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Chapter 161
Happy New Year, Jake!
Jake
When Esmé let us off at Ryan's, all four of us pressed a kiss to her cheek. She wished us a good time afterwards.
Although it was still quite early, we were not the first there.
We greeted Ryan, who immediately admonished us that the upstairs was off limits to all guests.
He hadn't explicitly said that last time, which is why he had to kick some of our classmates out of the bedrooms upstairs. The next morning. When someone had noticed.
The party got going quickly as it gradually became more crowded, and the alcohol flowed. Ryan, by the way, was on my basketball team, which at one point I stood with in a corner - away from the band.
We discussed our current position in the standings in a matter-of-factly, boozy atmosphere. Second. Mr. Sports Science was in first place with his team, but we were separated by only three points.
At nine o'clock sharp - the party had been scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m. - the queen of the school arrived.
In her opinion.
Carrie.
She always made a point of making a grand entrance and was therefore two hours late by default.
There was a girl at our school who always wore colorful clothes. There was no such thing with her as black and white. And yet she had managed to stick to the party motto 'Black & White'. Different Carrie. She wore a catsuit. Completely made of blood red lace. With black lace underwear, as every manly creature registered. Well. I was also a man. The band was also made up entirely of guys, which is why the music stopped briefly when she entered the room.
But honestly, as sharp she also looked, I knew no one who really had an honest interest in her. A quickie, yes, she was up for that too, but nothing more.
She stood there, casually elegant, while she roughly eyed the guests present. Until she had apparently picked out her prey for today.
She pranced in my direction.
Oh ... shit!
"Hi, Jake," she murmured rakishly, chummingly placing an arm over one of my shoulders - I was sitting on the back of a sofa - giving me an implied kiss on the cheek, but not looking at me afterward. "Who's your friend, then?" she asked instead.
Her smile became charmingly intrusive.
I grinned.
"This is Marcus," I introduced.
Her smile became more provocative, and she playfully leaned towards him.
"Marcus," she repeated seductively, placing her hand against his torso.
"My sister's boyfriend!", I then added after a moment when I saw the appropriate instant. The moment when she had probably already imagined the rest of her evening with him. But she wouldn't be Carrie if such facts didn't seem pretty indifferent to her, as long as Leah wasn't here to claim her ownership.
Marcus seemed to recognize his 'distress' and I was curious to see how he was going to get off the hook.
"Good evening, Carrie. It's nice to meet you. You look quite ... pretty ... Do you actually know my breathtaking Leah?" Marcus began just as pleasingly, but then pulled Leah in front of him, who had approached unobtrusively, and gave her a kiss on the back of the neck.
Carrie scowled.
Leah and she didn't like each other very much.
"Um ... yeah ... hello ... Leah," Carrie stammered, who turned back to me after that defeat.
But I already had Becky standing between my legs and her arms lay demonstratively around my neck to also clarify the ownership of my person.
"You know Becky," was all I meant.
Carrie smiled forcedly and moved on.
The music had restarted in the meantime, so the party continued.
At some point I walked outside alone a little through the garden. The air in the inside was getting stuffy.
By chance, I saw Ryan's father talking to his son not far from the house. From the brief conversation, I could tell that his mother had apparently forgotten pills that he was just coming to get. Ryan ran into the house to get those, so that the father would not tip the mood when the others would see him.
"Oh ... Jake," he finally recognized me in the darkness.
He had winced a little, which made me chuckle.
Could also be due to the steadily rising alcohol level.
"Hey, Mr. Harper," I greeted him.
"How's the party going?" he asked, relaxed.
I reported.
We drank, we danced, we chatted. A thoroughly successful party. I also didn't refrain from telling him how cool I thought it was that he allowed Ryan to have a house party just like that.
"Why not?" was all he said, "You're all old enough to make your own mistakes. Even if something gets broken around here, or you guys drink yourselves into a coma, or do something else that's very likely beyond my fatherly imagination. We prefer to have Ryan and the rest of you here partying instead of somewhere in the city where who knows what might happen to you and you might run into other intoxicated people ... I trust my son, even when he's drunk."
Ryan came back, handed over a pill tube, and I got the uncomfortable feeling to disturb.
Mr. Harper put his hands on his son's shoulders, and they looked into each other's eyes.
I had the impression that something was still missing to bring this moment to a fitting conclusion for both of them.
I turned away. My hearing confirmed my suspicions.
Quiet whispers.
"I am fond of you, my boy!" and "I you too, Dad!"
And a kiss. On the lips, the cheek, the temple, the forehead? I didn't know and it was none of my business. I only knew that it was an intense moment between father and son, although it had lasted only a few seconds.
I stayed outside a little longer and sat down on a fence a bit apart.
