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10
Cara was snapped out of her slumber by the unwelcoming ring of her telephone. It was two o'clock in the morning and she immediately began to feel panic that something bad must have happened.
"Hello," she answered, preparing for the worst. When she heard a familiar slurred voice on the other end of the line she was relieved, but only to an extent.
"Hey, baaabbby! What's up?" the voice managed to ask, "You mind if I come over for a bit? I miiisss you, baaabbby!"
"For the love of God, Kenny, you scared me to death! I thought something happened to my dad!" she hissed into the receiver.
"I don't want to drive drunk, 'cause I'm a little bit home…and I'm only a couple blocks away," Kenny continued, totally unaware of his jumbled words.
"Kenny, I might consider it if you ever called me when you weren't drunk. The last time I let you stay over you didn't call me for two weeks! Besides, WE BROKE UP, Kenny!" she yelled as she hung up before Kenny could say anything else.
She was tired of his act. He was in his fifth year at CSU and wasn't on track to graduate for another two years, at least.
When they met, Cara was a freshman and Kenny was sophomore business major in her economics class who was also on the basketball team. At first, she was infatuated with his careless attitude towards life, and it didn't hurt that he was tall, athletic, and handsome. She had never been with someone like that before. In fact, her only boyfriend in high school lasted about two weeks, and she even missed prom for a regional track meet.
Cara always put school and sports first, but Kenny Stevens had a way of bringing her out of a shell that she had been in for four years of high school.
The good times were great, Cara thought in regards to Kenny. She shared many firsts with him. First real kiss. First beer. On the anniversary of their first date, they made love. She always thought that she would have waited until marriage, but she was in love with someone for the first time in her life. Besides, Kenny was still somewhat under control and Cara made sure that he was going to class.
The second anniversary, though, turned out to be a lot less romantic. Kenny, who had been kicked off the basketball team before that season, was over two hours late to pick her up.
When he finally showed up, he was completely blasted. His friends decided at the last minute to have a kegs and eggs party that morning, and Kenny was out of control.
Cara was crushed.
The next day, she broke up with Kenny. School was no longer going to share time with any guys, and she held true to her word, except for the few times she let a typically drunk Kenny stay at her place - mostly because she was afraid he'd do something stupid if she didn't. Occasionally, like the last time, she just wanted to feel loved.
After Kenny's wake-up call, Cara found herself unable to fall back asleep so she pulled herself out of bed and logged-in to her computer. After checking her email she sat at her desk for a few minutes, blankly staring at the screen.
She'd been here before. Numerous times. In addition to Kenny's antics, she had also lost a lot of sleep over her impending graduation and what she would do after that day came.
As she was about to shut her computer down, she glanced up at the bulletin board above her desk. It was a shrine, of sorts, to happier times. The pictures on the board, which were symmetrically arranged in chronological order and held up by clear push-pins - she hated when people used random colors - were mostly from her childhood.
In the top-left corner of the board was a faded Polaroid of her as a newborn baby, laying on her mother Joanne's chest in the delivery room. Her mother was beaming with joy, like any woman who finally got her wish to have a daughter would be.
The next picture was of Cara and her three older brothers when she was about six months old.
Jason, the oldest and 16 years her senior, was on the far left. He was so much older than her that he never really felt like a sibling. His smile in the picture resembled that of a proud uncle. Jason was the reason Cara's parents got married at the age of 18, and also the reason that it would be another 10 years before they could afford to have another child.
In the middle was Christopher, who was 6 when she was born, and he was straight out of central casting if you were looking for a classic "middle-child". This was evident by the scowl on his face in the picture. He had a very hard time when his baby brother was born because he looked up at Jason as if he was a god whom he did not want to share. As hard as it was to share Jason with a younger brother, that paled in comparison to the day his baby sister Cara was brought into this world.
Jason loved playing the part of a protective big brother, and it didn't hurt his luck with the ladies at Berea High when he would bring Cara along to hold in the stands of a basketball game.
"The babes love a guy with a baby," he used to say to his friends, who often would jokingly ask if they could "borrow" Cara for a while in hopes of the same success.
This new role left Christopher on the outside, at least in his mind, and he resented Cara for the first decade of her life. It wasn't until he discovered girls himself that he finally seemed to tolerate her.
On the other side of Christopher, barely able to stand-up on his own, was Cara's "youngest" older brother, Jonathan. Cara and Johnny were "Irish Twins", as they were only 11 months apart.
Cara's mother, Joanne, had always wanted a girl. Ironically, she finally got her wish in the form of a surprise pregnancy when Johnny was two months old. Joanne was forced to take 6 years off of work, as the cost of childcare far outweighed her wages cleaning offices at the Ford plant. She picked up extra income under the table watching the neighbor's two children, who were close in age to Cara and Johnny. It also helped that Christopher had started kindergarten the year Cara was born, and Jason was almost an adult.
In the top right of the bulletin board was Cara's favorite picture. She was eight years old and standing next to her father after her first basketball game. She was missing her top two teeth, but those piercing blue eyes were still there.
Her father, Charlie, was beaming with his arm securely around his daughter. He loved having a "Tomboy-Princess", as he called her. She could mix it up with the boys, thanks to her older brothers roughhousing her on a daily basis, but also looked like a beauty pageant contestant.
Charlie and Cara had a bond that every mother would want to see her daughter have with her father. Charlie brought Cara flowers to every recital, concert, and performance she ever performed in during elementary school. He would take her out on "Daddy-Daughter Dates" at least once a month.
Charlie would say that he wanted her to know how a girl should be treated so that one day she would make a good choice for a partner. Even as Cara entered her teen years, she always gave her dad a hug and kiss goodbye, even if friends were around.
It wasn't until his accident before her junior year in high school that the relationship they both cherished was forever changed.
