More Than A Skirt

36

Silence. Dreadful, awful, tense silence. Neither of us move. The dogs are whining, Lexi running to seek comfort from me, and Olive snuggling into Vik more.

"Do they not remember why you moved to London?"

"Oh, they fucking do, but as my dad said, "it was years ago, get over it.""

I move then picking both my baby and his dog up and setting them in my lap.

"You are eighteen. You can stay with me."

"I know, but I don't want to disappoint them. I must uphold our legacy as my dad says. "Three generations of Barns have graduated from there Vikram. It's bad enough you aren't on the football team, but you will graduate from there.""

"Where you graduate from at this point doesn't matter. It's where you go to university."

"I pointed that out the other night. One of the reasons I ran. Never seen my dad turn that red."

I bristle at the possible hidden meanings.

"He didn't lay a hand on you, did he?"

Vik relaxes into my arms, despite the topic of conversation. His eyes close and his breathing evens out a bit. His hand slows to a crawl as he continues to pet Olive.

"No... well, kinda. Only got a slap in before my mom stepped in and I ran."

"Does your mom wanna move back?"

"Yeah, they both do. They practically threw away their lives to move down here... all because I couldn't handle some mean people."

"Baby, don't you dare. Don't downplay what you went through. You were so strong for staying as long as you did. There comes a point when you need to leave the situation and you did that. If you hadn't moved down here, you wouldn't have met Harry, Ethan, and Tobi... you wouldn't have met Simon, JJ, or Lexi. You wouldn't have Olive or... me. It was a horrible circumstance that brought you here baby, but look what became of it."

He sleepily smiles and nods. He cuddles into me a bit more and he completely relaxes.

"Sleep well Vikky."

"Joshy?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't let them take me."

"Never baby girl."

I kiss his forehead and move so I'm laying on the couch as well. Lexi jumps up and snuggles into my feet and Olive moves from Vik's arms to the small space between me and the back of the couch. I rub up and down my baby's back, closing my eyes in the process.

"Never."