Right Kind Of Wrong

by Christina Marie

  He chuckled, “I wasn’t sure that was you! I’m doing good, kinda sore from practices.”

  We released each other and he sat down beside me. The girls at the table stared with mouths hanging open, then quickly snapped them shut. “Are you guys ready for the first game?” I asked Brody.

  “Oh yeah, we’re going to whoop some ass. How’s everything going on the dance team?”

  “I love it! Everybody is super sweet.”

  He nodded his head and smiled, “I’m looking forward to watching you, Morgan always talked about your passion for dancing.”

  I smiled, “How’s Zane doing?”

  We talked about how their summer went and how school was going so far, “I’ll walk you to your next class.” Brody stood up and held his hand out to me.

  When we got outside he was quiet and stared at the ground as we walked, “I…”

  I looked over at him and chuckled, “You, what?”

  He stopped walking, “I’ve been holding this in for a long time.” He checked his watch, “Let’s go sit down over there.” He pointed at a bench under a tree. I followed him and sat down. Brody rest his elbows on his knees and covered his face with his hands, then steepled his fingers at his lips. He blew out a breath, “I’m going to tell you something…just promise me you won’t be pissed at me.”

  “Okay.” I dragged out.

  Brody still wasn’t looking at me, “Morgan was cheating on you, the weekend that you came here…he was going to break up with you.”

  My heart stuttered, my ears started to ring, “What? He…no he didn’t!”

  Finally Brody looked at me, “With Naomi, on your dance team.”

  I started shaking my head and my hands started shaking, “No…no. You’re lying.” Tears sprung to my eyes and I felt like I was going to be sick.

  Brody grabbed my hands, “I’m not telling you to piss you off or hurt you, I just wanted you to know. It’s been bugging the shit out of me.”

  The dam inside me broke and I started bawling, I clutched on to Brody’s shirt and sobbed. “I want to go to my room.” I cried.

  Brody stood up and wrapped his arm around my shoulders as I continued to cry all the way back to the dorms. When I walked inside, Brody stayed with me. I curled up on my bed and hugged my pillow. Brody sat on the edge of my bed and rubbed my back as sobs tore through me. “How…how long had he been seeing her before he…”

  “They met fairly early in the year, at a party. I don’t really know when things got physical between them. He knew I was pissed that he was screwing around on you.”

  I cried harder, my heart shattering with every word Brody said. I remembered how Morgan had said that we really needed to talk, and how many times he would cut our phone conversations short, and the night that he told me he had walked a girl home from a party. Was it Naomi? I thought.

  “I need to get to class, I’ll come by after I’m done for the day.” Brody said and stood up from the bed. “I’m sorry…I just couldn’t keep it secret anymore.” When I didn’t respond he blew out a breath and walked out of my room.

  I was still on my bed, crying when Jerin walked in. I was staring blankly at the wall by her bed. “Are you sick?” She asked and started to back away from me.

  “No…”

  “You’re crying, why?”

  “He was cheating on me, I loved him.” New tears rolled down my face.

  “Who?”

  “Morgan.” I answered and closed my eyes.

  The room fell silent, when I opened my eyes Jerin was sitting on her bed. “That’s why that girl left so fast that night.”

  I sat up on my bed, grabbed my cell phone and text Vance.

  “Do you want me to leave?” Jerin asked.

  I looked up at her, “No…please don’t.”

  “I don’t know what to say.” She looked down at her hands and picked at the black nail polish.

  “Why all the black?” I asked.

  “I can blend in with a crowd…nobody looks at me more than once.” She whispered.

  “Jerin, you’re beautiful, why wouldn’t you want people to notice you?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t always like this…I use to be like you. I was a cheerleader though.”

  “Do you want to tell me what happened?” I asked.

