Hope's Chance (10 page)

My sister and Mark were due to leave tomorrow morning.  They decided to have a nice family dinner tonight before they left. My sister  had cooked Italian, which was my favorite. She made homemade bread and the house was filled with the scent of yeast and garlic. The formal dining room had finally been painted and the new furniture was delivered last week. Buffy had set out candles and lit them around the table. She looked on the internet to find how a fancy place setting should look and did her best to mimic it.

Per her request, we all dressed up and met in the dining room at a quarter to six. I decided on wearing what I had wore to the bar the night Hope had come home with me. Part of it was because I still hadn’t unpacked the boxes in my closet, but the other reason was because I knew it would drive Hope insane to see me wearing it again. The last time I had these clothes on, she had been the one to remove them.

When we got to the table I noticed that Hope’s seat was empty. She finally came running down the st
airs and came around the corner
entering the dining room. Buffy had a huge smile on her face as Hope walked in. She must have lent her one of her outfits. She was wearing a light gray skirt and a thin silk shirt that was see through, revealing a lace bra underneath.

I noticed her father’s face from the corner of my eye, and quickly turned my head so that he couldn’t see me admiring his daughter. Once again it took everything I had for me to not look at Hope.  The table was a large rectangle. Buffy and Mark were at both ends and Hope and I on either side. I stared down at my plate as we ate our salads. When Buffy passed the bread around, she reached the tray across the table to me. For just a moment our hands touched. I felt a jolt of electricity running from my hands all the way down my legs. For that instant our eyes met and I could feel the passion between us.

As quick as it started, it had vanished. Hope looked toward her father and started talking about his cholesterol and what he should and should not eat while they were away. He rolled his eyes, but promised he would try to pay attention to what he ate.

Buffy talked about how long the bread took to knead. When Mark praised her good cooking, she blushed. I could tell she was beside herself with happiness. She had dated such losers for as long as I could remember, but Mark was different. I knew he admired her, and I never got the pervert vibe from him like I had
with the
many other guys she dated in the past.

Mark treated her like a princess. He had picked her up when she’d hit rock bottom and given her a new life. The day he and I went through those clothes and got rid of them, I knew he cared more about her than how she looked. Even when he gave her the money for the boob job, he specifically told her to do whatever made her feel happy with herself, and that if she didn’t do anything at all
,
he would be fine with it.

She was so happy, which in turn made me happy. Our mother died at such a young age. We had each other now and I would do my darndest to stick around and make her proud of me.

When dinner was all finished Mark and Buffy started clearing the table. I jumped up from my seat and grabbed the plates from their hands. “I think that Hope and I can take care of cleaning up dinner tonight. Right Hope?”

She gave me a dirty look, but put on a smile when she turned to face her father. “Sure, it’s a great idea.”

“Oh Thank you guys. I still have so much to pack.” Buffy admitted.

“Thank you both for helping. She really out did herself tonight didn’t she?” Mark said as he followed my sister upstairs.

As soon as they were on the steps I felt Hope burning a hole through me with her stare. “What?”

“Don’t ever
make decisions for me without asking first.” She exclaimed.

“Excuse me. I thought it was the least we could do. Did you not enjoy the meal my sister spent all day on?”

“The meal was great. It was the company that made my stomach hurt.”

I grabbed a couple more dishes off the table. “Can you be civil for a half hour so we can get this mess cleaned up?”

“Whatever Chance.”

I couldn’t take her attitude. “What is your problem? What have I done to you since you have moved  in that is so horrible?”

She gave me a dirty look, and part of me thought that a bowl of marinara sauce was going
to
be
flung
at my head. “Obviously whatever you touch turns to shit. Isn’t that why you live in a pool house?”

I felt like I was going to throw up, but instead I held my ground. I swallow my pride and headed into the kitchen where I immediately started filling the dishwasher. I wasn’t going to let that little bitch see that her words had affected me.

Hope came in from the dining room and instead of her lips being scrunched up in anger they were relaxed. She had a sorrowful look in her eyes. She set the rest of the dishes on the counter and started to grab my arm. “Chance, I..”

I pulled away from her touch. “Don’t touch me Hope. Don’t you ever fucking touch me again. I take it you can handle the rest of this. I’m out of here.” I said as I walked out the kitchen door and headed to the pool house.

Chapter 12

Hope

I had made a terrible mess of things. How could those words have come out of my mouth?  Never in my ent
ire life had I said something so
hurtful to another human being. There was no way Chance would ever forgive me. I didn’t know if I could even forgive myself.

I took my time finishing the dishes. I cried the entire time, hoping that my father wouldn’t come downstairs and ask why. When I finally tur
ned on the dishwasher and threw
the table cloth in the laundry room I peek
ed
outside. Chance was standing outside the pool house door smoking a cigarette. He was leaning against the house with his hand covering his face. My hand touch the door as I considered going out there and apologizing, but I heard someone approaching from behind me.

I turned around to see my father walking
to
the fridge. “Hey sweetie. Did you finish cleaning up already?”

I pretended to yawn so he would think my watery eyes were caused from that instead of tears. “Yeah, I just finished. I was thinking about swimming, but I can’t stop yawning. I think I am just going to call it an early night.”

“Well give me a hug. We are probably going to head out before you wake up tomorrow. “
He
reached over and pulled me into his chest.

