Kitty in the Basement Ch. 00

Willa had had a pretty good living situation, or so she had thought. She had spent a lot of money purchasing her dream apartment for her and her boyfriend, Barry. She didn't mind that a lot of the household expenses were shouldered by her steady job as an assistant, while he couldn't seem to hold down a job for more than a few weeks. She loved him and just knew that once he really found what he was passionate about and committed to a job or career, their life would be perfect. She didn't mind doing the cooking and cleaning of their home either, she liked taking care of him. Besides, she used to figure, he wasn't much of a cook and his definition of cleaning was shoving things in closets or under the couch. It was better when Willa did it herself.

Looking back, Willa realized most of her willingness to be a doormat stemmed from her own insecurities. Before she and Barry had met, she hadn't had a date, let alone a boyfriend, in years. Her last relationship had been a two week fling with a boy in her sophomore year ethics class when she was nineteen. At twenty three, four years of not even the possibility of just one date had taken its toll on the young woman. Not to say she was the most confident individual to begin with. Willa had suffered the cruelest of mental games—Childhood obesity and having the effect stick to her for life. Sure, by the time she graduated high school she had slimmed down to a decent enough size, but it hadn't helped much. She had hoped that dropping several sizes would save her from having a nearly empty social calendar in college as she had in high school, but alas, even though she was smaller than she had been before, inside she was still the same. She was still as insecure and shy as ever. So when she met Barry while having girls' night at a bar with her friends and he approached her and asked for her number, she was over the moon with joy.

Willa didn't think she was a knockout by any degree. She was short and slightly plump, or "curvy" as her friends would insist. Though she had been many things in losing the weight as a teen---hopeful, desperate, sick of being ridiculed about her weight—she had chosen not to go overboard. Her family and friends, who obviously lied through their teeth when they told her "oh, sweetie, you don't need to loose a single pound, you're beautiful just as you are!" had been worried she'd try to lose too much weight and were relieved she settled on a healthy stature. Willa had no intention of being a stick figure and felt satisfied enough with the hourglass that appeared underneath all the weight. Her hips were wide, her waist—though not tiny, was small enough---and her breasts jutted out naturally at a D cup size. On occasion, she would joke with her girl friends that guys should've been lining up outside her door given her proportions. Her friends kindly laughed along with her, but in reality none of them were too keen on her self deprecating humor.

Though many had told Willa she had such a pretty face, her deep rooted insecurities made her unable to believe them. She loathed her hair, saying the dark curly locks were always a hassle to manage. She never cut or dyed it though, afraid that whatever outcome of that would lead to more headaches. Her only saving grace was the need to put on a professional and put together look if she hoped to have a decent job. She managed to play up what little vanities she had in put together work attire, makeup and putting enough effort to tame her wild curls.

Given her poor image of herself, once Willa had managed to land Barry she was petrified of letting him go. While they were dating, he put up the front of a decent guy. He was young and still struggling in the adult world, just as she was, so she didn't expect much. Both were still living with their respective parents in the early days, which did make things difficult. Most of their intimacy would be wildly groping each other in a nearly empty darkened movie theatre, careful not to make too much noise, or he pulling his car on the side of the road for a quickie in the backseat. Romantic, it was not. But Willa didn't mind. Willa had felt incredibly accomplished and well-to-do when after a year of dating Barry; she had saved up enough money to move out on her own. Not wanting to live alone and finding the idea of playing house with Barry idyllic, the two found a place together and settled into domestic "bliss".

Unfortunately, this "bliss" wasn't as Willa had fantasized. She had thought living together would help them move forward as a couple. Willa had taken the place of his mother in terms of taking care of him, and their sex life was mediocre at best. Having a place to themselves hadn't increased the level of intimacy of their carnal ventures. Willa took it as part of the package along with Barry's less than fabulous traits. If she had to lock herself in the bathroom and bring herself to a lackluster orgasm after Barry rolled off of her and fell asleep, so be it. She held out hope that eventually things would get better. Instead, they only got worse.

