I couldn't breathe as I opened the door slowly, and I let Abby go in first to see if there were people there. She waved her hand at me, so I tip-toed in and followed her.
"Come on, let's go." Abby whispered, but we both froze as we heard the slow tapping of a foot.
"Well well well." I heard Trisha's voice behind us, her evil voice mocking my fright. "Look who finally decided to come back."
"Not for long." I hissed as she approached me, and since she was wearing heels, she towered over me easily.
"What made you come back? Your patheticness? Your poorness? Your lack of anything good?" She shot at me, one arm on each side of my face. "You're dead, Cindy. Hope you realize that now." But I escaped from under her arms, grabbing Abby by the wrist and running. "Dad!" She called, and I picked up everything as fast as I could. I stood up fast with all the stuff, but then the door slammed shut, and I heard it lock.
"No!" I screamed, dropping everything and running to the door, pounding on it. "Let me out now!"
"Hey, we'll deal with you later." I heard Trisha's voice as I heard Abby screaming.
"Abby!" I screamed, and pulled out my phone, texting anyone for help. I looked at the text from Lucas that I ignored when I climbed out of my car.
let me help. He texted, and I started punching in letters spastically.
help! now! I texted, pressing send. I heard the screaming, both high pitched and excruciating, and then my phone beeped again
I'm on my way. He texted, and I felt a sigh of relief wash over me. Even if I ended up dying, he'd be there to fight for me.
But as two minutes rolled around, I heard Trisha screaming, and bones breaking. Suddenly the door started shaking, and I backed away from it as it got kicked down, and I saw Lucas standing there, holding out his hand.
"You okay?" He asked, and I nodded, picking up my stuff and taking his hand. He gripped it tightly as we made our way through the house, and I saw Abby on the floor, and images of Mom started flashing back in my head.
"Abby!" I screamed, dropping to my knees and shaking her. "Abby, wake up!" I felt the tears streaming down until I heard the clicking sound behind me.
"I don't think so." I heard Trisha's voice as I turned my head slightly, seeing the black, shiny gun in her hand. But just like that it was kicked out of her hand, and Lucas started fighting her, blocking and throwing jabs, making her trip with one round kick at the ankle, doing some awesome fighting moves I've only seen pulled off in the movies. I shook Abby until her eyes opened, and then I helped her up fast.
"Lucas!" I shrieked, and just like that he stopped and ran towards me, grabbing my wrist as I linked arms with Abby, and we got the hell out of there.
We ran outside, almost jumped into Lucas's car and he drove, and I heard the gun shooting off as he drove fast and far away from the house. Only when it was out of view, and I stopped hearing the gun, did I breathe in relief.
"Thanks." I choked out, and he took one of my hands in his.
"Why did you do that, Cindy?" He asked, his voice squeaking slightly. "Why did you go back?"
"Abby's not going to live there anymore." I stated, pulling out my phone and scrolling through my contacts. "I'm making sure Mark takes her." With that I started texting him. hey can abby stay @ ur place? she couldn't handle trish and dad anymore.
"What if he doesn't though?" Abby whined from the back. "I gonna get abandoned…"
"No you won't." I soothed as my phone beeped.
yea we'll take her. Mark texted, and I reached back and gave my phone to Abby. I heard her squeal happily, and she gave it back to me.
"Told ya." I laughed, and Lucas turned onto Mark's street, and pulled up to his house.
"Okay, then I guess I'll see ya…" Abby stated awkwardly, getting out of the car. "Thanks for everything, guys." She smiled, grabbing her stuff and shutting the door. We stayed there until she got in the house, and I waved to Mark and Alice as we drove off. I stayed silent though, sensing Lucas's anger as he drove to the apartment.
"What were you thinking, Cindy?" He whispered as soon as we stopped at a red light. "You could've gotten killed."
"But I didn't." I replied, trying to lighten his mood, but it wasn't working.
"You shouldn't have gone back. I could've gone and done all those things without risking your life." He stated, but I shook my head.
"How'd you learn to fight like that?" I asked, and he sighed, but otherwise kept silent. "And I was trying to be brave for my sister."
"I could've gone with you." He muttered, but I clenched my fits angrily.
"I thought I could do it, okay?" I shot at him, crossing my arms with my clenched fists. "I thought I was brave enough to stand up to them." I yelled angrily, but let myself sink into the seat. "I wanted to be brave like you."
"But I'm only brave when I have to be!" He shot back, and I could hear the true hurt and fright in his voice. "Don't you understand?"
"But you're never scared of anything, and I didn't want to be scared of my family anymore!" I admitted honestly, shooting up and letting anger sweep over my voice.
"That's not true." He sighed, driving at the green light. "I was scared today." He breathed in deeply, and let it out slowly, but I kept silent, waiting for an explanation. "I was scared because I could've lost you."
I opened my mouth to say something, but shut it again, sighing and staring back out the window. How can something that sounds so romantic make me hurt so much?
We didn't talk after that, he drove in silence as we pulled into the apartment parking lot. I really wish he wasn't being so silent, because I couldn't tell what he was thinking or figure out his expression. I picked up my stuff as I followed him to the room, keeping my head to the floor to avoid his gaze. I had the feeling today wasn't going to best the best Valentine's day ever…
I followed him into the apartment, dropping my stuff on the couch, avoiding him and heading to the bedroom.