  She blew out a breath, “After a game my junior year I went to a party. The quarterback knew I had a big crush on him…as the night progressed and I drank more he noticed me. We went up to a bedroom, I was a virgin, and had never even been kissed. We started making out, he was so much bigger than me. When he lifted up my skirt and stuck his fingers inside of me—it hurt. I told him to stop but he wouldn’t. When I tried to scream he covered my mouth with his hand and told me to shut the fuck up, that he had heard how hot I was for him. Then one of his friends came in the room, he…locked the door behind him and came over to the bed. They stripped me out of my uniform and then they both stripped. Tommy climbed in behind me and used his shirt to gag me, he held my arms and spread my legs with his feet. Preston grabbed my chest and roughly squeezed my boobs as he stroked himself. Then he pushed inside of me. I screamed behind the shirt and tried to free my arms from Tommy’s grip but he was too strong. As Preston hammered in and out of me, Tommy slid under my back and penetrated the same hole that Tommy was in. They both liked it, they talked about how awesome it felt…for them. When I opened my eyes, Preston was recording everything on his cell phone. It hurt so bad I could feel my skin tearing down there.” She wiped tears from her face.

  I walked over to her and sat down beside her, “Oh my god!” I cried. “Did…did they get in trouble?” I asked.

  She shook her head, no, “The video only showed my lower half and they had music dubbed over the video so nobody could hear me crying. They posted the video on a bunch of porn sites and sent the links to their friends who shared the video. The comments were disgusting.”

  I hugged her tighter, “I’m so sorry. Why didn’t the cops arrest them?”

  “Because Tommy’s dad was the chief of police and Preston’s dad was the Mayor. Please don’t tell anybody. I want friends, I really do…I’m just afraid that somebody will somehow recognize me in the video, because of the tattoo on my hip. I got it without my parents knowing and a bunch of people from school knew I had it…so they knew right away I was the one in the video. The video title was, “Cream pie the virgin x2” and the caption said, “The tight little cunt loved the DP.” I had to beg my mom to buy me a morning after pill, because she didn’t believe that it happened.”

  “I won’t tell anybody, I promise and I’ll be your friend no matter what.” I whispered.

  She sniffled, “Are you going to talk to that Naomi chick?”

  “I…I don’t know if I can.” I answered.

  My cell phone rang so I went back over to my bed and answered Vance’s call.

  “Hello.”

  “Are you fuckin’ serious? He told you that?”

  “Yeah…he said he couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.”

  Vance blew out a breath, “He was going to tell me something that night at the hospital but said it wasn’t the right time. Christ.”

  I started crying, “I…I don’t know what to do.”

  “I don’t have classes tomorrow, I’ll be there tonight. It’ll be late when I get there but I’m comin’.”

  “No, it’s…”

  “We are gonna find out the truth Tabitha. You deserve that much.”

  “Okay, does Vidalia have classes?”

  “Yeah, I already talked to her. She’s pretty pissed that she can’t come with me. Call her, I’ll call you when I get to town.”

  “Okay, thank you.”

  “See you later.” His voice was like a cool breeze across my skin.

  We hung up. Before I called Vidalia I asked Jerin if it was okay for Vance to stay.

  “I guess, I can go stay with my cousin.”

  “I need to tell you about Vance.” So I told her all about my pa
st.

  She smiled weakly, “You two love each other, it’s the right kind of wrong.”

  “Huh?” I asked in confusion.

  “He’s your step brother, you two shouldn’t be in Love, but your feelings are too strong to ignore. To you guys it feels right…to others it’s wrong.”

  I closed my eyes, “We can’t be together.”

  “You can, you’re not blood. Society is who thinks that it’s wrong for you two to be together. Society doesn’t know how your hearts feel though. They don’t know that you have to fight with yourself every time you’re around each other. Society doesn’t care that you have this missing puzzle piece for each other, they hear the word brother and automatically say it’s gross and incest.”

  “You don’t have to leave.” I told her.

  “I…I can’t sleep when there’s a guy near me. I don’t know this Vance guy, he’s probably harmless, but to me…he’s just like all the others.”

