Then Came You

by Cherelle Louise

  “Oh, he won’t mind, because he knows I love him.” She pauses suddenly, her face going bright red as she gapes at us like a fish out of water. “Bloody hell, I hope he doesn’t know I love him! Talk about embarrassing!”

  Remy looks at me and giggles when I wink. “But, isn’t it good that you love him? It means you two are great together.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she scoffs, shoving a handful of Chilli Heatwave Doritos into her mouth in a very un-ladylike manner. “But speaking of two people being great together, what’s up with you and Tyler?” She waggles her eyebrows at me meaningfully, and I would have laughed if my heart hadn’t suddenly gotten lodged in my throat.

  I look down at sigh. “We haven’t spoken this whole week either. After you and me argued, so did me and Tyler. I doubt he’ll take me back anymore.”

  She sits up, her eyes wide with shock as she leans over to me. “No!” She gasps. “Why won’t her? You guys are crazy about each other!”

  “Because he thinks I don’t trust him,” I whisper, pained at the thought.

  Remy looks over absently and asks “do you?” She’s too distracted by the men on screen however to see my nod my head lovingly. Dana notices, though, and she smiles sadly.

  “Then you need to tell him,” she tells me firmly. “Because you guys are perfect for each other, and I know he thinks the world of you. You need to let him know that you trust him.” I nod, but she isn’t finished. “And Darcy?” I look up and meet her eyes. “You need to tell him,” she says meaningfully.

  I sigh, before nodding reluctantly. She’s right – I trust him, and I need to prove that to him. So, I say the two words she told me that night. “I promise.”

  Chapter 33

  After the promise to Dana and a phone call to Joey so I could catch up with him, we all decided on a movie marathon, complete with soppy movies and extra-buttery popcorn. I lay on a makeshift sofa of mattresses, pillows and blankets. Apparently, Meg was staying at a friend’s house, and she’d given Dana permission to have a slumber party.

  Dana poked me in the side and giggled when I turned to look at her. She pointed at the screen, where Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis were in a heated make-out session. “That will be you and Tyler tomorrow – I bet ya.” She winks.

  “Um, no.” I say firmly. “I will not be having sex tomorrow, at least not yet.” She blush, thinking of a great pair of warm, golden eyes, a crooked smile and brown, curly hair. I have to remember not to sigh dreamily, and I return my attention to the film.

  All of a sudden, Remy begins to wolf whistle, and she jumps up to start dancing and doing little bunny hops, waving a lace in the air like a lasso. “Yeah, Timberlake! Get your shirt off, boy!” Me and Dana giggle, before pulling her back down and throwing a pillow over her head.

  “Not until he’s fully dressed, Remy,” I tease her.

  Dana chuckles. “Yeah, we wouldn’t want you to spontaneously combust.”

  “Hello?” He answered on the second ring. I gulp, looking over at Remy and Dana, who both nodded encouragingly, giving me thumbs up. “Hello?”

  “Um, hi,” I stammer. “It’s me.”

  He sighs over the line, and I can’t help but shiver. “I know who it is.”

  “Oh.” I chew my lip, before blurting. “Can we meet up? I need to talk to you.”

  He’s silent for a while, before he says “Sure, where do you want to meet?”

  I take a deep breath, before saying. “If you really know me, then you know where I’ll be.” I hang up, not waiting for a reply as I turn to Dana and Remy with a huge smile. “Okay, so I really need to get dressed!”

  “AAARGH!” Remy screams with joy and she wraps her arms around me. Dana does the same, only without the screaming. “Remember your promise, and knock him dead,” she whispers in my ear, before pulling back with a grin.

  Five minutes later, I’m dressed in a pair of Dana’s jeans and plain black vest top, and I hug them both once more before leaving. They stay at the door in their pyjama’s, waving madly at me. I laugh at them, as a woman in a robe walks past with a newspaper in her hand, and does a double take at the two crazy girls.