When was the last time I had experienced such a moment? With Mom or Dad? It had been a few days. I did get a kiss in the morning as usual, but that seemed somehow more like standard procedure to me at the moment. Habit. Nothing more. Especially from Dad! Leah and I were pretty much written off at home at the moment. But was I allowed to complain about that, too? Ced needed attention. Always. I guess every baby does. So did I. At the time. But the simple fact was, I felt lost.
I thought about this topic for some time, until I heard something behind me.
"Hello, handsome man!" it purred seductively.
I smiled.
"Hello, Abigail," I said without turning around.
She climbed through the fence slats, stood in front of me and hugged me.
Abigail Rivers. One of my ex-girlfriends, whom I had met again by chance on Halloween.
"You look hot. Aren't you cold?" I stated when we broke away from each other and I could admire her outfit.
An interesting dress made of black and white scraps of fabric, which sat quite tightly on some parts of her body. Over it she had a floor-length knitted coat on.
But it was already pretty cold out here for a human, even if the sub-zero temperatures were only scratched tonight.
"I make it warm by myself," she chuckled, holding something out to me.
A joint.
Without giving it much thought, I took a pull.
Why not? My stoner days were behind me, and I didn't want to revive them either. But I still liked the taste of good pot, and we were at a party. Besides, I was curious what the animal in me would have to say about it.
Of course, I had to cough first, which Abi found unmistakably amusing. She climbed up on the fence next to me, and I put an arm around her.
So she didn't fall off stoned and she got some of my warmth.
"How come you're here?" I asked her. While I was pleased to see her again for longer than just a short piece of trail company, she didn't go to our school, so there was no way I would have expected her to be here.
She had met Ryan by chance a few days ago and since every person who knew Abigail liked her, he invited her over. It suited her pretty well, since she was recently single again.
We shared the joint comradely, fooling around by doing so.
Like before. I wondered why we had broken up then. Abigail was so wonderfully uncomplicated and full of joie de vivre. Well, later we both knew, but what had actually been the deciding factor in ending our relationship - if you could call it that at fifteen? I no longer knew.
But then we went back inside to the actual party.
I put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in front of me a little closer to me.
"So, who are you interested in?" I asked her.
Since these were mainly my classmates, she hardly knew anyone here - except for my closer friends.
"Who is that?" she asked.
"He's not your type!" I reminded her.
"How would you know?"
"He's a man!"
"So what? One can overlook this little flaw when one looks like that!"
"Then you'll have to confront Leah! That's her boyfriend, Marcus!"
"Damn it!" she groaned.
She knew that one did not mess with Leah.
She continued to look around the room, searching for a girl she liked. Then she wanted to get away from me.
"Then I guess I'll try my luck with that one!" she purred.
I pulled her back a little rudely.
"Don't you dare!"
Abi laughed.
Of course, she had not forgotten that this adorable dancing angel was my Becky. The emphasis here was clearly on MY! I had also not forgotten how hot our short relationship had been, even if we had not made it to bed. But we were hard on the home stretch. So I knew that if Abi got her hands on Becky, it would be very dangerous. She managed that Becky turned her back on the men and thus also on me.
"How about her, then?" I asked, pointing to Carrie in her sexy red outfit.
Abi contorted her face.
"What was so incomprehensible about 'Black & White'?" she asked in downright disgust that made me laugh.
She gave me a kiss on the corner of my mouth and mingled with the party guests.
But we arranged to meet again outside later.
She still had enough grass with her that it would easily be enough for two more joints.
And I joined my star on the dance floor. Becky liked to dance, and I liked to dance with her, even if I didn't really know what I was doing. After a trip to the bathroom, a walk past the food, a round of chatting with the chess club, and dancing again, I stood off to the side with Leah during a short beer break and we watched the rest of our group of friends claim the dance floor for themselves.
"Oh ... Abi's here," she noted with delight when she saw her at the other end of the large living room.
"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you. I met her outside earlier," I just remembered.
"Outside? In the cold? What were you doing there?"
"Reliving old times," I muttered, grinning.
Leah made a cute, shocked face.
"We shared a doobie," I added explanatorily, whereupon her face relaxed considerably.
"How is she doing?"
"Single again ... She wanted to hook up with Marcus and then Becky," I laughed.
Leah scowled and looked around for Abigail.
Dad was right. Jealousy was one of our standout traits, even though neither of us would probably ever admit it publicly. But there was someone with whom jealousy could not build up in me. Marcus. He was dancing quite liberally with Becky, but Leah was also watching them in a relaxed manner.
"We're actually both very possessive when it comes to the two of them. Why don't we get jealous now?" I asked her opinion.
She took a pleasurable sip of beer while she reflected.
