A Wick Game For Three.

“Do you know whom you are talking to? I am Josephine Scott and I can ruin you in a matter of seconds! How can you misplace my luggage?! How irresponsible of you to say that – don’t you have any sense of responsibility?!” Oscar sighed as he hears his girlfriend yelling at somebody from the customs. “I don’t care what you say. I am not going to submit a written claim for something you people lost!” Her voice rumbled in the room. Oscar walks out to the balcony – he could take any more of her mindlessly yelling at somebody.

He would have told her that’s how it works – she has to claim but he knows that she will turn deaf ears on him. Oscar tried to explain to her whenever she would embarrass herself with her thoughtless claims, but when it started to turn out in huge fights and yelling at him – he stopped.

Oscar looked up at the sky and sighed – the weather was getting dull and gloomy. His flight was canceled for two days due to the storm that was approaching Nassau. He had to fly in and out a client to and from the Bahamas. When they came here three days ago – the weather was ideal for flying but now it has been delayed due to the predicted storm. He was peacefully looking up at the sky when Jo angrily walked out with her phone clenched in her fist. Oscar glanced behind him before blowing his cheek out and looking at the sky as she started yelling at him – again. “I can’t believe it!” She said. Oscar boringly turned his head around and asked, “What is it now?” He asked. Jo narrowed her eyes, “Don’t be such an ass, Oscar. They can’t find my luggage. It was entirely your fault from the beginning.” Jo snapped at him.

Oscar knitted his eyebrows together and asked as he folded his arms on his chest, “How is it my fault?” He asked. Jo always does this – she never accepts her mistake and always puts all the blame on others. She shifted from one leg to another, “Why didn’t you bring me here on your private plane? No, you had to make me travel through an airline. If only you would have allowed me to travel with you – this wouldn’t have happened. We could have been having fun by now but no – you had to say no.” Jo expressed her anger.

Oscar couldn’t help but chuckled – not because he found the situation funny but how stupid Jo was being. Oscar has always been short-tempered and Jo’s idiocy wasn’t helping him either. He was already stressed about the weather – which doesn’t look good and now he was stuck with his girlfriend, who doesn’t make any sense and was being a complete airhead. “You know Jo, we have been together for two years and I still can’t figure out how stupid sometimes you can be.” He spoke calmly while the anger within him was speaking. He had enough – he couldn’t deal with such insanity anymore.

Jo couldn’t believe what Oscar just said. He might not be raising his voice but his words hurt Jo. She narrowed her eyes, “What did you just say?” She asked implausibly. Oscar clenched his jaws and replied, “I said exactly what you heard. Jo, you are ignorant and stupid. You don’t realize how things work. This world doesn’t revolve around you! There are ways for things to be done, but how would you know – you always make others do stuff for you.” He said. Jo was consternated. She couldn’t utter a word – she was shocked by what Oscar was saying to him.

Oscar paused and rubbed his face before he pressed his lips together and pointed towards her cellphone which was in her hand, “That person is right! You have to submit a written claim – you have to fill out a form! You can’t just walk out of the airport knowing your luggage was missing and thinking my boyfriend or any other shit would take care of it for me! That’s not how it is done!” He yelled at her while she stood – completely shocked by the intensity of his words. She gulped as she could feel a lump in her throat – her eyes welled up but it didn’t stop Oscar from spilling the truth for her. “In the same way, you cannot demand me to take you with me in someone else’s plane! I don’t own the plane – my client does. I am only flying them from one place to another. That’s my job! I cannot bring my girlfriend with me on other people’s plane because she forces herself on me whenever I go to someplace that sounds fun to her!” He yelled once again, “Can’t you think? I am at my job – this is not a vacation for me.” He added.

“I mean, okay – I get it. You are not so educated. You didn’t complete your high school but that doesn’t give you any right to be so damn stupid.” Oscar spoke. It was a low blow from Oscar – he knew it but he was so angry and tired of her behavior – he lost control of what he was saying.

She couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of his mouth for her. “There is a place outside the social media, Jo and it is called real life and it sucks! Come out of your damn world and live in the real world. Posting a perfect selfie doesn’t make you perfect!” He snapped. “If you have even a tiny bit of dignity left in you – be a responsible person, work and pay up for the luxurious you show off on your social media accounts and stop expecting me to pay for them.” He said while pointing his finger at her. By the time he was done – he was breathing heavily, while Jo felt like someone knocked out all the air from her lungs. She couldn’t move or think – she was thunderbolt by everything that came out of Oscar’s mouth.

Oscar sighed and rubbed his eyes, “I can’t do this anymore,” He spoke softly this time. Tears freely flowing from Jo’s eyes as she looked directly at him, “We are completely different from each other. You want one thing and I want another. We are like fire and ice and we don’t go together. It is better if we end things,” Oscar proposed. He waited for her to speak, but from her expressions he could tell it wasn’t going to happen any time soon so, he continued. “I will buy you the ticket to get back to New York. I will also claim for your lost luggage, but that’s it – after this, we should part our ways. We are not suitable for each other.” He added.

Jo stopped still as the sky above them rumbled. Oscar knew he said too much, but he couldn’t take any of those words back. He looked at Jo – standing silently for the first time in forever. She didn’t argue back. She didn’t fight. She didn’t yell. She just stood there – completely humiliated by him. The sky was covered up with dark grey clouds as the thunderstorm echoed. Oscar ran his fingers through his hair and mashed his lips. He was realizing how brutal he was being – he shouldn’t have said most of the things that he did. “Listen, I am sorry. I was angry and I said things I shouldn’t have.” He apologized to a very still Jo. Jo let out a shaky breath as Oscar tried to get her hand, “Come in, it is going to rain soon.” He tried to bring her in but she pulled her hand away and pushed him hard. Oscar shuddered and looked at Jo with his eyebrows brought together. “Don’t touch me,” She let out of a whisper. She was finally coming back to her senses. Her heartbeat accelerated as she glared at the man she thought she was falling in love with.

She sniffed and looked up at the sky – it started to drizzle. “I am materialistic.” She repeated what Oscar said to her hardly two minutes ago. Oscar closed his eyes briefly and mashed his lips before he stepped closer, “Listen, I am extremely sorry for –” Jo wasn’t ready to let him insult her any more. She took a step back and put her hand in front of him to stop him, “Don’t – you don’t have to say anything.” She said to him. She nodded her head, “You are right. I am materialistic. I am uneducated. I couldn’t complete high school because my circumstances were different from any normal teenager. I am stupid because I don’t think before I react. I know everything. Each morning, I wake up with this burden of being so worthless.” She paused. She wasn’t going to ramble about how she feels in front of a guy who just affronted her.

She gulped and tried to stop her tears, “You don’t have any right to insult me as you did. You don’t have any right to degrade me – I do enough harm by telling myself that every day. You don’t have to do it for me!” She pointed her finger at him. “You want to end things with me – fine. I don’t want anything to do with you either. Let’s end this here and now.” She yelled at him. This time he stayed silent when she spoke. “You don’t have to book my flight back home or help me find my luggage. I don’t need your charity anymore, Oscar. Have an awful life. Fuck you.” She cursed at him before she walked into the suite.

She was collecting her handbag and putting in her belongings when she realized that everything including the handbag was given to her by him. She snorted and threw the bag on the floor just at the time when Oscar walked back into the room. “Think carefully, Jo. You don’t know anyone here. Let me help you one more time.” He insisted. She shook her head. “No, thank you – I can take care of myself.” She waved her phone at him, “I have to take this with me. I need this to find my way back. I will give it back to you once I get back to New York. As for that bag and everything that I have in it – they belong to you. You paid for it. I will also move out of your penthouse. See you back in New York.” She said and turned around.

She walked to the door and put her hand on the doorknob but stopped. She turned her head to look at him, “By the way, happy fucking second anniversary, you jackass.” She said to him before she walked out with nothing but clothes on and her cellphone. With no money in her hand – she wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but she had to get away from Oscar. She was feeling more embarrassed and humiliated with each second passed with him.

