The Virgins Guide to a Happy Life

6-You Shouldn't Care

I sat beside him in his dark gray Ford Ranger as he drove us somewhere. We were silent, it wasn't tense, just silent.

"How long have you had that tattoo?" He asked and I looked at him. My tattoo was the words 'carpe diem', and it was on my back on my scapula. The words were swirled together to form an infinite sign and right above the curve of the carpe, there was a feather. I had this tattoo a while. Something like 3 years. I remembered when I first got it and my father found out. He broke my leg and beat me till I was unconscious.

"Three years." I said and turned to look back out the window. My stomach grumbled and I turned back to look at him. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"To see a house." Was all he said. A house? I was in denial as to what that meant.

"Can we go by Rituals? I'm a bit hungry." He glanced at me. "If you can't, I mean if it's too much-" he cut me off.

"You want rituals, you'll get rituals." He said and swung unto the eastbound lane to take us to Grand Bazzar. He parked and we got out the car. He came to my side and put his arms around me and I braced myself against him. It probably looked romantic since I wore his ring but it was anything but. I handed him my phone and he looked at it with distaste. It was an old Samsung, probably four years out of season. He shoved it into his pocket and led me to the food court and then to Rituals.

"Good morning. Welcome to Rituals, I'm Kathy, how can I help you?" She asked and glanced at me then smiled at Terrance. He paid her no mind. He looked at her then back down at me.

"What do you want?" He asked and I looked at the menu.

"Can I have a tuna bagel and a latte grande." I said. He squeezed my shoulder.

"No coffee. Pick something else." I looked up at him. No coffee. I knew from then on that this marriage wasn't going to work.

"Um, I don't know." I said and looked back at the menu.

"Two chai tea and a chicken bagel as well." He handed her about $120 and she gave him his change. He led me to the tables and sat me down before moving to sit opposite me. He pulled out my phone and looked up at me. "Why didn't your father buy you a new phone?" I flinched. When I had asked him for a new phone he had slapped me and told me I was ungrateful. He had bought me a laptop instead.

"I don't know." It was the truth. I didn't know.

"When we're done here we'll get you a phone." He placed it back in his pocket and looked at me. He just stared. Unabashedly stared at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked my eyes looking at the counter.

"Just observing."

"How old are you?" I needed to known to put my scale at ease.

"Twenty eight." Six years. I could work six years.

"Here's the tea." Kathy said and he got up to get it. He moved them to the table and he put sugar and cream in one and left the other plain. He handed me the sweetened one and sat down to sip his. I sipped mine. I didn't know if I liked it or not. It was sweet and it seemed to calm me down.

"Gwyn? Gwyndolyn Samuels?" I looked up to see a man I vaguely remembered walking up to where I sat. He completely ignored Terrance and pulled me up into a hug and he squeezed me tight.

I let out a sharp cry of pain as the splint rubbed into my fractured ribs and the ribs squeezed against my lungs. He was pulled away from me and I couldn't be more happy. I blinked and there was pain. I couldn't double over, the splint wouldn't allow it but I leaned against the table for support. Terrance grabbed my hand and straightened me, the action causing more pain to rise from my ribs. He walked to my side and held me close. I reached for my tea and he grabbed the bagels from the counter. He led me out and to the carpark. He placed the bagels on the roof of the truck and unlocked it. He opened the passenger door and put me in lowering the seat so I wouldn't get much pain. He closed the door, climbed into his seat, placed my tea down in the middle counsel and handed me the bagels. He came out of the car park and drove quickly to the flyover to take us across the highway. The pain increased, it was becoming a struggle to keep my eyes opened. A cry left my throat and my head lulled to the side, I openly welcomed unconscious.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

Arguing.

That was what I heard as I regained consciousness. I knew I was strung high on morphine or novacaine because I felt nothing. No lancing pain in my chest, nothing of the sort.

"If you so much as hit her again, it would be you and me." That sounded like Terrance.

"Fuck off, if you can't handle a battered bride well I'll keep her." That was my father.

"I know Gwyn, if she said yes to marrying him then she isn't going to take well to him leaving her." Matthew said. Didn't he know arranged marriages existed. Hello! I have been single for two years now.

"I'm not leaving her. She's coming to live with me." Terrance said.

"The hell she is. She is my daughter." He hissed.

"And my bride." Terrance hissed back. My father fighting for me was something strange. After all, he had wanted Matthew and gotten me as a surprise.

I remember when my parents were splitting and I heard my mother tell him she was taking us and he told her she had no custody over his son. He had only wanted a son. She told him she would take me, he told her do as she pleased, I was not his child. I had cried for a while but now. Now that I was given the option to leave, I was more ready than Freddy to leave this hell hole.

"Excuse, you need to stop arguing. You could upset the patient." It was a womans voice. Upset the patient? Was I upset, no I wasn't. I was nervous. The door opened and Terrance walked in first, followed by Matthew and lastly my father.

"How are you feeling?" Terrance asked and Matthew looked at him sideways.

"I don't feel anything." I said casually looking at him.

"That's normal. Once you are given the go, you are moving in with me." He said with a serious face.

"Why?" That wasn't what I wanted to ask.

"We'll be married so enough, it doesn't matter when you move in to live with me. I just prefer it now rather than later." I glanced at Matthew.

"Hey spider, can I have a minute will Terrance." I looked up at him.

"I suppose, but after its you and me." He walked out the room.

"You don't have to care about me. I could take care of myself." He looked at me and pursed his lips.

"And why not?" He finally asked.

"Why should you care?"

"I'm going to marry you. It matters to me. I don't love you, but that doesn't mean I can't care for you." He folded his arms across his chest.

"Fine, but you shouldn't care." I mumbled and he rose an eyebrow at me. "For the record, I don't love you either."

He laughed. His shoulders shook and he shook his head as he laughed.