by TJ Rudolph
I took one of the muffins and when I bit into it, I realized it was blueberry flavored. “You really do make amazing food.”
“Thanks,” he smiled.
“How is it that you know so much about this place if you started the same year as me?” I scrunched my face.
“You don’t miss much, do you?” He laughed.
I grinned as I continued eating the moist muffin.
“I got out of juvie early and decided to come here for the summer. They ran a few summer classes to get you ready for the next year. Transitional classes they called it, so I decided to do it. But it was only two days a week, so I spent the rest of the time roaming the woods of WRC,” he said.
“Oh, yes,” I responded, “I heard about those classes, it was supposedly for students to get a head start on the year.”
“So I am assuming you were too smart to attend then?” he smirked.
“You assume wrong,” I said looking away from him. “I was just pre-occupied with some things at home.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”
“You didn’t,” I said forcing a smile.
We ate the rest of the food in silence as we listened to the almost tangible silence. It really was serene there.
When we were done eating, Chase lay back looking up at the clear blue sky. I watched him, I never saw him more at peace than in that moment. I lay down on his chest and he kissed my head. “Thank you for sharing this with me,” I told him.
He was quiet for a moment and then I felt his chest rise and fall as he sighed deeply. “Grace, there is something I’ve been meaning to tell you…”
I held my breath, anticipating the next part.
“My father was a mean drunk; he beat my mother every day for as long as I can remember. One day when I came home she was lying out cold on the floor. That was the day I had enough. He was lying on the bed laughing at something on TV as if my mother wasn’t comatose on the kitchen floor. We got into it and I knocked him unconscious, or at least I thought he was and I dragged him to the car. I threw him in the back seat and drove to the police station but we never got there. He woke up and we started fighting again. I lost control of the car and killed him. The court ruled everything an accident, but they still thought that I would have better structure in juvi.”
I looked up at him and I saw a haunted look on his face. “I’m so sorry, Chase, that’s awful.”
He shook his head and when his eyes filled up with tears, he looked up at the sky again. “It’s not that he died, it’s….” his voice trailed off and I could see that he was not ready to tell me anymore.
“It’s okay, Chase, tell me when you’re ready, I’ll be here.” He pulled me into his arms and held onto me tightly. We lay like that for hours, listening to the silence and knowing that we were the fragile chords holding each other together. It started to get darker and when the cold started to settle on our skin, Chase sat up. “I think it’s time for us to get going,” he told me.
As we were walking back he stopped and looked at me. “I’m sorry that my life seems like a never-ending story of darkness and despair.”
“Don’t think of it like that, Chase, you pulled yourself out of that situation and you should be proud. By the way, I have never asked you what you are studying; I know that we have some classes together.”
He smiled at me and I could see that being here was something he was proud of. “If I had it my way I would play music for the rest of my life, but since it’s hard to make it in that industry, I had to have a plan B.
I never got good grades at school, so I never thought that I would even go to college. But my year at juvi, we were forced to work hard. There wasn’t much else we could do. My math and science grade sky rocketed in that year; it seemed that I had a natural aptitude for numbers and formulas. One of the wardens, Officer John O’ Neil, who I became very close to, encouraged me to apply to WRC, said he knew a few people and would put in a good word for me. I don’t know what I would have done had it not been for him, he became the closest thing I had ever had to a father in that year. He helped me choose my career path which I decided would be engineering.”
“Wow, that’s amazing,” I told him. “And you’re lucky, my art ability alone got me in at WRC, numbers and I are not such great friends. Which reminds me, I had better get hold of that math tutor after the holidays because pre-calculus is killing me.”
He chuckled softly.
“What?” I nudged him.
“I think I can get you some extra time with the tutor,” he said.
“Really, how?”
“For starters, he’s in love with you, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”
I stood still. “Wait, don’t tell me you’re the math and science tutor?”
He nodded. “I am one of them, although I have been turning down a lot of students this year because of my commitment to the band.”
“I can’t picture it,” I teased.
He laughed. “When the warden helped me, even though everyone saw me as a good for nothing son of a drunk, I wanted to do the same for other kids like me. I might even end up teaching, one day.”
“You are one remarkable man, Chase Ryder.”
