Walking away in heels can be hard on the soul

[sparkfrost]

“Those shoes are ridiculous. Why the hell would you wear those on a beach vacation?”

“We’re not spending every second on the beach, David. Unless I’m hallucinating, we’re not actually on the beach right now. We’re in a restaurant, and I’m pretty sure that no shirt, no shoes, no service applies here.”

“You didn’t answer my question. Those shoes are ridiculous and they look painful. Why would you even buy them in the first place?”

“Oh, thanks very much for telling me I look ridiculous. That’s really romantic sweetheart.”

“That isn’t what I said and you know it. God, why do you always have to play the victim?”

“You’re so right. A sarcastic rejoinder to a rude comment is the definition of playing the victim, how did I not know that? Give it a rest David; I don’t want to get into a fight here.”

“Oh, is this not convenient for you? What location would be better, princess?”

“Stop it David, I mean it. We’re at a nice restaurant; can’t we just calm down and enjoy dinner? Truce, ok?”

“Fine, truce. Are you ready to order?” Cassie let out a silent sigh of relief. Sometimes when David got going nothing could get him to stop. At least this time they could hopefully sit and eat their meal.

“I was thinking about having crab. Do you want to order the feast and share?”

“Do they have Old Bay? If they don’t there’s no point getting crab and you know it. Why do places even bother serving crab if they don’t make it with Old Bay? I mean, what’s the point?”

“We can ask if they have it. If they don’t, we’ll get something else. Sound good?”

“Whatever.” Cassie sighed again and crossed her fingers, hoping that the restaurant had the required spice blend. If they didn’t have it Cassie was going to be in for a long night of sulking and sarcastic remarks. Seafood just wasn’t worth that kind of headache. Recently, Cassie had begun wondering if anything about David was worth that kind of headache. They had been seeing each other for half a year now, and things seemed to have soured. When they met, David had been charming, intelligent, and sarcastic in a way that had her shaking her head at him as she laughed. But slowly the charm had started to fade, and the sarcasm ceased to be funny. Now he was more likely to be simply mean, and to fall into a bad mood if he didn’t get his exact way. Their weekend trip to the beach had been Cassie’s idea. She thought that maybe if she got him away from the stress of his job for a few days he might mellow out. Maybe if she could just make sure that he had a great time this weekend, things would start to get better. Luckily the restaurant did indeed serve Old Bay- they ordered crabs and sipped slowly on their beers as they waited for their food.

“So, what were you thinking of doing tomorrow? I saw that one of the surf shops offers lessons, would you be interested?”

“No, I don’t like surfing.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that you had been before.”

“I haven’t. I just don’t like it. Surfers look so damn pleased with themselves, carrying their boards around with them, waxing them and all that shit. Besides, I hate the Beach Boys.” Cassie, who had opened her mouth to protest, shut it with an audible click. She did not want to touch that comment with a ten foot pole.

“Ok, well what did you want to do? Hang out on the beach? Go to a water park? See a movie?”

“I can see a movie in D.C. if I want to, why would we do that here?”

“I don’t know, David, I was just trying to make some suggestions. What do you want to do?”

“I’m going to go golfing. I saw a course on the way into town; I figure I’ll go nine holes tomorrow morning. Then I guess we can go hang out on the beach if you want.”

“Oh. I don’t play golf.”

“I know. I figured you’d do your own thing in the morning. Surf lessons or whatever.”

“But… David, I thought we were going to try to do things together this weekend.”

“Yeah, well we’re eating dinner together aren’t we? And we’ll go to the beach tomorrow afternoon. I just want to play some golf, ok?”

“Ok, fine. I guess I’ll go shopping in the morning. There are some outlets on Route 1 that I might look at.”

“Are you looking for something or just spending money?”

“I was going to look for a dress to wear to Chris and Alex’s engagement party. Alex called me last week; she said it’s an outdoor party, so I need a sundress.”

“What about that blue one you wore to your friends’ wedding? Why don’t you wear that?”

“Because that dress is getting kind of old, and besides, it’s not a sundress. The material is too dark; I’d be sweating after 10 minutes.”

“Oh, I thought you just couldn’t fit into it anymore.” Cassie’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Well yeah, I mean, maybe if you lost the ten pounds you’ve put on you could squeeze back into it, but its way too small for you now. You really should take better care of yourself.”

“I cannot believe you just said that!” David didn’t seem to hear the anger in her voice. He blithely took a sip of beer and continued digging his own grave.

“What? I’m just telling you what your friends won’t. You’ve let yourself go, and frankly your looks are going too.” This was the last straw. Sarcasm, she could deal with. Biting comments got on her nerves, but she could handle it. Outright insults? Cassie didn’t need that in her life, no matter how good looking the package. Cassie was done.

“Fuck you David. I am so sick of your shit.” As his eyes widened in surprise, Cassie noticed the waitress walking over to their table with a concerned look on her face. Very calmly, Cassie folded her napkin and stood up. With a polite smile for the waitress she said, “I’m sorry, I seem to have lost my appetite. Whenever you have a moment he’ll take the check.” As the waitress nodded her understanding, Cassie turned from the table and began to walk away. She had gotten a few steps when she felt a hard hand grip her elbow tightly.

“Where the hell are you going Cassie? We’re eating, don’t you even try to walk away from me.”

“David. You are going to let go of my arm right now.” Something in her eyes must have gotten through to him- he released her arm slowly. “When the waitress comes back you are going to pay the check. Then you will go back to the hotel, pack up your shit, leave the keycard on the table, and get the hell out.”

“That’s not going to happen-“

“Like hell it isn’t! I paid for that hotel room and you will not be staying in it any longer. I will call the cops on you if I have to, and who do you think they’re going to believe? The frightened woman or the surly guy with a bad attitude?”

“Screw you Cassie!”

“Too late, David. We’re done. I’m done with you. After an hour you’d better be gone from that hotel room, I mean it.”

“Fine, like I care. You’re a real frigid bitch, you know that Cassie?”

“Well David, you’re a real asshole. And I’d rather be called a frigid bitch every day for the rest of my life than have you in it. Fuck off.” Cassie turned and walked away again. This time there were no interruptions.

Cassie walked quickly down the boardwalk, breathing in time with the clicking of her heels. She could tell people were shooting her strange looks and she didn’t blame them. An angry, teary eyed woman wearing three inch heels would have gotten a sideways glance from her as well. But Cassie didn’t want to put up with silent judgment, and so veered off the wooden walk onto the beach.

Where she immediately caught her heel, tripped, and fell. Cassie rolled over onto her back and laughed until she cried. David had been right about one thing- her shoes were ridiculous. She kicked them off and stretched her toes, wiggling them to bring back circulation. Cassie lay there for awhile, staring at the sky and curling her toes into the sand. When the noise from the boardwalk died down, she stood up and brushed the excess sand from her body. Leaving her shoes on the beach, she began to walk back to the hotel. Nothing that caused her that kind of pain was worth it.