"Because they're more like siblings," Leah presented her hypothesis.
I nodded, looked at my watch, and set off.
Toward Brandon.
"Feel like lighting one up again?" I asked him.
He looked at me in downright horror until my words had apparently found their way into his memory. He began to grin.
A stupid looking face, as he was also far from sober. Like all of us.
And I nodded to Marcus while we inconspicuously looked for a way to get out. Of course, we took our girls with us.
Even though David and Mom remembered it differently, our girls had never been averse to smoking pot. It had been with them only considerably less and had been limited to parties and the like.
Abigail was already waiting. Apparently she had not yet found a girlfriend - or at least evening playmate. She saw us, she ran towards us and jumped into Marcus' arms, while she pressed a kiss on his mouth. Extremely taken off guard, he nevertheless held her tightly.
"Hi ..." she smiled at him afterwards - still clinging to him - as cutely as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
"Hello?" asked Marcus with a rather befuddled face.
"This is Abigail. Get used to it. She's like that," I informed my brother-in-law.
Abi greeted Leah hugging her tightly, then Brandon, Lisa, and subsequently Becky. The latter longer than necessary and her hands slipped lower.
I slapped her on the fingers.
"Mine! Not yours!" I held my index finger in front of her eyes.
"It's too bad, though," she muttered, but turned to her handbag hanging on the fence. She handed me some weed, tobacco, and rolling papers. "You can do this better than I can," she explained.
I took it and held it out to Brandon.
"You can do it better than I can," I repeated.
He swallowed.
"Yes. At the time. I'm out of practice!" he countered.
"Don't make such a fuss. It's like riding a bike!" Marcus teased us.
My presenting hand was instantly with him.
He rolled.
Even better than we had been able to manage in our active time.
We stood together in a loose circle, chuckling disproportionately as time went on. With sufficient alcohol in our blood now, the humans among us felt not quite so cold either and everyone revealed moments of our stoner days.
A serious conversation between Lisa and her father. Brandon's brother, who had found pot on him and bagged it. Becky's first puff and how she had coughed for an hour afterwards.
Ryan joined us once briefly to see why we were having a private party in the cold. The joint was passed to him, he took two drags and would keep more onlookers off our backs after Abigail promised to let him know on the next round.
I asked Abi what her chances of success were.
Lean to lousy.
"Wait a minute," Marcus began, now that he had gotten to know Abigail a little. "You were together with her," he asked in my direction.
I nodded.
"And now she's into women!" he summarized.
I nodded again.
"Doesn't really speak for you now, does it?" he grinned, and everyone laughed out loud.
Uh ... I hadn't thought of it that way?!
After a necessary snack, which we enjoyed in the company of some other friends, I had to pee.
Beer really sucked in that regard.
I washed my hands and looked in the mirror for a familiar face.
I had really drunk quite a bit and with the two joints my eyes were red by now, but for that I actually still felt quite sane. Also, none of us was so bottled up that he or she would have to go home. Fortunately … after all, it was not yet midnight. But soon. Still a good half hour until the new year.
I grinned at the face in the mirror, and it grinned back delightedly.
"Jake! Are you in there?" came a knock on the door.
It seemed kind of hectic to me.
"Ryan? What happened to you?" I asked in amazement as he almost fell into my arms when I opened the door.
He rubbed his shoulder and squinted his eyes slightly in pain.
"Mike is here!" he said immediately, however.
My gaze went sideways across the long hallway. I saw one of Mike's friends disappear into the living room and I rushed off.
As far as I knew, Mike didn't have many people left to call friends after they heard about his attack on Becky. Not to say he bragged about it to them. Most of them had turned their backs on him. The three who had haunted me in the gym that day had apologized to me. Even to Becky for not having prevented Mike's assault. They hadn't believed he would put his big-headed plan into action.
"Sorry!", Ryan was still shouting after me.
But I wasn't mad at him. Rather, I felt sorry for him. He had certainly stood alone in the front doorway, wasn't exactly the most stable young man now, and had a heck of a lot of respect for Mike. Ryan had no chance of not letting them in.
I cleaved my way through the many guests, but I was too late.
What do you mean I was too late? I was still not there. Two spacious rooms separated me from my star. The living room with the full dance floor and behind the wide passageway the dining room where my people were.
Mike was already standing in front of Becky, who hadn't seen him coming, just looked at him in horror, seemingly incapable of moving.
"Well, sweetie. Did you get all dressed up for me?" Mike asked her chummily, stroking over her arm with his fingertips.
She was trembling.
I saw it over the entire distance.
And I was trembling. With rage. I became hot.
But before I got to her myself, Marcus was already standing by my star. He roughly slapped Mike's hand away and wanted to build himself up protectively in front of Becky, but didn't really get around to it.
