Chapter 17: Moving Forward

  Jacob popped his head over the short wall of the cubicle in their office.

  ‘Hey Pip.’

  Pip was typing rapidly on her computer. She finished the sentence and then swiveled around in her chair.

  ‘What’s up?’

  ‘The sky.’

  ‘Ha-ha,’ Pip said with mock sarcasm.

  ‘But seriously,’ Jacob continued, ‘I was thinking about what happened the other week.’

  Pip shook her head and their eyes locked; Jacob’s were mellow and curious, and Pip’s, as always, were bright and warm.

  ‘I told you a thousand time,’ Pip laughed, ‘you don’t need to apologise. I really don’t care; on the contrary, I kind of enjoyed the moment.’

  ‘I actually wasn’t going to apologise.’

  ‘Well this is a shocking twist of events. What’s on your mind then?’

  ‘I’ve actually been thinking about this a bit over the last couple of days, and I was going to suggest, well not suggest, but, you know, umm… have you thought about speaking out against your ex-boyfriend? I think you should. He seems like a maniac and I think if he’s allowed to just run around and do whatever he likes… well that can’t be good, can it?’

  Pip furred her eyebrows questioningly; and her conversation with her psychologist suddenly came to the forefront of her mind.

  ‘No. Seeing him get hit was satisfying enough. Plus if I do anything - he’ll file a police report against you, and you might get charged with assault.’

  Jacob rose a finger.

  ‘One, I don’t care if I get an assault charge.’

  Jacob rose another finger.

  ‘Two, I can claim self-defence.’

  Jacob rose a third finger.

  ‘Three, I think it’s something you should do. It doesn’t have to be officially, through the legal system. Maybe you could out him on social media - or write an article about him online. You know, like Amber Heard did to Johnny Depp.’

  ‘Didn’t she get sued for defamation, and lose a lot of money?’

  ‘Yes, but that was in America. You’re telling the truth, and we have video evidence to prove it. I think it’s worth it; you could stop him doing this to another girl. Or maybe help a girl he’s already doing it to. I’ll support you. In any way I can. If, of course, you decide you want to follow through and do something. If not then I’ll probably just go home and cry.’

  ‘Dang Jacob, are you secretly having an affair with my psychologist?’

  ‘Why, did you get some similar advice from her.’

  ‘Almost identical.’

  ‘Let’s just say I have an intuition for psychology. So it only makes sense that I’d think like one,’ Jacob winked. He was clearly joking; they both clued in on it.

  There was a prolonged silence afterward.

  ‘I’ll think about it.’

  ‘You do a lot more thinking than I do. You know that.’

  ‘Yeah but you hardly think at all.’

  Jacob grinned.

  ‘You know I think about a lot of things. Like…who would win in a fight between Dumbledore and Gandalf.’

  ‘Definitely Gandalf, he’s literally a demi-god.’

  ‘Very true,’ Jacob agreed.

  ‘Have either of you thought about getting back to work?’ Martha’s voice spilled into his ears. How long had she been standing next to him.

  ‘Yeah, anyway Pip, about those reports...’ Jacob stammered as he looked around awkwardly at Martha, ‘I’ll get them to you on Friday.’

  Jacob marched back to his seat and plonked down in front of his computer. Once Martha disappeared, Jacob pulled out his phone and wrote a quick message.

  She’s always onto me, isn’t she.

  He sent the message through to Pip. He got a reply less than a minute later.

  She does seem to have it in for you.

  ***

  Jacob reached over and took a large slice of pizza from the box on the coffee table; cheese hung down in thick strands as Jacob took a bite then dumped the pizza slice on his plate. He wiped his mouth, and lay back on the couch. Daniel and Thomas sat beside him. The three of them were chilling and chatting while the TV was playing Futurama in the background. Jacob had seen almost every episode growing up; so they were only watching the show in small parts. In a sense the TV simply added to the ambience of the living room.

  ‘Did you mean it when you said it?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘I absolutely meant it. Why wouldn’t I mean what I said?’ Jacob replied.

  ‘Because we might have to testify in court,’ Thomas sighed.

  ‘And I’m more than happy to take an assault charge if that’s what I need to do. I told her that, and I told you guys that. I just don’t think we can… let this… just pass by.’

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  ‘You know that you’ll have our support, whatever happens,’ Daniel said as he reached over and took another slice of pizza. Daniel was dripping sauce all over his mouth and shirt, ‘right Thomas?’

