Love and Gravity Read Free

She was twenty-three, with naturally straight blonde
hair down to her shoulders. She had radiant green eyes and always seemed to
glow subtly with her youth. She was a fit yet curvy woman, having some
Columbian heritage in her bloodline on her mother's side that left her with
full hips and strong legs. She had high cheekbones that she had gotten from her
father. On him they had seemed authoritative, but on her they seemed more
elegant.
    Margot wasn't very interested in
her own beauty, though. When she wasn't at work, she was alone in her small
apartment above the bar. She always dressed very simply when she wasn’t
working, usually cut-off jean shorts and a tee-shirt. She liked to keep her
hair back from her face with an old blue bandana tied over her head. All of her
clothes were splotched with paint because whenever she was home she was
painting.
    She was obsessed with painting and
doodled on the coasters at work constantly. She tried not to let anyone at the
bar see her drawings. She felt that her art was the purest, most untouched part
of her. She lived inside of her creations. They were the only constant she had
ever known.
    At work Margot had to dress
differently, behave differently. She had to use her looks for tips. Heels and
dresses only, on Pop’s say so. He said she looked best in black because it made
her pale skin seem like porcelain. He said heels made her more formidable. He
said with immense pleasure that she was like a broken down Mercedes - classy,
but in too much need to refuse help from anyone, even from an old dog like him.
He said men liked that in a woman. He had spanked her after saying that,
utterly confident and utterly right about her need. But despite her dependence
and implied allegiance to Pop, both he and Margot preferred Margot to know as
little about what went on at Altitude, beyond the drinking, as possible.
    Margot kept serving drinks to the
end of her shift. She kept thinking about the way the girls looked in the
pictures Malone had shown her. The quiet look on their faces made her feel
lonely. She couldn't stop thinking about it. It plagued her the whole night.
She was immensely relieved when it was finally time to close shop, go upstairs
and crawl into bed. She began ushering the few remaining stragglers from the
bar promptly at four a.m., hurriedly but absentmindedly, still thinking about
everything else that happened that night.
    “Come on, Eddie. It’s time to go
home.”
    Eddie was next to last to go. As
Margot tried to herd him towards the door, he started pawing at her. A few more
of the guys had bought him drinks after his show of territoriality to the
detective and he'd gotten pretty drunk and even more obnoxious than usual. He
reached around Margot's waist and spun her to face him.
    "Margot, you're a pal buying
me a drink tonight. Lemme kiss you, huh?"
    Margot pushed at Eddie's chest.
Eddie tried to kiss her but she moved her head away from him. The left strap of
her dress fell from her shoulder leaving her dress held up precariously by
nothing more than the angle of her breast. She began to feel panicked.
    "Let me go Eddie, you're
drunk!" She punched at his chest. She felt her heart fluttering faster as
his grip on her tightened.
    "Hey come on, I’ll be nice if
you are," Eddie slurred at her.
    Puddy appeared from the corner of
the bar, crossing the room before Eddie had the chance to try anything more.
    "Knock it off Eddie,"
Puddy said, grabbing Eddie by the collar like a cat grabbing her kitten by the
scruff of its neck.
    "Hey I was just trying to
thank the lady," Eddy slurred.
    "Sure Eddie. Let's go, I'll
take you home." Puddy pushed him to the door and looked back at Margot.
"You okay?" Puddy liked to look out for her.
    "I'm fine Puddy, thank you
for your help." Margot lifted her strap back onto her shoulder and pushed
a stray hair back behind her ear.
    "I'll see you tomorrow,"
She said, trying to smile reassuringly, but she felt violated. Eddie’s lips had
grazed her