Hope's Chance

by Jennifer Foor

  I turned on the local baseball game and lay down on the couch. I had finished off the bourbon three hours ago, and all that was left in the fridge was flat container of coke and two bottles of water. I would have to go into town tomorrow and grab some groceries. I couldn’t continue to rely on my sister for everything. I needed to get it through my head that my past was buried two states away from here. Nobody knew me and I could be myself finally again after so long.

  Just knowing that scared and excited me at the same time. I hoped that this would be the fresh start that I needed, God knows I had waited long enough for it.

  When I woke the next morning, I felt unrested. The majority of the night had been filled with dreams of that girl Hope. Before I became some pedophile, I needed to find out everything my sister knew about her. I couldn’t believe she had been holding out on me. Why hadn’t she mentioned that Mr. Ryan has this smoking hot daughter? She obviously knew that she was coming over yesterday, but insisted on calling her “an important person”. I had to wonder if my dear sister was purposely keeping her away from me. It was probably because she was a minor. I didn’t know any girl my age that wore ribbons in their hair.

  Now that I think about it, I hadn’t seen any pictures hanging anywhere in the house. Buffy said they still had a huge storage unit that they needed to unload, so perhaps they were in there, but it was still strange. Why keep it a secret? Did they really think it was necessary to hide her existence from me?

  I started feeling like they didn’t trust me at all. Normally I wouldn’t have cared, but after everything that had happened to me, I couldn’t help but feel a little bent out of shape about it.

  When I heard the door open and close I sat up, realizing I was still on the couch, instead of in my bed. I picked up my cell phone and noticed it was nearing ten in the morning already. My sister came prancing in like she had been up for hours. “Good morning sleepy head. Time to get up. Mark and I have big plans for us tonight.”

  She handed me a cup of coffee and I could tell from the color of it, she had added cream and sugar just how I liked it. “Thanks for this.” I said as I took my first sip.

  She sat down beside me and put her hands on her knees. I had to let out a chuckle when I noticed her entire outfit was in fact pink.

  “What is so funny little brother.”

  “Oh, it’s nothing really. I was just thinking about something that happened yesterday. On television.” I added the last part so she would let it go.

  “So, anyway….Mark and I found this great little place across town. It is a restaurant that has a bar side with dancing. We decided that we are going to go check it out tonight. I am so excited.”

  “Well that is good sis. I know how much you want to get out and meet new people here.” I said through sips.

  “Oh that is the best part. Mark insisted that you come with us. Eeeek! I am so excited. We talked about it last night, but I didn’t want to come outside and wake you. Plus, I wasn’t wearing any clothes at the time.”

  I set my coffee down on the table. “Ugh! Really? I don’t need that morning visual Buff. Damn!”

  She smacked me on my leg. “Shut up Chance. You wouldn’t be complaining if you were in my shoes.”

  “Sometimes I think that hair of yours has caused you permanent brain damage.” I blurted out.

  She rolled her eyes and started running her hands through her hair. “Whatever!” She stood up and headed toward the door. “We are leaving at eight. Your better be ready, because if you aren’t we are coming in here and draggin your ass with us.”

  “Oh, I’m scared of that threat.”

  “Seriously Chance, do it for me at least. Try!”

  “Fine Buff. Whatever. I don’t think I ever had a option anyway. I live under your roof and have to abide by the rules.”

  She leaned her head back in the door, as she stepped the rest of her body outside. “Just be ready when I said.” She walked away and I picked up the coffee again, but as soon as the door closed it re-opened. “Oh and Chance, no drinking today. I can’t have your ass all incoherent before we even leave for dinner.”

  I shook my head once I knew she was gone. The last thing I wanted to do was go out with my sister and her boyfriend dancing. I hated to dance, and more importantly watch how my sister did it. Every guy in that bar would be mind fucking her. It was disturbing as all hell.

  Chapter 5

  Hope

  When Rylee finally called me she said she had a way for us to have a “real good time” tonight. I rolled my eyes while talking on the phone with her, but made her promise it had nothing to do with Trevor. He was getting on my nerves and I couldn’t shake the way he sounded in that last text message. Maybe I was just interpreting it wrong, but I was leery still.

  Rylee finally arrived at my house around six p.m. She was wearing a regular looking sun dress. It was close to the blue one I had worn yesterday. But, once she made it into the confines of my room she slipped it down revealing the tightest, skimpiest thing I had ever seen. It was black and opened up on the sides from her rib cage down to her hips. Large metal buckles were holding it together.

  Rylee was a gorgeous girl. She had dark hair, almost black and dark brown eyes. Her father was from Pakistan and she got his dark complexion. Our friends hated being around the both of us, because we were so much darker than all of them. I was always thankful that I got that trait from my mother. Her dad was of Cherokee descent and he had passed down the creamiest brown skin a girl could ask for. I hadn’t even had to go tanning for the prom, like all of our other friends did. Instead, Rylee and I would go to the ice cream shop and get milkshakes while we waited on the other girls.

  “So what do you think?” Rylee asked while smoothing out the platinum colored dress.

  “You look hot, but I didn’t have anything like that. Where did you even buy something like that?” I asked.

