I sat in my room later that with the desk lamp shine over the work I was trying to do. I sighed, turning back to the computer game I had up on my small apple laptop, I just couldn't concentrate on school work right now. My mind was everywhere but on that. There was a knock on the door and I quickly shut the computer for fear of my Mother standing on the other side of the door. Tommy peeked his head in, smiling his bright smile that made me want to ask what he broke now.
"Tammy, phone..." He sing-songed in a teasing manner.
"Who is it?" I asked opening my computer again to continue the boring game on tetris still running. He smiled again, this time a I could tell he was hiding something.
"It's a boy..." He laughed mostly to himself before darting away with the phone.
"I guess you're busy, I'll just take it to Mom…" He laughed as I knocked over my chair to follow him.
"Come here..." I said chasing him and knocking him down in the hall for the phone.
"Punk!" I said kicking him a little before walking back into my room with the phone,
"I'm telling Dad!" He whined, pulling himself up from the carpet and shaking his head before forgetting about everything and going into his room to turn his radio on at the highest it would go.
"Hello?" I asked sitting at my desk and rubbing my eyes from being tired. It was almost 10 o'clock and I had nothing done for school tomorrow.
"Hey, it's umm... Fulton.. Is this a bad time?" He asked a bit of confusion in his voice. I laughed.
"Oh, no. He does that all the time. Even when Connie calls." I said closing my science book and yawning with a stretch before heading for my bed to lay down and talk.
"Oh, okay..." He said a slight sigh of relief that he didn't have to talk to my mother.
"So what's up?" I asked straightening out in my bed. He was quiet on the other end of the line for a few moments.
"Nothing really... I just wanted to say thanks... I've never really had anyone ever care whether or not I joined them..." He said trailing off into a whisper.
"Fulton, you're part of our team now, we take care of each other..." I reassured him. He laughed a little,
"Okay, well, I guess I'll see you in the morning?" He asked as I heard some yelling in the background.
"Bright and Early. I'll be there..." I said with another yawn, there was no way all that school work was getting done tonight.
"Okay, goodnight then.." He said hanging up quickly before I could say anything else. Pulling the phone away from my ear, I looked at it for a moment longer before clicking it off.
"Night, Fulton..." I said low.
"Tommy! Turn that music down before the neighbors call the police!" My Mother's voice came up the stairs and passed my open door. Tommy was standing at the door in a minute staring back at me. He didn't really take all the crap from my mother as I did. He would listen to her sure but when it came to her constant badgering, he just kind of tuned her out.
"Awww...Fulton and you, boyfriend and girlfriend now?" Tommy asked teasing me again.
"NO!" I yelled throwing a pillow at the door. He managed to shut it before it hit and opened it again immediately after the thud,
"Are you going to kiss him?" Tommy teased as I put a pillow over my face.
"On second thought, my sister anyone is kind of gross…" I groaned in frustration and he was still talking
"You've got 10 seconds to shut that door or I'm going to kill you!" I yelled as Tommy quickly shut the door, I could hear him outside the door singing to himself,
"Tammy and Fulton sitting in a tree.." I sighed, feeling my eye lids getting heavy from laying there. I needed to get back up and finish that school work before I could go to bed.
"What a little dork!" I said to no one but myself as I moved from the soft bed back to my hard desk chair.
The clock clicked to 4:30 and it's annoying bussing sounded out in the dead of night. I knocked it off the night table, pulling the blankets over my head with a sigh.
"Tammy!" My Mother called from the hall. Maybe if I pretended to be asleep she'd just go away. No chance in that.
"No..." I groaned as she opened the door and shook me a little.
"Time to get up..." She said leaving the door open to stream light into my darkened room from the hall. It seemed like I just went to sleep a few minutes before that, I mumbled to myself crawling out of bed and making my way to the bathroom. Tommy was coming out of his room and saw me heading for the bathroom door. He quickly cut me off and slammed the door in my face,
"Tommy!" I yelled pounding on the door. I was not awake enough for this, I thought sliding down the wall next to the door to wait for him to come out. My Mother peeked out her door, she had obviously been up for a little while, here hair wet from a shower. Her eyes scanned me with confusion.
"You okay?" She asked looking around.
"Yup, Tommy's just annoying me...Why didn't just stop with me?" I asked tiredly. He took extra long just to annoy me, brushing his teeth twice, doing his hair and just about anything he could think of to take more time in the bathroom before letting me have my turn. When he finally emerged I put him in a headlock, throwing him back in his room and closing the door with a slam.
"Stay in there, if you know what's good for you!" I yelled marching into the bathroom and slamming the door. I was older, shouldn't there be some sort of bathroom rights?
The arena was pretty packed with pairs trying for the title at the junior skating open. I yawned again sitting down on the bench to take my skates out. My mother looked down as me a look of disappointment marking her aged face.
"Hey, Barbie..." One of the other girls said as I glanced up from my bag on the floor. "You're going down at the competition.." She said with a laugh. My Mother was walking around to sit,
"Okay, just brush it off...Tommy, you ready?" She asked as he collapsed on the bench next to me,
"I'm out of bed... I'm dressed... and you're asking for more? How much do you expect, it's barely 5 am." He asked. My Mother looked at him with disapproval and sighed,
"Well, let's get out there..." She said ushering us on the ice once our skates were laced.
