"My crotch hurts." I whine, climbing into the bed that I have to share with Koleton as he changes his outfit.
"Yeah, that'll happen." He lets out a laugh, drying his hair with the towel from his shower.
"I feel disgusting." I roll over, my hair falling in front of my face as I stare at the ceiling. "Do you think if I pray then it'll help me?"
"Depends on what you pray about." He murmurs, walking over to the bed. "You can't pray your dirty thoughts away."
"That's not what I meant, asshole." I sit up, turning to him as he sits down next to me. "I mean your family seems so certain about how God can cleanse me of all my issues. Do you think it'll work?"
"It could." He shrugs, looking up at me. "I don't know though, I haven't prayed in a while. Tomorrow will be my first time going to church since I left here."
"So you only go to church here? You do know that churches are a worldwide thing, right?" I furrow my eyebrows and he smiles.
"No, I mean I'm just a completely different person when I'm here." He shakes his head, looking down at his hands. "I feel as if anything I do will end badly when I'm here. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, I can almost do anything wrong and you'll forgive me."
"Yeah, I don't know why I'm like this. It just kind of happens to be one of my many quirks." I shake my head, letting out a sigh.
"What are the others?" Koleton asks as I stand up and walk towards the dresser.
"Just small things, too many to talk about in one night. Besides, we have church tomorrow."
"Oh come on, just one." He pouts, causing me to turn around and look at him.
"We have a lifetime, Koleton. Tonight won't matter in a few years." I shake my head, tying my hair up into a ponytail. "I'll tell you almost everything about me at some point."
"Almost?"
"Almost."
———
"Let's go! Its time for church! We've got eighteen minutes until we have to be out in the car!" Koleton's dad calls out as he walks through the house, hitting each of the bedroom doors.
I rub my eyes and attempt to move, only for Koleton to tighten his grip on my waist subconsciously.
"Koleton, we have to get up." I whisper, my voice still raspy from sleeping.
"I'm tired." He nuzzles his face farther into my neck and I feel my stomach knot up.
"I am too, but I want your family to like me." I pull his arm off of me and he groans.
"Fine, I'm up." He rolls over, rubbing his eyes. His voice is extra deep and I almost don't realize that it's him speaking.
"Koleton! Margo! Get up!" His dad beats on our bedroom door, causing Koleton to let out a loud groan.
"We're up!" He calls out, causing the footsteps to fade away. He turns to look at me, my hair probably looking like a lion's mane. "We should probably get ready."
After a few minutes of fumbling around the house, everyone is finally ready. I grab my phone and leave the room, following Koleton down the stairs where everyone said they would be waiting.
"You can't honestly fucking believe that, Andrea!" A loud voice angrily booms through the house and it causes me to stop walking.
*
"Look at me!" He grabs my face with his hand, the contact causing my skin to burn. "Either you do as I say or I burn you."
"Please don't hurt me again." I cry, trying to look away from him. "Please I'm begging."
My cries mean nothing to him, that's been proven to me multiple times, but I always end up back here.
"I won't, if you do as I say." He smirks, pulling away.
"I'll do anything. Just please don't hurt us." I cry even harder as he lets go of my face.
"Good, now get on your knees."
*
"Margo, are you okay?" Koleton grabs my wrist gently, snapping me out of my flash-back.
"Yeah, sorry." I whisper, clearing my throat and shaking my head.
"Fucking look at me when I'm talking to you!" The voice that I can now identify as his father's yells again and I flinch at the tone.
I follow Koleton down the stairs to see the kids sitting in the corner of the room.
"What happened?" Koleton asks quietly, referring to the argument taking place in the next room.
"I don't know. He was mad when we woke up. He's been yelling at momma all morning." Phoenix answers and Koleton lets out a long sigh before Phoenix speaks again. "Momma tried to tell him to stop, but he got angrier."
"I'll be right back." Koleton turns to me before walking out of the living room and the air seems to become thicker with him gone.
After a few moments of muffled yelling, Koleton emerges from around the corner. "We have to leave for church now or we'll be late."
We walk out to the cars, Koleton and I riding with Andrea while the rest of the kids ride with his dad. Meemaw and papaw left earlier this morning.
"Are you okay?" I turn around to face him before getting into the car as he holds my door open.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Right now you need to plan how you're going to sit through a whole church service without burning the building down."
His jokes causes me to roll my eyes, turning around and climbing into the car. "Whatever."
———
Well, he wasn't wrong. This church service has been the longest thing of my life, and I've been to a lot of long things.
"It was hot in there." Stevie fans herself with the booklet each of us were given as we walked into the building.
"Tell me about it, I was sweating more than that hook three rows behind us." Meemaw responds, causing me to snap my head in her direction with wide eyes.
