Take Me With You

After Sabrina’s mom kicks me out of the house, I walk back home and punch a wall for a while. My knuckles start bleeding eventually so I stop and mope.

“Gee, baby brother. Something’s up your ass,” I hear Chase say from my doorway.

I look at him and roll my eyes. “Fuck off,” I bark.

“Oh, did you get in a fight with your little mistress, Sabrina?”

My eyes bug out and I ask, “How do you know about Sabrina?!”

“I saw you in bed with her this morning. I have to say, good job,” he says, laughing to himself. I throw him a sharp glance and flop onto my bed, making a grunting noise. “So, did you fight?”

I shake my head and say, “Her mom caught me hugging her and took it the wrong way.”

“Well, not exactly. You guys have done the nasty, a couple times. Maybe she could smell your-“

“Shut up! We have, you know, but I didn’t leave a smell on her! And, it’s been a lot more than a couple of times.”

“More than a couple of times? How many times would you estimate that you’ve had sex?”

I groan and mutter, “At least twenty one times.” I can practically hear his jaw drop.

“Jesus Christ! You’re in deeper than I thought! What, are you guys friends with benefits or something?” My expression is obviously disgusted, and before I can yell at him, he holds his hands up and says, “Okay, okay. Well, if you really like her as much as you think, you should go apologize to her mother.”

“How do you know that I even like her?”

“It’s pretty obvious. Not everyone punches a wall ‘til their knuckles bleed for someone they don’t have feelings for.”

I look at him like he’s a lunatic, but I get his point. I don’t trust him though. I trust only two people in the world. My best friend, Jordan, and my mom. Sabrina isn’t on that list because, well, neither of us knows if the other can be trusted.

“I’m going to sleep,” I mutter.

Chase leaves and I lay down, closing my eyes. I wake up at about three in the afternoon and sit up, glancing through my room. I sigh and walk out to the kitchen.

“Are you gonna go see your mistress now?” Chase asks when he sees me walk through the kitchen. I glare at him and take a huffing breath.

“I’m going to go see Jordan. I’ll be back in an hour,” I mutter, walking past Chase and out of the house.

Jordan, Sabrina, Mina, and I all live on the same street. Jordan lives next door to Sabrina and I live two houses from Mina. It’s a five minute walk down the street to get to their houses. Mina and Jordan have been together since sixth grade.

I’m at Jordan’s house within minutes and I pull the door open. He doesn’t care when I come over or what I do. I never ask before I come in. I just go.

“Jordan,” I call, “I need some help.”

He walks out of the kitchen with a donut hanging out of his mouth and gives me an acknowledging nod. I laugh and walk towards him, yanking the donut from his mouth and biting into it.

“Asshole!” he yells, grabbing the rest of the donut from my hands. “What do you need anyway?”

“It’s about Sabrina,” I say.

His expression softens and he says, “Ah, you and your lover. What is it this time? Trying to get her to believe that you really do love her?”

I hang my head and decide to start from the beginning, otherwise known as the party.

“She was drunk, and I knew it, I was too. But I couldn’t stop her, like, I physically couldn’t. I had sex with her and, well, she went home yesterday morning. I spent the rest of the day thinking about her and then I went to her house last night. Her mom found me in her room this morning and… Yeah,” I say, running my fingers through my hair.

Jordan’s face is a stone for a minute and then he asks, “You had sex again? Geez!”

I punch his arm and scowl at him. “You’re an ass. Seriously, what do I do? Chase said to apologize to her mom, but I don’t know how to do that.”

He laughs and says, “You seriously had sex again! Oh, my God!”

“Oh, my God, yes! Yes! Seriously, dude! I need help!”

“Okay, okay! You should go apologize. You don’t want to be on her mom’s bad side,” he says, smiling and eating the rest of his donut.

I nod and ask, “Should I go apologize now?”

He shrugs and says, “Whenever you feel comfortable with it.”

My eyebrows knit together and I mutter, “I’m going to go do it now. I want to make everything the way it should be.”

