When He Wakes.

Chapter 4

Parking near the end of the long drive way, Lisa and I walked up the small hill to the house.  We could hear the music before getting out of the car, and when we got closer to the house we could see it was packed. The front door was open, light spilling onto the doorstep, and two groups of people, one in the driveway and one almost blocking our path at the entryway, loitered outside talking loudly. Entering the house, I almost gasped when I saw that the first floor of the home was all open concept. The back wall of the house was glass, giving its occupants a perfect view of the forest and mountain. Even through the crowd, I could see a swimming pool off to the side of the yard as it was well lit, the steam coming off the water visible, even from this distance. The summer was just starting to get hot, so the night air still held a slight chill, but that seemed to go unnoticed by the party goers who were swimming in their underwear or fully clothed. Random towers of beer cans stood in various parts of the room, waiting to be tipped over so more alcohol could be bought by whoever was unfortunate enough to stumble into them. A makeshift DJ booth had been erected in the far corner of the room, and the DJ was currently playing club music while couples danced and grinded against each other in front of the speakers.

No one noticed us walk in, and taking my hand Lisa led me to the kitchen. She made small talk with a few of the guys who were leaning against the island while I raided the fridge and coolers for something to drink. I was about to settle for a light beer when one of Lisa's newfound friends tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to join them. " You don't want that." The guy stated while mixing me a simple rum and coke.    " Thank you." I smiled at him as I tried the drink. It was stiff, but thankfully it wasn't too overpowering. Winking at me he leaned in to talk to me when one of his buddies pelted him with a football from behind. Quickly turning, the guy picked up the ball and followed his friends out back where he tackled the guy who had hit him. I took this opportunity to down the drink, and looking through the bottles on the counter, I made myself a second. Lisa was still occupied with one of the guys who had approached her. She made eye contact with me and rolled her eyes as the guys kept talking.

When she finally had the chance she walked towards me, eyes scanning the room. " No sign of him yet, huh?" I asked knowing who she was looking for. She had started to look worried, so placing my hand on her forearm, I smiled at her. "He'll come. None of these guys can stay away from you, I doubt he is any different." She laughed and blushed a little. Lisa knew she was pretty but somehow she still managed to be modest about it. I took another sip of my drink. Lisa had just started telling me about how the guy she had been talking to was telling her about how he was going to become a famous gamer when she stopped mid-sentence. Her eyes had locked onto something behind me. Someone, I realized turning around. A lightly tanned man with chestnut hair, dark eyes and a killer smile was heading our way. Taking a closer look I smiled. This man was looking at Lisa like a moth drawn to a flame. Lisa bit her lip and smiled at him. She looked at me, and nodding my head, she closed the distance between them, and I watched as he hugged her in greeting.

I walked over to a group of people playing some kind of drinking game and scanned the crowd looking for a familiar face. In a house full of people, I still managed to feel awkward and alone. I finished my second drink, and thinking about David, I went and made a third. While sipping my drink, Ashley, another server at Bensons ran over to me. We talked for a few minutes before she grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor. Thankful to have something to do, I danced with her and some of her friends, thankful that I didn't have to talk, or think. I finished my third drink, and after two songs I was completely lost in the music. We had somehow managed to dance our way from the middle of the crowd to the outside. I twirled around and opened my eyes to see dark, almost black eyes staring into mine from a distance. Caught off guard I took a few steps towards them. Stopping at the edge of the make-shift dance floor, I examined the man who was staring at me. He had black hair that was pulled into a small ponytail at the nape of his neck, a straight nose, those magnetic dark eyes, and skin so pale his light pink lips looked dark against it. He face was slender and his build was muscular. He smiled at me, and once again my feet started moving towards him on their own. I had pushed passed a few people, making my way closer to the man, when suddenly his eyes were gone, and emerald green eyes replaced them. "Cara?" I looked up to see Terrance smiling at me. I looked passed him briefly and discovered the man was gone. " Hey Terrance." I greeted him, happy to find someone else I knew. " I didn't expect you to be here!" Terrance stated, his face showing that he was just as happy as I was to have found a friend there. " I didn't either." I laughed. " Well I'm glad you're here, I have a feeling this would have gotten boring without you." Terrance replied and I blushed a little. " I didn't know I was so fun." I laughed not caring how awkward the statement sounded. " Your easy to talk to and you always have something interesting to say." Terrance responded easily. I blushed deeper. I had nothing interesting to say to that. I had nothing to say period. " Can I grab you a drink?" He asked, blushing a bit himself, aware that he had made me uncomfortable. " Sure, I'll have a rum and coke." I could hear myself slur a little and I grimaced. " How many of those have you had?" Terrance asked with a laugh. " That would be my second one." I lied casually, internally kicking myself. Why lie? Everyone else was drinking and having a good time. Whether or not he believed me, Terrance went to get us some drinks.

