Nemesis: A Love Story

HUGH

They don't say much to each other as they drive.
It's kind of nice actually.
Not awkward or uncomfortable.
He stares out ahead and she stares out the window.
Music plays softly.
He can smell her. That scent of vanilla and it makes him peaceful. He can't believe how quickly his life has changed. In a matter of weeks. How he went from just living, surviving from one day to the next. To know he looks forward to the day.
Before he had looked forward to just seeing her.
Even if it meant to see her harsh looks.
And indifference to him.
Her random but cutting words.
Even when she made him crazy a part of him was more alive.
More alive then ever before.
He slowly stopped just going through the motions.
Now it was all about her.
Making her feel safe.
Making her know she had people on her side.
Claire adored her which made everything easier.
He hates to admit it but deep down it always bothered him that Claire never liked any of his partners.
Not that he blamed her.
He hadn't really liked any of them either. They served a purpose.
To distract him for a few hours.
To sexually gratify him.
Now everything was different.
Yes he wanted Tessa, probably move then he'd ever wanted anything or anyone.
Being close this close to her and not touching her was a kind of torture but unlike the others, he wanted to know her.
Wanted her to someday know him.
The good.
The bad.
And the ugly.
He didn't know how long it would take but he would wait.
Right now she needs a friend.
Someone she can trust and he'd hold back his desires for as long as she needs.
His eyes drift from the road head to look at her, the window is down, her hair loose from her bun now, long tendrils dancing against the skin of her neck, her scar is on full display for him.
He wonders if she realizes.
He hopes it's just because she's growing more comfortable around him now.
He shouldn't get his hopes up.
He knows this.
He looks away from her, reluctantly.
Sinks back down into the quiet calm between them and just drives.
"Thank you"
She's the first to break the calm spell.
She isn't looking at him.
"For?"
He doesn't look at her.
"Claire told me what you did for me last night. Thank you."
There's a softness to her voice almost like she's embarrassed of her behaviour.
"I'm glad I was there." He simply says.
Tessa looks hesitantly are him.
"I didn't do it on purpose." She tells him "in case you think..."
He stops her.
"I didn't." He looks at her then "think you did, I mean."
She nods looking away.
"You're welcome. I know that probably wasn't easy for you to say."
She's looking sadly out the window.
"If it makes you feel better you can go back to hating me" he smirks.
She turns to look at him again. Her face serious.
"I don't hate you, Hugh"
His heart hammers at the sound of his name coming from her lips.
It's the first time he's ever heard her say it to him.
He's about to say something when she looks past him.
"Here's my place."
He stops in front of a house.
Wait. Not just a house.
The house!
He looks surprised eyes at her
"You can't be serious?" He hears his own tone.
Sees her guard go up.
"I'm sorry" he starts trying to take back his tone "I'm just trying to understand. Why would you want to live here, Tessa?"
"Return to the scene of the crime you mean?"
She turns her body to face him. Her face unreadable.
He turns to face her as well, turning down the music and waits for her to speak.
"That's the thing. Everyone looks at it and sees the murder house, the Riggs house of horrors, but it wasn't like that for me. For us.
You've all taken one moment of our lives and made us about that. But there was years of great memories in there."
She says looking at the two story red brick house. She looks down at her lap.
"Tell me."
She looks up at the sound of his voice.
"About the great times." He says with interest.
"We weren't  a fucked up family. We loved each other. And we liked each other. We had movie nights. And game nights. Sunday brunch. It was normal to walk into a room and see my parents kissing or slow dancing in the kitchen. It was normal to hear laughter. I miss them every day."
She grows quiet at that.
Hugh nods and shifts in his seat.
"Yeah...I can't say the same." He blurts out.
She looks back at him then.
"We were the fucked up dysfunctional family." He starts.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean to offend..." she interjects.
He touches her hand softly without realizing.  She doesn't pull away.
"No. No I know." He tells her "I figure since you shared I should. I just mean I didn't have...sorry we...Claire and I didn't have that. Even thinking about that kind of life is a foreign concept to me. We had something altogether entirely different. We had alcohol and abuse." Hearing himself admit it out loud shifts something in him.
Unlocks a carefully hidden and closed door in his mind.
He looks out of the window as he speaks.
"My father was a bastard. A mean son of a bitch. He cheated on my mom on the good days, on the bad ones he hit her for looking at him funny. School was a blessing, for a long time, a safe place. We never knew what we'd be coming home to. If we were lucky he's passed out already.  Sometimes he was. Most times he wasn't. There'd be nights we'd be woken out of a deep sleep, to screaming, banging, things being broken. It effected Claire. Still does. Nightmares. I worry about her. She drinks a lot. Too much."
It's his turn to grow quiet. He's never told anyone this.
Not teachers, though he knows now they knew. Some even tried to help.
Not friends because he never trusted any enough. And you didn't invite friends over for sleepovers and hangouts at the Navarre house. Not ever.
He told nobody. Not really.
A bit to Megan but just enough to peak her sympathy. To get her to fall into his "save me from myself trap" but he never spoke of Claire to anyone.
"What about you?" Her voice asks.
He lifts his eyes to her.
"Eventually hitting just mom wasn't enough" he tells her without going into much detail "then I got bigger and fought back. He never touched Claire. I wouldn't ever let that happen.
Not without a fight."
"She was lucky to have you. A big brother to protect her."
He takes a deep breath.
Realizing she probably didn't have that.
He's about to ask about him when she ends the conversation.
She opens the car door.
"You can stay here. I can go in alone."
"If that's what you want."
She stills as she's about to get up.
"Want to see the inside of the murder house?"
She asks there's a bite to her voice.
"No." He tells her "but I'd like to see for myself what a real families house looks like. I've never seen one"
His words get to her. He can see that in her green eyes.
"Come on."
She says and he gets out of the car to follow her.
His blue eyes look at the spot in the grass.