Page 81 of Big Sexy Love
I leave a frantic, jumbled message asking Anders to please come to the precinct andhelpme.
When I’ve put the phone down, I look at Officer Leeland indespair.
‘So what am I supposed todonow?’
‘You wait for your assigned legal counsel, like I already told you,’ he answers, leading me back to theholdingcell.
‘How long will that be? I have a flight back to the UK in…’ I look at the clock on the wall. ‘Thirteen hours! And I still have to track someone downbeforethen.’
He shrugs. ‘It takes as long as it takes. New York is a very big, verybusycity.’
‘You don’t say,’ I snip back. I’ve never had such a quick temper before. But I guess if anything is going to bring it out of a person,it’sthis!
‘Sit down and keep it down, English. Manhattan Menaces do not get to answer back to New York city cops, allright?’
With slumped shoulders and still trembling legs I shuffle back to the bench of the holding cell, sitting as far away as possible from MandyBanana.
‘You’re the Menace of Manhattan?’ Mandy asks, giving me a sidelongglance.
‘Oh, um… Yeah, but it’s all a mistake, Ididn’t—’
‘So cool! You’re, like, famous or something!’ She scooches down the bench to sit next to me. I dare to make eye contact and see that her angry face has transformed into a smiling one. Up close I notice she has little freckles all over the bridge of her nose. I thought she was in her early thirties when I first saw her, but she must only be about eighteen or nineteen. I think it’s all the eyeliner she’s wearing. ‘I’ve been reading about you on the New York Daily News blog. You’re a fuckin’ baller! Not the jerking off in public – gross – but they did you onSunday Night Live, right? I lovethatshow!’
Mandy Banana’s voice has completely changed from rough and aggressive, to sweet and interested. She seems very impressedbyme.
‘W-what are you in here for?’ I ask, still too afraid to look her directly in the eye. She might, frankly, still want to cut abitch.
‘I just stole my boyfriend’s car. The douche has been putting his dick inside the whole of the fuckin’ east village.Dirtbag.’
‘Ah.’ I nod. Stealing her boyfriend’s car. That’s notsobad… not really. And the guy sounds like he deserved a bit of aspook.
Mandy nods. ‘Yeah. Then I set fire to the car. I drove it to a parking lot and just set it off. It was a biiiiiig fire.’ She looks psyched, her eyes staring wistfully into the distance. ‘It was fuckin’beautiful.’
‘Oh.Gosh.’
Car on fire. That’s a little moreseriousthen.
Mandy pulls her purple furry jacket a little tighter around her shoulders. ‘The idiot won’t be cheating again anytime soon.’ She says to herself with a wry smile. ‘That’sforsure.’
‘Wait… you’re staying with him?’ I ask in astonishment. ‘What about all his, um, hoes in different areacodes?’
Why did I just say hoes in different area codes? It sounded hip and cool in my head, the kind of thing Mandy might be impressed by, but out loud I sound like l learned all of my cool lingo from a sexist 90s dancemovie.Jeez.
Mandy laughs and shrugs. ‘I love him. I love him so much I could die,yaknow?’
Wow.
I wonder what it’s like to be so in love with someone that you completely lose your shit and set fire totheircar?
I shake my head inwonder.
But then it dawns on me… Idoknow how it feels to be so head over heels about someone that you behave in ways you never thought you would. Because that’s what I feel about Birdie. About our friendship. This whole thing, the depth of my feelings for her has got me losing my shit like I never have in my life. I mean, I’m in a jail cell forgoodness’sake.
Despite my daunting situation right now, I feel a bubble of laughter bounce in my chest. The irony of it. All these years I’ve been avoiding men and sex and anything that might make me ‘feel’ too much because I so desperately wanted to keep a tight hold on my emotions. But here I am! In a freaking jail cell forBirdie!
I look over at Mandy beside me. ‘I get what you mean,’ I say to her, a small smile lifting the corners of mouth. ‘Love can make you do some crazythings.’
OceanofPDF.com