He looked at me with his brows knitted as if he didn’t believe those words, but I was going to make sure that one day he knew that he was worthy of everything this life had to offer.
Chapter 10
When the last week of our holiday rolled in, I was feeling a bit down about it. Chase planned all these amazing things for us every day and I was going to miss being alone with him. He was unbelievably smart, tutoring me and simplifying numbers in a way that I never thought possible.
I hadn’t seen Aaron, since he visited after my first date with Chase and I missed him.
One Sunday afternoon while Chase and I were watching a movie, we heard a knock on the door. There was literally no one else on campus, so we both looked wearily at the door.
“Grace, are you there?” I heard Bobby’s voice on the other side. I quickly stood up to open it and when I did, I saw a teary-eyed Bobby standing with a suitcase in her hand.
“Bobby, what happened?” I asked as I pulled her into my arms.
She sniffed. “Dean broke up with me.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m not exactly sure if he did, but something happened at home with my dad and I can’t get a hold of him.”
I looked back at Chase and he stood up, “Let me try,” he told her and walked outside.
“Come sit down,” I told Bobby.
She sat down on the sofa and I handed her a tissue. “Tell me what happened?”
“Dean and I were having an amazing time, my mom loved him, she was so happy that I actually brought a boy home with me. My dad was away on a business trip so I never saw him. He has always been hard on me, making his own fortune and being the sole owner of ‘Croops & Things,’ made him that way. He hated that I came to WRC, he always wanted me to go study Business at the University he went to, so that was our first fight before I left.”
“Wait,” I said wide eyed. “Your dad is the Mr. Croop?”
She nodded.
“Then what happened?” I asked trying not to get distracted by the fact that my new best friend was the daughter of a billionaire and she was so down to earth.
“He came home one evening while my mom and I were out shopping. Dean said we should go and he would cook us something nice to eat. Needless to say, my dad came home when we weren’t there and he had some nasty things to say to Dean. When I came home, Dean told me he was sorry and left. He hasn’t been answering my calls for days.”
“I’m sorry, B,” I said as I hugged her again.
“I have always put up with my dad’s shit, but I will never forgive him for this.”
Chase walked back in. “I got in touch with him, he went back home and is fine.”
“I don’t know what I am going to do to make him believe that what my dad says doesn’t matter to me.�
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“He’ll come around,” Chase told her. “Dean can often be too honorable for his own good. He probably thought he was doing the right thing by leaving, but if he likes you as much as he says he does, he will be back.
“I’m sorry I ruined your week by showing up here,” she told us.
“Think nothing of it,” Chase told her. “I have something to do, Grace, I’ll see you later?”
I nodded and he left.
Bobby and I spent the rest of the day at home and from time to time she would burst into random tears. Chase came over later that evening, while Bobby was in the shower. I was busy making us something to eat when he walked in.
“How is she doing?” he whispered to me.
“She is nursing a broken heart, so I suspect it will be a rough night.”
“I just came to say goodnight, see you in the morning,” he said kissing me on my lips. He let it linger there for a few seconds and then he left.
When Bobby came out of the shower, she looked at the food on the table and frowned.
“Thank you for going through all this trouble, Grace, but I wish you didn’t. I can’t eat a thing right now.”
“I understand, we can leave that for later.” I reached into the top cupboard and pulled out a bottle of red wine. I bought this at the store a few weeks ago. “You should at least have a glass or two, to help you sleep.”
“I think the whole bottle might help,” she frowned.
I poured her more than two glasses at her request and a few minutes after we got into bed, she was out like a candle.
The next day was much of the same thing. I tried to get Bobby out of the house but she refused. She stayed in her purple cotton pajamas and refused any food I pushed her way. Later that evening Chase tried to convince her too and then she finally agreed on dinner. As we were about to leave, we heard a knock on the door and Chase went to open it.
“She’s been waiting for you,” I heard him tell someone and then Dean walked in.
“Dean,” Bobby breathed relieved.
He looked cut up, like he was doing much of the same thing Bobby was over the past few days.
“We will give you two a moment,” I said.
“No please don’t go,” Dean said. “I left Bobby and she came to you, when I was the one that was supposed to work it out with her. So what I have to say, I want to say in front of everyone.”
