by Rae Hachton
“Who the hell are you? Her brother?” The guy shoved her behind him, stepping into my face. He had tattoos and piercings. He looked intimidating but I didn't care. This was Kayleigh we were talking about. I'd do anything to protect her, including the chance that I could get my ass kicked, probably even end up in the hospital after a guy his size beat me down.
“No, asshole. I'm just the guy who does this—” With my fist already tight, I decked him in the jaw, too. “She's sixteen!”
Everyone stared at me. From somewhere in the back, someone yelled, “Go, Kaleb! Whoo!” I recognized that voice. It was Gunner's stupid ass.
“I'll be seventeen in November,” she laughed. I glanced up. Seth hovered in the crowd, watching with amusement. My gaze caught his and I glowered at him.
I was furious. “Shut up, Kayleigh. Let's go.” I reached to pull her away from him, but the first guy I'd decked grabbed me from behind and jerked me around. When I was face to face with him, he punched me. Now we had spectators. The music shut off and the room momentarily quietened to watch us brawl. He'd busted my lip, making it bleed. I was so enraged I thought I was going to explode. I launched into him, tackled him to the floor. I punched him in the face. And again. And then again. “You don't take advantage of sixteen year olds you son of a bitch!” I said it where everyone could hear. “Don't even think about calling the cops and trying to press assault charges against me or you'll be the one going to jail.” I hit him again. “And if I go to jail, when I get out, I'll kick your ass again!”
Gunner rushed over and jerked me off the guy. “Kaleb, stop! You've done enough damage.” I looked down, but I couldn't see straight. I knew the guy was bleeding though. No one else wanted to mess with me.
“Good,” I spit blood. My lip was still bleeding. I wiped my mouth. “So much for a fucking party. Someone invited a predator.”
I glanced at Kayleigh. After seeing what I'd done, she'd sobered a little. She looked horrified. “Come with me, now,” I demanded. She sat her cup down, and stepping around the guy I'd just punched the shit out of, she walked over to where I was.
“See you later, Gunner,” she said. I still hadn't calmed down. I was sweaty and mad, and grrr! As soon as we were out the front door, I said, “He's twenty-four. What in the hell were you thinking?!”
“Calm down. Geez-us.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“At the party. Duh.”
“You're acting completely moronic tonight, Kayleigh. You're not the girl I know.”
“Look, just like you said—you don't even know me.”
“Yeah I do. I know he's not right for you. None of these guys at this party are good enough for you.”
“Oh, okay, dad. How would you know?”
“I just do.”
She jerked away from me. “Leave me alone, Kaleb.”
“This isn't you, Kayleigh. You need to go home. You could end up in trouble with that guy. Drinking and smoking to impress him? You're better than that. You don't have to do anything to impress any guy.”
“I can't believe this! You're not my father.”
“Yeah, well—I think you need one. Your actions prove it. Girls like you are vulnerable to guys like him. You don't need to end up with daddy issues, Kayleigh. If you need someone to tell you you're pretty, I'll do it.”
“Since when did we become friends?”
“We're not. You saved me from doing something stupid once and I'm here to return the favor.” I scooped her tiny ass up and tossed her over my shoulder. “—And you're going home whether you like it or not.”
“Put me down!” Her small hands beat against my back.
“No. I'm not taking you home while you're drunk. Your mother will kill you. I'm pretty sure you made up some excuse about where you'd be anyway, so you could get out of the house. Your mom can just think that's where you are until you sober. I'm taking you to my place.”
“Oh great—that's just real great. You don't want any other guy touching me, but you think you can do it.”
“Don't even start dreaming girl. That'd never happen. I thought you were smarter than this, but I clearly see that you have some self-esteem issues. For that very reason alone, I would never touch you. I'm not that guy.”
“Right.”
“Plus, I don't kiss drunk girls or do anything else with them. That's so wrong.”
“Thought that's how you liked them. Drunk and stupid.”
