Chapter 5

“Maybe you were right Harm. I don’t think he’s going to stop harassing me.”

We were lying in bed in my motel room, which I had rented after we left the Tilt so suddenly and walked back to my car. Erica had laid her head upon my shoulder, wrapping an arm around me with her bare, hot skin against mine. As I slowly traced lines up and down her back with my fingers, I could feel a light sheen of sweat; a palpable reminder of our love making. Erica had decided to spend the night with me rather than returning to her dorm room, to which I readily agreed.

Turning to look at her, I gently kissed her lips, and slipped my fingers into her tousled, red and gold hair. Gently I brushed it from around her face as I said, “I’m afraid he won’t. He seemed awfully bold, and persistent. I mean, I can’t blame him. You’re like a goddess come to earth.”

She gave me a half smile and said, “Aw, Harm.”

“Are you sure you won’t let me talk to him? I mean, just talk, nothing else. He’s obviously not listening to you.”

Erica shrugged and said, “I don’t get it. I’ve reported it, and I’ve turned him down like a hundred times now. He knows I’m in love with a woman. Yet it’s still happening. When I reported it to the resident hall director, she just acted like it was nothing. When I pressed the issue, she actually seemed pissed off. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t either. It doesn’t seem fair to me that he should get a free pass on stalking and harassing. Has he done this to anyone else?”

“A few. I’ve heard other girls talk about how he would follow them around, grab their ass and stuff. Obviously, they had about as much luck at stopping it as I have. I asked one girl if she reported it and she said no, because it wouldn’t do any good. It doesn’t seem fair to me either, Harm.”

“It’s not,” I replied, “But what’s that thing your dad always said? ‘The stinky wheel gets the grease’?”

Erica laughed at this and said, “The squeaky wheel.”

“Well, you know what I mean. If the school won’t handle it, then there’s other ways. Just let me have a few words with him.”

With a sigh of resignation, she looked at me and said, “You promise to just talk to him? Nothing more?”

Kissing her again I said, “I promise.”

Erica pulled me close and said, “Okay. We have a study group scheduled for tomorrow night at the library. You can drive me over there and just wait. He will come out at the same time as me. I can almost guarantee it. I love you, Harm, and I’m sorry you have to deal with this.”

I gently rubbed her arm, saying, “Don’t even apologize. I love you too. More than anything. And there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe, and happy. I want you to be successful here, and if this is what it takes, then so be it.”

“Okay,” she replied.

***

When the next evening arrived, I picked Erica up from her dormitory. As she approached my car, I saw that she was wearing jeans with a sleeveless sweater pulled over a white dress shirt. Her hair was pulled back and she had wrapped her braids around either side of her head, giving the appearance of a pale, angelic halo. She had even paired a matching eyepatch with it, over her right eye. A warm feeling of endearment rose up inside me and I couldn’t help grinning at the sight of her.

“Hey!” Erica said cheerfully.

“Hey,” I responded.

As she climbed into the passenger seat I leaned over and kissed her. Looking at her for a moment I said, “I like that outfit. I might have to borrow it when I head home.”

Erica snickered and said, “I’m glad you like it, but I think you’re a little too tall for it.”

“Maybe,” I said as I slowly backed out of the parking spot into the street. “Could I at least get into the pants sometime?”

Erica gave me a shocked look of surprise before laughing and saying, “Just drive.”

As I pulled away, I reached over and gave her hand a quick squeeze and asked, “So, are you nervous?”

Smiling she said, “Believe it or not, no. I actually feel like a weight has been lifted off of me. Thanks for doing this.”

“Of course, Baby. I love you.”

Rubbing my hand atop the shifter she said, “I love you too.”

Slowly we made our way to the library, which was on the opposite side of the campus.

“You walk all this way just to go to the library?” I asked incredulously.

“Oh, hell no, I drive,” she replied, “It was like negative temperatures back in January. I’m not walking in that.”

I couldn’t help laughing at her words as I said, “Yeah, I don’t blame you. But I figured that it would be nothing to you since you’re from here.”

“I lived in Kansas for too long. I’m not used to that kind of weather anymore,” she said.

Soon we pulled into the parking lot in front of the library. The building was a stark contrast compared to Erica’s residential hall. It was designed with sleek soft curving architecture, and the front was covered in silvery mirrored glass. There was white lettering halfway up the lustrous façade which read “Mary Karlsson Memorial Library.”

