The first thing Nate did when I got into the car was make sure I was ok. He asked me if I felt sick, he asked me if someone tried to kill me, he asked me if Kale took advantage of me.
“I swear if that fucker did anything to hurt you—“
“Nate could we please just leave it? I’m not in the mood to talk about it,” I rubbed my temples. The music at the party gave me a major headache. “Also I’m sorry for interrupting your night,”
“No it’s alright. Rebecca was sick when I got there, she has food poisoning. A bunch of her friends and her went to The Red Dragon in downtown.”
“Oh well that’s too bad...” I said quietly.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“Do you love him?” he looked out his window.
“Yeah I do,” I said confused, “what does this –“
“Meggo, shut up,” he took a left to the country road, “I’m not talking about ‘I love him’ I’m asking you do you love him? Like you feel like he is the one, and you can spend the rest life yada yada yada?”
“Yeah...I guess so...I think I overreacted tonight,” my stomach started to churn, “Nate I don’t feel so good...”
“Don’t tell me you’re going to puke I just cleaned the truck this week!”
“No I don’t feel sick, I just feel horrible! Tonight I yelled at Kale because he was drunk, and he promised me that he would not drink but he did. When I asked him why he claimed that he was protecting me or some shit.” I looked out the window, and held on to the seat, “Nate do drunk people ever lie?”
“Well they tend to over-exaggerate but apparently they don’t lie...why?”
“Nothing...”
“Meggo are you alright?”
“I’m fine, but not perfect.”
For the rest of the ride we were pretty much silent. He kept driving and I kept thinking about Kale. Maybe I should call him when I get home, I feel like a jerk. Maybe what he was saying was true, maybe Andrew was going to do something to me. I shuddered at the thought, what did I ever do to him? Or even, what did Kale do to him? I was so busy thinking about Kale and today that I screamed when Nate closed the door.
“Shhhhh!” he put his finger to his lips, “its midnight and a lot of people are probably in bed! So get out of the truck and go to bed!” I glared at him and then got out of the truck and followed him inside. The house was quiet and not a thing moved. Mom and Dad were probably in bed reading or talking about work. Nate slid out of his shoes and immediately shot down the stairs. I went to my room and threw off my dress, and put on a UBC sweatshirt on and some candy stripped pyjama bottoms. I looked over to my bed and the sheets were still messed up and they smelled really bad. I was in no mood sleeping on that tonight. I looked over at my phone and thought about calling Kale and apologizing but it just seemed impossible, it was still his fault after all. I bet Nate’s still awake.
I walked downstairs and noticed him in his grey sweat pants and his Vancouver Canucks t-shirt. He looked up at me and patted a seat beside him on the couch.
“What are you doing up?” he asked as he flipped through the channels, “I thought you would be in bed.”
“I don’t feel like sleeping in my bed tonight,” I said nonchalantly
“Why?” he had finally settled on Family Guy.
“Nothing really...”
“Well there is a reason why you aren’t sleeping, is there a spider in there?” he teased.
“No...” there is no point in hiding this from him, “well when you were taking a shower...Kale and I were in my room and we had sex....”
“So he finally learned how to get into your pants,” he chuckled, “took him long enough!”
“Oh my god, shut up!”
“Oh my god, shut up!” he mimicked, “dude you had sex, no big deal!”
“It is a big deal!” I spazzed, “I lost my virginity!”
“So? I lost mine years ago!”
“You’re a guy so you probably don’t even care!”
“Just shut up, the highlights are on!” he put his hand over my mouth and intensely stared at the TV. I furrowed my eyebrows and wiped his hand off of my face.
Out of nowhere a chill ran down my spine, and I started to shiver. That was odd. It isn’t even cold in the basement, it’s actually pretty toasty. Then the hairs at the back of my neck stuck up.
“Nate? Did the room suddenly get cold? Or is it just me?” I rubbed my arms.
“No I’m pretty sure it’s not cold, since I’m sitting in a t-shirt. Now will you shut up?” he turned his attention back at the TV. I should’ve known better than to ask him.
Just then the phone in started to go off in the kitchen. I was about to run up the stairs when I heard mom’s door creak open. She moved soundlessly through the hallway and down the stairs into the kitchen. She picked up the receiver with a click.
“Hello?”
I wonder who was calling so late at night. It was probably Kale being his drunk ass self. That boy never quits, and does the most ridiculous things when drunk. My mom gasped, and spoke softly into the phone. He better not have told my mom we had sex! Or something even worse! My stomach started to churn. What happened on the phone?
“Nate something feels--” before I could finish my sentence mom cut me off.
