Focused

We're Family

I woke up the next morning laying on a couch in someones arms. I looked up and saw Carter still asleep. His arm were wrapped around me and mine around him. What happened?

I stood up and pulled my dress down. Carter woke up and looked at me.

"Good morning." He stood up and smiled at me. 

"Good morning?" I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed in frustration. Carter looked at me weird.

"Carter, what happened? I don't remember anything after my fourth beer." Carter looked at with his eyes wide.

"You were drunk? You were drunk. Of course." He looked up and threw his hands in the air. 

"What?" I crossed my arms and looked around the room we were in. There were three other people passed out on the floor. 

"That's just my shitty luck. I finally meet a nice girl and the whole night she was drunk and doesn't remember a thing." He sat on the couch again and put his head down. 

"No, Carter. I remember a lot before I was completely...gone." I went over and sat by him.

"Marley, when I saw you yesterday. I....I" He stuttered. 

"I just knew you were the one." He looked at me and kissed me for maybe the first time. His lips were warm and sweet with a hint of vodka. I kissed him back. 

"That's really sweet, Carter. We're only seventeen though. You have plenty of time." He looked a little bashful.

"I really like you. Oh, and nothing happened between us last night. Like um..you know what I mean." He looked at me and his eyes sparkled.

"I have to go find my cousin. I have no idea where she is." I stood up and felt so confused. What would Jay do if he saw me? What am I going to do about this?

First, I need to find Kary. I stormed through the house and looked upstairs. No Kary. I went outside by the ocean and once again, no Kary. I looked in the front yard and saw everything, but Kary. I tried my best not to fall as I ran to the golf cart. Where was she? She had obviously not taken the golf cart. 

I started the engine and turned around almost hitting the trash can on the curb. I sped down the road trying to ignore the pounding in my head. Ugh hangovers. I finally got back to the house and saw the Volkswagen Bus parked right in front of the garage. I ran in and heard whispers coming from the living room. I saw Aunt Jade and Uncle Tom sitting by a sobbing, Kary. 

"What happened?" I froze in my spot. Aunt Jade looked at me and pointed at the kitchen. She got up and Uncle Tom moved closer to Kary trying to calm her down.

Aunt Jade pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep. 

"Kary came home at 2:00 this morning. She was with Connor last night and they both had been drinking. Connor said they should go back to his place. So, they both got in his car and Connor drove...he lives a little way out of town. Anyway, when they were on an empty road Connor started getting really mad at Kary. He yelled at her and she was drunk so she couldn't process many things. She yelled back. Connor swerved and hit a telephone pole. Kary started crying and they both got out. Connor kept yelling at her and she didn't answer him or say anything, so he punched her." Aunt Jade stared at the floor.

"Kary ran from him and called 911. He's in the hospital and Kary has a scratch on her right temple and she has some injuries that she doesn't even remember getting." Aunt Jade put her head in her hands. 

"She's pretty banged up." Aunt Jade got up and suddenly looked furious.

"Can I talk to her?" I sat up and tried to look like I wasn't hungover.

"Well, I guess--" I interrupted.

"Alone." Aunt Jade narrowed her eyebrows and her faced looked scrunched for a minute. 

"I guess." She whispered and walked back to the living room expecting me to follow. 

Kary sat up and had stitches right above her right eye. She looked starry eyed and tired. 

"Sweetheart. Marley, wants to talk with you." Kary slowly nodded and Uncle Tom carried her up to her bedroom and I followed. He sat her on her bed and looked at me with hurt eyes. He slowly walked out of the room leaving Kary and I alone. 

"Kary, what all happened? You can tell me anything." Kary looked at me and closed her eyes breathing heavily. 

"That's exactly what my mom said." Her dress was partially ripped in the sleeve. Mine still looked fine, but I could not wait to get out of it. 

"How do I know I can trust you? I trusted him and he beat me up." Tears overflowed from her eyes.

"And honestly, I don't remember that much. We were both drunk and all of the sudden it looked like he wanted to kill someone. I don't know if I can forgive him." She shuddered and hugged herself. 

"You don't have too." I didn't know what to say. Seeing Kary hurt was like seeing a baby cry. It kind of broke your heart. 

"He's not right in the head, Marley. He's not stable." He may look okay, but he's not. I know things about him." She swallowed and shook her head. 

"You looked so happy when you saw him last night." Kary had smiled like I had never seen her smile when she saw him. 

"it's a cover." Her face looked empty. 

"Do you want me to tell him you guys are done?" She shook her head and looked frightened. 

"No. I'm just never going to see or speak to him ever again." She put her arms around her knees and rocked herself. 

"Kary, you go to school with him." I looked out the window and saw a seagull standing on a weather vane on the neighbor's roof. 

"He's going to jail for driving while intoxicated and under age drinking. Plus, I kind of ran away from the scene and went to another hospital." She said nonchalantly. 

"Kary! There going to find out you were with him. What about calling 911 too? Did you tell them anything?" She shook her head and fiddled with the seam on her dress. 

"I told them I wanted to be anonymous and that I just passed the accident in my car." She cleared her throat and messed with a hairband around her wrist. 

"Do your mom and dad know about this?" The bed springs squeaked as I crossed my legs on the bed. 

"Yes and they're fine with it since he hurt me." I leaned over and hugged her tight. I could have lost my cousin last night. 

Kary and I changed into sweatpants and sweatshirts. We ended up watching The Goonies on Netflix and eating potato chips. Aunt Jade and Uncle Tom were proud of me. They said that I helped out Kary a lot and that they loved me. I finally felt like I was finally part of their family.

So, if my aunt and uncle were proud of me, I figured my parents would be too.

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A/N

Hey! I'm going to try to update tommorow, but I'm going to be kind of busy this coming week. Do you think Connor is a jerk? Yes, yes I do. 

Read, Comment, and Vote :D

-Katie