  After a not-so-long walk, I’m at the lake, and I wall back against the familiar tree with a sigh, settling down to wait and see if he shows up. I feel nervous, giddy and scared all at the same time.

  And then, I hear twigs snap behind me, and I turn around to see the most perfect guy ever watching me warily with bright, golden eyes and an anxious expression on his face that matches my own.

  “Darcy?” He says simply, nodding at me and almost smiling – almost.

  “Tyler.” I stand up and blink at him, and before I loose all willpower and crumple under his warm gaze, I begin. “I’m sorry. I took you for granted a little, and I know that was wrong of me. The truth is that I’m absolutely crazy about you, and that scared me a little. Actually, it scared me a lot. After losing people that I’d loved all my life, I was just too cowardly to open up again, and yet I still did when it came to you. I love you, Tyler.”

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “You were mad and disappointed in me because you thought I didn’t trust you, and I suppose that’s true in a way. I was terrified to admit to myself that I could trust someone so much, and I was almost fully convinced that something would go horribly wrong.

  “I guess it did,” I sighed. “Only I was the one who caused it all. But now, I want to prove to you that I trust you, so… Tyler,” I say, looking into his eyes and showing him every single emotion that I’ve ever felt and every emotion that I’m feeling right now. In my eyes, he sees me, Darcy. The girl he hopefully loves, and the feelings that make me me.

  His gaze softens, and he steps forward and takes my hand in his, squeezing it reasuringly. I smile up at him. “Go on,” he whispers. “I won’t interrupt.”

  Alright. I meet his eyes and I’m surprised to feel my own watering already. “Before my mum, uh, died, I was seeing this guy – Jason. He was a regular bad boy and everyone avoided him, but not me. We were dating, I guess you could say, for a few weeks. And then, one day I came home from one of our dates and – there were police everywhere. That was when I was told that my mum was dead.”

  He nodded, and he leant down to kiss my head softly, gently telling me to carry on without even saying a word. I did as he asked. “I became a loney, I had nobody except for Jason.

  “One day, there was a party, and he dragged me upstairs, and he r-raped me.” I blurted out, before bursting into tears. He gasped, before pulling me into him and letting me cry into his chest. We held onto each other tightly and after a while, I’d eventually stopped crying. He moved a hand to lift my chin up, and when our eyes met, he smiled, before leaning down and pressing the softest kiss on my lips.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” he breathes across them, making me shiver. “And I’m sorry that happened to you. Trust me when I say that I’m here for you if you ever need me. And also, if you don’t mind, I’d like to murder him.”

  I chuckled lightly. “I wouldn’t really be happy to see you in jail,” I tease him lightly. He nods, kisses me once again, and pulls me into another tight hug almost like our lives depended on it.

  “I love you, Darcy,” he murmurs into my head. “I always have, and I always will.”

  I move my head to look up at him and grin. “I love you too.”

  He chuckles and smiles crookedly at me. “Perfect, then we’re both loved and in love. Now how about we go do something romantic to celebrate? A picnic in a library? Dancing under the stars?”

  I laugh and lean up to peck him lightly on the lips. “How about we do something simple,” I suggest. “Like, a movie and a dinner?”

  He sighs at me and kisses me deeper, his arms slide around my waist and he lifts me up and against a tree. I wrap my legs around his waist and he moans as my hands reach up to tug on his hair. Eventually we calm down and he pulls away out of breath. “Sounds to me like the best date ever,” he breathes, with a twinkle
in his eyes. He pulls back a bit, and takes my hand in his, before leading me out of the woods.

  Chapter 34

  “See? What did I tell you? I’m always right,” Dana smirks as she watches Tyler press a loving kiss to the top of my head. It’s Tuesday, and we’re all in my house, crowded in the livingroom after a boring day of school and putting off our homework.

  Remy looked over and winked at me from where she was sat watching some funny video Joey was showing her on his phone. Dana was on the sofa with me and Tyler, occasionally talking to us, and occasionally texting Alex. On Monday, he’d picked her up from school and it was like they’d never broken up; they were so adorable together.

