by Sadie Grubor
"We're going to the movies!" Victoria jumped around me with a big smile for her father.
"Oh." He seemed to stare without focusing on Victoria's face. Then he snapped out it.
"What are you going to see?"
"Umm…" Victoria looked up at me with a furrowed brow.
I shrugged and looked to Dr. Bishop.
"I don't really know what's on." I half smiled and then pulled her under one of my arms. "We'll just check it out and see what's playing." I shrugged again. The nervous feeling he invoked began to creep across my skin.
Dr. Bishop stayed silent, so Victoria and I turned to head out the door. Victoria bounced toward the car. I shook my head .
"We aren't taking the car?" I shook my head again. "Then how are we going to get there?"
"Bikes," I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me to the bikes.
"But that's a long ride." Victoria whined.
"I think you can handle it." I laughed and pulled a bike out for her.
"So, is there room for another?" Both of our heads looked up from the bike to Dr. Bishop. He approached with an unusual grin. It was both coy and suggestive. My stomach flipped.
"Really?" Victoria had the handle of the bike in her hand. She stared at her father in anticipation of his affirmation.
Dr. Bishop's grin grew into a smile and he nodded. I was too thrown by his casual smiles to look away when his eyes shifted to me.
"You don't mind?"
I snapped out of my own thoughts after a moment. "No, of course not," With a quick response and pulling my bike next to Victoria, I focused my attention on her.
"You lead, so I can keep an eye on you. Okay?" Victoria nodded and started to pedal. I let her get a couple of feet ahead of me before I started riding behind her.
Dr. Bishop appeared in my peripheral vision and I had to literally fight the urge to look over at him. That was until he inched ahead of me and rode next to Victoria. Her head turned to him and I could see her cheeks give way to a large smile. I smiled at her, but then my attention turned to Dr. Bishop. He was smiling at her before turning his attention back to the road. For a moment Dr. Bishop seemed 'real'. He was so out of character with his manner of dress and the even more unruly hair, which the wind, from the bike riding, was currently wreaking havoc upon. I started to get lost in his appearance and his 'real' behavior with Victoria. My tire hit a crack in the blacktopped road. The shaking of the handlebars pulled my attention back to the road.
He's the antichrist, don't let him fool you. It’s how he draws you in to barter your soul.
After a few crosswalk stops, we arrived to the small theater. They had two movies showing; one for adults and an animated film. We leaned our bikes against the small wrack they had out front and headed to the ticket window.
"Good afternoon." A middle aged woman with brown hair smiled through the glass panel to greet us.
"Three for the animated film, please." Dr. Bishop stated.
"Fifteen dollars."
He handed her some cash and she returned his changed and the ticket stubs, "Theater two." She wore a warm smile as we walked passed her and into the building.
"Can we get popcorn?" Victoria grabbed at my hand.
"Of course," I squeezed her hand, walking to the counter.
"What can I get for you?" I looked into the face of a possible pageant contestant for Miss Teen USA.
"Medium popcorn and a regular soda, please," She turned and started scooping popcorn into the paper bucket. After putting the popcorn on the counter, she turned around and filled up a soda cup.
"Here you go." Her perfect white veneer's practically glittered. "That’ll be seven dollars."
"Actually, could I get a box of junior mints?" I turned my head. Dr. Bishop leaned toward the counter.
"Y-yes…" I heard her stutter and then giggle. She was eyeing Dr. Bishop as she grabbed the box of candy and slid it across the counter toward him. "Will there be anything else I could get for you?"
I raised one brow at her and tried not to burst into laughter. The flirtatious show she was putting forth was priceless.
"No, that will be all. Thank you." Dr. Bishop stated and handed her some cash.
I noticed him shift uncomfortably as she returned his change and brushed her fingers across his hand. I fought back a snort and quickly grabbed Victoria's hand, leading us into theater two.
There wasn't really anyone in the theater, maybe three other small groups of people.
