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From the corner of my eye I caught Sara’s expression change from relaxed to anger. She obviously didn’t like being categorized in the same company as Coley and me. She crossed her arms and glared in my direction. Most likely because of the wine, I had the courage to confront her, rather than ignore, like I had been doing all night long.
“Is something on your mind, Sara?” I asked.
She sat up straight as if she was preparing herself for battle. “Not really.”
I decided to press on. “Are you sure? You’re staring at me like you want to say something.”
Sara moved herself closer to Caine’s side. She snuggled herself under his arm. Oddly making me feel jealous. “I was just wondering what it felt like not to have any family.”
“Excuse me?” I asked in disbelief.
Was this girl for real? How could a simple statement, delivered so sweetly, feel like a knife to my heart? I was struggling to find a response but was stopped short by Coley and Caine.
Coley was the first to shout, “Listen you little bitch—”
Caine moved away from Sara in disbelief and interrupted Coley. “Coley stop!” He turned to Sara. “Sara what kind of question is that?” he demanded.
Sara acted surprised by the outburst. “Oh I didn’t mean to upset Neely. I was just curious, and…”
Coley slammed her wine glass down on the edge of the hot tub. “Like hell! You were trying to make Neely feel bad! And just so you know, Neely does have family! Caine and I are her family!”
Caine calmly put his hand on Coley’s shoulder to quiet her down. As much as Sara’s dig hurt, it felt nice to see how strongly Coley cared about me.
“I’m sorry if it came out wrong. I didn’t mean to say anything to hurt you. Honest. Please forgive me?” Sara apologized in a very controlled and proper tone.
I looked at Caine who was once again fuming at Sara. I felt bad that his idea of a perfect evening was becoming anything but. I didn’t want the night to end on a bad note, so I decided to calm the waters even though I wanted to strangle Sara.
“It’s all right. I understand. I know you wouldn’t try to hurt me on purpose.” I had to take a drink of wine to help swallow my mountain of a lie. “Let’s just relax and enjoy the rest of the night.”
I looked at Coley who was still furious but trying to compose herself, and I looked at Caine who was looking at me with a sincere smile. I think he knew what I was trying to do and was grateful for it. I decided to move the conversation off of me.
“So, Coley, tell us about the next book you’re working on.”
4
I was in my new room unpacking when I heard Caine and Sara fighting. I was feeling a little awkward that I could hear them so clearly. I turned on the television to try to mask the yelling, but it didn’t seem to help. I just sighed and continued to hang up my clothes accepting that this was part of living with roommates, particularly ones that were dating. I couldn’t help but to pause when Caine’s voice seemed to take on a harsher tone.
“Sara, I made it clear to you I wanted you to make Neely feel welcome. You purposefully asked her about the divorce to try to bring her down. I’m not blind. Plus I directly told you to not ask about it!”
“Okay enough, Caine, I get it. You’re angry. You already punished me for asking about it. I thought we would move on.”
“Apparently the punishment wasn’t enough to alter your poor behavior because you continued on with the no family comment!” Caine boomed.
“I was just curious, and I was trying to get to know her better. We need to stop yelling because Neely could hear us.”
Caine grunted. “It didn’t seem to bother you having Neely witness you throwing yourself all over me. What the hell were you doing? How childish are you?”
Sara screamed back, “Childish! Forgive me for wanting to show some affection to you! You never seemed to mind before when my hands worked their way into your pants!”
It grew silent for a moment. I couldn’t help but turn off my television to listen. I felt a tad guilty, but my curiosity was winning out. What did they mean when they said punishment?
Caine began to speak with a very calm but firm voice. “Sara, I am not going to fight with you and allow you to scream at me. I told you from the beginning this wasn’t the way this relationship was going to work. Come over here and get over my knee.”
Sara whined, “Caine, I don’t want to. This isn’t fair! Besides Neely could hear us.”
“I should have spanked you earlier, but I was trying to be careful that Coley and Neely didn’t hear. Obviously my finger wasn’t enough, and the warning spanks had little effect.”
