She Will Be Loved

About thirty-five minutes later, thanks to morning traffic, we were pulling into a circular driveway in front of a very nice, very big house. As we climbed out my mouth fell agape at the massive size of it. It was at least twice the size than my house in Boston. “How did you…?”

“Record company,” Johnny whispered to me as he ventured closer so he could go to the trunk of the vehicle he road in. I unconsciously nodded at this. It was Zack’s voice that cut me out of my trance.

“C’mon Koty. Let’s go find you a room.” At this Brian’s head snapped over to us so fast I thought he’d have whiplash. I suddenly found my shoes interesting and blushed deeply. Why did Zacky have to open his mouth out here? I quickly followed after him with his guitar case in hand. “Well this is home sweet home.”

My mouth fell agape at the inside. It was an entrance area that was just a wide, open area. To the left was a doorway that entered into a living room and the right to a kitchen. In front of us was an open hallway that branched off to other rooms and a staircase on the right wall. “This place is amazing.”

“We like to think so,” Zacky replied, brushing it off. My eyes grew wide at his nonchalant tone while talking about this massive house. I could only shake my head in response. “Well come on.”

I looked up to see he was already almost to the top of the stairs. I let out a soft ‘eep’ before running up the steps after him. When we got to the top there was a huge, open hall that had multiple doors branching off from it. At the opposite end of the hall, which seemed forever away, was a huge window. “This place is magnificent.”

“It’s home,” Zacky repeated with a smile. I just shook my head again, this time in disbelief. “Okay so here’s the order of rooms. Matt and Val’s is the first on the left followed by me and then Brian. On the first right is Jimmy’s, Johnny’s, and then coincidentally a guestroom. That will be your room for now. Each room has it’s own bathroom so you don’t need to worry about sharing.”

“Zacky, this is incredibly nice, but I can’t accept your offer on living here,” I spoke as he walked forward to his room, no doubt to place down his bags.

“And that’s where you don’t get a choice in the matter my dear. I have already spoken to Matt and Val and they have agreed. So you are going to live here and like it,” Zacky demanded, gently taking his guitar from my grasp to place it on the floor in his room. “Now let’s go see your new room.”

“Temporary room,” I muttered. Either Zacky didn’t hear me or he just chose to not speak. He walked over to the room dubbed ‘mine’ and pushed the door open. I gasped at the room, hardly able to talk. This room made the one back in Boston look like a homeless shelter. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Like it? I love it!” I exclaimed. I covered my mouth, feeling the heat rise on my cheeks. Zacky chuckled a bit which just made my cheeks hotter. “I mean, it’s nice. Thank-you Zack.”

“No problem. I’ll leave you to get settled in. Come down whenever you like and I’ll show you the rest of the house.” With that Zacky left the room, closing the door behind himself. I sighed, taking off my backpack and placing it on the big, circular chair by the window. I also took off my two layer shirt to reveal a black tank underneath. I tossed it and my beanie onto the chair and slipped off my boots. Gazing outside I saw a small patio on the ground level and beach as far as the eye could see.

I left the window to walk over to the door on the wall that was at a right angle from the door I entered the room through. Inside was a huge, blue and white bathroom. I shook my head, amazed by all the wonderful places this house held. I couldn’t possibly imagine what the rest of it looked like. I walked back into the bedroom and laid on my back on the bed. It was simply amazing. I felt like I was floating on a cloud.

“Are you fucking insane?!” This caused me to shoot up in bed and let a tremble soar through my body. I had no doubt in my mind that was Brian’s voice. I slipped off the bed and tip toed in my sock clad feet to the door. I opened it silently to hear someone else talking, their voice too quiet and far away to make out what they were saying.

I walked down the stairs as silently as I could only to hear ‘you’re overreacting Brian’ from the living room. I sat down on the left edge of the doorway, peeking my head around the corner to see everyone sitting on couches. That’s when Brian snapped up and stood, glaring at all the people in front of him. “I’m overreacting? All of you are fucking stupid! You are really falling for this ‘innocent girl’ routine, aren‘t you?”

“And what the hell is that suppose to mean?” Zacky demanded, also standing to his feet. His face was bright red and full of rage. I shrunk and turned around to rest on my butt. I stared at the wall across from me as the two friends continued to yell.

“She’s just here for our goddamn money. You really think she doesn’t know who the fuck we are? You are fucking thickheaded Zacky. And he’s got you all believing it too.”

“She doesn’t know shit Brian. She was clearly amazed when I told her about our job. She didn’t know anything,” Johnny interjected, coming to Zacky’s defense. Instead of being assured, Brian laughed darkly in return.

“Oh yeah, ’cause that’s going to totally make me believe she’s a little angel now,” Brian mocked. “There are fucking con artists out there people.”

“You just don’t want to believe that there is such thing as innocence Brian. Not after what Michelle did to you. You just can’t handle the fact that all people aren’t the same as her.” The sound of skin hitting skin was heard, a loud crash and what sounded like glass breaking was heard soon after.

