St. James

CHAPTER 45

-1 WEEK POST GRADUATION-

Although school was over for us, the eight of us made sure to hang out and see each other as much as we could but mostly it was Brian, Jimmy, Allie and I that were always together. Except for today...today we were all over at Matt's parents' house so the guys could practice for an upcoming gig they had booked. Their practice was long and grueling and by the time they finally called it quits for the day they were hot, miserable and sweaty as they put away their equipment. "God I'm sick of this fucking heat!" Zack griped as he dumped a bottle of water over his head and shook his hair vigorously, sending water droplets everywhere. "I know! Why don't we go relax at the beach?!" Zoe suggested brightly as she tossed a towel over to Matt so he could wipe his sweaty brow. "That sounds like a damn good idea!" Brian panted as he tugged his shirt off and wiped his own face down with it.

With that being settled we all ran home quickly to grab swim suits and towels before meeting back at Matt's parents' house so we could walk together. I laughed happily as I jumped on Brian's back once we hit the sand and stay perched there till we reached our usual spot by the rocks and set up camp. Clothes were quickly shed before with a shriek from us girls we all took off running towards the surf, jumping into the Pacific Ocean a moment later. "HELL YEA THIS FEELS AMAZING!" Jimmy laughed as the guys came up from under the water and shook the water off their hair. For the rest of the day we swam and horsed around in the ocean, not a care in the world between any of us except for having fun and being together. Brian and I were clingy as usual and while I was at peace with my choice of universities close by I was still dreading the start of college in the fall but Brian promised he was going to work his ass off to get us our own apartment, even if he had to work 3 jobs to afford it. "I'm over this living at my parents place baby" he stated as he walked me home later that day. "We'll have our own place and do things on our own time and our own way" he stated as we neared my parents' front door in the setting sun. "It sounds perfect Brian, I can't wait" I mumbled happily against his lips before kissing him goodnight and heading into the house. The house was surprisingly dark and quiet and I called out for my parents as I headed up the stairs to my bedroom. "Oh daddy you scared me! Wha-" my sentence was cut off as I soon as I saw daddy in my room with a barely contained rage written on his face and all my secret momentos from Brian and I scattered across the coffee table in front of him. "Care to explain what all this is?!" he roared with rage as he threw our 'marriage certificate' to the floor in front of me. "What were you doing in my room?! Snooping?!" I yelled out angrily as my eyes filled with tears. "LITTLE GIRL DON'T YOU DARE RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!" he bellowed as he came up out of his seat and tossed the other damning evidence at me...a pregnancy test for a few days ago when I freaked out over a period that was 3 days late.

"I TRUSTED YOU WITH...WITH HIM AND YOU WENT BEHIND MY BACK AND DID EVERYTHING I TOLD YOU NOT TO! AND COME TO FIND OUT YOU HAD HIM OVER HERE WHILE YOUR MOTHER AND I WERE OUT OF TOWN?! THAT IS IT YOUNG LADY! WE ARE GOING BACK TO GEORGIA FIRST THING IN THE MORNING AND IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT ARGUING WITH ME OR RUNNING AWAY SO HELP ME GOD YOU WILL LIVE TO REGRET IT! I WILL DISOWN YOU AND CUT YOU OUT OF THE WILL FASTER THAN YOU CAN BLINK DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Daddy's voice roared in my ears as his face grew bright red with anger and tears streamed down my face. "No daddy you can't! You can't take me away from Brian! Away from here! I finally fit in! I'm not going!" I wailed sadly as I beat my fists on his chest. "THE HELL I CAN'T! I WILL AND I AM! PACK YOUR SHIT! WE'RE LEAVING BEFORE THE SUN RISES!" he roared then slammed my door so hard the walls shook and stuff slid off my shelves. I fell onto the floor and sobbed as I gathered stuff blindly to tuck it away in a safe spot before something snapped and I began scribbling a note furiously to Brian, tears staining the pages and blurring the ink as I wrote. Finally, three pages later I stuffed them in an envelope and slid the envelope inside my pocket where daddy couldn't see it.

I found daddy stuffing things furiously into boxes in his office a moment later "Can I at least say goodbye to Jimmy?" I stated quietly, my eyes on the floor the entire time. "GO! BUT BE BACK HERE IN FIVE MINUTES! THAT WAY I KNOW YOU CAN'T GET OVER TO BRIAN'S HOUSE!" he yelled angrily as I backed out of the office doorway and took off running towards Jimmy's house, my tears once again blinding my way. I pounded on the door frantically and didn't stop till his sister opened the door. "Callie what's wrong?!" she exclaimed as I sobbed over and over again, my heart completely shattered on the floor "J-j-immy...wh-where is he?" I stammered through my tears as I struggled to catch my breath. "Callie he had to work late...is there something I can do?" she asked cautiously as I stood there crying. I pulled the envelope from my pocket and handed it to her. "Can you please make sure Brian gets this, please! It's super important!" I wailed as I heard daddy bellowing for me from the front porch. "Sure... but Callie, what's wrong?!" she questioned frantically. "Please, just make sure he gets it! And...and tell your brother I love him, for everything he's done for me!" I cried out before turning and running back towards home right as daddy was coming off the porch after me. Grabbing my arm he pulled me back into the house where he instructed me to pack what I could and the rest would be brought back to Georgia on a moving van. "You are going to boarding school in Europe for at least a year till I can figure out what to do with you!" he raged on as he stood guard over me while I packed the things that mattered most to me. I stayed silent the whole time and while I was utterly exhausted and heartbroken I couldn't fall asleep...even as the sun rose in the sky the next morning I was wide awake and barely functioning. Daddy all but stuffed me into the back of his car to take me to the airport where we would board a plane straight to Atlanta. With one last look at the place that had come to mean so much to me I burst out crying as daddy pulled away, never once giving me the chance to say goodbye to Brian face to face, my heart forever staying in Huntington Beach with the one guy that I loved more than my own life...