Where You Hang Your Hat: Part XVII
Kim pulled her cruiser onto the grass, not quite driving all the way to the edge of the bluff like so many others did. She had no idea what kind of vehicle Joss had come to the make-out point in and it was fairly dark out, so she pulled a small tactical flashlight out of her purse and set out to find her cousin.
It didn't take her long to figure out where she was. The place was usually dead silent save for the occasional sound of another car arriving and the night insect, but the pleading voice of a young man reached her before she was halfway there.
Joss was pacing back and forth, not far from the small stand of boulders where they had come on their first prom night some years earlier. It was the only real landmark at the place, so it was easy to see why she had gravitated there.
Her heart soared a little. The tone of her cousin's voice suggested something far worse had happened. At any rate, it must have been bad enough. Every so often she would face the boy and hurl invectives his direction, sometimes in English, sometimes in the pigeon Spanish she had picked up during her early childhood in Texas.
"Listen, Joss, I said I was sorry. Would you please get back in the truck."
"No. Kim will be here any minute. Just get back in that piece of crap and go."
"I'm not leaving you here alone. I was stupid, that's all. I really, really like you and I respect you…"
"That ain't respect! Didn't yer momma ever teach you that when a chica says no, it don't mean to keep pawin on her like she said yes?"
"How many times to I have to say I'm sorry. I just thought…"
"You didn't think, Bobby. At least you didn't think with your head. Now just get in that ugly little truck of yours and go home. I'll see you when school starts."
"I already told you, there's no way I'm leaving you here in a place like this alone."
"Wow." Kim said softly as she came up behind the boy. "Sounds like the first gentlemanly thing you've done all night. Now I suggest you get in your car and drive home before I show you just how ugly Possible women can get." He never raised her voice once, but she shot him a glare that was visible even in the low light.
He started to say something, then caught the look in Kim's eyes. Without another word, he run to the little Toyota and started it, backing out even before he got his headlights turned on.
Moments later, the same young lady who had not spoken five words to her over the whole weekend had her arms wrapped tightly around her, crying freely.
Kim finally made her let go. "Joss, are you okay?"
She nodded, wiping her nose with her forearm. "Yeah." She said weakly.
"Are you absolutely certain? You sounded frantic when you called." She couldn't believe that had only been about seven minutes earlier. It seemed more like an hour as she frantically burned rubber up the old, barely paved road. "Did he do anything to you? Did he hurt you?"
"He…he…" She buried her face in her hands, trying to catch her breath.
"It's okay, Joss. Take your time. Did…he…hurt…you?"
She finally shook her head. Kim just couldn't reconcile the depth of the girl's emotions, wondering if she had made a mistake sending the boy away so quickly. She decided that she hadn't. If he had done something, she might not have been able to control herself and there would be more than one person in trouble that night.
Instead of trying to question Joss, she gently put her arm around her shoulder and led her back to her car. The tissue box was empty, so she fished a fresh beach towel out of the back seat and gave it to the teen.
"Okay, Joss. I'm driving you to the Medical Center."
"No!" She put her hand on Kim's which was about to put the small car into gear.
"Joss! If he…we need to go there right now!"
"No! He didn't do a single thing that I need to go there about. I swear. Kim, you have to believe me."
"Joss, I can hardly believe you're this upset if he didn't lay a hand on you. Look, either you tell me exactly what he did, or I'm going there even if I have to zip-tie your wrists to do it. You understand?"
The young Montanan spent a few minutes sobbing, burying her face in the towel from time to time, moving it around to find dry spots. Finally, she dropped the terry cloth to her lap and leaned back on the seat, staring out the windshield.
"All he really did was kiss me…well, that and he put his hand on my ass."
"There is no way just kissing is going to cause this."
"No! I'm not goin to the hospital. I'm fine, I swear."
"No, Joss, you're not fine. You're a wreck."
"He just kept kissing me. Then he grabbed my butt an I told him ta stop, but he wouldn't. He jes kept on kissin me and kissin…"
"…and he didn't stop there, did he?" Kim finished for her.
"Yeah, he did. Kim, I'm not that kinda girl. I don't know what you might think a me."
"If all he did was kiss you, why are you blubbering like this?"
"Cause a the way it made me feel. It ain't right. It jes ain't right." Sorrow suddenly turned to anger and she punched the dashboard. If it wasn't made of advanced composites to protect the delicate computers inside, it likely would have split.
