by Carla Thorne
I laughed and it hurt.
My mother sent Gavin home.
And I thought I saw Jacob poke his head in. He’d rescued me… I was wet and bloody in his arms and he held me. He whispered in my ear you’ll be all right, and I was as safe and comforted as I’d ever been.
A masked face hovered over mine. “OK,” he said. “Let’s get this nose straightened out and get you home to rest.”
I thought I nodded, but I don’t think I actually moved.
“Not gonna lie, Mary.” The doctor held his gloved hands near my face. “This is gonna hurt.”
Chapter 8
Mary
Ivy toed open my bedroom door and heaved another large flower arrangement into my room. “Well, this one is the most interesting yet.”
I focused on the pointy, orangey-bluish top of a long green stem and shook my head. “What is that?”
She set the wooden square on my dresser. “Believe it or not, I know this one. That’s a bird of paradise.” She twisted the container. “See? No wait.” She twisted again. “See? It’s a flower. A flower that looks like a bird.”
My cat got up from her perch at the end of the bed and stretched. “Look at that. Paisley heard bird and got interested.”
“Well, it is interesting, I guess.”
“I don’t know how I feel about that one. Does it seem obnoxious to you?”
Ivy snorted. “Obnoxiously expensive. How many does that make?”
I held up my hand. “One for every day since the broken nose. So three. I’m just glad I’ve only missed one day of school because of the long weekend.”
Ivy crawled onto my bed beside me as Paisley made a circle and stretched out the other way to flick her tail at the bird. “You get to come back tomorrow?”
“I could have come back today, but I had to see the doctor to make sure everything was in place and healing, and my parents didn’t want me to get hit again trying to get to class.”
“Does it hurt bad?”
“Not really. But it’s gross and looks horrible with these two black eyes and all the bruising. This bandage is atrocious. And you don’t want to know what was stuck up my nostrils or running down my throat…”
“Yeah, thanks for that.”
I tilted my head and studied the bird flower again. “I guess it’s kind of pretty in an exotic way. Like it’s from the jungle or the tropical exhibits at the zoo. You know, like where the toucans live.”
“Is that the pain meds talking?”
“Nah. Don’t need them. Just need to let all this heal. Slowly.”
Ivy uncapped her soda and offered to do the same for me. “All right. Who are we going to talk about first? Gavin, Jacob, or Corey?”
I didn’t want to talk about any of them.
“C’mon, Mary, Gavin is beside himself. All these flowers, all the gossip… Word is, you haven’t let him visit, and you haven’t talked much.”
I grabbed my phone and scrolled. “Look at this. I now know the true meaning of one person blowing up a phone. I think it might actually be a thing. It’s going to explode. I can’t get a word or text in edgewise.”
“I heard some of the guys on the football team gave him an extra butt-kicking at practice because he hit a girl.”
“Aw, c’mon, is that true? He didn’t do it on purpose.”
Ivy took a long drink and set it aside. “Stupid hormonal guy stuff.” She fluffed pillows and settled in. “Now really. Your boyfriend hit you. Accident or not, it wasn’t like you were all having a good time and the ball slipped or you collided at the net and he tried to stop. Everyone saw, Mary. He was mad. Like out of control. Jacob put his whole body in front of you as soon as he realized Gavin was coming under that net and it still didn’t help in the end. You could have lost some teeth or got knocked out or had a concus—”
“Stop. I know.” Her descriptive words rattled me to the core. My stomach roiled into a queasy mess. “I know.” The hard shock of that lightning bolt to the face kept coming back to me. That second of blackness. That instant recognition that someone I loved had hit me in anger… I’d never experienced that before. And coupled with all the other stuff, I was at a loss.
“Say something, Mary.”
“I don’t know what to say because I don’t know what to think.”
“I’m sorry for what I said a second ago, that was too much.”
“You’re fine. But I’m having some problems with the whole thing.”
Ivy pulled a box of chocolates off my nightstand. “All right, let’s talk it through.” She picked through crinkly paper. “OK if I eat one?”
“Sure. Scout’s grandma brought those by. She felt so bad about this happening at her house.”
“She’s a sweet lady. So, what’s your gut telling you?”
That was the hardest part. Saying it out loud. “Gavin was angry at both of us, Ivy. I’ve been over and over it in my head. If we’d been at a party and some guy flirted with me, I don’t know for sure what Gavin would have done. But that night I hugged Jacob because we’d won. It was a spontaneous thing. It’s what you do when you win and when you’re comfortable with people. We were all celebrating. I would have turned around and hugged someone else too if I hadn’t been hit.”
“What are you saying?”
“Gavin wasn’t just coming after Jacob. He was coming after me because of Jacob.”
Ivy dropped her piece of chocolate back in the box. “OK, wait a sec. It’s no secret I’m not the president of Gavin’s fan club, but you’re saying he had a burst of anger so violent that he knew and didn’t care you might be collateral damage?”
“I guess I am. He came across that net to hit us both.”
“Mary!” She hopped off the bed and rushed to close my door. “No. There’s got to be more to this. What aren’t you telling me?”
