It all started with a game

Chapter 20.1

Beatrice stepped into the shower with me, her clothes quickly becoming soaked and forming to the shape of her body. She pulled me down to the floor with her, the stream of water flowing directly between us. She scooted closer to me, hiding her bare feet beneath my thighs, staring anywhere but directly at me. I sighed, resting my head against the back wall. She still hates me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

I shook my head. "I don't know."

I didn't want to talk about it, but I did want to tell her about it. I wanted her to know everything. But I didn't know how to talk about it.

I stared at Beatrice, the only person I know who would willingly jump into a pool with a dress on, or step into a shower with her pajamas on. No one else would do that, not even Mateo. He would just laugh and call me crazy for getting my clothes wet.

"My mother had an affair." I started, telling her the story as if it were my fathers and not my own.  As if I had been a mere spectator in the whole ordeal. "He found out the night he passed away."

"You dad?" She whispered softly, resting her chin on her knees as she listened to me.

I nodded. "They were screaming at each other in the kitchen because he found out she had a child he never told her about. He already knew about the affair but he didn't know about Kavinski."

"My mother begged him to stay, but he told her he was leaving and that he would be back soon to take me and Alexia with him." I left out the part where I'd been there, hiding behind the cabinet because I'd heard all the yelling and came down to investigate; I left it out because if I said it, then it would be my story, and I didn't want to relive it again. I didn't want it to be my story.

"He ran over a pothole and lost control of the car. He hit a light pole going 130 mph and died on impact. It split his car clean in two." I swallowed hard, staring at a single tile on the bathroom wall.

Beatrice took a long breath, as if processing what I'd said. She untucked her feet from beneath me, crawling over to me and resting her back against my chest so that she was placed between my legs, her feet fully exposed. "Thank you for telling me." She leaned her head back, resting it on my shoulder. "And if you decide you want to talk about it, I'm not going anywhere." She replied knowing full well that this wasn't me talking about it; it was me giving her the facts, but it was a start.

She closed her eyes, looking so peaceful as if this spot had been made for her.

We stayed like that until the shower water ran cold, finally deciding that we should probably get out before we freeze, or waste anymore water for that matter.

I finished drying my hair, glancing at the mirror. The clothes I was supposed to borrow from Klaus were gimongous, they practically swallowed me whole. I have never felt insecure about my body before but this was just sad. I looked scrawny in his clothes. Maybe I should go to the gym more often. I go a couple times a week with Mateo but we may have to bump it up to everyday if I ever wanted to reach Klaus's level—so then I could stand next to him without feeling like a tiny larva.

I made it back to Beatrice's bedroom. She was laid across her bed, dangling upside down off the side as she read her book. She had changed before me; her socks were first to go on.

Beatrice lowered—or perhaps raised, considering she was upside down—her book, scanning my body. Her eyes lit up, the corner of her lip tugging ever so slightly. As much as I wanted to say I hated that look, I really missed it.

"Don't even think about it," I demanded, knowing exactly what she was about to say.

Her smile grew, her teeth sparkling as she giggled, the corner of her eyes creasing. "You look like a toad."