"Wait." He ordered, and I stopped. I heard his slow footsteps against the carpet, and then the hand on my shoulder as it migrated down to my waist. He whipped me around, and then his arms were wrapped around me, and I swear I felt tears drop onto my shoulder. "Don't do that to me ever again." He whispered, and I wrapped me arms around his neck.
"I don't plan to." I breathed as my lips met his, and he deepened the kiss, slowly and surely had me wanting more. I groaned as he pulled away, but I still stood in his arms. "I'm really sorry, you know that right?"
"Yeah, but answer me this." He breathed right next to my ear, and his grip on me tightened. "Why'd you go back?"
"To get Abby away from there, and…" I started, pulling away and approached the couch, grabbing the sparkly red dress that fell to my knees. "This."
"You almost got yourself killed for a dress?" He asked stupidly, and I nodded. "I could've bought you another dress."
"Yeah, but Mark and Abby got me this one." I replied, grabbing the red strappy shoes I also grabbed. "Are we still on for tonight?"
He stayed silent as he fell down on the couch, looking exhausted. "Do we have to?"
"I guess not…" I sighed as I put the stuff back down. He sighed, shaking his head and standing up.
"But I guess we will anyway." He replied, and I ran over and hugged him again.
"Thanks." I smiled as I headed to the bathroom and got changed. The dress was strapless, but most of my bruises were healed, so when I put foundation on, they were invisible. I strapped on my heels that gave me a couple inches in height, brushed my hair, a light layer of red lipstick, and I was done.
As I walked out of the bathroom, I saw Lucas's outfit, and it was a full out tuxedo. I felt a light blush coming to my face at how hot he looked. But I felt my heart truly soar as he took my hand gently, pushing his glasses up on his face and we left, ready for our night out.
As soon as we got in the car, he handed me a long black cloth. "Put this on." He ordered, and I rubbed my thumb over the texture.
"What, is this a blindfold?" I asked, and he nodded. "Why…?"
"Just do it, please." He pleaded, and I sighed as I wrapped the cloth around my eyes. I heard the car stop and it started moving, and I was being driven somewhere secretive that I couldn't know about. I tried to map out the streets in my head, but I didn't know that many street names, and my sense of direction was questionable. And we drove for what seemed forever.
"We're here." He said as I reached up to my blindfold, but he put my hands back down. "Not yet."
"Aw." I whined as he got out of the car and onto my side, helping me out. My feet hit the concrete, and my heels made loud sounds against it. I heard the music, the loud, pounding music that I recognized easily. He didn't… he wouldn't…
I felt hands behind my head, and the blindfold slipped my face, and I opened my eyes slowly, and saw the sign for Dancin' Dream.
"Oh my God!" I shrieked, whipping around and hugging him. "I haven't been here in forever!"
"I know, me neither." He replied, taking my hand gently as we headed inside.
I was a little sad, because I still couldn't drink, but he dragged me out onto the dance floor, and started dancing to the rocking song that was playing. Even though I was eighteen, I was still probably the youngest one here. But as we danced together, my mind always wandered to Lucas again and again, thinking about how great it was to have him, even if we haven't been dating that long. Maybe what, since June? A whole eight months. But I was still thinking about the future.
But I had my hands in his as the slow song started.
"Having fun?" He breathed next to my ear, and our bodies were pressed against each other like magnets.
"A lot, thank you." I answered, feeling his lips on mine shortly.
"Yeah, well today's Valentine's day. You deserve it, even after what you did earlier." He told me, and my smiled slipped into a frown.
"Can we not bring that up please?" I asked, and he nodded, and kept dancing.
"I'm sorry, I just-" He started, but I put a finger to his lips.
"Just don't say anything." I whispered, and I kept my head close to his as another slow song came on, and we danced the night away together.
So as we headed out of the club, my arms were around his as we walked back out to the car. We were there a while, and it's probably eleven or something, but we were both sore and tired… but happy nonetheless.
"I'm ready to crawl into bed and sleep forever." I yawned as I climbed in the car.
"Join the club." He yawned too, cupping a hand over his mouth. He pulled out of the space, and started driving home, but I shut my eyes slowly, watching the light of the place die away. I hoped to fall asleep and sleep here, but he was probably going to wake me up.
I wasn't expecting the car to stop, and then I opened my eyes briefly as I heard a door shut. I groaned as he came over to my side, opening the door.
"Wake up." He ordered, and I rolled my head slightly.
"I'll sleep here." I groaned, lying back and ready to drift away again. I heard the seat belt unbuckle and then lifted from it, and I shrieked and wrapped my arms around his neck as his arms were under my back and knees.
"I told you to get up." He yawned as he kicked the lobby door open. The receptionist looked over at us, but shrugged and went back to her papers. He pressed the elevator button and we rose, but he never let go of me, and I never let go of him, not until he literally dropped me on the bed in his apartment. He walked around and dropped next to me, and then his arm was around my waist again, holding me close to him.
"Three more months." He whispered.
"Till what?" I asked, tilting my head slightly just to see his eyes.
"Till school gets out, and we don't have to hide." He answered, and I smiled.
"Yeah…" I trailed, thinking of the day. What a perfect day that will be, but with three months to go, I'd have to wait a while, and I'd probably face my family again. But with him by my side, I'm ready for it.