"Where do you want to sit?" I looked down at Victoria.
"All the way up front!" She ran to the first row.
"Are you sure about that?"
She sat down and looked up to the screen. "Um…" She furrowed her brow.
"It's a lot of screen isn't it?" I laughed. She smiled sheepishly.
"Let's try a few rows back." Motioning with my head, I turned abruptly.
Crashing into Dr. Bishop's chest squeezed the popcorn container between us. The popcorn exploded around us like buttery fireworks. His hand gripped my elbow, trying to steady us both. My eyes widened as his intense green gaze lingered on me. An unreadable emotion flashed across his face before Victoria snapped my eyes away from his.
"No, not the popcorn," she cried out in her best dramatic performance.
I looked down at her and started laughing hysterically. Dr. Bishop's laugh shocked me the instant it hit my ears. I returned my gaze to him.
"I’m so sorry. I didn't realize you were standing that close –"
He shook his head and put his hand up. "My fault for following so closely behind you," he chuckled. "I shouldn't have been almost on top of you." His eyes widened and his laughing stopped, nervousness crossed his face and tension thickened between the two of us. "I'll just…uh…I'll get some more popcorn." He turned on his heals toward the door.
I watched his nervously retreating form and could hear him mumbling words I wasn't distinctly able to understand.
"How about here?" Victoria was almost at the middle row of the theater.
"That looks perfect." I smiled, caught up to her and sat down. Victoria sat on the left of me. Dr. Bishop returned with popcorn and sat so Victoria was between us.
The movie began with a few commercials and upcoming movie previews. Then the main feature began. A little more than halfway through the movie I felt a shift in Victoria's position. She was leaning her head on her fist, and when she yawned I pulled the arm rest up between us so she could lean against me.
Once the movie was over and the lights came back on. I glanced down at Victoria's sleeping figure.
"Hey." I gently nudged. She groaned. "The movie's over." She stretched and yawned. I silently laughed at her until I felt the familiar intensity of his gaze, again.
As if I had no control over my actions, I looked up and met his gaze. The expression on his face was unmistakable, and it scared me a little. He looked at us as if we were the only people in the room, as if nothing else existed, as if nothing else mattered. I swallowed hard before I forced myself to pull away from his enchanting eyes. Quickly standing, my head full of confusion. I picked Victoria up, wrapping her around my body.
"Did I miss it?" She yawned.
“I'm afraid you fell asleep on Sophia a little after the halfway mark."
Did he just call me Sophia? I almost froze mid stride toward the bikes. He always addresses me as Ms. Ashwood, but now…this was different. The look in the theater and the familiar use of my name had my mind reeling. I didn't like where it was going – mostly because it stirred inappropriate thoughts. Shaking it off, I focused on Victoria.
"Hmm…I think you need to wake up some more before we try to ride the bikes back." I rubbed her back. "Are you hungry?"
"Can we get pizza?" She gave me the pleading eyes as I placed her on her feet.
"Are you trying to use 'the look' on me?" I teased her.
"Is it working?" She wiggled her eyebrows.
"You’re so not allowed around your cousins anymore." I lau
ghed. Dr. Bishop burst into laughter from beside me.
"Aw, come on." Victoria stomped her foot.
"Let's find some pizza." I held my hand out. She took it.
"There’s a pizza place on the next block over." Dr. Bishop motioned down the street behind us, so we walked that direction.
Victoria sat next to her father while she insisted on being filled in on what she missed in the movie. Dr. Bishop tried to fill her in on the majority of it. It was nice to see them interact, though occasionally he seemed to fall back into his hardened demeanor. Victoria didn't seem to notice too much when it occurred. One large cheese pizza later, we were on our way back to the bikes.
Upon reaching the bikes, I checked the time and realized it was early afternoon. I sighed lightly as I climbed onto my bike and followed Victoria. Once I heard the laughter of children and the bright colored bars came into sight I knew what was going to happen. Victoria stopped pedaling and placed one foot to the ground.