Willa and Barry had been living together for ten months when his birthday rolled around. Willa had worked longer hours and diligently tended to her employer's needs and errands in order to have the afternoon off to surprise him. Her boss allowed her to get off work after her lunch hour and sent the hardworking girl off on her way. Willa had scoured the gourmet supermarket near her place of work to find prime ingredients in order to cook her adoring boyfriend a fantastic birthday dinner. She bought herself a lacy teddy from the lingerie store to give him a feast for his eyes, wistfully thinking that maybe his passions would ignite and their sex life would skyrocket to euphoric, even for just that one night.

Loaded with her various shopping bags, Willa had walked into their apartment, toeing off her shoes on her way to set the groceries in the kitchen. She didn't see any sign of Barry in the living room or kitchen, leading her to assume he was napping away in their bedroom. Willa had smiled, thinking of giving him something nice to wake up to as she made her way to the room.

"UGH! Give it to me, fuck!" A lustful voice rang out from the close door, making Willa freeze in place. It was a woman's voice, followed by grunts and moans. Willa blinked several times as the noises continued. He must be watching porn, her mind hopefully reasoned. Though, a more logical part of her mind was skeptical of this. The noises seemed to clear to be coming from the television in their room. Willa numbly approached the door and carefully pushed it open to reveal the scene.

There on the bed was Barry, his hands tightly gripping the ass cheeks of a blonde excitedly bouncing on his lap. It might as well have been porn, with the way the girl was undulating and moaning, tossing her head back, her eyes squeezed shut. Willa quietly stood in the doorway, watching them. She was angry, hurt, crushed, betrayed. Her feelings crashed down on her leaving her without the ability to move or speak.

"Happy birthday, baby," the blonde purred as she leaned forward, falling on top of him as her hips continued to buck against him. Barry's fingers tightened against the blonde's skin, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Happy birthday, indeed," Willa found herself finally speaking, her voice numb and even toned.

"Shit!" Barry exclaimed. The blonde stumbled off her perch on Barry's lap and quickly held the bed sheet—the sheet Willa herself had picked out at Bed Bath & Beyond and made up their bed with just the other day—up to her chest. Both bed occupants stared at Willa with shocked expressions.

"Wil...I....What are you....I thought you were at work..." Barry finally managed to say. Willa's mouth fell open, shaky breaths passing through her parted lips. She probably would've been furious if he'd uttered the clichéd response 'it's not what it looks like!' or something of the sort, but he didn't even apologize or make an excuse, which shocked and hurt her even more. It was as if it were Willa's own fault for coming home early. Willa was tempted to storm out, make a scene, and have Barry stumble after her with apologies and excuses. But Willa wasn't all that certain that he'd bother.

"...How could you?" She finally squeaked out. "I...I doeverythingfor you and...and you just..." Willa felt her tears welling in her eyes, clouding her vision. "In our bed! In the bed Ifuckingpaid for?!"

"Oh my god, you're right. She is whiney," The blonde muttered, rolling her eyes. Willa blinked a few times, cursing herself for letting them see the tears rolling down her cheeks. Different scenarios ran through her head. Willa wanted to react just like those wronged women did after finding such a scene. She wanted to storm over to the bed, grab the woman by her bleach blonde hair and viciously drag her out of the bed, throw her out of the apartment and lock her out just as she was. Willa wanted to scream and berate Barry, demand to know why he would do this to her, hit him. She wanted to say some witty biting remark. But she couldn't. Instead, she turned on her heel and sprinted out of the room to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

What remained of Willa's dignity made her stuff a towel against her lips as she sat on the toilet seat and cried. The two might've seen her start to cry, and know she was in the bathroom doing more of it, but she would be damned if she let them hear her sobbing wildly. She kept the towel against her mouth for a long while, ignoring whatever might've been going on outside the bathroom. Once her tears had subsided, she stayed seated on the toilet, slumped against the nearby counter. She stared blankly ahead of her, thinking how everything had gone so wrong so quickly. She had walked into her apartment upbeat, happily looking forward to having a wonderful evening with Barry. And now, the only thing she could take any sort of solace in was the thoughtwell, at least this didn't happen onmy birthday.

