The Devil's Pawn

“Hey babe.” Trenton leaned down to kiss me before taking a seat at my side. He precariously placed the bowl of popcorn on my lap while slyly slipping his arm around my shoulders. I adjusted myself so that we were closer, leaning my head on his shoulder.

He pulled my legs across his lap, positioning the bowl so that he had better access to it.
I leaned up, pressing my lips against his collar bone.

It was early August and school started up soon. I was leaving for college in a few days,
and Trenton was spending his last few weeks in his house. We had already signed the
lease for an apartment together, much to my mother’s dismay.

Despite it only being a few months, I could see myself with this boy for a while.

It was movie night at the Clark house. Trenton’s dad was working late, and my mother
had disowned me. I was now living in either my father’s apartment twenty minutes away or at
my boyfriend’s house.

I usually chose my father unless he was working late.

Tonight was an exception.

“What movie are we watching?” I asked as the previews continued. It was an older
movie. I could tell by the quality of the DVD.

“You’ll see.”

“Scary?”

He raised an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes, “You know, one of these days it wouldn’t kill you if you’d just watch the
Notebook or the Titanic with me.”

“I think it would.”

I nudged my elbow into his side.

He pouted slightly, pulling away.
“You’re such a baby, Trent.”

“Here, let me show you what a big boy I really am.” He smirked, slipping his fingers
between the waistband of my pants, teasingly playing with the hem of my panties. I pulled
his hand away, my face heating up.

“You’re such a prude.”

“Really?” I gave him an incredulous look, “Because I don’t think so.”

“How many times have we had sex?” He pretended to think for a moment, “Oh that’s
right. Only four.”

“How many months have we been dating?” I mimicked his action playfully, “Oh that’s
right. Only four.”

He shut me up with a kiss.

“Can we just watch the movie?” I asked against his lips. Trenton grunted, but reluctantly
pulled away from me.

“Prude.”

“Dick.”

He hip thrusted the air, giving me a sly look.

“Keep this up,” I threatened, “And we’re not doing anything until Thanksgiving.”

“Sweet cheeks,” He pressed his lips against my temple affectionately, “You’re going to
be living in the same apartment as me for the rest of your school career. I really don’t think
that this threat is going to hold up.”

He knew he was right.

“Can’t you just respect me because you love me?”

“No.”

I scowled at him, but the action as useless. Trenton pulled me closer, taking a handful
of the popcorn on my lap.

A pulsing sensation radiated on my ass, causing me to jump. I lifted my hips up and
pulled the phone out of my back pocket, checking the caller i.d.

Putting it on speaker and muting the movie, I answered, “What’s up Erica?”

“Taylor, you remember that dress you wore to prom?”

I gave Trenton a skeptic look, “Yes…”

“You remember how we got it from my aunt’s friend’s shop?”

“Yes…”

“She found out.”

I took in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. I could feel trouble rising up, “What do you mean
she ‘found out’? You said she was fine with it.”

“I said her son was fine with it.”

“It doesn’t matter; you said they were fine with it!”

“Yeah, I might have lied.”

“Erica!”

Trenton tightened his grip on me slightly.

“Calm down, Taylor, she doesn’t know you have it.”

“Erica, does she want me to return it?” I asked, ignoring her previous statement. There
was no comfort in her words. I was considered a thief of a couple hundred dollar dress. “I
haven’t worn it since prom; it’s still in fairly good shape.”

Trenton chuckled under his breath at my choice of words. Truth be told, there had been
some damage done in the process of getting it off of me.

But nothing horrid.

“She thinks that I stole and sold it to someone for drug money.” Erica mumbled. “Goes
to show how much faith my family has in me.”

“But… No offense, Erica, but you would do that.”

“I would not. Not to my aunt.” She said defensively.

“I’m sorry…”

“Whatever. Listen, she told my mom this. It was my mom who jumped to the drug
money conclusion.”

“What did she do?”

“Well, she didn’t even bother asking me.” Erica scoffed, “She came into my room with

my step dad, and he flipped shit on me.”

“Oh my gosh…”

“Long story short, I need a favor.”

“Sure, anything, what is it?”

“I…” She hesitated for a moment, “They kicked me out of the house. Said if I was old
enough to steal from friends, I was old enough to live through the consequences.”

“What?!”

“I… Can I stay with you?”

“Erica, I’m only with my dad for one more week, and then I go to college.”

“That’s all I need. One week.”

“Sure, yeah, that’s fine.”

“Thank you so much.” She said, her voice cracking slightly.

“Where are you now?” Trenton entered the conversation, surprising the both of us. I
glanced at him curiously.

“Trenton?”

“Yeah.”

“What’re you doing here?”

“Trying to get laid, what do you think?” He snapped, scowling harshly at the phone.

“Am I intruding?”

“Don’t worry about it.” I said, giving Trenton a harsh look. She was my friend, and at the
moment we had no idea of the status of her safety. Trenton could wait a few minutes for me
to find that out.

“No I—”

“Erica, where are you?”

“I’m at some gas station. I didn’t know where else to go.”

“Can you drive somewhere?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to give you the address to my dad’s. I’m at Trenton’s right now. We’ll drive
over and meet you there.”

“Thanks Taylor.”

“Anytime.”

I recited the address to her before biding our temporary goodbyes. She was on the
opposite side of town and it would take her a good twenty minutes before she got to his
apartment.

I closed the phone, glancing at Trenton.

“She totally killed the mood.”

“Yeah.” I kissed his cheek before standing up, holding out a hand. “Let’s go. We can still
watch a movie at his house.”

He scowled, “You always kick me out before anything happens.”

“Just wait until we’re living on our own.”

“Whatever.”

He walked with silence to his car, slipping my overnight bag into the backseat. I guess
our plans for the evening had been killed.

As we drove out of the neighborhood, I could see my mother’s silhouette in the window
watching us. A pang of guilt rang in my heart. She hadn’t tried to lose me. I had left her in a
heartbreakingly hurtful way. For a boy she couldn’t have disliked more. For a man she had
left. For a lifestyle she hated.

Everything I had hated up until Trenton.

I made a small promise as we turned off of our street to mend our recently broken
relationship as soon as I could.

“You realize that she won’t be able to get back on her feet in a week.” Trenton said five
minutes into the ride.

I nodded, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

“She’s going to want to live with us.”

I frowned, “I wanted it to be just you and me…”

“So did I.”

“What’re we going to do?”

He shrugged, “You’re the one taking her in.”

“You’re her friend too!”

“I don’t know, Taylor.” He said, rolling his shoulders, “I guess we’re going to be getting
an additional roommate.”
“Darn.”

He chuckled softly, “Don’t worry. She won’t be home half the time. We’ll have plenty of
our own nights.”

“That’s nasty.”

“That’s life.”

Trenton moved a hand off the wheel to take one of mine. He held our hands on his right
leg as he drove to my dad’s place.

Together we went off to meet one of my best friends.

Together we were off to begin the family of three that would become irreplaceable to me
later in life.

Together.

The word felt wonderful.

Trenton and Taylor.

Together.