Everyone Pretends They're Happy

I comforted Loretta the best I could. I knew how difficult it was to let someone in and help so I wasn’t going to force it out of her.
‘‘Do you want to talk about it?’’ I asked her when she was able to calm down and wipe away her tears.
She sobbed a little but nodded. ‘‘Its time I do…’’ she started. ‘‘my parents-if you can call them that-’’ she spat ‘‘beat me and shout at me. I don’t even have to do anything, they just use me as an object to take their anger out.’’ Another tear rolled down her face. ‘‘I haven’t told any other family members because they wouldn’t believe me.’’ I felt heartbroken for her. I had parents who were still together and loved me. I couldn’t even imagine how she felt.
‘‘Why don’t you move out?’’ I asked her.
‘‘I tried. I tried to move out of Arizona altogether, but when I was accepted into other colleges, my mom called them and said it didn’t matter because I found one close to home.’’ She was desperately trying not to burst into tears again.
As we sat in an awkward silence, I thought for a second, we had a spare room, Harriet didn’t need it, an extra person wouldn’t do any harm. ‘‘Come live with me!’’ I piped up and she cocked her head to the side.
‘‘I couldn’t…I mean, really?’’ Loretta asked, a happier expression creeping onto her face.
‘‘Of course. We have a spare room. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind.’’ I beamed. It felt good that I was able to help her.
‘‘Would you double check? Just in case?’’ She asked me. I pulled out my phone and called Garrett. After a short discussion with him, then him making an announcement to the rest of the guys, it was sorted.
‘‘You have a new home.’’ I grinned. Loretta couldn’t take the smile from her face. She looked like a totally different person when she smiled. She looked like she didn’t have to pretend to be happy anymore. ‘‘Would you like to take the day off?’’ I asked her, she didn’t look in the right state to go into college.
‘‘If you don’t mind staying off with me.’’ She replied. ‘‘I’d also like to go home and collect my things, I wont get a chance later since they’ll be home from work.’’ It pained me how she didn’t get to call them mom and dad without the words being like poison on her tongue.
‘‘I’ll drive you.’’ I smiled. As the rest of the students walked into college, Loretta and I walked in the opposite direction and to my car. We got in and Loretta started to direct me to her house. It was a little further away from where I lived but it wasn’t down as many bends and turns like I had. We pulled up in front of a small house. The curtains were closed, the grass needed cut, the gate was broken and it didn’t look like a homely place.
‘‘I’ll be right back.’’ Loretta said and jumped out of my car. She ran through her garden, unlocked her door and bolted in. I sat and looked around at the neighbour hood I was currently in. The rest of the houses looked fine, clean and safe…just not Loretta’s. She was back out in ten minutes, dragging two suitcases behind her. She lugged them onto my back seat and then sat back in the passengers seat, finally looking like she could breath happily.