Blame it on the Stars (The Blame Game)

by Hill, Jamie

  “I’ll try to soften the blow as much as possible. But I’m not looking forward to lying to anyone else.”

  He sullenly punched his number into the phone.

  “Hello,” Catlin heard a sleepy male voice.

  She spoke softly. “Mr. Stewart? This is Catlin McCall, Clint’s teacher.”

  “Ye-yes? Is something wrong Miss McCall?”

  “Not really, no. Clint’s fine. He had some trouble with his truck tonight, it wouldn’t start. I think he flooded it really. Anyway, he had to get Dana home by curfew, and they called me for a lift.”

  “Why would they call you, Miss McCall? I don’t understand.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Stewart. I know it’s late. I guess I should tell you that I date Dana’s father, who is out of town this week. Dana considers me a friend, and she thought I could give them a ride. Frankly, Clint needs a ride home from here. I was hoping you could come get him.”

  “Why is he there?” Mr. Stewart was being painfully inquisitive.

  Catlin could see visions running through this man’s head of her and his son alone at her house. “I’m sure Clint can fill you in on all the details. Please let me assure you, I just wanted the kids to be safe. I just can’t get Clint home, and I need you to pick him up.”

  “What’s the address?” Clint’s father finally asked.

  “1428 Hazelnut,” Catlin replied. “Thank you so much. Sorry to wake you.” She hung up before Mr. Stewart could ask anything else, and looked at Clint. “He has a lot of questions. You better handle it. I could get in so much trouble having you here at this time of night.”

  “Oh geez, I’m sorry Miss M. I never thought of that. I just...didn’t know what to do.”

  She wiggled his shoulder, and motioned for him to go to the front room. She followed. “It’s okay. I’m glad I could help you. This is a heck of a mess, though, Clint. We’re going to have a lot of ‘splaining to do at some point.”

  He looked out and saw headlights in her driveway. “Maybe it’ll all blow over,” he said as he opened the front door.

  “Oh yeah!” She laughed sarcastically. “Now go before I have to talk to your father again. I don’t think I can do that tonight.”

  “Thanks, again.” Clint smiled at her.

  Catlin shoved him out the door. She closed and locked it behind him. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm down, and went out to the garage. She pulled the towels out of the car. “Whew!” she fanned the air. She rolled down all the windows in hopes of airing the car out overnight.

  Catlin finally went back into the bathroom, and looked at the sleeping girl in her tub. “Man, oh man.” She shook her head, and started peeling Dana’s clothes off.

  Dana stirred. She squinted her eyes open. “Catlin? What are you doing here?”

  “You’re at my house. Clint and I brought you here, remember?”

  Dana looked around. “No. I was with my mom. Gosh, I have a headache!”

  Catlin chuckled. “You were not with your mom. You were with Clint at a frat party, and you got really, really drunk. Is any of this coming back to you?”

  Dana rubbed her face with her hands, and for a second Catlin’s heart melted. Just like her father.

  “Oh, my.” Dana looked down at herself. “I’m a mess.”

  “Yeah.” Catlin brushed Dana’s hair off her face. “Why don’t I help you get these clothes off, and you can take a shower. I’ll get you some of my pajamas and underwear. You’re staying here tonight.”

  Dana nodded, still groggy, but getting more coherent.

  Catlin showed her the shampoo, and set a towel out for her. “Can you manage?”

  “Yeah.” Dana nodded.

  Catlin left her alone.

  The shower ran for a long time. Once Catlin stuck her head in and asked “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah,” Dana answered again.

  Catlin could tell she was crying. She didn’t say anything else, just laid some clothing on the counter and pulled the door closed.

  A while later, Dana came out dressed in Catlin’s pajamas. Catlin was lying on the bed, still fully dressed. “Feel any better?” Catlin smiled at her.

  “Yes and no. I took a couple aspirin I found in the medicine cabinet.”

  “Good. Do you feel like you’re done getting sick?”

  “I think so. I just want to sleep.”

  “Well, I’ve only got the one bed. But I don’t mind sharing if you don’t.”

