by Chloe Walsh
She was dressed as a slutty devil, with horns on her head and not a lot else on her body. The costume suited her, evil bitch, “It’s Halloween you know, you could have dressed up as something other than your usual evil self.” I’d had enough of Rachel and her nasty comments. I wasn’t about to let her ruin my perfect night with Kyle. Rachel cut me a death glare and Kyle stiffened, “Lee go upstairs now,” he said quietly, without meeting my eyes. “Yeah Lee, run along now, this is a big girl’s party.” Rachel mocked. “No, I want to stay with you,” I said, pulling on his hand. He jerked his hand away. “Please Lee, get out of here, I can’t be near you right now.” I felt my heart shrivel up. Kyle hissed, and ran his hand through his hair, knocking his feathered cap off in the process.
“Why are you doing this?” I whispered. “This is the way it has to be,” he said, and I closed my eyes, I couldn’t bear to watch him walk away from me again. My stomach was twisting inside me and I focussed on not throwing up. When I opened eyes, Kyle was gone and Rachel was grinning deviously, “I did warn you,” he said smugly, “He will always choose me.”
The following month was cold. The weather was definitely growing crisp; we were well into November. I was feeling the climate change. I was used to the consistent heat in the South, so the erratic snowstorms and cold fronts were playing havoc with my natural body temperature. I had been sick over thanksgiving with a vomiting bug and thankfully had used it as my excuse to avoid eating a holiday meal with Kyle. We hadn’t spoken much since Halloween. The atmosphere was thick and strained between us now. Everyone noticed, especially since Kyle walked around the house with a black cloud hanging over his head. He snapped at Cam, argued with Derek, and as usual ignored me.
I was still recovering from my illness when Cam asked me to go a walk with her. I agreed even though I still felt weak but it was better than being inside the house and walking on eggshells around Kyle and his mood swings. We took the trail veering west from Chautauqua Park. “You okay there Lee?” Cam called out. She was a good ten feet ahead of me. “No, I need to take a rest,” I said, panting. I had a pain in my side, and needed to sit down. I sank down on the snowy path, and held my side. “Good grief, you are so unfit,” Cam joked when she reached me. “It’s not funny,” I really did have a sharp pain in my side, “Could we head back? I don’t think I can walk much further.” Cam reached out her hand and pulled me up to her, “Yeah sure, you should have said you weren’t feeling one hundred percent.” I brushed the wet leaves and gunk from my jeans. “That bug really took it out of you didn’t it?” Cam threw her arm around me, as we made our way back to the car.
The phone was ringing in the kitchen when we made it back to the house. I plopped into a chair as Cam went over to answer it, “Hello?” Cam said in a playful tone, “House of all things kinky, the resident sexpert speaking.” I shook my head at her. I didn’t know why she always had to answer the phone with suggestive comments. I guess she was as sick as I was of answering calls from women looking for Kyle. Cam’s face paled, as she held the phone out to me. I got up slowly and took the phone from her, “Hello, this is Lee?” My heart dropped into my stomach at the sound of the voice on the other line. “Daddy?”
KYLE
I would like to say that Derek and I had our own lives outside of our female roommates, and that we didn’t mope about all day waiting for the girls to return, but if I said that then I’d be a liar. Where the fuck were they? I hadn’t seen either one yesterday. Lee still wouldn’t look at me and I needed to talk to her. I needed to apologise for everything.
My eyes here glazing over from the amount of time we had spent playing the Xbox. I wasn’t even that into the game. Derek sighed loudly, for the fiftieth time in the past hour. “If you do that again, I’m gonna stick my foot up your ass and give you a fucking reason to sigh.” Christ he was getting on my last nerve. I was trying to keep my mind off Lee and how fucked up the situation between us had become.
“Dude we are so pathetic, sitting here like a pair of ninnies. Fuck the girls. We should be out on the tiles, munching some bush.” I groaned, and tossed the remainder of my sandwich down. There went my appetite. Uh how was I friends with this freak.
“Munch some bush? What are you the pussy patrol? Dude you have a girlfriend, you remember Cam right?” Derek dropped his controller down on the coffee table, Thank God. I tossed mine down before he changed his mind.