I found a spot near the door, and said, “Okay, I’ll be right here. Take your time and try not to tip him off that anything is going on.”

“I won’t,” she said, giving me a lingering kiss before exiting the car.

“I love you,” I said as she started to shut the door.

“Love you too.”

I sat for the next hour listening to the stereo, considering all of the scenarios that might play out when I confronted Joey Falcone. I thought about our encounter earlier in the week, how smug he had seemed, like he believed he was untouchable. I was glad that Erica had finally accepted my offer to help her with the situation, but it frustrated me that things had gotten to this point. It seemed odd to me that a large institute of learning would take such a flippant attitude to this type of behavior. My thoughts wandered to our high school career, and how we had both been bullied for four years. Erica had seemed so hopeful when she first came to college, like everything was different. Yet here we were again. Nothing had been said in high school, and apparently nothing was going to be said here either.

After a while I decided to switch cassette tapes, but then I noticed students exiting the library through the double doors at the front. After a minute or so I saw Erica appear, and just as she had predicted, Joey Falcone. Again, I felt that icy chill of anxiousness trickle down my spine, as it had upon my first meeting with him.

I exited the car and started towards them. Joey was so engrossed in pestering Erica that he didn’t notice my approach. When I reached them, I threw an arm around Joey’s shoulders and began to walk back the direction I had come from.

“Heya, Joey. Remember me?”

He looked up alarmed, eyes wide, and after a moment found his voice and said, “Get your hands off of me!”

“Oh, come on now, we’re all friends here, right? Let’s take a walk and have a chat.”

Turning to Erica I said, “The car’s unlocked, I’ll be there in a sec.”

She looked at Joey, then me, and nodded, before pointedly saying, “Ok, Bella, I love you.”

As she walked away, I gave Joey’s shoulder a tight squeeze and said, “You hear that? She loves me.”

Roughly he jerked away from me and out of my grip, and with a hateful look said, “What do you want?”

I noticed the people around us we’re looking on curiously. Erica turned back, addressing them, and said, “Hey guys, are you going to the Tilt tonight?”

They turned their attention from me and Joey and began discussing their plans with Erica.

Looking back to him I said, “Let’s take a walk.”

After we were out of earshot of everyone else, I spoke again. “I just felt like we got off on the wrong foot the other night. I thought maybe we could come to an understanding. You see, Erica and I have been through a hell of a lot together over the years. She loves me, and you can bet your ass I love her more than anything else in this world. I promise you, there is nothing you have to offer her that would make her fall for you. I know all about the slimy shit you’ve been putting her through, and all of those other girls. Now so far as the others go, well, that’s between you and them. But Erica, that’s a whole other story. I promise you, if you don’t walk away and forget she exists, tonight, you’re going to be really surprised at how much you regret it.”

Joey snorted derisively at this and stood up a little taller. Well, as much as he could manage. “What are you going to do? Iowa’s a long way away. If you so much as lay a finger on me my family will own you. We have money, you know.”

Anger flared up within me at his words and I took a step closer to him. “Look here you wormy fuck, I better not have to come back up here again because of you. We don’t grow girly girls in Kansas, and the next time I see you, if it’s over this same old bullshit, I’m going to stomp your guts out all over the pavement, no matter where we are. God as my witness, you little turd.”

I noticed that he had grown pale, and was visibly shaking, his eyes wide. He swallowed a few times before saying, “Okay, okay, geez. I won’t speak to her again. I don’t know what she sees in you, you’re crazy.”

He turned and looked in the direction of my car, where Erica was standing now.

“Is that your car?” he asked.

“It is.”

“Nice wheels,” he said dryly as he began to quickly walk away.

I watched him pass Erica, completely ignoring her.

Making my way to where she was standing, I said, “Are you okay?”

Smiling she said, “I’m perfect. Did you see him go out of his way to avoid me? What did you say to him?”

“Not much. I just gave him the hard sell on leaving you alone, and apparently he got the message.”

“Well, whatever you said, thank you. I’m so glad that all this is over with.”

Motioning in the direction we had come from Erica said, “Everyone else is going to the Tilt. You want to go too?”

I smiled. “Sure, let’s go. We have something to celebrate. And maybe this time I’ll be able to try this food you’ve been raving about.”