"Mind your own fucking business, kid!" said Mike smugly, giving Marcus a rough punch against the neck.
They were the same size, but Mike was a football player. Wide as a cupboard. In contrast, Marcus looked lanky, despite his actually really athletic physique.
He landed on the floor.
Everything in the immediate vicinity backed away from the scene, everyone else hadn't noticed anything yet. The music was loud, the people drunk, everyone was still having fun partying.
Only Brandon was plucky enough, while I had barely reached the dance floor and was pushing through the buoyant party atmosphere. But Brandon was already stopped by Mike's two accompaniments.
Leah immediately stood in front of Becky as she reached the scene from the other side. She flashed threatening glares at Mike.
"Well, well? The little kitten extends its claws?" he mocked about it.
She reached for his wrist, which was about to approach her cleavage. And her grip tightened.
"Leah!" I admonished her.
People around me flinched for a moment, but I was not heard in the wider room yet.
But Leah had heard me. I would love to see my adorable sister take down the brutal macho in front of everyone. The only problem was that she shouldn't be able to.
She rolled her eyes in annoyance and loosened her fingers.
Meanwhile, Marcus stood back on his feet. He pushed the other of Mike's bodyguards off his body.
Loosely off the cuff. This is what it looked like.
Then, before Mike did reach Leah's skin while grinning stupidly victorious, Marcus had thrown a punch, causing Mike to hit himself in the face with his own hand.
Indeed, not lightly. I wasn't quite sure, but it was quite possible that I had heard a crack.
While Mike now held his nose, Leah and Marcus whispered something to each other.
Marcus' gaze became deadly. A look that made me believe the stories from his past without hesitation. Juvenile court judge. Bodily injury. Boot Camp. Juvenile jail after the Boot Camp failed to make an impact.
I finally got within humanly possible earshot, ready to brutally beat Mike up for his audacity, but ...
"Stay out of it! You're a witness in court!" Leah murmured to me.
"Becky!" Marcus just pointed in her direction.
I nodded before he turned back to Mike.
I had understood.
For me, there were more important things than seeking revenge in any way, which certainly wouldn't work in Becky's favor during the trial.
I finally arrived at Becky.
Lisa had already pulled her a bit off to the side and sat her down on a chair.
I immediately knelt in front of her and took her face in my hands. But I was surprised. She no longer looked frightened. No comparison with the posture or the face I had seen through the two rooms. Still a little pale, no doubt, but otherwise she looked rather combative. My inner fire receded when she touched my lips with her delicate fingers.
As if she wanted to forbid me to say something.
"Mike is not able to harm me anymore. Neither he nor anyone else. Even if the same thing should happen to me again ... You'll be there! You'll catch me and let me forget about it! I love you, Jake!" she stated firmly, sliding her fingers to my cheeks and breathing a kiss on my lips.
Very tender and soulful.
Afterwards, she smiled at me liberatedly, as if a weight weighing tons had fallen from her shoulders. She took me by the hand, stood up and turned to the current events.
"So you're the asshole who attacks defenseless girls!" Marcus just stated, but so quietly that only Mike heard it besides Leah and me.
Everyone knew something had happened between Mike and Becky, but only a few knew the whole truth.
"What's it to you, you lame duck!" he pushed Marcus aside.
Or let's say he wanted to push him aside.
My brother-in-law cleverly countered.
"I don't see why THAT'S any of your business!" replied Marcus.
"Could someone please boot these three out of here!" came Ryan to us.
"You're getting out of here!" said Marcus.
It was not a request. It was a statement!
Mike probably wanted to start laughing, but it got stuck in his throat after Marcus performed a blow against his lungs. He staggered back. A friend of him immediately rushed forward, but Marcus stood already so imperiously opposed to him that he backed away. He stood indecisively next to Mike, but he was still busy coughing.
Brandon was finally able to break away and still pushed the guy toward the two of them.
"Get out!" said Marcus.
The friends pulled on Mike's football jacket and more or less stumbled to the front door.
Some followed them curiously - we did too - but Ryan pushed everyone back except our group of friends.
"There's going to be repercussions for this!" cursed Mike to himself as he reached the front door.
I winced inwardly and saw us surrounded by vampires day and night.
Marcus, however, laughed.
"Repercussions?" asked Marcus contemptuously, taking a demonstrative and threatening step toward Mike. They stared at each other at eye level. "What do you intend to do? ... Ambush me at night? ... Please! Do me this favor! With your little friends for all I care! ... And you might want to hurry up with that. If you're sent to the clink, you won't have another chance," he practically begged for it.
Mike peered a little skeptically.
"Even if I go to jail, we'll meet again!" promised Mike.