1 o'clock rolled around fast as I walked with Tommy down the street to the local diner where Charlie's Mom worked. We walked in to find everyone in the corner booth and they waved us over. Fulton sat away from everyone else on the one side, so I walked towards him,
"Can I sit there?" I asked motioning to the space between him and Jesse. He shrugged,
"Sure." He said getting up to let me in the booth and then sitting back down after I was settled. I smiled at him as Connie looked over at us, who then nudged Guy, who told Averman and so on and soon the whole team was talking about me and Fulton. I just ignored them as we talked,
"So what are you going to order?" I asked him looking over the drinks on the menu.
"Probably just a coke..." He said plainly.
"Mr. Reed you can't come to a diner and not get a chocolate milkshake..." I laughed as the waitress came over to take orders. She got to Fulton and I and I answered before he could,
"A chocolate milkshake and A diet coke.." I said as she wrote it down and walked away. Fulton looked at me,
"Oh, come on.. You tell me I have to have one and then you don't order one?" He asked as I bumped shoulders with him, a grin on my face.
"I can't...I'm on a diet.." He laughed a little and I smiled back at him.
"For what?" He asked looking at me.
"Figure skating..." I said resting my arm on his shoulder.
"You're crazy.. You already stick thin.." He said. I laughed a little as we joined into the conversation the rest of the team was having... He was finally feeling a little like he fit in, I thought smiling away.
That night, Tommy and I walked home as Fulton trailed behind us, making sure we got home, he commented when I noticed him following us. I smiled a little, he was so cool, the team was taking to him, and he was getting better at his skating too. We stopped at my front door, Tommy ran it right away, leaving the door open for me. I turned to Fulton,
"Well, Thank you for walking me home again..." I said as we looked at each other. His eyes were so beautiful. My mind wondered, his face turning up into a smile.
"That was the most fun I've had in while..." He laughed again. His laugh was so sweet, I wanted to hear it more.
"I'm glad. So I'll see you Monday?" I asked poking him in the chest playfully. He shook his head, yes.
"Yup, back to the prison.." He said of school. I laughed again at his interpretation,
"Yeah, we have practice Monday afternoon too..." I said as he shook his head knowingly.
"Yup, well, I'll see you there.." He said turning to walk away.
"Goodnight, Fulton..." I called as he waved, walking into the dark night. I sighed with content, walking up my steps and into my house, closing the door with a click.
I tried to go to bed early that night but it wasn't happening. The pitter-patter of the rain on the roof as it started outside held my attention. I sighed listening to the ping-pong on the window and wondered where Fulton was right now. Was he thinking about me or fast asleep in his bed. I really wanted to get to know him better but he just seemed like he didn't want me to know anything about him. It bothered me that there was something that Fulton didn't want to tell me about his Father. I laid there thinking about it for a few more moments before I felt sleep begin to take over. I was almost asleep when I heard a soft knocking on my window. It must be a branch I thought as I rolled over but the shadow forming on my bedroom floor was no tree. I quickly grabbed my robe pulling it on over my soft night dress and walking to the window with my history textbook in hand. As I got closer I pulled back the curtain and found Fulton perched on my front roof. I dropped the book quickly with a thud, opening the window fast.
"Fulton, what are you doing here?" I asked as he climbed in the window.
"I'm...I'm sorry. I thought..." He started, "I'll just go..." He said going to climb back out the window.
"No, just talk to me.. Tell me what happened." I said sitting him on my bed as I sat next to him. His clothes were soaked through from the rain.
"It's my Dad..." He seemed upset but was not crying.
"What about him?" I asked touching his shoulder.
"He...we just get into these fights and he, he drinks so much..." Fulton started until I moved my hand, touching his back. He nearly jumped off the bed. I stood up next to him and slowly touched his shirt, bringing it up to look at his back. There was a large bruise forming on his shoulder.
"Did he do this?" I asked as Fulton shook his head yes,
"I'm so sorry..." I said trying not to cry.
"You get use to it..." He said turning away, "Anyways, I was going to ask if I could barrow your floor for the night since it's raining and all, otherwise I'd be sleeping out in the woods..." He said, "but it's cool if that's not alright for you..." He said heading for the open window. I felt my pulse begin to rise.
"Fulton, of course it's okay.. I can't let you sleep out in the rain.." I said a little shocked he would suggest that I would be that mean. I grabbed his arm, bring him away from the window and shutting it. I headed to the closet to get a blanket and some pillows and laid them out on the floor in a bed like fashion before standing to look at him.
"Thanks..." He said as best he could in the situation. I smiled before sterned my face to ask him a question that played on my lips.
"Does he do this a lot?" I asked trying not to offend him. He didn't look at me, his eyes hiding his embarrassment.
"Every night.." Fulton said taking off his jacket and laying it over my desk chair. He laid down on his side facing away from me to stare at the wall. I wanted to cry for him but he wasn't crying so I didn't want to make him feel bad.
"Are you okay? do you want the bed? I'll sleep on the floor." I said still standing at his feet.
"No, this is your room, you take the bed.. I'm fine on the floor..." He said hugging the soft pillow I had give him to his chest. I climbed back into the bed, looking down at him with watchful eyes. He rolled over to look up at me. I laid down with my head overlooking where he lay with his eyes closed. Reaching my hand over the side of the bed, I took his hand in mine.
"I so sorry.." I started, trying to control the tears I felt coming on my eyelids.
"Can we just not talk about it.." Fulton asked as I nodded, still feeling the tears brimming. I pushed them back down and laced my fingers with his.
"Goodnight, Fulton..." I said finally laying down but not falling asleep.
"Goodnight, Tammy..." he said holding my hand to his chest as tight as he could.