“Yeah I remember, and I also know where she and Lee are right now.” Wait, what? Where was Lee? I glared at his sulky face, “Where are they right now?” Where the fuck had Cam taken her? Didn’t she realise Lee was innocent? “Fucking Montgomery,” Derek sighed and my blood boiled. “As in Louisiana? What the hell? Why?” How did I not know this? “Lee had to go home, or some shit, Cam went with her. They left last night.”
I was on my feet and moving before my brain caught up. “Dude you waste half my day and about fifty chromosomes I’ll never get back playing that shit, when you knew the girls were gone to fucking Louisiana?” Derek groaned, “Fuck them Kyle, Cam’s probably honky-tonking her little ass around some bar by now and not giving two shits about me.” Could he hear himself?
“You dipshit, don’t you care that there’s probably fifty guys right now tryna get in your girls panties.” And my girl’s. I grabbed my keys and headed for my truck not waiting for Derek’s reaction. “Awh shit” I heard him shout as he ran out after me.
LEE
“What are you going to say to him when we get there?” I knew what Cam was asking but I honestly had no answer for her. I didn’t know what I was going to say. What do you say to the man who raised you, tortured you your whole life, and was now lying in a hospital bed? A heart attack, he had said. I was not surprised, daddy smoked cigarettes like he breathed air, constantly.
“I’m not sure Cam. I’m more worried about what he’ll say to me to be honest.” We had been driving all night, and we had another two hours to go. I planned on using those to plot how I was going to approach my father.
“You know, you don’t have to do this Lee. We can turn around be home in by nightfall. You can walk away from this. You owe him nothing.” I nodded but didn’t say anything. There was no point, nothing I could say to Cam would redeem my father in her eyes. I kept thinking that this was the right thing to do. My mother wouldn’t have wanted him to be sick and alone.
KYLE
My head was bursting. I had a headache to kill all headaches, and Derek would not shut the fuck up. “Dude I swear if she’s with another guy when we get there then I’m totally done. I mean it this time. I’m not taking her shit anymore.”
His rants didn’t even render an answer. He was talking out of his ass. I just nodded or shook my head when he looked over at me, which seemed acceptable. To be honest, my mind was nowhere near Cam and Derek’s fucked up relationship, it was fixed on mine and Lee’s fucked up one.
Why did she need to go home? Was she sick? Was she running again? Was she leaving me? I sounded fucking pathetic, I wasn’t hers to leave. I wasn’t anything. “Dude did Cam mention anything about why Lee needed to go home?” This was the fourth time I had asked Derek that question since we hit the road. Every time he answered me with some shit sob about Cam. I wanted to puke. I should have caught a flight, but I hadn’t fucking thought it through. When Derek told me where Lee was, I’d gotten in my truck and drove.
His phone rang just as he was about to answer me. “Who is it?” I wanted to grab the phone off him. “Fucking Camryn.” Derek grumbled as he looked at the screen. “Answer it dumbass.” Derek pressed a button and put the phone up to his ear.
“Babe are you okay? Did you get there safely?” What a pussy. So much for his ranting. “Oh that’s good I guess. How’s Lee holding up?” I strained to hear Cam’s voice on the other line but couldn’t. “No, I didn’t say anything.” Didn’t say what? “Cam baby, I didn’t tell him.” Derek looked at me and shifted uncomfortably. “Can I call you back later, I can’t talk right now.” Oh, this
was getting interesting. “Yeah Kyle’s here. Gotta go.” I waited until he put the phone back in his pocket.
“You’ve been holding out on me buddy. Talk. Now.”
LEE
My feet shook every step I took in toward the hospital room. “Do you want me to go in with you?” Cam asked. “No, I have to this myself.” I stepped inside.
“Delia, baby?” I approached the old man in the bed in front of me. Tubes and machines were surrounding his bed. I swallowed the vomit that threatened to spill. “Hello daddy.” His face looked much older than when I had last seen him. I felt like crying. I knew he had done some terrible things to me, but this was my father, the only family I had in the world. “I’m so happy you came, didn’t think you would, I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t.” I sighed, and sat on the chair beside his bed. “I almost turned back twice.” He patted my hand and I flinched, pulling it away. “We’ll im glad you changed your mind.” he whispered. “How bad is it daddy?”