"Meemaw! Watch your language." Andrea snaps at her, causing her to roll her eyes and scoff. "I'm serious. I'm not trying to let you get us kicked out again."
"Again?" I turn to Koleton, my eyebrows knitted together.
"Meemaw is very outspoken about her opinions. We've been kicked out of church lots of times, the most recent time being caused by her choosing to beat up a nun in the parking lot." He explains, only causing more confusion to surface in my face.
"A nun?"
"That bitch deserved it. She took my damn parking space so clearly I was going to fight her." Meemaw snaps, causing me to fail at my attempt to stifle my laughter.
"Koleton, take Meemaw to the car." Andrea hands Koleton the keys and he lets out a long sigh. "You can take Margo too. I'll be out in a few minutes."
"Yes ma'am, c'mon Meemaw." Koleton places his arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the church. I follow closely behind, scared that people are staring at me.
I feel so out of place here.
Everyone knows each other, but no one knows me. Yeah, there were a few teenagers that recognized me, but nothing too drastic.
"You know, this town could use more kids like the two of you." Meemaw mumbles as we approach the car. "You two are full of life while these other kids are always on their phones. Don't get me wrong, I love myself a handsome picture of Adam Sandler, but I don't like that these young people are constantly on their phones."
"Yeah, now get in the car before momma comes out here please." Koleton opens the door for her as I stand off to the side in silence.
"Oh, one more thing before you go." She grabs Koleton's wrist before he can close the door. "I know that the two of you aren't dating, but your chemistry reminds me of my first love. You've got a rare connection."
"Is Koleton's grand-father your first love?" I ask quicker than I mean to and she lets out a type of laugh that I've never heard before.
"No, my first love was this boy I met on college at Koleton's age. He was so kind to me and never let me doubt that he loved me. Sadly, I never returned the favour since I was scared of love." She shakes her head and my smile drops, along with my stomach.
"Well, where is he now? You could maybe catch up with him."
"No darling, that would take a magic I'm not sure exists. He ended up passing away a few years ago." She gives me a soft smile and I feel tears fill my eyes. She grabs my hand and squeezes it before speaking again. "I'm sure he knew I loved him. I'll have the chance to tell him in some other life, but Koleton's grand-father is my soulmate."
"That's so..." I trail off, trying to find the right words to say.
"It's nothing compared to the feeling of doing crack though." She speaks loudly, causing heads to turn.
"Meemaw!" Koleton whisper-yells. "Get your hands in the car so I can close the door before you get the priest out here."
She rolls her eyes, giving him as much attitude as she can, pulling her hands and feet into the car. He closes the door and turns to me, looking fed up with everything.
"Meemaw is funny. I like her." I smile and he wipes his eyes with his hands.
I turn to look at the exit, but before my eyes can reach it something catches my eye.
"No way." I gasp, a smile making its way onto my face as I quickly walk over to the small group of dandelions.
"Weeds?" He furrows his eyebrows as he walks over to me.
"No." I shake my head, pulling one of the dandelions out of the ground. "Dandelions."
"Dandelions?" He raises his eyebrows as I hand the small flower to him, using my opposite hand to shield it from the wind.
"Have you never made a wish on a dandelion before?" I gasp and he shakes his head.
"I didn't even know people paid attention to them."
"Yeah, people use them to make wishes." I smile, looking up at his face in hopes I'll catch his emotions about the situation.
"You want me to make a wish?"
"Only if you want to, I've heard they raise your chance of your wish coming true." I whisper the last part and he nods, clearly still not sold on the whole myth behind the dainty flower.
"Alright, what should I wish for?" He looks to me as if I'll genuinely give him an answer and I quickly shake my head.
"No sir, you have to make that decision on your own. Don't tell me what you wish for either." I raise my pointer finger at him and he seems taken back by my sudden dominance.
"I just have to make a wish and blow the white stuff?" He asks, still unsure as to how all of this works. Possibly not believing it. "Like a birthday candle?"
"Yes, now make a wish before the wind blows it first." I rush him and he straightens his posture.
"I don't know what to wish for. I'm not prepared. What do people usually wish for on these things?" He looks down at the flower as if he's trying to figure out the science behind it.
"Anything their hearts desire. Somewhere in the world there's a little kid wishing for a new bike while in another part of the world there's a middle aged woman wishing that she gets out of debt. Any wishes are welcome. There's no judgement." I reassure him and he still seems on edge.
"All on this flower?"
"All on that flower."
He looks down one more time before closing his eyes and blowing the particles into the air.
"What'd you wish for?" I smile as he opens his eyes.
"You," He answers, pausing for a moment. "Wish I would tell you."