“Wait, it’s my turn for advice!” he says, flopping his arms around like they’re noodles to get my attention.

I laugh and ask, “What do you have to ask me, young man?”

“How do I propose to Mina without making it awkward?”

My eyes bug out and I shout, “You’re going to propose to Mina?!”

He sighs and says, “Yeah. I love her. How do I do it?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never proposed before,” I say, looking at him with wide eyes, “Are you sure about this? I mean, we’ve been expecting this for a while… But still.”

“I’m sure. I love her more than anything,” he says.

I sigh and say, “Just make it romantic. Girls love that shit.”

He laughs and shoos me away, saying, “Go fix your situation with your woman!”

I smile and turn, leaving the house and walking towards Sabrina’s. I can’t believe I have the balls to do this.

My finger presses the doorbell and I wait for a minute. When her mom sees me, she looks angry automatically. “If you’re here for my daughter, I want you to stay away from her,” she growls.

“Ma’am, I know what you think, but I didn’t do anything with her,” I lie, looking her in the eye. I’ve gotten really good at lying. “I’m sorry that I was there without permission from you. It won’t happen again.”

She glares at me and says, “I want you to go tell my daughter that you can’t see her anymore.”

I shake my head and mutter, “I can’t do that, Missus Hart. I care about her too much.”

Her face softens and she smiles at me. “Good, you care about her. You can continue seeing her. I just don’t want to catch you in bed with her. My daughter is a virgin and she will stay one until she is married. We’re a very Christian family, Luke,” she says.

I nod and say, “It won’t happen, ma’am. Thank you. I have to go now, but I’m hoping I can see her soon. Good-bye.”

I turn and leave the house, heading back over to Jordan’s.

“How did it go?” he asks when I walk in.

“Good. But she thinks that Sabrina is a virgin,” I mutter, plopping onto the couch.

Jordan almost doubles over laughing and sits next to me, turning on his television. “You’re fucked now,” he says, laughing and falling over.

I glare at him and snatch the remote from his hands. He fights to get it back as I skim through channels, but I deflect each of his tries.

I laugh and shove him away, stopping on SyFy. There’s some documentary about space on.

“I dislike you very much right now,” Jordan growls, punching me in the arm. I laugh and get bored quickly.

“I’m going home. I’ll see you later,” I say, standing up and leaving the house. I walk slowly back to my house and flop onto my bed, closing my eyes and drifting off.

Two weeks pass slowly. I spend most of the time sleeping and talking with Jordan. I haven’t see Sabrina since before I apologized to her mom, but we’ve been texting.

I hear my phone going off. I look over at it and see that it’s a text from Sabrina.

You have to get me out of this house. Please.

My eyebrows knit together and I respond, Why? What’s wrong?

My mom is being really mean to me. She’s drunk again.

Her mom is drunk? You can come over here. Want me to come walk you?

Please. I’m scared that she won’t let me leave.

I’ll be there soon.

I run out of my house, not listening to Chase’s questions. When I reach her house, I can see both her and her mom through their open window. I can hear them yelling, and without warning, her mom smacks her.

“Hey!” I bark, running over. Sabrina sees me and jumps out of the window, landing flawlessly in front of me.

“Let’s just go,” she says. I nod and wrap my arms around her waist, pulling her away with me.

She grips my arm as we walk to my house. I don’t say anything and neither does she. There’s really nothing that I could say.

Of course, Chase opens the door for us. “So, you want to tell me why you’re attracted to my little brother?” he asks, pulling us inside.

“Not in the mood, Chase,” I bark. She glares at Chase and rests her head on my chest. I feel her take a shaky breath.

“You okay?” I ask, holding her lightly.

She shrugs and I sigh, pulling her out of the foyer and into my room so we can get away from Chase.

“Do we have to talk about it?” she whispers.

I shrug and say, “No, we can do whatever you want.”

She holds onto me tightly, burying her face in my chest. We lay on the bed, our arms wrapped around each other.