  ‘Yeah, you’ll have our support,’ Thomas looked at Daniel, ‘weren’t you supposed to be doing that whole gym thing. Eating healthy and what not?’

  Daniel shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘Hey, I’m doing this thing where I don’t eat in between meals and snacks. And I decided I’m only going to eat takeaway on two special occasions. When it’s my birthday, and when it’s not my birthday. Maybe I’ll hit the gym in January and quit after a month like everyone else.’

  ‘Yeah, that definitely is a trend.’

  ‘It doesn’t really matter, though, I barely weigh eighty five kilos. Less than you actually.’

  Thomas turned to Jacob.

  ‘Anyway, I spoke to my dad. Apparently there’s been several cases where an assault charge was dropped completely because it was determined to be self-defence. The problem would be proving that there was intention of harm; and that he was the aggressor. If this does go to court, he’s obviously going to claim that he grabbed her lightly - as a way of getting her attention,’ Thomas said.

  ‘Pip definitely said that it was forceful enough,’ Jacob replied.

  ‘Yes, but there’s no way to prove that. He didn’t leave a mark,’ Thomas said.

  ‘So… it will be impossible for us to prove anything?’

  ‘It will be impossible to prove that he grabbed her forcefully, but not entirely impossible to convince the jury that there was intention of harm. Pip was in an abusive relationship, three men cornered three girls in a quiet street. If we push that point hard enough, we might be able to convince the court that was enough suspicion of harm for you to be acting in a manner of self-defence when he grabbed her. That’s the angle we’ll need to go on,’ Thomas said.

  ‘Gee Thomas, I know you’re dad is a barrister, but how are you so good at this?’ Daniel said.

  ‘I worked at his law firm for three years as a part time job during high school. I just did measly stuff, like sorting through papers, but you tend to learn a lot while you’re there. Plus my dad took me along with him to court from time to time. He wanted to make sure that I could hold my own if I ever ended up getting sued for whatever reason.’

  ‘Well thank goodness for that,’ Daniel said, ‘so, do you reckon Pip’s going to go through with it?’

  ‘I dunno. She said she’s thinking about it,’ Jacob replied.

  ‘She said something to Sally, which means she’s definitely still thinking about it,’ Thomas added.

  Daniel picked up the remote and turned Futurama off; then proceeded to flick through episodes of The Simpsons on Disney plus.

  ‘Hey, that was one of my favourite episodes!’ Thomas said.

  ‘You weren’t even watching it. And this happens to be one of my favourite episodes of The Simpsons. Good morning starshine, the earth says heeeeello!’

  ‘That is a good episode,’ Thomas agreed.

  Jacob poured a glass of juice to go with his pizza.

  ***

  When Jacob got a message from Pip that night, about how she was going to try a coffee from Tierra Madre, Jacob couldn’t help but suggest he stop by. That was actually Pip’s intention, for him to come along, when she sent him the message; so together they both subtly arrived at a similar conclusion. The line for coffee was shorter than usual; Jacob spotted Pip halfway down the line.

  ‘You’re out and about on your own?’ Jacob exclaimed as he approached her.

  ‘Yeah well my psychologist said I need try to push through the whole not wanting to be out on my own thing. Baby steps. You know. I’m making progress.’

  ‘Nice. The part about you making progress. Not the part where you drag me out here for coffee half an hour before I would normally wake up.’

  ‘You dragged yourself out here. Plus, the morning will do you good!’

  ‘The birds do sing a little louder at this hour. Anyway, I’ll see you in there. Get us a table near the window.’

  Jacob turned and began walking the other way.

  ‘Where are you going?’ Pip asked.

  ‘Umm, to the end of the line?’

  Pip grabbed his arm and gently tugged him towards her.

  ‘I was saving you a spot,’ she whispered.

  Jacob smirked sheepishly.

  ‘Wait… are you suggesting I push in line?’ Jacob teased.

  ‘It’s not pushing in line. You’re with me,’ Pip said under her breath as she looked around awkwardly. Nobody had seemed to notice that Jacob had taken a spot next to Pip - most people were looking down at their phones, or staring off into space, dreading their coming day at work. Even though Jacob had the urge to continue to playfully tease Pip, he could tell that it was really making her uncomfortable so he decided to change the subject.

  ‘So,’ Jacob said, ‘are you ready for the best coffee you’ve ever had in your life.’

