One Wild Night

Throughout the court proceedings that followed his death, Lucy had remained mute and had just kept staring into space with unseeing eyes. It had been Sonia who testified to the court how Jason had been stalking Lucy and harassing every guy that came around her. Her parents had cut her off angrily since it was Sonia\'s testimony and that of the guys who had been harassed by Jason, that cleared Lucy. Her parents had wanted Lucy to be punished for the death of their son since they had cleared every evidence from Jason\'s bedroom the moment Sonia told it to them that Lucy was missing and Jason was the suspect.

Sleeping had become so difficult for Lucy that the few times she managed to doze off, she would wake up screaming and crying. She had been admitted to the hospital for treatment, as the doctors said she was still in shock. Once she was discharged from the hospital weeks later, she had started taking sleeping pills and alcohol to sleep, and that had continued for years. None of them had been able to broach the subject with her, seeing how she didn\'t voluntarily raise the subject herself.

Seeing now how she had easily opened up to Tom, Sonia could tell that she wasn\'t just falling for Tom, but rather she had fallen in love with him. It broke her heart to see that now that Lucy had finally managed to come out of her shell after such a long time, she was hurting this way.

By the time Lucy finished speaking, they had stopped crying, and Sonia could also see things from Tom\'s perspective, but she was smart enough to know that it wasn\'t the right time to point out to her that it was very possible that Tom hadn\'t meant to toy with her as she was assuming.

So instead, Sonia did as every best friend would do, "How dare he do that to you? What right did he have to mess with you that way? I should take the next available flight down there and kick his two-faced ass," Sonia said dramatically, and then paused, "Come to think of it, maybe if you had slept with your boss as well, you would have noticed the similarities in action or maybe the shape and size of..."

"Sonia this is not the time," Lucy chided her, even though her lips were curved in a smile at Sonia\'s joke.

"I know. I\'m so sorry, Lu. I honestly can\'t say I understand how you feel, but I know you\'re smart and you\'re going to figure out a way to deal with it... Just don\'t push him away. Tom is not Jamie. He opened up to you himself. He even put the house up for sale already and quit his job..."

"His fake job," Lucy pointed out.

"It doesn\'t matter, Lu. If he didn\'t care about you or let\'s say if he was toying with you as you think was, he wouldn\'t care about your feelings, and you know it! He would have easily continued with it until you find out yourself, but he stopped because he didn\'t want to hurt or scare you. So please whatever you do, don\'t be too harsh on him. It\'s the first time you\'re like this with a guy, so don\'t allow his own insecurities ruin things," Sonia pleaded.

Lucy\'s eyes glistened with tears once again, "But he lied to me. He tested me..."

"Tell me if you were in his shoes you wouldn\'t resort to the same measure to find love. Tell me if you were him and had encountered ladies like Anita, you wouldn\'t be suspicious of every other lady that comes your way? He liked you enough to leave his mansion and live next to your little apartment. He liked you enough to leave his office and work beside you as your driver. Have you even considered the amount of stress he must have passed through just to keep up with you?" Sonia asked reasonably.

"I didn\'t ask him to do any of that!" Lucy snapped at Sonia, angry that she was defending Tom.

"You would never have gotten to know him or fall for him had he not done what he did!" Sonia snapped right back.

"Are you on my side or his? Don\'t tell me you\'re supporting him now because you have a thing with his brother," Lucy said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I\'m on the side of whatever makes you happy, Lu. I admit that what Tom did was wrong, but it\'s not an unforgivable offense. I would be just as pissed as you are if I were in your shoes, and believe me I would have hit him with whatever was closest to me at the time. However, I also know that I wouldn\'t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Get some rest, Lu, and think over this once again when your head is clear. And you can be rest assured that I will support whatever decision you make at the end," Sonia promised, making Lucy sigh.

She hated that Sonia could speak so wisely a times. And she hated it more because she was still very pissed, yet she knew that Sonia had made very many valid points, "And what about Bryan? You\'re sure he wasn\'t aware of this?" Lucy asked, and Sonia narrowed her eyes thoughtfully when she remembered all the times that Bryan had kept pressuring her to tell him about Lucy. Of course, the rat was aware. Little wonder she had been unable to find anything about Tom around the house.

"Let me deal with Bryan myself, just focus on getting over your hurt and forgiving Tom. Now I\'m curious to see Anita\'s face when she finds out she left Tom because he is broke, yet will be going through so much stress to seduce him. Hurry up and forgive him before she shows up again," Sonia urged Lucy, and when she heard the disconnect tone, she could tell that Lucy was still very upset.

With a sigh Sonia got off the toilet seat, and readied herself to go confront Bryan.