Forever and Goodbye

Lindsey’s smile was radiant as her soft pink lips left her porcelain tea cup. She was a young thing, I estimated around 25 years, with luscious golden locks, and a bloated belly to boot. She was beautiful, with a heart as gold as her shoulder length hair, and with a husband who doted on her with insurmountable love. Taylor was sitting next to her now, all smiles as he stroked her pregnant stomach for the fiftieth time since I had sat down in their pristine kitchen. They were quite the adorable couple, and seeing them so happy made me wish for something more, but life as I knew it had never smiled kindly upon my face, and so my wishes were more of a distant dream I could never attain.
Taylor and Lindsey Flowers were Jake’s next door neighbours, and by neighbour I mean they lived down the road from the crummy apartment I was currently residing in. Lindsey had found me the morning after my escapade as I had left my motel room, cursing at myself for having gotten lost in this tiny, deserted town. She had rolled down her window, shined her bleached smile my way, and asked where I was heading. After hearing I practically lived next door, she had driven me home, and we had become fast acquaintances: the closest thing I had to a friend in this desolate atmosphere.
I had welcomed her opened hand as she introduced herself, and laughed at her soothing remarks, and she had left me at Jakob’s door with an invitation to visit her home. I had met Taylor the next day, as I rang the doorbell to their beautiful white and baby blue home, and I instantly fell in love with my distant friendship with these beautiful people. Taylor had auburn hair which he kept cropped and out of his eyes. He had the faintest signs of auburn stubble upon his strong jaw, and his mahogany eyes always seemed to be alive and full of laughter. It made my heart jump of joy to see how two people could be so happy together, and so I made a habit of dropping by late afternoons when nobody else bothered to say ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’.
“So,” Taylor began, “how do you like your stay in New Haven? Beautiful place, is it not?” I pondered this for a moment, dragging my eyes away from his wife’s swollen belly to his deep, almost red eyes.
“It is beautiful,” I half-whispered; I meant it, the town had a very Victorian look to it, with its odd architecture and snowy streets. The creepers had been covered by a thin layer of snow, now, but I could still remember those red and green vines hanging from the brick buildings with such beauty it made my breath catch in the right lighting.
“I just often feel lonely. My friends are scarcely home, so I'm left alone to myself.” I added respectfully, as Lindsey’s face had turned worried from my previous answer. At this, her smile returned valiantly, as she patted my left hand.
“I understand, dear, being alone all the time can become very depressing. But now you've got us. And you've got your friends, right? Don’t they ever bring you with them?” I smiled gravely, but squeezed her hand.
“No. They just leave. Most of the time they leave early and come home late, so I barely even talk to them; and they never let me come along. They always just spit back an excuse and leave. Even Callie… She just seems to be pushing away.” I had told them about my quarrels with Callie, although I omitted obvious details. We had not really argued since that night, although she seemed to be ignoring me. Everyone has seemed to be ignoring me these days, except Jake, of course; but he did it to be nice, and barely spoke to me as it is. Callie had taken to sleeping in his room, which I had never entered before, and that alone worried me enough.
“Maybe she just needs time. It seems like you two need to talk things over.” Lindsey said, her smile dropping into a thoughtful frown.
“Perhaps. I just wish I knew where she was off to these days, you know?” I shook my head as Lindsey’s eyes perked up, and I could almost taste her mischievous grin.
“I think,” she paused, “that it may be time for a little reckon on your part.”
“What do you mean?” I whispered back, slightly nervous.
Her smile somehow managed to widen, as Taylor neatly stacked our empty china cups and saucers and casually walked to the counter, leaving the girl talk to us females.
“Well, I happen to know where Jake goes off sometimes to think. We used to be pretty close, as we were childhood friends at some point. He took me there once, he was actually my first kiss.”
Taylor grunted, and chuckled enviously. I turned and looked at him, and again to Lindsey with questioning eyes.
“Oh, don’t mind him. Taylor doesn't like Jake very much, although I must admit he’s changed a great deal since he was a child.” Her eyes clouded over and we remained silent for a moment as she reminisced, but the wait was not long, and soon after she was grinning again, with that rebel glint in her eyes.
“Anyway; there’s an abandoned church a little ways out of town. It’s in the middle of a creepy forest, and scarcely anybody ever ventures there. People ‘round here say it’s haunted, and most are too superstitious to go there. So Jakob made it his own. I would bet a good hundred that’s where your friends are headed to every day.”
She let me ponder this as she checked her watch.
“Oh! Taylor, it’s 3:40! We’ll be late for the ultrasound! Sorry, Tara, but we've got to run; I'm really excited to see my baby! I can’t wait to know if it’s a boy or a girl!”
I smiled back at her, moving closer to rest a hand on her stomach. It was hard and warm, and I swear I could feel a small flutter moving around in there. “Then I’ll leave you to it. Let’s pray for happy news!”
I bid my farewells and began walking the short block that separated Taylor and Lindsey’s beautiful home to Jake’s sullen apartment building. Callie and the boys had been home nearly two days, now, but I knew tomorrow morning they’d be off again and out of sight. I considered Lindsey’s option as I walked into the apartment, and I grew nervous as Callie watched me enter: could she know what I was plotting? No, that was madness. That secret was safe in the care of Lindsey and her husband, and I trusted their word. I sat down next to Callie and chucked my coat onto the floor. I caught glance of Connor making himself a sandwich in the kitchen as he barely bothered to break his concentration. Since the night he had cuddled me to sleep, he had not said a word; not one word concerning the fight, and habitual comments as we watched the game a few nights later were absent. He avoided me with such passion it seemed studied: too obvious that it had to be deliberate, and that made me livid. Everything he did now seemed to grind on my nerves, making me dislike him less and less. The way he refused to clean up after his shower, the way he brought home all sorts of slutty girls years younger than I. The way he shaved his face, splattering shaving cream all over the floor, and even his ridiculous hats. I had yet to see farther than his eyes, and had not even as much as glanced at a strand of his hair. How ridiculous was that?
