The Strange Boy (completed)

11

Part eleven
I woke up to screaming. Ricky wasn't in his room when I woke up, I was the only one in the room.
I stayed laid down, in the position I was in. It was Ricky, and his dad it seemed. They were arguing.
"What the hell were you thinking?! Having her stay the night here?!" His father screamed.
"We've stayed the night with each other before. We've done it a thousand times. I've stayed with her for a week straight. We didn't do what you're thinking. She's fine. All we did last night was watch TV and sleep." He replied raising his voice.
I've never heard Ricky scream like that. To be honest I've never heard him scream period. Unless it was the night my father introduced himself to him.
"How do I know that you didn't do anything else?! You could've done something else that you're not telling me!" His father yelled at his defense.
"We kissed. That's what we did. We kissed. Is that what you wanted to hear, or was there something else?" Ricky said.
"The way you were laying down with her! Had your body up against hers!" His father yelled.
"I only lay down with her like that, because she's fucking terrified. She's had a rough past few months. She'll sometimes wake up just shaking from what happened a few months ago. She will sometimes have night terrors. I lay with her like that so she can get some rest, and calm down. So if you have a problem with me trying to help her, then fine. But that doesn't mean I won't stop helping her." He explained.
They went on for awhile, and I just laid there and listened.
Ricky came back in. He slammed the door. I closed my eyes, and acted like I was sleeping. He laid down next to me. I had my face in his chest. He was playing with my hair.
I looked up at him. He had his eyes closed, and he was breathing heavy.
"Sorry, I got you in trouble." I apologized.
"Don't be. It wasn't your fault. It was mine." He paused. "I woke up at the time you usually woke up from a bad dream, or something, and you weren't even shaking in your sleep. You were sleeping. I decided to lay down with you like that." He paused again. "It's like an instinct now. Sometimes when I hear you move, I think that your having another terror. Or when you lay like you did last night, I instantly want to lay down like that with you."
I didn't say anything. Even though he said not to be sorry. I still had this feeling that it was my fault. When he explained to his dad why his mother lets me spend the night at their house, and why he does what he does with me. I thought his dad would understand, but I guess he didn't.
"Did we wake you up? From the arguing and all." He asked.
"Yeah, but it was something that always happened when my parents were still around." I explained.
"We can do whatever we want to do today. My dad is about to leave for work, that's why he was checking on me. My mother is at work too. Both working the late shift, again. So we can do whatever we want." He said with a smile.
"Have a lazy day." I said while looking up at him.
"Okay. We can go to Chris's, but let me get ready real quick, okay?" He asked.
"Okay." I said back.
I stayed in his room, while he went and got ready. I laid back down, and turned on his TV. When he came back in I turned off the TV, and sat up.
I watched him get ready. Ricky was done, and we headed over to Chris's. It was a cloudy afternoon. We heard thunder from time to time, but didn't mind it. We reached the front door, and I unlocked it. We walked in, and nobody was downstairs. I called for Chris and he didn't answer.
We went upstairs, and I went to check on Chris. He was still sleeping. Poor thing. He needed his beauty sleep, so I let him sleep.
I went back into my room, and Ricky was looking through my computer. I had saved so many pictures of us on the computer. I took a seat in the chair next to him, and looked through the photos with him. I remembered all of the moments we had together.
Ricky finally got to the very first photo of the roll. He smiled. I loved it when he smiled. It was just so perfect. I was staring at the screen until the screen went black.
"You still have all of the pictures we took?" He asked surprised.
I nodded.
"Wow. And Ash?" He said.
"Yes Ricky?" I answered.
"What day is it?" He asked.
"July 27. It's our anniversary." I said.
"Yes. It is." He replied with a smile.
The room was silent. I was still thinking about the argument, and how Ricky brought up the past few months. He didn't say anything about my dad, or my mom, or even what happened in general.
I was staring off into the wall, when Ricky called my name.
"Yes?" I answered.
"So how about that lazy day?" He asked with a smile.
