Nights and Weekends

I walked home; I couldn’t go to Josh’s even though that was the place I wanted to be. Tucker was bound to start getting suspicious with my leaving the parties early all the time. The only option was distancing myself from Josh, at least for a while until Tucker forgets that I ever muttered Josh’s name. I threw the door open and walked inside not worrying about being care or quiet. I could hear my mom and her boyfriend going at it in her room and it pissed me off. I hated him, possibly more than I hated her, everything about him pissed me off. The way he would walk around in his underwear, His receding hairline, and the fact that he carries more drugs on him than a pharmacy. The only redeeming quality that man has is his eyes they are a beautiful hazel color but they are often lost to the fact that they are bloodshot. I might feel bad about my hatred of him if it wasn’t mutual.

I flipped the light on in the living room and saw a vase of flowers sitting on the coffee table next to a bag of weed. I grabbed the edge of the table and flipped it over, the vase hit the floor and shattered spilling water all over the floor. A smile came to my face and I started to destroy anything and everything I could get my hands on. I ripped the pictures from the wall and smashed them on the ground stomping on them until there wasn’t a piece of glass left intact, I threw the footstool into the DVD rack making the cases spill across the floor. I pushed all of mom’s knickknacks off of the shelves that she kept them on and as I headed to my room I threw my shoe at the mirror that hung next to her bedroom door. I knew they wouldn’t hear the racket I was making not with their screams being so damn loud. I would deal with the consequences in the morning I would regret my actions in the morning but right now it felt good to destroy the things she loved. Maybe that is why Tucker got off on beating me it feels so good to destroy things.

My Bed was only too inviting as I fell into it not bothering to change out of my party clothes. I rolled in the bed trying to find a spot that was just right and it dawned on me that I shouldn’t be sleeping alone. I should be at Josh’s house cuddling next to his warm body or at least at Tucker’s laying next to him. Part of me hated sleeping alone but another bigger part of me hated the idea of ruining my life. I wanted so bad to leave and go to Josh if I left now then I could avoid all the punishment I would get in the morning, I would get a good night sleep, I would be safe again for a night. But I couldn’t do that, I had to stay away and he probably had plans since I told him I wasn’t going to show up. I reached under my bed and pulled out an old stuffed animal and held it tightly as I shut my eyes ready to embrace sleep.

“What the hell did you do to the living room Reese?” My mom yelled pulling me out of my bed by my hair.

“I destroyed it.” I replied in a bored tone.
“I have company over how do you think this makes me look? How does it make this family look when we wake up and the place is trashed?”

“Trashy?” I didn’t bother to put up any struggle with her and I could tell that fact was only making her madder. “What time is it?”

“That’s right we look like Goddamn trailer trash thanks to you. Now you need to clean it up right this minute.” She pushed me onto the living room floor on top of the picture frames I broke earlier. From the couch her boyfriend cleared his throat I glanced in his direction. He was sitting there with a smug look on his face and a cigarette in his hand.

“Bring her over here first babe, we need to teach her a lesson.” Mom picked me back up and pulled me over to him.

“I can walk on my own thank you very much.” I sneered, the comment only made her tighten the grip that she had on my hair.

“Take her shirt off. Her bra too we will get her trained up quickly.” Mom ripped my clothes off of me and I didn’t even bother to fight it. “Hold her tight.” He pushed me into a chair and mom grabbed my arms pulling them behind it. He leaned closer to me taking a long drag of his cigg before pushing it against my breast. I let out a tiny scream before rage took over.

“You fucking bastard.” I screamed at him as I tried to kick him away. He kept his ground keeping the cigg against me until he was sure it was completely out. “Leave me the hell alone you fucking prick I hate you.”

“Now now Reese control your temper and I won’t have to discipline you anymore.”

“It’s not your goddamn job to discipline me in the first place you son of a bitch.” He lit another cigarette and started to pace the room. “Let go of my arms mother I need to get this cleaned up I have places to be today.” She refused to let go and her boyfriend walked back over to me the cancer stick in hand. “You gonna waste more nicotine on burning me? Do you really have that much fucking money that you can afford this sort of punishment?” He played with his lighter for a minute before lighting it right under my breast. I started throwing myself around as much as I could trying to get away from the flame. I kicked his groin and knocked the chair back and made my mom’s nose bleed.

“Grab her.” He yelled. Mom acted quickly trying to grab me but I kept evading her grasp until she dug her nails along my back. She picked me up and held me in front of him he played with his cigarette again for a minute before taking the hand that was holding it and smacking me across the face. Part of the ash went into my eye it immediately started tearing up and fluttering out of control trying to get the ash out. “That will teach you to disrespect the adults here.” He grabbed my arm away from my mom and hiked it up my back. “Now to teach you not to destroy things that don’t belong to you. You know your mom paid good money for all this stuff that you broke. How do you think it makes her feel to know that her bratty daughter has so little respect for how hard she works to make this place a home for you?” He pushed my face down onto the glass and rubbed my cheek in it. “Just like teaching a dog who likes making messes.” He let go and I laid there for a moment afraid to move. “Well start cleaning this shit up.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s ten o’clock. I’ll give you until ten thirty to get it done or there will be hell to pay.”

