Later that night when I look for the room I’m staying in, I am in an extremely dark hallway when I hear a voice from behind me say, “You cut me off.”
“Nathan?”
“When you asked me this morning if I’d rather date someone older than me or younger, I didn’t get to finish.” It’s definitely Nathan.
“Oh, I’m sorry. What were you going to say?” I speak to the darkness.
“I said ‘older’, but what I was going to say after was, ‘if I had the choice between you and your sister, I’d choose you’.” I am shocked. I hear him walk closer to me.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything,” I jump back because the closeness of his voice startles me. I hear breathing close to my face. I start to back away from him, but he scoops me up in his arms before I can take my first step. “Nathan, what are you doing?”
“You’re really light,” he says. Being easy to carry is a scary thing because it means I don’t have a very good chance to get away. He walks deeper into the dark hallway. “Where are you tak-” he covers my mouth with his big hand. I smell the unmistakable scent of alcohol on his breath. I hear a door open, and we go into a room. I see Nathan’s face in the dim light; his eyes are wide and bloodshot. I look around and see light coming through the cracks in the bathroom door. He grabs my wrists really tightly and rips my clothes off me and throws me on the bed. He shoves his mouth on mine and pushes his tongue through my lips. I try screaming, but the air is forced back down my throat. He keeps his mouth on mine for so long that I feel light-headed from the lack of oxygen. I feel like I am about to pass out when he sits up. I start coughing. “Was that meant to be a kiss? Or were you trying to choke me?” I say defiantly. He runs his lips down my neck and continues down further and further passed my waist until they get too close to my private parts. I try to shove him off me, but that doesn’t work so I kick him hard and scream. Sam runs in the room and looks horrified as he sees Nathan sitting on top of my naked body. “Nathan!” He doesn’t respond. Sam runs up to us, grabs Nathan’s shoulders and throws him off the bed. I quickly slip my bra and underwear on over my naked body. Nathan gets up seemingly uninjured, and punches Sam’s jaw; Sam falls to the ground unable to get back up. That is the last straw: first me, and then my boyfriend and, more importantly, his brother. It is Nathan’s turn to get something. I jump off the bed and sprint hunched over straight at Nathan’s legs. His body is thrown to the side and his face hits the wall. He is on the ground propped up against the wall. “Get up.” Nathan just looks at me. “Get up,” I repeat sounding harsher than the first time. He gets up with some difficulty. I punch his jaw quite hard and his head jerks back and he loses his balance. My hand stings like crazy. Though it sounds bad, I feel better when I see blood slowly trickle down his cheekbone. “I hope you’re happy,” I say. I hope he regrets what he’s done. I shove him out the door and lock it once he’s out. I put my sweatpants on over-top of my underwear and I collapse on the floor, still feeling so scared and paralyzed. Although I’m scared, I must help my Sam. I slide my hands under his limp body and carry him to the bathroom. He must’ve been hit pretty hard to be unconscious. I lie him down in the bathtub because sitting him on the sink would result in him falling over. Poor kid. If positions were reversed and I was the one unconscious, Sam would be flipping out but since I’ve seen my sister go unconscious after being abused, I’m used to it. I get a hand towel and run it under water. I sit on the edge of the bathtub as I press the cloth to Sam’s split lip. With his eyes still closed, he smiles. “What’re you thinking about?” I say sweetly.
“You pressing the cloth to my face yesterday after you slapped me.” The smile disappears from his face as he says, “Are you alright? And don’t lie.”
“I’m going to be a girl for once and say no. Are you okay?”
“I must be a girl too then because I am not okay. I never thought my brother would do anything like that again.” The word ‘again’ sends a shiver down my spine, but he’s probably not thinking straight so it must’ve just slipped out. A tear falls down his cheek and I can tell that he is trying his best not to cry. “It’s only me. You can cry.” I smile even though he can’t see. He starts to cry with his eyes still closed. I get up and rinse the bloody cloth in the sink and hang it to dry. “Thanks for taking care of me,” he says.
“You wouldn’t’ve been in this situation if it weren’t for me so, I’m sorry Sam.”
“Stop. It’s not your fault. It was my choice because when I heard you scream, I could’ve ignored it. But I chose not to.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m sorry about my brother.”
“You can’t control him, so don’t apologize.” He opens his eyes and scans my bare chest. I look down and remember that I am only wearing a sports bra and sweatpants. He sees how uncomfortable I am, so he takes his shirt off. “Now we’re even,” he says holding his shirt in the air. I get in the tub with him and sit between his legs resting my head on his chest. He holds me in his arms, and I feel safe. “How’s your head?” I turn so I can see his face.
“It’s been better.”
“And your lip?” I ask touching the dried blood.
“It’s also been better.”
“I know what’ll make it feel better,” I say sounding flirty.
“Wha-” My lips on his interrupt him. It lasts for about three minutes. When I pull away, his eyes are still closed. “So…how does it feel?”
“I need some more,” he says as he sits up a bit. I kiss him again. Each kiss is better than the last. His long pants tickle my bare stomach and I start to laugh. He pulls away. “Why are you laughing?”
“Your pants are tickling me,” I laugh a bit as I say this realizing how weird it sounds. He lets go of me and yanks his pants off in one swift motion. I look away and I don’t know why.
“Problem solved.” It feels weird being so close to a half-naked boy. It felt more normal in the bed, but since we’re in the tub it feels a little awkward. He leans toward me and puts his hand on my cheek and guides my face forcing me to look at him. He looks into my eyes seeing what I think of it. I think I look pretty uncomfortable, so he grabs his pants and starts to put them on. I muster up the confidence to strip within a second. I pull my sweatpants off, and drop it them the floor. He looks at the grey piece of clothing that was originally covering me. He scans my body from head to toe not stopping anywhere in particular. I’m feeling pretty uncomfortable right now; I’m not going to lie. It’s not every day that I’m in a bathtub with a boy only wearing a sports bra and underwear. The cold air on my bare chest sends a shiver down my spine. He smiles. I think he knows how uncomfortable I feel, so he kisses my cheek and says, “With or without clothes, you are the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen.”
“Then you must not have seen very many girls.”
“Chloe, you truly are the most beautiful girl in the world.”
