Be Free, Be You

It was Mom and Mrs. Abram’s idea to have me move in with them for a week while Mom and Dad tried to work things out with Stephanie. I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop them. So, I’d packed up enough things to last me a week, luckily I didn’t have to pack that much considering I already had necessities like a toothbrush, shower things and deodorant already at Artie’s house.

I was admittedly upset about how things were going in my family; it’s not like I wanted my sister to hate me with every fiber of her being, but she was too naive for her own good. I missed having someone to tell secrets to, besides Santana, Brittany and Quinn. But obviously Steph wasn't good at keeping them considering the undeniable fact that she’d both used my biggest secret against me for her own good and then told my parents about it thinking she’d get off the hook.

I sighed and snuggled into the covers of Artie’s bed, he had the bedside lamp on and was reading a school book, Anthem by Ayn Rand. I had read it already, but instead of me giving him the summary he insisted on reading it himself. He had one arm curled around me, dressed in his pajamas, and the other cradling the novel.

His thumb traced absent minded circles on the side of me, and every time his thumb made another round I’d get goosebumps. It’s been two days since the big blow up at home, I hadn’t gone to school, but would have to eventually. Especially due to the fact that I had mandatory Cheerio practice tomorrow followed by a football game.

“Hey, if you want to go to sleep I can stop reading,” Artie mumbled as I looked up at him.

His parents let us sleep in the same bed as long as we kept the honesty between the four of us real; meaning that if we had sex and they asked about it we wouldn't lie to them. They let us sleep in the same bed also because even though they had originally set up the air mattress for me, I had moved into Artie’s bed in the middle of the night and when they’d come to wake us for breakfast, they saw.

I shook my head slowly at him before resting my cheek on his chest to listen to his heart beat. “It’s alright, you can read if you want to.”

He dogeared the book and closed it, turned off the light then scooted down to lay with me. “I can see that you're exhausted, go to sleep, Val.”

I sighed, “I literally laid in bed all day, how could I be exhausted?”

He smiled sadly and pecked my lips, “I know how much this fight is stressing you out.”

I shook my head and hushed him, “I don’t want to talk about it tonight.”

And with that we cuddled up together and let sleep take us away. In the morning I woke to find that his mom made us breakfast sandwiches, which we quickly devoured before I jumped in the shower and he began to get dressed.

The drive to school was short, and I couldn’t help but check my face and hair in my mirror every time we were at a stoplight. I had managed to pull my face together with a bit more makeup than usual, and my hair was cooperating, but I just felt off. Artie kept telling me we could turn around and that he’d stay home with me, so that we’d both miss the game and our own practices but I refused. We’d both get in serious trouble if we did skip on one of the most important games.

I tried to hide from the girls because I honestly wasn’t up to answering their undeniable questions, but of course Quinn found me anyway. She pulled me aside in the hallway after second period and smiled at me kindly. “We all know what happened. Stephanie snuck a phone call to Puck and he told everyone his version.”

“Well what’s his version?” I asked as I applied some lip gloss to my chapped puckers.

“Steph outed your bulimia/anorexia secret, you moved out to Artie’s house and hate her now,” she shrugged but then gasped, like she’d forgotten. “Oh, and apparently you’re pregnant with Artie’s kid. Which, everyone knows is false because Artie’s been defending you.”

I couldn’t help but let a small smile slip, “Well I did move out, but only until this all blows over, I’m still a virgin so pregnancy is impossible,” I laughed. “Unless I’m the new Virgin Mary and no one told me.”

Quinn laughed too, “Well, you’re back and now you can show everyone how to kiss your ass again.” We linked arms and walked to our next class together. I whispered my thanks to her for filling me in.

The class was a study hall so I just spent it trying to catch up on work I missed over the two days. I had zero motivation, and I was so tired the numbers and letters were jumbling together. Maybe I wasn’t quite ready to come back.