Hometown Girls: Beginnings (Hometown Girls Series Book 1) (11 page)

“You really want to do this?” Daniel asked looking at the massive house.

“Of course. It’s our graduation party.”

Daniel turned from the house to look at Katie. Her big eyes were sad as she stared ahead. He felt bad for her. He knew how close she was with her friends, but this year everything has been so strained. He was hoping it would all come to an end once high school was over. First they had to get through this night with as little drama as possible. After what happened earlier, he wasn’t so sure that would be possible.

“Come on then. Let’s get this over with,” he said opening the car door.

When they stepped into the house, the sounds of blaring music and loud laughter and conversations slammed into them. It looked like the entire senior class was there, and then some. It was a good thing Brad Thompson’s house was big enough to hold them all.

They pushed through people, scanning the crowd as they did, trying to find Jess, Becca and Marissa Lou. Surely they would be here, and if so, chances were they would be together.

Passing through the living room, Daniel spotted a mass of curly red tendrils. “Over there,” he said pointing toward the kitchen and pulling Katie along.

When they got close, Katie was both relieved and disappointed to see that Marissa Lou wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “Hey y’all,” she said to the girls once she was close.

“Yay, Katie’s here!” Jess said smiling wide.

“Of course I am. Where else would I be on our big night?”

Becca shrugged her shoulders. “We weren’t so sure you or Marissa Lou would show up after what happened earlier.”

“Is she not here?” Daniel asked.

“Not that we’ve seen.”

“Well, she can do whatever she wants. All this drama and tension is getting old,” Katie said rolling her eyes at Daniel.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me,” Daniel said taking notice of the eye roll.

“I’m not. I’m just over it.”

The group stood around in awkward silence for a moment before Becca spoke up, trying to cut the thick tension. “I finally talked to Brad.”

Katie turned in her direction with her mouth hanging wide open. “Shut up! You did not!”

“I did,” Becca said smiling proudly.

“What did you say?”

“Oh you know, I acted like I didn’t even know him. Apparently that’s something that gets guys curious. Then I schooled him on the joys of college life and told him his college sucked. Wolfpack, puke.”

Daniel burst out laughing while the girls stared at her shocked. “I bet that went over well.”

She shrugged her shoulders and turned around and gave a smile and a wave at Brad before turning back to her friends. “Looks like it went over just fine to me.”

“Oh, Becca, you are too much,” Katie said wrapping her arms around Becca and squeezing her tight. “I’m so glad I’m staying. I was going to miss y’all so much.”

“Hey, what’s going on over here? We having a lesbian party or something?”

Everyone turned around to see Marissa Lou and Randy standing behind them.

Daniel put a hand on Katie’s back and said, “Hey, I’m going to let y’all talk.” Without saying anything else, he walked away, all the while keeping his eyes on Marissa Lou. He was not happy about the way she had been acting lately and he was finding it harder and harder to keep his mouth shut about it. They were technically friends but he knew he still didn’t have a right to say anything to her.

“Hey, I’m going to find a drink,” Randy said letting go of her waist and walked away. Without him there to hold her up, Marissa Lou got slightly off balance. She grabbed the wall and watched him walk away.

“Marissa Lou, you made it!” Becca said happily.

She turned her blurry stare back at her friends. “Of course I did. I wouldn’t have missed it.”

“Do you need to sit down?” Katie asked her concerned.

“No, why, do you?”

“Whatever,” Katie said and walked away.

“Jeez, what’s her problem?” Marissa Lou asked, more like slurred.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Becca asked putting a hand on her arm.

“Yeah, I’m great.”

Becca and Jess looked at each other, neither seeming very convinced.

“How about a walk?” Jess said quickly.

Becca nodded her head and looked back at Marissa Lou. “Come on, let’s go for a walk. It’s so nice outside.”

“ ‘Kay,” Marissa Lou said pushing off the wall, but losing her balance as she did.

Becca quickly grabbed Marissa Lou’s arms and Jess made a move to help Becca hold her up, but Becca shook her head. “I’ll take her Jess.” Jess stepped back and Becca turned back to Marissa Lou. “Come on, I got you,” Becca said wrapping her arm around Marissa Lou’s waist and led her through the crowded kitchen and out the side door. “Gosh, it’s a good thing Randy’s so big and strong. You get heavy.”