“Megan, Nate I know you’re awake. Could you please come upstairs for a second?” Nate looked at me and shrugged his shoulders.
As I walked up the stairs my stomach was churning, and I felt like I could’ve puked. That phone call was probably from Kale, I could feel it. Though why would mom call Nate upstairs too? I reached the final step without breath. Mom was leaning against the island, her hair was done in a messy bun, and she was in her night gown and bathrobe. Her face looked saddened and heartbroken; she was rubbing her temples vigorously.
“You called?” Nate put his hand on mom’s shoulder, “what’s wrong?” She turned around and faced Nate. Her eyes were filled with tears, and hurt. Her gaze slowly shifted to me, she took three steps towards me.
The next six words she said ruined the rest of my life, “Kale got into a car accident,” I felt my knees become weak, and I barely could support myself. Nate came up behind me and held on to my shoulders. I closed my eyes, and tears flooded my vision. My heart was yearning for me to see him. I had to see him.
As if my mom could read my mind she helped me into my shoes and into the truck. Nate drove as fast as he could to the hospital. My mom was in the backseat cradling me with her arms, telling me that everything was going to be alright. Nate dropped us in front of the hospital, and I flew out the door. Mom was right behind me, making sure I was strong on my feet. I rushed towards the front desk and slammed my hands on to the cool granite top.
“Kale Nicholson! I need to see him now! My name is Megan Dixon I’m his girlfriend and I need to see him. Is he alright? Is he ok? Can I please see him please?!” I screamed at the secretary.
“Listen could you please calm down?” she stood up and stared me down.
“No you listen! I want to see my boyfriend! He got into an accident and I need to see him. How would you like it if your fucking husband got into one?” I saw Mrs. Nicholson’s Sandy blonde hair, I glared at the secretary and made a dash towards his mom. My plan failed and the lady grabbed my arm.
“Excuse me but you can’t go there!” she gripped on to my arm tightly.
“Get your hands off of me bitch,” I pointed at Mrs. Nicholson, “that is his mom! I need to see her now! Get the fuck away from me!”
“Excuse me?” her arm tightened even more. I clenched my fists; I was ready right then to take a swing at her. My mom then stepped behind me and placed her hand on my shoulder, and squeezed.
“I’m sorry. This is my daughter Megan, and her boyfriend Kale just got into a......accident. We just came here to check up on him, and see if he was ok. That’s his mom Karen over there,” she waved over to his mom, and she walked over to us.
I tugged away from the secretary and held on to Mrs. Nicholson and sobbed. She held on to me tightly, and cried on my shoulder. I had never felt so close to her in my life. I pulled back and kissed her on her cheek.
“How’s Kale doing?”
She looked away and stared at her shoes, “he’s in the Emergency room, they are trying to save him.”
“So you mean he’s not....” I couldn’t even say the word out loud. I could say it when my cat died. I could say it when Addison’s uncle died. I could say it when my grandpa died. But now my tongue was tied.
“No sweetheart he’s not,” she gave me another warm hug.
For the next four hours I spent my time in the hospital, outside the emergency room. Doctor’s came in and out, but no news. Nate had an arm around me, and telling me that things were going to be alright. He tried distracting me with stories about us when we were little, and how I would pretend to be a ballerina and dance around the whole entire house. Sure it did distract me for a little while, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Kale. Was he conscious? Was he breathing? Was he scared? What had happened? Did he hit someone?
“Nate?” I spoke softly enough so I didn’t wake up mom and Mrs. Nicholson.
“Yeah?” he gripped my shoulder tighter.
“I’m going for a walk.”
“Okay.”
I walked past the Emergency room. When we passed by I couldn’t help but stare at the doors. They were taunting me; they were keeping my baby in there. I just want to bust through those doors, and hold him in my arms and kiss him gently wherever it hurts. I’ll kiss all his injuries better, just like he used to do to me.
Kale and I were twelve years old. It was summer time and the birds were singing and, the sun was always out. You know how summers are, full of friendship, and playing outside with your buddies. It had been our second summer together, and every summer he and I went through a different phase. The first summer it was the “reading” phase. We would spend all our time under the shade of a tree and read comic books, or novels. I know it probably doesn’t sound fun, but to me it was special because I got to read comics with him. The second summer we spent most of our time at the beach with our parents. Every weekend we would go to the beach and build sand castles, eat drumsticks with caramel, and swim in the salt water. If we happened to stay at the beach until sundown we would build a fire far away from everyone else, and roast marshmallows with our families. The third summer we spent our time going on “adventures.”