“Please tell Buffy that dinner was amazing.”

“I will sweetie.” My father said as he headed back upstairs with a tall glass of milk.

I turned off all of the lights and followed behind him. I just wanted to bury my head in my pillow and forget how I had made things ten times worse
that
they already were.

When I got to my room, I noticed my cell phone blinking. I had missed three calls for Rylee.

I called her back as soon as my body hit my bed.

Hey Ry, Did you call me?

Yes. I have some news.

What is it?

Tyler is taking me to the beach to meet his family. Isn’t that awesome?

Yeah I guess. Did you tell your parents about it?

Hell no! Are you kidding me right now? They would flip out if they even knew I was dating him.

You are crazy Rylee. How are you going to get away for an entire weekend without them knowing?

Well, that is why I called my best friend. I figured you could cover for me.

Oh!

So will you?

I guess. I mean my dad is going away for the weekend anyway.

Yay! I can’t wait to tell Tyler
. Thanks Hope. I owe you big time. Bye!

Before I could even tell her goodbye I
noticed she had hung up. Talk
about feeling worthless. Even my own best friend would rather do something else than hang out with me.

At least I hadn’t pissed her off so bad that she wished I was dead, like I had with Chance. Tomorrow I was supposed to go to the hardware store to look at paint colors. Instead of Chance going with me, like I had wanted, he would probably tell me to “go to Hell”.

I grabbed some pajamas into my hands and walked into the bathroom. Luckily this place came with great bathrooms. The large soaking tub had been calling my name for over a week and tonight was as good as any to put it to use.

The window that sat against the back of the house didn’t have curtains. The house behind my father’s was way too far away for someone to see inside, but the pool house wasn’t. I climbed over toward the edge of the corner tub and looked down. Chance had turned out all of his lights. He probably went out, or to bed. Both would be my fault.

I considered trying to hang towels over the windows, but there wasn’t anyone outside that could see me. The water in the tub started to get warm so I poured in some bubbles and started to take off my clothes. I located a hair tie and got my hair high above my head, then slowly stepped in the tub. The water was a bit hot so I had to stand there until I could cool it down. Finally, it was perfect. I sat down and closed my eyes, trying to forget all about tonight.

Chance

I don’t think I ever wanted to hurt someone as much as I wanted to right now. I know I had been a total dick to Hope for weeks now, but she didn’t have to go there. She had no clue how hard my life had been in the past year. I was lucky to not be in jail. The pool house was fine with me, and I kind of liked it. I didn’t need a big fancy house to make me happy. I needed my family, my sister.

I knew I needed to get out of that house before more was said. My father had been such a nasty bastard, and for a second I felt like I sounded exactly like him. The thought made me cringe. I had
gone
into the pool house long enough to grab my smokes. When I came back outside I turned off the lights in case she got a hair up her ass and tried to speak to me. Hopefully she would think I was sleeping.

I was standing outside my place leaning against the wall when I happened to see a light upstairs come on. It was pitch black outside and the brightness caught my eye immediately. Within a moments time I saw her looking out. For a second I thought she saw me too, but she just kept moving around.

My mouth dropped when I saw her disappear and come back with nothing on. I took another drag on my cigarette and watched her standing there topless. I couldn’t see past her waist, but the top was fine enough for me. She wasn’t doing anything erotic, just standing there. Finally she ducked down and disappeared. I had hoped she would make another appearance, but after ten minutes I gave up and went back inside.

Was she taunting me again? Was this some sort of game she was playing with my mind? I wished I could say that it wasn’t getting to me, but it was. I needed to blow off some steam; to get out of here for a few hours and unwind.

I grabbed my keys off the counter and headed out.

There was nothing more relaxing than being on my bike. It was loud and prevented me from hearing people talking about me or yelling at me. I was free when I was on it. I drove all around those long dark roads, until finally I ended up a few towns over at a local dive bar.

The front lot was filled with motorcycles and people outside smoking cigarettes. I removed my helmet and im
mediately lit up. The music wasn’t what I normally listen to. They were playing country and as I entered inside I noticed people line dancing in the center. I headed to the bar and order
ed
a beer.

I never turned around to watch the people dancing. I didn’t talk to anyone, including the barte
nder, unless it was for another drink
.

After I had order
ed
my third beer, a woman approached me. “I haven’t seen you around honey. Are you just passing through?”

The woman was about forty years old. Years of alcohol had caused wear and tear on her body and I was certain at one point she was probably a great time. “Just passing through, yeah.”

“That’s too bad. I could  have used the company tonight.”

I gave a quick laugh. “I am giving up on women.”

“Well that would be a damn shame. You are quite the looker. Someone must have really done you wrong.” She suggested.

“Yeah you could say that.” I said as I took another sip of beer.

She grabbed my arm. “If you want to talk about it, I am a good listener.”

I let her keep her hand there. I wasn’t into her, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She was obviously just tryin
g
to be nice. “Thanks for the offer. I just don’t feel like talking. I came here to forget, ya know?”

“Honey we are all here to forget something.” She admitted.

“Well cheers to that.” I said as I held my bottle up and clanked it against hers.

I ended up buying the woman a drink before I decided to hit the road. I had already pissed off enough
people
in my life. I didn’t need to make any more enemies.