Marissa Lou threw her head back and laughed, which almost made them both lose balance.

“Girl, you’re going to have to give me some notice before you do stuff like that.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Marissa Lou said seriously and gave her, her best military salute. “Where we going anyway?”

“We’re just walking. I thought the fresh air would do you some good.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“I know you did, honey, but it doesn’t mean I have to believe you, because really, you don’t look very well. How much have you had to drink today anyway?”

“Third degree much? Is it a crime to celebrate when you accomplish something big?”

“No, but it seems like you’ve been celebrating a lot lately.”

“Sue me, I’m just having fun.”

“And being a bitch too!” Becca said dropping her arm that was holding Marissa Lou up causing Marissa Lou to lose balance and fall to the ground.

She sat up and glared at Becca. “Why’d you do that?”

“Because you’re being mean.”

“I am not. You’re the one being mean. You keep nagging me!”

“That’s because I care about you, dummy.”

“See. Mean!”

“Ugh, come on,” Becca said holding her hand out to Marissa Lou to help her up.

“No,” Marissa Lou said crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. “Not until you apologize.”

“Really, Maris?”

Marissa Lou didn’t answer, her but continued to stare at her.

“Fine, you little brat. I’m sorry! I’ll try not to care so much. Now take my hand and get off the ground. You’re getting all dirty.”

She sucked her teeth and slapped her hand in Becca’s and with her help, stood up. Becca helped her wipe dirt and grass off her jeans then they began to walk around in silence. They left Brad’s yard and wandered down his road. Thankfully it wasn’t a very populated road so they didn’t have to dodge vehicles. Becca wasn’t so sure how that would go while holding up a stumbling Marissa Lou.

After a while the fresh night air unveiled its magic and Becca slowly began to let go of Marissa Lou a little at a time until she was able to stand up right on her own, even though she still couldn’t walk a straight line. It was still progress though, so by the time they made their way back to Brad’s house Becca was confident that she could finally enjoy the party without having to babysit her friend.

Back in the house, Becca left Marissa Lou by the snacks in the kitchen to find Brad like she told him she would. She hoped he waited for her and didn’t find someone else to talk to.

Marissa Lou shoved a few chips in her mouth and turned to look around. She smiled, happy to see all the familiar faces of people she had gone to school with for the past eight years, but frowned when she realized Randy wasn’t one of them. She had forgotten all about him once he walked away after they got there, but now she missed him.

“Where’d he go?” she asked herself and set the chips aside.

She slowly pushed her way through the bodies, craning her neck as she searched for him. She spotted Katie and Jess huddled together while in line for the downstairs powder room. They were laughing about something, but she turned in the opposite direction opting to keep space between them. She ducked behind a few people until she got to the staircase and quickly walked up, holding onto the banister as she did. It was much quieter up there and that made her happy. She walked through the long hallway, peeking inside dark doorways as she did. At the end of the hallway there was one last room. It was the only one with the door closed and she was slightly nervous what she would walk in on. She took a deep breath and put her hand on the knob and slowly turned to open the door. She closed her eyes and peeked her head through the crack. When she didn’t hear anything that sounded inappropriate she opened her eyes, one eye at a time and was relieved to see the room was empty thanks to a light around a corner further in the room. She was about to close the door when she heard a noise coming from the area where the light was. She looked down the hallway behind her to make sure no one was paying attention to her and slid into the room and lightly closed the door behind her. As she got closer she could hear more noise. Someone was definitely in there. Just before she reached the door way she caught a glimpse of a reflection in the long bathroom mirror. She stood up straight and stared at the images.

Once the realization of what she was seeing set in, her heart dropped to her feet. It was something she didn’t expect and the sight of them made her stomach turn. She wasn’t in love with Randy, but watching him standing behind Tara Mercer, a girl from school, with his pants around his ankles and her bent with her skirt pulled up, she felt shocked and heartbroken.

Fighting the urge to vomit, she backed out of the room and clung to the wall as she made her way back to the staircase. Once back in the living room where everything was somehow louder and more chaotic, she pushed her way to the kitchen, grabbed whatever bottle of alcohol that was close and poured its contents into a cup. She quickly took a big sip, swallowing as much as her burning throat would let her. When the cup was empty she held her mouth shut to keep it in, despite her stomach’s objections. She didn’t know if she wanted to throw up or cry. One thing she knew for sure was she didn’t want to do either inside where everyone could see so she pushed past a few people and hurried out the side door where she and Becca had exited earlier.

