I walk into the living room in Carson's shirt and my pajama pants with my hair in a lose messy bun. I pull my hair out of the hair elastic and fix it and pull it back up into a messy bun "what's the problem mom?" I say quietly. "Who the fuck is that boy in your bed Clarissa?" She says loudly. "That's Carson, my boyfriend, Mom," I say looking down at my toes peeping out from under my oversized pajama pants. "Why is he in your bed? I thought he was in the hospital?" She says more sympathetic but still angry. "He stayed because his house is still considered a crime scene because they are trying to get enough evidence to charge Landon with attempt of murder." She nods pushing her fingers through her curly blonde hair as she sighs. "Where's Dad?" I say sitting down on the couch, hoping Carson stays asleep. "Rissa, your dad and I are getting a divorce, over this week I wasn't spending time with him, I was watching him with a 21 year old black haired bitch." She says with pain and anger in her voice. "Mommy, why didn't you tell me?" I stand up and wrap my arms around my mother as she breaks down in my arms getting Carson's shirt filled with tears but at this moment I didn't care. "Because...I...wanted to find...out for..myself..." She says between sobs. "Mommy it's okay, we do not need him. I will stay home from college for a year to help you. I will get a job, we will make it." She looks up at me wiping her years away, "Clarissa, you are not staying home or getting a job right now, I have gotten so many letters and scouts calling about you for volleyball and some for soccer, you are going somewhere in this world and I'm not letting you ruin it." I stand there inches away from my Mom who was just sobbing her eyes out about my father. "You cannot make that decision Mom, if I want to stay and help you then I will." I say offended because I want her to know I love her and I'm not going to just walk away like my father did. "I won't accept the money from you Rissa, so it will just be easier if you go off to college and make yourself someone babygirl." She wraps her arms around me, making me feel like a child again. "Alright mommy, but if I hear or see that one bill is overdue or behind then I am taking a semester off and coming home to help you." I say with confidence in my voice. She looks down and nods her head knowing that I am not going to back down. "Go wake your boyfriend up so I can actually meet him and I will make all of us some breakfast." I nod and turn towards my room and walk in where Carson is sitting up already awake, looking down at his phone. "Goodmorning sleepyhead." I smile and walk to him wrapping my arms around him. "How's your mom feeling about me being here?" He says looking up at me with hope in his eyes. "She was upset at first then I explained to her that you can't really go home except for clothes, so she calmed down then we both had a serious conversation about some stuff." He nods and lays his phone down on my bed. "Put a shirt on, Mom wants us all to have a breakfast together," he nods and looks over at me, "babe, you have my shirt on." He laughs and I look down and I walk to my dresser and I grab one of my shirts out of my drawer and I pull the shirt off and throw it to him as I put mine on and we walk out the room, hand in hand. "Momma, this is Carson Bryant." He puts his hand out to shake my Mom's hand and she shakes it and we sit down at the kitchen table. "Is waffles and sausage links good?" She says as I look up from my cell phone and I nod my head yes and so does Carson. "It's a lot better than nasty hospital food." He smiles and I fall in love with him all over again.
We all sit there and talk and eat waffles and sausage links until we all are full and we put the plates in the sink, "Mom, Carson and me are going out for a little bit okay?" She nods her head and I walk into my room and I change into a pair of tight, short cute off jean shorts and a low cut v neck shirt. I straighten my hair, leaving all makeup off my face because I see a couple blemishes appearing, and I slide on a pair of cowboy boots. "Are you ready to go?" I walk into the living room where Carson is sitting in a pair of light color faded jeans that hang low on his hips and a tee shirt that has our schools name on it. "Yes gorgeous," he smiles and stands up brushing his fingers through his hair sliding on his Vans. We walk out the house and jump into the truck, "I'm taking you to a place I know you have never been and a place where I have never taken anyone else." I smile as I pull out of the driveway going in a complete opposite of town. Carson falls back to sleep against the window of the truck until I pull down onto a dirt road and I park the truck, taking the keys out of ignition. "Babe, we are here." I jump out and wait for him at the front of the truck. "Follow me," I take his hand and we walk into the woods. We finally get to where I want to show him. We appear at a water fall and I pull my boots off, sliding my socks off, pulling my top and shirts off, exposing my bikini and I jump into the water. "Get in!" I yell as I pop out of the water. He stands there smiling at me as he pulls his shirt off and he unbuttons his jeans and stands there in his boxers and jumps into the water. I don't notice where he goes and he pops up out of the water in front of me and leans in and grabs my hips and start to kiss me. "This is amazing baby girl." I smile and kiss him. We spend the day there and after a while we get out and sit on the rocks where, I lay out getting a tan. "What is so special about this place for you baby?" I sit up and look over at him.