“I have to leave I’m late.”

“Late for what?” My mom asked as she came back from the kitchen holding a towel to her nose.

“It’s Sunday I’m suppose to meet with dad at the mall remember? I do this every week. I’m suppose to meet him at ten thirty and unless one of you is going to drive me to the mall than I don’t see how I can possibly clean this mess up right now. It takes me forever to ride my bike there.”

“You can be late for meeting your dad.”

“No I can’t. I have to be there it’s his right to see me and you can’t stop me.”

“The mess will be waiting for you when you get back. And you better pick up stuff to replace everything you broke while you are out.”

“Fine whatever.” I walked back to my room and got dressed not bothering to clean up or put on any makeup let the world see what everyone does to me. I climbed out my window and grabbed my bike and started pedaling towards the mall. I could tell that everyone was staring at me as I rode past but I didn’t care I just wanted to get to the mall so I could get my money and find a place to hide out for the rest of the day.

I checked my watch as I locked my bike into the bike rake at the mall it was ten thirty exactly I was late. I ran into the mall and started running towards the food court the place where we always met up he hated it when I was late. But I was sent towards the ground as I tripped over someone’s long leg sticking out from a chair. I got up and looked in the direction of the leg and saw Stephen Gomez sitting down giving me a dirty look.

“Why don’t you put those fucking legs away? You could hurt someone.” I screamed.

“Are you ok?” His voice seemed sincerely concerned and for a moment I forgot that I hadn’t cleaned up at all.

“I’m fine no thanks to you. Seriously kids play in the mall they run around and don’t pay attention to where they are going put your legs away.”

“Reese no, what happened to you I know you didn’t get that hurt just from me tripping you.” He was standing up and walking towards me.

“I swear I’m fine I have to go I’m supposed to be meeting my dad right now I’m late actually. Hence my running. Don’t tell anyone you saw me ok? Please Stephen I know you don’t like me but we were friends once and as a friend you can keep this secret right?”

“What the hell is going on?” He grabbed my arm as I tried to get away. “Did your mom do this to you?”

“Stephen it’s not a big deal but I’m going to be in trouble if I don’t get going.”

“What are you doing later? If you don’t say you will meet up with me and tell me what the hell is going on I swear I will tell everyone what I saw.”

“Fine I hang with my dad until noon, pick me up here?” He nodded and let go and I took off running again. I found my dad sitting at a table on the outside edge of the food court and I went and took a seat across from him. “Sorry I’m late dad.” He looked up from his paper and his eyes grew wide.

“What the hell happened to you?” He asked taking my hand in his.

“Mom and her new boyfriend. They weren’t even going to let me leave to come see you. I told them I had to.”

“What did you do?”

“I was drunk last night I came home and broke a ton of stuff, I’m supposed to replace what I can but to be honest I have little to no extra money right now.”

“How much extra do you need?”

“500 dollars more, I broke a lot. I didn’t really mean to though I came home and he was there and they were fucking in her room and his pot was on the table and I was pissed from the events of the night and I couldn’t take it.”

“Are you ok? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No I’m fine. I promise.”

“Well then follow me to the ATM and I’ll get you the extra money.” He stood and not letting go of my hand and took me towards the ATM.

“Actually can I go clean up while you do this? I’m guessing from the looks I keep getting I’m looking pretty tragic.”

“Hurry along. I’ll wait at the table for you.” I ran towards the bathroom happy that he was pulling out more money for me. I had to admit that he was doing fine for himself now that he and mom were split. He wrote books but never got a best seller until after the divorce was finalized. He was lucky for that too because now him and his new family, who want nothing to do with me, can live the good life and he can keep me from begging to live with him by giving me 5oo bucks a week. I’m getting into college one way or another, I’m getting away from this town one way or another. The rest of his new family goes off to church every Sunday and that is why he gets to spend an hour or so with me. I wish he would just tell them that I could go live with them but he swears it’s not them and that he has no room. I know for a fact that their house has a guest room no one uses.

I turned on the facet in the bathroom and drenched a paper towel in the warm water, I looked worse than I figured I did. My eye was completely bloodshot and there were tiny cuts all over my cheek from the glass. The bruises on my neck weren’t anywhere near as faded as I had hoped they would have been by now and my lip had a cut in it from who knows what. I washed the bit of blood off of my face and tried to fix my hair so my neck wouldn’t show so badly but it wasn’t helping very much so I gave up and headed back out to find my dad.

“Do I look better?” I asked as I sat down across from him again. He looked up and nodded his head before taking out his wallet and taking out 500 dollars.

“Keep this safe, I don’t like you walking around with 1,000 dollars in cash on you.” He slid the pile of money to me and I took it quickly.

“Don’t worry dad I’ll be very careful, in fact I’m not even biking home today I have a friend picking me up.”

“Will your bike fit in his car?”

“Probably, I’m sure it will be fine.”

“I’ll take it back to your place for you. You still live in the trailer park?”

