She CudaShudaWoulda

Written in response to: Write a story that begins with someone dancing in a bar.... view prompt

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Fiction

This story contains themes or mentions of suicide or self harm.

Nelly stood on the bar; the "show me your tits" girl never realized her boyfriend made her flash her tits on command while she danced to whatever music he picked from one of his sleaziest playlists, which was a demeaning and demoralizing thing to do to another human being.


She doesn't look like she's ever saggy now since Dr. D got a hold of her," George said.


#


The courts were beautiful, and the couple took it all in as the concierge took their bags to their room and opened their duty-free Scotch.


Immediately, George slipped over to the tennis court board and signed them up for a series of matches throughout their time at the resort.


Before she could take off her wrap and lie on a lounger with her latest novel, George came and slapped her on the leg.


He said, "We're booked in solid for the rest of the time we're here, he smiled and then said, "Unless you want to remain in our room with me for the next two weeks."


She smiled at her husband of 35 years, but inside, she loathed him. She gave him a facetious smile and kept looking in her bag for her novel and sunscreen.


"Come on, George, you know I'd tire you out in a matter of minutes," she said. She found what she was looking for and handed him the sunscreen.


She felt his hands across her back and wanted to cringe. She couldn't stand him or his grubby hands on any part of her.


Nobody but her knew how many lessons she took twice a day in tennis and learned the game's tricks inside and out. While lifting weights for the day, she would consistently whip his ass and watch him grovel.


Before they fell asleep, George reminded her of their big game tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.


Sbe moaned and drifted off to sleep.


#


The following morning, George dug out his 70s, his head and sweatbands with his white socks. He went down to fetch breakfast and garnered looks from everyone.


As soon as George left the room, Nelly jumped out of bed, dressed, and headed to courtside to eat breakfast.


A warrior, George, came down to the courtside and marched up to Nelly.


"Hey, what's the big idea?"


"George, what are you talking about now?"


"You left the room without me."


"You left the room without me. I came here to wait for you to show up." She shook her head.


When the court became available, George rushed to get it before anyone else.


Nelly took on the other side of the court and knew a strong serve was coming her way. She held her racquet high and cut the serve, surprising George, who never anticipated her return.


She served, but he missed striking the net. His demeanour became flustered and preoccupied with the last shot while trying to hit a current shot. Nelly won all four matches, leaving George open-mouthed in shock.


George didn't speak much about their tennis match the following day at 1:30. Geroge seemed frightened to play against his wife. As much as she enjoyed herself, Nelly never let on anything different than what she had always done.


By the time she whipped George's ass twelve days in a row, Nelly didn't want to play with him anymore. The poor thing was dragging his ass with his head hanging lowly. Drinking and skulking into his three-finger scotch. Nelly watched him crawl into his bottle and let him.


She thought he would come out of it. Why would George be so lowly over losing tennis matches to his wife?


But the disparity of her husband went unnoticed by her.


For the last two days of their vacation, she headed out to see some sights and buy trinkets. When she returned to the hotel, George was nowhere to be found. On the last day of their trip, George was again absent. Nelly was oblivious.


But she thought the worst when the knock came to her door, and she saw George wasn't in bed beside her.


The officials told her George died sprawled across the tennis court, his ball and racquet at his feet, with empty pill bottles.


Nelly thought playing better tennis against George would stop his abusive, berating talk and disrespectful ways, and they would enjoy tennis together more.


She had no idea how vital tennis and bullying must've been for him. She hung her head and mewled.


#


Nelly was up dancing on the bar when George pulled her off and kept her off for good.


The tennis courts were prima donnas. I could hardly wait to show my Nelly how good I was at tennis. I don't want her to think I'm not good at it because that's all I'm good at. I want to tell her how everyone else teases me. Instead, I treat her well.


But I don't love her. I've been doing the same thing for a long time. If I change it now, she'll figure it out.


I got a great night's sleep and went out to get some breakfast for us. The tennis court is calling my name. This is going to be so much fun.


Knock, knock, honey? I have your breakfast. Honey? Honey? Why would she go and not wait for me? But maybe she did.


He sat and ate his breakfast. I can't believe she would do something like that. Then he rushed to the tennis courts to look for Nelly.


Oh, good. She's there.


#


After two days of losing to Nelly, I thought I had some kind of flu. But she kept beating me with ease and skill for twelve consecutive days. How can you expect me to have meaning for Nelly? What will she love about me now? Ooh, his thoughts were swirling around his brain, and he believed them. Winning match after match, he sagged like a blob, barely able to keep his head up. He ordered another bottle of white tequila and drank it.


Then I left our room. I waited until Nelly left. I grabbed all my pills. And hers. I waited until midnight. Then I took them.


May 06, 2024 12:37

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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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