by Dee Avila
Pulling into our driveway my phone went off. A single bell sound that let me know I had a new message.
Reese: What’s your problem?
Me: Nothing y?
Before I could set my phone down it rang in my hand. Reese’s smiling face covered my screen until I hit answer and lifted it to my ear.
“’Lo.”
“Ty, why do you keep antagonizing my boyfriend? He already thinks there’s something going on between us.” Reese’s voice sounded defeated. I didn’t like it.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know he thought that. Did you tell him there’s nothing going on?”
Reese let out a big sigh. “I did. He doesn’t believe me.”
“Maybe you don’t deserve him. We’re friends. That’s it.” That’s all we’re allowed to be.
“I know; I should go. I need to get ready for the game. Good luck tonight, Ty.”
“Thanks. See ya.” I clicked end before she could say bye. This was bullshit. I felt her pulling away and I knew he had everything to do with it. “Hmph.” I punched the steering wheel.
Getting out of the car I saw Mom standing at the kitchen window, watching me. Great! I stomped up the walkway and threw the door open. Mom came around the corner and stared at me, coffee cup in hand.
“Everything alright, Sweetie?” Her crystal blue eyes, exactly like mine, watched me throw my backpack down and dive onto the couch.
“No, that douche, that”—
“Titus Allyn! Watch your mouth.” She sat her coffee cup down and purposefully placed her hands on her hips.
I lowered my gaze. I was so frustrated that I’d said “douche” in front of my mom. Shaking my head I said, “Sorry, Mom, the whole situation makes me mad.”
Sitting down beside me, my mom placed her tiny hand on my thigh and patted me. She understood, but I probably wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “You’ve liked Reese for a long time.”
I looked up at her, raising my eyebrows in surprise.
“Oh, come on now, Titus; you can’t expect me not to notice the way you look at her. I’m sure Josh has seen the same looks. Now, what I was saying is you’ve liked her a long time and for some reason you’ve never let her know. I understand you two were best friends way before he came in the picture, but you kept your feelings a secret. Now, you have to let her be. You can’t pine after her while she’s with him, Honey. You have to let their relationship take its course. I don’t think you will have to wait all that long.” She looked at me, expectantly.
I didn’t know what she wanted me to say to that. Instead I asked, “Why don’t you think I’ll have to wait that long?” I slouched down on the couch even more, putting my arms behind my head and laying my head back. Closing my eyes, I stretched out my legs and waited for my mom to answer me.
“I have my reasons. Why didn’t you ever tell her you liked her?”
I smirked, peeking out of the corner of my eye. “I have my reasons.”
Mom smirked back at me causing the few wrinkles she had to surface. “Candice?”
I launched up, twisting toward her. “Huh? Uh, no.”
She didn’t say anything just lifted her right brow, the same way I do. I didn’t answer and she lifted it impossibly higher. How does she do that?
“Alright, yeah I guess so.”
Lowering her brows she squinted at me, tipping her head to the side. “You guess so?”
Shrugging, I laid back, again, “Can we go back to talking about Josh?”
She patted my thigh again, and I felt the couch move as she got up. “Sure Honey. But don’t think I don’t know what went on. You want something to drink and snack on? You have a big game, tonight.”
“Yeah, a bowl of cereal and a Gatorade, please.” I hoped that by not commenting, the subject would change. No such luck.
“Tell me what happened, today.”
I explained to Mom what went on, while I ate my cereal. She watched me from across the living room. Her straight black hair fell around her petite shoulders. She was at least a foot shorter than me, if not more. I supposedly got my height from my dad.
“Titus, you really need to let her be.”
“But, Mom, it’s not fair that we can’t be friends.”
She gave me that look again, tipped head squinted eyes. “If you were really her friend you wouldn’t antagonize her boyfriend. You would want her to be happy.” She looked over at the clock. “You better go get ready. We can talk some more tomorrow, I’m going to need your help around here, okay?”
