Capricorn
Chapter 16

Behavior and Personality Traits
Capricorn's Dislikes

*

Adena sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. Stalling a little because she still felt embarrassed, why did she say all that? Now Craig probably pitied her. She changed into the now clean clothes that she wore yesterday, she would need to get clothes from somewhere. Fun time's over. She's officially overstayed her welcome. Craig kept saying she wasn't but she had a feeling he was being too nice. His roommate probably would have an issue with some random girl moving in with absolutely nothing but the clothes on her back and her purse. She would be if she were his roommate.

She didn't want to go to Kim's, she didn't feel like facing her knowing she was probably pissed now and wanting an explanation. She didn't want to walk right into another stressful situation. She stopped checking her missed calls, each one gave her more and more anxiety. She brushed through her hair again for the 10th time. She let out a long exhale. She opened the bathroom door and saw Craig sitting on the bed, watching tv but she had a feeling he was anticipating her coming out. Why did he have to look so sad for her?

"I'm sorry to make you run off. You're obviously still hurting" he said to her.

"Oh it's fine...whatever," she said downplaying it as she stood there with her arms folded across her chest, "I'm getting over it. I have to."

"How long were you two together?" he asked and then stopped, "I'm sorry, why am I still asking?"

"10 months...well married. We dated all 4 years in college" she said as she slowly walked over to him and sat next to him. She was just about to lean forward to put her boots on but she couldn't exactly move. "What about you?" she heard herself ask him, wanting to change the subject.

"What about me?" he asked her as he leaned over trying to get a look at her face since her back was facing him.

"Married? Divorced? Single?" she asked him as she picked off the smallest piece of lint on her shirt, "I mean a girl isn't gonna come in here and demand why I'm sitting on your bed right?" she asked him.

"No," he said with a laugh as he turned to her, "I'm not committed to anyone right now," he said.

"Ok, you still didn't answer my question."

"I just -"

"You may not be committed to anyone right now while you're talking to me but is there someone out there who's committed to you? Seeing you? Are you talking to anyone?"

He chuckled. "True, point taken. The answer still is no."

"Why not?" she asked him, finally turning around to look at him. Why did she look so surprised?

"Well, I have this big thing about not making the first move. Rejection and the games are just...they aren't for me. I don't have the time or the patience right now. If a girl is worth it, that patience will come back and she'll come to me" he said.

"What, are you scared?" she asked him with a smirk.

"Scared? Scared of what?"

"Scared of being in a committed relationship."

"Yeah. I'm not afraid to admit it. I've had my heart broken too and I've probably broken some hearts myself. I know I have. I'm laying low for right now" he said to her. They sat there in a small silence. She was surprised he admitted it without hesitation and then he laughed and said, "You smell like me."

"Irish Spring is strong," she said with a laugh. "It got the job done. Feeling clean after yesterday feels nice...I just would feel more comfortable if I wasn't wearing the clothes that I was wearing yesterday. Even though they're clean. I might have to throw this outfit out, it has 'the cold' all over it probably."

"They smell fine to me," he said with a chuckle. She leaned over and picked her boots off of the floor and put them on. "What you doing? You leaving?"

Adena sighed. She hoped he wouldn't make this hard for her. If he said anything remotely too nice, she may just stay but feel guilty for the next 24 hours anyway. "Yeah, I'm feeling a little better. It's enough to get me going."

"You sure? It's freezing out. She said we're gonna get a few more inches soon" he said with a smirk. She shook her head and chuckled as he looked at the weather widget on his phone. It was literally 10 degrees out. One step outside and she'll be coughing up a storm again.

"That's New York winters for you," she said, trying not to look at him as she found her purse.

"You want me to get you an Uber?" he asked her.

"I'm fine. It's on the way actually." But that was a lie. She just needed to get out of here and figure out what to do with her sorry, pathetic self now. She looked around for her coat and scarf.

