Never The Same Love Twice

by Charity Rose

  “Because I loved Michael and all he wanted was you!” she’s screams, her jaw trembling, she’s pissed. Her hands clench at her sides, twisting the fabric of her shirt as she casts her gaze aside, “I did everything Michael wanted. Everything. But he still wanted you, he’s been after you for years, Vee. Nothing I did mattered. No matter how much I gave in. And even after I helped him…after I helped him get what he wanted, he only wanted more of you and less of me. After your changed schools you were all he talks about,” by now we have caught the attention of more than a few people, Kassie looks around. She seemed shocked at her own outburst. Her entire body trembles with rage and, tears begin to fall from her eyes. For the first time ever, I feel sympathetic towards Kassidy. She’s a victim too in all of us, and I didn’t even realise it. Thinking back on all that has happened I should have known it wasn’t just about Michael but Michael and her relationship with him, when I found out they’d been dating since middle school, I had assumed they had started dating after what he did with me. It had never occurred to me that they were already together and that she was just playing into his twisted games.

  A circle has gathered around us now, and I can already hear the whispers being exchanged and bits of the conversation overheard. I shake my head and step forward, my mouth opens to say something to Kassie, but I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say. How could I comfort her, after all, she'd been through?

  “Ladies what’s going on here,” I hear Bradley’s voice, “Vee, my girl. I haven’t seen you since you left,” he wraps his arms around my shoulder as if nothing had ever happened between any of us.

  “Get off me,” I push him away angrily, shoving his arm off my shoulder and backing away from him. He frowns.

  “Whoa, calm down. Nothing happened. Can’t we all just move on? I mean, it’s over, right?” I stare at him, “It was just a joke, harmless fun in the end.” He has got to be joking. Keith steps forward, “Should I take care of these two?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at both Brad and the tearful Kassie.

  “Back off rape boy,” Bradley spits at Keith. The reaction is instantaneous. Keith bunches his fists, his chest swells as he steps towards Brad, “What the fuck did you just call me? Care to say that to my face?”

  “He called you a rapist.” Kassidy chimes in. She seems to have recovered from her shock and has remained her composure, reversing to her usual mean demeanour and wrinkling her nose, making a face of disgust at the both of us.

  “Sure, I called you a rape boy,” Brad answers, turns to me and says, “And rape bait,” and that does it for Keith.

  Keith throws the first punch.

  I scream.

  Brad stammers back but manages to stay on his feet somehow, his arms windmilling the air. Blood bursts out his nose to dribble down his chin, staining the front of his shirt. Keith throws s second punch, but Brad swings at Keith instead.

  “Stop,” I yank on Keith’s arm. “Let’s go!” I hold firmly onto his arm. “Come on, before security comes to collect us all,” he follows me out the school before any real trouble finds us.

  “Are you okay?” he asks once we reach his car.

  “I’m fine,” I answer. My voice is tight with anger and frustration and fear, “Let’s just go your house.”

  Chapter 25

  After arriving at Keith’s house, I call my mom to let her know where I was and that I’d gotten the records we needed. After hanging up the phone I run up the stairs to the bathroom where Keith is bandaging his knuckles, he’d managed to hit Bradley hard enough that they were bruising, turning purple and red around the joints.

  “Keith, what are you going to tell your mom? I mean, it’s pretty obvious something happened,”

  He sits up from the edge of the bathtub to face me, “Nothing. I’ve gotten into fights before, Vee. When the whole Athena situation spiralled out of control, I got into lots of fights. So mom got tired of asking me. She worries, of course, every time she sees me with a new bruise but what's she supposed to do about it?”

  I shake my head with a sigh, and I leave him in the bathroom to finish up. I head to his room and find my bookbag on his desk, where I left it. I grab my notebook from my bag and begin to write. Keith steps into the room and sits down next to me, watching. “What are you doing?”

  “Writing,” I answer.

  “Well, obviously, but what are you writing?

