( Never have, never will) I dedicate this chapter to Alex, who without her constant nagging this story would never be up! YAY FOR GRAMMAR PACKETS! ::rolls eyes:: Also, I dedicate it to Overthemoon who is also writing a wonderful story which u all better check out!! Mwah-ness to you all!
Chapter seis
I screamed and sat straight up. The hot tears stained my cheeks, my breath caught in my chest and I panted for air. I looked over to see if my screaming had caused Ted to wake up. He hadn't. He was still snoozing, clutching a pillow to his chest and snoring softly. "Good." I thought to myself. That's all I needed was to wake Ted up and go through his interrogation. I decided it would be best if I forgot about my dream, or nightmare, and tried to go back to sleep. I wiggled back down into the bed and under Ted's arm that wasn't being used by the pillow. That's when I heard his voice.
"Mimi? Are you alright?" A sleepy, yet alert voice asked.
"Collins?"
"Who else would it be?" He laughed at me.
"Yea I guess you're right. I didn't wake you up right?"
"No, you did actually, but that's alright. Did you have a bad dream or something?"
"You could call it that."
"Do you maybe, want to talk about it?" I sighed. Did I want to talk about it? I didn't know, he probably didn't want to listen to my sob stories, about how I had a terrible childhood. Then again, he didn't ask if he didn't mean it. Right?
"Would you mind? I mean, you don't have to say yes just to be nice, I'll understand if you just want to go back to sleep." I played with a string that hung off the comforter on Ted's bed.
"I don't mind at all, I love talking and listening to people, anytime night or day. So go on, spill it Mimi."
"I um, yeah I guess I did have a bad dream, or well bad memories, that came back to haunt me."
"Haunt you? Hmm…sounds scary." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
"Yeah, scary." I sighed and felt the tears start to fall again. It was difficult to breathe, which was evident from the shakiness of my breaths. Collins got up from his bed and sat next to me in Ted's. He gently wrapped an arm around my shoulders and squeezed softly. Just then, Ted started to mumble something in his sleep about "fuzzy bunny rabbits." Collins laughed and suggested we move to his bed so we wouldn't wake teddy from his dream.
We sat down on his bed. "So, where do you want to start?" He asked.
"Well, I was born in Puerto Rico, I was the youngest of 6, and the only girl. My big brothers, loved to tease and pick on me."
"Sounds like my older brothers." Collins whispered to me.
"Yeah, but did your dad encourage them to tease you?"
"No, he usually punished him with his belt on their backside if they did." His face grew concerned. "Did your father encourage your brothers to tease you?"
"More than encouraged, begged. It was more than teasing though. They would hit me, throw me around, and make fun of me. Except my oldest brother, Ricardo. He was my protector, I could go to him to talk about anything, he always loved me, no matter what, and he didn't care what anybody said. But he was twelve years older than me, and wasn't around very often.
"Okay, well I'm still confused as to why your Dad encouraged them to tease, or well torture you."
"He hated women, thought they were inferior. He was expecting a sixth boy and, well, he got this." I shrugged as I said "this."
"Well if he got you, I'd be pretty damn excited. What about your mother?"
"My mother, well she was a sweet woman, my father, loved her, she was the one exception to the rule of hating women, she was obedient to him and she treated me as my brothers did." I felt myself beginning the stages of crying again.
"Oh Mimi."
"Well, my father was the worst of all. He would join in the "fun" with my brothers, hitting me, kicking me. Only, my father tried to KILL me."
"WHAT?!"
"Yea, a few times actually. He worked as the "head construction guy" in our little town. So, he had this special truck. Well, I was four and was playing with my doll, that Ricardo had given to me outside behind his truck, and he tried to run me over."
"HOLY SHIT! Mimi, isn't that illegal?"
The tears started to fall, "I don't know." He rubbed my back.
I continued. "Anyways, I started to grow up, and I er, matured, early. I grew up majorly, and I was getting attention from men in the town and, well, my dad didn't like that, at all. Only because, he thought I was worthless."
"You weren't and you are not." Collins hugged me tighter.
"The major problem started when, I was eleven and I was sent to bring my father his lunch one day because my mother couldn't do it. I went into this tent area they had set up, and no one was in there except for a worker named, Raul, or something."
"Okay…"
"Well, I was very shy, so I asked where my father was and he said he didn't know. As I turned to leave he steeped in front of me and knocked the bag containing my father's lunch out of my hands."
"Oh no, Mimi he didn't, did he?" I started sobbing, my body shaking; Collins wrapped his arms tightly around me.
"He raped me. I was eleven years old! ELEVEN! He was 23, how disgusting can one man be." I took a deep breath. "He always used to call me 'Meems' that's why I freaked out."
"Oh, Mimi, I don't know what to say."
"That's not the end."
"You have been through so much already." I Shrugged and took a deep breath.
"Well, word gets around in our little town, and pretty soon the story was that I was sleeping around with all my father's workers. I was soon turned into the town whore. When word got back around to my father, you can't even imagine."
"Oh my god, Mimi, oh honey." He rubbed my arms trying to rub comfort into me.
"Well, to make a long story shorter, after extensive beating, and being a disgrace to my entire family, I was kicked out." My emotions freely flowing now. "Now, being eleven, I didn't know where to go, so I decides that Ricardo was my best bet and after a week of hitchhiking I finally found his home."
"That's wonderful!" I gave him a pitiful look. "Or not…what happened Mimi?"
"He had heard about it all, and he told me I was a whore, and never to talk to him again."
"What a jerk."
"Well, the person who I trusted most in the world told me I was a whore. I figured that it must be true. I decided to try and make my way to New York, I had heard about it, and decided it might be a good idea. I slept around with men to get rides to different places, until I finally made my way into New York."
"Were things just as bad?"
"Pretty much, yes, I became a prostitute, until one day I was approached my a man named Chris, and hired as a dancer at Cat Scratch."
"Oh, Mimi, I think you are amazing and special."
"Thank you."
Collins turned to me and wiped my eyes with his sleeve. He smiled at me and hugged me tightly; he rubbed my back and gently pulled me down onto his bed with him. He pulled the covers up over me, and wrapped his arms around my waist. We looked into each other's eyes and his smile faded, but it wasn't due to unhappiness. He pulled some of my unruly curly hair out of my face and leaned in slowly. He kissed my lips softly, with meaning, it was a completely different from the kisses at the coffee shop, but those were only fake. This kiss was REAL. It was long, slow, soft, and mostly sweet. I slowly started to kiss back. He pulled back and smiled at me. I began to cry.
"Mimi, what's wrong? Was it that bad?"
"I, no, I have never been kissed like that before."
"Without tongue?"
"Without, expecting sex in return, someone, who cares about me, you do care, right?"
"More than anything, Mimi, I care so much, I---." He broke off and began to cry as well.
"What is it?" I asked very concerned.
"I have never been attracted to a woman like this, in so long. I, you are the only woman I have ever been attracted to, and I cant believe, that I may actually be in love with you."
"I think I may be in love with you."
(A/N: DUN DUN DUN. Sorry for that cliffhanger ending. This was really hard for me to write, hence it really sucks! After this long a wait, I figure I can only re-write it so many times…so please, try to enjoy.)
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