Broken Beauty by Chloe Adams

staggers as I lean into her.
    “Okay, okay,” she says. “Just … okay. Close your eyes. Pretend you’re in the closet.”
    I close my eyes and sink to my knees.
    “Okay, we’re in the closet,” Ari’s voice warbles. “It’s bright. Your shoes are like, right here. Handbags are here …” I can’t hear her anymore. I’m stuck in the in-between place.
    It’s safe here. I don’t like it, but it’s dark and quiet.
    “Mia!” Ari’s loud voice is accompanied by a pinch so hard, my eyes snap open. She and the store clerks are standing over me. “Okay, okay. She’s okay.” Ari’s voice is frantic and her eyes are large. “Right? You’re okay?”
    “Yeah,” I mumble.
    “Here,” another clerk joins us, holding a bottle of soda from the coolers near the cash register. Ari takes it and opens it. I sit up and sip.
    “Chris is sending a car,” Ari says. “Please tell me you’re okay.”
    “I’m okay. Why’d you tell him?” I ask, irked.
    “Right! Because you just passing out shouldn’t freak me out.”
    I sigh. “Sorry, Ari.” I get to my feet.
    The clerks step back, but lingers. I test my legs then gather my bags. Ari follows suit. I’m still feeling queasy, but try not to show it, for her sake. We leave the store and move into the mall. Ari is staring at me.
    “I’m okay, Ari,” I tell her. “I just … I saw him and freaked …”
    “I understand.” Ari is quiet for a long moment, thoughtful.
    We walk towards the entrance. I don’t want to go in the car Chris sent, but I’m also more than ready to go back to my closet. I can’t believe what I saw: a guy with no cares in the world, getting a multi-million dollar deal. Being rewarded for being who he is. I can’t make it through the whole day without crying. I can’t sleep in my own bed. I can’t forget him, but he doesn’t think about me for even a second of his day, week, life.
    “Mia, I was thinking...” Ari starts as we walk into the warm, autumn day.
    My body is shaking. I don’t see the car yet and head towards a bench sitting against one of the walls. It smells like cigarettes.
    “Maybe … maybe you should go to the police about you know, him. ”
    “I can’t, Ari. You know that.”
    “But you can’t pass out every time you watch TV.”
    “I’ll get better.” Eventually.
    “Mia, I’m serious,” Ari insists. “Go to those cops who rescued you. You got them medals. They’ll listen to you.”
    “Ari …” I sigh. She has no idea how right she is, especially about Dom. “Let me guess, you think it’s the right thing to do, too.”
    “It is the right thing to do.”
    Her words kill me. She sees the look on my face.
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean …” Ari sighs.
    “It’s okay. Everyone tells me I’m wrong. Oh, I didn’t tell you about yesterday, did I?”
    She shakes her head.
    The car pulls up, and we both walk towards it. The chauffeur opens the back door, and we slide in. I raise the privacy glass between us and the chauffeur, then inch closer to Ari. Her mouth drops open as I recount the trap the DA set for me.
    “Omigod!” she breathes. “I can’t believe they did that to you. What’d Chris say?”
    “I didn’t tell him.”
    “Because …”
    “Because I don’t know what to do.”
    “Oh. Wow. So you might do what they want you to?”
    “Shea says if I step forward, they’ll humiliate me and my family, because I was drunk and underage and had a fake ID and stuff. Chris says he-said, she-said cases are hard to prove in court, that the burden will be on me to prove he hurt me,” I continue.
    “In either case, your daddy will lose the Connor family, fracture the conservative base before elections, and give the press way too much fodder on your family,” she murmurs.
    “Yeah. I can’t go through it again, Ari.” I slump in the seat. “But last night, instead of seeing him in my dreams, I saw all those girls. I can’t stop thinking about them, Ari.”
    “Well, the football deal he