  “Finishing up a synopsis for my book, so I have some clue where I’m going to take this story,” I answer like it’s no big deal. It really isn’t, it’s just some silly fantasy story I’ve been making up in my head for a while now. I had experimented with writing bits, and pieces of the chapters in my creative writing class and both my creative writing teacher and my AP English professor had encouraged me to do more.

  “You’re writing a book,” Keith’s eyes light up with excitement, “Can I read it?”

  I think about it for a second, glancing over at him, “Sure, I guess,” I hand Keith my notebook. He reads over it quickly, his eyes roving over the paper from left to right and back again. I wince as a smile creeps across his face. I’m waiting for the criticism, my teacher said you have to be ready to accept criticism if you want to be a writer, but instead Keith says,

  “Vidya this sounds amazing! How much have you written?”

  I grin. My heart feels like it’s going to explode. The man I love likes my idea! I’m glad that Keith likes the plot of the story. I’ve always been doubtful of my writing even when my English teachers told me that I have a gift for words.

  “I’ve written the first five chapters, about eight-thousand words or so, but I needed to organise it. Right now, it’s just in pieces.”

  “Well, I love it,” he hands the notebook back to me. And plants a tender kiss on my cheek, then on my shoulder, followed by my neck, and he keeps ongoing. The kisses becoming more persistent and his breath becoming ragged. My breathing has turned shallow as well now, as I try to keep from whimpering. I push my notebook aside and wrap my arms around his neck. He smiles, looking into my eyes, “And do you know what else I love?”

  I shake my head.

  “Making you moan,” oh, shit. My cheeks flush as I see him hook his fingers through the loops of my jeans playfully tugging at them. He gazes at the clock. “My mom won’t be here for at least thirty minutes,” he grins mischievously and just like that he removes the button of my jeans and tugs the zipper down. Shit, I’m not prepared for this and just when that thought occurs, my jeans are around my knees, and his hand is sliding down my underwear.

  The months pass by in relative bliss. I heard that soon after the fight Kassidy finally wizened up and she and Michael are officially no longer a thing. July tells me that Kassie started to see a therapist and is working through some of her issues, including the abuse she’s suffered through at the hands of Michael.

  Speaking of Michael, he is not attending a specialised institution for juvenile delinquents. His parents received a detailed email which included multiple images along with exact times and dates on all his activities. He was taken into custody a day later after they turned the information over to the proper authorities. Keith and I are happier than ever, and now it’s time I’ve been both excited for and dreading. Keith is graduating today, and in the next few weeks, he should start hearing back from the colleges he’s applied to.

  My parents leave me at the entrance to the building where Keith’s graduation ceremony will take place. I scan the parking lot to see if I spot him, but have no such luck. I walk into the building, and there he is waiting for me with his mom and grandmother. His mom, Emma, looks lovely in a simple black dress and greets me warmly. Gram Jude looks stunning as usual with her hair nicely done and her make up perfectly applied. Her matching black dress swirls around her knees, and she hugs me almost too tightly.

  I remember at the beginning of my junior year, I said that finding a boyfriend was at the top of my list. Now honestly I can’t believe that that was even possible. In one way I thought
it was a joke; I didn’t think I’d actually have a boyfriend. This is beyond what I could have imagined. This entire school year has been the craziest year I’ve ever had, and even though there were tough moments, I wouldn’t change any of it.

  Keith picks me up as if I were as light as a feather; I look into his eyes and can’t help but feel proud of my boy for graduating. We kiss briefly, not wanting to make a spectacle out of it. “I have so much to tell you,” he says, dragging me off further into the building. I give Emma and Jude a quick wave as I continue to be whisked away by Keith.

  “Keith, what is it? I swear I’ve never seen you this excited before.”

  Keith finally stops walking, and we are now standing in a hallway. A few people walk around, dressed for graduation, speaking in hushed tones.

  “I got accepted to The Scholar University for English Studies!” he says with every ounce of enthusiasm.