"My dad brought me here as a child, this would be the only place where his phone wouldn't get reception and I knew I actually had my dad to myself..." I look down at my hands and I wipe a tear away secretly, thinking about what my Mom said this morning about my dad.
"Baby, I am so happy you trust me enough to bring me here." He wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his lap.
We sit there for a while and then finally we get up and put our clothes on and walk back to the truck. "Wait, there's one more thing I want to do before we leave," I say with a smile on my face as I see a big mud bog farther down the dirt road. "Get in." I smile and I put the key in and I throw it into drive and slam on the gas and I run through the bog and the entire truck is covered in mud. I laugh and smile as I look over at Carson. "That was fun," he says with a smile on his face. I jump out landing in the mud not caring if I get dirty. "Come on, it's fun!" I yell as I stand in the mud. Carson jumps out and we start to play fight in the mud, we both fall in and we sit there laughing. "I love you so much," I smile and lean in and kiss his putting my hands on his cheeks that are covered in mud, getting mud on him. We finally get into the truck covered from head to toe in mud. We drive home and my mom is outside on the porch on the porch swing. "Y'all two are not coming into my house covered in mud!" She yells and we smile and I jump onto his back wrapping my legs around him as we go around back to the water hose.
I jump down and turn the water and spray myself off and I hear her say take our clothes off at the door and Carson washes himself off and then we walk around and I undress quickly wrapping a towel that Mom set out at the door and I run to my room changing into spandex shorts and a sports bra and a cut off. I am fully dressed and Carson walks in and then I walk out to talk to Mom while he gets dressed, he walks into the kitchen and wraps his arms around my hips and kisses my cheek "Go put on something nice, I'm taking you out." I smile and I turn and run into my room to change into a black short flowy dress with matching flats and I curl my hair and put on only eyeliner and mascara taking almost an hour and a half. I put on pink lip gloss and I walk out into the kitchen where Carson is sitting in a button up shirt and jeans with a pair of Timberland boots on. "I'm ready baby." I smile as I look towards the door. "I went and got my car, Dad let me have it back," Carson says as he stands up. "Bye Momma, I love you," I say and walk over and hug her.
We walk out the house and get into Carson's yellow 2015 Audi TT. We drive for an hour and a half until we get to a very fancy restaurant. "Princess, this is going to be the night of your life. I love you so much." He leans in and puts his fingers through my curled hair and kisses me softly for about 5 minutes. "We have reservations in 5 minutes princess, we have to get in there," he says as he gets out of the car. He walks around to my side opening the door and letting me out. He holds my hand running his thumb across my knuckles as we walk into the restaurant, "Reservations for Bryant." He says as we walk to the podium where the hostess is standing in a low cut, white collared shirt exposing a majority of her breasts and a pair of tight black skinny jeans with heels on. "Right this way handsome," she says in a flirtatious way, "Um, ma'am I suggest you stop talking to my boyfriend that way before we have problems," I say in an offensive and angry tone. She looks at me and laughs then rolls her eyes, "put the claws away baby, you are the only girl I see." I let out a harsh breath as we walk to our table. We sit down and then the hostess writes something down on a piece of paper leaving it on the table and I grab it and it says "bitch, if you want to see me outside, be here at 9:30PM," with a heart on it.