Our adventures never started off to be very adventurous. Our very first adventure was Kale’s house. Now Kale’s house is actually quite large, considering his family is more upper class. His house has three floors, top floor, main floor, and the basement. He had his own pool, and exercise room. Like I said before, his house was massive. One day it was raining outside, so we couldn’t play outside. We were sitting on the bay window, watching the water droplets coast down the window.
“I’m bored,” I sighed.
“Me too...” he pressed his fingers against the window tracing a droplet, “what do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. What do you want to do?”
“Whatever you want to do,” he laughed.
“Do you want to bake cookies? That’s what my mom and I do every rainy day!” I looked at him and hoped the answer was yes.
“I’m not good at baking; besides my mom isn’t home so we aren’t allowed to use the oven.”
“Well then I’m out of ideas,” I leapt off the ledge and circled around the table. The room was silenced, we were both thinking of ideas but none came to my mind. After a little bit he turned his head around and grinned.
“Let’s go explore...”
“Explore where?”
“The attic,” he took my hand and took me up the stairs. We stopped below a square which was perfectly placed in the middle of the hallway. “Come on it will be fun!” he tugged the rope, and out of the ceiling came a stair case. His blue eyes dazzled, as he turned to the staircase. “Don’t be chicken Megan!”
“Fine...” I followed him up the staircase and into the attic.
Everyone’s attic is different. Some are creepy places where no one wants to go. Others are turned into bedrooms, but Kale’s felt homey. Even though it had cobwebs in every corner of the room, and dust that looked like snow covered every box and shelf, and boxes were piled everywhere, it felt homey. The boxes were labelled pictures, old toys, grandma’s stuff, clothes, etc. I turned to Kale and he was wandering the attic trying to find spiders I suppose. I was going to follow him but something in the corner of the room caught my eye. It was a chest with no label. I walked across the room, and every step I took the floor creaked beneath my feet. I crouched down and blew the dust off of the top. With a click I unlatched the buckles and opened the chest.
“What’s that?” Kale crouched by my side, and helped me lift the top.
“I don’t know, it’s a treasure chest....I think?” Kale and I managed to get that puppy open. Inside we found pictures, clothes, jewellery, toys, and little trinkets. “Woah this is beautiful...who do you think this belonged to?”
Kale picked up a picture frame and blew the dust off, “I don’t know,” he squinted at the picture and then smiled warmly, “I think this is my mom,” he pointed at a little girl. Her hair was pulled back by a headband; she was wearing a schoolgirl dress. She was sitting on a swing laughing, while holding on to an eyeless teddy bear.
“She looks so young,” beside her was a boy. He was wearing shorts and a plain white t-shirt. His hair was all messed up, and he had a couple of scrapes on his knee. His eyes were set on the little girl’s smile. They looked like they were best friends for a very long time. “Who do you think that is?” I pointed at the young boy.
He took a moment staring at the boy and then laughed, “That’s my dad. Mom used to tell me stories about when she was younger. She said dad and her were best friends. They had been neighbours since they were little. They used to do everything together...kinda like you and me,” he smiled.
We went through the chest together. It was filled with pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Nicholson. In every picture they were smiling and holding hands, and just happily in love. I glanced over at Kale, he was laughing and smiling. His laugh and smile to this day made my heart flutter. I was going to grab his hand, but something stopped me. Instead I got up and walked across the room.
As I said before the floor wasn’t very clean. There were boxes and other tripping hazard things lying around. I have never been the coordinated type of person. I was always off balance, falling, tripping, and splashing. I tried to be careful while walking over boxes and things, but the clumsiness got the better of me. I was trying attempting to hop over a box, but when I did my foot hit the side of the box and that sent me flying. I smashed into a stack of boxes, and they all came tumbling upon me. I screamed, and blocked my face from getting scratched. I could barely hear Kale’s voice over my scream. When I stopped screaming the boxes on top of me started to get lighter. Kale was above me lifting boxes off of me as fast as he could.
“Don’t worry Megan, I’m right here,” he yelled. Finally he uncovered me, and helped me off the ground. “Are you alright?”
“No...I’m all sore,” tears streamed down my cheek. I looked at my elbow and noticed I got a nice big red spot on my arm. I inspected my legs and stomach but not a scratch. I touched the red spot on my arm and winced.
Kale took my arm and rubbed his finger over it, and I winced again, “Does it hurt?” I nodded. “Let me make it better,” he leaned forward and gently pressed his lips against the red ugly spot on my elbow. His kiss made my stomach do flip flops, and my cheeks turned a shade of rosy pink. “Better?” Once again I nodded, not being able to make a sound come out of my mouth. I knew if I said anything at that moment it would have been, ‘kiss it better one more time.’
*tear*
ReplyDelete