by Sam Crescent
Pru stepped back as her mother reached out as if to touch her. She didn’t know what to do. She had every intention of leaving. Why was she making this so difficult now?
“I’ve got to go,” Pru said.
“I know what you’re thinking of doing. I can’t say I blame you for wanting to run.”
“I didn’t say anything about running.”
“You don’t need to. You’re home when it’s a school day. After the way we treated you, I would have run myself as well.” Her mother cried. “I’m sorry. I have to be strong.”
“Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Yeah, I should. Your father is going to be pissed. I’ll only get half pay but I couldn’t go to work. Not after everything that’s happened.”
“I don’t understand what the problem is. You were able to go to work every other day. What makes today so different?” Pru asked.
“You think this has been easy for me?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“You’re wrong. I’ve hated this so much.” She stopped and Pru watched her grit her teeth. “You’re my little girl. When I had you, I promised myself I would do everything in my power to protect you, and look what happened.”
“Mom, I don’t want to talk about this. I had sex. I didn’t do anything wrong. Everyone’s treating me as if I’ve done some big country disaster. I haven’t. I fell in love.” She swiped at the tears again. She hated crying but knowing she and Drake weren’t going to be together again hurt. Her mother wouldn’t understand.
She was all alone. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
“Sweetheart,” her mother said. “I know you feel all alone but I can promise you you’re not. I know you’ve finally had sex and with that boy. It’s not your fault he was the wrong guy.”
“No, he wasn’t. I loved him. I know you and Dad want me to be with Sean, but he’s just a friend. Well, he was a friend. He’s nothing now.”
“You fell in love with Drake, and now you’re home crying. You can’t love him. His parents are too powerful. They have already set out a map for his life and it’s never going to include you.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you even giving it a chance? Why do you even feel any hope?” her mother asked.
“Because I love him. I love him even after everything we’ve been through. I thought it would be enough, but it’s not. Like everything, it’s fucked!” She growled out the last word. “Will you get out of my bedroom?”
“I love your father. Always have. He’s the love of my life and always will be. There have been so many times we’ve been such a huge disappointment to each other.” Her mother sniffled. “We never expected it to be like this for us. We had so many plans.”
“Mom, what do you want?”
“I get that you want to leave. I know the feeling. You think I haven’t thought about packing up my life, moving away, and getting as far away from everyone and everything as I could? I have. So many times I’ve wanted to do it. It would be easy to do. Just throw everything in a case and not look back.”
“Why haven’t you?” Pru didn’t want to care about what her mother did or didn’t do. She only cared about getting out of town as soon as possible.
“Because … I’m not a coward.”
“You’re saying I’m a coward?”
“I’m saying a coward runs away. They don’t stick around to fight. They run at the first sign of trouble.”
“So I’m a coward then. I don’t want to be having this conversation.”
“I have to admit, it’s not exactly the kind of conversation I hoped to have either. I never imagined I’d have to consider my daughter wanting to run away from me, but then, I didn’t see us working from paycheck to paycheck. I know you want to run. I know right now you don’t see any other way for yourself, or for anyone, and I respect that, but sweetheart, running is not the answer. It will never be the answer. All you will do is live with a bunch of regrets. I don’t want you to live with that.”
“You think you know me?”
“I do know you, honey. I know you a great deal and you’re not a quitter. If you run now, you’ll look back in years to come and know you should have stayed.” Her mother stood up. “You think running away means you win. It doesn’t. They win. This guy, he wins because he doesn’t have to see you for the rest of the school year. Winning is showing up. Not letting them see you’re in pain.”
“Even though I am?”
“Let it drive you to succeed. Don’t let them win. Be the one who decides when you leave or not.” Her mother stepped toward her but Pru moved away. “One day, I hope you can trust me again. I do love you, sweetheart, no matter what you decide.”
Her mother stepped out of her room.
She immediately grabbed the suitcase, put it on top of her bed, grabbed a whole heap of clothes, and threw them inside. She didn’t stop until the case was full. After she zipped it up and made her way across her room, she stopped. Her reflection in the mirror caught her attention. There was nothing great about looking at herself. She was still the same old person. Still Pru. Only this time, when she looked at herself, she didn’t see a fighter. She saw someone who quit.
Glancing down at the case in her hand, she then looked back up and the view didn’t change.
She was running away.
This was her plan. To run away, not look back.
This wasn’t the kind of person she was. Not ever.
Putting the case down beside herself, she looked in the mirror and she really didn’t like what she saw. Someone scared. Someone sad. Broken.
This wasn’t how she planned her life. Not even close.
****
Drake didn’t see Pru for the rest of the day. He looked for her and she was nowhere to be found. His boys were around him and of course they were curious as to what had been happening to him for the past couple of months, but he brushed it off. Told them to get a life and to stop gossiping like a couple of girls.
