Finding Eve

Chapter 10: Everything Changing, for the Better

"I don't want to leave you here alone though." After Drake and I raced into the dorm, it only took a second for me to look at Jenny's stomach and decide she needed to go to a hospital. Drake offered to drive, and we'd been here ever since. My sister, the stupidest person in the world, went straight to the airport after getting beaten up. She went on a six hour plane ride instead of a twenty minute drive to a hospital in New York. She insisted she wasn't in pain, and needed to get away from our mom. Still though, stupidest person in the world.

She immediately shook her head. "I'll be fine, Eve. I've seen you more hurt and you turned out alright." I glanced at Drake who sat in the chair next to Jenny's bed, and was relieved to see he was asleep, his hand holding his face up.

"I'm only alright around you, Jenny," I sighed.

She giggled. "That's not true, not anymore. You're getting better," her eyes flickered over to Drake, "He's making you better." I thought I saw the smallest twitch of Drake's lips, but I ruled it as a sleep-deprived hallucination.

I looked back over at Jenny, saw the bandages wrapped around her rib cage, and I felt the anger from earlier surge back inside me. I fought at the rage, wanting to save it for the people who did this, but my god it was difficult.

Looking at her wide, innocent, blue eyes that looked so beautiful, so much more beautiful when not surrounded by bruises, I wanted so badly to hurt everyone that made them look like this. I saw her tiny button nose that was a little red from the tissues, her light pink lips that were chapped and about to crack. I looked at her caramel brown hair that she usually, like now, had tied up in a bun, but would fall just past her shoulders when she let her hair down.

My lip trembled. I thought about how unfair it was to her to have such a terrible mother. How now she wasn't just an alcoholic, a deadbeat, but an abuser. I thought about how Jenny had to grow up without a dad, a cowardly man who left seven years after my mother's second pregnancy, when I was ten years old. All because he decided that the 20 year old that lived next to us was worth giving up his family.

"You deserve so much better," I whimpered finally, burying my head in my hands. It wasn't like how I cried in front of Kate, because then I was crying about what happened to me. Now, I was crying about my sister, someone I cared about more than myself.

I felt Jenny's hand on my shoulder, and her soft voice in my ear, the same voice that calmed me the night of the party. The night I limped into our house with bloody feet from running so fast, makeup running down my face, smeared in a sick design. She didn't even ask what happened, just held me in a tight embrace. She washed my face that night, put my pajamas on, fed me soup, tucked me into bed.

"That's it, there you go. Let all those stupid tears out. Those are the things that keep you from being happy," she whispered in my ear now, the same thing she said to me all those months ago. "I know everything feels pointless right now, so dark. But after all this crying, all those stupid tears, you're due for some happiness. A lot of it too. Wait for that. This is your recovery."

♕♕♕

For the first time since I came to this school, everything seemed, wrong. I walked through the front doors, and was shocked by my feelings of detachment. Everything, everyone, it all felt pointless. So unimportant. I heard people arguing about sports, movies, classes. My sister was in the hospital. She had two broken ribs.

I drifted through the day like this, class after class, I didn't pay attention to anything.

What did get my attention, however, was someone slapping my butt as they walked by me on my way back to my dorm. My fists clenched as I saw that it was Kyle, and he did what looked like a victory dance in front of me, sticking his tongue out with a big asshole smile. When he turned back around though, I watched as he was met by Drake's fist.

The impact was heard around the hallway, and my mouth broke into a smile as Kyle stumbled. Drake and I made eye contact, and I had to say it was probably the most romantic thing to happen to me. We held each other's eyes as Kyle stormed Drake, and was tripped by Kate who was walking by with James.  Kyle face-planted in the grass.

Drake thanked Kate, then put his foot on Kyle's back. Drake leaned his body against the wall, his side holding his weight. I moved towards them and pecked him on the lips, while Kyle groaned from under his weight. "Before I deal with this Sorry Excuse For a Human Being," he glared at Kyle, then looked back up at me. "I was wondering..." he paused, "If you'd like to be my girlfriend?"

My eyes opened a fraction of an inch wider, and I felt a laugh escape my lips. His dark blue eyes looked at me innocently, like a kid asking his mom for dessert. His lips were pulled into a half smile, and I had a feeling he knew how ridiculous this was.

"I know it's been a crazy few months for you, and yesterday kind of flipped your world upside down, but I'd like to be part of the group that puts your world right. And I want to be able to really hurt assholes like this one," he put more weight onto Kyle, without breaking eye contact with me, "that put their hands on you. And I want to be the only person allowed to touch your beautiful body, and kiss your perfect lips," his smile grew wider and I had a feeling he was imagining my lips. "And stare into your stunning eyes with all that scary eye makeup and know that you are my girlfriend. I understand if this is too much for you right now, and I might be doing this all wrong, but I've never felt this way about anyone before, and I don't think I ever will again."

So as I stood there, my heart hammering in my chest, wondering if I was ready for this, and worried thoughts about my sister running around my head, I felt my lips break into a smile. And the hint of uncertainty I saw in Drake's eyes, dissolved the second he saw my face. "I'd love to be your girlfriend," I muttered quietly, the smile still on my face. I think it took a second for Drake to realize what I said, but when he did his eyes widened in surprise, and a beautiful smile appeared on his face.

"Really?" He asked in a breathy voice. I nodded my head and he quickly cupped his hands around my face, his lips hastily moving towards mine. I was vaguely aware of Kate squealing from beside us, but all I paid attention to was Drake. I was certain he could feel how fast my heart was beating, and I would have been shy about it had his not been beating just as fast.

"Are you having a heart attack?" He whispered when we broke apart.

I giggled. "I think that's your heart."

We stepped apart, but our hands remained together. Drake gave me another lingering kiss, and a breathtaking smile, before turning his attention back to Kyle, his eyes immediately hardening.

"Alright, listen here, you little prick. If you ever lay another filthy hand on this beautiful woman, I'll break both of your legs. And if you think I'm bluffing, then you're even dumber than you look because I will do anything for her."

I felt a blush crawl up my neck just as Kate starting patting Drake on the back. "Well done," Kate said, and she winked at me when Drake turned away, which just made me blush more.

Drake glanced over at me, and lowered his voice so the crowd around us couldn't hear. "The school day's only halfway over, wanna ditch? We could go visit Jennifer."

I nodded, and while looking at his smile, seeing how genuinely excited he seemed to be about visiting my sister, I realized that Drake was perfect.

∞