  Dana nodded, and walked around the bed. She threw the covers back, and flopped down. “This pillow smells like my dad,” she said softly.

  “Sorry.” Catlin didn’t know what to say.

  “It’s okay, I like it.”

  Catlin reached over and shut the light off. She lay on the bed, fully clothed, on top of the covers. “I like it, too,” she said quietly.

  “G’night Catlin,” Dana murmured.

  “Goodnight Dana.” Catlin clutched at her stomach. She was fighting the urge to get sick herself. What a night.

  Dana was sleeping a few hours later when Catlin got up to get ready for school. She showered and dressed quietly, and Dana never stirred. Catlin reached down and felt her forehead, she was cool. Catlin found a pen and paper and left a note on the night stand.

  Dana,

  Thought you could use sleep more than school. I’ll turn you in as sick.

  I will call you at noon to check on you. Don’t answer the phone other

  than my call!!!

  Get some rest.

  Catlin

  She looked at the girl one last time, and then left for school.

  Catlin was relieved that Steve’s car didn’t smell worse. She thought it would be aired out sufficiently by Friday. When she got to school, she turned Dana in as sick to the secretary, and went to her classroom. David came in her room shortly thereafter.

  “Hey.” He coughed.

  “How are you feeling?”

  He nodded. “Okay, just the cough. How’s my sister?”

  “Sleeping. I told them she won’t be in today.”

  He looked around, and saw no one else. “Catlin, what you did last night, well, thanks. It was really cool.”

  “It was really stupid.” She sat in her chair and shook her head. “I am going to be so busted.”

  “No you’re not. No one has to know. Teresa doesn’t suspect anything. I’ll go by your place after school and pick up Dana.”

  “I’ll go with you,” she informed him. “The four of us are going to have a chat.”

  He grinned. “Get our stories straight, synchronize our watches, so to speak.”

  She shook her head. “Shit. Don’t say that. Don’t grin like that. You look like your father.”

  “Makes you want to jump me right here, doesn’t it?”

  Her eyes flashed, but he laughed.

  “Just kidding. Don’t get your knickers in a knot.”

  She stood up and poked him in the chest. “Don’t talk to me like that. You owe me big, remember?”

  They both turned as Clint walked into the room. “Hey,” he said.

  “You look like hell,” Catlin remarked.

  “If you mean I look like I didn’t get much sleep, well, hey, so do you.”

  “That’s a fact.” she nodded. “Did you tell your father?”

  “Hell no!” Clint told them. “He didn’t really want to know. We’re going with the flooded truck story. It’s a miracle, but it started this morning just fine.”

  Catlin frowned at him. “You are not off the hook that easy, young man. After school, my place with David and Dana. I mean it.”

  He smiled. “You don’t think people will be suspicious if I’m at your place again?”

  David laughed, but she shook her head. “This is not funny, you guys. I’m serious.”

  “I’ll be there,” Clint reassured her. “You helped me out last night big time. I appreciate it.”

  David smirked. “I’ll be there too, teach.”

  “Go to cla
ss,” she snapped at him, and waved him away.

  David laughed, and did as she said.

  Catlin was dying to tell Jetta what happened, but she couldn’t get the words out. The Crafts and Steve had become friends, and Catlin just couldn’t risk telling anyone. She kept her misery to herself, and when the school went to holy day mass for All Saint’s Day, Catlin prayed and prayed that she did the right thing.

  On her lunch break she called home to check in with Dana.

  “How are you feeling?” Catlin asked.

  “My head is pounding.”

  “Take some more aspirin, and try to eat something. Maybe some soup.”

  “Blecch.”

  “You need to look passable by three o’clock young lady. Take another shower or whatever you need to do. David, Clint and I will be there at three, and we are going to talk.”

  “Why does Clint have to be here?”

  “What kind of a stupid question is that?” Catlin answered the question with a question.

  “I’m so embarrassed,” Dana admitted.

  “Well, good. It’s a start.” Catlin softened her tone. “You have to face him sometime.”

