Young Annabelle Series: Young Annabelle, The Truth About James, What My Heart Wants

by Sarah Tork

  “Please pull over,” I demanded, my voice getting louder and noticeably more irritated.

  He reluctantly pulled the car the curb. “What did I do now?”

  I needed to get out of this car – like now.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  I unbuckled and flung open the door. “Thanks for the ride. BYE.”

  I slammed the door shut and began down the sidewalk. Behind me, I heard the engine turn off and his door open and shut. I quickened my stride as James jogged up to me. I slowed down knowing I couldn’t escape his long legs anyways.

  Plus, I didn’t want to get home all sweaty and have to explain myself.

  “What happened?” James asked, matching my pace.

  “Leave me alone!” I snapped back.

  I felt his hand grab my elbow, halting me easily. “Stop,” he ordered.

  Damn it, he’s strong!

  “What are you pissed about now?” He towered over me. I was trapped in front of him, if he tugged a bit, I’d be in his embrace.

  “It’s so funny huh? I’m that bad? I’m a clown, I’m so funny!” I jerked my arm, trying to break free of his grip. “Let me go!”

  “No!” He squeezed tighter, pulling me closer.

  “Leave me alone!” I spit the words like venom, pulling my arm with all my might.

  “What’s your problem?” James demanded loudly. His hand tightened on my arm with each attempt to pull away. My energy was dwindling and I was mentally exhausted. I stopped jerking my arm back, deciding it was pointless because he was too strong. There was no way I could pull my arm back without first kneeing him in the balls.

  We were alone, standing in the dark of night in a neighborhood that didn’t see much traffic.

  “Fireball?” He murmured softly.

  “What?” I replied quietly, defeated.

  Hesitantly, he asked, “Did I say something to make you sad?”

  I wasn’t going to mention the boyfriend thing.

  There was no way.

  “Yes,” I whimpered.

  That’s just great, way to sound strong there, now he’ll have no reason not to pity you!

  “I’m sorry,” He said quietly.

  Well maybe ‘I’m sorry’ just isn’t good enough. The damage is already done!

  “Whatever.” I snipped.

  “What can I do to make it all better?” He murmured.

  “There’s nothing you could–” I began but was interrupted by him pulling me against his body. His arms encircled my waist, holding me tight. My arms instinctively bent upwards, hands firmly planted against his solid chest. Any resentment I had swiftly melted away as something brand new took its place: pleasure.

  Jesus!

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked him softly, his face was only a few inches from mine.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” James asked back, looking down at my hands on his chest. I slowly slid my arms up around his neck.

  I could not believe I just did that!

  “That’s better.” James murmured, huskily.

  Our bodies were plastered against one another. I felt a new kind of nervousness touch every single inch of my body.

  It prickled electrically.

  “James,” I murmured softly.

  “Fireball,” He whispered back.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I repeated, my brain felt frozen. My heart had stopped beating a mile a minute instead issuing slow, heavy beats.

  James uncurled one of his arms from my waist and trailed it along my back to the base of my neck, holding it firmly yet delicately. Blood rushed to the very spot he was holding, heat filled my eyes as I stared at him.

  “What are you doing?” My bewilderment was audible in the hush.

  I wasn’t sure I had the capacity to speak anymore. That function had fled along with the bitch. Her replacement was a delicate flower that yearned to be touched and taken care of. I felt his hand shift on my neck, ever so slightly, causing my head to tilt up to him. Slowly, inch by inch, his face descended on mine, stopping just a breath away from my trembling lips.

  I wanted it.

  Badly.

  My lips parted a fraction, letting a thread of air escape.

  “Can I?” His breath was warm on my lips.

  Screw it!

  “Yeah,” I whispered back. He closed the distance until his lush lips covered mine.

  My first kiss…

  His lips moved softly over mine. I felt his grip on my neck squeeze as his lips pressed deeper into mine, more urgently. I tightened my hold around him and was pulled even further into his embrace. I devoured his lips hungrily, which were just as hungry for mine.