  “What?” I yell, “Oh my God, Keith,” I hug him and cry. Happy tears, of course. The Scholar University for English Studies or SUES for short was the first University created for English majors only. In other words, if you want to be a writer, an English professor, a publisher or editor, you name it. This is the place you should be aiming for. “Keith, I can’t believe this, how could you keep this from me!” I punch him playfully in the arm.

  “I wanted to tell you. But I was waiting for either a rejection or an acceptance letter to arrive in the mail. I was lucky to get the latter,”

  “I’m just so happy for you,” I lace my hands behind his neck, and kiss him “I love you, Keith.”

  “I love you more Vee,” he looks down at his hands.

  “Is something wrong?” I ask.

  “Vee, you do know where SUES is right?” Of course, I do, why is he even asking me that? Everyone knows it’s located in, oh. I wasn’t thinking before at all. It’s located in Norway. “Vee, you alright?” says Keith scanning my face. I must have gone pale, or green since I think I might vomit.

  “I’m good,” I lie.

  “Vee I know we haven’t sat down to talk about, you know, our future. But I think we should. It’s important to me. I’ll be leaving in just a couple of months and… I just want to go home, so we can sit and talk about us. Is that okay?”

  I’m a little upset that Keith doesn’t want to celebrate on the day of his high school graduation, but I am glad that he wants to talk. “That’s perfect,” I answer.

  “And maybe—” he leans closer and pushes his body against mine. “After we talk, we could do something else,” he skims his fingers across my shoulders. My body reacts immediately. “Would that be alright with you?” He whispers against my ear. Damn it, Keith! I hate it when he does this. Now all I want to do jump on top of him, but I’ll just have to wait. I can wait forever for Keith if I have to.

  He keeps trailing his fingers down my back and somehow, I’m expected to not react. I look around us. Not a single soul in sight. I grab him by his tie and pull him down, pressing my lips to his, he moans and grins against my lips, and when we pull away from each other he says, “Finally, I’ve awakened the beast,”

  Narrowing my eyes at him, I screw my lips to the side. I’m trying to look mad, but I can’ tell it isn’t working, “Oh, shut up and let me kiss you,” I say against his neck, as I slowly begin to leave small kisses there. I make my way up to his jaw, then his lips. He doesn’t care for my teasing; he hungrily tugs on my lips, earning a short gasp from my part. He sucks on my bottom lip. My mind is on the loose, the only thought I have at the moment is Keith and only Keith. It’s not until I hear the sound of shoes behind us that my mind begins to race.

  Keith and I do our best to untangle from each other as fast as possible, but it’s too late, his grandmother has already seen us.

  “Oh my,” she says, covering her eyes with her hand. “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt.” She eyes us both and gives us a warm smile. My cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Keith’s grandmother just caught us practically doing it. “But Keith, your graduation ceremony is about to start.”

  I practically jump out of my chair when Keith’s name is called up to the stage. Jude holds on to my hand and leans towards me so I could hear her, “My dear,” she says. “I do hope that you and Keith are taking things slow,” I gulp. Did she say what I think she said? She continues speaking, “With Athena, everything seemed so rushed, I swear that boy even mentioned marriage when he was only fifteen, could you believe that?” I want this conversation to end right now. This is not the moment to be finding out more things about Keith’s past love life. I do my best to fake a smile and assure Keith’s grandmother that we are indeed taking things slow. We’ve been dating for almost a year now for crying out loud. Most teens would have been in each other’s beds after only a few months.

  But, then after what she saw earlier, I guess I would assume the same. If only she knew what exactly her grandson had planned for us to do after his graduation.

  Thankfully she doesn’t press more on the topic, and before we know it, the ceremony is over.

  Keith runs to hug his mother and grandmother. I stand behind them looking a bit out of place. Until he let’s go of them and reels me in for a hug. As we exit out of the auditorium, I say to him, “So how does it feel, being a high school graduate?”

  “It feels great, this is only the beginning,” giving a fist pump in the air.

  Upon arriving at the parking lot, Emma stops Keith. Jude and I turn around to see what’s wrong. “Keith, someone came here to see you.” Keith furrows his brows no doubt trying to think of whom else from his family could be here.