At this precise moment, as I stared angrily in Connor’s distasteful direction, Callie put her finger to my chin and brought my face to hers.
“How was your day?” She whispered innocently, licking her lips with complete grace. Her breath was as sweet as honey, and the proximity of her full lips made me hungry for a taste.
“It was great. Had tea at the Flowers’; Lindsey went to her get her Ultrasound.” I could not believe it. This was the most she had interacted with me since she had hit me, and the sound of her sweet, thick voice was enough to make me melt.
“That’s great, honey. I'm glad to see you've made friends.” She paused and glided her finger from my chin to my jaw line, like a painter, tracing her paintbrush on silk. Her slim finger lingered down to my lips, still cold from outside, and began tracing their subtle outline. She was a goddess, and I was not worthy of her attention, but I could not look away; her lustful stare held me in place.
“You’re trembling.” Another wave of thick mint hit my face, making me dizzy.
“I'm cold,” I replied meekly. She smirked and put her warm hands on my hips, sliding under my sweater to finally rest on my thin waist. Callie then cracked a devilish grin. “Let me warm you up, then.” She squealed for the world to hear, bringing her open mouth to mine. She kissed me so deeply I forgot to breathe, and as she pulled away I gasped for air with all of my lungs, and smiled.
“I missed your kisses.” I whispered for her ears only: Connor was still in the kitchen, frying some bacon as a typical male would do.
Callie pushed me unto the couch-bed, letting her hands crawl slowly up my back, and around to my stomach. There she paused and smiled like I had seen her do a million times, a smile I knew meant a thousand words without making so much as a sound. “I hope you have missed much more than that.”
The moment after, Callie was settling herself on top of my body, caressing my curves with yearning hunger; and as she raised her hands up my bodice, I caught a gurgling sound from Connor’s throat, betraying his silence. He had raised his head from his bacon and had a home-made BLT halfway to his mouth, but stood frozen there, watching Callie delicately remove my black sweater and t-shirt. I was down to my bra by the time Connor decided to quietly excuse himself, but I didn't care if he gawked. Callie had deigned to touch me for the last two weeks, and she was now all mine. No one was going to take away this moment. A happiness that I hadn't felt for a long time filled me as I brought her lips to mine; and I kissed those perfect lips like I had never kissed before, and I let her heat burn away every doubt that had ever entered my mind.

We finished late in the night leaving my cheeks flushed red and my lips sore from insistent kisses. Callie was at my side and I cradled her body to mine, hoping this moment would never end. Nevertheless, I was slowly drifting to sleep, and so I barely registered her taking my arm away from her naked breasts to gather her clothing and slowly get dressed.
I rolled over as she pulled an Avenged Sevenfold shirt over her flawless shoulders, and a pair of Hello Kitty night shorts over her laced lavender underwear. She was gorgeous in her pajamas, she always was, with her face deprived of tons of make-up and her hair an untamable mess.
“Where are you going, honey?” I called out sleepily, fighting my heavy eyelids.
“Just to Jake’s room,” she smiled as if it was the most normal thing in the world. I shivered.
“Why would you do that when I'm right here?”
She tilted her head sideways and let out a crystalline laugh. “Tara, you silly girl; you know we’re leaving early tomorrow. I don’t want to wake you.”
I grimaced in frustration, rising from my pillow to a sitting position, facing the girl I had just spent hours making love to.
“The hell with waking me, Cal. Just take me with you. What do you have to hide that’s so horrid?”
Her face then distorted to the pitying smile she had given me that night, and she shook her head in disbelief.
“You never understand, do you? You’re my dirty little secret, my whore, if you want. Why would I ever want to take you out in public? So everybody knows I pity fuck you?”
I stared at her silently, the happiness I had so strongly felt visibly draining from my features. She laughed a cold smile and padded away to Jake, slamming the door when she got there. I sat here in silence for the longest of time, smoking cigarette after cigarette, staring at the cream colored bra she had left lying on the floor. I felt empty, deprived of feeling, disconnected from the events that had just passed, yet the tears did not come. And neither did Connor to save my poor spirit from crumbling. He came out of his room once, to grab a cigarette, about a half hour after Callie had left me with her cutting words. He had stopped and stared at my naked back. I could feel his eyes on me, registering every scarlet mark Callie’s manicured hands had left in our moments of ecstasy, but I did not move; not until he had the decency to clear his throat, and then I only had the strength to pull the blanket up to my breasts, covering them with soft forest green.
I remember the words he uttered to me as he lit his smoke and disappeared into the night, they had stung so fiercely I could barely contain myself as he left.
“I see you've been demoted from fuck buds to prostitute.” I looked up to his blue eyes, shocked that he was speaking to me. “I gather her kisses were enough payment for you: I always guessed you to be a cheap slut, and I guess tonight proved me right.” He chuckled as he turned and faded to darkness, leaving me seething with hatred, clutching the damp blankets to my chest.
Tomorrow I will follow them, I swore to myself. I was getting to the bottom of this disgusting affair, no matter the consequences.