"Oh I put your coat on the hanger near the door," he said as he got up. Disappointed she was leaving. He was trying not to seem so clingy but he had a weird feeling. It was too soon for her to leave. He wracked his brain as he tried to figure out something to make her sit down and think for a second and not leave just yet. They walked to the door and she took the coat down. "I got it," he said as he helped her put it on. Then he handed her her scarf.

She finished buttoning up her coat as best as she could to keep herself warm. She put on her leather gloves and looked up at him. "Thank you for everything. You really didn't have to. I'm a complete stranger-"

"Not anymore and any time. If it were me it would be amazing if a beautiful girl like you came to my rescue" he said and then he scratched the back of his head.

"Thank you," she said, hoping her really warm cheeks weren't exposing her blush. He called her beautiful...why did it feel like it's been so long since she heard that? "Maybe next time," she said.

"Yeah um, I never really go to that bar we went to yesterday-"

"Me either-"

"But hey maybe we'll run into each other again there."

"Or come by the gallery, come look at some beautiful works of art."

"Only if Miss Beautiful herself shows me around."

"Well...that's something else I need to figure out," she said. What was she going to do with herself tomorrow?

"Oh and get out of the house more. Come to the clubs. I work at a few different ones. I can get you in for free and I can protect you from the crowd."

"My friends would definitely agree with you," she said. Did she have any friends better yet? Have they all given up on her? The silence was interrupted by her cell phone. It was still in Craig's room.

"I'll get that for you, can't forget that," he said as he walked into his room to retrieve it. It stopped ringing as soon as he picked it up. He handed it back to her.

"Maybe I should let you have it," she said. She glanced at her notification screen and quickly regretted it. She couldn't believe how many missed calls, texts, emails, and DMs she had waiting for her. It brought her back to the real world. Reality sucks.

"Maybe turn it off?" he asked her, "The only way to truly get away like you want to is to just turn everything off." Every time she looked at it, she looked more upset than the last time.

"You know what? I'll do that, I should have done that a long time ago" she said as she turned it off and tossed it into her purse. She sighed, "I feel better already."

Craig smiled, "Yeah and you aren't having coughing and sneezing fits and you're smiling," he said to her. She rarely smiled but when she did it was beautiful. Maybe he was overreacting, she was going to be ok.

"Again thank you for everything," she said. She had to go. Now. Or she'll never leave. She turned to the door and he opened it for her.

"You need me to walk you down?"

"I'm fine, my Uber is about to leave me," she said as she rushed out. She paused and turned around. "Again thank you for everything," she said. She wanted to give him a hug but she felt so awkward. She had to go. NOW ADENA RUN! "Take care of yourself," she said sincerely and then hurried down the hall towards the stairwell. She opened the door and looked back. He was still there. She gave him one last wave. He waved back...

And then she was gone, just like that. Just as quickly as she came to him 24 hours before.

He sighed as he leaned in his doorway, trying to shake all the thoughts that were swarming around in his head. "I need a fucking drink," he said and finally closed and locked the door.

*

Cancer is the complementary opposite sign of Capricorn.

*

Adena didn't know how many flights she ran down but she was exhausted when she got to the lobby. She tried to catch her breath but ended up coughing instead. The few people in the lobby turned to look at her. She walked out quickly and the icy cold air hit her like a ton of bricks. She started coughing again. She wrapped her scarf around herself and looked around. Where the hell was she anyway?

She saw a pharmacy across the street and one a couple blocks down. She should get some more meds and tissues and try to get warm again. She didn't want to go back to Kim's but she may just have to. Kim was already pissed probably so she should try to pick up as much as she can. Luckily this pharmacy was one of the larger versions, it had 2 floors, which gave her time to look around and get warm. As she walked slowly down each aisle, she wracked her brain on where the hell she should go.

Maybe Missy's was a better idea. She wasn't as judgmental and serious as Kim. She would probably let her in and ask what was going on while trying to give her liquor or a joint. She then stopped, Missy's place was party central, and wasn't her cousin staying with her or something? If not, she didn't want to walk into a house full of weed smokers. She just wanted to be left alone. Missy's probably wasn't a good idea either. She then said, "Thank God."