When Terrance came back, he handed me my drink and I thanked him. Taking a sip, I realized he had made it a lot lighter than I had. Good, sweet, Terrance I thought. He was wordlessly looking out for me. " I found a place we could talk, If you'd like some air?" He asked. I nodded. The house was hot and fresh air sounded amazing. Leading me outside, the cool night made my head spin. Thankful for the seat Terrance led me to, I sat down thanking whatever force would listen that the spins were slowly stopping. A fight broke out by the pool, the guy who had made me my first drink was holding back a stocky looking guy while, a taller, more lanky guy danced around him taunting him. Both parties were obviously drunk.  After the scene had ended Terrance turned and looked at me. " You working tomorrow?" he asked. "  No, I'm off until Monday." I answered. " How did you manage that? I knew old man Benson liked you. He must to give you Sunday off. You know how packed it gets once everyone's out of church." I did indeed know how crazy it could be.  The Sunday before I almost marinated a customer in maple syrup in passing when a guy pulled his chair out on me. " I doubt that's why I have the day off" I started. " He probably didn't put me on because he needs the pro's at work. I'm still kind of slow." He laughed. " I wouldn't call any of us pros, except for Arin maybe, she's been there for years. You're as good as any of us."  " Thank you Terrance."

Suddenly he looked down at his hands and small blush formed on his cheeks. " You know, I've been meaning to tell you something. I just know its going to sound weird when I say it though." Uh-oh. Before I had a chance to say anything he continued. " Well, I found out we were related. Kind of, sort of. In a weird way. I know you don't talk abou-" "What?!" I cut him off. Related? Not what I was expecting him to say, but it was surprising either way. " Yeah, but ummmmm, not really." He scratched the back of his head and grinned at me sheepishly. " How?" I asked anxious to know. " Well it's only through marriage. When your great-grandfather died, your great-grandmother married Vernon Donolly, My great-great uncle, I guess." "That's really cool." I said after thinking about it for a moment. " I didn't even know my great-grandmother remarried. I actually don't think I even know her name." I only met my father once, that I can remember. He left my mom when I was a toddler, and as a result, my mom tried to cut ties with his family completely. Aunt Tabatha never really talked much about their family. I guess I had never really asked her to though. Hearing this connection was weird for me. It made me feel like I had roots here. An unknown history, a chance to belong to something. For some reason I had never thought about the history of my family in this place, or that there was a place for me here, left by blood, that here in this town, others may know more about my family, my father, then I did. Looking up, I realized Terrance had been watching me as I processed what he told me. " Her name was Katrina." He said looking into my eyes. " She's a bit of a legend around here. Or, well, she's part of one." " Is that how you knew about us being 'kind of, sort of, related'?" I asked curious. " No." He reddened a bit. " I mentioned you to my dad, and told him how you were Tabatha Beumonts niece, and he told me about your great-grandmother, and our connection to your family. He actually asked if I told you about it, and then about swatted my head off when he realized I didn't know. He said I ought to have picked up on it, it being our family history and all." " I see." I chewed the inside of my cheek. " I hate to ask, but since you seem to know more about my own family then I do, would you mind telling me about them? Why are they 'legendary' here?" I asked, trying to sound light. What came out sounded bitter and a bit sarcastic. I didn't mean for it to, but after everything I had had to drink, I didn't think it was possible to keep what I was feeling on the inside where it belonged. " Maybe some other time. I don't think this is the right place to talk about it." I nodded in understanding. He looked away, looking hurt by my tone of voice. Reaching forward, I put my hand on his. He almost fell out of his chair. I giggled. Giving his hand a squeeze I said " Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry if I sounded mad. I'm not. I just wish I would have had the chance to know my family." I felt like I should have been embarrassed by the confession I had made to someone I barely knew. I felt like by uttering those few words, I was giving him a view of my dysfunctional family and my own personal issues. " You don't need to apologize Cara, I'd feel the exact same way. I just thought you'd like to know. I thought maybe it would make you feel a little less out of place here is all." The smile the stretched my lips graced me automatically. Looking in his eyes, I knew I didn't need to say anything else about it, he got it.