“Okay!” she said eagerly, and then, “Let’s take your car this time. I don’t want it to get towed since you don’t have a parking decal.”

***

Ten minutes later we found ourselves seated once again within The Tilt, reading menus.

“You have to try the Swedish dumplings, Harm. They’re so good.”

“What are they?” I asked.

“They’re like Chinese dumplings with Swedish meatballs inside. We can split an order.”

After a few minutes, the waitress came to our table and took our order. In addition to the Swedish dumplings, I ordered an orange pop, and something called a “Juicy Lucy.” It was a hamburger with a patty that had been stuffed with Gruyère cheese. Erica ordered baked lasagna.

As we waited for our food a group of Erica’s classmates came by to say hello. One of them, a young man with a goatee and shoulder length hair, turned to Erica and said, “So who’s this? You cheating on us?”

Erica and I both laughed at this, and I extended my hand to him, saying, “I’m Harmony Nowak, Erica’s girlfriend.”

Shaking my hand, he said, “Oh! Well, it’s nice to finally meet you. Let me see. Mechanic, from Iowa, but originally from Kansas. Erica’s everything.”

I gawked at him for a moment, laughing, before saying, “I guess she really does talk about me a lot.”

He laughed as well and said, “All the time.”

And he then added, “I’m sorry. I’m being rude. I’m Adam Lundgren.”

He then introduced the other people with him. “We all have Statistics together.”

Erica spoke up at this. “Ugh. The bane of my existence. That class is so boring. I swear our professor is two seconds away from slipping into the afterlife. He’s old as dirt and speaks in a monotone and just drones on all period.”

Erica’s classmates all agreed with a laugh. Adam turned back to Erica and said, “So pinball tonight, Hagen?”

“You know it!” she said gleefully.

“Let me guess,” he replied, “Jurassic Park?”

“Of course.”

Adam looked at me with a cheeky grin and said, “Erica likes having her balls eaten by the T-Rex.”

I almost spat pop across the table at this, as I burst into renewed laughter.

“Why, Erica, I never knew!”

She shot Adam a smoldering look of feigned annoyance, shaking her head.

He turned to me and said, “Well it’s really nice meeting you finally. All joking aside, Erica has told us so much good stuff about you. It’s nice to finally put a face with the name.”

“Thank you. It was nice meeting all of you too.”

After Adam and the others had left, Erica and I sat and talked about her plans to attend classes all the way through summer. She explained that she could finish her degree early by taking classes year-round, and I told her that even though it would limit our time together it would be better in the long run, reuniting us sooner. After fifteen minutes our food arrived, and the waitress placed the biggest burger I had ever seen in my life in front of me accompanied by a huge pile of crispy little fried onions. As the unmistakable aroma of grilled meat reached my nose, I felt my stomach growl anxiously. Both Erica and I dug into our meals, and I heaved a sigh of contentment as I took the first bite of my “Juicy Lucy.”

“You weren’t kidding, this is so good,” I said around a mouthful of food.

“I know, right?” she responded, and then said, “Try one of the dumplings. I love them.”

I picked up one, dipping it in the diminutive cup of au jus that had come with them. Taking a bite, I paused.

“What is it, is something wrong?” Erica asked me with a look of concern.

“Baby, these are awesome!” I said, relishing the complex flavor of this new treat.

“I told you!” she said, grinning.

After a half hour or so I sat the rest of my burger back down on my plate and waved my hands. “That’s it. I give up. If I take another bite I’m going to burst. I’m glad that motel room has a refrigerator. This is going home with me.”

Erica looked at her plate and said, “Ugh, I agree. Let’s get some to-go boxes and then we can play some pinball.”

“Do you have some quarters?”

“I can get some from the bar. I do it all the time.”

After boxing up our leftovers we made our way over to the pinball machines. As promised Erica headed straight to the Jurassic Park machine. I stood studying the layout of the playfield and to my amusement I saw that there actually was a large T-Rex head with a ramp leading to its mouth. Apparently, it did, literally, eat one’s balls.

“Ladies first,” I said with a big grin, motioning to the coin slot. Erica dropped in two quarters, and after a noisy intro played, she pulled the spring-loaded plunger and released it, sending the little silver ball zooming from the chute. I had to say I was impressed with her. Erica managed to keep the ball in play for several minutes, racking up a sizable lead.

