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“Here,” said Nikki. Holding up her phone for everyone to see. On it were the pictures from the bar. It was clearly Romeo. Romeo and Bree. They were doing shots and sucking face, and it was all there in stills and video.
Ant couldn’t believe, didn’t want to believe, what she was seeing with her own eyes. “Where did you get those?”
“What difference does that make?” said Nikki. “It’s all gonna still work out for you. Everything always works out for little miss perfect.”
“Don’t talk to her like that,” said Mrs Cap.
“Why not? She’s got everything anyone could want. She got to go to college. Her parents didn’t die in a fiery car crash. She wasn’t forced to go live with her cousins and sling cheesesteaks for minimum wage while every guy in town she likes falls for pretty polly perfect. No. That was me.”
“You’re old enough to leave now if you want to,”
said Mrs Cap, matter-of-factly.
“Maybe I will,” Nikki said, tears in her eyes .
Cap couldn’t believe what he was looking at. “Is this the guy? Is this who you were out with?”
“That’s him!” yelled Tyler, pointing at the phone. “That’s the guy who hit me. See. I told you it was true.”
“Staying out all night? Lying to me? Hanging out with a boy like that. Who are you? Is this what college is teaching you?”
It was coming at Ant from all sides. Finally, she let loose.
“Enough,” she said defiantly. “I’m old enough to make my own decisions now and that includes dating whoever I want to.”
“Yeah. He’s a real winner,” Cap said sarcastically. “Quite a keeper.”
Ant couldn’t help thinking that he was right. Did Romeo really do everything they say he did?
“Whatever,” she said. “My body, my choice.” It didn’t really matter that her dad was right. If, her dad was right. What mattered was that she stood her ground. It was time. It was past time.
“Yeah. It might be your body but it ain’t all your choice. I’m telling you right now that you’re not going to see this boy again. Ever.”
“We’ll see,” she said. Outwardly she was defiant. Inwardly she was upset and unsure. I don’t even know if I want to see him again after all this, she thought.
And right then she got a text. She felt it go off in her pocket. She didn’t even have to look at it to know it was him. Suddenly she wasn’t so interested in what he had to say. Frankly, she was a little afraid of what he would have to say. So she ignored it and went on.
“I’m leaving,” she announced.
She grabbed her bag and began heading out of the room. When she got to her mom she stopped.
“Be nice to her. If all those things had happened to me I’d probably be just as screwed up as she is.” Then she glanced over at Nikki and headed down the empty hallway.
30
Ant was awoken at five the next morning by the sound of her phone vibrating on the night stand next to her. She had turned the ringer off around two, after the third text and second call from him. Now, as she picked it up, she could see there were twice as many of both.
She ignored her phone and rolled over, grabbed her favorite down filled, squishy pillow and hugged it tight. It’s warm softness comforted her tired body and soothed her troubled mind. Which was good. Because, despite just being awakened, she had barely slept a wink the whole night.
Ant released her pillow and rolled onto her back. She stretched tall and yawned. The stretch uncovered her belly as it hiked her pajama top up to her ribs. She could feel the room’s cool air against her skin. It reminded her of…
With the tips of her fingers she lightly stroked her stomach, then slipped her hand down beneath her pajamas. Thinking that maybe a little scramble would help take her mind off the disappointment. But she couldn’t focus. Her thoughts returned again and again to him.
Sometime, in the smallest hours of the night, she had decided that Romeo was just another player jerk she couldn’t trust. Another guy who was only interested in getting her into bed. Those pictures of him making out with that slutty blonde said it all.
On top of that, her dad wouldn’t listen to anything she said. Nikki obviously hated her. She had basically no relationship with her mother and her idiot brother ruined everything he touched. All that made for a pretty poor night’s sleep.
Around six-thirty, after another hour or so of fruitless tossing and turning she decided to get up. Still in her pajamas she tiptoed downstairs. It’s not that she was worried about waking anyone. She just didn’t want to. Having any part of her house alone at any given time was a rare treat. And she definitely wasn’t interested in talking to anyone right now.