"Willa?" She heard Barry carefully speak from outside, gently knocking on the door. "Willa, are you...are you okay?" He asked. Something about his question, the fact that he could even realistically wonder if she was okay, infuriated Willa into action. She quickly rose to her feet, ready to storm out and confront him. She paused briefly after she caught sight of herself in the mirror. The image that looked back at her was upsetting. Her cheeks were puffy and wet with faint grey tracks coming down from her eyes. Had she known this was what the day would lead do, Willa would've made sure to use her waterproof mascara and eyeliner that morning. Willa's eyes were bloodshot red and bleary. The same dignity that had kept her from letting them hear her sobs, drove her to splash water on her face and quickly primp herself back to a somewhat put together appearance. Her lack of backbone kept her from lashing out as she would've liked in the bedroom, but this newfound determination inside of her compelled her to not let Barry see he had lead to her being such a wreck. After a few minutes, Willa swung the bathroom door open expecting to find Barry anxiously standing by the bathroom waiting for her. Instead, she saw him sprawled out on the couch, watching TV.

"Hey babe, mind grabbing me a beer?" He casually said, not even bothering to look at her. That was the final straw for Willa. He sitting there with no attempt to comfort her or explain what had happened brought everything crashing down. It was like someone finally pulled the rose colored glasses off of her and she saw him for what he was.

"Is she gone?" Willa asked, her voice low and neutral.

"Huh? Oh yeah, Sue left a little while ago," Barry replied, as if he were talking about some buddy who he'd been watching a game with, and not in fact having sex with in the bed he shared with Willa. Willa moved around the couch, planting herself directly in front of the television. "Babe, do you mind? I'm kind of watching TV," Barry lazily stated. Willa's jaw tightened as she glared at him.

"Oh, you meanmyTV?" She hissed. Barry rolled his eyes and sat up on the couch.

"Come on now, baby, don't be like that," he replied.

"Like what?" Willa snapped. "Angry? Upset? Well, I'm sorry; I guess I've opted to react like any other person who just found their boyfriend fucking some random skank in her bed!" Barry sighed and lifted the remote. He stretched his arm to angle the remote's aim around Willa and shut off the TV.

"Wil, come on," he sighed again.

"Or maybe she wasn't so random," Willa continued. "Or what, do you exchange names, birthdays, and stories about your girlfriend with one time fuck buddies?" She accused. Barry rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Wil, it's no big deal. I mean," he shrugged, "you're at work every day, so.."

"So?!" Willa snapped. "So?! I'm at work everyday to afford this place. The plan was for you to finally get your shit together and finally stick to a fucking job and take some of the burden off me, not just use the time to bring sluts into my house!"

"You're going to pull this shit now?" Barry shouted, rising to his feet. "On my fucking birthday?" Willa snorted.

"Well, since you already had yourself a birthday fucking, I don't see why not!" She shot back.

"Just let it go," he replied, annoyed. "It's not a big deal. Come on, why don't you just go get dinner started and we can get over this," he encouraged. He gave her a soft smile, the same kind of smile that seemed to get him whatever he wanted, and took a step closer to Willa. "And after dinner, we can have a little bubble bath, and go to bed," he suggestively commented, placing his hands on her hips. Willa wretched away from him, her hand quickly coming up and striking his cheek.

"Why don't you call Sue back over," Willa sneered. "I'm leaving." After that declaration, Willa had grabbed her purse and shoes and walked out. She was too angry to stand in the apartment while she pulled them on and simply padded down to the elevator in her stocking clad feet. By the time the elevator arrived to her floor, she'd finally managed to slip her flats on and swiftly stepped in. She paused a moment, hopefully waiting to see if Barry would come after her.

"Oh, thank you dear," a voice spoke as one of her neighbors got on the elevator, balancing her white laundry basket against her hip. Willa blinked and looked at the older woman and simply nodded. She took her finger off the 'door open' button and pressed the first floor for herself and basement for her companion, allowing the doors to close. The two women rode down in silence, with Willa doing her best to stay composed and the older woman occasionally giving her friendly smiles. Once the elevator reached the first floor, Willa shouldered her purse and walked out, giving a noncommittal response as her neighbor wished her a good night before the elevator door slipped closed.

