Work wasn't that bad today. Just one person that I wanted to spit in his food. I look at the clock, I have 5 minutes of my shift left. I carefully eye the bar across the street. Why do I always have to be the one to get the stuff?
Than a familiar voice pierces my ear. "Penny?" I turn around and see Ethan. His eyes were wide. He chuckles. "Penny?"
Kill me now.
"Uh, hi." I say quietly. My face was on fire. I can feel my heartbeat in my toes.
"So this is where you work" He said. I nod. "Nice." He looks at me from head to toe. My face feels like lava now.
"Stop staring." I barely got the words out.
"Sorry, you just look different. A good different of course. I like it. You look good." He rambles than smiles.
That dang smile!
I look at the clock again, my boss comes and gives me a check.
Ethan frowns. "Oh are you leaving? I was hoping we can talk more. Do you need a ride home?" He asks.
"No, I have some business to do around here." My eyes travel back to the bar.
"Okay, well, I will see you tomorrow at school." He says and waves at me, I leave.
I cautiously walk across the street to the bar. The place brings back very bad memories. Again, Blake has made me do disturbing things to get my moms stuff. He's a pervert and I hope he dies in a fire. Yes I have gotten the police involved, but of course they did nothing.
I take a breath and knock on the back door. Blakes head pops out.
"Ah, my favorite client." He winks. I throw the money at him.
"Just give me the stuff pervert!" I yell at him.
"Hey now, you know the price is bigger than that." He says in a deep seductive voice.
"Please don't." I almost started crying.
"Nah, I'll take it easy on ya. Just come in a have a few drinks." He holds the door wider for me to step in.
Barf! I hate that taste of alcohol. But as long as I'm not in his bed, I'll take it.
I go into the bar. I'm obviously under age, but no one seems to care. I take a seat on the bar stool and start drinking. The alcohol burns like fire. But if I don't drink, Blake will make me do worse things. I'm going to end up like my mom. Even though I hate alcohol, I find myself getting drunk often.
After a few drinks, okay maybe a few more after that, my throat feels like its on fire, my head is throbbing, I feel like I'm going throw up.
"Okay missy, you're dismissed." He hands my a note. "Give this to your mother and I will mail it to her later." He winks at me.
I stand up and almost fall down. I am so not steady on my feet. I manage to find my way out of the bar. I lean against the wall and throw up. I look up and see Ethan crossing the street.
"Don't you dare... judge me!" I yell.
"Penny, are you" He pauses. "Are you drunk?" He said.
"What do you sink?" I say. I lean against the wall holding my stomach.
He rubs the back of his neck, making him look extremely attractive. "Let me take you home." He said.
"No! I can't! My mom would... sue me if she saw me drink... drunk. Go. Save your shelf." I said.
"There is no way I'm leaving you here by yourself." He rubs his head. "I have a guest room at my house." He said.
I smirk. "What are you going to do with me? Big, bad football player."
"I'm a Christian and even if I wasn't, I wouldn't take advantage of a drunk woman." He said.
I giggle. "You're boring."
"Lets just go." He helps me to his truck. Once we're in, he starts the truck and starts driving.
"Mommy and daddy won't mind me?" I say to him as I rest my head against the window.
"My parents will probably kill me. But it's nothing they've never seen before. I used to be a party boy too." He said. "What were you doing at that bar, especially on a school night? I never imagined you as a party girl."
Tears start forming in my eyes. "I'm not a party girl... I was at the car... bar... because my mom is a drunk... She makes me buy illegal stuff from... Blake..." I start crying. "Blake is a pervert..." I cry.
Ethan looks at me for a second then focuses on the road. "Woah Penny, what does he do to you?" He said.
More tears fall from my eyes. "I can't... talk about it..."
"Penny does he, does he attack you?" He looks at me once we hit a red light.
I nod. "He took it easy on me tonight. He just had me drink... Other nights... he's not so nice. He has me do disturbing things. I, I just can't talk about it." I sob.
He rubs his head, his eyes full of worry and concern. "Did you tell someone, the police." He said.
"Who are they going to believe? A 17 year old... or a forty year old man?" I said.
"Oh Pen, I'm so sorry." He reaches over and rubs my shoulder. If I wasn't drunk I would probably smack his hand away. But his touch is so comforting.
"My life is a living H, E, double hockey sticks!" I say.
Ethan slams his fist in the steering wheel, making me jump. "This is just disgusting. You shouldn't have to go through this. How could someone do this to such a sweet girl like you." He pauses. "You know what? I'm going to turn your life around. You're going to have the best life ever that you wouldn't know what to do. You deserve so much better. I promise I will try my hardest to make your life better. You're going to forget about about your past everything. I promise everything will be okay." He reaches over and wipes my tears away with his thumb. I smile. He's such a sweet guy.
The next day, I was up with a killer hangover. Everything after the car ride was a blur. I groan when I get sit up on the bed, I'm still in my dirty clothing from yesterday so that means I didn't try to do anything with Ethan.
Thank goodness.
I look at the end of the bed and see a long sleeved shirt laying at the end of it. He's letting barrow another one of his shirts? He's so sweet.