  “Catlin,” Dana almost whispered. “I don’t remember everything from last night. But I remember being in a bed and getting groped. I tried to stop it, but my arms felt like rubber, like I couldn’t move. How could Clint do that to me?” She was starting to cry.

  “Clint said that wasn’t him. He found you that way, and in his words ‘he pounded the jackass’ you were with.”

  “Oh my God!” she sobbed openly into the phone. “How can I not remember what happened?”

  “Honey, Clint thought nothing more happened to you. But if you feel strange, like something did, we need to get you to a doctor. Are you having any pain, or bleeding?”

  “No.” She sobbed. “I feel okay, I guess, just so embarrassed.”

  “It’s going to be okay.” Catlin looked up as another teacher walked in the lounge. “I have to go. Do what I suggested and I’ll see you later, okay?”

  “Yeah, thanks.” Dana hung up.

  Catlin’s heart ached for her. The afternoon went by dreadfully slow. Catlin looked at the clock every five minutes, or so it seemed to her. Finally, when the bell rang, she took off for home. She was the first one to arrive.

  “Hello,” she called, as she walked in.

  Dana was sitting on the sofa, wearing her jeans and a t-shirt of Catlin’s. “Hi,” she looked down. “I hope you don’t mind, I washed my clothes. My shirt is ruined, though...I borrowed this from your drawer.”

  “That’s fine,” Catlin dropped her books on the table, and slipped off her jacket. She sat down on the sofa next to Dana.

  “If I had felt better, I would have had fun playing dress up in your closet.”

  Catlin laughed. She looked at the sweater bunched in Dana’s lap. It was Steve’s. “Cold?” she asked.

  Dana shook her head, and hugged the sweater to her. “It smells so good,” she buried her face, and started crying again. “Oh Catlin, you just can’t tell him! He’ll be so disappointed in me!”

  Catlin pulled Dana into her arms, and comforted her. “I know,” she soothed the girl. “You’re right. But he loves you so much. He’ll understand about the spiked punch. That part wasn’t your fault.” She looked Dana in the eye. “You made a lot of mistakes last night, but that part, and what happened after, was not your fault.”

  Dana clung to her and cried for a few more minutes, until the doorbell rang.

  Catlin wiped Dana’s face with a tissue. “You ready for this?” She squeezed her shoulders.

  Dana nodded, and continued to wipe her face.

  Catlin stood up to answer the door. David and Clint were both there. “Come in,” she motioned to the living room.

  “Hey sis,” David sat next to Dana “Feeling any better?”

  She nodded, and gave her brother a little smile. But she couldn’t look Clint in the face.

  Clint didn’t speak.

  Catlin did. “Sit down. I have a few things to say.”

  Clint sat.

  Catlin started, “Last night was one disaster on top of another. And I can’t see how it’s not all going to come crashing down on my head. I’ve given this a lot of thought. We have to tell your dad.”

  “No!” The three teenagers shouted in unison.

  Catlin raised her hand. “Listen, he’s going to find out. And it’s going to be worse later than sooner. I really think—”

  “No!” Dana jumped up and grabbed Catlin’s arm. “Please! Catlin, I’m begging you. Please don’t tell him anything.”

  David said, “I don’t see how he’s going to find out. You can, shall we say, distract him when he gets back on Friday night.”

  Catlin’s eyes flashed at David for the second time that day. “For someone who wants a favor from me, you sure are being a jerk.”

  David’s smirk slipped off his face. “I’m sorry, Catlin. I was just teasing you. But please, you can’t tell dad. Just let some time go by, and you’ll see. Everything will be fine.”

  Catlin was shaking her head, but she knew she was going to give in. How could she go against these kids that she had been trying to win over for the past two months? If she ratted them out, it would put the seal of doom on any chance they had for a relationship. She looked at Clint. “Your parents don’t know? They aren’t going to say anything?”

  He shook his head. “They don’t know.” He looked around. “Only the members of the secret society in this room know.”

  Catlin retorted, “Yeah, us and about fifty other party-goers. We’ll be lucky if someone doesn’t spill it somehow.”

  Dana asked quietly, “Then you’re not going to tell?”

