by D. K Lake
"You're coming home with me." JT speaks up having heard us whispering.
Nessie grunts and crosses her arms and stares out the window.
Ten minutes later, Boston pulls up outside the house. Nessie leans forward to get a better look at their home. This is the first time she's seen it up close and not from the street.
Boston kills the engine and climbs out, and JT pushes the door open and tilts the seat forward and I have to nudge Nessie to get her to move. She climbs out of the back, ignoring JT's hand he's offering her to help her out of the car. Mitchel closes the door and we all start to move toward the front door but JT soon stops when he realizes Nessie isn't moving.
"You going to stand out here all night?" JT asks in a quiet voice because it's the middle of the night and the neighbors are asleep.
"I'm not going in there." she says firmly.
"Ness, come inside, please." I say as JT passes me and walks over to her and she starts backing away from him.
"No...there's no way I'm going-"
JT lifts her over his shoulder again.
"Put me down!" Nessie screams.
JT smacks her ass and she squeals and calls him a string of words.
"Shut up! My mom is in bed." JT whisper-shouts at her.
Mitchel unlocks the door for us and I follow him inside where he flips the lights on and walks around the living room, turning on all the other lights.
"I'm not going in there. Into-"
"Into the house," JT smirks.
"No...into your drug den." Nessie snaps.
"Keep your voice down, or do you want another smack?"
Nessie shuts her mouth and JT carries her through the doorway and drops her in the hallway, then he locks the front door and tucks the key into his pocket so she can't leave. She stands in the hallway and refuses to move. Boston kicks off his shoes and walks into the living room and collapses onto the couch, JT disappears down the hallway and into the bathroom, and Mitchel walks into the kitchen.
I turn to Nessie and she's shaking her head.
"Come on, you can't stand in the hallway all night." I say.
"Kelse, you want a drink?" Mitchel calls and I leave Nessie in the hallway and walk into the kitchen.
Mitchel is standing in front of the fridge with the door open, drinking a Coke. I walk up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist and he hugs my arms as he finishes most of the drink and then hands it to me and I finish it off. Nessie walks into the kitchen, taking everything in. I can tell by the look on her face that's she pleasantly surprised. Their home is really nicely decorated and clean, and I know Nessie was probably expecting some sort of crack den with needles and beer bottles everywhere.
The house even smells good, like vanilla. I think Willa likes to burn scented candles.
"May I have one, please?" Nessie asks quietly, pointing to the fridge full of cans and Mitchel nods his head.
Wow, she's being polite. Nessie is just about to open the can when JT walks into the kitchen, his eyes focused only on Nessie.
"I'm going to bed." JT informs us.
"Ok, night, bro." Mitchel says and closes the fridge after picking up another can.
"Night, man!" Boston says from the adjoining room.
JT just stares at Nessie.
"Ok, whatever, night." she says, and looks away from him.
I see the hidden smile on his face as he moves closer to her and she backs into the kitchen counter to get away from him.
"Wh-what are you do-" Nessie starts to say as he bends over and lifts her over his shoulder again.
"Jacob! Put me down!" Nessie says quietly because she doesn't want to wake their mom. She leans up and looks at me.
"Kelsey, help me!"
"Uh..." I watch as JT carries her out of the kitchen.
"Where are you taking me?" she squeaks.
"You're staying in my room tonight." JT tells her.
I'm about to go after them when Mitchel stops me.
"They're fine, just leave them."
"Fine? They'll probably kill each other." I half joke.
"Kelsey!!" Nessie calls.
I don't know what to do. Should I help her?
"She'll be fine with JT." Mitchel assures me.
"What's he going to do to her?"
Mitchel raises an eyebrow. "I'm not quite sure what you're trying to imply."
"You know what I mean."
"He won't do anything to her. He'll probably make her sleep on the floor, though." Mitchel laughs. "C'mon." He pulls me closer to him and places his drink on the counter, and pushes his hands into my loose hair and holds my face in his hands, his plaster cast feels rough and scratchy against my skin.
