A Tangled Web We Weave (Completed)

29. Where It Becomes Increasingly Apparent That I'm an Idiot

Cal

I woke up to the sound of shouting. Loud, very female, ugly shouting. Yanking on sweatpants and pulling a t-shirt over my head, I practically ran done the stairs.

My mom slammed the microwave door shut, carrying her chicken noodle soup (trademark Kelly hangover food) to her seat, and sipping on what looked to be tomato juice. "Dammit, Sabrina, I told you home before curfew. And you stayed out all night? I'm not that stupid."

Sabrina blushed and hitched her sweater's neckline higher. Bad sign. "Mom, Israel and I had a fight, I was upset, I went over to Jenny's. Simple as that. I can have your mom call you and tell you."

"Before or after you've texted Jenny?"

"I haven't texted her since yesterday, when I asked if I could go over to her place, Mom."

"Gimme your phone then."

"Wow, great display of trust."

"After being gone all night, when you said you were going over to Israel's house, and then have no believable excuse the next day, you expect me to just take you at your word." Mom scoffed. "Oh, I'm just positive that Jenny's mom would be happy to spread whatever story you fed her."

"C'mon, Mom. The entire world is not out to conspire against you." Sighing, she muttered, "Only your ex."

"Excuse me?" My mom cried, slamming her glass down on the table. 

Time to intervene. "Good morning, ladies," I smiled, strolling in like I hadn't been eavesdropping, and bent to kiss my mother's drink. "Rough night, Mom?" I whispered.

She smiled faintly and patted my arm. "No, I'm fine, thank you, darling." She pointed at my sister after I moved aside. "You're grounded."

Sabrina laughed. "For sleeping over at my best friend's house? Nah, probably not. I refuse to be grounded for something I've done a million times. Try and stop me," she grabbed the car keys and flounced away to go to her room.

Sensing that my mom was at the end of her rope, I grabbed a banana and ran after Sabrina. I found her laying on her bed, texting furiously away to probably Jenny. Or Israel. "Stayed the night, huh?" I asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"God, Cal, could you not be annoying for five minutes? The rest of us would consider it a blessing." Sabrina sat up, hugging one of her pillows. "It's been a bad morning. I'm surprised you slept through it. How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know you're in deep shit. Lemme see your neck." I reached for her sweater.

"No," she jerked away from me. 

"Mom may be fooled, but I know a hickey cover-up tactic when I see one. Let me see."

Sighing, she pulled the fabric away from her neck. Deep purple bruises decorated the bottom of her neck and from what it looked like, the back of it and down her chest as well. 

I whistled low. "Well, your boyfriend doesn't do things by half measures, does he?"

She blushed crimson. "I know how to hide hickeys, Cal. I'm quite proficient. Mom just woke up when I came home this morning before I could get to my makeup bag, so I've been 'cold', even though it's so hot in our house."

"And Israel's house is probably pretty cold, too, huh?"

She threw the pillow at me and I backed out of her room, chuckling. "I'll leave you alone. Just be nice to Mom. She just broke up with her boyfriend. The mention of Israel probably hurts, let alone the fact that you were out all night with him."

I padded back to my room, got dressed, shaved while eating my banana, which was extremely difficult, gave my mom a hug, and went to Andy's house.

I still had no idea what to do about that situation. I wanted to go to the police. The other night, when her dad was hitting, I could tell this had happened before. I guess there had been signs for a while, like the way she flinched whenever I moved too fast, but I never noticed. Stupid. But, knowing Andy, she was going to pretend like it never happened and proceed to go about her business. 

I parked and jogged across her yard to her house. Knocking on the door, I whistled a tune that I couldn't name and waved to the neighbor who blatantly stared at me. Shuffling around on her doorstep sucked. I rang the doorbell. When I heard footsteps approaching, I relaxed.

Andy answered the door, hiding half her face behind the wood. "Hi, h-handsome." The stutter is back?  "I didn't know y-you were com-ming to see me," she kept the door firmly in place, even as I tried to gently open it. 

"Andy, let me in," I commanded, losing patience fast.

"I'm not d-dressed," she pleaded, trying to shut the door. "I'll call you later."

Ignoring her, I brushed past her into her house and whirled around the face her. She was wearing clothes. Weird.  "No. nu-uh, we're going to talk about what happened. You disappear after some cryptic explanation, the other night's events, and you want me to call you later?"

She closed the door slowly, but still didn't turn around. "Cal, I can't talk right now. My dad still hasn't come home."

"Thank God."

"No, I think he might have hurt himself." She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. I wanted her to do that to mine, but I needed to stay focused.

"Babe, he will never touch you again," I growled, stalking towards her.

She finally turned to me and I caught sight of her face. The entire right cheek was bruised and she had a black eye.

"I'm reporting him," I whispered, reaching out to touch her other cheek.

She flinched away.  "No, Cal, you cannot."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"I can't break my family up even more. This would crush my-"

"That's on your dad, not you."

"Because it's not really his fault."

"What a load of BS. You shouldn't have to deal with this."

"That's the first time anything like that ever-"

"Don't you dare tell me that's the first time he's hit you? Things like that very rarely, if ever, only happen once. I can't believe you're standing up for him after what he did to y-" Barking cut off the rest of my side as Arnie pounced on my shoes, biting the shoelaces.

Scooping the dog up into her arms, she glared at me. She looked downright dangerous. "Get out."

"What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"Get out!" She yelled, yanking the door open.

"Baby, don't do this-"

"If you think I have to stand around and listen to your self-righteous lecture about how I should deal with my father, then you're more stupid than I thought you were. It's none of your damn business. Get out." Using a free hand, she pulled me to the door.

I used her hold on me to tug her to me and I planted a soft kiss on her lips. I felt her soften momentarily.

She jerked away from me and shoved me out onto her doorstep. "You're an asshole." The door slammed in my face.

Kissing her was not the right move. Dammit.