Sarah

Chapter Six – The Party

Around Seven, Kevin’s friends started showing up. Looks like the whole group came tonight; Tim, Jacob, Troy and Tony. Normally when they came over, it got pretty rowdy, and I chose to stay upstairs.

Kevin had ordered pizzas for everyone, as well as stocked the fridge with beer, so I knew it was going to be a long night. I could hear them from upstairs already, and they hadn’t even gotten started.

Before long I could hear Kevin call me from downstairs. ‘He probably needs me to get the remote from the table.’ I thought to myself sarcastically. As I made my way downstairs I saw the mess they’d made. Beer cans were knocked onto the floor and some even spilt on the table and dripping onto the carpet.

As soon as Kevin saw me, he walked over and sloppily put his arm around me.

“Hey babe, we were just talking about you!” He said as he led me over to the couch. “Just tellin’ every one about what a good girl you’ve been lately…” Leaning in for a kiss he missed and kissed my chin.

“What did you need, Kevin?” I asked, slightly irritated.

He looked down at the couch then back up at me. “Just your lovely company, that’s all.” He said smiling.

When I didn’t respond, his smile changed to a stern look. “Sit down.”

Sighing and sitting down, he plopped down next to me, his arm around my shoulder once again.

The guys continued laughing and joking about one thing after another for a few minutes until Kevin told me to go get him a beer. I stood up, went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. When I turned around I saw Troy walking in as well.

“I was coming in here anyway; I could have gotten you one too.” I said, thinking he’d come in for another beer.

He didn’t say anything but continued walking towards me, not stopping until he was inches from my face.

My glance immediately avoided his, uncomfortable with his sudden closeness. Although my time with Kevin has taught me a lot in the department of sex, I’ve never been with anyone else, and have always been uncomfortable when alone with guys.

Of course I’m used to Kevin now, but the way Troy was standing so close to me made my stomach drop with unease.

He reached out and gently wrapped his hand around my wrist, looking down at the burn mark Kevin left last night.

His eyes traveled up to the bruises on my upper arm in the shape of fingerprints, before reaching my face. His other hand tipped my chin up, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

After holding contact for a few seconds, the left side of his mouth tilted upward in a sad, half smile.

“It’s a shame the way he treats you…” He mumbled softly.

I didn’t know how to respond, what to say. He’d caught me totally by surprise.

“The way he talks about you… It’s not right what he does.”

“I… Um, well, you know…” I tried to think of something to say but was at a total loss.

Suddenly, I could hear Kevin calling from the other room.

“Babe! Bring me that beer!” His voice startled me out of my loss of words and I grabbed a beer from the fridge and rushed passed Troy, mumbling that I had to go as I practically ran to the living room.

Sitting back down next to Kevin and handing him the beer, all I could think about was what Troy said to me in the kitchen. Almost all of his other friends had made passes at me when in a room alone with me; none of them seem to care how I’m being treated.

I’ve never been in a situation alone with Troy before though, and now that I thought about it, I haven’t noticed him gazing lustfully at me as I have the others.

When I finally worked up the courage to look over in his direction, he was staring straight at me. When he saw me look over, he smiled softly.

Later on when everyone started getting up to leave, Troy stayed sitting.

“Hey man, you mind if I crash on your couch? I don’t think I should be driving right now.”

“No problem.” Kevin said as he stood up and stretched. “I’m headin’ to bed, Sarah will bring you down some blankets in a minute.”

He nodded and moved over to the couch where Kevin and I had been sitting. When he sat down, his leg brushed against mine and I jumped up.

“Um, yeah, just a second.” I said as I followed Kevin upstairs. The second we entered the room Kevin went straight to the bed and flopped down.

“Be quiet when you come back up, I’m about to pass out.” He said, slightly slurring his words.

“Okay.” I said as I grabbed some blankets and a pillow from the closet. Making my way slowly downstairs I tried to focus on what I was going to say. Would he even say anything?