"And all he did was kiss you and grope you a little? Really, honey, this isn't jibing with what your Dad said when you came here. Look, I'm at least calling Mom."
"NO! Don't you understand?"
"I understand plenty. I've dealt with something like this in the past myself."
"I just don't want Bobby getting in trouble for anything."
Kim closed her eyes for a moment. She was flailing around in the dark. The thing who nearly violated her was an insane criminal. It was easy to blame him from what happened to her. "Look, if he's done something, you shouldn't…you can't protect him."
"It's not his fault…not his fault." Her voice trailed off.
"Well, it's not yours. You're the one who said no…"
"Dammit, Kim! He didn't rape me, for God's sake. He didn't even touch me under my dress. I told him no because of the way he was makin me feel back there." She buried her face in her hands, sobbing anew.
Kim put the car in drive, but pulled out slowly. She didn't turn back towards town, but drove out into the countryside. She wanted to make it clear to the distraught teen she wasn't taking her anywhere against her will, but she knew she needed to put some distance between them and the bluff.
As the car wound down the two lane road that would eventually take them to the outskirts of North Lowerton, Joss started speaking. She slowly, carefully explained what had happened between her and her ex-boyfriend back in Montana. She kept it as succinct and clinical as she could, but left out none of the important details.
"…So when I thought Bobby wasn't stopping, I freaked out. I couldn't see him any more, I could just see the other guy. See, that's why I'm sayin I don't want to get Bobby in trouble. He really, really didn't do nothin wrong."
"Yes he did. He didn't respect you enough when you said no. You did the right thing getting out of the truck and away from him. If everything you're telling me is the truth, I think you're right about not going to the Medical Center. He needs to be dealt with, but in a calm way, an adult way. I think the best thing is for Mom and Dad to sit down with his parents and deal with this. I may be wrong, but I think it's best."
"I just don't want him in trouble."
"It's too late for that, I think, but for right now, I'm going to let it sit. Joss, I want you to swear to me that you're telling me the truth. If you're not, it's you who're going to be hurting. You understand?"
"Yeah. I do, and I swear on my momma's grave that's all he did."
"Okay. I trust you. Honey, I'm not giving you a hard time or anything, it's because I love you. We all love you, that's the only reason Daddy and Uncle Slim treat you the way they do. Now, do you trust me?"
"Yeah. Don't know how you can trust me the way I've been treatin you the last bit."
"Joss, I…I understand what you're going through, what being your age is like. Trust me, it wasn't that long ago. You think you're a grown woman, but tonight really should hammer home to you that you're not. You've got your body screaming at you twenty-four/seven that you're one thing, while your mind is saying something completely different.
"And yes, I understand why you thought you needed to get away from Daddy last week. It wasn't all that long ago I ended up doing the same thing. When he first suggested Ron and I should look for our own place to hang our hat, I took it all the wrong way, and we ended up spending the night at Ron's house instead of mine. I'll be the first to admit it, I'm the world's biggest hypocrite. It's just, the only thing I could see by letting you stay with us was that it was going against Dad. You understand that?"
"Yeah. Ah'm so sorry Kim."
"I'm sorry too, Joss. I just…when you told me you weren't a…you know…any more I just took it to mean you were, uh…"
"A slut?"
Kim frowned deeply, but nodded.
"I just didn't know what you were really going through. I really did think we were going to come home one evening and find you on the den futon with some guy."
Joss chuckled slightly, accidentally blowing some nose bubbles in the process. "Guess I did come off as a little harlot there."
"See, three years really isn't that much difference. I've got some growing up to do myself. Still friends?"
Joss put her hand on Kim's arm. "How 'bout sisters?"
"I like that. Just one thing. Do you trust me?"
"Guess so."
"Good. I've got somebody I'd like you to talk to."
Kim pulled over to the side of the road. The communications system in the car could function as a hand's free phone, but she wanted to keep the call a bit more private for the moment. She got out of the car and pulled her conventional cell-phone out of her pocket.
"Rabbi Katz? Kim Possible. I know it's a little late, but I really could use some help…"
a/n - I realize the last chapter may have seemed like it was taking a very dark turn. Joss really is fine, she's only got some emotional baggage because of a mistake she made in her past that is coming back to haunt her.
Kim Possible and all related characters © Disney