Now let's fast forward to about two years before today, when the girls were both fourteen and I was sixteen. I was in my sophomore year and I was working at Starbucks, one of many coffee shop's but this one was located in the Hillford Mall. On top of working to pay some bills and alleviating some of the monetary stress from Ma, and giving my little sister some allowance money, I also worked to save up for a car. By then, I had grown distant from Rachel, not really keeping track of what she and Claire were up to.
From what I could remember, Rachel was always a rowdy one. She would always suggest these crazy ideas, and one time, when they were fourteen, she and Claire came home completely shitfaces at two in the morning. Oh yeah, I remember that night. Man what a fucking disaster. She sat down on the couch next to Claire and as they were talking about cute boys at their show, they suddenly puked on each other. That shit was so god damn nasty and shit, and they got it all over themselves. I had to carry those two up the stairs and place them in the bathtub, individually. Holy shit that took a lot of energy. I had to undress them myself, touching their puke stained clothing. As I was carrying Rachel up the stairs, that's when she told me she thought I was cute and would do unspeakable things to me. She was drunk off her ass, so I didn't think anything about it. I had to scrub them down myself and I had to keep constant watch on them, making sure that if they do pass out, that they not drown in the tub. Afterwards I dragged them both onto my bed and tucked them in. yeah they were cute when they slept like babies, but holy shit I was pissed. I had to clean up all that gunk that they left on the couch. And what was fucking worse, I had to sleep on that same couch.
When the next morning arrived, they had no idea what the fuck happened. They woke up, thinking 'Why are we in Michael's room?' I told them what happened last night and how pissed I was. They had absolutely no recollection of what happened last night. When I finally got a chance to talk to Rachel alone, I told her what she said to me. She began to blush heavily, and unfortunately, from that point, that was when we kinda drifted. I didn't really see much of her for the next two years.
Which brings us to today, well... at least about a couple of months before today. Now remember, the girls are both sixteen, and I am now eighteen. By now, Rachel had been going out with her first boyfriend Aaron
Ugh... Aaron... now if there were a King for assholes, this guy would be it. I had always wondered why Rachel would fucking go out with this guy. Sure it was her first, but I thought that she would have more sense than that. I eventually did begin to understand why but we'll get to that later. Back to Aaron. I'm not going to sugarcoat it, this guy was a fucking dick. There wasn't a night when I would see Rachel walking home without at least one bruise on her face. It made me so angry, but in a sick way, I should begrudgingly thank him. It was because of him that me and Rachel became close friends again. Every time I came home from work, I would usually see her crying her eyes out on her front porch. This, of course, happened about three months into their relationship. she was covering her head with a black hoodie. I walked up to her.
"Rae, you okay?"
"Yeah... I'm fine." She said while wiping tears from her face.
I sat down beside her and placed my forefinger on her face, gently facing her towards me, and towards the light. She fought it at first, but I reassured her it was going to be alright. This was the first time I had seen these bruises. "Good god, Rae. I should kick his ass for what he did."
"It's none of your business Michael. And it's not his fault." she wiped another tear from her face, gently so that she wouldn't put pressure on any of the bruises.
"Tell me what happened." I placed my hand on her thigh. "I will try not to judge unless absolutely necessary, I promise."
"Well... when I went over to his place, he had been drinking again. He made advances on me, like he usually does. I tried to push him away, but he kept pushing forward, and that's when he hit me. It hurt so bad... I just didn't want him to be so angry, so I let him have me..."
"Wait, What!?" My sudden increase in volume startled her a little bit. I lowered my voice again. "Are you tell me that he raped you?"
"What! No! It's nothing like that..."
"Are you sure? You didn't want it so he pressed on you and eventually hit you, making you submit... It sounds like rape to me." I was fucking furious with Aaron. The fucking nerve this guy had. I swear I could have fucking punched a hole in a tree or something. I would have normally told her to call the cops, but you know... what use were they? Nothing is more effective than the first responders, right? And in this case, the first responder would have been Rachel. By calling the cops, Aaron may beat her into lying to them, or even worse... Aaron may potentially kill Rachel before they arrive at the scene. It's a situation with almost no solution that won't end in someone getting hurt. I would have suggested Rachel to get a weapon, but it wouldn't be of any help. By this time, Aaron would have beaten her into thinking that she needs him. "What happened next?"
"Well.. after... you know... he got hungry. So I cooked something for him. I told him what I wanted to do for my future, and he laughed, saying that it was a stupid idea and it wont amount to shit. It led to another argument, and he... well... First I gotta say that sometimes I bring my bass guitar to his place to practice. I want to be in a successful band with Claire." She looked up and fantasized about the thought. ¨When we argued, he got so angry that he took my bass and smashed it, saying over and over that I wont amount to anything. And we have another gig in two weeks, and now...¨ she sighed. ¨I have no bass guitar to play.¨
I balled my fist in anger. How could such a man exist!? A man so evil... god it made my fucking blood boil. ¨Rae, don't go back there... please. Don't go back.¨
¨I have to Michael. I love him.¨ She looked back at me, locking eyes with me. Man, I never knew how beautiful her eyes were before that night. I could tell she was lost in my gaze as well. ¨You should go...¨