  “At my mother’s shop. Girl, you would be surprised what people turn into the second hand store. Anyway, I was working for my mom last weekend in the back. All of these bags had come in and I grabbed as many as these babies as I could and shoved them in my purse.” She explained.

  “There are more? You have got to be joking?”

  “Girl, I’m not! There was an entire bag. A few of them I wouldn’t even wear.”

  Considering what this one looked like I was afraid to imagine what those must have been like. “So where are we going anyway, cause I can’t imagine wearing that to the big five.”

  The big five was a group of fast food places all in the same block of each other, in the middle of our small hick town. They made no sense, but seemed to remain open anyway.

  “Silly girl, it’s a secret.” She threw some bunched up fabric at me. “Now pick which one you are going to hide under your clothes, so I can start on your hair and makeup.”

  I held the fabric in my hand. “You have got to be kidding. There is no way in Hell I am wearing either of these.”

  “Trust me.” She said as she primped in the mirror. “You are gonna fit right in where we are going.”

  I stretched out the two dresses across my bed. For me to be even considering either of them was against my religion, and I didn’t mean that in any biblical way.

  The lime green dress was tight and short, but draped down in the front. I wasn’t sure I had a bra that I could wear, and I was too big to be without one. “This is a no!”

  “Fine then it is settled. You are wearing the pink and black one.” Rylee interrupted.

  “You know I hate pink.” I slammed.

  “Too late. Now, hurry up and get it on so we can get ready.” She ordered.

  I shook my head and grabbed the small fabric into my fist, heading toward the bathroom. Once inside I held it up against my body. It looked too small but once I got it on, it fit against every curve of my body. I wasn’t modest, but there was a whole different level of confidence needed to pull off wearing something like this. When I looked in the mirror, I noticed how t
he pink wasn’t as much as I had originally suspected. The center of the spaghetti strapped dresses front and back were black, but on each of the sides were bright pink. I guess it was made to accent the person’s curves. From the way it draped down in the front, it made my breast almost double in size. Finally, before I put another dress over it, so that my mother wouldn’t see, I bent over to do the ass check. Of course, in doing so, as I feared, I could see my white lace panties.

  I still had no idea where we were going. There was nothing to do in this town and we were way too young to get into either of the bars here.

  When I walked out of the bathroom I was wearing a normal summer dress. It was yellow with white daisies all over it. I headed in to the bedroom and Rylee rolled her eyes. “What?”

  “You weren’t even going to let me see it?”

  “I didn’t want to get caught. My mother would kill me if she saw me wearing something like that. Are you going to tell me where we are going?” I asked as she sat me down in front of my mirror and started messing with my hair.

  “No, it is a surprise. Just be quiet and let me do my magic.”

  “Fine, but my mother will suspect something if you cover my face in makeup.” There was no way I could go out of the house with as much makeup as Rylee wore on a normal basis. My mother would have had a heart attack.

  “I will do your makeup once we leave stupid. Geesh give me some credit. I got a diploma too ya know.”

  I rolled my eyes and sat back in the chair as Rylee curled my hair. When it was all said and done I looked like I was headed to a photo shoot. Rylee was pleased with her work, I could see it on her face.

  I slipped on a pair of sandals and she rolled her eyes again. She reached into her giant purse and pulled out a pair of black high heels. “You will be wearing these once we get out of this church house.”

  “Shut up, she isn’t that bad.”

  “Oh yes she is.”

  My mother was taking a nap when we headed out of the house. She barely opened her eyes to kiss me goodbye, as I told her I would be staying at Rylee’s house overnight. We made it out of there without any extra questions, which was a first.

  Chance

  My sister had barged in my place three times during the day. A few times I just wanted to get on my bike and leave, but I really had no place to go. She knew how I was feeling about going out in public. I hadn’t done it in so long now. I could only assume she thought I would break down and go completely crazy.

  To be honest, I didn’t really like being around people. After what happened to me, I couldn’t trust anyone. My friends had showed me that.

  I looked through my closet, realizing I hadn’t even unpacked any of my nice clothes. Before everything happened, I had lots of fun events to attend at Penn State. My rich girlfriend had taken me shopping and left me with a closet of designer clothes. I grabbed one of the boxes out of the back of my closet and started looking through it. I found a few v-neck t-shirts that were still folded nicely in the box. I was amazed considering all I remember was throwing things in boxes when we moved.

  I chose the light blue v-neck with a pair of dark gray shorts. They were made from linen. I remembered because Veronica, my ex, made a big deal about owning a pair of linen shorts. I never would have bought them for myself, but once I tried them on I understood the hype they got. They were comfortable and light. I wasn’t into dancing, but bars could get ungodly hot, and I didn’t feel like sweating my ass off all night. My sister came in as I was putting my white Nike’s on.

  “Oh Hell no! You are not wearing those shoes with that outfit. I would have thought Veronica taught you better than that.”

  “For someone that wants me to go with her, you aren’t being very nice. What is wrong with my shoes?”

