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bar. Each breath I took was shallow and deep. My ears began to ring and I could feel beginning to burn. I was desperately trying to keep my anger under control. The music stopped.
     
    Before I knew it, I was quickly whisked away by the members of the band. Danny was whispering something to me, but I heard nothing. Tina followed us. I could not turn my gaze away from her. She knew all too well how I felt about Danny, and this was definitely overstepping friendship boundaries. Danny grabbed me by the face and made me look at him. His mouth was moving and he was talking, but I heard nothing. Hatred was spitting from my eyes at him and sudden alarm ran across his face. I felt myself quickly having a melt down. All I wanted to do was get my hands around Tina’s neck and break it. I was blind with anger and could no longer contain it.
     
    The last thing I remember was grabbing Tina by the hair. The rest was a black haze of commotion with lots of screaming. Then I felt Danny slapping me…Hard. It shocked me into calming down and getting myself under control. My breathing was labored and the tears were flowing heavily. I was frantic and furious. Tina was on the floor, quite disheveled and bleeding. I had a handful of her hair in my clenched fists. I also had blood on my face. Was it hers or mine? I couldn’t tell. Danny had me in his arms and was restraining me. His friends began attending to Tina. It was apparent that they already knew her. From where, I don’t know. Jenny and Paul were trying to get my attention and were talking to me, but I still heard nothing.
     
    I was positive that Danny’s hand left an imprint on my face. It stung like all heck. Jenny handed a moist towel to Danny and he began wiping the blood off my face. I had a busted lip and a few scratches. Paul came over with a baggie full of ice. I was so angry that I couldn’t help but cry. How could she betray me like this? We’ve been friends since we were little girls.
     
    Danny began kissing my face. “It’s okay, Marilyn. It’s gonna be all right.” He was hugging me and stroking my hair. He turned to Jenny and Paul and asked, “Could you guys go to the bar and ask Phil for a couple of rum and cokes for us? Get yourselves whatever you want also. Tell Phil, it’s all on me.” Jenny and Paul glanced over at me, I nodded that I was okay and they went over to the bar.
     
    Danny called Karen, the lead singers girlfriend, and asked her to sit with me a while so he could take care of some business. He walked over to Tina and they began talking. Whatever they were discussing, it was apparently getting pretty heated. He began hollering and pushing Tina around. He pushed her up against the wall and threatened her. “I’m going to tell you once and only once…if you ever touch her again…I will kill you with my bare hands,” he shouted, smacked her and then pushed her to the ground.
     
    Tina was crying and visibly terrified. She got up quickly and ran away. Danny came back over and all I could do was hold on tightly to him. I quickly forgot how this whole mess started with his watching her dance. I also forgot about his slapping me. After a while, he got up and went to talk with his friends for a few minutes.
     
    When he returned, he told me that he was sitting out of the last set. He was being the model beau, doting on my every need. I sat quietly wrapped in his arms for the rest of the evening until last call and then he drove me home.
     
    The next morning my mother quickly noticed my busted lip and the fifth degree began. I explained what happened, but she still read me the riot act, for the hundredth time this week. She blamed Danny, of course, and ranted and raved about how he was going to ruin my life. All I could do was tune her out. After a while she settled down and began playing nurse. The swelling had gone down considerably, but my lip was still very tender.
     
    Danny came over around 11am. He bought brunch for all three of us. I thought