  “Yeah, yeah – we got it already,” I tease her. “Your ego is just too big- Ow!” She laughs evilly as she hits me on the head for the second time with the cushion, before falling back on the couch.

  “You’re just lucky I love you,” she retorts, sticking her tongue out at me playfully.

  “She’s not the only one,” Tyler mutters in my ear as he kisses me. I smile back up at him before kissing him back. In the background, someone makes a dramatic retching noise, and we pull apart sheepishly.

  “Sorry to interrupt your yuck-fest,” Joey smirks. “But I have some not-very-exciting news for you…”

  I lean over and smile at him, “ooh, what is it?”

  His eyes sparkle as he beams at me. “Me and Carl are official now – I worked up the courage to ask him last night, and I’m going to introduce him properly to my uncle this Friday.”

  “That’s awesome!” I squeal, giving him a big hug. “I’m so happy for you, Joey.”

  “Thanks Darcy,” he says quietly in my ear.

  I wink at him as I lean back into Tyler’s arms and snuggle up into his chest. I’ve only just gotten comfortable, when there’s a harsh knock at the door. The guys give me a funny luck, but I shrug at them as I get up and go to answer it.

  My eyes go wide when I see the police officer standing at me door with a frown on his face, his eyes dull. “Miss Low, I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.”

  My world begins to crumple, but I hold strong as I open the door wider for him to come in, feeling numb as what I’d already expected to happen was finally happening. He blinks at all my friends in the livingroom, and turns to me to see if it’s alright. I shrug, “they’re my friends, I don’t mind what you say in front of him.”

  “If you say so,” he sighs. “Your father has been arrested for procession of drugs, alcohol abuse and he’s also being charged for attempted rape.”

  I gasp, feeling sick to my stomach as the words register. “What?”

  He cringes at my reaction. “It looks like he’s going to plead guilty. But I just thought I’d come round and tell you because it means the social services will have to get involved due to your age. You can also visit your father at the station any time you like so long as it’s a reasonable time, of course.”

  “Right,” I nod stiffly, and he sighs before turning and leaving the house.

  “Have a good day, Ma’am,” he says, looking like he regrets it, but saying it all the same.

  I meet my friends eyes and smile, knowing that they’ll be there for me. “Thank you, I will,” I tell him firmly, before closing the door behind me. Tyler comes over and wraps my in a tight hug, and Dana’s eyes begin to water as she looks at me.

  “I can ask Meg if you can stay with me, if you want,” she offers. I nod sadly at her and smile. Remy jumps over and envelopes me in a bear hug, and Joey strokes my back gently.

  “Thanks guys,” I smile weakly at them. “But there’s somewhere I really need to be right now, and I need to do it alone. It’s the only way I’ll be able to move on.”

  They understand, and we wave and say our goodbyes, and eventually it’s just me and Tyler, standing face to face at the doorway. “You’re going to go and talk to your dad?” He guesses.

  “Yeah,” I croak, smiling at him. “I really need to do this.”

  “I know,” he smiles. “I can give you a ride if you want…?”

  I lean up on my tiptoes and kiss him deeply, and I open my eyes to look at him when we pull away. “That’d be great. Thank you.”

  “I’ll be right here,” he promises me, and I nod and squeeze his hand, before hopping out the car and heading to the station entrance. It’s a very strict looking place, with a formal blue and grey colour scheme and men in uniforms walking around briskly.

  I nervously approach the desk and tell them why I’m there, and they tell me to take a seat and wait. I look at the people in the seats already – a scary looking woman, an old man and a guy with tattoos and a crazy glint in his eyes. I sit as far away from them as possible, and stare at my hands on my lap for the next twenty minutes, before a man walks out and tells me I can go and see my dad.

  He’s sat in a bare room, his hands on the table as he waits. His eyes look up when I enter the room, but he avoids my eyes as I walk over and sit in the sit in front of him, both of us trying to ignore the police officer standing guard on the other side of the room.