  “Chance, you can’t wear those expensive shorts with a pair of Nikes. Here.” She tossed me a pair of boat shoes. I know they had some fancy name, but I always thought they looked like something our granddad had worn. “Wear these instead.”

  “Yeah, I was going for the old man look tonight anyway.”

  “Shut up and get them on. Mark and I are ready to go.”

  I slipped the shoes on my feet and followed her out the door. When she turned around to stop me I slammed into the back of her. “Dammit Buffy, watch where you are going.”

  “You forgot your hair. Good thing I carry hair gel in my purse. Hurry up, Mark is in the car. I will deal with your hair situation as he drives us there.”

  “Wait! I think I want to drive myself.”

  She turned around to face me. Because she was wearing a short leather skirt and a pink top that left her belly hanging out, the bright glare from her belly ring shined in my face. I covered my eyes before I could even talk to her. “Damn girl, you tryin to blind me?”

  “You are not driving that bike.”

  “Yes I am. Listen, I promised you that I would go, but I can’t promise that I will have a great time. In fact I am counting on it being horrible. With that being said…I think I want to have my own ride. I don’t want to spoil your and Marks time. I will follow you there, and I promise no more than two beers. If I get too drunk we can leave the bike there.”

  She seemed to be considering my idea, but when the horn honked she knew Mark was growing impatient. “Fine. Don’t do anything stupid tonight Chance.”

  “Okay, I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.” She turned around and gave me a smile before heading to the car.

  Thankfully she had forgotten about my hair. I put on my helmet and followed them out of the large driveway on my bike. I had already decided that shortly after dinner I was going to head home. Being out at a bar wasn’t my idea of a good time anymore. Not after everything that happened.

  Chapter 6

  Hope

  Rylee waited until we were a few miles away from my house to apply makeup. As the foundation filled my pours, I started to feel uncomfortable. It was hot outside and the last thing I wanted was something else to make me sweat. The two dresses were bad enough as it was on the ten minute ride.

  I hated having someone else put makeup on me, and especially mascara. I couldn’t help but blink, which made it even harder for Rylee. After at least fifteen minutes she told me I could look in the mirror.

  I didn’t even recognize myself at first. Between the hair and now makeup I looked so much older.

  “Wow! I look different.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “It is different.” Was all I could stammer out.

  Rylee rolled her eyes. “Whatever! You look totally hot. I would do you if I were a guy.”

  “Oh my God! Shut up. I am not doing anybody tonight or anytime soon.”

  “You never know what could happen. You might want to be the next re-born virgin Mary, but I want something new, something strange to start off my summer.”

  I interrupted her. “Don’t talk like that Rylee. You sound like a whore.” I didn’t mean it rudely and she knew I didn’t. She had only been with one person and that ended last month. Since then all she could talk about was being single this summer to “experience new things”.

  We drove in silence for a few more minutes before pulling over to a local bar that was in the middle of nowhere. If you didn’t live in the area, you would never find it.

  The Cedar Shack Bar sat off the road. It was a popular local hangout. During the day it was a restaurant, but at night it converted to a bar. I grabbed Rylee by the arm, before she could climb out of her car. “Wait! We can’t get in there. It is after eight.”

  “Do you really think I wouldn’t come prepared?” She said as she handed a small card that resembled a drivers license.

  I looked down and noticed the picture sort of resembled me. We definitely had the same features. “Where did you get this?”

  “Duh, Hope sometimes I wonder where your head is. My sister is home from college for the summer. I gave her money on spring break to buy one of her friends I.D.’s. It is yours. Consider it a graduation
present.”

  I looked down at the Maryland driver’s license again. “It say’s my name is Julie Stanton.”

  “Well you better be getting that dress off Jules, so we can get to dancing.” She said sarcastically. “And if anyone asks, my name is Kara.”

  Kara was her older sister, only by three years, but she was twenty one.

  As I slipped out of the top dress, I immediately felt my cheeks becoming red. I had no clue how I was going to make it in this place. Rylee handed me the heels and I watched as she double checked her lip gloss in the mirror.

  I stood up and grabbed my small clutch purse. “So how do I look?”

  “Totally do-able.”

  I rolled my eyes and followed behind her as we headed to the door. I had never walked in heels, and I found it hard to walk in them on a gravel parking lot. When we reached the front door, I was so happy I hadn’t broke an ankle getting there. I straightened out my dress and handed the bouncer my I.D.

  He looked at it for only a second, before turning all of his attention to my dress. He started at my face, but made a beeline for my tits and finally my legs. “Where have you been all my life gorgeous?”

  “Maryland!” I blurted out as Rylee pulled me inside.

  “Holy shit Hope, he was totally hitting on you.”

  I looked around the bar. It was filled with people both young and old. The Deejay was already playing some kind of hip hop music but nobody was dancing yet. It was still light outside, and I had heard that bars didn’t get busy until later on.

  “Come on let’s get drinks.” Rylee said as she pulled me toward the bar. We found a corner where nobody was sitting at and she waved down a bartender.

  “Hey ladies, what can I get ya?” He asked.

  He appeared to be in his twenties and gave Rylee a big smile as she leaned in to give him her order. “We will take four shots of Jager.”