History In The Making

It took us two days of straight through driving to get back to Oakland. Chris didn't want to stop for hotels because of the wait, so we just switched on and off with each other. One of us drove while the other one of us slept. It was a long and tedious process, but we finally made it and we were both safe.

Chris pulled up outside his mother's house. I had never met any of Chris's family and I'm not sure of how they would perceive me. The student that ran away with him, causing him to lose his job and create problems for both him and myself. I think if you said that I was nervous, that would be an understatement.

Chris never talked about his parents much to me. All I know was that they divorced when he was twelve and his mother remarried two years after that with a man that him and all of his siblings couldn't stand. Chris said he was the biggest asshole he'd ever met and I never pushed him to tell me more than that.

Now, we sat quietly in his car, staring at the red door of the tannish house. I gulped nervously and shifted my gaze to my hands which were fidgeting frantically, a habit I had picked up from Chris a long time ago. Chris, knowing my nervousness, reached over and placed his hand on my knee.

"It'll be okay. They'll love you." He gave me a reassuring smile that I tried to return, but miserably failed at it. He sighed and grabbed one of my hands with his, either to stop me from fidgeting or to reassure me further. I took a deep breath and looked back up at the door and over to Chris.

"We don't have to stay the night here do we?" I asked, the strain in my voice coming out more than I intended. He chuckled and looked at the house again.

"No, I'm the youngest of six kids. There's only four bedrooms. Unless you want us to share a room with one of my brothers or sisters, I will find another place to stay." He looked at me and grinned. I grinned back and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "Come on then." He opened the car door and stepped out. I took another deep breath and followed him out of the car and to the front door.

Chris took my hand as he rang the doorbell. I held my breath, listening to shouts and footsteps coming from behind the door. I suddenly found a new fascination with my shoes and stared at them, counting the scuff marks on the rubber tops. I heard the door open and felt Chris squeeze my hand, indicating that I should look up and smile. I did just that.

"Chris?" Somebody, who I assumed to be one of Chris's sisters, asked astonishingly. I released the breath that I realized I was still holding and looked up at his sister. She was taller than he was, with blond hair that was just above her shoulders. She had a slender figure and her makeup and clothes looked expensive. She could have been a model.

"Hey Sara." I heard Chris say. I couldn't stop staring at how beautiful she was. She looked over to me, catching my stare and I quickly looked away, my cheeks burning up. I heard Chris chuckle again. "This is my girlfriend Charlie." I looked back at her and gave her a small smile.

"It's nice to meet you Charlie. I've heard so many things about you." I knew exactly what she meant, but she didn't say it in any sort of snide way.

"It's nice to meet you too. I'm sorry but Chris hasn't told me anything about his family really." I gave her another small smile and she chuckled, just like Chris did.

"Yeah, I don't blame him. We're a pretty messed up bunch of people." She winked at me and turned back to Chris. "Why don't you guys come in? Everyone is here already." Chris squeezed my hand again and I followed them both inside.

I was lead into what I assumed was a living room. There were tons of people sitting in it. Some on the two couches and a couple curled up in a recliner. I stood there awkwardly behind Chris, trying to hide myself from them. Normally I'm not a very shy person, but this was a pretty big deal for me.

"Chris!" I heard a male voice shout. One of the guys that was sitting on the couch stood up and walked over to Chris, enveloping him into a hug. It looked like they hadn't seen each other for years.

"Hey, David." Chris grinned at him. I could also tell this was one of his brothers. He looked like Chris, except he was much taller and his hair was cut shorter and was a light brown. He had brown eyes, instead of Chris's green ones. I then realized that everyone in the room was staring at me and they were all gorgeous.

"Who's this?" David asked, shoving Chris aside and grinning at me. I felt my cheeks burn up again and looked down at my feet to avoid his gaze.

"This is my girlfriend Charlie." Chris announced in front of everyone. I swallowed down the knot in my throat and held my hand out for David to shake. He gave me a warm smile, and quickly clapped Chris around the shoulder.

"You've got a looker here Chrisy! Don't let her go or else I might snatch her up!" He was so enthusiastic, turning back towards me to give me a slight wink. Apparently it was possible for my cheeks to become even more red.