Willa took the subway to one of her friends' apartments. She was tempted to go home to her parents, but was in no mood for any mutterings of 'I told you so' that would entail. Her parents, as well as her friends, hadn't been as hopeful of Barry's potential as Willa had been. Luckily for Willa, her friends let up after a while, choosing to let her be happy. Her parents on the other hand still muttered their disapproval of Barry, clinging to the idea their daughter deserved much better than some aimless lazy bum.

Willa ended up on her friend Leah's doorstep, not necessarily because she valued Leah's comfort more than her other friends, mostly because Leah's apartment just so happened to be the shortest subway ride from her apartment. Leah had taken her heartbroken friend with open arms.

"I knew he was a dirt bag," Leah lamented as she and Willa sat on her couch, waiting for their Chinese take out to arrive.

"Lee, please don't," Willa softly pleaded, "if I wanted to hear how stupid I was about everything, I would've gone to my parents."

"Oh, honey," Leah sighed, taking Willa in her arms and comforting her. "You're not stupid. You loved him and believed things would get better. You're not stupid at all."

Willa spent the night on Leah's couch that night. Leah had offered letting Willa have her bed while she herself took the couch, but Willa was in no place to have any contact with any sort of bed. The next day, Willa called in sick and went about figuring out what to do now. Leah offered to stay home from work as well but Willa dismissed the offer, stating she needed time alone.

The first few hours of the day were spent fielding calls from some of her friends. Leah had obviously called their friends while at work and told them what had happened, which had led to Willa now repeating the phrases 'yeah, I'm okay', 'he is an asshole', 'no, I don't know what I'm going to do now', 'no, I haven't talked to my parents yet', 'no, no, I'm fine, please you don't need to come over', 'yeah, drinks sometime this weekend would be fun, thanks'. Willa was glad that Leah had only reached the female half of their circle of friends. Though having her male friends offer to go kick Barry's ass did sound nice, there were more important matters to deal with.

The easiest decision for Willa to make was that her relationship with Barry was over and done with. She had heard enough stories of cheating lovers from her friends to have already had the feeling that if she were ever with an unfaithful partner, it'd be over right then and there. Making arrangements to get him out of the apartment were easier than she would've thought. Luckily for Willa, Barry's name had never been on the lease so having him vacate the premises would be easy. It also didn't hurt that the couple she rented from adored Willa. She apparently reminded them of their youngest daughter who had moved to England, meaning they didn't get to see her as much as they liked. Where any other landlord or landlady would be uncaring to their tenant's troubles, with their only concern being the rent, Mrs. Richardson was sympathetic and understanding when Willa spoke to her. After an hour long conversation, and a promise from Willa that she'd meet her for brunch that upcoming Saturday, Mrs. Richardson assured Willa that Barry would be gone.

The rest of the week flew by Willa. She continued to stay with Leah until she heard Barry was gone, and kept herself focused on work to keep from sinking into any sort of deep depression. In her focus and flurry to stay busy, the idea of returning to her apartment, even if it was without Barry, became a more and more dreadful thought. After much consideration she came to a decision and readied herself to bring it to Mrs. Richardson once she met with her.

"I hope you don't mind us having brunch here," Mrs. Richardson stated as she and Willa made themselves comfortable in the diner booth they had been ushered to. "The scumbag's still moving his things out, I didn't want you to have worry about running into him." Willa smiled at the middle aged woman and nodded.

"Thanks," she replied as she looked over her menu.

"Oh, and don't worry. Chuck took his key away, the only times he can get in is when he or I let him, and Chuck's been keeping an eye on him so he doesn't take anything that's yours," Mrs. Richardson assured. Willa chuckled.

"You guys don't have to go through all that trouble," Willa demurely stated.

"Oh don't worry about it, honey," Mrs. Richardson proclaimed. "You deserve it. It's bad enough that scumbag did what he did, we're not going to let him try and make off with your things on top of it all," she firmly stated, leaving no room for Willa to argue. The two placed their orders once their waiter arrived and continued to converse as they waited for their food to arrive.

"I'm thinking that...I might move out," Willa carefully stated after a while, causing her dining companion's face to fall.