  I felt his wet tongue push its way between my lips. As he entered my mouth, I moved my tongue to join his.

  I felt myself running out of breath, but I didn’t want to pull back and stop the passion…. I’d sooner faint than pull back.

  Possibly the best moment of my life!

  My phone beeped.

  Damn it! Mom! I stopped moving my lips but his still remained on top of mine. I took a long breath and slowly leaned back. The cool wind swirled around us, eliminating the sweaty warmth we generated.

  “Sorry,” I murmured breathlessly, “it’s my mom.”

  “Damn, Fireball,” He replied slowly, breathlessly. He leaned his forehead against mine and caught his breath.

  “Yeah, I know.” I couldn’t keep the smile from my voice or my face.

  *~*~*

  “Where have you been?” Mom demanded as I opened the front door.

  “I was with Jenna. We were hanging around the pool after the mock meet,” I told her as I peeled off my shoes, avoiding eye contact. I wasn’t lying, technically, because I did hang out with Jenna after the meet for a short time.

  Here’s hoping she doesn’t call Jenna’s parents to confirm this!

  “Okay. You didn’t eat anything right?”

  “No, I didn’t.” I answered her.

  She followed me into the dining room where everyone was already eating.

  Hell yeah! No fish tonight! I looked at their plates: chicken breasts with potatoes and mixed vegetables.

  That doesn’t look too bad, I thought as I took my place at the table.

  *~*~*

  After a surprisingly delicious dinner, I lay on my bed in my pajamas. It was time to reflect.

  But I didn’t know where to start.

  So much happened in such a short period of time. I’d gone from cold to hot in seconds, and all because of a kiss.

  A sweet, long, beautiful kiss!

  I smiled contently and crossed my arms behind my head. I stared at the ceiling, envisioning James and I locked in that heated embrace again.

  I could not believe that happened!

  I took a deep breath before the fool’s smile returned, stretching painfully across my face.

  Still couldn’t believe that happened.

  My first kiss, while wrapped in his strong arms.

  How did it happen?!

  After I’d answered Mom’s annoying text, James and I separated and he offered to rush me home before I got into any more trouble.

  He was so sweet…after.

  I had him drop me in front of a house three doors from mine. I didn’t want Mom to see me being dropped off by some stranger and grill me about my whereabouts.

  That would have been bad…

  “I’ll talk to you later?” The hesitation in his voice caught me as I opened the passenger side door. I took a moment before answering, unsure of what to say.

  What do girls normally say back?

  I can’t respond with a ‘Hell yeah!’ he’ll think I’m weird.

  I slipped out of the car. Turning to him from the pavement I decided the cool, calm approach should work.

  “You’ll text me?” I offered.

  A huge grin spread across his face before he turned to face the wheel again.

  “Yeah, I’ll text,” He answered, gr
een eyes shining through the darkness as he shifted the car back into drive.

  Yay! I jumped up and down inside. I gave him back a regular smile, nothing that betrayed how my body screamed with crazy joy.

  “Cool. Bye.”

  “Bye,” He replied as I shut the car door. I took a few steps towards a house that wasn’t mine and heard his car pull away before I turned back and walked towards my house.

  Wow! What a night! I thought, pulling the blanket over my body and turning to my side. I closed my eyes and prepared for sleep without doing my ritual of staring at the ceiling while it shot horrible things my way.

  I was unbelievably happy.

  There was nothing anyone could ever say that could bring me down again.

  Not anymore.

  CHAPTER 8

  August 22nd, 2012

  166… What?

  No, that can’t be right!

  I stepped off the scale and let it reset. I tapped it again with my toe and waited until the digital display read zero. I stepped back on, the screen blink random numbers on and off until it finally settled on my weight.

  166 pounds!

  Shit!

  There were days I could have gotten away with not losing any weight as long as I didn’t gain any either. But today was Wednesday, the one day each week where I was expected to have lost at least something.