  “Will you at least stay until he gets here? Please?”

  Jerin smiled, “Yeah, I’ll at least meet him this time. I’m going to go grab something to eat, do you want me to pick you up anything?”

  “I’m good.”

  After she left I called Vidalia. When she answered I could tell she was crying.

  “Hey.” She sniffled.

  “Hey…”

  “I…god Tabitha, I don’t even know what to say. I know he’s gone so there’s not much you can do. Have you talked to the girl?”

  “No, I don’t know what I’m going to say to her.” I told her about Naomi being on the dance team and how she was acting strange toward me.

  “I just can’t fuckin’ believe this. Promise me that you and Vance will talk to her.”

  “We will.” I breathed out.

  “Is there somebody to stay with you until he gets there?”

  “Jerin, my roommate, will be back in a bit.”

  “The emo?” she chuckled.

  “She’s had a rough couple of years too, her story is gut wrenching.” I said in Jerin’s defense.

  “Oh…that’s why they say never judge a book by its cover.”

  I needed to change the subject so I asked her about school and how Drake and her were doing. They were at the same college so I worried that she would feel smothered by him.

  “Really good, I kinda like having him around all the time.” She said with a chuckle.

  We talked for about twenty more minutes before we hung up. I curled up on my bed, and held onto Morgan’s class ring as I drifted off to sleep.

  “Hey sleepy head wake up!” Jerin’s voice woke me up. “There’s a guy here…he’s cute!”

  I had been asleep THAT long? “Already?” I asked.

  She laughed, “You were out cold, it’s almost ten.”

  I sat up on my bed, “Where’s Vance?” I asked.

  Jerin pulled the curtain back, “He’s out there. He kept calling your phone so I answered it. Go get him, he looks pretty worried.”

  “Will you stay here? So you can meet him?” I asked.

  “I’ll be right here, ready to bolt after he says hello.” She said with a smile.

  I checked myself in the mirror and fixed my hair, went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth real quick then left to go get Vance.

  He was still leaning against the side of his pickup staring at the ground. When he heard the door open he looked up and immediately started toward me. Like two magnets being pulled toward each other I took off running for him. I threw myself at him, my legs wrapped around his waist, his arms wrapping tightly around my waist. “Christ, I missed you.” He whispered into my hair.

  I couldn’t stop the tears from falling, “I missed you too.” I whispered around my tears. The way his heart pounded against my chest and his touch soothed me made me stop crying. I released my legs from around his waist, “Hey.” I said with a smile.

  “Hey.” He said with a grin and wiped my tears away with his thumbs. His blue eyes were locked onto mine and he dipped his head then kissed me.

  “Let’s go inside.” I said after he pulled away.

  Jerin was sitting on her bed when we walked in, “Hi!” She said but didn’t move to shake Vance’s hand. “Nice to meet you. If you need me, text me. I put my number in your phone.” She rattled off then hurried out of the room.

  Vance chuckled, “Well…okay.”

  “Vance…” I said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Will you please come over here and hold me?”

  He kicked his shoes off, “Absolutely.”

  He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it onto my dresser. I gasped, he obviously had been working out because I could count the six-pack on his abs, his chest was bigger and so were his arms. He even looked taller. “You’ve grown.” I blurted with embarrassment. Even his hair was longer and he had a short goatee on his face.

  Vance chuckled and blushed, “If you say so.” He said as he climbed into my twin-sized bed with me.

  “Did you tell mom or Kevin that you were coming here?” I asked with my head resting on his chest.

  “No, I just told them I wasn’t gonna to be home this weekend.”

  The room fell silent, just the sound of his heart beating against my ear made me relax even more. He rubbed his hand up and down my back, “Tabitha?” He finally said.

  “Vance.” I replied with a grin.

  “Can I please fuckin’ kiss you? We’re behind closed doors.”

  I looked up at him, “Please do.”