"Do you know what happens to scum like you in jail?" inquired Marcus - in a subtle growling chatty tone.
"What could someone possibly do to me? Rape me like they show in silly movies?" Mike made a joke of it.
He felt very confident.
"Yep. That can happen. Before the eyes of all the inmates," Marcus almost smiled.
A treacherous smile.
"But only when they have a good day. On all other days - and these will predominate - you will be tortured. You have no idea what's possible in prison without one of the guards noticing. You will be the slave of the whole station. You'll have to give up your food and your cigarettes. If you don't have any, they'll make sure you work up some in a messy way. Do you know what soap alone can do? You will lick their boots. You will polish their toilets with your toothbrush. You can say goodbye to your balls anyway. You won't bring them back out with you. If you ever leave that place without a gurney."
Mike swallowed noticeably, but otherwise hardly let his trepidation show.
Rather the opposite.
Grinning derisively, he slowly and deliberately grabbed Marcus by his shirt.
Marcus gave this gesture a mocking look.
"Motherfucker, don't think you can scare me in any way," Mike muttered.
With a movement that was almost too fast for my eyes, Marcus grabbed Mike's arm, twisted it, gave him a well-aimed kick in the legs, and Mike lay prone on the ground.
Somewhat delayed, one of Mike's friends wanted to intervene. He lashed out with his arm, but before Marcus could be hit, I took two steps forward and his fist slammed against my palm.
But Marcus would also have reacted in time, which surprised me.
Instead of catching the additional attacker, he hit me.
Marcus looked at me a little confused as I staggered slightly from the unexpected blow.
Damn! Marcus was stronger than he looked. Or just more accurate. Mr. Sports Science was doing Sudoku, after all. Um ... Taekwondo, I mentally corrected myself. But I had never really seen it before.
So, while I was staggering, the other guy tried again, but this time Marcus fought him off so skillfully that he landed on the ground. So did the third guy, who also thought he had to fight Marcus. Both landed right on top of Mike.
Neatly stacked.
"You better be scared. Because you know what else? ... This obliging treatment ... starts in juvie! We ate freaks like you for breakfast there!" Marcus then made clear in a whisper.
A threat that hit the target.
The three pulled themselves to their feet with difficulty.
"Who are you?" asked Mike, stunned.
"What's it to you! ... But you should wish that we don't meet again!"
The three disappeared.
We looked behind them for a long time to make sure they were really gone.
When Mike and his last followers had ruefully left the long driveway, Marcus turned to us. His body was still tense, but his face was already considerably nicer.
Nobody said anything.
I wouldn't have known what to say.
Becky walked up to him and hugged him tightly, with which his last aggressions dissipated.
"Thank you," my star murmured.
Marcus just nodded, but then looked at me.
"YOU can't let them provoke you. Not until all the legal stuff is over," he said emphatically.
"I know. Thank you for defying him," I opined.
"What are big brothers for?" he smiled.
Ryan also thanked us - or rather Marcus - for disposing of the three of them. His shoulder was bruised, but it would be fine.
We went back to the party.
Most of them had not noticed anything about the incident.
We walked into the dining room to the bar, and each held a bottle of beer, which Ryan gratefully handed to us.
"To the WE and now!", Marcus gave the toast.
We toasted, but only Ryan took a sip.
The other six of us - or in other words, the other three couples - were busy kissing.
I was so proud of my star. Mike had hit on her, touched her, but she smiled at me as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Quickly the party mood returned to us, and we stood on the crowded dance floor again very soon.
The alcohol generally ensured that many dropped their last inhibitions. The girls danced provocatively. For some, it almost degenerated into a lap dance, or they would have been fine on a dance pole. Becky was no exception. Her hot ass was pushing against me, massaging me. The guys present were drooling at the general watching.
So was I. Almost. I still had a little self-respect. However, I increasingly felt how this self-respect gathered somewhere else. There, where it would have far more fun.
"Becky!" I thundered softly against her ear. "You're driving me crazy. Stop it!"
Just for the record: The words 'You're driving me crazy' combined with 'Stop it' were as effective as trying to mop up a tidal wave with a cotton pad. Becky not only continued unabashedly, but turned to me. Her gaze challenging, she nestled her pelvis against my center in lustful movements, her fingers crawling under my muscle shirt, her lips resting against my neck. She was driving me crazy.
With one arm I lifted her onto my hip, while with the other I set our bottles aside. Briskly, I left the dance floor with her. Some looked after us and made comments, spurring, chuckling, displeasing, but I so didn't care right now.
I reached the guest bathroom at the far end of the hall, closed the door behind me, and pushed Becky against the wall.
She immediately tugged at the clasp of my pants while my hands wandered up her lustful thighs to her middle.