  Damn it! She’s going to blow a fuse when she finds out I didn’t lose anything!

  I stepped off the scale and pushed the horrible thought aside and tried to think about last night.

  With James.

  My first kiss! I smiled widely, the thought sent tingles up my spine. I kicked the mean scale back underneath the sink and leaned over to grab my green toothbrush.

  “ANNABELLE!”

  Shit!

  I could lie…

  As I brushed my teeth, time ticked by, bringing me closer to the event with Mom. I contemplated lying about the weight, it was far more desirable than facing the wrath of that woman. But if she insisted on checking for herself and saw that I, in fact, didn’t lose weight, she’d never trust me again. She’d probably make me weigh myself in front of her from then on. I shook my head and pushed the idea away, not wanting to risk it.

  “ANNABELLE!”

  I began to feel panicked as I stared into the hallway. I was running out of options. I couldn’t even bolt out of the house claiming I’d be late for work.

  I was off today.

  Damn it, stupid work schedule.

  “ANNABELLE!” Mom shouted for the third time from the foyer, sounding three times as impatient as the first time she yelled for me.

  Damn it, woman!

  Happy thoughts…think happy thoughts!

  Think about James, he equals happy now.

  Remember how he said he’d text you, I thought while trying to dissipate the growing ball of anxiety in my stomach. I took a deep breath and prepared to face the crazy woman. I stopped halfway down the stairs when I saw Mom sitting on the bottom step waiting for me.

  I didn’t even know where to begin…She’s plain crazy, lost it!

  I stared wide-eyed down the stairs and she turned around at the sound of my footsteps.

  “What are you doing up there, can’t you see I’m waiting for you?” She complained, waving her little blue book in the air.

  One day, I’m going to throw that stupid book into the fireplace, I imagined. I stared down at the book for a moment, shook off the image of its charred pages and continued my trek down the stairs to join her sadistic weekly tradition.

  “Hurry up,” She said, getting up and heading to the living room.

  “Why are we going in there?” I followed slowly.

  “Because I want to do this here,” She bent behind the couch and I heard her pick up something heavy.

  “Do what here?”

  She pulled out a white digital scale. I stared down at the brand new mean-machine in horror.

  Where the hell did she get that?

  And why?

  “Mom, you know we already have a scale upstairs,” I said slowly, hoping it was all a big mistake.

  Maybe she thought my scale was broken?

  “That’s your scale, this one is mine. I’ll be using this one from now on to log your weight each week,” She explained happily. She placed the scale on the ground in front of me and tapped it. “Go on.”

  “You have got to be kidding me!” I didn’t move. “I’m not going on that thing, I weighed myself upstairs already.”

  “Anna, I need your weekly results to be as accurate as possible. For all I know, you’ve been lying so far, telling me what I want to hear,” Mom explained, sounding like she’d had no choice but to take matters into her own hands. “When I look at you, it doesn’t seem like you’ve actually lost any weight.”

  “Are you calling me a liar?” I asked slowly. I felt my fists clench, my knuckles bulged. I was mad.

  This woman…she’s finally done it now…lost her marbles… Well I won’t stand it for it anymore!

  My time weighing myself was supposed to be private. It was for no one to see but myself. I explained this to her in the beginning.

  I shook my head, “I’m not getting on that thing.”

  “Get on the scale, Annabelle! I won’t ask you again,” Mom warned angrily. She was probably even angrier with me for taking all the fun out of weighing me herself. Finally taking matters into her own hands and here I was ruining her shining moment.

  “No!” I repeated even louder.

  She could warn and threaten all she wanted, I wasn’t stepping on anybody else’s scale, not unless they were a doctor or the nutritionist and even that was done in private – I loved making Mom wait in the hallway during appointments.

  Damn it, I had rights in that office.

  I’ll be damned if I don’t have the same rights here!

  “Mom, where are you?” I heard Katherine yell from the top of the stairs.

