Secrets

Chapter Two

            Early the next morning, Aubrey slipped back into the house at about 6:45. She stumbled a little as she climbed back in her window. She stopped for a moment and let herself listen to the noise in the house. She heard the hum of the furnace downstairs, and the crickets from outside. Other than that, it was dark. She stripped off her clothes, including the sweater she had borrowed from Nate. She hastily dropped them on the floor among the other articles of clothing. Looking in the mirror above her dresser, she noticed the bags underneath her eyes and the messy hair. She groaned a little as she realized that she only had an hour to get ready. She hadn’t planned on being gone for so long. She threw her terry bathrobe on, and tiptoed through the house, careful not to wake anyone. She walked down the hall and paused at her parents’ bedroom door. She listened for a moment. When she heard snores coming from inside the room, she continued down the hall and slipped into the bathroom. When there, she dropped her bathrobe and jumped into the shower. She let the hot water run down her face and down her back heating her body back to its normal temperature. Aubrey loved early morning showers. It’s where she did all her thinking. As she started washing her hair she let her thoughts wander back to the night before. She smiled when she thought of Nate. She had no idea what she would do without him. She wondered what happened to her parents. She wondered how badly it got and if Shayla had been the one to witness it all this time. She hoped she hadn’t. Her sweet little sister was too innocent for that. Then again, Shayla was 15 already, a year older than Aubrey had been when she had seen it all. Lucky Shayla had been sheltered for years before she grew to understand what had been happening in the house. “She doesn’t deserve this,” Aubrey thought to herself. “None of us do."

            As Aubrey dragged herself throughout her room getting ready for school, she realized she was more exhausted than she expected to be. Her head pounded, and he eyes hung heavy. It was almost as bad as the mornings after a big party. Those mornings where she wanted to sleep all day and nurse a hangover. Weekends like that became more frequent lately. She had come so accustomed to hiding things from her parents. Alcohol, parties, and boys had become the most common ones. If her dad can hide alcohol, why couldn’t she? If he could stay out all hours of the night and do what he wanted to, why couldn’t she? Boys, that was her decision, no one else’s.

            Months ago, when she started spending more time with Nate, her dad kept bringing up the thought of her having a boyfriend.

            “Aubrey, when are you gonna bring a nice man around the house? It’d be nice to send you off on dates on the weekend. Who knows, maybe you’ll even get married and move out of the house.” He had said it with a little wink her way, almost to make it seem like he was just teasing.

            “Yeah, I bet you’d like that. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about us see the stupid shit you do.” She said to herself. She simply smiled at him and walked away.

            You see, Aubrey had had her fair share of boyfriends. But after the issues with her family became a bigger reality, she started to push away every guy she came into contact with. After all, what guy could possibly want to stay with her after he saw how messed up her family was? He’d take one look at the dysfunction in her home, and take off running. She didn’t need the rejection like that. That didn’t mean she didn’t like seeing guys. She loved to go to parties and meeting new people. Sometimes it was a little uncomfortable with Nate being at the same parties. To think that she had been with him the night before, and now he’d watch her be with someone else? But at the same time, Aubrey really enjoyed it. It made her feel in control. No guy owned her. She could be with who she wanted, whenever she wanted. No one could say anything about it.

            “Let’s go Aubrey! We’re going to be late! How long could it possibly take you to get dressed in the morning?”  There was a sharp banging on her bedroom door as she scurried around her room and rushed to find everything she needed. She grabbed numerous textbooks off her floor and shoved them into her backpack, forcing them to fit.