I tucked my bare toes under the throw at the end of the bed. Paisley’s warm body heated them. “I love Gavin, but I have to break up with him.”
Ivy slid back on the bed. “O-K.”
“I don’t want him to think it’s this. He seems really sorry and I don’t think he did it on purpose.”
“But… You just said you think he knew exactly what he was doing.”
“Yes, but I don’t know if he can control it. So, does that make it on purpose if he has a problem and couldn’t help himself?”
“That depends on the problem, doesn’t it? It’s not like he has a physical condition that makes him flail his arms. What he did was start a fight. What do you think he can’t control?”
“Umm… Anger maybe? Aggression?”
Ivy froze in her spot. “What else has Gavin done to you, Mary? Are you afraid of him?”
“No. Not afraid. Just cautious.”
“Why?”
“He’s possessive. And pushy. And he puts pressure on me to—”
“Oh, thank God.” Ivy flopped on her back in a bouncy heap and scared the cat. “Thank you! I thought I was the only one who saw that and thought everyone else thought I was crazy.” She sat up when I didn’t respond. “Wait. I’m sorry. I’m just so relieved to hear you say it. Please. I promise I won’t overreact again. Tell me. Tell me everything.”
“Everything was fine for a long time. We texted every day and saw each other at school and on weekends if we could. He wanted to do more things together. He wants me to come by football practice, and he wants to run laps with me on the track, but that’s something I always do myself or with soccer friends. He’s over here way too much. My mom automatically set a plate for him for dinner the other night because it was Tuesday. My dad put it back in the cabinet and wanted to know why we didn’t eat as a family anymore.”
“Why Tuesday?”
“Because Tuesday is the day his parents do something with one of their clubs or some group. I don’t know.”
“And your parents aren’t a part of that one? I thought you said your parents and his parents are pretty tight. Like they do all the snooty foursome stuff at
the country club and all.”
“Not so much anymore. I don’t know what’s happening there, but they’re not as close as they used to be.”
“Well, the football team was on two-a-days a while, and all they do is meet and practice. I wouldn’t think Gavin has the time for anything. With Jacob in the lineup, the coach seems to think we could go all the way this year.”
I would have snickered if I could have. “All the way where? The funny home video show? Last year someone ran the wrong way with the ball.”
“Fine. But Jacob has college recruiters snooping around so it’s apparently a whole big thing. But back to you and Gavin.”
“He makes the time to come by. He leaves gifts in our mailbox. Before school started, he talked about when and where we would meet before school to walk in together.”
“That’s creepy.”
“He always tries to sign up to be in the same car as me for driver’s ed.” I pulled my hair back and rested my head on the pillow. “As if I want my boyfriend watching me learn to drive and giving me pointers later.”
“That would be awkward. Can you imagine Scout and Deacon in the driver’s ed car together?”
We laughed until Ivy got serious again.
“Is it true you haven’t seen Gavin since the party?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to have him come over so you can talk and tell him you guys should take a break?”
I gestured at the growing floral department in my bedroom. “I guess I should do it here, but as you can see from all this stuff sitting around, he’s trying to make up. I don’t know how he’ll take it.”
“But you’ll be downstairs with your parents around…”
“Yeah, but… Can I ask you something personal?”
“Of course. Ask me anything.”
“Umm… How do you handle all the physical stuff with Scout?”
“What physical stuff?”
“You know, the kissing. The making out and all that.”
“Yeeeaaah, that… I don’t handle it because there isn’t any. And if some guy ever asked me to handle anything, I’d probably bust out laughing or run away or something. After I punched him in the face.”
“Come on, Ivy. You know what I mean. You and Scout are joined at the hip, and it looks like more than friendship.”
She shrugged. “I guess, but we don’t do all that. Yet, at least.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“As in he’s never even kissed you?”
“No, he hasn’t kissed me.” She grabbed a chenille pillow and punched it before she gave it a hug. “He looks like he wants to most of the time, but it’s not happened. I don’t want to make the first move. You know Scout. He probably has a diagram on his white board of how the whole thing is supposed to go. I wouldn’t want to mess up his plans. He might not recover.”
“You’re probably right about that. What are you guys doing during all that time you spend together?”
“We talk, and we study. I visit with his grandma a lot when I’m over there. That’s nice, you know, to watch a day in the life of an average woman who doesn’t have odd habits like my mom does.”
“But your mom is doin’ OK, right?”
“Yeah, but when I’m with Scout’s grandma I don’t have to roll up any pills in a piece of cheese and hope she eats it.”
I hurt myself when I tried not to laugh. “Ouch!” Ivy could be dang funny when she wanted to be, but everything still hurt inside and out.
“Sorry,” she said. “Can I get you a fresh ice bag?”
“No, thanks.”
“Good. Now don’t change the subject to my mom. Back to you and Gavin. Apparently, something’s going on over here. How are you two wearin’ out your parents’ couch?”
Again, I wanted to laugh at her joking question, but it wasn’t funny anymore. Maybe it had been at one time. “Like everything else, it was all fine for a while. It was fun. He’s my first serious boyfriend, so we had all the awkward first kisses and stuff. Then…”
“Then…”
“Then he got aggressive. One time he grabbed my wrist when we were kissing and tried to shove my hand uh… you know.” I pointed.
