Alanna’s Boutique: Short Story

For my Production course, we were tasked to write a short story. I came up with an intimate story about a marriage featuring two troubled people.

Alanna’s Boutique was a shiny and soft pink sphere-shaped building. You can find it in any city, any town if you’re passionate enough or you have something insatiable growing inside of you. If there’s something that you greatly desire that has been unearthed yet. Unlike most stores of its stature, it was not discreet. The slightly tinted windows revealed crystal and gemstone erotic devices. Thirty-eight-year-old Janis, whose idea of pleasure was the smell of freshly printed paper, pressed her face against the glass. Her husband, thirty-six year old Drew tugged on her shoulder. Grace, the young and pretty female cashier, laughed at the scene that played out before her.

The week before, Drew pushed Janis off him during sex. It had happened before, and normally it didn’t bother her. It was exactly what she had expected. In fact, Drew and she had an agreement. He could sleep with whoever he wanted as long as he came home at night. She didn’t mind the Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau de Toilette that coated him at night or the dark hickeys that he covered with his knitted turtlenecks or the deep scratches on his back. Their marriage was one of convenience. Drew got the fortune his parents had promised him if he brought him a decent woman, and Janis could ignore her mother’s frequent calls about her singleness. Extended family members pestered them for a child, but they both knew they couldn’t bring a child into their new but dysfunctional world. It’s only been three years but the only thing they currently had in common was their love for films, a love that quickly diffused when Drew decided to bring his lovers to the theatres, and the occasional feminist article turned Janis away from the directors and actors she once loved. So when Drew came to her a week before and demanded a baby, she laughed. He rolled his big blue eyes.

“Jan, I’m serious,” he replied.

“How are we going to have a baby?”

“I’m sure you know how a baby is made.”

Janis put down her copy of Beloved on their nightstand. Drew eyed the novel.

“You know she kills her baby in this one.”

“Funny.”

She placed her satin eye mask on and went into the fetal position, her back against Drew. Drew stared at her for a moment before sliding a hand between her legs teasingly. She clamped her thighs hard on his fingers. He hissed.

“Drew, leave me alone.”

“Janis, I’m serious.”

Janis. She lifted up her eye mask and stared at him.

“I thought we agreed-”

“There was never an agreement-”

“It was a silent one.”

“Do you ever want to have children?”

She did, at first. If She and Drew had a baby, the baby would be beautiful. A combination of their brains with Drew’s soft eyes and Janis’s height and their wealth combined could provide their child an amazing future. She did before she realized Drew and her weren’t physically compatible, not that she was physically compatible with anyone after what had happened. As friends, Drew and she clicked immediately. As lovers, they were complete opposites. Drew was needy, large, and slow. Janis was anxious, small, and cried at the thought of intimacy with anyone. She had an innate desire for pregnancy and motherhood. She promised herself years ago that if she was given such a blessing, she would be different from the neurotic mothers her family created. She no longer believed in blessings and was just grateful she could go another day without something awful happening to her. However, she decided that she and Drew couldn’t bring up a conventional child into their awkward marriage. No, she couldn’t bring up a conventional child when she wasn’t complete yet, she still feared being touched and doted on.

Six months ago, Drew had come home at 3 am. She was awake because she refused to sleep without him by her side. His train engine-like snores silenced her intrusive thoughts and reassured her that there was a man out there in her world who wanted her to be happy. That night, his eyes were red, his lips were cracked, and he smelled like Irish whiskey. He straddled her and squeezed her cheeks with her hands. She shifted uncomfortably but allowed him to hold her because he was distressed.

“I’m...I’m a horrible person.”

“No-”

“I made her get an abortion.”

There was a moment of silence. Janis didn’t ask who “her” was because it didn’t matter. A sour taste filled her mouth, it felt like God replaced her saliva with white vinegar once she heard the word abortion. She didn’t know there was something out there with Drew’s DNA.

“Why?”

“I don’t want her to have my baby.”

“How do you know she went through with it?”

“I went with her to the clinic. They have candy there.”

He removed his left hand and dropped her favorite candy, butterscotch, on her forehead.

“Thank you for telling me. Now please get off of me and go to bed.”

Drew got off of her and stood them for a second. He opened the door to their master bath before pausing and mumbling, “I wouldn’t mind if it was you though.”

“OK, Goodnight, Drew”, she retorted, trying not to notice the sour taste went away.

Drew kissed her eyebrow affectionately. She didn’t squirm away. He placed her hands between her thighs. She didn’t squirm away. They haven’t been physically intimate in over a month They had sex once on their honeymoon. At least once a month, Janis would try to push away all of her demons to enter a hot and heavy makeout session in her underwear. Now she could last 20 minutes before having to pull away.

“Is that a yes?”

“What if I’m not fixed?”

Drew scoffed. He was tired of Janis’s weak perception of herself and her state of mind. He did love her, not the way a man would love his wife but maybe the way a man would love a widowed neighbor. Untouchable but she was fun to gaze at. He felt selfish for pestering her about every therapy session she had with Dr. Midds to see what progress she had made. How many more years and sessions would it take for her to see herself fully naked again? How many more women did he have to sleep in hopes of stirring her with enough rage for her to establish something in their relationship? The sudden pregnancy of her did unearth something besides him. He loved her enough to start a family with him, but the process excited him more. It was nothing primal. If he gave her something they both wanted, would she open up to him? It was the perfect plan.

Perfect until he realized she was crying again. It wasn’t a full-on sob like their honeymoon where her choking sobs could be heard throughout their resort in the Dominican Republic. Just two tears slid down the right side of her face which made him feel worse for some reason. Let’s get married. We are in our mid-30s, we like each other enough, and we have no one. It’ll be great. My Afro-Caribbean parents love you, you remind them of young Henry Fonda. You’re a good man, Drew. I trust you completely. It's not you, it’s me. I find you attractive. One day, we could do this. Give me time. I don’t care how you relieve yourself, just come home to me after. He bit his lips, trying not to say something stupid. We could try IVY, artificial insemination if you still want to. We could also postpone it, though I’m getting old. When did I turn thirty-eight? Why am I so old?

The night before, Drew left the cut out of a Refinery29 article next to a plate of salami and pepper jack cheese, their favorite midnight snack. It was an article detailing sex toys and trauma. She blushed when she showed it to them, but he gave her the signature, Blue Eyed Bambi look, and pouted because he went through all the effort of combining Janis’s favorite magazines. Now here they were, at Alanna’s boutique. The chic and feminine store with intimidating devices with a crisp and welcoming air that surrounded it.

“When did you have time to look for a sex shop?”

“I just saw it once when I was passing by.”

Grace giggled at the older but cute couple, unaware of who said what but enjoyed their playful but different dynamics. The store was upset, and its location was temporary. It was hungry for someone to enter and move around. Grace opened the door and interrupted the bickering couple.

“Would you like to come in?”

The wife blushed. She wrapped her hand tightly around her husband who was startled but thankful for the sudden touch. Alanna’s Boutique had already changed its dynamic. Grace leaned against the store, eyeing them playfully. Accepting the invitation, the two walked into the building.