You Call it Misery, I'll Call it Love

I kept kicking myself all that next day until I saw him. I couldn’t believe I said I’d go to his house that day. I hadn’t even told my parents that I wouldn’t be home that afternoon. That’d be a problem that I’d have to deal with later. Right now, I’m sitting in fourth period trying to ignore the excruciating pain of my injured right wrist. It’s a good thing I’m left handed, or else I’d have to explain to every teacher why my handwriting’s sloppy. There would be no homework for my fourth period class, thank god. And that’s pretty much all that mattered. At least I don’t have to worry about a paper to write or an assignment to complete.

I walked out into the hallway and there he is, standing against my locker, waiting for me to walk with him to his bus or however he gets home. The greatest thing about our school is that every Friday is a half-day.

“Hey,” Darren greets me with a sympathetic smile.

“Hey,” I say. “What’s happening?”

“Are you still coming over to my house?” he asks. I smile and nod.

“Of course,” I say with a smile. All I want is to not talk about my problems, but by now, I know that with our conversation yesterday, that’s not going to happen. Darren knows something’s fucked up in my life and I bet he’s just itching to find out.

“All right,” he says. He gently places his arm over my elbow and guides me out the nearest door. Once we’re outside, we start heading down the big hill towards a black SUV. He opens the door for me and I get into the car. A beautiful auburn blonde woman is sitting in the driver’s seat. She sees me and smiles. I smile brightly back. Darren jumps in and sits beside me. He smiles and shuts the door.

“Hey! You must be Mary Kate!” she exclaims. “I’ve heard a lot about you! I’m Tess, Darren’s adoptive mother.”

“Nice to meet you Tess,” I say with a smile. She smiles back. I shoot a look over at Darren. He’s told his adoptive mother about me? Great!

“How’s your arm?” he asks me, pointing to my injured arm. I stare down at it nervously.
“It’s healing,” I tell him.

“What happened to your arm?” Tess asks me.

“Oh, I just fell down the stairs, tripped,” I say, trying to make it sound like no big deal, but Darren knows it’s not and shakes his head quietly, luckily, Tess doesn’t notice.

“We’re stopping for a pizza,” Tess says. “I’m hungry and I’m sure the two of you are too!” I smile. Tess is upbeat, I like that. She seems like a nice woman.

We drive to the middle of town and stop at the town’s house of pizza. Darren and I get out and walk into the pizza place with Tess walking in behind us. We order a plain pizza to go and Tess orders a sub. We go back to the car and take off to his house.

It takes us about a half an hour to get to Darren’s house. It’s a quiet little house in the middle of the woods. There’s a stack of building wood set to one side and a stone foundation set right next to it. Tess pulls the car up to the side of the house and parks it. Darren and I get out and head into his house.

“Tess is giving us the downstairs TV room today,” Darren tells me. “We can share the pizza and watch a movie, if you want,” he says. I smile and nod. “Everything okay?”

To be honest, I’m overwhelmed. I’ve never had a friend or a friend’s mom go through all of this trouble of picking us up at school and taking us out to get pizza and then giving us the downstairs TV room to watch a movie. I’ve been deprived. I haven’t had too many friends over the years. To me, friends have come and gone and what’s left is my father’s abusive marks.

“It’s nothing,” I say quietly. I rub my arm and sit down on the couch. He places the box of pizza down on the table and sits down next to me. He looks at me with a worry glance. “I’m fine,” I tell him sternly.

“Do you need anything?” he asks.

“A drink?” I ask with a smile. “Please?” He laughs.

“What would you like?” he asks.

“Root beer?” I ask. He laughs again.

“Cool,” he says. He stands up and walks into a side room and grabs me a root beer. He throws it to me and misses. I laugh. The can of root beer ends up in a light fixture instead of my hands. I lean over and grab it off the top of the light and shake it.

“No! No! No!” Darren shouts. It’s too late, I crack open the soda can and the soda sprays everywhere. “Shit!” We both look at each other and laugh.

“Oh my god!” I laugh. “I haven’t had this much fun since I was little!”

“Shit, that’s sad!” Darren laughs.

“You have no idea!” I tell him. We both stop laughing and he hands me another soda, this time it’s open. I take a long sip and then start laughing again.

“No, don’t start or else I’m not going to be able to stop,” he tells me. Regardless, he starts laughing his ass off. Within seconds, we’re laughing again.

“I’m hungry,” I say after minutes of laughing.

“Pizza?” he asks. I laugh and nod my head. I open the box of pizza and take out my first two slices and eat it. “So, what movie?”

“Whatever one you want,” I tell him. “I don’t watch a lot of TV.” He nods his head and chooses one, the third Pirates of the Caribbean.

“This will be good,” he says, sitting down next to me and eating his slice of pizza.

The first thirty minutes of the movie went by quick. We were both eating the pizza and enjoying the movie. I really had no clue what the main plot of the movie was supposed to be. I guess I should have watched the first two installments of the series before I watched this one. But, it’s what Darren wanted and that’s all that mattered. Darren looked over at me and then looked at my arm.

“Who did this?” he asks quietly. I sigh.

“A boy,” I tell him.

“Who is he?” he asks. “A boyfriend?” I look at him and shake my head. “Then who?” he asks.

“If I tell you, then you’ll tell someone, who will tell someone and then get this someone in trouble. Who’s doing this to me is someone I actually care about. Sad to say, it’d hurt me if he ever went to jail for this,” I say.

“Your dad?” he asks. Jackpot. How the hell did he know? Did I give to much away. I say nothing. “It is him, isn’t it.” I sigh.

“Yes,” I tell him quietly.

“Why?” he asks a little too loudly. I shake my head.

“I don’t know,” I say. “I honestly don’t know.” I sigh.

A little while later, he does the unthinkable. He places his hand over mine and gives it a squeeze. I look up at him, startled.

“Is this a date?” I ask.

“Do you want it to be?” he asks back. My heart skips a beat.

“I’ve never… I don’t know.”

“It’s okay,” he tells me. “I’m not going to hurt you,” he tells me.

“But I barely know you,” I protest.

“Then, what a perfect way to get to know me,” he says. “And for me to get to know you.”

“Well, you know my deepest darkest secret,” I tell him. “So, there’s nothing more for me to loose.”

“That’s right,” he says.

“I guess,” I say.

“Guess what?” he asks.

“Guess this can be our first date,” I say, smiling. He laughs and takes my hand into his. “Just be careful, it still hurts!” I warn him.

“Do you want some ibprofen?” he asks.

“Sure,” I say. He goes upstairs and gets me the bottle. I take four and down them all with a sip of root beer. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” he says. “Anything for you,” he says with a smile.

For the next three hours, we sat on his couch and watched another movie. We talked a little and enjoyed each other’s company. I never thought I’d date Darren, but I know for a fact that he likes me. And I like him and that’s all that matters.