By the end of the day, there was still no sign of Pru. He didn’t like it.
She shouldn’t be on her own.
When he found Sean standing by his car, scrolling through his phone, he reacted.
Grabbing him by the jacket, he shoved him hard against the car, spinning him around so the bastard knew who he was dealing with.
“You remember me?” he asked, putting his arm across the guy’s neck. He didn’t put too much pressure. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt Pru’s best friend if she’d forgiven him, even though it would give him a sick sense of satisfaction to harm him, to really make it hurt in ways he never had before.
“What do you want?”
“Where is she?” he asked.
“What?”
“You know who. Don’t play the thick card with me. It doesn’t work.”
“You mean the girl you’ve been using these past few months?” Sean laughed. “How did that work for you?”
Pulling him close so his lips were against his ear, Drake made his threat. “If you think you’ve got some kind of leverage over me, you don’t. The moment you told my parents and they came, all leverage you could have had to stop me hurting you was gone. For all of your intelligence, you’re not too bright. I’d be careful how you talk to me.” He shoved him once again up against the car and it gave him a great deal of satisfaction to see him in pain.
“What do you want?”
“I want to know where she is.”
“I don’t know. Okay? She ran out of here after she spoke to you. I don’t know where she went or what she’s doing. I don’t know,” Sean said.
Staring at him, he saw the bastard spoke the truth. He didn’t know how he knew, only that he did. “You made a big fucking mistake in telling my parents,” he said.
“And you think you’re the one who’s supposed to end up with Pru? She’s far too good for you. I don’t even know why the fuck she went with you. You’re a first-class asshole. Look what you did to Ree. She’s been beggi
ng for your attention ever since she went to that party.”
Drake was growing increasingly bored with the conversation. Wrapping his fingers around his neck, he wondered what it would feel like to see the life zap right out of him. He’d gladly do it. To see an end to this boy. He wasn’t a man. A man wouldn’t go behind his back but face him.
“Do it. I know you want to. I know you want to kill me,” Sean said. “You’ll probably get away with it as well. Hide my body.”
“You’re being dramatic.” He let Sean go. “When you see Pru, tell her I’m looking for her.”
“She won’t talk to me,” Sean said. “She hates me just as much as you do.”
“I doubt that.”
“Believe me, it’s the truth.”
“You don’t know what you did. We were happy,” Drake said. “You ruined that.”
“Please, you never would’ve been together for a long time. You don’t have what it takes to handle Pru.”
“And you do?”
“I’ve been her friend for a hell of a lot longer than you. I know what she needs. You don’t have a clue.”
Drake wanted to pummel the bastard but that was what Sean wanted.
“Go on, Drake, hit me.”
“I don’t believe in hitting girls,” he said. He stepped back. “If you see Pru, tell her I’m looking for her.”
“Not going to happen. I’m not going to encourage her to forgive you. You may as well get that out of your thick fucking skull.”
Drake walked away. There was no reason for him to listen to him.
Why do you want to see her? You’ve got to let her go.
He had to make sure she was okay. He didn’t like not seeing her for the rest of the day at school. He’d be able to let her go just so long as she stuck around and he got a chance to just look at her, even for only a second, maybe a little more.
You’re going insane.
After walking to his car, he climbed behind the wheel, watching Sean. He didn’t like the bastard but right now, he was his only chance of finding out if Pru was okay.
Just go and see her.
He didn’t care what his parents said. He had to go and talk to her.
Turning his key in the ignition, he started his car, pulled out of the school parking lot, and headed toward Pru’s house. It didn’t take him long and most of the journey was a blur. He parked in front of her house. There was no car in the driveway. He went up to her house and knocked on the front door.
No one answered, so he knocked again.
When he was about to knock for a third time, Pru’s mother opened the door.
“Why are you here?” she asked.
“Is Pru home?”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here. You’ve got to leave,” she said.
“Not going to happen. I need to know Pru’s okay. I know you don’t like me and I accept that, but I need to see her.” He looked at her mother, hoping his pleading didn’t fall on deaf ears. He wasn’t used to begging. Everyone jumped when he gave an order and he missed that right now.
“If Pru wants to talk to you, she will. Come in. I don’t want the neighbors getting any ideas, and you better tell your parents that I didn’t want you here,” she said.
He stepped into the house., surrounded by warmth, which was the complete opposite of his own home.
“Pru, someone’s here to see you.”
He waited at the bottom of the stairs and when she arrived, she paused. At first, she didn’t make a move, then slowly, she walked downstairs until she was at the bottom.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, arms folded.
“I wanted to see you. You weren’t in school.”
“Drake, you have no right to care. Not anymore.”
“I know. I know. There’s no way for me to make this up to you, and I’m sorry about that.”
“Drake, go home,” she said.
He captured her arm as she went to walk away. He didn’t want her to turn her back on him, not now. “I know right now you’re hating me, and I accept that, but you have to know I don’t want to do this.”
