You feel a mixture of shame, regret, and sheer panic as soon as you hang up the phone. You briefly consider calling Alice back and telling her you changed your mind and you want to stay with Marsha. But you just can't think of an excuse to give Alice that would make up for what you told her earlier, about going out for a first date with her before breaking up with her sister. If you had dated Marsha just once or twice, maybe it would be no big deal, but you had been on enough dates that you realize you are just utterly fucked.
FUCK!!!
Your date with Alice is supposed to be tonight. Even though you just called her and it's already after six o' clock, she agreed to meet you at eight. If you don't show up, she...she knows where you live and it's not far from her place, either. You realize you don't just want to "hide," you had better just flat-out get out of town. You have to think about what to do, and you can't do that when Alice could just show up in a few hours and force her way in and.....
Whatever it is she wants to do, you don't intend to wait around to find out. You pack enough stuff for a few days and plan to hit the road. This really isn't your style, and you really do feel bad about cheating on Marsha and then standing up her sister, but you really just need to be safe right now and...figure out this whole mess tomorrow.
You hop in your black BMW, let the roar of the engine's cold start drown out some of your panic, and then throw it into gear. Instead of inching out onto the road, you wind up giving it too much gas while also dumping the clutch, and you go lurching out of there, making a racket and embarrassing yourself. "Get a grip, James," you say to your self, as you try to calm down and think of a destination. You hit the highway and pick a direction and zone out for a while before settling on a place. You'll just stay at some moderately-priced hotel or motel and make sure to have food and plenty of alcohol, and then you'll figure something out. Maybe give everyone a little time to cool down and then make your apologies...or maybe ask your friend for more advice first. Whatever. You are safe for now.
You smile as you downshift to pass a big crossover whose driver just drifted into your lane, and feel better as the acceleration nudges you back in your well-bolstered seat, letting you enjoy the feeling of being in control of the situation for the moment.
Your phone starts going off and jolts you out of your sense of calm about an hour later. You see it's Marsha. You feel a pang of emotion and want to answer it, but....you just don't know what to do and it stops ringing. It seems like just a moment, though it might have been an hour, before it rings again. This time it's Alice. You realize it's already 8:25 and you feel good that you are already far away. You definitely don't answer. The phone rings a few more times over the next half hour, but you simply turn the ringer off and turn the your music up.
You get to where you are going and enjoy a late dinner before heading to a hotel with some extra food and booze to hole up for the night. You pay for 2 nights and figure if you need more time you can figure it out later.
It is not easy to sleep, but after the long drive and dinner and as much booze as you can stomach, you finally give in and fall asleep.
The next morning, you wake up and after a shower and some coffee, you. . .
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