The VIP Room(69)

Luckily Liz didn’t have to wait outside too long before a student recognized her and let her into the lobby. Liz went up to Bella’s room and knocked a couple times, but there was no answer. Still not sure if Bella was home or not, Liz tried the door to see if it was unlocked. If Bella was home, the door was almost always unlocked.

Unfortunately, the door was locked. Liz slumped down and sat with her bags in front of Bella’s door. She was exhausted. It had been such a long night. Liz didn’t know where else she could go tonight. She had friends from work, but it was now 2 o’clock in the morning; Liz wasn’t about to show up on any of their doorsteps at this hour.

Tomorrow she would ask around at work to see if anyone had a couch she could crash on for a little bit. Surely someone would let her stay with them. That’s what she would do, she would just move around from friend to friend for the next semester. It was only a few months; Liz thought to herself. It wouldn’t be so bad.

Liz closed her eyes for a second while she thought of the logistics of living on someone’s couch for the next five to six months. Where would she put her things? How would she find the time to get her school work done?

Liz slowly drifted off to sleep as her mind worried about what was to come.

“You can’t be here.” A stern voice hollered way to close to Liz’s ears.

“What?” Liz said as she was disoriented and didn’t really remember she had fallen asleep in the dorm hallway.

“You can’t be here.” The voice said again firmly.

“I’m just waiting for my friend,” Liz said as her eyes focused in on the woman. It was Helga, the dorm supervisor. Oh, how this woman got on every last nerve Liz ever had. But one thing Liz knew about Helga, she was a stickler for the rules, and there would be no talking her into letting Liz stay there for the night.

So Liz reluctantly grabbed her things and moved down to the lobby. Luckily Helga did not follow her, yet. So Liz waited in the lobby for a little longer, hoping Bella would come home soon.

At about 3am, Liz saw a cab pull up out front and knew it was Bella. There were no other students in their dorm that would stay out until 3am and go against the curfew that was set. But Bella didn’t follow the rules like the other students did.

“Liz. Oh my god. What happened to you?”

For a moment, Liz didn’t know what Bella was talking about. But then she remembered the cut to her face. She reached up to feel it and could feel how swollen it had gotten by this point. It felt like her cheek was twice its normal size.

“Oh, I’m ok. Matt and I got into a fight.”

“What? He hit you? Oh, I’ll kill him myself!” Bella was a tiny thing, but Liz knew she could probably take Matt down if she really wanted to.

“No, it’s not like that. I knocked a picture off the wall, and it hit me.” Liz could have made it seem like Matt had done this to her, but she just wasn’t that kind of girl. For as much as she had struggled in her life, the one thing she always tried to be was honest.

Liz could still remember her mother saying to her “If you have nothing else in this world, you will always have your integrity.” She said that to Liz only a few short months before she passed away from cancer.

“Ok, if you say so.” Bella seemed suspicious of Liz’s story but didn’t question her any further about it.

“I came here because I don’t have anywhere else to go Bella. But Helga already saw me and kicked me out.” Liz was starting to feel pretty desperate. It was too cold outside to sleep out there.

“Shit Liz. I don’t know what to say.”

“It’s ok. Maybe I could go sleep in the file room at work?” Liz thought that actually sounded like a pretty good idea. It was warm there, and no one would be there at all on Sunday. It would be perfect.

“You can’t sleep on the floor of the file room, that’s crazy.”

“What then? I can’t sleep here. I can’t go back to Matt.”

“Sleep in my old bedroom at my Father’s house,” Bella said with a smile as she pulled the condo key out of her wallet.

“Bella. No. We talked about this.” Liz refused her offer.

“Let’s think of this reasonably Liz. My father said he was going to Boston for the week, right?” Bella had that mischievous smile on her face that she always got when she was about to cause some trouble.

“Yes.” Liz didn’t know where this was going yet, but she could never resist that smile of Bella’s.

“So you will go stay there for this week while he is gone. It’s perfect. You can get things figured out, and you’ll have a nice warm place to sleep.”

“Hmmm” Liz was trying to come up with a good reason to say no, but this idea actually didn’t sound so bad.

“See it’s brilliant. I’m brilliant. Now let me give you some cab money so you can head over there.” Bella handed Liz forty dollars and the key before she could even say no.

“Well, if you’re sure your father is gone.”

“Yes, silly. He’s opening that new office in Boston, I’m sure.”

“Ok. I guess I could stay there. Just until he’s coming home. You call me the second you hear when he is coming home. I don’t want to be there when he’s there.” Liz was firm about that one detail.