AllFreeNovel
Share Us
15
Kimberly
“Thank you for letting me stay here, Christine. You don't know how grateful I am.”
She waved me off. “Of course you can stay here as long as you want. I just can't believe that you wanted to be here during the holidays with me, instead of your friends. Or instead of being at home with your dad.”
I had been with Christine for almost a week now and even though she hadn’t flat out asked me what was going on, it was becoming crystal clear that she wanted to know. It was easy to see why she did, and I had a bit of a feeling that she was going to tell my father whatever it was I told her. I didn't want that to happen because then he would worry about me too.
“To be honest, I just don't know how much I like our new place. It's not what I wanted, and the college isn't at all what I thought it would be. I wish dad hadn't moved there at all.”
“I thought you liked it.”
“Yeah, I did at first, but not for very long. There is this horrible mean-girl on campus and she has zeroed in on me.”
“Mean girl, huh? We certainly had our share of those when I was in school. What is her name?”
I told her a little bit about Chelsea and some of the smaller things that Chelsea had done to me. Then when I got to her carving slut into my car, my aunt looked at me a little strangely.
“I don't know if that sounds like a mean girl. That sounds like someone that you should probably stay away from.”
I agreed. “Why do you think I'm here?”
“So, this guy, the one that you two are fighting over, what does he want to do?”
“Oh, it doesn't matter what he wants. I'm sure that he's going to say that he wants to be together, but I don't think I want to be with him.”
“Really?”
She asked me that like I was lying, and I felt guilty for a minute because I was. Obviously, I wanted to be with Dennis. The way he made me feel and the desperation that came over me when we were apart was probably all the answer that I needed.
“Yes, really. I know when something isn't good for me and dealing with him is just not good for me, especially when he has people like her around.”
“What did he say when he found out?”
I don't know why, maybe it was the fact that Christine was my favorite aunt, but I just wanted to tell somebody what was going on. It had been a crazy couple of months and most of it I hadn't shared with anybody. The one person that I had shared things with was the one person that I was trying to stay away from. Dennis would only complicate issues and make it harder for me to walk away from an obvious problem that I didn't need to be a part of. He would make me want to stay, even though I knew that he was leaving. No, it was safer for me to be here for the holidays physically, as well as emotionally.
We went back to putting the tree up and I know that Christine wanted an answer. I wanted to give her one too.
“She had him jumped by a couple of people in his frat house, almost killed him. He wants me to stay away from her, obviously, but he won't do anything to stop her. He's already told me that he's not going to press charges on her, and I just couldn't even deal with that. After everything she's done and everything she can still do, I can't believe that he was just going to let it all go.
“Did you ask him why?”
I laughed after a minute because it hadn’t even occurred to me at the time. I hadn’t cared about explanations. I had stormed out of there and hadn’t said a word to him. It wasn’t my brightest moment, but I had been so flustered that I couldn't think straight. Much like I was now.
“No, I really didn't. That's horrible isn't it?”
“Well, I can imagine that you were pretty worked up. You got that from your mother. Your father was always so even keel.”
I looked at her and smiled. Everybody knew that my mom had been the fiery one of the bunch. My father was the one that was in love with her and would do anything for her. I had seen it growing up and knew deep down that I'd always wanted the same thing for myself. Someone that would not only be able to handle me, but who would love me so fiercely that I would never question it. That was a tall order if I was honest.
“I miss her.”
“I know, I miss her too. She always brought a certain light during the holidays. It's not going to be the same Christmas without her.”
I had to agree, and I was actually thankful for a time that we weren't talking about Dennis and the mess that I left back at college. I just wanted to keep it there and pretend like it never happened. It felt like it was so long ago anyway. It hadn’t even been a week that I’d been at Christine’s, but it felt like months. The safety that I felt at Christine’s unmatched anything that I felt anywhere for the last few months. The town that I thought would grow on me had basically chewed me up and spit me out. I was just being smart and walking away, while I still could.
“You're different this time. I wonder if it is the girl that's messing with you or the boy that you don't really want to talk about?”