  Pip rose an eyebrow.

  ‘That’s a very high bar Jacob,’ Pip said as she took a step forward keeping up with the line which was rapidly moving forward. Jacob followed her, ‘I’ve had quite a few good coffees in my time,’ Pip added.

  ‘I’ll stand by it,’ Jacob replied, ‘they do very good ham and cheese croissants, too. Maybe just a cheese croissants for you. You eat cheese right?’

  ‘I’m vegetarian. Not vegan. Plus, croissants are full of butter so a vegan wouldn’t be able to eat a croissant anyway.’

  Pip took another step forward and Jacob followed.

  ‘Good point! I’d hate to be a vegan.’

  ‘They’re doing the planet a favour.’

  ‘And so am I,’ Jacob held up his fancy glass keepcup and waved it in front of Pip, ‘say no to disposable cups. Anyway, on another topic, any further thoughts on, you know, our conversation yesterday.’

  ‘You mean the conversation we had about your undying love for Martha.’

  ‘That is eternal love. But no. The other thing.’

  ‘Further thoughts. Yes. But no conclusions. Not as of yet.’

  ‘Okay. Want to elaborate a bit.’

  Suddenly the people in front of them disappeared, and there was a clear space between them and the counter.

  ‘What can I get you?’ the lady at the counter asked.

  Pip stepped forward.

  ‘A soy latte and,’ Pip turned to Jacob, ‘what do you want?’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Jacob replied, ‘I can get my coffee.’

  ‘He’ll have a cappuccino with a dash of honey. To have here thanks,’ Pip held out her card to pay.

  ‘That will be $13.50,’ the lady behind the counter said as she began punching the numbers into the eftpos machine, before holding it out for Pip to pay.

  ‘You don’t have to,’ Jacob started, but before he could protest any further, Pip tapped her card against the machine. There was a gentle beep as the payment processed and then the lady put the machine away. Pip turned to Jacob and smiled.

  ‘You can get the next one.’

  A few minutes later, Jacob and Pip were sitting on a table beside the window sipping at their coffees.

  ‘So how did you know my order?’ Jacob asked.

  ‘Lucky guess.’

  ‘No seriously.’

  ‘Seriously. I guessed. You always come in every morning with a cappuccino, and you always put honey in your coffee when you make it at work.’

  ‘That’s very observant of you,’ Jacob said.

  ‘I try to be as observant as I can. People think I’m quiet because I’m shy; but really I’m watching their every move,’ Pip smirked evilly and took a sip of her coffee.

  ‘Oh right. That way you know their weaknesses. It will be useful for when you take over the world.’

  ‘Exactly!’ Pip rubbed her hands together.

  ‘Anyway, about our earlier conversation. The further thoughts. No conclusions. I’m interested. What were you thinking…’

  ‘Oh, that,’ Pip took another sip of her coffee, ‘it’s kind of embarrassing.’

  ‘You know what’s embarrassing? The milk all over your upper lip,’ Jacob replied.

  Pip laughed and wiped her face.

  ‘But seriously. You can tell me. Whatever it is, there’s no way it will top the embarrassing ideas that I’ve had before. So go ahead.’

  ‘Well I was thinking of… starting a blog… maybe. I don’t know. It would be something I could do to support women. When you said that Jason might be doing the same thing to another girl; well now I kind of feel obligated to share my experiences. For woman who might be in an abusive relationship. To support them, or help them, if I can. I’m not sure if I’ll mention Jason by name though. It’s a stupid little idea.’

  ‘It isn’t stupid at all,’ Jacob replied, ‘I think it’s a cool idea actually.’

  ‘You do?’

  ‘Yeah, I really do. And when you’ve drafted your first entry, send it to me to proof it. I can be your unofficial editor.’

  ‘That would be cool. So do you… think Jason will press chargers… if I don’t specifically mention him.’

  Jacob scratched his chin.

  ‘I don’t know. There’s a good chance he might actually. If you manage to get a lot of attention. Even if you’re not mentioning him by name, Jason will know you’re talking about him if he ever comes across it. And anyone who knew you and Jason were a thing, his parents, friends, whoever, well, they’ll connect the dots. So you might as well be mentioning him by name. But as I said, I don’t mind going to court. And I think you should do this.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Pip said, ‘I’m not a hundred percent certain about it yet, but your support really does mean a lot.’