"Kiss me." he asks softly.
I close my eyes and press my lips to his.
"Eww, they're kissing!" Boston teases, walking into the kitchen.
Mitchel kisses my nose and picks up his drink and takes my hand and leads me out of the kitchen.
"Night, guys." Boston says and I look over my shoulder and wave to him.
Mitchel leads me into his room and I close the door. It's even messier than last time. There are dirty clothes on the floor and empty beer bottles on the desk, and there is an ashtray overflowing with butt ends. His room smells a little smoky but the window has been left open to air the room out and it feels cool. He quickly walks over to the window and closes it and then looks around his room a little embarrassed.
"Have you been smoking in here?" I ask, knowing he's not supposed to smoke in the house because his mom doesn't like it and he has asthma so he's not supposed to be in such a smoky environment.
"Don't start. Mom already gave me shit about it. I had a rough week." he answers, pulling his hoodie over his head.
"I'm sorry." I say, chucking my cell phone on the desk.
"Why are you sorry? I'm the dick. I should have told you the truth."
"It's ok...let's not talk about it."
"No more lies." he says, picking up my hand.
"No more lies." I repeat, watching as he tenderly kisses my fingers before leaning down to my level to kiss my lips.
I still don't know what is happening between us. Mitchel knows I'm leaving on Monday, so why would he say things like that if he didn't plan on seeing me anymore. Why even bring me home? At the back of my mind, I have this silly idea that we will somehow make this work long distance. But is that even possible? Would I be able to cope not seeing Mitchel, constantly wondering what he's doing, or who he's with? Would Mitchel be able to cope without me, or would he soon forget about me? I don't think I'll forget about him. I don't want to.
Mitchel takes off his t-shirt and empties his pockets onto the desk, and I see a bag of weed and pills next to his math book. I don't even ask. He starts to unbutton his jeans. I kick my boots off and take off my jeans, getting ready to collapse into bed.
I'm so tired. But Mitchel gives me a weird look.
"What?" I say, wondering why he's looking at me so strangely.
"You're not coming to bed in someone else's shirt. Take it off."
"Seriously?" I roll my eyes at his jealous behavior and unbutton the shirt I borrowed from Richard and toss it on the floor.
Mitchel hands me one of his t-shirts and I pull it over my head and then I undo my bra and pull it out of the sleeve with Mitchel watching.
"I could have taken that off for you." Mitchel smirks.
"I'm sure you could have but I'm quite capable of taking off my own bra."
He lifts the covers and climbs into bed and I climb over him and slip under the covers. He checks his phone and drops it on the nightstand. I rub my eyes and roll onto my side and Mitchel edges closer to me and rolls onto his side as well and tucks his arm around my waist and lays his head on the pillow beside me and kisses the back of my head.
"I missed you in my bed."
"Hmm...me too."
"It could be like this every night."
I don't respond. I don't want to get into a fight about me leavin
g right now. I'm tired and I just want to go to sleep.
"Night, Blue." he whispers.
"Niiiight...Raspberry." I whisper, drifting off to sleep.
52
Voices in the hallway stir me awake.
I try to wriggle away from Mitchel, he's still got his arm draped over me and his body is crushing me. I fold the covers back to try and cool down, Mitchel feels like a furnace.
I can hear Nessie talking to someone out in the hallway. I check the time on the clock and see that it's 6.20 am.
Ugh. Way too early to open my eyes. But I need to pee so I climb out of bed and quietly open the door. I hear the front door close and I can hear someone moving around in the bathroom. I tiptoe closer to the bathroom and hear Nessie on the other side. I try the door and it's unlocked. I twist the handle and open the door and I'm greeted with a cloud of steam. I find Nessie standing in a towel on the other side with her phone to her ear.
She waves me in and I quickly step inside and close the door.