There was a small section of clothing essentials that was good enough for her. She picked up a few packs of the cheapest-looking panties she's ever seen but it was better than nothing. She picked up a couple of t-shirts and a few pairs of thick socks. She felt better once she found those items. She definitely didn't have to go home for now.

Home. She no longer had one.

She held back the tears as she picked up a few more things and went through self-checkout. She should call an Uber. She grabbed her phone out of her purse and tried to turn it on. But it wouldn't. Shit. She killed it. Her charger was at Kim's. She'll have to take the subway. She walked out and shivered again as the cold hit her. What was worse was now there were big gusts of wind that made it feel another 10 degrees colder. She walked over to a bus stop and waited. She started coughing, she opened the tissue pack and coughed into it. Maybe she wasn't any better, her head was starting to hurt.

The bus was late as always. It was better to start walking. She sighed. She walked another couple of blocks and noticed a girl, standing across the street, wearing all white. She had a long floor length white coat and a white hat. She was holding a cardboard sign. Adena paused to try to read what it said. It was so cloudy and windy, her eyes were watering and it looked darker out than it really was.

It read: JUST BECAUSE THINGS COULD'VE BEEN DIFFERENT DOESN'T MEAN THEY WOULD BE BETTER. GO WHERE YOU ARE CELEBRATED, NOT TOLERATED.

Adena stood there and read it silently a few times. She didn't know if it was another gust of wind or the fact that it started snowing but she started to feel worse. She started coughing again and practically wrapped the scarf around her head to cover her nose.

She looked back up and the girl holding the sign was still there. How was she not cold? Why was she standing out here in a blizzard holding a sign? Like she was protesting. What was she protesting? She read the sign again. Why did this feel like a personal attack?

Get ahold of yourself, Adena.

Before the sign was blurry but now somehow, it was clear as day to read, and the more she did, the more upset she got. She wished she would go away. So she turned around. Still no bus. She should keep walking. Or better yet, run. The snow was starting to come down hard. She hurried down the sidewalk and tried to resist but she looked over at Sign Girl again. She turned toward her as she walked, making sure she could read it until she was far enough away.

This definitely felt like a personal attack. Go where she's celebrated? Where is that? Besides her parents? What was there to celebrate? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She realized that she felt like she was being tolerated across the board. Kim. Missy. They were trying to help but she knew what they really thought. They pitied her. Like she needed to be watched? What was that about? And of course especially Taye. Staying out all night and cheating on her repeatedly meant he didn't want to be a married man anymore. He was too cowardly to tell her and was dumb enough to get caught. So he just came home and took showers thinking that would absolve him of his crime. Why did Catholics think that they can talk to a priest after they did something wrong and their slate was clean? She never understood it. Taye was never clean. He was always dirty and she didn't know it. He would come home after being with some stranger and then touch her? No matter how many showers he took he would always be dirty to her. He was tainted. He was literal garbage.

Just as she thought so, that's exactly what she smelled. She looked and saw bags of trash taking up the sidewalk. She wanted to vomit at the smell. She needed to cross the street.

Then it all happened so fast. A car sped down a narrow alleyway and turned left but skidded as it did so. They were clearly speeding. They didn't see her and she underestimated how fast they were going.

"MISS! WATCH OUT!" someone yelled as the car sped right towards her. "LOOK WHERE YOU'RE GOING" they yelled at the driver.

They saw her a couple of seconds too late and slammed on his brakes. But doing that on icy, snowy, and slushy streets was never a good idea. The car kept coming at her and it didn't stop. She froze. A voice was screaming inside her to RUN!

But another voice, one that scared her said OR STAY HERE AND PUT YOURSELF OUT OF YOUR MISERY...

Her body seemed to agree with the scarier voice, she couldn't move. Maybe this was it...she's been thinking about doing it herself. It was just in time because she didn't see a point in being here anymore.