“Kayleigh, if you could see and hear yourself right now—you look and sound ridiculous. You're not that girl. You're not even a poor imitation of that girl.” I opened the passenger's side door and dipped down to place her inside. “Buckle up and be quiet.”
I raced around to the other side of the car and jumped in, quickly cranking the ignition. When I'd pulled away, heading back to my house, Kayleigh leaned across the seat, reaching out to touch my lip. “You're bleeding,” she said.
I flinched away from her. “Yeah, no shit. You're just now realizing that.” I pressed my foot down on the gas, going fifteen miles over the speed limit.
“I'm sorry,” she said.
“Don't talk to me right now.”
“Are you mad?”
“That would be an underestimate of how I feel right now, Kayleigh.”
As soon as I arrived at my house, I pulled the car onto the lawn, jerked it into park and killed the ignition. I leapt out. Before I could open the door for her, Kayleigh stumbled out of the car, and nearly fell into the grass. I helped her up.
“Stephen isn't home is he?” I wrapped Kayleigh's arm around my neck and supported her as we entered the front door of my house.
“No,” my mom said. “He's still on the road. Won't be back for another week or so.” She sat at the kitchen table and spooned yogurt out of a cup, not looking up. I shut the door with my foot.
“Thank God. Kayleigh needs to stay here tonight. Where's Rebekah?”
“Where do you think? She's at her boyfriend's house where she stays—luckily. I've never seen someone put away so much damn food the way she does and stay skinny. She's probably on drugs or somethin'.”
“Well, who's watching Ali?” I walked Kayleigh to my room.
“Stephen's mother. I needed a break.”
“Mom, Kayleigh's going to sleep in my room tonight, okay?”
That's when she darted her eyes in my direction, fully alert. “Not with you, she's not! Not under this roof!”
I glared at her. “What kind of guy do you think I am?”
She sat her yogurt cup down. “I'm not sure, but I know what kind of guy your father was at your age and that's a pretty good indication.”
I paused, suddenly aflame with emotion. “Don't bring that son of a bitch up to me again. I've never even seen him, and I know just from that fact alone I am nothing like him. I'd never get a girl pregnant and just walk out.” I opened my bedroom door, guiding Kayleigh inside. I laid her gently on the bed where she would be comfortable, then exited the room, quietly closing the door, and walked back into the kitchen.
“I'm sleeping on the couch tonight, mom. Kay was at this party and she had too much to drink. She can't go home like that.”
That's when my mom noticed my lip. “Kaleb? What happened?” I knew it would take a minute for it to register that something was going on. Sometimes she could be way too absorbed in herself to realize that anything was happening outside her little realm of existence.
“I beat the shit out of some guy for trying to kiss Kayleigh. He was too old for her.”
My mother stared back down at her crossword puzzle, fully knowing that this was my typical behavior. Nothing that she should concern herself with. She immediately shifted the subject. “Does her mom know she's here?
“No—like, hello?—that's the whole point, the reason she can't go home like that.” I jerked the table chair out and plopped down. I reached for the cigarette lighter and lit a cig.
“Kaleb,” my mother whined. “I told you no smoking in the house.”
“Look,” I blew out the smoke, “I've had a rough night. Would you please let this one slide?”
She gave me that look. “Be nice and follow the rules and I won't tell Stephen you've been driving his car.”
I took another drag of my cigarette and exhaled. “I know you won't tell him anyway because you know he'd kill me.”
“Speaking of getting someone killed, are you trying to get Kayleigh's mom to murder me?”
“No. I'm not the one who took her to the party. She went on her own.”
“You must really like her, or you don't know who her mother is, one.”
“What's that mean?” I tipped the ashes over into the cigarette tray.
She arched an eyebrow. “You think me and Stephen are hardasses? Haha. Just wait until her mother finds out you two are dating.”
“We're not.”
“Yeah, right. As if I believe that. I know you, Kaleb. You've had your eye on that girl for as long as I can remember.”