I even had a condom with me. Never again would I leave the house indeed with Becky, but without a condom. Not after yesterday's ski trip. Or rather, after the eager eyes when we had caught Marcus and Leah in the men's room.
So while we were doing it unromantically but wildly on the cold tile wall, we heard outside the door at some point how the guests began to count down loudly.
Ten ... nine ... eight ...
My thrusts went in sync with it. Until, seemingly at the stroke of midnight, I heard not zero but cheering from outside and felt Becky contracting around me and me moaning lustily at the same time as her.
I turned against the other wall without lowering Becky.
I had to lean in for a moment.
"If this is how the new year starts, it can only be brilliant!" I stated.
"I agree," smiled my star.
Had we lacked romance the last few minutes, we now made up for it with a sensual kiss.
But we hurried to get to the others.
We found them on the terrace, where all sorts of fireworks were set off. We were handed glasses of sparkling wine ... with a smirk that could not be misunderstood.
We wished everyone a happy new year.
I hugged my twin sister warmly. I hugged my 'big brother'. Brandon. Lisa. Abigail literally jumped into my arms. Ryan stopped by us for a moment.
Becky and I drank away the glasses in one go.
We were thirsty, which Leah commented on with a wink.
The first ones left already when the fireworks ended, but the hard core kept on partying. As usual, the basketball team and the volleyball team.
Around one o'clock in the morning we shared the last joint. Less silly and cheerful than a few hours ago. This time we stood together in contemplative groups of two, winding down for the evening. Ryan had his girlfriend in his arms and even Abigail wasn't standing there alone.
She had hooked up with a bubbly little blonde who had actually hit on Dad once. As I said, Abi was dangerous.
After the almost last guests disappeared, we texted Dad that he could pick us up soon.
We helped clean up while we waited.
When there was still no ride for us at two, I called Dad.
But his cell phone was off?
Indecisively, I stared at my cell phone for a moment.
He had said that he would pick us up. We had not asked him, but he had simply offered himself as a chauffeur! Like pretty much always, when we were out in the evening, having a good time. We would have also taken a cab home - that is, to Mom's house here in Saco. To Carlisle, after all, that was priceless. Was something perhaps wrong?
I called Carlisle, who immediately was on his way.
I hadn't called about that, but okay. I was surprised how quickly he was there. But when I recognized Leah's Mercedes, it explained itself. He had hurried and walked to Saco, but couldn't pick us up without a car. So he took one of our cars, which were both parked in front of Mom's house.
We thanked Ryan for the super party and got in the car.
"Where's Dad?" I asked promptly as I sat in the passenger seat and pulled the door shut.
The other three squeezed into the sparse rear bench seat.
"Your parents drove away earlier in the evening. I don't know where they are. They have something to deal with that they didn't expect and that caused them a big blow. They wanted to be alone for that," Carlisle explained.
Somehow he seemed guilty and even sad about it.
"What about Ced?" asked Leah promptly from the rear bench.
That was my thought, too. Maybe something had happened to Ced that had given them this ominous blow.
"Your little brother is fine, don't worry ... But as for what exactly is going on with your parents, maybe they should explain to you themselves when they get back," Carlisle said.
"When are they coming back?" I asked attentively.
"I'm afraid I can't answer that for you," he murmured, deep in thought.
My parents were away for an indefinite period of time and had left all their children behind. What was I supposed to think about that now? Before I could figure out for myself whether I should be angry about it, annoyed, worried, or perhaps just amused because they had possibly only stolen themselves an evening for two under flimsy excuses, I dozed off.
However, I woke up again.
The blinding light of the Christmas illumination had shown me the way through my incipient dream. The three behind me, however, continued to sleep.
Carlisle helped me carefully get Becky out of the car and then I lifted her up in my arms myself.
Esmé had already come out, she gave me a kiss on the cheek, wished me a happy new year and took Leah. Carlisle was struggling with Marcus. No one was awake or there anymore.
On the way towards our rooms, my grandparents told us that all the guests had been driven home in due course.
Becky was half awake again when I took off her dress and boots. She slapped my fingers.
"Abigail! If Jake finds out!" she mumbled to herself.
"What?" I asked, startled.
"I do love him," she immediately wanted to clarify.
I smiled and lay down with her.
"And I you, my star!" I whispered and gave her a kiss on the lips.
"You see!" she said still in a know-it-all way and snuggled up to me.
I slept really well.
I dreamed about Becky.
About a picnic together on the beach with Leah and Marcus. And a trip, I don't know where, Brandon and Lisa were also present. About Jason, who secretly shadowed all six of us to study for his relationship with Claire.
A deafening thunder woke us, with which we sat bolt upright in bed.
