Remember Last Knight

not a good night for me

&knight

We’re not even a mile down the road when Elle turns to me.

“Stop the car,” she said, eyes wide.

“What? No, what..?” I slowed down some, but didn’t make to stop.

“Stop the car!” She yelled, turning away, pushing at the door. I break hard, and she’s out the door before I’m even completely stopped. I can hear her gagging and retching, but I can’t bring myself to get out of the car. I’m not yet sure if she’s the kind of girl who wants to be comforted.

“Take me home, please,” Elle whispered. She pulled her seatbelt around her, buckled in, and then curled into a shivering ball.

&elle

When I woke up, I found myself lying on a dark bed, in a cold room, my stomach turning and my skin chilled. The lights were off, but the room was lit from the light coming from the hallway. I could hear two voices talking softly, though I could not understand the words, and see their silhouettes on the wall across from me.

When I sat up, a woman edged her head inside the door and smiled. I did my best to not frown back.

“Hello,” the woman said, still smiling. She looked a lot like Knight, actually. Same dark curls, same light eyes and wide smile. She extended her hand out to me as she walked closer, “I’m Allison, Knight’s mom. Julie’s getting you a change of clothes; I hope you don’t mind borrowing.”

“Um, no, I’m fine with that. Thank you.” I was chilled, since my bathing suit was still damp.

“Here you go,” another woman, Julie, came into the room. She brought with her a pair of black shorts, a white tee, and a pair of underwear, tags and all. Bless them, I thought, slightly embarrassed. “I hope everything fits.”

There was a bathroom attached to the room, which I assumed was Knight’s, and I excused myself to change. When I came back out, damp clothes in hand, Julie and Allison were still waiting for me.

“Here, I’ll dry and wash these for you, Elle,” Julie said, taking my clothes from me.

“Knight is making up the guest bedroom for you. I hope you don’t mind staying the night. It’s late… y’know. Do you need to call your parents?”

Stay the night? My thoughts were melting together. I could barely piece together the now and the party. “Um, no,” I said, unthinking. This is what I wanted, right? An escape. Oh, screw it.

“This is really nice of you, thank you. Knight’s lucky to have such a sweet mom and aunt.” Honestly, I was wishing my mom was half as nice to me as they were being right now.

“Oh... um,” Allison and Julie looked toward each other. Julie bit her lip, Allison mirroring her. They took a step closer to each other, Julie wrapping her arm around Allison’s waist. “Actually…”

“Oh…” I mumbled. “Oh!” My cheeks flushed bright red. They were a couple. Oh, God, I felt so dumb. They look so similar! Allison, the female version of Knight, and Julie, almost identical to Allison, minus the different noses and Julie’s freckles…

“It’s okay, honey. It happens all the time, don’t worry. Don’t be embarrassed --”

“-- We’re not.”

Then, Knight entered. He looked between us all, measuring the situation.

“She figured you were sisters, didn’t she?”

“Of course, everyone does!” Allison turned back to me, reaching out. “It’s no big deal, honey. Honestly.” I nodded, holding myself. That was still embarrassing. To add to it all, the atmosphere didn’t change after Knight’s moms’ reassuring reply. It was quiet.

“Why don’t you get Elle a sweatshirt, Knight? She’s still cold. Oh, and make sure she has enough blankets in the guest room.” Allison stepped toward her son, stepping on her tip toes to kiss his cheek. “I think we’re going to call it a night.”

“I love you,” Knight said to both Julie and Allison, as they kissed his cheeks. They responded just as well, bidding me good night as they left the room.

Knight went straight to the closet, which was right beside the bathroom, searching for something warm. I stepped into the doorway, watching him.

“I told you to take me home.”

“Yeah, I know... I didn’t exactly know where that was.” He turned his head to me, smiling a cheeky smile, before turning back to his work.

“I only lived down the street from that house!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t know that. Besides, you were too busy blowing chunks or crying to point me in the right direction.”