I extinguished my cigarette in the ash tray. “Shh!” I told her. “Would you keep your voice down? Kayleigh might hear you.”
“Oops. If she's drunk enough she won't.” She gazed at me, then awareness set in her eyes. “Oh, so it's that way, huh? You more than like her. Didn't you just graduate high school? You're grown up. If you like her that bad, you better hurry up and tell her.”
“Why?” I spread my hands out on the table.
“I thought Kayleigh didn't drink.”
“She doesn't. She just did it to impress some guy tonight.”
“A-ha. I see. You know, that's what some girls resort to doing when idiots like yourself take their precious freakin' time getting to the point. In other words, man the hell up, Kaleb.”
“You're absolutely crazy, mom. You know that? Kayleigh would never go for me.”
My mom looked at me like she was about to slap me stupid. “She was drinking tonight to impress some loser guy who she doesn't even know and you're telling me that you think you don't have a chance with her? The sweet loveable girl who you've adored forever? How hard did you hit your head, Kaleb?”
This is probably the part where I rolled my eyes.
“I'm tellin' you, I've seen it happen on enough soap operas to know. You don't want to be that guy at the wedding having to object because your girl is marrying someone else. Keep it up and that'll be you in four years.” She took another bite of her yogurt.
I scooted the chair back, standing. I walked over to the counters, opening the top shelf to find a snack. “What about art school?”
She pulled the yogurt spoon out of her mouth, pondering. “Oh yeah. Good point. Didn't think of that. I almost forgot you were going to college. Haha.”
I turned my head to look at her. “Why?”
“Because you're an idiot,” she smiled up at me.
“You think you're so funny, don't you?” I hopped up onto the counter, unwrapping a chocolate pop-tart.
At the same time, Kayleigh strolled into the kitchen, her hair a complete mess. Our eyes followed her as she walked over to the fridge like she was at home, opened the door and poured herself a glass of milk. She walked over to where I sat on the counter and gazed right at me as she stole my other pop-tart and took a bite. “What time is it?” she asked.
I gawked, my eyes widening. I darted daggers at my mom who stifled a grin unsuccessfully.
Oh shit.
“Kay, how much of our conversation did you hear?”
She drank her milk, sitting the cup in the sink. “I'll pretend I didn't hear a word,” she smiled, then sauntered back into my room with her snack, and closed the door.
My mouth dropped open. “What was that? She didn't even answer my question.”
“Oh, I think she did.” Mom gave me her duh look.
***
After my mom made us breakfast, I drove Kayleigh home. The ride was silent. She just gazed out the window, until I said—
“So, I'm guessing you heard me and my mom talking about you last night.”
She sighed. “Kaleb, it's okay.” Her eyes were tired, or maybe even sad.
“So you know I like you. A lot. Right?”
“Yeah,” she said.
“Well?” I wanted, needed, her to like me a lot, too.
“Well what?”
“Do you feel the same about me?”
She avoided the subject. “Can we just talk about this later? I have a major headache.”
“It's called a hangover.” I pulled into her driveway.
“You would know,” she said, unbuckling her seat-belt. She opened the door, jumping out.
Kayleigh seemed incredibly moody. I rolled down the window. “Hey—what's with the attitude?”
She'd started to walk to her door, but she turned around and leaned down near the window to tell me, “You are trouble. You're violent and I heard you were some sex freak who was addicted to meth. So, no.”
She lingered there long enough for me to say, “That's what you heard. Don't you wanna find out for yourself if it's true?”
She shook her head. “No. Not at the expense of what might happen to me.”
I felt her slipping away. I had to say something.
“Everyone likes sex, Kayleigh—including you. One day,” I added, because I was pretty sure she'd never had sex before. “You can't hide behind those glasses forever. That's why you're afraid of me.”
“Keep my glasses out of this. They have nothing to do with it.” She pointed to her face.