For a second I was in a real panic, whereby Becky didn't seem to feel any different.
We clung to the bedspread and looked around anxiously.
Like toddlers. Until it thundered again. Much quieter than it had seemed to me two seconds ago. A thunderstorm. Just a thunderstorm.
Taking a deep breath and laughing at myself, I let myself fall back onto the bed.
Becky swung herself jauntily on top of me, I put my hands on her hips and she leaned down to me.
"Happy New Year, my little wolf!" she whispered and kissed me adorably.
But immediately she swung herself further out of bed and went to the bathroom.
My gaze went to the clock.
I was surprised that it looked like dawn outside, but I felt quite awake now, even though I was awakened so rudely. It was 11:36 a.m. Okay. We had slept for over eight hours. That explained why I was really awake.
I stood up and looked for a pair of sweatpants.
"Coffee?" I asked through the open door.
"Break!" I got sullenly in reply.
This word meant between us that she had gotten her period and signaled our sex break because Becky found it uncomfortable. In this case, I was somewhat relieved. Her periods were coming irregularly, and she had been overdue.
"That doesn't sound like you're pleased about it," I bristled.
"Are you?"
"I do wish to have children with you, sooner rather than later, but I actually want to savor youth with you a little longer. We still have a little time for it," I welcomed her in my arms and kissed her on the tip of her nose while I echoed Dad's words to me.
"And I definitely agree with that," she nodded decisively, but twisted out of my arms and crawled back into bed, offended.
"But?" I asked.
"But that means we're on break," she grumbled.
I smirked and kissed my way up her spine.
"Your choice," was all I said. That's how it was. I complied with her wish in this respect, without having a problem with it. But I was already kind of curious.
I smiled at her, kissed her on the temple and left.
Coffee. Having to get coffee myself brought to mind that Mom and Dad had taken off yesterday with no destination. Dad would have woken us up. Even after a relatively long night. That's the way he always did it. After no more than eight hours of sleep, he always came with coffee. Therefore, I began to worry. Simply running away - without a word - was not like the two of them. Besides, Carlisle had looked kind of guilty when he told us that. He must have known something. I resolved to ask him and not let up until he spilled the beans. Maybe we could do something to make them feel better.
It was a long way from my room to the preferred social areas of the house.
In this respect, I imagined horror scenarios. An unforeseen death of a friend. Of a family member. My grandparents. Seth. Maybe Ced wasn't as well as Carlisle had told us last night after all and had lied to us so as not to worry us. Or was Mom sick? Hopelessly ill? Cancer or something that even Carlisle couldn't cure? Was Mom maybe somewhere now where she would scream her head off for three days while she turned? Because she didn't have another chance? I mean, why else would they have run away?
I felt really uncomfortable as I got closer and closer to the kitchen with such thoughts.
I was afraid of what Carlisle might say. Perhaps my reflections were far too good.
A noise distracted me, and I went one door further - into the living room.
My mood changed instantly. The worries and fears fell away from me.
I was happy to see my mom. Relieved because she appeared to be alive and kicking. Happy because she was. But I was also upset. I saw no reason why they had been wordlessly and unreachably gone. My parents did not look anything like they'd had a rough night. Something to work through, as Carlisle had called it. They played happily and in good spirits with my baby brother on the floor. And how happy the three of them looked together.
Then one noticed me.
I was undecided.
They seemed to react directly to my presence. Different than it had been the last few days. They smiled at me. Both of them.
And I took a step toward her. Until Mom turned around once again to Ced.
"Edward!" she exclaimed.
I was almost startled with surprise at the way she said it.
As if she had never before in her entire life - ! - seen anything more impressive than her baby. I didn't see Ced anymore, an armchair was in my way for that, but what could he have done? He was an infant! But my parents turned to him faster than I registered it. Went back to him again. Dad picked Ced up off the floor, beamed unbelievably, and twirled him joyfully through the air.
"My boy!" I heard him say softly.
Full of pride!
I turned on my heel.
On the way back to my room, tears welled up in my eyes. Tears of anger.
I no longer had a father! For so long I had waited for a father and now it was all over again. Edward only had eyes for Ced. Edward had a son of his own now. I was a write-off. For good.
I slammed the door behind me as I reached my room, causing Becky to startle in bed.
"What's wrong?" asked Becky immediately when she saw my face.
I wiped the tears from my cheeks, but Becky stood already in front of me - her gentle hands on my cheeks.
"I don't have a father anymore!" I thundered and freed myself from her.
I went to the closet, pulled out any clothes.
"What are you saying? ... Edward is your father after all. Your dad!"
"Not anymore," I said bitterly, with new tears running down my cheeks. I had been so happy in my great family. Everything had been so perfect. Now everything was broken! "NOW he has a son! One! That's all he wants. That's all he needs."