“Yes sir.”

“I have to cut our little meeting short today I’m sorry but the girls have a Sunday school presentation I promised them I would be there for it starts at eleven thirty.” He stood up and offered me his hand.

“Great dad, why didn’t you tell me about this last week we could have rescheduled.”

“I didn’t think it would be a big deal I had no idea you were going to be late. It’s only a half hour.”

“We only get an hour and a half a week dad.”

“Maybe you should come spend a weekend with us some week.”

“Or maybe I could just come live with you?”

“You know you can’t. We don’t have the extra room for you.”

“What about the guest room?”

“That’s for guests.”

“Dad they are gonna kill me if I stay there. Please let me come live with you.”

“I can’t do it. But next weekend why don’t you come stay with us.”

“Next weekend is Halloween.”

“Aren’t you a little old to trick or treat?”

“I’m not going trick or treating dad. State football is Friday. Then Saturday and Sunday we are going camping. I told you this already. Maybe the next weekend?”

“Can’t, we are taking the girls to their grandparents’ house.”

“Of course.”

“Thanksgiving?”

“I’m supposed to spend that with Tucker’s family this year. So I guess I will see you in a couple weeks then?”

“I already have it set up so the bank will transfer your money to your bank account of Saturday. Both Saturdays.” He opened the mall door for me and I walked through it and to the bike rack. “Don’t look so sad.” I unlocked it and wheeled towards his truck.

“I’m not sad I just don’t understand why I can’t be a part of your family is all. Mom doesn’t want me.”

“You just can’t ok, do you want me to call your aunt and see if you can stay there?”

“I can’t transfer schools. You’re the only option.”

“I just can’t right now. Maybe next year ok?” He lifted my back into the truck bed and kissed my forehead. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks.”

“Bye dad.” I walked back into the mall and sat down where Stephen was earlier when he tripped me. I sat there for a few minutes there was still half an hour before Stephen would be back. I hated just sitting there waiting everyone staring at me so I got up and went to look for a pay phone. I had to go against my better judgment and make a phone call to Josh. He answered on the first ring.

“Hello?” He said cautiously.

“Josh, its Reese.”

“What’s wrong why are you calling me?”

“Can I stay at your house tonight? I messed up last night and I just don’t want to go home yet.”

“I thought you stayed with Tucker last night.”

“No, I went home.”

“Why didn’t you come over here?”

“Can I stay over tonight or not?”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m at the mall I just left my weekly meeting with dad. Can I stay?”

“Do you want me to come get you?”

“Actually I’m supposed to meet with someone.”

“Tucker?”

“No, Stephen.”

“Stephen who?”

“Gomez. He is supposed to pick me up at noon.”

“I’m coming to get you. I’ll call Stephen for you can cancel.”

“Josh you can’t.” It was too late he already hung up the phone. “Damn it.” A few minutes later Josh was running up to me.

“My family is still gone so I’m going to take you back to my place. Stephen said he won’t say anything to anybody about what he saw today. Come on.” He put his arm around my shoulder and led me towards the exit.

I crawled into his bed and hid under the covers as tears streamed from my eyes. Josh sat next to me and rubbed my back softly. I moved away from him and sat up pulling my shirt off I turned my back to him for a minute so he would understand. He pulled me into a hug being care to avoid anywhere there was a wound.

“What happened?” He asked softly.

“Last night I went to Tucker’s and asked if we could just stay in you know and he said sure. His parents’ left him the key to the liquor cabinet. It was supposed to be just us but then he invited Grant and Mary over. I was upset and yelled at him so he invited everyone over and it turned into a party. I got really drunk and Tucker took me up to his parents’ bedroom because his was occupied. I said your name and he got pissed off. I tried to dismiss it and it sort of worked but he was still mad of course. So I went home. Mom’s boyfriend was over. I destroyed the living room and went to bed. This morning they attacked me. I guess I deserved for the amount of damage I did to the room but still. He burned me and she scratched me when I tried to get away. He rubbed my face in the broken glass and got cigarette ash in my eye. I have to replace all of what I broke. Luckily my dad gave me extra money today so I can. I wanted to come here last night but I said your name. Your name I was so stupid.”

“How does Stephen fit into this?”

“He tripped me as I ran through the mall to get to my meeting with dad. He saw how bad I looked and wouldn’t let me go. I told him to meet me at the mall at noon and I would explain everything as long as he promised not to tell anyone that he saw me. I wasn’t planning on calling you at the time and I didn’t want him to tell you. I figured he would you. I wasn’t planning on coming over here for a while do I didn’t want you to worry.”

“What did I just get done telling you the other day?”

“That I shouldn’t stop coming over here but things changed last night.”

“Nothing changed.”

“Everything changed, don’t you get it when I was with Tucker I said your name. I wanted to be with you ok? That is what changed, even last night after I went home and wrecked the living room all I wanted to do was leave and come over here because I feel safe here. I like it here. But I can’t slip up again around Tucker.” I started crying harder and Josh pulled me into a hug.

“What the hell is going on?” Stephen said coming into the room.