4. MY REOCCURING PHANTASM
I wake up muggy in my own sweat. The dream sending chills down my spine. I don't think I can ever look at David the same way.
I'm in the pitch-black darkness. There is nothing for what I think is miles in this crepuscule. Suddenly there is a light merely lighting up a building in the distance. In a haze I walk towards the light, mesmerized by how it's antithesis against the inky darkness. Once inside the dusty, decrepit building I see a set of eight doors lined on the inside walls of the building. Deciding against this eerie building I quickly turn to find the door gone. I reach for the first door to find it locked, as are the rest of them except one. The last one I try opens with a creek you would only find in a scary movie. Standing in the middle of the poorly-lighten room is David, a gentle smile on his face. I try to turn and runaway but suddenly my feet are mounted to the floorboards. "Hello, beautiful," he says a sinister smile on his face.
That's when awoke at six in the morning, afraid of my own shadow. Does this dream concur my suspicions or is this just my childish mind coming in to play. I can't help but wonder what his intentions are. I scoff sounding like an overprotective father. Who Aunt Steph dates is none of my concern, nor do I want it to be.
The only thing that motivates me to get up after an hour of intense thinking is Reily. I get up groggy from a bad nights rest and make the horrid decision of a cold shower to wake me up. While it did the job at the end I couldn't resist and turned it warm.
I got the urge to make a look nice and at school put myself out there. I dress presentable in a navy and grey hippie-looking dress my mom picked for me to actually wear on the first day of school. I pull on my brown boots and fail to resist the habit of covering myself so I add a dare I say it... pink sweater. It's actually not that bad since the pink has a dark gray tint to it.
When I walk downstairs I hear David's voice in the kitchen and freeze in my tracks. I try to quietly make my way towards my bag as quietly as possible but with these shoes on I missed a step and made an echo with heel of my boot. I instantly curse my mom for making me get heeled boots due to the fact I'm "growing up".
"Morning, Lennox," Aunt Steph's voice booms from the kitchen.
I walk into the kitchen giving up any escape plans I had devised in my head in those moments of weakness. David is leaning his back into the counter like yesterday while Aunt Steph is making scrambled eggs.
"Are you hungry?" She asks handing me a plate of distasteful smelling food.
"Sure." I reply hiding my repugnance towards the plate of watery eggs and burned bacon, however she managed to not blacken the toast which I'm guessing was made by David.
David lets out a small chuckle when he notices me start eating the toast. I chew tiny bites slowly, letting the time tick by even slower. I've finished my toast by the time I should leave for school.
"I should get going." I say scraping the leftovers in the trashcan swiftly while Aunt Steph's head was turned which earned me another quiet laughter from David which he played off with a cough.
"Do you want a ride I should be going too," David says. I just realized that he was wearing a collared t-shirt and a pair of jeans, nothing too fancy which makes me wonder if he's in college. He has to be in his late twenties or early thirties since he's dating aunt steph.
"That's a wonderful idea," Aunt steph says hope filling her eyes.
"Sure." I say not trying to hide my objectiveness but they both seem oblivious when they bid their goodbyes.
"Where do you go to school at?" He asks once we're buckled in his car.
"Lincoln High School." I reply while he looks surprised I'm not in college. Since I'm tall I probably look like I'm in my early twenties.
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen, turning eighteen in September," I answer nervous from his personal question.
"Oh, you look like you should be nineteen."
"Uh... thanks." I say unsure.
"What made you move to a new state in late April?" He asks being straightforward.
"Let's just say the people in Florida were a little... harsh with judgment."
Before he can ask further questions he is parked in front of my school, the sound of chatty teenagers fills the cars silence when I open the car door.
"What time do you want me to pick you up?" he asks.
"I have a friend coming over later so I might get a ride. If I don't I'll call you." I say reaching for my bag.
Before I get out I can't help but be nice, "Thanks for the ride."
"Your welcome," he says giving me an awkward one-armed hug that makes me become raw under his touch. "Have a good day," He smiles
"You too," I say then quickly scramble out of his car.
The whole time I was in calculus Reily didn't even glance at me opposed to the rest of the school. They were gawking at me worse than the first day of school.
"What is everyone staring at me for?" I ask exasperated form the stares when I sit down at lunch.
"Probably from seeing you this morning with your boyfriend." Reily says, that being the first thing he's muttered to me all day.
"What?" I ask, my voice heavy with confusion.
"You know, the one you hugged in his car," Ashley elaborates while Caitlyn snickers.
"That is not my boyfriend, he's like thirty. That's my Aunts boyfriend." I say practically scream. Realization and guilt soon take over their emotions and their faces become expressionless, well all except one.
"Well in that case..." Reily says scooting his chair towards me and putting his arm, for the second day in a row around my shoulders. Thank god he did because their faces start to lighten up and they all laugh at his remark.
When the end of school came Reily gave me ride home in his silver Volvo with the windows rolled down. He sang to the radio while I laughed along with him. The ride was over all too soon. I walked to the front door and unlocked it noticing Aunt Steph was gone, probably at work or with David. I walk us over to the living room.
"Do you want to work on the project now?" I ask after a couple moments of uncomfortable silence.
"Uh... Not really. I want to get to know you first." He says laughing.
"What do you want to know?"
"What's your favorite color?"
"Purple." I say and he makes a disgusted face.
"Fine then, what's yours?" I ask laughing.
"Blue." He states as I return the favor.
"Not an ugly blue. Like the color of your eyes." My eyes were a deep blue that would become lighter when I'm happy and turn navy blue when I'm sad. Let's just say my eyes have been navy blue for a while.
"Purples not ugly either," I defend. "Like a light lilac."
"Truce." He laughs.
"How many colors do you think are in a rainbow?" He wonders aloud.
"I think seven. There's red, orange, yellow, green-" I stop abruptly to the feeling of lips on mine.
I turn to stone from the abrupt touch. Thinking of this reaction as negative connotation pulls away.
"Don't stop." I urge him.
"Finish the colors of the rainbow."
"What did I say last?" I say wanting this to be over.
He just laughs and I take this as his moment of weakness. I grab his neck and pull him back to me. With this blunt action we fall back on the couch, him on top of me, us still kissing. Eventually my sweater ends up on the floor along with his jacket. We hear the sound of the door start to open and try but fail miserably to break apart.
"Hey Len-" Aunt Steph starts to say with a shocked David frozen by the door. "Oh, I didn't know you had... company."
"She mentioned him this morning. She said a friend was coming over." David says.
"Well, that's my cue to leave." Reily says grabbing his jacket from the floor and scurrying out the door.
During dinner we ate in silence. I still can't tell Aunt Steph's mood though I'm almost positive she's not mad.
"Why aren't we talking?" Aunt Steph asks.
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding and responded, "I thought you were mad."
"Why would I be mad?"
"You walked through the door and saw me making out with a guy you've never met."
"It's fine," She ensures. "I did the same at your age." After that I get up to grab plates and David offers to help.
"Are you dating?" David asks making conversation.
"No, well not technically, though I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want me kissing someone else. Especially since people thought we together just by seeing us hug?"
"Wait, people thought we were together?" He asks, a small grin on his face.
"Um... yeah, but don't worry I told them we weren't."
"You shouldn't have." He says taking step forwards.
"But we aren't together." I state taking a step backwards.
We continue our dance and he flips on the sink water. "I don't care." He says kissing me.
I slap him after trying to lean away from the kiss, but he smirks deviously and smacks me back with twice the force.