He shrugged and tried to pull himself up, but winced in pain. “Don’t you worry about me darling, I’ll be just fine.” I glared at him, “It’s kind of hard not to worry considering you’ve just had a heart attack. I am worried about you.” He visibly shook when I said that. “Awh darling, you don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you say those words. I thought that you’d hate me after what I did.” I had no answer.
“Delia, I’ve stopped drinking. I’m taking meetings, every day. I’m sorry baby, so sorry for what I did to you.” I flinched, “Which time daddy?” He cringed. “Every time. What I did to you, the way I treated you was unforgivable. I realised that the day I found you were gone.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. My father was actually showing remorse. He was up to something.
“I’m not coming home daddy, if that’s why you’re saying these things. I won’t come home.” He nodded and sighed. “I wouldn’t expect you to sweetheart. I’m just glad I got a chance to tell you how sorry I am before…before it’s too late.”
I stood up, I could not listen anymore, I needed to think. “I’m going to go. I can’t take this all in right now. I’ll come back tomorrow.” Daddy nodded. “Sure, sure, do you have somewhere to stay tonight? You can stay at the house for as long as you like.” I shook my head, not wanting to go anywhere near that house.
“Camryn is with me, she drove me here.” Daddy pondered this for a moment. “I guess I owe that girl a thank you. Taking care of my baby when I didn’t… She has been a good friend to you. You’re both welcome to use the house.” I opened the door, “Goodnight Daddy.”
Cam was unusually silent in the car on the way to my father’s house. She had said, no told me that we were staying at the house. She wanted me to get some of my things, and knew this was probably my only chance of getting any of my possessions.
We pulled up outside the old farmhouse, and the sound of a dog barking had me leaping from the car. “Bruno.” The sight of my old chocolate lab bounding towards me made me drop to my knees. “Hey boy, I missed you, yes I did. Did you miss me?”
Bruno barrelled into me, attacking my face with wet kisses and yowling. “Oh you did miss me, didn’t you boy.” I hugged the chunky old guy. By the looks of him, my father had been feeding him well. “That old guy's still alive,” Cam chuckled from behind me. “Of course he is, aren’t you Bruno,” my voice taking on the universal ‘dog’ voice. I stood up and went to open the front door, Bruno bounding in before us. I was half-afraid of the mess in front of us but the house was…clean.
I guessed my father was telling the truth about kicking the booze.
KYLE
I waited impatiently while Derek muttered and moaned through his fucking explanation. “Lee’s dad had a heart attack, that’s why she’s rushed home. He’s fine though as far as Cam knows.”
Relief flooded through me, she wasn’t running from me at least. “That’s it? That’s the big secret?” What the hell? “Well not exactly…” I looked over at him. “Dude you better start fucking talking fast or I’m gonna toss your ass outta this truck quicker than you can say Oklah-fucking-homa.” Derek shifted in his chair. “Okay promise you won’t flip out and go crazy.” I grimaced, “Don’t give me a reason to flip out and go crazy.” Derek sighed loudly, “Okay, well, I found out some stuff about Lee, and why she might be staying with us.” I tensed, but kept my mouth shut. “You’re not gonna like this dude,” he paused and let the words rush from his mouth. “Cam said Lee’s dad used to knock her around.” I slammed on the brakes.
“Jesus fucking Christ. Kyle, are you trying to get us killed?” Horns were honking around us, as I pulled into the side offing. I turned to face him, “What do you mean used to knock her around?” Derek sighed and fidgeted with his hands, “I’m not sure dude, I’m not even meant to know this. Cam let it slip after the night you and Lee had that fight in the kitchen.” That was over two months ago. He’d been holding back crucial fucking information from me. I cringed.
“She was drunk Kyle. I wasn’t sure if she was talking out of her ass,” he groaned, “She said that Lee had a piss poor life with the guy, and that he was a control freak. He knocked her around and she had some scars on her back or something.” I couldn’t deal with this shit. Lee didn’t have any scars. I would have known.