  “The living room, sweetie!” Mom yelled back.

  I glanced up at the living room entrance just as Katherine sauntered in wearing her black leotard and pink tights. She was skinny but she was also only eleven. With her blue eyes and light brown hair, she’d gotten Mom’s traits while I’d gotten most of mine from Dad’s side of the family: dark brown hair with the odd light strand and caramel-colored eyes. Although, strangely, Dad had the same blue eyes and dark blond hair that Mom did. If I wasn’t the same height as Mom and looked identical to Dad’s grandma, then I would have thought I was adopted for sure. I was nothing like any of them, in physicality or personality.

  “Why are you yelling, Annabelle?” Katherine asked in her cute-little-girl voice, stopping next to Mom who wrapped her hair into a high bun.

  “Annabelle doesn’t want to weigh herself in front of me,” Mom explained to her, clearly exasperated as she took the bobby pins out of Katherine’s hand and secured the bun. I didn’t know why she was telling Katherine any of this, she was just a little kid.

  She wants to tag-team again, I thought, paranoid. I scowled at the pair of them for thinking they could go against me.

  We’ll see who the victor will be this time!

  Two of them against me.

  The new me wouldn’t curl up into a ball and surrender. No, she’d take them both by the throat and toss them into oblivion.

  BOOM!

  Katherine looked back and forth between Mom and me. She looked cute in her little outfit. It made me think, very briefly, of when she first began dancing at the age of five. She was actually a sweet little sister back then. I hadn’t felt affection like that for her for the last two years.

  It WAS Mom.

  She was the one filling Katherine with all this hatred towards me. Making her think that being a little overweight was the worst thing in the world.

  “I’ll weigh myself in front of you, Mommy,” Katherine offered, sugar dripping from her voice.

  That little sneaks!

  Goody two shoes!

&n
bsp; Always brown-nosing! The vicious thoughts spewed as Katherine stepped onto the scale. She didn’t look cute anymore.

  Katherine glanced up as she read her results to Mom. “I weigh 85 pounds, Mom. Is that okay?” She asked worriedly.

  Oh God! Mom better say she’s at a good weight.

  I glanced between Mom and Katherine. Mom smiled affectionately at her little girl and caressed the side of her face as she stepped off the scale.

  I’d never get that from her… I was immediately depressed.

  “Darling, you’re perfect,” She gushed as she pulled my sister into a big momma-bear hug and kissed her on the cheek. Katherine stepped away and grinned at me, silently saying ‘There!’

  Oh little sister, how I love these unspoken moments between us.

  As Katherine sat on the couch, Mom turned back to me, her face transitioning from sweet to scowling in a second.

  “You see, Annabelle, it wasn’t so bad,” She scolded.

  I’m not stepping on that thing in front of you! I silently screamed at her.

  I shook my head. “I’m not doing it,” I told her firmly, folding my arms across my chest.

  “Why do you insist on making things difficult?” Mom sounded really frustrated now. She sat down on the couch, crossing her legs and looking up at me like she was tired of it all. I was sure she was thinking, ‘This girl’s attitude is horrible.’

  “Yeah, Annabelle.” I heard a chuckle from behind me. I turned around just as Charles walked into the living room and joined Mom and Katherine on the couch. “Why do you make things so difficult?” He repeated Mom’s argument with a sneer.

  Nice to see you too, little brother, perfect timing as usual.

  “Mind your business, Chuck,” I warned using the name he loved.

  His head jerked up and he gave me a dirty look.

  “Don’t call your brother that,” Mom rebuked. “Charles is not Chuck.”

  “Then you tell him to mind his business and not to laugh at me like a rude little snot.” I glowered at him.

  “Annabelle! Apologize now!”

  I jerked my chin up. “No, he started it.”

  “Don’t be a child, apologize now!” She ordered.

  “How about…NO!”

  Dad suddenly barged in. “What’s going on in here? I can hear everyone from upstairs!”