I laughed at how silly that'd sounded when she'd said it. I saw a smile cross her face too, though she tried to hide it. Her eyes sparkled. “Complete nerd,” I said. She smiled more.
“But I think you like this nerd,” she said, opening the car door and dipping back into the seat next to me.
“It was only one time. The meth. I didn't know any better and she was a bitch.”
Kayleigh nodded. “Sorry,” she said. “Why did you do it?”
I quirked my eyebrow. “You never said if you liked me or not.”
“It's possible,” she said.
“Good enough for me.”
“So?”
“I didn't choose to. It just happened. It made the crazy emotions go away. For a while. But I realized the hard way that substance abuse wasn't the cure.”
She didn't comment on that, but she did say something else. “I wasn't trying to impress him.”
“What?”
“That guy you beat up last night? I wasn't trying to impress him. I don't even know him, nor do I like him. I was just really drunk, and I'm not too happy with myself that you saw me like that, you know.”
“So you do care what I think about you?”
She didn't say anything. She let the space fall silent. Then I said, “It's okay. You saw me in a messed up condition, too—so we're even.”
“Thanks for trying to save me last night, but my mom wasn't even home.”
I glanced up and my eyes landed on the figure standing in Kayleigh's doorway. Oh, shit. Kayleigh was about to be in trouble. I could sense it. “She is now, and she's staring at you. Hard.”
“Looks like I better get inside,” she said. “See you later?”
“Maybe. If she doesn't kill you first. Let me know what happens?”
“I don't think dead girls can speak, Kaleb.” She opened the door and climbed out. Before she headed into her house, she said one last thing. “We're still not friends.”
I laughed, silently, leaned my head against the seat, my eyes still on her. “I'm not trying to be your friend, Kayleigh.” She shut the car door, then bolted up the driveway. She slid past her mother, who then closed the door.
I put the car in reverse, backed out and drove home.
CHAPTER EIGHT
That Boy
*
“Where in the hell were you, Kayleigh? Why did that boy just bring you home at 9 am in the morning? Do you have any idea what that makes you look like? You spent the night with him. It makes
you look like a tramp!”
“Calm down, mother,” I told her. “I didn't do anything wrong.”
“I came home early this morning and you weren't here. I called Gunner's mother to ask if they'd seen you, and she tells me that you left with Gunner to go to a party yesterday afternoon. And now you're pulling up in my driveway with him?”
“His name's Kaleb, mom.”
“I don't give a shit what his name is! You're grounded. Go to your room!”
“What do you expect me to do all summer long? Sit in my room alone all day while you sleep then watch TV all night, waiting for you to come home in the morning? I'm sixteen. I'm supposed to have fun at this age.”
“Not with him you're not.”
“What do you have against Kaleb? Is this why you're freaking out? You've never liked him.”
“I have reasons not to like that boy.”
“Yeah? Let's hear them.”
“Later,” she said. “I need to rest.”
“What an excuse. There probably aren't any. You just wanna keep me caged up so you can control every aspect of my life.”
She stormed over and jammed her finger into my chest. “You're gonna stop back talking me, Kayleigh. Now go to your room.” She pointed to the stairs.
I didn't move. I wanted to show her I wasn't afraid of her. “You can't ground me. I have puppet theater at the daycare later on today.”
“Well you're not going. That's a volunteer job, not one you're getting paid for and you're only using that as an excuse to see Kaleb.”
I found my voice again. “I don't need an excuse to see Kaleb. I can see him if I want to.” Her eyes were full of rage.
“Get out of my face,” she said. I turned away from her, marching up the steps. “You're going to be just like all the other girls. I don't even want to look at you right now.”
I went into my room, quietly closed the door even though I really wanted to slam it. I dropped to the floor and cried. Minutes later, she entered my room. “I'm going to be gone next weekend. I trust that you won't be seeing that boy.”
Ha! I'm so glad she thinks that. As if she'd even know where I am.
CHAPTER NINE