I get off of the bed and feel dizzy. I almost fall to the ground but big arms surround me and keep me on my feet.
"Woah, easy there." I hear Ethan's voice.
"Oh my gosh Ethan, I am so, so, sorry about last night." I break away from his arms. I am so embarrassed.
"It's okay. I'm just glad I can help. Only God knows what would've happened to you." He said.
"I don't deserve this." I said quietly.
"You're right. You deserve so much better." He smiles.
"That's not what I meant, I... W-why are you doing this for me?" I ask.
"I want to make up from the years that I've been a jerk, that you've been alone. You think you deserve being raped by an old man? No you don't. I want to make you happy Penelope." He said.
That brought tears to my eyes. He wraps his arms around me. I freeze. Not a lot of people hug me. And I don't like being hugged. But it felt normal. Like I've been hugging him for years.
All of the sudden, the door opens. He pulls away.
"Hey mom." Ethan says as the lady enters the room.
"Hey sweety. Hello, Penelope right?" She smiles at me. I nod. "Well, I'm Ethan's mom. You can just call me Miranda. If there is anything we can do for you, just let us know."
"Thank you ma'am. I'm sorry about last night. I promise I'm not like that." I said.
"It is no problem at all. We used to deal with this kind of stuff all the time." She rests her hand on my shoulder. "We're here for you. Come downstairs for breakfast when you are ready." She said and her and Ethan leave.
I change into the clothing that is provided for me. It smells so good.
Stop being a creep Penelope.
I shake the thoughts out of my head and go downstairs.
This house is beautiful. The halls are decorated with family pictures, inspirational quotes,
Crosses...
Man, Ethan would be 100% better if he wasn't a Christian.
Once I get downstairs, I draw some attention my way. Ethan's dad, and I guess his little sister. I feel uncomfortable as I approach the table.
"Please, take a seat." Ethan pulls out a chair for me, next to him. I sit down and admire the beautiful dining room. This place is seriously huge.
Ethan's mom hands me a plate full of food. My eyes grow wide. His sister giggles.
"It's like she's never seen food before." She says.
"Mary!" Her mom yells.
"No it's okay," I quickly say. "My family is on a tight budget. We can't afford food like this. And we usually don't eat breakfast at home, that's why I was shocked." I add bringing silence to the table.
"Well, should we say grace?" Ethan's mom said, breaking the silence.
I look at Ethan and mouth the word, grace?
He folds his hands and bows his head.
I follow him until I realise what they were doing.
Praying for their food.
My dad used to make us do that all the time. It was uncomfortable then, and it's uncomfortable now.
"Where is your bathroom?" I whisper to Ethan before they start praying.
"Down the hall, the second door to the left." He whispers back.
"Go ahead and um, say grace without me." I said. I stand up and go to the bathroom. I almost start crying once I close the door behind me. I can't stand that stuff. Not anymore. Not after my dad left.
A few minutes later, I go back to the dining room. I didn't really need the bathroom, I just had to get out of that situation.
"Welcome back." Ethan smiles at me. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, uh, just aftermath from last nights drinking party." I said to him.
Pretty soon, Ethan and his mom start talking to each other, his dad is reading the newspaper, and his sister is playing with her food. I then remembered the picture of an older girl on the walls. It certainly wasn't the little girl, the girl in the picture looked like she was Ethan's age, and I wasn't his mom because she was in the picture with her. Maybe she's a girlfriend of Ethans? A relative? I shake the thoughts out of my head. I'll ask him about it later.
As I'm eating my food, my eyes focus on the newspaper that Ethan's dad is holding. I almost choke on my food as I read an article that basically said, "Blake Silver was arrested for selling illegal drugs/ alcohol and raping teenage girls." I wanted to scream of joy. I don't have to deal with that pervert anymore!
Ethan's dad notices me looking at the paper. I quickly look at my plate. It took all my strength not to scream or at least laugh.
"Perverts!" Ethan's dad sighs. "I wish I could read the paper without reading about a man raping teenage girls." He slams the paper on the table.
"Well at least they're getting arrested." Ethan's mom adds.
"True." He nods. "I hope they all do. I don't want my little girl or Penelope here, getting attacked by one." He said.
A little too late for that mister.
I continue eating. I couldn't believe what was happening. How did it happen? Blake was such a stealthy guy. I called the cops on him twice and both times he got out of it. He never got into trouble with the law, that he was breaking.
After eating, me and Ethan leave for school. I thank his parents for everything and apologize for the way they got to meet me. We hop in the truck, he starts it and we leave.
"Blakes been arrested!" I almost say louder than I meant to.
"I know." Ethan grins.
I give him a confused look. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?" I said.
"Bucks dad is a cop." He says quietly and slowly. "I called him last night after you passed out in the guest room." He adds.
"Ethan!" My face lights up. "Thank you so much. Wow! It feels like I've been released from prison!" I smile.
"I told you I'm going to make your life better." He reaches over and squeezes my hand.
I literally feel like kissing him right now. Well, at least if he wasn't driving I would hug him.