Oscar blows his cheeks out. He has always been a guy who keeps it all to himself. He is not a man of many words, but today she got the worst of him. He just couldn’t contain himself. Oscar’s gaze averted at her unzipped bag to see her wallet resting in it. She doesn’t have any money – she can’t possibly get anywhere without the money. With the certainty she wouldn’t be gone for long and will come back – Oscar sat on the edge of the bed and pulled his phone out to call Jo. He glanced out at the open to see it has started pouring. He tsk when she doesn’t answer his phone so he texts her – apologizing for the words he used. He knows he wasn’t getting any reply from her but he still tried. “The weather is going to get worse – she better doesn’t get out of the hotel.” He mumbled.

Jo walked out of the hotel with no umbrella with pouring rain. She tried to put her phone in his jean’s pocket but it refused to fit. She groaned lowly and hid it under her denim jacket. She can’t afford to get it soaked – she has to return it to Oscar. She walked and walked until she was lost. She didn’t have any money, she was hungry, she was angry more at herself than Oscar and she was completely soaked. Her legs were aching from walking and she badly waited to pee. It has been almost an hour since she has been walking and this time the rain only increased. She cursed under her breath and looked around to see if someone could help her. She let out a sob – she has never been this helpless. Oscar was right – she has been depending on others for too long – she completely forgot who she is and where she belongs from. She sniffed and knocked on the window of a closed coffee shop – just to try her luck but of course, no one was there.

She walked a little further and saw a dumpster at the corner. She looked around to see if anyone was around – she had to pee or else she would pee her pants and she couldn’t afford that so, completely desperate Jo – leaped behind the dumpster and peed in the open air as the rain poured on her. She couldn’t help but cry out loud as she was going – it was the first time when she had to pee at the roadside. Till this morning she never thought she would end like this at a foreign place – where she knows nobody and nobody knows her.

After she was down – she pulled her pants up and zipped her jeans before she came from behind the dumpster. She sniffed and stood under the shade – she didn’t where she was and how to get back to the hotel. She was humiliated by her now ex-boyfriend, but she was miserable without any help in such weather. As much as it was killing her to even think about it, but she decided to go back to the hotel and let help her – one last time. She was about to ask around to help her get a ride to take her back to the hotel when she felt like she has been shaken. She knitted her eyebrows and put her hand on the wall near. She must be feeling dizzy from walking in rain, but she was proved wrong when she once again felt the tremor. She looked around to see few people coming out from various buildings while panicking – just when she felt another jolt and fell on the ground as the ground started to shake violently.

“Earthquake! Earthquake! Everyone, get down!” She heard a man cry. She could hear people screaming and running towards the street as the earth shook. She could hear various things landing on the ground. She could hear the windows trembling and people crying. Jo stayed on the ground while she had her ear covered and her head bowed. The rain was pouring hard while the earth was shaking – she didn’t think she would survive. She sobbed and sobbed and after a few seconds the tremor stopped but she couldn’t stop shaking herself – she was frightened and just when she heard a familiar voice calling her name, “Jo!” She lifted her head to see Oscar running towards her – drenched in rain while she stayed on the ground. “Jo, thank God – you are okay!” He said as he kneed down and hugged her. At that moment she forgot what he had said to her just a couple of hours ago – she was just thankful he was here.

Oscar was thankful he went out to see Jo when she returned after a few minutes – he just had his instinct that she will be in trouble if he doesn’t go out for her. With every minute passing – he was being eaten by guilt for everything he had said to Jo. When he got to the lobby and she was nowhere to be seen – he panicked and asked some employees of the hotel if they have seen her and he was told that she was seen walking out of the hotel. Luckily the guard told him that she walked to the left and with a hope that he will find her nearby – he walked while asking people around and calling out her name. The rain was pouring heavily and with each minute he was getting concerned. After almost an hour – he felt the tremor. It didn’t take him long before he realizes that it was the earthquake. He looked around as the people rush out of the building. He could see the locals and the tourist panicking as they tried to get out to the open.

“Oh no,” He whispered as he fists his hair while his eyes wandered around to see if he could find Jo. His heart was accelerating as he walked forward while the earth kept shaking – he could feel a little dizzy from walking while the ground was shaking but he didn’t care and kept going forward. He had to find Jo. “Jo!” he called out her name and just at the time his eyes fell on the ground where Jo was sitting with her head down and her hand on her ears. The tremor soon died but she was still visibly shaking. Oscar felt his heart clenched as he rushed towards her. He felt awful to see her vulnerable – especially when he knows it was his fault.