She Will Be Loved

I woke up early. I was up way before Erik was. It was 7:48. I had about an hour until he wakes up. I laid on the couch and watched TV for a while. Some thoughts were racing by, while others lingered in my mind, good and bad. I should tell Erik about my mom, he’s bound to ask sooner or later. He’s done so much for me in such little time, this is the least I could do for him. Maybe I’ll make some waffles, he loves waffles. I stood up and walked into the kitchen (somewhat zombie like). Ten minutes later Erik was down the stairs and in the living room. The noise from the TV was silenced, and right as I pulled off the last waffle from the iron, and he walked into the kitchen.
“Joslin?” he murmured. Erik stood next to me. “What’re you doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep really. I made waffles.” His smile lit a light inside of me, so I simply had to smile back.
“Why couldn’t you sleep?” This was a moment where I had to decide. Do I tell him now, or should I wait?
“Um, I just had a lot on my mind.” Which was true. I didn’t lie this time.
“You want to talk about it?” There was silence. Deafening silence.
“I’ll tell you later…” I knew it would be hard but it would have to be done eventually. Erik nodded understandingly. I gave him his waffle (of which I added chocolate chips because I know he loves them) and he smiled.
“I praise you!” he yelled as he made his way to the living room with the plate. We weren’t eating in the dining room for once. Instead we watched TV and ate our waffles. I kept glancing over at Erik, he never caught my eye. I tried to figure out how I was going to tell him… I hope he’ll understand… we sat for a while. When we both had finished our breakfast, I began.
“We need to talk.” He looked at me for a second, and turned the TV off.
“What’s up?” he wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked more like he was concerned, or worried, maybe even afraid.
“I need to tell you a few things…” my voice was slow and sounded nervous, to me at least.
“Go on.”
“Well…” hesitation on my part. “Allison, for starters. She uh…. She’s a prostitute.” His eyes grew twice their regular size. Surprisingly I found it funny. “And she’d use me too.. She’d lock me in my room with her clients, and let them do as they please with me. She beat me sometimes while she was drunk. She’s the reason I don’t usually trust men.” This was easier than I thought. It was easy talking to him, but it hurt to have him know. “I never really had any friends. They all left me in fourth grade when I started showing up at school smelling like tobacco and beer. They told me we couldn’t be friends anymore. Stupid Lindsey and Amy and Nicole. Lilly stuck around for a while longer, but soon she left too. I became a loner. I started to run off places, but I never went far because I was scared. I didn’t tell you all of this because I never thought we’d be so close, or that you’d end up being my best friend. I thought you know now… before she comes back. Because if she takes me away, I want you to know my story. He must’ve thought of how hard it is for me to come clear, because he scooted over and put his arm around me and played with my fingers.
“Joslin… I’m so sorry about that. I know you’ve been trying to forget. I see it in your eyes every time you cry. But from what you’ve gone through, and how much you’ve seen, you are the strongest girl I’ve met.” I looked up from my hands, which I’ve been staring at for some time now. “She will never take you away. If she did, I would search to the ends of the earth until I found you, and I would never stop.” I smiled. He was like my personal sun, when the world’s dark for me and the clouds start to roll in, he lights up my sky.