"Ha!" I heard from where I assumed was the kitchen. I turned my attention towards the noise to see a man, that looked nothing like anybody else in the room, walk out and cross his arms over his chest. He was bigger than Chris (who in here wasn't) and had dark brown hair that was receding. He was broad shouldered and had muscles which you could easily see from the tight t-shirt he was wearing that didn't fit his age. "From what I've heard, she already caused him enough trouble." I started chewing the inside of my cheek and looked back down at my feet. This was exactly what I was afraid of.

"Cut it out Brad. That was my decision." Chris bit back at him. I felt an arm snake around my waist and give me a slight squeeze.

"You're decision to be on the news about running away with one of your students? Well that's not surprising at all. Isn't she a little young for you anyway Chris?" The venom was apparent in his voice. I started fidgeting with the hem of my shirt, knotting it around my fingers and twisting it every direction.

"Yes, it was my decision. It's my business and not yours, so stay out of it or I'll-" Brad cut him off.

"Or you'll do what? You're a pussy." I just knew there was a smirk plastered on Brad's face as he said this. I knew what Chris was talking about when he said his step-father was an asshole. The entire room was silent. I heard someone else walk into the room, obviously not knowing what was going on.

"You're a fucking asshole Brad. You always have been and you always will be. Just stay out of mine and Charlie's life and everything will be SO much better." I felt another squeeze around my waist before his arm dropped and he took a step in front of me. I looked up to see what was going on. I saw them, both standing in positions that looked like they were ready to attack.

"An asshole am I?" Brad grinned, closed the gap and swung a fist at Chris. Chris ducked and threw a punch of his own, clocking Brad in the side of the head so hard that he stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet and falling over. I heard something drop and looked over to the new person that had entered the room. She looked older and was holding a pan of rolls that were now dispersed across the floor.

"Let's go Charlie. I'm not going to deal with this right now." He grabbed my hand and started to lead me out. I heard Brad get up and felt another, tighter, grip on my wrist, pulling me around to face Brad myself.

"She and you aren't going anywhere. I'm not finished yet." He seethed and pulled me so I was next to him. His grip on my wrist hurt like hell and was getting even tighter. My body stiffened as his other hand came up to brush my hair. I closed my eyes, hoping he would go away. He didn't. "You are pretty, aren't you?"

"Don't lay a hand on her you ass!" I heard Chris snap at him. Brad's grip tightened even more to the point where I was whimpering in pain, desperately trying to get his hand off of my wrist.

"Or what?" Brad barked and grabbed my chin in his hands forcefully. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Or I'll-" Chris was cut off again.

"No." I heard David say. He grabbed Chris's shoulder to keep him from attacking Brad. Chris's other brother, or I'm assuming, came to step next to me, eying Brad up and down. I felt Brad's grip loosen and I pulled my hand free, quickly clutching it in the other one to massage my wrist.

"Fine. Whatever, but I'm not done just yet." I heard Brad say. The other man stepped closer to him, crossing his arms over his chest. He was clearly bigger than Brad and well built. He could be a football player for all I knew. He was huge.

"You're done. Just turn around and go Brad." The man said sternly, glaring at Brad who sucked in a breath, gave Chris and me a death glare and turned and walked away. I felt Chris's hand grab mine and he started pulling me again.

"Come on let's go." He whispered in my ear, quickly turning around to face the bigger guy. "Thanks Keith. For everything." He said to Keith and turned with me in tow. We walked out of the house and up to Chris's car, quickly getting into it. "Mother fucker!" Chris screamed and slammed his fists against the steering wheel. "If he ever fucking touches you like that again, I swear I'll fucking kill him!" Chris gripped the wheel tightly, to the point where his knuckles were turning white.

"Chris, calm down." I whispered. I realized that this was the first time I had ever been truly scared of Chris. I knew he could get angry, but I had never in all the time I've known him, seen him this angry.

"Calm down? You want me to fucking calm down?" He seethed at me. "Charlie, did you not just see what happened!?" I looked down to my hands, away from Chris's gaze. I noticed that my right wrist started to bruise in the shape of Brad's hand. I grimaced at the thought of it. I heard Chris sigh and grab my hand with one of his. "Okay." He took another deep breath. "Okay, I'm calming down." He gave me a reassuring smile again and squeezed my hand.

"Let's just go. I know a really nice hotel that isn't that expensive. I just want to sleep in an actual bed and put this all behind us until tomorrow. Please?" I pleaded with my eyes. His eyes instantly softened and he nodded, turning the key in the ignition and pulling back out of the driveway. I sighed and sat back in my seat, taking glances every once in a while at my wrist to see the bruise getting darker.

This was going to be a long trip.