"Can we –?"
"Lead the way."
She was looking at me over her shoulder with a huge smile spread across her face and she started toward the playground. I followed. She leaned her bike against a tree before taking off into the multicolored play sets.
Leaning my bike near hers I felt Dr. Bishop approach behind me. I kept my eyes on Victoria as she climbed the red steps toward the blue spiral slide. When she reached the top, she turned and waved both of her hands over head at me.
"Look how high I am," She shouted.
"Be careful," I shouted back and waved. She smiled and inched closer forward in the line for the large slide.
It was almost instantaneous, his presence behind my body, the heat and the intense current passing between us. For a moment I swear I felt his breath float over the bare skin of my neck. Swallowing hard I shifted my position, so I took a couple of steps forward pretending to be looking for Victoria, though I could see her perfectly.
Thinking I’d escaped, I began to relax a little. However, everything returned and I knew he’d moved close to me again. I shifted again.
"Ms. Ashwood?"
I looked over my shoulder.
"Is something the matter?" He seemed almost amused. Was he playing with me? I had to speak with a suddenly dry mouth.
"No, of course not," I lied. "Why?" Amusement still played on his strong smooth face. Crap, antichrist, antichrist, keep chanting it.
"You keep moving around." He motioned with his hand.
"Just trying to keep an eye on Victoria," I quickly turned back to locate and focus all of my attention on her.
I had no idea what he was playing or why he was playing it, but my mind was starting to turn to complete mush. The look in the theater, using my name, and now this were all unusual. This day was not turning out how I expected at all. The last thing eating at me was that I wasn't exactly appalled by his actions, and I knew I should be.
I thought I groaned mentally at my thoughts, but when he spoke I realized I’d groaned aloud.
"Are you sure you're alright?" He moved toward me, instantaneous tension and tingles prickling my body. I clenched my eyes shut and took a breath.
"Yes." I answered shortly then opened my eyes back up.
"Sophia," My eyes snapped toward Victoria. "Can you push me?" She yelled across the playground.
"Of course," Quickly I put distance between Dr. Bishop and myself, the tension dissipating the further I was from his presence.
After two hours of playground, we arrived back to the house. I noticed Connor's car currently parked in front of the house - parked half-assed too. Dr. Bishop dropped his bike to the ground and hastily made his way inside.
I wasn't sure if taking Victoria into the house was a good idea, but she took off before I could stop her. She entered after her father. I quickly caught up.
"Let's head up stairs and get cleaned up." I whispered and grabbed her hand, pulling her toward the stairs.
"Allison, you cannot just barge into someone's home and verbally assault them!" Connor exclaimed.
Oh God, here we go again.
"What's wrong daddy, my mother wasn't happy to see me?" Allison spat back with a manic sound to her voice.
"Damn it, Allison, stop acting like a child. You’re an adult for God's sake!" Connor snapped.
"Well, perhaps you should have considered how I would react to all of this when you and my slut of a biological mother decided to have an affair and she decided to abandon me!" Allison started to sob. I actually started to feel a twinge of sorrow for her.
"Where’s your mother?" Connor questioned the room. "I can't believe she's behaved so ridiculously. It was her decision for all of this; us staying married, basically threatening Juliet into giving her you, and now she just decides to put it all out there and hide away. Where the hell is she?"
I pushed Victoria up the stairs faster.
"Why is grandpa so angry with Allison and Grandma?" It took a moment before I could respond.
"Um…sweetheart, it's just…you know how sometimes you get mad at the twins for messing with your things and damaging them?" She nodded.
"Well, sometimes adults do things that damage each other's feelings and they argue. It will all work out, okay?" She furrowed her brow, but nodded. I urged her to move up the stairs faster.
"She's not here." Larissa stated.
"What?" Allison shrieked.
"After you left this morning she took her bags and left in a taxi." Max added. "She didn't speak to anyone and she won't answer any calls."