Standing, I nodded and grabbed my backpack. When I reached my room, I was mindful not to slam my door—no matter how bad I wanted to. I plugged in my iPod and found my pregame playlist. Metallica, Staind and Disturbed took turns pumping me up. I lifted my barbells and broke out in a sweat as I forced the thoughts of Reese, Josh and my stupid promise to Candice out of my mind. Tonight was a huge game and I needed to prove to the varsity coaches that I was the man to take Monroe’s place as Captain, next year.
Chapter Four
Reese
All day I worried about Candice. Those bruises were both old and new. They covered so much of her back, arms and legs. I expected her to wear nude tights and our long sleeve undershirts with her uniform. She didn’t. I didn’t know how she covered them up, but I only spotted a few faint bruises.
The lunchtime activities were the best and the rally was a major success. I heard several football players commenting on the cool signs with their names. They really would love it when they got them at the next rally along with awards we made. Dunking Mr. Wait was unbelievable. He was a good sport.
After the rally I had planned on talking to Titus about Candice’s bruises, I wondered if he ever noticed anything. I walked over to meet Josh at his truck. He leaned against the passenger door, legs crossed at the ankles and arms crossed over his chest. Josh’s sunglasses covered his eyes but the way his mouth pulled down in a frown told me he wasn’t happy. What did I do now?
I went for normal, as if I didn’t notice the displeasure in his frown. “Hey, Babe, great rally, huh?”
“I guess.” he lifted his glasses on top of his head and glared at me, “If you consider your girlfriend’s friend staring at her the whole time.”
I sighed and placed my hands on my hips. “What are you talking about?” He looked at me pointedly and raised his eyebrows. “I have no clue when you think you saw Titus staring at me; but I never saw it.”
“Maybe; maybe not. But I’ve asked you several times to tell Titus you’re off limits. The guy doesn’t stop staring at you!” He growled.
“He’s not. I told you we’re friends. He is my best friend other than Candice.” I noticed Josh’s gaze flick to something behind me. I was curious but I wouldn’t turn around.
“Really? Look for yourself Reese. He’s freaking staring at you right now!” He pointed behind me and I spun around to see Titus standing about thirty feet away watching us. The smile on his face as he walked away told me he knew we were talking about him.
“Josh, I don’t know what that was, but I need to talk to him. I came over here to tell you I wasn’t going to need a ride.” I didn’t finish telling him why before he yelled at me.
“Get in the damn truck now, Reese! If you choose to go talk to him, this…” He pointed his finger between us. “Is over.”
He stepped away from the truck heading to the driver side. As much as I wanted to look for Titus and ask him about Candice, I didn’t want it to end my relationship. Maybe Josh was right. Maybe Titus did stare at me. I had no idea what that could mean. I opened my door and slid into the truck.
“Smart choice, Reese. You need to go home or can we go for a cruise?”
“No, I need to go home. We’re still going to the dance after the game right?”
“Yeah, that’s what you want right?”
I nodded my head, unable to say anything. He pulled up to my house and reached over the seat to grab my hand before I slipped out of the truck.
“I’m sorry, Babe; that guy just drives me crazy.” He kissed my hand.
“I know. I’ll see you after the game. Good luck, tonight.” I leaned over and kissed him bye.
Stepping into my bedroom I gripped my phone in my hand. I needed to talk to Titus. It was time he knew Josh wasn’t going anywhere and he needed to stop antagonizing him.
“’Lo.” His deep voice did things it shouldn’t to me.
“Ty, why do you keep antagonizing my boyfriend? He already thinks there’s something going on between us.” I was tired of this same old argument. If I didn’t say this to Titus then I might as well kiss my relationship, goodbye. I wasn’t ready for that. Not after what happened between us.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know he thought that. Didn’t you tell him there’s nothing going on?”
I let out a big sigh. Of course I did. Titus would never like me in that way and I knew that. That’s why I gave up on the idea of ever being more than just his best friend. Josh was being ridiculous. “I did. He doesn’t believe me.”
“Maybe you don’t deserve him. We’re friends. That’s it.”