When she finally missed the ball, it was my turn. As the pinball dropped into the chute, I looked at Erica with a mischievous smile and said, “Watch this.”

Rather than pulling back the plunger I took the butt of my hand and slammed it into the knob, causing the ball to fire from the chute at lightning speed.

“Hey, no fair!” Erica cried in protest.

I just laughed, maneuvering the ball around the playfield, hitting holes and bumpers, quickly passing Erica’s score. She looked at the digital score counter and then at me, open mouthed. Suddenly she flung herself over the glass top of the machine, laughing while trying her best to obscure my view.

We were both squealing and laughing as I tried to remove her from the glass and still keep the ball in play. Suddenly a loud buzzer sounded and every light on the machine turned off, with the exception of the score windows, all of which now read “Tilt.”

I gasped, slapping Erica’s arm. “Oh my god! Cheater!”

Erica was holding her stomach laughing at what had happened.

Gasping for breath she said, “You should have seen the look on your face!”

I couldn’t help laughing with her as I shook my head.

Erica threw her arms around me pulling me into an embrace, and then looking up with laughter still in her eyes she said, “I love you, Harm.”

I reached up and touched her cheek, gently rubbing it with my thumb. “I love you too.”

After a few moments she said, “Since this is your last night here, can I stay with you again tonight?”

“Of course,” I responded.

“Well, before we go to the motel, I’d like to take you somewhere else first.”

“Okay, you want to go now?”

With a look of exaggerated reproach she said, “Uh, no, best two out of three first!”

Laughing again I said, “You’re on!”

***

When we left The Tilt, Erica directed me to the highway, and we made our way to the next destination. I asked her several times where we were going, but all she would say was “You’ll see.”

Twenty minutes later she directed me to pull down a small ramp that exited to the right. It ended in a roughly paved parking area and the sight before me left me speechless. Slowly exiting the car, I stood staring. As far as I could see in any direction was an expanse of dark water; darker than the sky above it. I had never seen so much water in my life. Somewhere not far off I could hear small waves breaking on the shore. Far out, towards the horizon the lights of a cargo ship slowly drifted toward some unknown destination. The moon was waxing that night and its light sparkled in long bows upon the gently rolling tide.

I felt Erica lightly slip her fingers around mine, holding my hand. She laid her head upon my shoulder and said, “What do you think?”

I shook my head, at a loss for words. “What is this place?”

“Lake Superior,” she said quietly. “Grab your blanket, and let’s walk down to the beach.”

I did as she asked, grabbing my timeworn emergency blanket from the trunk of my car, and then we walked down a set of stairs constructed from railroad ties to the rocky lake shore. Looking around for a moment Erica found a suitable spot and sat down, patting the ground beside her. I lowered myself down next to her and wrapped my blanket around both of us.

Erica slipped her arm around me and scooted closer. For many minutes we simply sat there, in the quiet of the night, listening to the soft murmur of the vast lake lapping the shore.

Erica softly spoke, saying, “My parents used to bring me to this beach when I was little. It’s one of my favorite places on earth.”

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

“Beautiful like you, Bella. I had to share it with you. It means so much to me, just like you do. I want to share all of the deep and meaningful things and places that stir my heart with you. You’re my everything now, Harm. When I see places like this, instantly I’m reminded of you.”

I laid my cheek against the top of her head before speaking. “I love you so much Erica. I can’t wait to share all of it with you. I’m not sure if I’ve ever told you this, but I’m so proud of you. All the things you’ve overcome in the last couple of years. It seems like at every turn in the road you’ve surprised me somehow. Honestly, you’re my hero, and I can’t wait to share every experience of my life with you.”

She looked up at me smiling and slowly placed her lips upon mine. As we sat there, lost in a kiss, I was transported back to the very first kiss we shared, at midnight in my backyard so long ago. I remembered how Erica only hesitated for a moment, before surrendering herself to me, and me to her, forever joining our paths in life together that night.

I felt a lump form in my throat as I kissed her more intensely and Erica let her hand wander to the short hair on the side of my head, gently stroking it and tracing the jagged white line of scar tissue there. After what seemed like minutes, she leaned back with a contented “Mmm.”

“You will always be my Bella Chica, Harmony.”

“That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Smiling again she said, “And I will always be your girl.”