  “Darcy, I’m sorry,” he starts, breaking the heavy silence that had grown between us. I look up at him and frown. “I’ve let you down big style and there’s nothing in the world that will ever make up for that.”

  “I want to know why,” I croak. “Why did you try to rape someone?”

  He cringes and looks away, “I was drunk and I was – ahem – high. I didn’t even know what I was doing.”

  “I’m sure she did,” I spit out bitterly, leaning over so he can’t help but meet my eyes and see the pain inside them. “You wanna know something, dad? I was raped back at our old home – I. Was. Raped. And I couldn’t even tell you because you were never there for me. I could stand the alcohol and the disappearances, but now?” I take a shaky breath and lean back from him is despair and revulsion. “Now you just make me sick.”

  His eyes go wide. “I-I didn’t know, Darcy… I’m sorry. Again.”

  “Whatever,” I scoff. “I came here to tell you that I don’t blame myself anymore, and that I’m letting go so I can actually life my life. And also, I came to let you know that I never want to see you again.”

  “I understand.” And when I look at him, I know that he does. He’s finally realised that everything he’s done was wrong, and he’s realising just what he’s lost. He looks at me in despair and guilt, and yet there also a spark of proudness in there – and that spark is coming from my old dad, the one I used to know. He’s proud of me for walking away at last and carrying on with my life.

  I’m doing what Clara did – I’m leaving because that’s the only thing I can do now. In the end, I won’t regret it, because I know I’ve done the right thing. I take his hand in mine and I give him a sad smile. “Goodbye, dad.” And I turn and walk out of the room, and out of the police station.

  Tyler is waiting in the car still, and I walk through the car park and climb in, startling him. He turns and smiles at me as he starts the car. “Is everything okay?” He asks me.

  I smile and lean over to kiss his cheek. “Yeah,” I say honestly, and I feel like the weight of the world is lifted from my shoulders. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  Epilogue

  I stayed with Dana at Meg’s house until the end of the court case, and I waited until he was sent down. He ended up with 17 years in prison and he’d be given counselling sessions during his time.

  I carried on working with Clara, and I told her about everything that was going on, and she told me funny stories about her siblings. We grew closer every day and she was one of my closest friends. I honestly don’t know where I’d have been without her.

  Joey and Carl were still together and growing strong – he called me every day and we’d gossip about how great being in love was. We hardly saw Remy as much since her boyfriend stayed down. She told us she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before he had to leave again, and we understood that. We all knew wh
at it was like to be in love.

  Tyler smiled sadly at me as I folded the last of my clothes and put them in the suitcase, before zipping it up. I was packing for good now, and the social worker would be here in half an hour to take me to a foster family a few towns over. I was both anxious and afraid, and I was sad to leave everyone behind.

  In the end, I knew I’d have to leave eventually. Staying with a friend and her non-relative was never an option, and I was advised by a social worker to go to a foster family who could take me in and show me how a true home feels like for once – I could also get counselling sessions where I could talk about my mum, my dad and the night I was raped.

  Yes, in the end, I told the police officer about what Jason did. I didn’t have any proof, but they went down and checked it out. Turns out, there were a few girls he’d hurt and abused – he was being trialled and would no doubt be sent down by the end of the month.

  Moving here was never an option, and yet it turned out to be just the thing I needed. I found friends that I would never forget, and I found love. It was here I learnt how to stand up to my problems and to get over my fear – it was here I learnt how to love.

  There was a horn downstairs, and I looked up at Tyler in panic. No preparing could make this moment any easier. He took my hand and pulled my downstairs, carrying my last suitcase in the other. He put it down with the rest of them in the hallway, and turned round to smile sadly at me.

  “Darcy!” A pink haired girl runs at me and throws herself into my arms, and Tyler stepped back so Remy could say her goodbyes. “I don’t want you to go! I’m going to miss you like crazy,” she sobs. I agree with her entirely.

  “I’ll miss you too, Remy. I don’t know what I’ll do without my pink, crazy unicorn-girl.” I joke, squeezing her tightly.