“I know. I should go. I need to get ready for the game. Good luck tonight, Ty.” I was going to miss him like crazy. As long as I was with Josh, I couldn’t hang out with Titus. Life wasn’t fair.
“Thanks. See ya.”
I heard the click signaling he had hung up. I couldn’t believe he would hang up on me. I couldn’t risk losing Josh if I wasn’t going to able to be with Titus. Besides, after what I did with Josh, I wouldn’t feel good about myself if we broke up so soon after doing it.
I felt sticky and gross after the rally. I had about an hour and half before the game. I quickly jumped in the shower to wash away the stress and lingering sweat. The hot water ran down my body and into the drain.
Drying off, I heard a soft knock on the door. “Yeah?”
Candice’s voice wafted through the door. “Can I come in?”
“It’s open.” I wrapped the towel around me before stepping into my underwear, as Candice slipped into the steamy bathroom. I straightened back up and turned my focus to her. I took her in from head to toe. Something was seriously wrong. Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. A fresh, soon to be bruise, was blooming across her cheek and red marks, in the shape of fingers, were on her neck. I continued taking in my battered best friend. Candice was shaking her head and I looked closer I could tell her whole body was trembling. A fat lip and a small drop of blood collected at the corner of her mouth.
“Candice! What the hell happened?”
“You know what happened. It was my fault, for letting Jonathan think that there ever could be something between us. That I could ever break up with Alex. It made him mad. It would’ve pissed me off, too. I can’t blame him. I’m here because I know you need help getting ready for the game and for your first dance with Prince Charming.” She dropped her head. “And I need your help,” she waved her hand across her throat and face, “covering this shit up, as best as we can.”
“No, I can’t just cover this up and ignore what he did to you!” I shook my head, dropped my towel and slid my bra over my chest and shoulders, clasping it in the back. Grabbing a wash cloth and wetting it I glared at Candice. “Sit! You’re lucky my mom isn’t home yet. Or, even better yet, my sisters!”
Candice slumped down on the toilet as I rounded on her with the wet washcloth. “I know,” she said, closing her eyes and laying her head back on the toilet tank.
My friend was broken, hurt and lost. I was really mad, right now. If I were allowed to let my true feelings to show, I would’ve sunk to the floor, balling like a two-year old whose mom just left for work. “I’m going to be easy, but I need to clean up your lip. Then I’ll get you some ice.”
“K.” Candice let out a deep, shaky breath.
“C, I love you and I am scared to death for you.” I slowly and gently ran the washcloth over her eyes and cheeks and finally, gently dabbed at her busted up mouth. She let out a small whimper of pain. I grabbed her hand with my free hand. “I think we should talk to my mom about this. Maybe she can give you some advice on how to break up with him. How to get away from him.”
“I can’t, Reese. There are other things going on.” She paused and I stayed silent, waiting for her to finish. When she didn’t continue, I walked out of the bathroom. I blinked back tears as I stepped into my room and threw on a robe I rushed down the hall to our little kitchen, grabbing ice packs out of the freezer. With three active girls in the house, we always had several just in case I hurried back down to the bathroom. “Here, put this one on your face and lip and this one on your neck. It will help the swelling while you help me get ready.” I smiled at her.
After brushing out my hair and running gel through it, I pulled it up on top of my head spraying it with Aussie Sprunch spray. I grabbed my make-up bag and, exchanging places with Candice, I sat down, handing her the bag. “Here, we both know I can’t do this right.”
Candice laughed and winced from the pain. “Close your eyes.”
“Here let me hold those to your face and neck.” I reached up and took the ice packs from her, gently pressing them against her face and neck. “Tell me what happened. Please, Candice?”
Before I closed my eyes a saw a tear trickle down her cheek. “I can’t.”
“Tell me or I’ll make up my own horrid story.”
“I, um. He. Ahhh,” She was flustered. She applied cover-up on my face. “He was livid. When Jonathan said it was me that kissed him, it led Alex to believe that there was something going on between us.” She chuckled a little loudly. “He said I’d been sleeping with him. I couldn’t say anything to change his mind. He grabbed my phone and flipped through my messages, thinking he would find some on there from Jonathan.