“What the hell Brian?!” Matt shouted. The sound of hands hitting something solid, like someone pushing someone else, was heard. No reply was heard, just someone storming from the room. I looked up to see Brian glaring down at me as if he had known I was there the whole time.

“You - ” He jabbed a finger only centimeters away from my nose, causing me to cringe backwards. “do us all a favor and get the hell out. We don’t need a little gold-digger around this place. Leave now.”

With that the angered man spit at me, hitting me on my left cheek, and stomped up the steps. I wasn’t pulled out of my trance until his door slammed shut upstairs. Tears brimmed my eyes as I used the bottom of my tank to wipe off his saliva.

“My God, Koty? Are you alright?” I looked up to see Val standing in front of me. She was quick to kneel down and wiped away my tears with her thumbs. “Did that bastard hurt you?”

“N - no,” I sniffled. I felt like I was a five year old again. I was upset and my mother had to comfort me. I quickly stood and ran out the front door, ignoring the voices yelling after me. I didn’t care that I had no shoes and was burning my feet on the hot pavement through my socks. I didn’t care that I probably looked like an escaped prisoner. I just wanted to get out of there and stay away. I knew Brian’s accusations of me were false, but it didn’t stop the throbbing pain at my heart he caused.

After running for at least three blocks I reached a pier. I tripped over my own feet as I ran down the sandy hill. I let out a cry when the palm of my left hand hit glass. I quickly cradled it to my chest, seeing a bit of glass still in my flesh. I let my tears fall as I sat with my legs pulled to my chest. I was always a wuss to pain so I left the glass in my hand instead of taking it out.

I began to question myself. Why the hell did I agree to come to this forsaken place anyways? I knew exactly why, I had found comfort in Zacky’s emerald orbs. I stupidly believed he could solve all my problems. I didn’t stop to think that he couldn’t help a broken girl. I would stay in pieces unless I could find a way to mend myself. I had unknowingly burdened Zacky and all his friends into trying to help me. I was almost happy Brian opposed me so much. It was just a sign that I couldn’t rely on people, I had to help myself.

“Koty?!” I craned my head upwards to see Zacky on the dock. I quickly scooted underneath the wooden shelter to hide myself from his view. Maybe if I just disappeared from them they could go back to their lives. I would be the strange girl with no shoes, but I could live with that. “Please come out Kota. Brian didn’t mean what he said.”

Oh please, I scoffed to myself in my mind. He meant everything he said Zack. You’re gunna have to try much harder than that to make me believe shit.

He sighed, and a small thud was heard throughout the wooden structure. I could only assume Zacky had forcefully placed his hands on the railing. I softly heard him mutter, “I’ll kill that bastard for making her run.”

I waited for a few minutes until I heard his retreating footsteps overhead. I let out a breath I hadn’t noticed I was holding. I leaned back against one of the columns that supported the dock high above my head. I looked up and was not shocked to see a few dozen spiders underneath the wooden panels. It was a dock, spiders were expected to gather there. I looked back at my hand which was pulsing with pain.

“How long are you going to hide out here?” I jumped at the voice, my head snapping over to the mass that I knew sat to my left. I saw Jimmy looking up at the dock spiders nervously. “Why are there so many spiders?”

“We’re under a dock. They kind of live here. Hence their name ‘dock spiders’,” I laughed.

“But there’s so many! And they’re so big! Can they swim?” When I nodded a ‘yes’ he cringed. “Spiders aren’t suppose to swim. They’re going to eat me, aren’t they?”

“It’s impossible for them to eat people Jimmy. And how are they big? They’re not even an inch.” Jimmy didn’t reply, just stared at the millions of eyes staring at him. “Jimmy, stop staring.”

“Fine. Oh yeah.” He forced his blue eyes to me and gave me a scowl. I raised an eyebrow at him. “You need to come back missy.”

“No. Brian was right, I don’t need to be here.” Jimmy sighed, rolling his eyes. “What’s that for?”

“Brian is a fucking idiot. You two don’t think you need to be here, but the rest of us know different. We can tell you’ve had a tough life, even if you don’t speak about it. This is the best place for you to be; with people who will do anything in their power to help you. Sure we have some douche bags who are too far up their own asses, but we will help you.”

I looked into his eyes, searching for any sense of a lie. When I came up empty handed I felt my heart swell a little. I had only known these people for less than a day, but I could already feel myself bonding with them. It felt good to finally have someone who I could call a friend. “Thank-you Jimmy.”

“No problem. Now let’s get away from these freaky ass spiders and get that hand taken care of.”

As we stood I looked up at the lanky man. “Would now be a bad time to mention that there’s a spider on your back?”

“What?!” He ran off, screaming and pulling at the edge of his shirt. I couldn’t help my giggling at his attempt to get rid of the nonexistent spider. Ah, he’s not going to be happy when he finds out I lied to him.