"MOVE! SAVE YOURSELF!" the person screamed at her as the car barreled toward her but in slow motion at the same time. The closer it got, the more she could see the driver. It was an elderly woman and there was a young girl sitting next to her. Both of their eyes were wide with fear, praying she would get out of the way in time because there was nothing they could do. Then the woman held down her horn and somehow that woke her up. At the last possible second, she ran out of the way and put her back against a car, and held onto it for dear life. The car sped past her, the horn still blaring.

What the fuck was that Adena?

She was more frightened now that she was out of the way than she was at death's door. What was that about? Was she literally losing her mind?? She clutched her chest as she tried to catch her breath but it was very hard to do because her chest was tightening up on her. She tried to calm herself down. Then a police car came barreling out of the same narrow alley and sped up the street, obviously chasing the car that almost killed her. What did those two do to have a high-speed chase in a blizzard? The woman looked like she was too old to drive and the little girl was definitely not old enough to drive. Shit, if they hit her, they both would be traumatized. Neither of them needed that, especially the girl. Would they hit and run or would they have stopped, making it easier to get arrested? Witnessing a murder and being handcuffed at the same time was not something a child should go through.

She did them all a favor. But especially for herself. What was she thinking? She wasn't. Shaking, cold tears running down her face, she looked around to see if the person screaming was around, or anyone for that matter. They weren't and neither was the girl with the sign.

Adena started to panic, thinking that maybe she would have to check herself in somewhere...

She looked around as the snow fell harder. What the hell was she gonna do now??

*

The Capricorn Look- Forehead: narrower than average between the temples, with deep frown lines.

*

Craig groaned, now he was bored and he hated being bored. Despised it. So like he had been doing non-stop for almost 48 hours, he started thinking about Adena. He never did it on purpose. It kept him busier than he would like to admit. He hoped she got home ok. He hoped she would be ok. She was strong though, he was sure that she would but when she left she had a different look on her face. He didn't know her at all to be able to decipher it. He glanced out the window. The sky was literally falling, it was coming down hard. Yeah, he hoped she got to wherever she was going safely. He hoped the Uber driver wasn't a creep. However, he did know that Adena had no issue with giving a strong No. It actually really pissed her off. What are you not getting? He chuckled a little remembering their little encounter...

"I'm gonna be blunt. Leave me alone" Adena had said barely looking at the man hitting on her.

"Let me help put a smile back on your face," he said as he put his hand on the small of her back. "Loosen you up, come dance with me-"

Adena squirmed away and looked at him sternly, "Leave me the hell alone!"

"Yo, you heard her. Leave her alone" Craig said as he put his arms around her. He explained himself quickly remembering the look on her face and knowing she was a second away from connecting her narrow elbow to his bad rib, "Just go along with it. Don't worry, just play along..." he said as softly as he could.

Problem was, she didn't want to. He can remember clearly how scrunched up and how disgusted she was being surrounded by either of them.

"Oh that's you?" the guy asked him as he pointed to Adena, "My bad, you could've just said that..." he said, as another girl caught his eye."Hey shorty, why aren't you smiling?" he asked as he followed her instead.

Wow. Lucky for him, it worked. He let her go. "Sorry. I hate seeing women looking uncomfortable. No means no right? I had to jump to the rescue" he said to her.

"Thanks," she said, barely looking at him.

"No problem had to help a beautiful girl in need. Really beautiful in fact. You remind me of my little sisters" he said. Then he paused and realized how that might have sounded. "I mean no...wait that didn't sound right..."

"Goodbye!" she said as she put her empty martini glass down and walked closer to a couple of girls who were probably her friends. He knew not to follow her. He wouldn't because he remembered how humiliated he was.

Craig shook his head, remembering every detail. So much happened in that small exchange. He felt like he was back in high school. When he had NO game whatsoever. He wasn't always this fly. Who says something so creepy as that?? He remembered not being able to get that interaction off his mind. He went to hang out with his crew in VIP. He had the night off but he was bored so he went to see what the 2000s party