Broken Souls Don't Cry

Chapter 12

Sara

"Umm..." Sara bites her lip nervously and shifts her weight on each leg, "What are you doing here?"

Seriously, what was he doing here? How did he even find out where she worked?

"AJ is my roommate" he gestured with his head towards AJ, who, it seemed didn't know what to think and was turning wheels in his head.

"Wait, wait, wait" AJ interrupts and walks over to the both of them. "You're from California." He states looking at Sara. "And you're from California." He states, this time looking at Kai. Then he looks back at Sara, "Kai here is jerkface-mcjerkington the third? The guy you were ranting about the other day?"

She nodded, giving Kai a nervous glance.

"The one and the same apparently" Kai shrugs.

"Kai, dude" AJ hits him on the shoulder, "Sara is the best girl ever. Don't be a jerk to her or I'll throw you out. She and I have been working together for..." he counts in his head, "three years. She's my future business partner. I'll wring your neck if you keep pulling stunts like that"

"Dully noted" Kai replied looking over at her with a mischievous look on his face.

Fudge this. Sara thought. This conversation and revelation are too awkward, and she was wanting to get out of there quick.

"Not that this isn't fun," she gave a dry laugh, "but can we get my car started so I can go home?" She went and opened up the hood of her car and motioned for Kai to hook up the cables.

Sara sat in her car while they hooked up the jumper cables. She didn't like how things were becoming more complicated than they already were. She had been preparing herself for their talk tomorrow, however she still didn't have a definitive plan and she knew Kai was going to try pushing tonight instead.

Kai's truck engine revved for a few minutes before he told her to try starting her car. Nothing. Just a few clicks but it still wouldn't start. She tried again. Still nothing. She groaned in frustration before yelling out the window.

"It still won't start"

"Did it try turning over?" AJ asks

"No, it just gave a couple clicks when I turned the key"

"Sounds like a bad starter then." Kai said as he hopped out of his truck to disconnect the cables. "I can look at it over the weekend and replace it for you if you want. For today we can give you a ride home."

"A ride would be great. I'll call a tow truck and have them take it to a shop. Don't want to get your fancy britches all oily" Sara snarked.

Kai just responded with a smile, "It's really no problem for me to change it. These fancy britches, as you call them, have rebuilt a 1960 Stingray. I think they can handle a starter" He winks at her.

Winks! He is so self-absorbed! Sara screams in her head.

"Fine." Was her reply. She locked up her car and then pulled the back door to Kai's truck open and climbed in. AJ protested, saying he should be in the back, but she reminded him that he was a "Strapping big football player who needed more leg room than her small 5'7" frame" He grumbled as he climbed into the passenger seat.

Sara sent a quick text to Jerry letting him know that her car was broke in the parking lot of the shelter and to not call the tow truck on her. During the drive to her apartment AJ asked to be dropped off at the library. She suspected AJ was trying to give them time to talk, but Sara wasn't looking forward to being alone in a confined space with Kai. She made a mental note to yell at AJ tomorrow at work.

After AJ left, the truck was silent. Neither of them exchanged conversation. Thankfully Sara didn't live that far away from the school campus. It wasn't until they were almost to her apartment complex that Kai said something.

"So..." he glanced over at her, "about yesterday?"

Sara's shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes, not wanting this conversation to happen.

"What about it, Kai?" she said quietly.

"I was a jerk, ok? I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sorry."

They pulled into the parking lot at her apartment.

"I just don't understand why you refuse to use the private rooms at the library. They are so much quieter, and we can actually have a conversation without the librarian 'shushing' us. Why can't you use them with men?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you. I don't like being left alone with men..."

"You seem to be ok with AJ" he gruffed.

"AJ is my friend, and I know him better than I know you. He doesn't go around calling people whores" Sara's words had a bitter edge to them. She didn't like this conversation, didn't like where it was going, yet it seemed that this was a one-way ride off the side of a mountain.

"I didn't..." Kai started but stopped. "I'm sorry, alright. I'm just trying to understand you is all. We have a long project to work on and it would be miserable if we fought the entire time"

Sara scoffed, "Why would you want to understand me? I'm just a nobody you knew in high school. I'm a nobody now. Nobody even cared about what happened to me at that school. Everybody just assumed they knew something and then the rumor mills rolled with it and made life miserable. You made my life miserable." Her anger was rising, and each word made her voice go louder until she was practically screaming at him. All the pent-up frustrations were being unleashed and directed at Kai, who had been a jerk to her in the months after the rape. "You, and everybody else thought I was a whore. Did you know that I received solicitations on my home phone asking if my services were available? Do you know how embarrassing and traumatizing that was after what really happened?"

She knew she needed to stop screaming, but she couldn't. Her eyes watered with tears dangerously close to falling. Kai sat there shocked, gaping at her. He obviously didn't expect this reaction from her. Silence took over the cab as he stared at her.

"How should I have reacted when the girl I went on a date with ditched me for my best friend and then had sex with him while I was a floor below them?" his voice was cold.

Unbelievable Sara thought. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised. "You ditched me when I wouldn't dance with you because I wasn't feeling well"

"I meant to give you time to cool off, not for you to go screw –" "His voice rose in volume, but she cut him off.

Sara had enough, the tears fell down her face as she screamed at him "I was raped! Kyle raped me at that party! He drugged the lemonade you got me. I wasn't feeling well because I was roofied! I didn't want to have sex with him, yet he forced me, and I couldn't stop him! Then, as if I didn't have enough trauma from that, he spread around the school that I was an easy lay!

"I was tormented by everyone, including YOU! I would get notes in my locker calling me a whore! We would get those phone calls asking for my services and that's how my parents found out what happened.

"We moved not long after my car was keyed with the word 'whore'. I've never had sex, so that long list you were talking about is empty. Not a single name is on it! I don't like being in enclosed spaces with men I don't know because of what HE did!" She was sobbing uncontrollably now, and the walls of Kai's truck were closing in on her, she couldn't breathe. She needed to get out. Quickly grabbing her bag, she opened the door and hurried out.