The Fourth of July and the Surrounding Events

CHAPTER 4

Author's note/TW for sexual assault. There will be another warning above the section and it will be in {brackets.} This experience is vital to Alexa's emotional growth, but you do not have to read it to fully understand the following chapters.  

Slowly standing up, making sure not to make too much of a ruckus, Mateo followed me to the porch. 

"So what's up?" I asked cautiously. 

"I saw you with Morgan in here earlier, and I wanted to ask you since I didn't get a chance to ask her myself if she was comfortable," Mateo replied quietly. 

Phew, so he doesn't know. Good. He can never know. "Yeah I mean we had a short conversation but she seemed good," I went on, "I've never seen her around, how do you know her?" I asked him. 

"Her mom and my mom went to school together, so when mother dearest heard they were in town, she invited her," he explained, "but anyways, how are you, Lex?" 

Mateo checks up on me every once in a while, and obviously, I'm not as close to him as Jayde is, but I can trust him. 

"I'm doing alright, same ol same ol, my mom and Tyler have been shitty per usual," I sighed.

Though I do sometimes get jealous of Mateo when it comes to Jayde, he is a good guy. When the December Tyler fiasco first went down, he picked me up, then got Jayde, and we watched Harry Potter all night on his couch. Ever since that night, he's been especially protective of me and made it his self-proclaimed job to take care of me. 

"Hey, I'm really sorry dude, I wish I could kick his ass for you," Mateo fumed. 

"Don't we all," I said with my voice quivering as it always did whenever I talked about Tyler with Mateo.

Back in October of 8th grade, when my mom first met Tyler, Jayde and I were hanging out in my room watching a tv show. Tyler had walked in and sat down near Jayde. He started getting physical with her and telling her that she looked really pretty. Obviously uncomfortable, she got up and walked away from him, hugging my ladybug pillow pet to her chest. That was the first time things had gotten awkward with Tyler, but being only 13 years old, Jayde and I thought nothing of it after the fact.

Tyler moved in shortly after that time, and I quickly learned to keep out of his way. When he got angry or drunk, he would yell and break things. Then the next day, he would replace the dishes, vases, and mend my mom's heart with flowers and jewelry. When it came to me, he would buy me things and tell me pretty lies to try to win my trust back, which at times would work, and other times wouldn't. I was so naive, I truly believed his false promises. 

Many awkward situations with Tyler later, it was the January of 8th grade. Jayde and I were hanging out in my room again, and he had walked in to tell us dinner was ready. Jayde left to wash her hands in the hall bathroom, and I went to my bedroom's en-suite bathroom. Tyler walked in behind me and rested his hands on my hips. I will never forget his words that seeped with sugar and oozed sleaze. His exact words were "you're gonna be a heartbreaker in high school, Alexa." I quickly moved his hands away and rushed downstairs, meeting Jayde halfway there. 

That night, Jayde and I devised a plan to tell my mom all the uncomfortable situations we had put up with so far. We thought over every possible scenario and outcome until our plan was solid. In the morning when Tyler left for work, we went to my mom and told her everything. Every little detail. She grabbed her phone immediately and called him. Jayde and I walked away thinking we had won and my mom was breaking up with him when in reality, she had called him home to see his side of the story. One manipulative conversation later, my mom yelled at me to stop telling lies.

The awkward situations calmed down since the confrontation with my mom, and I thought everything was going to be fine. Tyler was never angry anymore, he was near angelic. Until the 23rd of December in 9th grade. I was helping him wrap presents for my mom, and he told me to sit on the bed for a bit with my eyes closed because he had a big surprise for me. I tried to tell him that I could just wait for Christmas, but he insisted that I would want it now, so I relented and sat waiting.

TW

{A minute or so later, I felt his rough hands taking my shirt off and pinning my hands to the bed. Struggling, I managed to kick his groin and untangle my hands from his, but that just made him angry. 

You always read about these incidents, but no one ever thinks they would go through it. Especially not at 14, and especially not with someone who "cares" about you. 

Gripping my hands better, he ran his hands across the uncovered part of my chest, continuously telling me how he wanted me so badly and how beautiful I was. His eyes burned holes into my body,  leaving mental scars everywhere his hands traced. Running his hands farther down under my skirt, I went slack, giving up on physically fighting him. It was of no use. I was mentally and physically panicking, screaming at this point, I knew what he was going to do, and I was terrified.}

Then the door chime went off. My mom was here. I screamed and cried for help, sobbing falling to the floor, while Tyler just got up and walked out calmly. Minutes later, my mom grabbed my arm hoisting me off the ground. I could see in her eyes she didn't believe whatever story Tyler had bullshitted to her, but it didn't matter. She asked me what happened, and I told her, bawling my eyes out. Not speaking, she straightened herself, smoothed her dress, walked past Tyler and into her office. Then, he turned to me and did the despicable. He smirked. He knew despite her biological connection to me, she would always choose her social status over her own daughter. And that meant no one would and could never find out. So, the experience that shook my entire being was shoved under the many layers of falsified perfection. 

Pulling myself together, I put my clothes back on and called Jayde. Twenty-five torturous minutes later, Mateo was in my driveway with a box of tissues. I ran to him with Tyler's disgusting words ringing in my head over and over. Sobbing into his arms, he guided me to the passenger seat, and the rest of the day passed in a blur. 

After saying goodnight to Mateo, I headed back inside, shaking my head in an attempt to clear the sour memories. Walking past the living room into the room where Kate and I had just hooked up, I noticed Jayde stirring. God, she looks beautiful. Crawling back under the twisted sheets, I placed an arm lightly over my sleeping ex-girlfriend. I don't know why I do this. Hook up with Kate but then think of Jayde every other second. It fucks with my head.