I Love You, Kevin Hends

Chapter Twenty

    "This is not how I thought my eighteenth birthday was gonna be." I say as Kevin backs his car out of my driveway. "I really didn't expect to be shaken up this bad." My voice cracks. "Look at it this way. You have the best birthday present in the world from the best boyfriend in the world." He looks over to me briefly and smiles before turning back to the road. "Are you seriously bragging about being the world's best boyfriend?" I ask. Kevin chuckles. "I am." He says. I laugh. "You really are something." I say. I feel my phone buzz in my jeans. I take it out. It is a text from May from the group chat. "Are you ok? Your parents called my parents." "I just told them what happened." I say. "I can't believe we didn't tell them sooner about the incident with Queen Crazy." Anthony pipes in. "Well I am staying with Kevin tonight." I say. "Are you going to fuck?" Anthony asks. "NO!" I send immediately. "I needed someone to be with me tonight and you guys were already home when I thought of the idea." I add. "We'll talk tomorrow?" May asks. "I'll text you a little later. We are on the way to Kevin's house." I say. "Talk later." May says. "Until then." Anthony says. I close my phone and stuff it back In my pocket. I look over at Kevin who has his eyes on the road and a smile on his face. I set my hand on the median of the front seat. I look out the window at the passing scenery. I can feel the softness of his hand as he places it on mine.

    We get to Kevin's house and park in the driveway. I take a deep breath. "It's ok. It's just meeting my parents for the first time. I met yours today. It will be totally fine." Kevin reassures me. "I am just nervous to be here. My parents kinda freaked me out with their speech before we left." I say. Kevin scoffs. "Oliver. We aren't going to have sex. So we don't have to worry about their speech. We will be fine." He says. I nod. I take another deep breath and open my car door. I get out and walk towards the door. Kevin is right next to me.

    Kevin walks up to the door. He inserts a key from his keychain (that goes with his car keys) and turns. The door swings open. He steps aside to let me in. I walk in, taking slow steps. His house is nothing like my house. Without him calling her, his mother comes around the corner to greet him...us. "How was school today Kevin?" She asks. Kevin stands at least three inches taller than his mother. "And who is this young man?" She adds when she sees me. "Mom, this is Oliver. My boyfriend." Kevin introduces me almost in the same way I introduced him. "We were wondering who you were texting all the time." Mrs. Hends says with a smile. "Nice to meet you Oliver." She holds out her hand to me. I take her hand and shake it. "He's really handsome." She says to Kevin. He blushes as he looks from her to me. "He really is." He says. I can tell he isn't exactly comfortable talking about his boyfriend with his parents. "May I ask why Oliver is here?" Mrs. Hends asks. "Mrs. Hends..." Mrs. Hends cuts me off shortly. "Call me Carly." She says. "I am here because something happened at school a few days ago and it was brought up again today." "You mean that thing with Addison Stone?" Carly confirms. "Kevin brought it up the other day. He didn't mention there was a boyfriend involved in this though." She says. She gives a smile with a look of concern behind it. "So... Oliver didn't feel like being home alone tonight so I offered to let him stay here tonight." Kevin says. He gulps. "There is something more to it then that." Carly states. She can tell. "Addison's intent wasn't to kill May, my friend who she tried to kill." I start. I fall silent. Carly looks from me to Kevin. "Addison wanted to kill Oliver." Kevin finishes for me after a minute.

    Kevin and I tell Carly the whole story about what Addison had done to us. At some point Mr. Hends came in. "Call me Harold," he had said when I addressed him.

    After Kevin finishes telling his part and I finish my part, Carly gets up and gives us each a hug. "You are welcome to stay as long as you need." Carly says. "Can you call my parents to tell them that I'll be ok?" I ask her. "Of course." I give her my home phone number, which Kevin punches in his phone's contacts. He smiles when I glance at him. He gives me a thumbs up as he pockets his phone. "I think that you will feel very safe here." Kevin says. I smile.

    We have dinner with his parents. After which we head up to Kevin's room. All the sudden my phone starts to buzz. I pull it out of my pocket. May and Anthony want to video call. I look over and Kevin has the same screen on his phone. Kevin declines the call as we enter his room and close the door. I answer the call. "Hey Oliver." May says. The screen on my phone has May on one side and Anthony on the other. "Do you know why Kevin didn't answer?" Anthony asks. "And why does your room look different?" He adds in confusion. "I'm staying at Kevin's. Remember?" I say. "Why didn't Kevin answer his phone?" May cuts in. "Because I am with Oliver." Kevin calls from across the room. I look over to see what he is doing. He is getting his full size bed ready for two people to sleep in. "I'm just getting some stuff ready." He says with a grunt as he lifts a stack of books off his bed. He quickly sets them down and sits on the bed. He pats the bed for me to sit next to him. "Can you call again in a second so I can use my laptop?" I ask. "Sure." May says. I end my end of the call and set my phone on Kevin's bedside table. I fish my laptop out of the bag and set it up. I get onto Kevin's Wi-Fi. May calls again. I answer the call. This screen fits two people much better than my cellphone. "There you are Kevin." May says. She purrs when she says his name. "May! Cut that out!" I say sharply. May groans and leans back on her bed. "What is the point of having a boyfriend if I can't purr his name?" She says looking at her ceiling. "May. Kevin is my boyfriend. Not yours. When you get a boyfriend then you can purr his name. Until then I need you to back off of my boyfriend." I say. I am slightly irritated. "You really need to get a boyfriend." Anthony says. "He's right." Kevin adds. I have my face in my hands. "We were all thinking it!" I say, words muffled by my hands. "Is that really how all of you feel?" She asks. "Yes." The rest of us say in unison. "It really is." Kevin adds alone. May glares at Kevin, I assume. "Shut up! You are not even a real part of this group! You just got in because you are dating Oliver!" She yells. Instantly the look of anger on her face turns to a look of pure utter unfiltered regret. "I am so sorry Kevin." She pleads. "I didn't mean it. I don't...I don't know what came over me. I...just.... I'm sorry." She says. "Maybe I should just go." She says. Her voice is full of sincere regret. "May no!" I say. "It's ok!" Kevin says at the same time. "Don't go." He adds. "I need to go to bed." May says. Her voice sad. Her regret is turning into sadness. She seems sad that she lashed out at Kevin like that. She hangs up before anyone can protest. "Good night guys." Anthony says. "I should get going too." He adds and hangs up. My screen goes blank. All I see in it are Kevin and my faces reflected back at us. I close my laptop and set it on Kevin's desk. "Maybe we should start to get ready to sleep." I say. Kevin nods. He seems like he wants to protest but he doesn't make any attempt to.