"Don't try and turn this around on me. The party was your idea so you clean it up! I've already spoken to Dad and told him this is all on you. I am not cleaning up your mess..." Nessie laughs. "Well, you know where the dustpan and the mop is." She hangs up the phone and puts it on the counter.
"Everything ok?" I ask.
"Just Stephen whining that he has to spend the weekend cleaning the cabin as punishment for letting the party get out of hand."
"Poor Stephen."
"Well, he's the idiot that forgot to put the leftover fireworks away and his idiot friends set fire to the boat."
"You had a shower?" I ask, looking at her makeup-free face and her damp hair.
"I couldn't go back to sleep and I wanted to wash Zeke off of me. I could still smell his cologne and JT said if I didn't wash it off he would hose me down in the backyard."
"And he probably meant it." I say and she nods her head in agreement. "What have you been doing in there with him?"
"Just talking."
"Talking?" I say, walking over to the toilet and quickly pulling my knickers down to use the toilet before I burst. "Please tell me you didn't tie him to a chair and torture him?" I laugh.
"No, but he'd probably like that." she smiles, wiggling her eyebrows at me.
"So what have you been talking about?"
"I finally convinced him not to kill Zeke on the condition I never talk to him again."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Very." she sighs. "And Zeke messaged me earlier and JT got to my phone before I did and messaged him back and told him never to contact me again."
"Possessive much?"
"I don't care as long as JT doesn't hurt Zeke."
"Has he calmed down?"
"He eventually stopped pacing the room and fell asleep for an hour but woke up for a smoke and told me to shower...so, that's what I'm doing."
"Whose are these?" I ask, holding up a clean pair of blue knickers.
"Oh, those are Willa's."
"You met her?"
"Yes, sort of. I was just getting undressed to use the shower when JT let himself in to show me how to work the shower and to give me a clean towel, and then Willa walks in. It was probably the most embarrassing moment of my life, me in my bra and knickers and JT with a morning boner in his pants that won't go down."
I can't help but laugh.
"She seems nice, though." she adds.
"She is."
"She came back with clean underwear for me, and told me to throw my dirty ones in the laundry and then she clipped JT on the back of the head and told him to get out of the bathroom."
I giggle. "So are you ok, you know, after everything that happened with Zeke?"
"I'm still a little sore...but I'm ok." She takes the knickers from me and slips them on under the towel, then she ducks down and picks up her dirty knickers and throws them in the laundry basket and I see a little blood on them.
"I think I'll have a quick shower while I'm in here." I say.
"Do you think Willa will mind if I use her mascara? I can't leave the bathroom with nothing on my face." Nessie frets, looking at her face in the mirror.
"I'm sure she won't mind. Where is she?"
"She was just on her way out to work when she walked in on us."
"Where did you sleep last night?" I ask.
"JT's bed." she says and I see her cheeks flush red.
"Uh-huh...and where did JT sleep?"
"In his bed."
"In the single bed?" I say, knowing JT has a single bed.
"After we talked he said I could sleep in his bed and that he'd sleep on the floor. Two minutes later he's complaining about his back and jumps into bed with me and I get shoved into the wall, and a minute later he's passed out snoring."
I try not to smile as I remove Mitchel's t-shirt and turn the shower on. Nessie and I have no problem being around each other naked, we're both girls and we grew up sharing baths.
Nessie applies a little mascara to her eyelashes. She's probably freaking out that she doesn't have her makeup bag with her. I drop my knickers and climb into the shower and stand under the warm water.
Five minutes later, I'm in the middle of washing my hair when I hear the bathroom door open.
"Do you mind?" Nessie snaps and something clatters into the sink.
I quickly rinse my hair out, panicking that JT is about to whip the shower curtain back.
"I could have been naked!" Nessie tells whoever is out there.
"Move." Mitchel says in a raspy voice as though he's just woken up.
"Excuse you." Nessie grumbles.
"Couldn't you have waited for us to leave the bathroom first?" she says and I hear her messing around in the sink, dropping more cosmetics in the process. I quickly finish rinsing off.
