Perfecting Patience by Tabatha Vargo Page B

swear to God I’m going to go all crazy bitch ninja on your ass.”
    I jumped out of bed and ran into the next room.
    “It’s okay, Zeke. You can let her in.”
    Zeke let the door open and Hope gave him a big kiss -my-ass smile as she walked into my apartment.
    “Sorry to wake you up, but I wanted to bring these to you and get my money back before class ,” she said as she reached into her book bag.
    “No t here,” I said in a rush.
    Both she and Zeke looked at me like I was nuts.
    “In the room. We’ll be right back ,” I said to Zeke. “It’s girl stuff,” I said before he could ask any questions about why I was acting so weird.
    I shut the door behind us when we got into my room.
    “He doesn’t need to know. This is between me and you, okay?”
    “Whatever you say ,” she said as she shrugged.
    She pulled out a cellophane wrapper from a pack of cigarettes and ins ide were three long bar-shaped white pills. I held up the baggy and shook it around. I’d never felt like a criminal in my life, even after taking a life, but for some reason, being holed up in my bedroom and exchanging money for pills made me feel like I belonged under the prison.
    “What are these?” I asked.
    I’d never seen pills that were long and rectangular.
    “Xanax. They’re better than Valium, I think. Just take half and you’ll be set.”
    “What does it do?”
    I had no business taking pills. I was entirely too paranoid.
    “Chill, girl. All it will do is relax you when you feel like you’re about to lose it. Trust me, these come in handy. Anyway, I gotta run. Class starts in twenty minutes. I’ll see you at practice this afternoon?” She turned toward the mirror and used a thumb to wipe away extra eyeliner from under her eye.
    “Yeah, I’ll be there.” I handed her the twenty bucks. “Thanks for this, Hope. I really appreciate it.”
    “No worries, ch ick. Let me know if you need more.”
    I walked her out and shut the door behind her. When I turned around , Zeke was standing there with his arms crossed and a pissed-off look on his face.
    “What the fuck was that about?” His stare was accusing.
    “I told you it was girl stuff.” I went into the kitchen and dug through the cabinets for something not stale.
    “What kind of ‘girl stuff?’” His eyes followed me around the kitchen.
    “Geez, Zeke, I needed some tampons , if you must know, and Hope brought me some.”
    I mentally patted myself on the back for thinking so quickly on my feet. And when his lips lifted up into an awkward smile and he turned away without another word, I celebrated inside.
    When it was time for me to go to class, I left Zeke at home. He didn’t look too happy about sitting around the apartment all day, bored, but until we got used to these new arrangements, it would have to do.
    By the time I got home from practice, it was late in the afternoon. I was expecting him to be lounging on the couch, miserable—the way he was when I left him—but I was surprised when I walked into an empty place. Since my apartment was so small, it didn’t take but a few seconds to see that he wasn’t in the shower or the bedroom.
    I was pulling out my phone to call him and see where he was when the front door opened and he came in with an arm full of groceries. I rushed up to take the bag from him, but he pulled away.
    “I got it!” he said quickly.
    I let him struggle to get the bag s to the kitchen counter.
    “You went grocery shopping? In a strange town with no car and a broken hand? What were you thinking?”
    Sure, he was a grown man, but had he waited a little while, I could’ve taken him and saved him from possibly injuring his hand worse.
    “I was thinking I was fucking starving. All you had here was bad milk. I’m not a baby, Patience. I can handle going to the grocery store.”
    Exhaustion kept me from arguing. He was here and his hand seemed to be no better or no worse than it was when I left him. There was no need to push it. It’s not