She looked down at his arm and he let her go. “I know, but this is the way it’s going to have to be. I’m not going to mope after you. I’m moving on. There’s no point in us dwelling on what could be.”
She wasn’t crying or upset. She looked bored.
“What’s going on right now, Pru?”
She laughed. “Seriously? I agree with you and you don’t like it? A girl cannot win with you, Drake. Don’t you have like an entire flock of girls waiting to please you?”
Drake didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“And you didn’t hurt me. Honestly, I’m fine. There’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m not going anywhere. There’s no reason for me to.” She clapped her hands together. “Is that it? Is that all you came here to do? To see if I was fine?”
He wanted to shake her. “You were upset today after I said it was over.”
“I was, but now I see so clearly now. You can leave.”
“Pru, be real with me.”
She rolled her eyes. “What do you want me to do here, Drake? You want me to scream at you? Tell you how wrong you are for pushing me away?”
“I don’t know what I want.”
“Well, maybe it’s time you figured out what it is you do want. It can’t be me, remember? I’m not good enough in your parents’ eyes and to be frank, I don’t want to be good enough for them. I was never with you because of your position or your wealth. I couldn’t give a damn about either of them. Money makes the world go round but it’s not what life is about. You made your choice. Stick with it, and I’ll stick with what I know.” She moved toward the door. “You really should go. I don’t know who’s watching us and I don’t want to be called a whore again.”
“You and I both know you’re not a whore.”
She sighed. “What is this, exactly? Do you feel guilty for how you ended it? I thought the old Drake was back?”
“Pru?”
“No, you need to leave. I’m not going anywhere and I’m not going to be some punching bag for you or for anyone. Please, leave.”
He didn’t want to go. Staring at her, he wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms, hold her, and tell her it would be all right, but what was the point? She wouldn’t believe him. “I’ll go.”
“That would be really good.”
He stepped out of the house and when she started to shut the door in his face, he put his arm out, stopping her.
“What?”
He didn’t say anything, merely looked at her one final time. It was all he wanted to do. To memorize what she looked like so he would never forget her. With that, he let go of the door so she could throw it in his face.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Time to get over it
The days blended together. Pru got up each morning. She had breakfast with her family. Since her mother didn’t go to work, they argued when her father arrived, but she wouldn’t feel guilty. If it hadn’t been for her mom, she’d have run. It would have been all too easy for her to do exactly that. To try to escape the hell she felt she was living, but that wasn’t the case. She couldn’t win by turning her back on those who would do her harm.
It was no way for her to live and she certainly wasn’t going to let those bastards think they’d won. They had humiliated her in the worst possible way and she wasn’t going to let them get away with it.
Sean still visited but she continued to ignore him. Her parents often took the time to chat with him, but she couldn’t do it. Friends didn’t do that to each other. He should have come to her, and even though she knew she had to forgive him at some point, he’d still betrayed her trust, after everything they’d been through. Sean was convinced they could make it and she’d get over her issues. As long as she saw Drake, it was going to be impossible to remember why she was ever friends with Sean.
Now, Drake, that
was a whole new story.
He’d gone back to being the guy he’d always been. Mean, nasty, and he took it out on whoever walked in front of him. It was like the past couple of months hadn’t mattered to him. The only difference she saw was that none of his anger or hatred came at her.
She merely didn’t exist to him. Whenever they crossed paths, she ignored him. They were nothing to each other.
Like now, she stood at her locker and he was just a few feet away. There was a kid in the year below him. The boy had a serious case of acne, but Drake wasn’t letting the kid go. He kept on poking fun at him.
Just ignore it.
You don’t want to start this.
She reached into her locker and in the back were a couple of pictures they’d taken together. Selfies of their time. The smiles, the happiness. It seemed so foreign to her. There was no way she could have fallen for the bully in her life, but she had.
“Hey,” Sean said, making her jump. She put the pictures down, hoping he hadn’t seen them, not wanting him to know what she missed most. She didn’t say anything.
Glancing back at Drake and his group, she saw he was looking in her direction and quickly averted her gaze.
The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself. So far, since they had completely broken up and severed all contact, she’d been able to avoid him. She didn’t know what would happen if his friends were to bring her into any conflict. She liked to think nothing would happen, but she doubted it. All she wanted to do was get through the school year.
“I’m sorry,” Sean said.
“For what, exactly? For hurting my feelings? For getting caught?”
“For not coming to you. For being a giant dick about everything.”
She slammed the locker closed. “It doesn’t matter now, though, does it? Everything is back to the way it was.”
“They’re not hurting you. At least there’s that.”
She laughed. “I don’t know if you’re trying to be funny or not. They’d stopped hurting me before.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You can talk with me about anything.”
“I can’t, Sean. If I could, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.”