"Jake, look at me," she crouched by me and lifted my gaze as I sat on the floor lacing up my shoes. "You're wrong. I'm quite sure of it! Edward does love you!" she tried to tell me.
"You didn't see what I saw. How they both didn't deign to look at me. How he'd already forgotten about my presence, as soon as Ced made a sound," I said clearly, jumping to my feet and turning toward the door.
"What are you going to do now?" asked Becky in horror.
"I don't know. Right now I just want to get away!" I said and pulled a sweater over me.
There was glitter in her sapphires, so I walked up to Becky and put my hands to her cheeks.
"I love you, Becky ... You know how much I love you? ..." She nodded ponderously. "... I'm confused. I feel lost. I feel like I'm all alone in this world. All on my own. And that's exactly what I want to be right now ... Stay here or let Leah take you home. Whichever you like. But I need to leave here as soon as possible!" I tried to explain.
I pressed my lips to hers - perhaps a touch too firmly - but then I quickly detached myself from her and disappeared.
I could not see my star crying.
In order not to have to go past the main entrance, which was by the living room, I went to the back of the house. There was also a staircase leading down. I wanted to leave quickly, but I had no desire to run as a wolf through the thunderstorm.
When I arrived at the underground garage, I cursed softly.
My car was not here. Only Leah's Mercedes stood there, and I didn't want to take it in case she really drove Becky home. I didn't believe it. Becky was too comfortable with us, no matter what house we were in. She would still see the kind facade by herself. That's why I wasn't taking her now. She should find out for herself that all the family fuss was nothing but blasphemy. But with which car was I going to leave now?
I stood in front of the small cabinet with the various car keys. All hooks clean and neatly labeled - original and replacement keys. From pretty much all the cars that these vampires owned.
I grabbed one, pressed the buzzer for the underground garage door, and immediately drove off. I drove slowly at first to get a feel for the car. Until I had left the gate in the forest behind me. Only then did I step on the gas and race through the streets.
Lost in thought, I drove through the area without a destination in mind.
In Edward's beloved toy. The Maserati! I was so angry. I would love to scrap that thing. Every single one of his cars. But that wouldn't hurt him nearly enough. The way he had hurt me! I mulled over the past nearly four months, doubting every even remotely nice gesture Edward had made. He had done nothing for me. I was nothing to him. Since he was a real father, all sorts of things had changed with us. Of course. We - dirty wolves in his eyes - were nothing more. Babysitters who were allowed to watch his baby when he took a shower with Mom. We weren't woken up with coffee anymore. We weren't woken up at all anymore. We weren't worth running through the woods with him or that he picked us up from anywhere. He no longer asked how our day was. We got breakfast in bed, but surely only so that he could be back with his real son as soon as possible.
I was simply furious.
Angry at Edward, who had let me believe for so many weeks and months that I meant anything to him. None of it had been true. I remained my mother's unwelcome appendage that he couldn't ignore. That he wouldn't get rid of until summer.
And I became so angry that a heat spread through me. Slowly and subliminally.
I realized too late that it was not a human heat, but a wolfish one, which came solely from anger. But I knew that at the end of this road was a bend and behind this bend a steep slope. I knew it exactly. Also that I was much too fast to get the curve. But all this knowledge did not change anything. I felt how my human contours wanted to blur. How the animal wanted to make a heated path for itself. How the tension in all my fibers forbade me to step off the gas. To move at all. I tightened my fingers around the steering wheel. To defeat the beast. It gave way under my power.
My eyes widened in panic as I reached the bend.
I crashed through the fence, flying a few meters through the air. When the front tilted, I heard a long-panicked scream.
Must have come from me, there was no one else there.
Right now I also noticed that I was not wearing a seat belt.
Great! Very well done, Jake!
The screaming continued and it was increasingly getting on my nerves. But hey, I could move again. Just didn't do me any good now, except to brace myself against the roof with my hands to push myself into the seat.
Of course, the steep slope did not just go straight down.
No! That would have been too easy.
The slope was littered with tree stumps, scattered boulders, I discovered a sand pit to my left in disbelief.
No chance for a soft landing.
At the front left I touched the ground first, so that the car body was turned a bit and tipped to the side. The car overturned several times. I was really jolted, could no longer hold myself in the seat, and spun back and forth in the narrow interior. I must have taken something with the rear end. I was now also spinning vertically.
Like a turtle lying on its back. And could someone please finally turn off this screaming!
Someone seemed to have heard my cursing and gifted me with silence.
Endless silence. Well, everything was also black, but finally no one screamed anymore. Happy New Year, Jake!, I wished myself. Blank sarcasm.
Thank you for reading!