“Pig!” Ivy spat out. “I know you’re trying not to say it, Mary, but that doesn’t make it more innocent than it was. He tried to force your hand into his pants. That’s not OK.”
“No, it isn’t,” I agreed. “Especially since we’d already had this whole discussion about sex. And he tried the whole argument about how us touching each other wasn’t technically intercourse—yes, he used that word.”
“Gross.”
“Right? I thought I was in health class.”
“Intercourse,” Ivy repeated. “What a weird word. Scout might use it, but I doubt even he would say it at a time like that. Intercourse…”
“Stop saying that. It’s getting worse.”
“Sorry. What happened next?”
“We had a huge fight because he squeezed my wrist and wouldn’t let go. It hurt.”
Ivy looked like she was about to chew through her bottom lip.
“Ivy, you can’t repeat this to anyone.”
“I know. I’m just so mad right now. How long ago was this?”
“It’s been several weeks.”
“You took him back after that?”
“Yes, and he promised to never try anything like that again. And he didn’t. He was a perfect gentleman from then on. Um… Until the day of the pool party.”
“There was something besides him elbowing you in the face?”
It was hard to breathe. I wanted to tell it, but I was so tired of living in it.
“You have to tell me, Mary. We might need more help.”
“No, it’s not quite that. I don’t know what it is, but I know it’s not good and I know I have to break up with Gavin.”
“Talk, Mary.”
“I know, I know.” I sat up again. “So, Gavin’s mom was letting him practice driving and I couldn’t be in the car for that, so we decided they’d pick me up at that neighborhood park near Scout’s. We all met there, and his mom was going to drive us on down the street. But Gavin said let’s walk because Scout’s was close by. He held my hand, and instead of staying on the bike path and going straight to Scout’s, Gavin tugged me off into a secluded spot behind the tennis courts. And it was so hot and there were swarms of mosquitoes and he was all I just want a minute alone with you, and backed me against a tree and started kissing me.”
“I don’t like where this is going.”
Once I started the story, I couldn’t keep it from tumbling out. “And all I had on was my suit and cover-up. My towel, shorts and a t-shirt were in my bag because, duh, pool party, but the bugs were so bad and I felt so naked out there in the woods…”
“And?”
“And Gavin kept me pinned against that tree. I said we needed to go and that I didn’t want any kids or tennis players seeing us there, but he pushed his body against mine and uh…” I pointed south again.
“Yeah, I get it.” Ivy sprang off the bed and beat an angry path back and forth in front of my bed. “We all understand the basics of natural bodily functions, but the part that’s epically unacceptable is that a possible rapist had you pinned against a tree in a public park!”
“I know, all right? Don’t yell. My mom will fly up here in two seconds.”
“Sorry! Gavin’s intentions were obvious. He wanted you alone where he could try something, and hoped you’d go along.”
“Well, I didn’t. I made it clear I had no intention of doing anything with him.”
“How’d you get out of it?”
“He put his hand—”
“Ewww…” Ivy rushed to my side. “Sorry. Go on.”
“It happened so fast. Before I knew it, he had his hand under my wrap and was headed right for what was on his mind.”
“What did you do?”
“I pushed him backward so hard he busted hi
s butt on a log.”
Ivy snarled. “Good for you.”
“I stomped out of there and headed for the safety of Scout’s house.”
“I knew something was wrong when you got there. How were you so calm? He was holding your hand when you came in.”
“He was squeezing my hand,” I said. “Begging forgiveness. I wasn’t going to cause a scene at Scout’s party. I thought I’d make a short appearance and then call my ride.” I pointed at my nose. “But then, this. I should have never gotten in that pool. I stayed too long.”
Ivy stood. “Don’t you dare make apologies for being you and having fun.” She headed for the bird of paradise. “Ya know? This thing is kinda ugly.”
“It is, isn’t it? And it’s freakin’ out my cat.”
“What’s say we pretend it’s Gavin and toss it out the window?”
“Just make sure you open it first.”
Chapter 9
Ivy
Nothing was more satisfying than the sight and sound of that wooden container busting into pieces on Mary’s lawn from two stories up.
But it didn’t solve anything.
I turned to my friend with the purple-blue circles around her eyes and wanted to cry and throw things at the same time.
The thought of that creep, Gavin Bagliano, pinning Mary against a tree made me so angry.
I never trusted him.
I closed the window and dusted my hands on my shorts. “Now what?”
“I’ll text Gavin and ask him to come by after practice. I should hear him out and break up with him so it’s all out of the way before school tomorrow.”
I sat at Mary’s desk and accidentally bumped Paisley’s feather cat toy. The bell caused her to run straight for me and wait. She jumped for it as it dangled in the air.
I wasn’t a bit sorry about the breakup, but I didn’t like the look on Mary’s face. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. We’ve been together almost a year.”
I held the cat toy higher. “Listen to me, Mary. Nothing Gavin did was OK. It’s run its course. You have the injuries to prove it.”
