Home and Comfort

Jodie couldn’t help herself to do anything, but cry. She was balling her eyes out, ruining her makeup and her own blouse that Lauren was wearing. It wasn’t because she felt violated like the last time she had lost control of herself and cried to Janet, this time it was about guilt and shame. She felt guilty for Lauren, her friend and sister to her other boyfriend for catching her with another man. She felt guilty for being upset that it ended before it should have and shame for both. Being with Adam didn’t feel like cheating, he loved her. Much like it didn’t feel like cheating on Adam to be with Eric, even if the idea that it didn’t feel like cheating felt wrong. When she was able to control the crying and keep her body from shaking with her breaths starting to come evenly is when Lauren pulled away, her left hand still felt on Jodie’s shoulder as she looked her in the eye, giving a small smile that she clearly didn’t feel. “After that I know you aren’t doing okay in the larger sense, but are you okay to talk a little?” Jodie gave several shallow nods as she took a deep breath, realizing for the first time the two of them were sitting on the bathroom floor in the ladies room. “I have to ask, do you want to speak to the police about… him raping you?” Lauren’s voice grew softer on the last words.

Jodie’s eyes went wide at the idea, it hadn’t been rape, she wanted it… she still did. Her cheeks felt like they were burning from shame and she looked away from Lauren. “It wasn’t like that. He..” Lauren shook her head and spoke in a sterner voice. “It was exactly that, just because you feel like you are trapped and have to go along with it doesn’t mean he should get away with it.” Lauren let out a long sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned away from her friend seeing how she was holding herself. The two sat in silence, Lauren waiting for Jodie to come around and admit what happened and Jodie not sure what to say. Her mind thinking about how sore her ass was from the spanking, but worried about Adam. He was having such a horrible day and was just trying to live out a little fantasy and now Lauren wasn’t to bring him up on rape, and she couldn’t really advocate for him without blowing things up with Eric. “How about we order from that place I was talking about earlier and the two of us can curl up on the couch at home and watch something on the hallmark channel?”

Laruen said not sure where to go from here. Back home she had a friend, Chelsie that had an abusive boyfriend. The sleeze hurt her, yet she would never report it to the police. The one time she was able to get through to her to call them by the time they arrived she had changed her mind and the officers said there was nothing they could do. This was a little like that and every solution she could think of would only hurt those she loved. If she went to HR or the police if anything happened it would be her and Jodie that would more than likely lose their jobs. The price for Jodie’s safety should make that more than worth the risk, but the way the company had gone after people in the past. Black balling them to ruin careers, or suing for slander made it so she wasn’t sure how that future would go. If she confided in Eric about what was happening in no way would he be able to keep his cool, and she couldn’t let her brother end up in jail. After seeing and hearing what she did in that office she felt guilty for her harsh thoughts toward the girl. She couldn’t imagine how trapped and afraid Jodie must feel, not able to tell anyone about what is going on. First thing she was going to do was talk to Marcus about getting a job at Howl at the Moon as a piano player and if they didn’t have an opening she was going to go through the phone book to find a place in the city where Jodie could work without worrying about Mega Corp black balling her. She thought her friend would like doing that a lot more than fetching coffee, and really hoped music would bring a smile back to Jodie’s face. She had seen her play the piano twice and each time it was like watching someone share a piece of their soul, a piece of their joy with everyone around. The next thing she was going to do is figure out how she could get back at Adam Wesker.

On the way home they picked up dinner, Lauren getting the chance to drive Jodie’s new car. It was nice, but never did get why people went so crazy over cars. A Carola would do just as good of a job getting them to work then the Audi that cost way more to do the same thing. Soon enough both of the girls were curled up on the couch, Lauren in some comfy soft shorts and t-shirt and Jodie in a babydoll. They had pulled a blanket out of the closet to cover their legs, the apartment being more than chilly this time of year. On the tv played a movie about a girl who went off to work in the city for a career and had come back home to help her sickly father and finding love where she least expected it. Lauren loved these sappy movies, she had always watched them with her Mom, while Jodie was still of the mindset that the channel just remade the same movie with slightly different looking actors over and over again. When it started each of them only paid it partial attention, each looking to their phones. Lauren talking with Marcus, more than happy to hear how one of the current piano players was close to being fired for not being able to control themselves from drinking too much on the job. While drinking wasn’t discouraged, drinking enough to not perform was more than frowned upon. Jodie finally had heard back from Eric, and his message had come in at the worst possible time. The time stamp of his text would have had him responding to her text of saying she loved him meant he said he loved her when Adam had his dick inside of her. It made her feel a little uneasy. She wanted to take comfort in his words, but found it hard when he told her about his day.

Eric had more than a busy day and while he would be able to be home for the weekend, he would be gone a lot for this project with the timeline and him having to fire the supervisor that would report to him. That news was hard to hear, it was worse to hear how happy he seemed by the surprise of Janet stopping by the work site. Jodie had pouted a little when she asked him if he liked her lunch visit more than her own. She knew she was fishing for compliments, but here she was sitting next to Lauren watching a movie she didn’t want to watch, still horny and really needed it. Of course Eric was smart enough to tell Jodie what she wanted to hear, but still the idea of Janet going out there looking like she did made Jodie feel like she should do something. She didn’ think Janet was right about him, but a small part of her felt insecure, always insecure. She wouldn’t be able to go down to the work site, missing any work while trying to move under a new boss sounded like a bad idea. As she tried to think about what she could do for Eric he thoughts drifted away as she stared at the tv, eventually getting caught up in the romance of the busy city girl and the easy going country man. By the halfway point of the movie both of the girls had been drawn in, forgetting about their troubles while the romance swept them away.