Looking Back

Chapter 13: Saturday

Tamara's POV

The school week passed without incident. By Friday, my bruises on my stomach were barely visible. Underneath my eye, it was still bruised, but it didn't look as bad as it did on Monday. That Saturday as I went walking to get out of the house, I ran into Cody from my Biology class at Alsups.

"Well if it isn't the lovely, Tamara Adams," he said surprising me.

Lovely?

"What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

"Just walking around," I answered honestly.

"In this cold weather? You have got to be joking."

"I'm not."

"Are you heading somewhere in particular? Because I could give you a ride," he offered. He had his cocky smile pasted on his lips.

"No, I want to walk."

He laughed annoying me. "No you don't. You know you would rather be snuggled up next to me on a couch watching a good movie."

"No, I wouldn't."

"Come on, Tamara. My parents aren't home right now. It will be fun. We can sit under a warm blanket and share each other's body heat."

My face flushed crimson at the very uncomfortable thought of me and him being together watching a movie all alone while sitting on the couch under a blanket watching a movie. While distracted, Cody slipped his arm around me and started to pull me toward his truck.

"Let go of me." I pushed him away from me.

"Hey!" Big Mac must have seen what was happening. "Didn't you hear the girl tell you to leave her alone," asked Big Mac. "Get lost."

"Just wait," Cody warned me. "You're going to regret you passed up this opportunity."

"What ever." I rolled my eyes.

"What was that all about," asked Big Mac.

I shrugged. "He's trying to make me ditch Tanner and go the the prom with him which is definitely not happening."

"Well, to me it sounded like Cody wanted to have a good time with you tonight."

"Ugghh."

She laughed.

I laughed with her. "Boys."

"Tell me about it."

"So where are you heading?"

"I'm going to bring my dad some smokes."

"Oh."

"Do you want to come?"

"Sure. There is nothing better to do."

Once we delivered the box of cigarettes to her father, we went to her room to talk. Mackenzie's life was similiar to mine in many ways. We both had divorced parents and lived with our dads. We haven't heard from our mom's since we were little kids. The only thing that was different was that my dad abused me and her dad didn't. There was still a month before prom. In-between time I got to go to become great friends with Mackenzie (Big Mac). She and I had way more stuff in common than I gave credit for. What happened in my life was basically the same thing that happened in hers. It was easy opening up to her, but I still avoided making any kind of conversation about me and my Dad.

"So...do you have plans tonight?"

"Plans?"

"Yeah, you know. You and Tanner. Duh." She laughed. "You and Tanner got something going on don't you?"