We got movies, and some food. We watched our favorite horror movies, and ate while we watched. We were in the loft of Chris's house, on the couch in front of the TV. I honestly was a wimp with horror movies, but enjoyed them because they gave me ideas. Ideas I would've never had without the gore, and blood.
Ricky had his head resting on my chest, and his body half off and half on mine, while we were watching the movies. It was sorta funny to me that he did this, because usually I'm supposed to me laying on his chest. But I thought this could be "our thing" as well, even though I know a lot of couples do the same thing.
I was playing with Ricky's hair while we were watching the movie. After about the sixth movie he was sleeping. He had his arms around me, and when he was dreaming he would squeeze me a little. Almost like giving me a hug or something. He had moments where he'd mumble something, but I could never make out what he was trying to say.
He moved his head into my neck, and stayed there for a while. I started dowsing off myself until Chris came out.
"Hey I have to go to work. I'll be back tonight, okay?" He said.
"Okay." I said.
"See you soon."
Chris left, and as I was falling asleep I felt the grip that Ricky had on me grow tighter. I looked down at him, and he was kissing my neck. I played with his hair more, and he looked up.
"I thought you were sleeping." I said to Ricky.
"I was but now I'm awake, and wanting to spend a the rest of the day here. With my head on your chest, listening to your heart beat. Watching movies with you, and holding you all night." He said.
I laughed when he said that. But either way we stayed like that.
"So I take that you're staying here tonight?" I asked.
"Yeah. Still a little mad about earlier. Plus I don't even want to go home. I just want to stay here with you, and spend the rest of our anniversary together." He said.
I could understand why he didn't want to go home. I mean when my parents were around I would never want to be at home. The only reason was because of the yelling. I hated it. When they yelled at each other it was like all hell had broke loose.
We went to my room after the eighth movie. I got changed into some night clothes, and Ricky got changed into his. I always kept some of his clothes because we'd never know if he was going to spend the night or not.
Not all clothes of his I kept just for that though. I had one of his hoodies that sorta smelt like Ricky. It smelt really good to me. Every time I would put it on it was like he was hugging me constantly without letting go. It felt good in one of his hoodies. I always wear it to sleep sometimes. I would think that he was there with me when he wasn't staying with me.
I didn't wear one of his hoodies to sleep tonight, because Ricky was actually sleeping next to me. We talked about life, and I finally couldn't keep my eyes open. I fell asleep when Ricky was done telling me a story about his last summer in Seattle. It was an interesting story to be honest. He always told great stories. No matter what they were about.
It was 3:45 am when I woke up from a horrid dream. It wasn't about Ricky. It was about my parents.
My dad had been shot, but he was still alive. My mom was still living with my aunt, but still seeing that guy. In reality they were fine, minus the fact my dad was shot in the back. But in my dream they weren't.
I was shaking a little bit, from the dream. My dad had killed my mom, and made me watch. I wasn't crying I just laid there staring at the wall. I sat up, and looked around my room. I pulled my knees up to my chin. And just looked at the walls around me. I looked over at Ricky. He was twitching, and shaking his head. I guess I wasn't the only one having bad dreams. He eventually woke up, and breathing heavy. He turned to me, and pulled me close.
"Oh my god. It was just a dream. It was just a dream." He said to himself.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah. You?" He said to me.
I nodded.
"What happened? In your dream I mean." I said.
"You bailed your dad out. You were with me one minute, then half way across the world the other. He continued his abusing towards you, and he just ended it. Your dad killed you. He beat you, raped you, and then finished." He said shakily.
I looked at him. I kept my tears back for awhile, but then couldn't keep them back.
"He'd most likely do that. I hit him, before he left. Then I wouldn't bail him out, and now he's going to stay in jail for good. He won't let what happened a month ago go, he'll remember it, and keep the grudge." I told him.
"I know he would keep a grudge on what happened. He turned to the last person to help him. That was you Ashlyn. That's how he planned it." Ricky said.
We sat there in silence just close to each other. Ricky had his arms around me, and held me until the sun came up.