There had been a slight smile hanging from my lips, but that disappeared. Knight cursed under his breath, turning his head up and away from me. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he said. He pulled a gray sweatshirt from a pile, tossing it to me.

“Sure, you didn’t.”

“Elle, I really didn’t…” I turned my back on him, going back into his room. I settled down on the dark bed, pulling the sweatshirt over my head and tucking my feet underneath of me. “What happened back there, anyway?”

“It’s nothing, just my past catching up with me.”

&knight

I stared at her, in disbelief. “Are you really just going to leave me hanging here, right now? I pretty much saved you from making a complete fool out of yourself, probably going to jail or something because you were about to kill Lauren Michaels and I told you that I have two moms. Yet, here you are, not spilling anything. Gimme my sweatshirt back.”

Elle stared at me, unblinking.

She was sitting in the middle of my bed, cross legged, just staring at me while I pretty much yelled this at her.

“You know Lauren?”

“The bitch? Yeah, she goes to my school. How do you know her? Wait. No. I am not going to be answering these questions without a little bit of feedback.”

Staring, again. “Are you serious, right now? Really, Knight?”

“Yes, okay. I’m not just going to go on ranting about stuff for you if I’m not going to get a little bit of something in return…”

“Oh, Jesus. Will you stop doing that?”

“Wha... what?”

“You just did it. You just said that, and then looked at me. You know. You looked at me. Your moms are in this house, I am not interested in you, I am not hooking up with you…” I rolled my eyes. Okay, I probably had looked at her. I shouldn’t have to apologize; she is the reason I’m at home instead of still chillin’ with Andy and everyone else.

I interrupted her. “How do you know Lauren?”

“I used to go to your school.”

I opened my mouth, surprised, but she jumped ahead of me. “Freshman year. I transferred after the school year, to Adams.”

“Funny. I don’t remember you.”

“I don’t remember you, either. Washington’s a big school, though. Do you have a blanket?”

I got up, still talking, and grabbed a blanket from the back of my closet. I unfolded it, holding it out for her to wrap it around herself.

“You go to Adams, or Jackson?”

“Adams… I like it better there. Less drama.”

“Dude, right? Ugh, God. Everything at Washington is drama! Every year. Sophomore year some girl got gangbanged in the theater, this year it was a teacher and this Freshman getting down and dirty after school. It never changes. I remember freshman year, there was this whole fiasco with this group of girls… and this one chick just beat all of them up because they were sleeping with Louis Campos. That was so long ago, man… I can’t believe he died.”

“W-What?”

I looked up, and Elle was right there, doe-eyed, staring, her breath short.

“What did you say?”

“Louis… he died, in January. He had been out for New Years and when he was driving home, he drove his car off the road.”

&elle

Louis… he was dead.

He’d been dead for over four months now and no one had told me, I didn’t even know. I mean, he didn’t mean anything to me, no, not anymore, but… to believe that he was dead. He’d caused so much trouble for me… and to believe that he was gone.

“I-I… I’m going to bed.” I crawled off of Knight’s bed, out of his room, and continued down the hall.

“Wait!” Knight hissed after me, standing in the doorway. I didn’t stop. I didn’t know where I was going.

“Guest room is second on the left. The bathroom is across from it. If you need anything, just ask.”

I practically dove into the bathroom, where I rinsed my face repeatedly with cold water. I started shaking. I couldn’t believe any of this. When I left the bathroom for the bedroom, the lights were out in Knight’s room.

It wasn’t a good night for me.
♠ ♠ ♠
The clothes Elle borrows.

Things are really starting to get dramatic, huh? Okay, so, I'm going to ask a big favor of you guys. I can't figure out where this story is taking place. Like, city/state wise. Here are some details of it:
- sunny
- hot-ish year round
- in the U.S.

Make your suggestions in the comments. I really need help for this, and I need it ASAP. Also, don't be afraid to comment. I will love on you for eternity.