5)### Com Ave (Kenmore Square)

Flash forward three months. I stroll down Commonwealth Avenue wearing a tie dyed skirt and black tee shirt. I have a brand new pair of Chuck Taylors and I glance down at them every once in awhile, so pleased am I to finally own hip footwear.

I am thirty pounds lighter and a little less crazy than I was prior to staying with Eric and Krist. It is nearly summer and the air is pregnant with romance and great expectation. I am oddly calm even though I know I need to find a new home in the near future. Eric and Krist have been kind to me but I fear I may soon wear out my welcome. I understand more and more how Lily Bart must have felt; as much as I adore Eric, it is exhausting and uncomfortable to be someone�s charity case.

I see Penny on her front stoop, barefooted and leafing through a collection of Phillip K Dick stories. I�ve chilled with her once or twice since moving out of #### Com Ave, but after all the drama, we both needed a break. It�s funny because Penny�s studio is around the corner from Eric�s place, yet I seldom run into her.

I sit down next to Penny and we catch each other up on the various excitements and tragedies that have befallen us over the last couple months.

The parallels are amusing.

Penny had continued her abusive relationship with Alex, but finally ended it after he confessed running up massive gambling debts and fucking call girls. He begged Penny to forgive him, but she wisely told him to go screw. And he was now completely out of her life.

Sigh of relief.

I tell Penny about my abortion, about how it was a harrowing exercise in despair and guilt. John, to his credit, paid for half the cost and was kind and supportive during the entire ordeal. The two of us spent a great deal of time together right before and after. Perhaps it was just the requisite sadness or the freedom from being one half of a couple for the first time in two years, but sparks flew between us once more. We started sleeping together again, much to the annoyance of Eric and Krist, both of whom believed John to be the anti-Christ.

John and I hadn�t officially declared ourselves a couple again, but as we spent almost every waking moment together and were fucking on a regular basis, I took the relationship for granted.

Apparently my assumption was incorrect because one day I overheard an answering machine message from another girl and it was obvious she wasn�t just a friend. I didn�t have to dig too deep to find out that everybody else but me knew about this little indiscretion.

I finally stared the truth in the face and realized what a fool I had been. I confronted John. We fought. He said he had nothing to feel bad about because we had never formally gotten back together. I told him that he was being sleazy and splitting hairs. And that I deserved much better. And when I said it, I actually believed it.

So I let John go.

And since then I�d been feeling light as a feather. I took all the energy I had poured into our relationship and I put it into caring about myself instead.

I tell Penny that I see John at work and the two of us smoke cigarettes during break. I tell her that we clown around and exchange ironies. I tell her that I am happy with this situation. I tell her that I am happy to be single.

Penny empathizes with my newfound freedom. She says her only problem now is that she struggles to pay her rent. Her parents paid it during the school year but now it is summer and the responsibility is on her shoulders. She says she is thinking of getting a roommate for the summer. I tell her that it just so happens I am looking for a place to live. She asks me to move in.

Penny lives in a one-room studio the size of a Smurf�s linen closet but I don�t give a shit. I don�t care that I will be sleeping on the floor. I don�t care that when it rains cockroaches come up through the drainpipe. I don�t care that there are cracks in the ceiling and that Penny doesn�t own an answering machine. The place is cheap and Penny is my friend. It will be an adventure. I only have one concern.

You�re sure Alex is out of the picture, right?

God, I couldn�t be more sure. I haven�t spoken to him in forever. The thought of him makes me sick.

I accept the offer. I am thrilled to know I have a place to live�a place where I will actually be paying rent and won�t be a burden to someone.

After bidding Penny good-bye, I float down Com Ave towards the gardens and the world is tender and ripe with joy. During this moment I am happy and my heart is huge and my legs are strong enough to carry me any place I wish.

But then of course, it wouldn�t be my life unless further bizarreness ensued.

Stay tuned for part the Sixth...