It was Saturday night and instead of being in my room reading and writing like I had promised Jim I would be doing, I was over Zoey's house, where he was having a small kickback. His friends were playing around, recording songs and such, but they actually sounded good. Zoey was leaning against a wall, holding my waist with one hand and holding a red cup in the other. I also had a cup in my hand, containing some type of alcohol. It was my first time drinking it and surprisingly, it was actually good and not bitter like I had thought it would be.
The rush I had from the alcohol and sneaking out of the house felt, strange but good at the same time. Being with Zoey now, there was no longer a feeling of fear, it was just a feeling of happiness. I took another sip, swallowing it, loving the tingly feeling I felt afterwards. I threw my empty cup away and rested my head against Zoey's chest.
"I want you to try something." Zoey said into my ear.
"What is it?" I twirled a piece of my blue hair around my finger.
He grabbed my hand and we went outside. He lead me down the street to what looked to be a small playground. He sat down on a swing and I sat on the one beside him. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out, causing me to furrow my eyebrows. He chuckled some and brought whatever it was up to his lips, inhaled whatever it was, and then blew out a puff smoke. I stared at him with a confused expression, watching him do the same thing again.
"What's that?" I asked, slowly starting to swing back and forth.
"You ain't never seen a hookah pen before?" He chuckled, blowing a small puff in my face.
I coughed some before speaking. "Nope. Never seen one, is it just like, an electronic cigarette."
"No Savannah." He shook his head. "Wanna try it?"
"Well, does it have like flavors to it or whatever?" I asked.
"Yeah." He nodded. "This is one is green apple. You can try it, but just don't choke."
I hesitantly took the hookah pen and inhaled the smoke, immediately coughing hard afterwards. Zoey started laughing loudly, bending over and holding his stomach. I coughed for a few more seconds and then tried again, this time quickly blowing the smoke out of my mouth. Honestly, it felt weird because I had never even attempted to do something like this. The flavor actually tasted really good, even though I was expecting it to be a bit sour. Zoey and I passed the hookah pen back and forth while swinging. The night air was cool, causing me to shiver some.
"You cold ma'?" Zoey looked over at me while passing the hookah.
"Mhm." I nodded, inhaling and then blowing out the smoke.
"Come here then."
I hopped off my swing and went and sat in his lap where he wrapped his jacket around me and stuck his bucket hat on my head. I giggled some and then snuggled closer to him. He started swinging again and softly rubbed my sides. He was so warm, and I was starting to get kind of sleepy. He looked down at me and noticed how sleepy I looked. He chuckled some and kissed my forehead.
"You ever notice how pretty the stars look at night?" I yawned.
"Nah, I ain't into the sappy shit like staring at the stars." He shrugged. "But, since I'm sitting out here with you, I'm kind of noticing it."
"My daddy used to take me to the lake on the weekends at night and we would lay on our blankets and eat candy while just looking at the stars." A small smile crept on my face. "He would always make me try to count them all but, I would always end up falling asleep."
"Well, my moms don't really be caring like that." He said. "She ain't spend time with me when I was kid, I was always with my auntie and grandma. But when I started getting older, she used to just leave me some money and gone on about her business. She still do that shit now, she been gone for like 2 weeks now."
"And you're not worried about her?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She's fine, I know she is. She probably somewhere with her little boyfriend or her friends. She always leave to go on these extravagant trips but, I don't know where she's getting the money from. Cause we damn sure don't have any."
"You don't think she's... prostituting do you?" I cringed some, thinking of someone's mother doing that.
"Hell, if she was I wouldn't be surprised, my moms has done everything in the book, and I'm sure selling her body is one of those things."
After he said that, I remained silent. Hearing about his mom, made me thankful for mine. Though she wasn't doing her job of protecting me from Jim, she was a good parent. She had never done some of the things Zoey said his mother had done. I felt bad for him, seeing as he grew up without a real mothers love. Every child deserves that, no matter what.
After we talked about a few more things, Zoey carried me back to his car and sat me down in the passenger seat. He got in and started driving me home. I checked the time on the radio and my eyes bulged seeing that it was 2:45. Jim was probably just getting in from a night of drinking at one of the local bars. Zoey pulled up across the street from my house. He kissed my cheek and then moved down, lightly pecking my lips.
"Go on and go inside young grasshopper." He laughed. "And you can keep the jacket and hat."
"Thanks. I'll call you later on." I smiled before hopping out.
He sat in his car, watching to make sure I got inside. I blew him a kiss before walking inside. It was dark and I knew that meant Jim wasn't home and that my mom was asleep. I hurried up the stairs and into my room, closing the door. I stripped out of my clothes and into something more comfortable. I laid down, and got under the covers, drifting off to sleep, anxious to talk to Zoey later on that day...
~
The next morning, I woke up to the smell of breakfast. I sat up some, pushing some of my hair out of my face. My head hurts really bad, and I'm guessing it's from the cups I had of that drink last night. I only had two but, I guess since I'm a beginner with drinking, I can't really hold my liquor right now. It was Sunday morning, meaning Jim was at home all day. I groaned loudly already knowing, as soon as I went downstairs there would be a problem.
After brushing my teeth and washing my face, I ran my fingers through my hair and treaded down the stairs. My mom was sitting our plates on the table and Jim sat at the head of the table, reading the newspaper. I was shocked to see that for once he wasn't yelling at my mom about something she did. When I walked into the kitchen, Jim's eyes scanned my body like they always did. I could wear the baggiest clothes and he would still find a way to look at me in a sexual way. While I was walking over to the fridge, I felt Jim's rough hand touch my thigh. I gasped, catching my mothers attention. She turned around and saw Jim's hand, her face immediately turning red with anger.
"What the hell!?" She shouted. "Why do you have your hands on my daughters leg like that?"
"My hand just slipped Melissa." He growled. "That's all. What would I want with a scrawny little 16 year old anyway?"
"Bastard." I mumbled under my breath.
My mother looked from me to him for a few minutes and then returned to washing dishes. When she turned around, Jim smirked at me and then went back to reading the newspaper. I grabbed my drink out of the fridge and then sat down at the table to eat. Once the dishes were done, my mom dried her hands off and then sat across from me.
"So, how's school been going lovebug?" She smiled at me.
"It's been fine. I made an A on my Spanish 3 project." I bit into a piece of bacon.
"Met any guy friends?" She winked, laughing afterwards.
"Oh my gosh mom no." I quickly shook my head. "No guy friends."
I suddenly started choking on a piece of bacon feeling Jim begin to tightly squeeze my thigh to the point where it hurt. The talk about boys always upset him but, he had never acted this way before. He treated me as if I was his property and that no one would take me away from him. My mom ran over and started patting my back. Jim glared at me and then angrily got up from the table, going into the living room. My eyes began to well up with tears seeing the big purple bruise beginning to form on my thigh.
I hurriedly pushed past my mom and ran up the stairs to my room, slamming and locking the door. I grabbed my phone and went straight to my dad's number, my hand trembling listening to it ring. My hand stopped trembling and my mouth fell open hearing his voice for the first time in 12 years.
"Hello? Who is this?" The voice I had been longing to hear said.
"D-daddy?" I croaked, busting into a fit of tears.
Finally.. finally I was able to hear my fathers voice..