When she was satisfied that she was far enough away, she stopped and bent over, waiting for her body to reject the large amount of alcohol she had just consumed, but instead she began to cry. She was heartbroken and felt so stupid. First Daniel left her for Katie and now Randy was screwing someone else. What was so wrong with her that people couldn’t love her? She stood up straight, lifted her head up high and put her hands on her hips. She had to regain composure. One way or another, she would not be known as the pretty girl that couldn’t keep a guy.

She wiped her face and began to walk, or at least try. Thanks to her alcohol binge, her drunken stupor began to come back with a bigger punch than before. This time she didn’t have anyone to hold her up. She walked toward the water front, pressing against trees as she did, hoping if she could stick her feet in the cool water it may sober her up some. In her fog it seemed logical.

To her surprise the water wasn’t even cool in the hot June night. She barely felt it at all. Unable to stay still, she pushed through the sand and water, making a zigzag along the water’s edge. When she realized how dark and quiet it was, she turned around to look the way she had come and saw just how far she had walked. She could barely see Brad’s house at all.

She sat down on the sand, laid back and stared up at the immense dark sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight and there were thousands of stars twinkling up above, or at least it looked that way to her. For the first time all year, after running away from it as hard as she could, she actually enjoyed the quiet. But it wouldn’t last long.

“Maris?”

Startled, she quickly turned her head at the voice and saw the one person she never expected to see.

“Daniel,” she breathed out.

“What are you doing out here?”

Still laying down, not trusting herself to try to sit up, she looked around the beach for Katie. “Nothing, I just needed to get away. How about you?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Pretty much the same.”

She stared up at him curiously for a moment. “Would you like to sit? We can get away together.”

“Yeah, I’d like that,” he said smiling and sat on the sand and silently stared out at the dark water. “You know, I really am sorry about everything that happened. I never wanted to hurt you.”

“Sometimes people do things without realizing it,” she whispered.

“Maybe. I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am and that I really did care about you.”

They sat in silence again, with the only sound being heard, was from the slight waves rolling in. It was the most peaceful sound and it could comfort any heart.

“Do you remember when we used to do this?”

Daniel looked down at Marissa Lou and smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

She turned to look at him. “You know, I don’t bite. You can lie back too. The view is much better from down here.”

He laughed out and lay down on the warm sand and stared up at the sky.

“Look, a shooting star!” she said excitedly and pointed at the sky.

“Looks like you get to make a wish.”

“Hmm,” she said thinking about what she wanted. “But what if it doesn’t come true?”

“It’s your wish. It’ll come true if you want it to.”

She smiled and leaned over, pressing her lips to his.

He pulled her back slightly and looked at her quizzically. “Maris—”

“Shh, it’s my wish, remember?” she said and pressed her lips to his again, this time he didn’t fight her or pull her away. She had been imagining this moment for so long. His lips felt as soft and full as she remembered. She was lost in them and she never wanted to stop, but she knew she had to.

When she pulled back she lay back on the sand facing him and grabbed his hand and held it.

“Maris—”

“I know,” she whispered. “That was just between us, okay?”

He looked up at the sky, a million questions and thoughts all over his face. “Damn it!” he cursed, grabbed her face and kissed her.

Unlike her soft kisses, his were fast and hungry, and she didn’t fight it. When his tongue flicked across hers she thought her whole body was going to explode. She wrapped her arms around his back bringing him closer to her. She would have rolled over on top of him to take control, but she didn’t trust her balance enough to be that exposed with just his body under her to keep her up right. So she willed him to go further, to make her feel like he used to. She ran her hands up and down his back, squeezing at his shirt in tight fists. She could feel him beginning to tense up, like he was about to put a halt on things.

“Please don’t stop,” she moaned.

Still kissing her lightly, he opened his eyes and met hers.

She pleaded through her eyes for him to keep going.

He was powerless to that stare, always had been. He lifted her shirt and made a wet trail of kisses from her lips, down the side of her neck and across the soft of her stomach. Her body arched at the gentle touch and she was done for.