  “Who is it, mom?”

  “He’s waiting for us at the car,” He? Keith doesn’t say anything on the matter, and we just keep walking. He reached back, and his fingers interlaced with mine.

  As we near the car, I start to make out the shape of a man I’ve seen before. I know this guy, I think. I mean, I don’t, but I’ve seen him before, where was it? It isn’t until we arrive where Emma’s car that I see it’s the man who spoke to me at my dad’s gala. Keith stops short and squeezes my hand. I look up at him, and his lips are pressed together tightly. I can see the muscles in his jaw bulge as he grits his teeth. Keith snarls, “What is this? Mom, what the fuck is he doing here?”

  The man answers, “It’s good to see you too, son,” Son? I look back and forth from Keith to the man standing before us. Of course, the resemblance has been there all along. That day in the gala if I would have looked at this man for a few more seconds, I would have made out the similarities. This is Keith’s father, his abusive, manipulative, cheating father. I can’t help but feel the need to protect Keith. I step in front of him. The man looks to me, “I didn’t get to properly introduce myself at the gala, I’m James Masters,” he says. I glower at him. This is not the place to be doing introductions. And I don’t give a shit who he is.

  “Mom, answer me!” Keith yells. “Why is he here?”

  “Keith,” she begins. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a while. Your father and I have been seeing each other again. Trying to reconcile our differences,” Emma reaches out and grabs James' hand.

  Keith flips, “Fuck no,” he growls. I want to yell at his mother, but then I remember Emily doesn’t know of what Keith’s father did to him for Keith to keep all his cheating a secret. I step in front of his father.

  “How dare you,” I say. “How dare you show up back in his life—?”

  “Vee,” Keith’s tries to stop me. But I don’t listen.

  Words keep on spurring out of my mouth, until it’s too late, “You abuse your kid for most of his childhood so he could keep the fact that you’ve cheated on your wife a secret and then you think you can just walk—”

  “Vee!” Keith yells. That’s the moment I realised I screwed up badly.

  “You did what?” Emma steps in the middle, she looks at Keith then at her ex-husband. “What did she just say? You abused Keith? Is this true?” she asks. “Did you hurt our son all those years?
My baby?” She brings her hand to cover her mouth as if coming to reason with something. “Those times you told me he’d been in a fight, or that he’d been hurting himself,” she begins to shake, her entire body is trembling, and her eyes are wells of tears, “It was you. Oh my god, why didn’t I see it before? Why was I so blind?” the tears stream down her face.

  I look at everything that’s happening. The story that’s playing out before my eyes. From behind me, I hear Keith telling me to go. I look at him in disbelief. “I said go, Vee. You’ve done enough. Just go. Go home.” I reach for his hand, but he moves away from me, and his voice goes completely cold. “I said go,” he yells.

  “Keith,” his grandmother shouts in my defence.

  I don’t give myself time to think before I say, “No, I am not going anywhere. I told you I wasn’t ever leaving you, Keith—”

  “God Vee, don’t you get it. I don’t want you here. You just fucked everything. Every wall I had built you tore it all down,” I realise now that he’s moved on from talking about his father to about our relationship. “I should have never gone after you, I should have never brought you into my life,”

  “Don’t say that,” I say.

  “Go Vidya,” I’ve seen Keith angry before but never like this. Deep down, I know he doesn’t mean any of what he’s said. But I don’t want to continue listening to any of this. I nod, on the verge of tears, I oblige with his wishes and walk away from the parking lot. I take out my phone and call my mom.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’m seated in the passenger seat of mom car. “Did something happen?” she asks.

  “Yeah,” I lie. “His family really wanted to take him out to eat. I wasn’t really in the mood. I told Keith I’d call him later.” My mom probably knows I’m lying, but I don’t care, I don’t feel like talking about it. I don’t get why Keith was so angry. His mom had to find out, she had to know, or she was going to bring that horrible man back into their lives.