"What are you doing?" Nessie panics.
"Shower." Mitchel replies.
"You can't go in there. Kelsey is already in there." Nessie tells him frantically.
"Yeah. I know." Mitchel responds.
"Ohmigawd!" Nessie squeaks and I take a guess that Mitchel has just stripped off in front of her.
"Noooo! You can't go in there. Kelsey!" Nessie shouts.
"Ness, it's fine." I tell her.
"Oh..." she trails off and I hear her picking up her things.
"Nessie!" Mitchel calls her.
"What?" Nessie whispers, I can tell having a naked boy in the bathroom is sending her into a tizzy.
"JT hates all that face paint shit." he tells her.
I hear the door shut and a second later the shower curtain flies open and Mitchel stands on the other side, staring at me.
"Stop it." I start to blush and turn away from him.
He chuckles and steps into the shower and pulls the curtain shut again.
I tilt my head to the side and let the warm water spray over me as he wraps an arm around my waist, keeping his other wrist with the cast on away from the water. He rests his chin on my shoulder and hugs me tightly to him.
"What time are you leaving on Monday?" he asks.
"Early, I think. It's a long drive to Prairie."
"Prairie?"
"Yeah, Prairie, Nebraska. I think there are more cows than people there."
"This makes me hate your mom a little more."
"Me too." I mumble.
I sigh and Mitchel lets go of me to stand under the shower and I stand next to him, staring at the tiles on the wall, wondering how this happened? I still couldn't believe she had done this to me so close to the end of the senior year. I would be back here for the holidays to stay with Nessie, but it wouldn't be the same. I still hadn't decided on a college, I hadn't even applied. It wasn't really a problem in Radley as we have a rather large college for the size of our town and they always take in latecomers so I knew I could apply tomorrow and get in with my grades, but where would I go in Prairie?
If I can just get through these last months maybe I can take a year out and find work here in Radley. If I moved
in with Dad I wouldn't have to leave. No, don't even think about it!
If I lived with Dad it would mean possible run-ins with Amber because she's so close to her sister and would no doubt be over to visit from time to time.
"Kelse?" Mitchel flicks my arm.
"Huh?"
Mitchel is already out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and a toothbrush in his mouth, and he's holding out a towel for me. I hadn't even realized he'd turned the shower off.
"Sorry. I was just thinking."
"Yeah. You and me both."
I step out of the shower and wrap the towel around my body.
Mitchel picks up both of our clothes and nods his head at me to follow him and opens the bathroom door. A gust of cold air hits me as I hurry out of the bathroom and follow him into his bedroom. He shuts the door and I stand there shivering. Mitchel walks over to his dresser and opens a drawer. He drops his towel and pulls on clean underwear without a care in the world. Even seeing Mitchel naked isn't enough to distract me from my thoughts of moving. Mitchel comes back over to me and holds out a pair of his boxers for me and I take them and watch as he opens another drawer and pulls out a clean t-shirt.
"Kelse! Get dressed. You're shivering."
I shake my head and scrunch my eyes together trying to stop myself from crying in front of him, but it's no good and I end up with tears streaming down my face.
"Come here." Mitchel says softly, pulling me into his arms and wrapping his arms around me.
He smells so good, clean and minty. I cling to his t-shirt and leak tears all over him as he soothes me and gently holds my head against his chest in one hand and rubs my back with his other.
"Shh...don't cry, Kelse, we'll think of something."
"Like what?"
"It's only what...four months until the end of the year, right?"
"Yeah, so?" I sniff and wipe my eyes.
"Four months, then you can move in with me and we'll figure it out from there."
"I can't move in with you." I say and gently remove his arms so I can slip his boxers on under the towel.
"Why not?" he says, turning his back on me and raiding his drawer again.
"Because we're too young."
Even though I know I will never want anyone else other than Mitchel.
"We hardly know each other." I add.