Later, she would think back on that moment with fondness, a tiny sliver in her life that would get her through the worst days and possibly even change everything. But right now, lying in the sand beside the one person who had ever meant anything to her, who she just made to cheat on her best friend, she felt guilty. That wasn’t who she was and she was fairly certain, had she not been so intoxicated, she wouldn’t have done it at all.

“Oh, my God, I’m so screwed,” he breathed, sitting up quickly. “What have we done?”

Marissa, who was staring at him, reeling in bliss, blanched at his words. “What do you mean?”

Daniel ran his hands across his face. “Maris—”

“No, please don’t,” she said sitting up as well, feeling ashamed. She held her hand out to him to stop whatever regrets he might be feeling. She pulled her shirt down and stood up, feeling very sober all of a sudden, and kicked her jeans back on.

“Maris, we should probably talk about this.”

“Daniel, I said no. You already told me it was a mistake. There’s nothing else you could say to hurt me more. I’ve got to go.” Without giving him a chance to say anything else, she ran down the beach, away from him and away from Brad’s house where Katie or Randy might be, until she got to the main road. She then walked the rest of the way home, with her mind racing much faster than her legs could take her.

She wished she had a drink, or maybe even a line of cocaine that she knew Randy had in his pocket. At that thought she hesitated for a moment, and even stopped walking and turned around, a sudden urge to go back to the party to find Randy slammed through her.

“Girl, you gotta get it together. That boy was screwing another girl. You saw it with your own eyes,” she chastised herself and began to walk toward her house again. But after a few steps she stopped again with her heart racing. “What the heck.” She placed her hand over her chest, feeling her heart pounding under her touch. When she removed her hand she noticed that her hand was shaking and no matter how she flexed it or held it, it wouldn’t stop.

Randy will make it stop. He always knew what I needed,
she thought and without another thought, she took off running back toward Brad’s house.

By the time she got to Brad’s driveway, she was panting for air and confused all over again. She bent over to catch her breath, holding her cramping sides with shaking hands.

“I can’t go back in there,” she said to herself, shaking her head back and forth, telling her inner self, “NO!”

“What the hell is wrong with me?” she asked herself and tears began to pool in her eyes. “Oh my God, it’s the drugs. It had to be,” she said with disgust.

She partook in a constant mind-numbing stupor for the past ten months and only now did she realize the need for it that was left behind until she was in the position to never have it anymore. She could always go back to Randy and pretend nothing ever happened. He never saw her after all. Maybe she’d be able to erase the image out of her mind.

“No!” she screamed and began to run again, this time back the way she came, to her house. She didn’t stop running until she was in her house, that way she wouldn’t be able to talk herself out of it.

Surprising her, her parents were still awake and eating a slice of her graduation cake in the kitchen.

“Hey, honey, want some cake?” her mom asked, barely looking up.

“Umm, no thank you.”

“Suit yourself. It’s pretty good.” Her mom took another bite then look up at her and tilted her head. “Is everything okay?”

“Umm, what, oh yeah. I’m fine,” Marissa Lou stuttered.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m going to go to bed.”

“‘Kay, good night, honey.”

Her parents looked at each other, both shrugging their shoulders and continued to eat their cake, while Marissa Lou went to her room.

Without changing clothes she lay on her bed and curled herself into a ball. Images from the night replayed over and over in her mind. Her shaking increased, so she wrapped her blanket around herself to warm her chill, but then she started to sweat profusely and kicked the blanket off. All she wanted to do was sleep and get past this horrible day, but her body wouldn’t let her.

She jumped up from her bed and hurried to the bathroom and found a bottle of Tylenol PM. She took four hoping it would knock her out and sooth her pounding headache and went back to her bedroom. After lying in her bed for a few minutes and she still wasn’t asleep or feeling any better, so she took four more, then another four.

Before long she was beginning to drift to sleep, except her breathing was becoming more and more labored and she felt weak. So much so, she couldn’t lift her hands and she could barely open her eyes.

Realizing what she had done, she crawled on her hands and knees to the bathroom, leaned over the toilet and stuck her finger down her throat to get rid of the pills. All she wanted to do was sleep, not kill herself. She was so afraid that she wouldn’t be able to make the pills come up. She cried as she gagged on her finger, with panic coursing through her. After, what seemed like an eternity, she finally managed to vomit, but she was too weak and sleepy to hold her eyes open any longer. She just hoped that it was enough.