"Of course," Connor growled. "Allison, I'm so sorry you had to find things out this way." His voice softened with the sadness of a father and evidence of his age. "I never intended for any of this to happen, and I surely didn't intend for your moth…for Ilene to just lie this all out like she did. I didn't think she would ever hurt you like this. What I did was enough." The last thing I heard was his heavy sigh.
The third floor was empty, everyone having gone out for the day. Victoria got cleaned up in the bathroom while I changed into some flip flops. My plan was to get her out of the house as soon as possible. Once she emerged from the bathroom, I grabbed her and we headed for the back stairs. Our destination was the back door. As we moved through the kitchen we caught a little more of the ongoing drama.
"Why dad?" Max questioned.
"Your mother and I grew apart and I, well, I grew fond of Juliet. We became friends." Connor sighed out.
"With benefits," Allison snapped.
"But, mom was pregnant." Dr. Bishop added with confusion in his voice.
"Your mother was pregnant, yes." He cleared his throat. "However, she lost the child early on."
"But then how didn't anyone know about –?"
"Ilene didn't want to tell anyone about the miscarriage, right away. Then I found out Juliet was pregnant. She hadn't told me and had intended on keeping it from me, but…well…being in the medical field I found out through the grapevine. I panicked and finally told your mother." Connor's voice trailed off as I hurried out of the house.
We hit the beach and found William with the twins.
Once we had had enough of the beach, we started up to the house to clean up and get ready for dinner. I filled William in on the situation at the house, but didn't provide details. We both agreed to enter from the back sun room entrance.
When we entered, it was silent. All of us made slight sloshing sounds as we headed toward the stairs. We made it up the back stairs and to the third floor without one glimpse of the Bishops. On the third floor we found Amber sitting in her room with Ryan and MJ.
"It looks like you guys had fun?" She giggled at our appearance.
"What would make you say that?" William winked at her and she blushed.
"Hey, Sophia, I owe you for helping me out, so why don't you go ahead and take the evening off. I'll take care of Victoria." Amber smiled up from the chair she was sitting in.
"You don't have to do that." I motioned to MJ and Ryan, both planted in her l
ap. "You have your hands full."
"No, it's okay. I won't have MJ tonight." I raised my eyebrows at her. "Larissa is going to keep him with her. He's been fussy, so she wants to keep a close eye on him. You can get some sleep or go out and do something." She smiled. "Maybe call that guy from the beach." She wiggled her eyebrows and I started laughing.
My laughter was cut short with the clearing of a throat. William and I spun. Dr. Bishop was looking over us with a furrowed brow and obvious disapproval. I leaned down to Victoria and told her to get her bath water started.
"Ms. Ashwood?"
I stood back up straight and looked him.
"Yes, sir."
"I will be heading out tomorrow morning for work and won't return for about a week. If you need anything, please call me." I nodded without a word.
He turned and walked back down the stairs.
My impression of him earlier in the day and how he currently acted simply intensified my confusion. Maybe he was bipolar – in this family it wouldn’t surprise me. Or maybe he was channeling a different demon at different times.
"I think I'm taking you up on your offer. I need a damn drink after today." William and Amber both looked at me questioningly. I just shook my head and headed to change my clothes.
Victoria wasn't happy about me taking off for the evening, but once Amber informed her they would be making cookies she changed her tune. I kissed the top of her head before I slung my messenger bag across my chest and headed out the door.
I contemplated taking the car, but decided I really needed a decent walk. Reaching town, dusk had settled around me. The barely setting sun was peeking through trees and from around buildings. I came across one of the pubs and decided I would just get something to eat, drink, and work on my book.
After sitting down and placing my order I opened my laptop and started to work through some plot outlines. I’d gotten through my outlines and started working on some dialogue when I heard a familiar voice.
"Just give me another!" She slurred at the bartender.
"I think you've had enough for the evening." The bartender rebutted.
"What do you know?" Then she tried to stand and lost their footing.