Chase and I stood together and he put his arm around my side.
Dean walked toward Bobby and took her hands in his. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you; I shouldn’t have left like that. Your dad was just looking out for you, I get that.”
“No, Dean, my father is an ass, I should have known that he would have pulled some shit like that and I should never have taken you there.”
“I’m not scared of your dad, B and as long as I am going to be in your life, he will have to get used to having me around.”
“Do you mean that?” she asked.
“B, if you don’t know how much I like you by now…” he said as he pulled him toward her and kissed her.
“We’ll be next door,” I said as Chase and I walked out.
Bobby and Dean stayed there for a while and I convinced Chase to play me a song on his guitar. He sat across me in his living room on a brown leather chair and softly sang to me. I realized that there was a certain vulnerability to him when he played and my heart ached that he couldn’t always be that free or that he couldn’t always be that way with me. We heard a knock on the door and Chase immediately stopped playing as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t. Bobby and Dean walked in holding hands.
“Are we still going out?” Bobby asked. She was starting to look like her old self again and her purple pajamas was replaced by a figure hugging orange dress.
“Yep, I’m starving,” I said.
“Then let’s go.” Chase stood up with me.
We drove to a restaurant ten minutes away. It was a small place with a bar that extended from the one end of the room to the other and a few tables and chairs at the back. It was apparently more of a bar than a restaurant but it was the only place that we could find open considering the time. An hour after we had eaten burgers and fries, the lights were dimmed and a DJ appeared next to our table. Hordes of people suddenly started streaming in and the volume of the music went from inaudible to deafening.
“Wanna dance?” Bobby asked me
“I need something to drink first,” I laughed.
“I got you covered,” she said as Dean started walking toward us with a tray filled with green shots and other drinks.
She lined three drinks in front of me.
Chase grinned at the horrified expression on my face.
“Would you like to help me out? I asked him.
“I don’t drink, remember?”
“What I remember is you stumbling past my room drunk a few months ago.”
“Oh that,” he said. “Some chick broke my heart and I tried to drown my sorrows, but realized that I actually don’t have a stomach for it and that she likes me. So no more drinking for me, but hey, don’t let me stop you,” he chuckled.
I rolled my eyes at him and took the first one which was fine, but after the third one I had enough. “Let’s go, B,” I said and pulled her up.
We were barely on the dance floor when two guys came to dance with us and I nervously looked around to see where Chase was. He looked at me, the same time I saw him. “I’m okay,” I mouthed to him.
That didn’t do much to appease him, because he was glaring at the two guys and when one of them pulled me against them, Chase was carrying him outside by his t-shirt. “Hey man what the fuck is your problem!” he asked Chase.
I ran after him. “Chase, please don’t!” I shouted.
Chase ignored me, “do you see those two women,” he said and he pointed to Bobby and me, who was now also outside with Dean. “You leave them alone.”
The guy pulled out of Chases gasp and dusted off his shirt. When he saw the rest of his friends coming outside, his expression changed from scared to brave and so did his tone.
“I will dance with who the fuck I want to,” he seethed. And then to my horror he pulled out a knife, but Chase laughed at him.
“You better know how to use that,” he warned.
“You will know once I cut your piece of shit face and take Pretty Legs home with me.”
“Walk away man,” Dean told Chase.
“Dean take them inside,” Chase commanded without taking his eyes off his opponent.
“I’m not leaving you,” he told Chase.
“You know I can handle myself, Dean, get them inside, I don’t want anyone getting hurt”
“Let’s go,” Dean told us.
“If you think I am leaving him, you’re insane. There are four of them and one of him,” I said.
“Grace, trust me, it’s better if you go. If he is distracted by you, it will do more harm than good.”
Dean basically dragged me away, but I didn’t allow him to pull me further than the door and I watched as Chase walked toward the guy with the knife. They all looked like a mob of dangerous bikers, with shaven heads and tattoos. They even sort of dressed the same, with off cut leather zip up jackets and black leather jeans. I started to tremble as I watched him walk toward Chase, he was almost the same size as him and just as muscular, not to mention his three friends behind him.
