Words Have a Way

Chapter 19

"Alright, it's my turn first!" Leo claimed as he poured everyone a drink. Leanne giggled and leaned against Kevin who was now wearing a t-shirt. He kissed the top of her head and put an arm around her. Leo sat down on the floor with everyone else and pushed his empty plate aside. "Okay. Never have I ever been approached by a hooker." Leo slowly looked around the room and then saw Melissa raise her glass followed by Kevin.

"Really?" Leanne asked to Kevin with wide smiling eyes.

"Three times actually. On the same day."

"Very well. Drink up," Julie said. She felt Jason's hand on her waist and put a hand on his knee. She watched as Kevin's face twisted and Melissa laughing before she did the exact same.

"Woah. Some strong one there," Kevin said. Leo lightly elbowed Leanne who sat next to him. After she refilled Melissa's and Kevin's glass, she then spoke.

"Never have I ever...tried pineapple on a pizza." Everyone except Leanne and Kevin raised their glass.

"Really? I'll buy you a pineapple pizza tomorrow and we will have it."

"Hmm, sounds like a date," she said with a smile.

"Oh really?" he whispered as he put his hands of her waist. Leanne quickly moved away and started laughing.

"No way. No tickling." Kevin raised his hands in surrender and chuckled to himself. Meeting her eye, he smiled. He slowly felt everything fade away and now she was the only thing he saw. She crawled back to him and kissed his cheek before they both continued with the game.

...

Kevin stood up and picked up a sleeping Leanne from the floor. After couple of hours of playing, she ended up getting drunk and falling asleep. "You okay there?" Louis asked him. He huffed and then put her across his shoulder.

"I'm good. Talk about not getting drunk," he said with a chuckle. "She is gonna have a killer headache tomorrow."

"Trust me, she has been through worse."

"Well, those should be nice stories to listen to. Anyways, I'm gonna get her up into bed. Goodnight guys."

After putting her into bed and putting the blanket around her, Kevin sat at her desk with the lamp on. He looked through her draw and took out a pen and plain pieces of paper. He gripped the pen in his hands and started to write what he could remember. First, he wrote the alphabet, both lower case and upper case. I guess I remembered now. He looked back at a sleeping Leanne and frowned. He knew that she would be angry at him if she found out the truth. He did know everything and he did go through the beatings from the orphanage, but he knew how to read and write perfectly. He had that education. He closed his eyes as he thought about what happened that night.

The night was cold and foggy. Kevin felt the cold against his bare back and shivered. "Be a man," he said to himself. "Be a man." He straightened his back and then carried on walking through the dark alley. He heard the heavy footsteps behind him and glanced back. They found him once again. Kevin quickly stated to sprint towards the exit but felt someone pull his hair back and he landed on the floor with a thud. One of the boys pinned him down on the floor and chuckled. Kevin started to breathe faster when the other two pinned his arms and legs down. He tried to move and run away but the fear overtook him and his body remained still. His surroundings was dark but he could still see the eyes smiling at him. He could smell the alcohol on the boy's body and felt sick.