy!” I yell, “Stop!”

               
He ignores me.
 
Jeremy practically screams, “Come on punk,
take a shot.
 
I dare you!”

               
I turn to push back to the crowd
to Kent.
 
He meets me halfway with
Josh.
 
“What in the world is going on?”
Kent shouts.

               
“It’s Howard!” I scream.
 
“Get Jeremy before he kills him!”

               
“Who?”
Josh asks.

               
“The guy who assaulted me,” I
cry.

               
Josh says, “Oh no, come on
Kent.”

               
We run back to Jeremy.
 
The whole club has stopped and is staring at
us.
 
When we get back to the wall, Jeremy
is still screaming, “Come on, punch me,
come
on!
 
You think you can push yourself on
women!
 
Try to pick on someone that can
defend themself!
 
Come on, I DARE YOU!”

               
Quickly, Josh grabs Jeremy and
pulls him back, and Kent goes over to Howard.
 
Jeremy just screams and struggles against Josh’s grip.
 
Within a second, Howard is stepping forward
to punch Jeremy, but Kent is too quick.
 
He
grabs ahold of his arm, and flips him completely upside down, slamming him down
on the floor.
 
Security comes up behind
us.
 
Josh looks at them and growls, “Call
the police!”

               
The one bouncer takes out a
walkie
talkie.
 
He
starts to talk into it.
 
Jeremy continues
to fight Josh, but Josh has a tight grip on him.
 
I push and step in front of him.
 
“Jeremy, Jeremy, calm down,” I whisper.
 
Putting my hands on his face, I say, “Jeremy,
look at me.
 
Come on, look at me.”
 
He finally does.
 
“Baby, just leave him be.
 
The police are coming.
 
I need you, I need you with me.
 
If you hurt him, you will get arrested, and I
need you.
 
Stay with me.”

               
Jeremy stops struggling and
looks at me.
 
“I want to kill him,” he
states harshly.

               
“I know, please, I need you with
me, okay?”

               
He nods and stops
struggling.
 
Josh lets go of him.
 
Jeremy steps forward and wraps his arms
around me.
 
I let him, because the tears
are about to come.
 

               
Kent picks Howard up off the
ground, with his arm pinned behind him.
 
“We should take him in back.
 
This
is a big enough spectacle.”

               
Josh nudges his head.
 
“We will take him to my brother’s office.”

               
We make our way through the
crowd.
 
It’s like the parting of the red
sea.
 
Jeremy doesn’t let go of me the
whole time, which I am really appreciative of.
 
When we get into the office, Josh rips open one of his brother’s
drawers.
 
I am not sure what he pulls
out, but Kent spins Howard around.
 
Josh
wraps something around his wrists and pulls it tight.

               
“What are you those?” I ask.

               
“Zip line hand cuffs,” Josh
replies, “we use them to subdue people.”
 
I nod in understanding.

               
I watch as Kent pushes Howard to
the ground, “Sit down you piece of…..”

               
“Kent!” Cassandra
snaps,
“Don’t!”

               
Rubbing my arms, I am suddenly
chilled.
 
Jeremy looks at me, “Are you
cold?”
       

               
“Yeah, it’s fine,” I
whisper.
 
Jeremy unbuttons his shirt and
takes it off.
 
Carefully, he slides it on
me.
 
I put my arms through and pull it
tight against me.
 
“Thanks.”
 
He just wraps his arms around me, holding me
gently.

               
“This is ridiculous, you can’t
do this!
 
I will sue you!
 
Let me go!
 
She is a lying little bitch!” Howard yells.
 
“I didn’t do anything!”

               
“I had bruises you jerk!” I
scream.
 
“The police know.
 
They took pictures!”

`
              
Kent steps toward Howard, “I
would learn to shut up pretty quickly, or I will have everyone leave the room,
and you and I will spend some alone time together.”

               
“You can’t touch me,” Howard
growls.

               
“As far as anyone knows you fell
and hit your face on the floor on our way back here,” Kent snarls.

               
Howard quickly shuts up.
 
We all stand there for a while, just
quiet.
 
Suddenly there is a commotion
behind us.
 
We turn to see police officers
coming toward us.
 
“Here we go,” Jeremy
whispers.

               
They immediately ask a million
questions.
 
Jeremy explains who Howard is
and what was going on.
 
A female officer
pulls me to the side and questions me.
 
I
have to tell them how I know it’s him, that I am positive.
 
They talk over the radio and get the
information from the station that they need.
 
It’s a lot of noise and I start to tune everything out.
 
Howard screams a lot that I am
lying
.
 
Finally, a
police officer takes off the zip line and puts on real handcuffs.
 
When he walks Howard past me, I stare Howard
down.
 
He spits at me, but thankfully
misses.

               
Jeremy jumps toward him, but
Kent grabs him.

               
A little while
the last officer says, “Alright, we will be in contact with Miss.
Nimon
.
 
Try
and have a good night.”

               
“Yeah,” I mumble.
 
We watch the officer leave.
 

               
Looking down at me, Jeremy says,
“Let’s get you home.”

               
“Here,” I say, taking off his
shirt.
 
“You should put this back on.”

               
“No, keep it on, I am fine,” he
replies.
 
I just nod.
 
Jeremy looks up at everyone else.
 
“We are going to leave.”

               
Josh points towards the
corner.
 
“You can use the back exit.
 
That leads to where your car is.”

               
“Thanks,” Jeremy sighs.
 
“Ready Isabelle?”

               
“Yeah, bye
guys.”
 
They all wave.

               
Jeremy takes me by the hand and
we walk out.
 
The ride home is a quiet
one.
 
He holds my hand whenever he can,
which isn’t much when you drive stick.
 
I
pull his shirt close around me, because it is comforting.
 
It smells like him, and that calms me.

               
When we get up into the
apartment, Jeremy only turns on one light.
 
I go directly to my room and shut the door.
 
Slipping off Jeremy’s shirt, I put it on my
bed.
 
I then take off
everything else, and slide into some pajamas.
 
There, now I feel better.
 
When I open the door, Jeremy is standing
there.
 
“I wanted to make sure you were
okay.”

               
I nod, “Yeah, actually I am
fine, almost relieved.
 
We caught him,
they have him, and if everything goes right, he won’t be doing it again.
 
That makes me happy.”

               
Leaning back against the wall,
Jeremy sighs, “I am sorry tonight was such a horrible mess.
 
I am to blame for a lot of it.”

               
“Why was it a mess, because of
Howard?
 
It is a good thing that he got
caught.
 
Other than that, I had fun.”