Love Happens (Stopped)

Four

Jennifer:

I was such a creature of habit. Even my weekends operated on an invisible schedule that seemed to be known by everyone around me except myself. But my mother always told me. I woke up without the use of an alarm so usually at ten o'clock, make breakfast, shower and veg on the couch for the rest of the day with a bag of chips in my lap. Come rain, come thunder, one could always find me on the couch on a Saturday. 

My mother both hated and loved this. She said it was comforting knowing where I was all the time and that I was safe and fed. On the other hand, it hurt her to think that I was wasting away my youth sitting in front of a television screen all the time. "I should be living life, having fun", she'd said. 

But that wasn't exactly easy to do when you're home-schooled and have no chances to meet people. Sometimes I met up with my cousin Casey, but that was about it. And even though I had started going to a normal school, nothing had happened for me.

So there I was fulfilling part of my routine. I had just taken a shower, wiping down my hair with a dry towel as walked down the hallway to my bedroom when I heard the doorbell ring. I had no idea who it possibly could have been. We rarely had any visitors and when we did, they were relatives who would usually just let themselves in. Maybe it was the mailman, I thought.

"Mom, could you get that?" I yelled.

I heard the screeching sound of a chair as my mother got up from a kitchen chair. Her footsteps sounded as she moved from the kitchen to a small part of the hallway then the front door. When she opened the door, her voice sounded surprised, shocked even. It was someone she didn't know and this made me curious. I edged closer to the end of the hallway hoping to get a peek and perhaps hear what they were talking about. 

She was talking to a man. His voice was deep, shaky. Like he was nervous about something. My head was against the wall on the corner at the end of the hallway, if I inched a little closer I would be able to get a glance at this mystery man. I peeked for a second, afraid I'd be caught. I was suddenly aware that underneath my towel, I was naked. But at least I saw something. 

It was a man alright. His frame towered over my mother's, casting a shadow over her body. His hair was dark and he seemed sorta young. Who could he possibly be? I felt like one of those super nosy girls in movies who live for gossip. Here I was dripping wet and yet I stood there, yearning to here even just a hint of what they were talking about.

"Jennifer" my mother called. 

Oh crap!

The suddenly loud noise of her voice when she called me startled me. In an attempt to flee, I slipped an fell onto the fall, away from the wall that had been shielding me all this time and into plain view. My mother glared at me with eyes that told me if I wasn't her own flesh and blood, I would be dead by now. At least my towel hadn't fallen off, I thought. But then I realized who the mystery man at the door was.

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!

It was Jason. What the fuck was he doing here? And how the heck did he know where I -- Then I remembered giving him my address the day before. My mother and him just stood there, staring at me. And I just sat there, wanting to crawl into a hole and die. I could feel my cheeks turn red. 

Slowly I got up, one hand catapulting me off the tiled floor and the other clutching at my towel. For some reason unknown to me to this day, I waved at them. As if this situation wasn't embarrassing enough. I waved at them and walked to my room where I should have gone in the first place. As I shut the door behind me, I couldn't help but weep. 

He saw this.

He saw me. In nothing more than a towel.

He would tell his friends how hideous I was.