My mind reverted back to the night of her birthday, I had felt something on her back…But I’d been too fucking horny to stop and check. Fuck, I wanted to hit something.
“And she’s what? Gone back to Louisiana to hold his fucking hand?” Derek shrugged, “Kyle he’s still her old man. Her mom’s dead, she had no brothers or sisters. Her dad is all she’s got.” Not anymore. She had me.
LEE
We sat on the porch swing in our jammies, sipping cocoa with Bruno plonked down on the porch by our feet. I loved the mildness of Louisiana winters. Compared to Colorado, this was heaven. “Wow” Cam said as she blew her cocoa, “I can’t believe he apologised.” Neither could I. “I know, I’m still trying to get my head around the conversation. He was so different Cam, nothing like the way he usually is.” Cam turned to me, “Do you think it’s an act, like to get you to move back home.” I had thought that. “I’m not sure. it’s a pretty convincing act.” She sighed, “Yeah.”
The sound of Bruno barking drew my attention the lane leading up to our house. “Looks like we’ve got company,” Cam muttered as she stood up and walked over to the steps of the porch. I watched the headlights pull up outside my house. “No freaking way,” Cam squealed as she bounded down the steps of the porch. The passenger side of the truck opened first. “Miss me much?” Derek chuckled as Cam threw herself into his arms. They quickly went from a friendly hug to an X-rated make out session.
The driver’s door opened and my stomach dropped. I closed my eyes. I stayed sitting on the porch, my body locked up in anticipation. I knew he was walking over to me, I could hear his footsteps on the on the gravel and then the porch steps. I just did not know which version of Kyle was going to get out.
“Princess…” The sound of his voice had me whipping my eyes open. Kyle stood in front of me, hands in his jean pockets, a grey hoodie covering his thick brown hair. “You’re here.” I blurted out. I didn’t know what else to say. He tilted his head to the side, smiling softly. “Are you really surprised?” No I wasn’t. “It’s an awfully long drive to come here, just to drop off Derek.” I said.
He reached out and snagged my hand. “What if I came for you?” He pulled me up from the swing, and I hovered awkwardly. “I told you, I’m not you’re friend anymore.” The words sounded weak, even to my ears. He smiled deeper, his lush dimple making me melt.
“Keep telling yourself that princess, see how long that lasts.” I was about to protest, when Kyle pulled me into his arms. His arms wrapped around me tightly, his thumb drawing slow circles on my lower back, the other hand had my head cradle to his chest. I tensed for a moment, and then softened against him, into his embrace. It felt so good to be back in his arms.
<
br /> KYLE
I was fucking terrified Lee would turn me away. She sure looked like she wanted to kick my ass when I showed up at her house. Thank god, she caved in and let me hold her. I needed to hold her like I needed to breathe, it wasn’t a requirement, it was a fucking necessity.
Cam and Derek had gone upstairs within ten minutes of us arriving, so I guessed they were back on track. And I’d spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to win around the affections of Lee’s huge mother fucking dog Bruno. The cranky shit growled at me every time I moved too close to her. We were sitting on her couch in the lounge with the smelly bastard sitting in between us. Do not get me wrong, I liked dogs, but this particular one had it against me.
“Do you want some more cocoa?” Lee asked. No, god no. That stuff was like drinking lead, but the hopeful look on her face had me nodding, “Sure, I’d love some more.” She smiled nervously as she left the room. Christ I was pussy whipped. I just wanted to keep her smiling, and if that meant drinking shit stain for the night, I’d be a man and do it. I turned to look at Bruno, and he was eyeing me with that freaky dog stare. “Dude, you’re killing me here. Isn’t there a nice bitch or bone you could go play with?” He growled again and I jerked back. Yep I was definitely going to get my ass ripped up by that guy.
“Sorry Kyle, we’re out of cocoa. It’s just coffee I’m afraid.” Lee handed me a cup of steaming black coffee. Thank you, Jesus. “So are you going to tell me why you’re really here?” Lee asked as she sat on the coffee table in front of me, her arms folded over her knees. “Are you going to tell me why you are?” She frowned. “You know why. My dad…”