“Thank God I’ve learned to delete all conversations, just in case. Not that Jonathan has ever texted me. No, he just catches me when I’m alone.” I felt her stop massaging in the cover-up and heard my compact click open, then felt the brush of powder being applied. “I told Alex that I never even speak to Jonathan, so how the hell was I supposed to sleep with him? I don’t know why that upset him more, but it did.”
I heard Candice suck in a breath of air, the brush she used for the eye-shadow sliding across my eyelids, gently. “His right hand flew at me in a backhand like none I’ve ever seen, much less received. That’s what the bruise and busted lip is from.”
“I’m sorry, Candice. I should have stayed with you.”
“Pssht. Girl, you have your own drama going on.”
“Huh?” My eyes popped open and she nearly poked my eyeball before jerking back, staring at me wide-eyed.
She shook her head, gliding her hand over my eyes to shut them. “Don’t play stupid with me. We may not talk about our boy problems or anything like we use to, but I see what’s going on. Just like you saw what was happening with me.” Pausing, she instructed me to keep my eyes closed and stay still as she added eyeliner. “After he backhanded me, I screamed at him “WE ARE OVER!” He reached out, closing his strong-ass fingers around my neck. I swear I can still feel them there. It hurts to swallow. I guess he didn’t agree that we were over. Clawing at his hand, he finally let go and I fell over, gasping for air.
He rubbed my back and apologized, saying I upset him. I know how all this sounds and that you may think it’s not my fault, but it is, Reese. If I hadn’t had tried to break up with him or ever even talked to Jonathan…” She let her voice trail off as she applied my lipstick. “Promise you’ll help me cover it up and keep this between us, for now. Please, Reese?”
There is no way I can promise that. I can’t let my friend be abused to this extent and not tell Mom. I promised, with my fingers crossed behind my back. Tonight, after the game and dance or first thing tomorrow, I’m talking to Mom. She will be able to help me, help Candice. “I hate him.”
“Me, too.”
Chapter Five
Titus
If
my performance didn’t show Coach Billy I was ready to lead the varsity team, I don’t know what would. Not only did I pass for four touchdowns, totaling 386 yards, but I also rushed for a touchdown. The way my J.V. coach was grinning at me, he knew I was playing my heart out tonight, playing to secure my future position.
The game was intense. We finished off the Cowboys and won our homecoming game by a field goal, with mere seconds on the scoreboard. If varsity brings in a win, too, the party tonight will be huge.
Following my team over to the tunnel to cheer in the varsity guys, I searched for Reese. Sitting on the shoulders of another cheerleader, she held one end of a huge balloon filled sign over the tunnel that read, “Beat Those Cowboys! Mustangs Win!” Knowing Josh was busy with his team, I took the opportunity to enjoy looking at Reese without his jealousy. Her curly hair was pulled up into a twist, showing off her black-lined eyes, and she had shiny pink lips. I knew she had ramped it up a notch on the make-up because she was escorting her boyfriend, who somehow got nominated for Homecoming King. I couldn’t wait to see her in her dress. A few weeks ago, before things got weird and we were able to talk more, she had told me all about it. She was so excited. It made me excited to see her in it.
“Mus-tang Pow-er!” The chant rang throughout the stadium as everyone cheered, in unison, for the team. The fog machine started and began filling the tunnel entrance, rising above the balloon banner. The sweet guitar and drums of Metallica’s Enter Sandman filled the stadium, covering the girls’ chants. In the excitement of the moment, I was yelling and hitting the guys closest to me as they broke through the banner. Round spheres of blue and gold rose to the sky when the captain and co-captains tore through the sign. Next year! Next year I’ll get to run through this tunnel with all this awesome shit to pump me up!
As I turned and headed off to grab a quick shower, I heard my name. I stopped and before I discovered the source, Reese and Candice were standing in front of me.