  Catlin looked from one face to the next. “I get best behavior from all of you for the rest of your lives for this.”

  Dana squealed and hugged Catlin tightly. David stood up and hugged Catlin next. Catlin looked at Clint, and said “Com’ere,” she held her arms out, and gave him a hug.

  He smiled sheepishly. “Thanks, Catlin.”

  She cleared her throat. “That’s the Divine Miss M., to you.”

  He laughed, and turned to Dana. “We need to talk.”

  Catlin stepped in. “Not today. Dana needs to go home and get her act together. Give her a little more time, Clint.”

  Dana handed the sweater back to Catlin. “Thanks for everything.”

  Catlin took the sweater and nodded. She watched Dana gather up her things, and leave with David. Clint left immediately after. Catlin shut the door, locked it, and looked around. She picked up a few things, and made sure there was no evidence of Dana anywhere. There was a heavy feeling in the pit of Catlin’s stomach. She feared it would be there for a long, long time.

  Chapter Eight

  Catlin thought about not answering the phone when Steve called that night. But she had to try to get back to normal somehow. “Hello.”

  “Well, hi. No snappy remarks tonight?”

  “Sorry, it’s been a long day. I’m beat.”

  “I hope you’re not coming down with anything. I just talked to the kids. Dave is still coughing, and Dana isn’t feeling well, either.”

  “Yeah,” Catlin agreed “She didn’t look good today.”

  “I told her she could stay home tomorrow if she still feels bad. We may have to put our weekend plans on hold if you all get sick.”

  “Weekend plans?” Catlin had forgotten what Steve had arranged for the weekend. “Oh yeah, Topeka.”

  He chuckled. “Trying to forget, are you? Well, I’ll let you off the hook if you’re sick.”

  “I’m not sick,” she insisted. “I’m just really tired. Maybe we can talk more tomorrow night.”

  “Oh, okay then.” He sounded surprised.

  Catlin felt bad. “I love you so much, you know that?”

  “I do know that. Are we still on for the toe thing in the hot tub?”

  She laughed. “We are. I’m looking
forward to it. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight, love.”

  Dana was not in school Thursday or Friday. Catlin never ran into David, and she and Clint did not bring up the subject of Halloween again. By Friday afternoon, the rock in Catlin’s stomach had settled into a smaller, more manageable lump. She and Jetta were in the teacher’s lounge after school when the secretary paged her with a phone call.

  She smiled at Jetta, and answered the phone. “Hello?”

  “Hello, beautiful. I am back,” Steve’s warm voice washed over her.

  “I’m happy to hear that. What are you doing?”

  “Unloading about five pounds of paperwork from the briefcase on to my desk. What are you doing?”

  “Going home and stripping naked. I trust I’ll see you soon?”

  Jetta cracked up, and Steve laughed out loud. “I thought you were coming to my place and spending the night?”

  “I am,” Catlin said softly. “But I really want to see you this afternoon. I need to see you this afternoon. Punt the paperwork, and get over to my place.”

  “I’ll beat you there.”

  “No, you won’t. I’ve got one foot out the door.”

  “But I’ve got the Jaguar. See you in a few minutes.”

  They hung up, and Catlin grabbed her purse and some paperwork.

  “You little devil...” Jetta teased her.

  “Out of my way, I’ve got someplace to be.” Catlin winked at Jetta, and raced home.

  She and Steve arrived at the same time. She pulled into the garage, and looked behind her as she started running for the door.

  He grinned, and ran after her. Catlin dropped her purse on the table, and turned to face him.

  Steve slammed the back door behind him. They looked into each other’s eyes, and came together quickly. Catlin pressed herself against him and their mouths found each other. Her hands roamed over his chest and peeled back his suit jacket. She was yanking at his tie, never moving her mouth from his. Her fingers deftly unbuttoned his shirt, and he groaned as she ripped it off and ran her hands over his bare chest.

  Steve interrupted their kiss long enough to pull her sweater over her head and toss it on to the floor in one motion. His mouth traveled down her neck as his hands removed her bra and cupped her bare breasts.