Maybe he just wanted to throw it out there and let me know he didn’t approve of what Kevin was doing? Maybe he was just being nice? He probably didn’t even remember he said anything to me, he’s drunk.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I looked up and saw him sitting on the couch looking straight at me.

“Um, here you go.” I said, walking over to him and putting the blankets on the couch. “Is that enough blankets? I could get some more if you like.”

“No, those are plenty. Have a seat for a second.” He said calmly.

“I really should get back upstairs actually…” I said nervously.

“Kevin’s wasted. He won’t notice if you’re gone for a few extra minutes.” He patted the seat next to him on the couch.

Sitting down, he moved closer to me until our knees were almost touching.

“How old are you?” He asked.

“Um, 16.”

“I see. Kevin ranted on about how this situation worked out for you two… I want you to know that not all guys are like Kevin, okay?”

‘Yeah, I know that…” I looked down at my lap and crossed my hands, fiddling my thumbs back and forth a few times. I didn’t really know what else to say.

“Some of us are nice… And sweet… And know how to treat women.” When I looked back up at him to say something I was surprised when his lips touched mine. Just for a second those, before I pulled away.

“I’m sorry, that was really forward of me. I don’t mean to take advantage of you, it’s just… You’re so pretty… And it pissed me off that you let him treat you the way he does…”

“I don’t let him; I don’t have a choice.” I said, correcting him.

He sighed and looked down for a moment.

“I know that subconsciously, you see Kevin as your security. You don’t have anyone else to take care of you, and although he doesn’t treat you right, he’s all you have.”

“That’s not…” I tried to think of something to say to dispute his theory, but I couldn’t. I’d never admit it to Kevin, but now that I thought about it, Troy was right… Kevin was my security. Without him, I’d have no one…

“I know there’s no way you can just run away from all of this even if you had that chance… That’s why you’ve never tried, right?”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“Listen, you don’t just come in here and tell me what I’m thinking and that how I handle my situation is wrong. You think I haven’t tried to run away because I like how he treats me, is that it? You think you can come and talk to me and try to convince me that what he does isn’t right? Don’t you think I know that?”

“Shhh!” He said quietly.

I hadn’t realized my voice had gotten that loud until Troy said something, so I whispered to him, “You don’t know as much as you think about my situation, and although I appreciate your advice, there’s not much you can do to help me. Even if I tried to run away, he’d be after me in a heart beat. He’d report me as a run away and I’d go to juvie for the next 2 years. And no one would believe me if I told them what I ran away from either, he’d tell them I’ve been on drugs and make up stories all the time.”

“You seem like you’re getting pretty defensive about this…. How do you know if you haven’t tried?” He said curiously.

“Because he told me what would happen if I did try to run away. He also told me what would happen if I tried and failed so if you don’t mind, thank you for your advice, but I’ve got to go back upstairs now.”

As I stood up, I took a deep breath. He was right; I did sound pretty defensive. What was I freaking out on him about? So he assumed wrong about me, big deal, I could have just corrected him nicely, but instead I ranted on and on and sounded like an idiot.

As I walked up the stairs Troy called out softly, and I turned around.

“Sarah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to presume anything…”

I took a deep breath. “I know… It’s just not something I have control over though.”

He stood up and walked towards me.

“I know… And it bothers me to no end that he treats you this way… I’ve watched it go on for sometime now and I’m glad I finally talked to you about it.”

“Yeah, well… I mean, there’s not much you can really do.”

“We’ll see about that…”

“What do you mean…?” I asked cautiously.

“You better get upstairs now, before Kevin comes looking for you.” He said as he turned around and lay down on the couch.

Walking up the stairs back to my room I smiled to myself; I felt like I actually had a friend in this world again, and it felt nice.

When I opened the door to our bedroom I saw Kevin, passed out on top of the blankets, snoring loudly. Lying down next to him, all I could think about was Troy.