CHAPTER NINE: LIGHTER THAN A FEATHER

"Uh," I started scratching the back of my head. "I kind of let my sister take the car home…" I said looking down.

"It's fine, I'll walk," Aubrey replied, and started bending down to take off her heels.

"No, absolutely not," I said and put my hand on her arm, "I'll walk."

"What-" she started to say, but then squeaked and started giggling as I scooped her up, "what are you doing?" she exclaimed, laughing.

"Carrying you…obviously," I said matter-of-factly, smirking.

She laughed, "You really don't have to carry me Cruz. You've done enough, I mean seriously, I have to be heavy!" She rambled on.

I chuckled. "You…heavy? Yeah right, you're lighter than a feather," I smiled.

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"So, where do you live?" I asked her.

"Riverside, keep walking to the end of this road and then take a right. My house is about five houses down, it's blue," she explained. We walked for a while in silence. I wanted to ask her what was up with Peter yelling at her, but then I didn't know if I should. I didn't want to make her cry again; she was obviously pretty hurt by him. But, I was really curious, who wouldn't be? "What are you thinking about?" She asked me, tilting her head up to see my face.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Nothing."

"Just ask me, I know you want to," she said plainly.

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

She sighed. "Peter and I had a thing freshman year. He was the popular guy, just like he is now, and I was the lucky girl he chose to crush on. We started hanging out a lot and talking all the time. He was really sweet," she explained, "then, things started to change. I guess he was getting shit from his buddies, because he wanted to hook-up. It's not like I was prude, I was just taken by surprise because he never mentioned stuff like that before. So, he invited me to a party at his house. The night was going great we were dancing, he had quite a lot to drink and was beyond wasted. He took my hand and brought me upstairs to his room," she paused, and I think she was trying not to cry. Then she exhaled deeply, "so, I was sitting on his bed and he came over next to me and we just started kissing. Then he started to get more aggressive. He pushed me down on the bed and got on top of me. He started kissing my neck, and then he started tugging on my shirt. I figured it wasn't going to go that far so I just let it slide. But then he started going for my jeans and my bra and underwear. I was trying to push him off, but nothing was working he was much stronger than I was. I tried screaming, but he just slapped me and covered my mouth. And then he, he…" she trailed off and I already knew how it ended up.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I said through barred teeth. The bastard raped her! What the fuck? He was worse than I ever even imagined. I took a deep breath, "Have you told anyone else about this?"

"No," she said, almost inaudibly, "and you can't either Cruz, please. I've never told anyone and I don't even, I don't…"

"You don't know me, don't trust me, yeah. But you don't have to worry. I'm not going to tell anyone. Aubrey, I'm so sorry that happened to you. He's an asshole, a fucking douche bag," I rambled, starting to get heated. I didn't want to upset her more so I added softly, "you didn't deserve that, or what happened with Collin."

"Thanks. Tonight was awful. It brought back so many memories. After the Peter thing I just shut everyone out. All of my friends and any future guys, it didn't matter if they were nice or not, I just didn't need it to happen again. Then the girls started saying that Peter turned me lesbian, because I wouldn't talk to any guys."

"Yeah, that's what Sam said to me," I told her.

"Exactly. So Peter has made my life hell, and then tonight when Collin… I want to have sex with someone when I am ready and I love them. Not someone who doesn't care about me at all," she said, her voice saddened.

"Yeah," was all I could think to say. She's been through a lot, and I felt bad for her. After that we started walking in silence again, I turned on to her road and looked for a blue house. I spotted it and kept walking. "We're here," I said when we got to her doorstep. But she didn't say anything. I looked down to see that she was sleeping. I walked around her house to see if I could spot which room would be hers. I saw it around back; there was a sun catcher with her name on it. I walked in the back door as quietly as I could. Everything was pitch black and I could hardly see anything. I tiptoed upstairs and opened her door. I set her on the bed and pulled the covers over her. She pulled them closer to her body and I swear as I was walking away she mumbled my name.