Chapter 7
Continued…
"Allison," Joey yelled, running our of the kitchen into the living room after Allison, "we have to talk."
"I think we just did," she said coldly as she swung around to face him, her hair swirling around her face; a gesture that had made Joey fall in love with her the first time they met.
It didn't affect him this time. He was too frustrated that she wouldn't listen to him. He had to tell her what he felt.
"No, you just did," he said sternly. "It's my turn now. I said me walking in on you was an accident and I was sorry. Why don't you believe me? You can't just blame me for having personality changes. You always change. When I told you that you could stay here, you were ecstatic, but then you get pissed off when I say anything you don't like, even if it's something that most people would think is nice. It's like you're blocking me out. Or you don't want to get to know me."
Allison looked down.
"What's the real problem? I'm not sure this is all about me walking in on you changing, which I didn't even mean to do."
"You want to know the truth??" she asked loudly. "I was raped. I don't like guys flirting with me."
Joey gaped at her.
"Yup. I believe in being honest with people, but this I've kept from everyone in my life before they kicked me out."
"It happened before you were kicked out?"
"Yeah, most people think living on the streets is so dangerous, but the real danger is in my house. I was actually glad to get out of there."
"I'm sorry," Joey said sadly. Then he became curious. "Do you mind my asking what happened?"
"No, I don't mind," she said. "It will help you understand me better."
They sat down on the couch as Allison told her story.
"It was when I was a senior in high school. My parents had just split up 2 years before that, so I was still having a hard time living only with my mom. I had no idea where my dad was. We were all so happy. I didn't understand why he would run away like that. It took us a while to get over it. We lived in a small apartment, but my mom still had to work two jobs to make ends meet. She was so depressed she resorted to drinking and became an alcoholic. I tried to stay out of the house as much as I could. I didn't like who she became when she drank. When I was home we would argue about everything. Eventually she got over him, but still kept on drinking. She found another boyfriend through her job who drank as much as she did. He was the one who raped me."
Her voice was starting to shake as she told her story. "After they were together for a year, he moved in with us. My mom never asked me or even told me. One day he just showed up with all his stuff. I was so upset she didn't tell me that I didn't talk to her for a month. But I got used to it eventually, until he started hitting on me. I thought my mom would notice or yell at him to stop, but she said he was just being friendly. Well, one night when my mom was working and he was at home, he became a little more friendly. He pinned me down on the couch and I couldn't move, so I just screamed. My neighbor finally came after I had been screaming for five straight minutes. By then he was done, so he ran out the door. My neighbor called the police and took care of me. My mom was very upset when she heard what happened. But not about me, about him running away. She said I was probably asking for it, that I always was jealous of her for having him and I needed him for myself. I was so angry at both of them that I decided to testify. I got him 3 years in jail and a $5,000 fine. My mom kicked me out a week after the trial. I was 2 months away from graduating, but I had to drop out to take care of myself."
"Wow, I'm sorry," Joey said. "You didn't ever have a baby, did you?" he added.
"No, thank God I didn't. That would have been so bad for me. Having a baby that would only remind me of him and that night. And not knowing how to take care of it being on the street . . . " She trailed off and looked down. "Now that its getting closer to his release date, I regret testifying because of what he could do to me after he gets out."
"No," Joey said. "You should've testified. There's no question about that."
"Yeah, I know that. It's just sometimes I worry about things too much. I mean he won't be able to find me now if he had wanted. There's no trace of me after I was kicked out."
"You have nothing to worry about. That part of you life is over. You live with him or your mom or on the street. You live here now."
She nodded and smiled at him in a way that said she was happy with her life now.
"And, just so we don't have any misunderstandings," he continued, "I want you to know that I wasn't trying to watch you change and I really didn't mean to walk in on you."
She didn't say anything, but stared at him waiting for him to say more.
"I want you to know that I would never take advantage of you," he said genuinely, as he stared into her distant eyes. "No one in this household would ever hurt you."
She smiled at him and said, "I know."
A/N: Hi! Thanks for reading the story for this long!! I just want to say that I completely made up the story of how Allison was raped. And I really don't know how much the fine would be, I just made up an amount. And I'm not trying to start a stereotype and say that people who drink or are alcoholics are rapists and mean. That's just what I wrote. So I hoped you like my story and there will be more conflict and romance to come!