  In the blink of an eye, he had me pinned underneath him and his lips fused with mine. Our tongues danced with each other and his moans made me whimper. We broke away from the kiss, but he continued to kiss down my neck, I was dizzy from the kiss and hadn’t realized that he had stopped moving until he said my name. When I opened my eyes he was staring at me waiting for me to answer him.

  “What?” I asked breathlessly.

  “This,” he held up Morgan’s class ring, “Will you please take it off?”

  My heart stuttered in my chest, I closed my eyes, the only time I ever took it off was to shower. “I cant yet.” I replied.

  Vance closed his eyes and rest his forehead against mine, “Okay.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shook his head, “Let’s go find this chick and talk to her.”

  “Okay.”

  Naomi wasn’t hard to find, she was in the lobby watching a movie with Tessa and Christa. She looked up when Vance and I walked in, and started shoving her books into her backpack.

  “I know.” I told her.

  She stopped and visibly paled, “I…you do?” she stuttered out.

  “I found out earlier,” I walked in with Vance right behind me. “And I have questions.” I told her.

  Tessa and Christa started to leave but I stopped them, “If you two are her best friends then you should stay. He’s dead, I just want to know everything.” Tears blurred my vision and Vance placed his hands on my shoulders. Immediately I calmed down.

  “I met him at a frat party, Christa had a little too much to drink and he offered to help us get her home.” Naomi spoke quietly and told me about that night. “I tried to stay away from him but the more we tried to stay away from each other…the more drawn to each other we were.” She wiped a tear from her face. She continued on telling me about the time they spent together and how she told him that she didn’t want to continue seeing him unless he broke up with me. “The weekend he died, he had promised me that he was going to break up with you. He felt horrible for cheating on you and wanted to tell you in person, not over the phone. He told me about you and some Vance guy’s affair in high school.” Vance stiffened next to me. “He didn’t hate you guys for it, he understood how you felt once we started seeing each other.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  Naomi blew out a breath, “He told me that the more he tried to stay away the more he was drawn to me. It was wrong but he wanted to be with me.”

 
I closed my eyes and tears fell down my cheeks.

  “There’s more…but I don’t know if you want to know.” Her voice shook.

  I nodded my head, “Just tell me everything, my hearts already been ripped apart.” I told her.

  Tessa grabbed Naomi’s hand and Christa stared at the floor, “I…I got pregnant on accident.”

  All the air left my lungs and I felt like I was going to puke.

  “What?” Vance shouted.

  “A—condom broke and I wasn’t on the pill. We both freaked out, me more than him, he was just sure that since the condom was a spermicide one that everything would be okay. I called my doctor the next day and she gave me the morning after pill.”

  I choked on a sob, “Oh god.”

  “It didn’t work though.” She whispered.

  I looked up at her so fast the room spun. “What?”

  “I had a baby girl, she was born three and a half weeks early.”

  My vision started to go black, Vance’s hand squeezed mine, “No…”

  Naomi started crying, “I gave her up for adoption, and signed my parental rights over to the parents.”

  I pulled out of Vance’s grip and lunged for the trashcan, I dry heaved and cried until I could hardly breath. My heart was no longer broken; it was in tiny fiery shards inside my chest.

  Chapter 22

  The room was silent except for the sounds of tears being shed by Naomi and Tabitha. My mind was spinning…Morgan had indeed cheated on Tabitha and got the girl pregnant. And he never even knew about the kid.

  I walked over to where Tabitha was sitting on the floor, sobbing. I bent down and picked her up.

  Back at her room she continued to cry, until eventually, her tears turned to anger. She reached up and yanked the necklace from around her neck and threw it across the room. The picture collage on her wall was ripped down and the pictures on her desk and dresser thrown against the wall, the glass shattering into shards on the floor.

  My cell phone dinged with a new text message;

  I silenced my phone and shoved it into my jeans, Tabitha was angrily going through her dresser yanking clothes out and throwing shirts into a pile.