Indigo

Chapter 3

     We drove to his house and I pull into his driveway. His house is brick and very big and old, with a pool in the back. It is a very expensive house, and his parents can definitely afford it. His dad is very big in business and his mom is a doctor. He doesn't talk about it, but his dad cheats on his mom and she knows all about it. His family is only slightly better than mine, and I wish I could just take his pain away. He is the only one who actually cares what happens to me. I pull the keys out of the ignition and hand them to him. He puts them in his coat pocket and we get out. He opens the door and I walk in with him right behind me. I go up the stairs, turn left, and go into the second door on the right. He follows me.

     He closed the door so his parents don't hear us and he rifles through his drawers for a black T-shirt. He pulls out a black Three Days Grace shirt that could be a dress on me. I glare at him and he rolls his eyes and turns around. "Okay, you can look now."

     He turns around and looks at his T-shirt on me while I bend over and fight with my unruly long black mess of curls, trying to wrestle it into a messy bun. I get all but a few shorter strands into it and secure it. "It's a little big, but it still looks better on you."

     I smile at his attempt to complement me. It droops off my shoulders excessively, makes my curves nonexistent, and my hair looks like I got attacked, but he still tries to make me smile. I change the subject, "Aren't you going to change too?"

     "Uhh, no?" He looks over at me.

     "Okay..." I try not to notice the smell of a good game of football on him.

     He rolls his eyes and looks through his dresser for something to change into. He pulls out a black sweater and a gray hoodie, and I smile, answering his unspoken question. I jump on his bed and grab his nearest reading material while he changes shirts. I glance over and see evidence of just how strong he is, his muscles strain as he pulls the sweater on. I look back at the magazine and I roll my eyes. "Seriously?"

     I hold up a playboy magazine and throw it at him in disgust. He laughs and picks it up. In the next room over we hear faint yelling. He cringes and my fists clench, "Ready?"

     He nods and we leave quickly. He drives this time and his hands clench the steering wheel hard. "Want to go to the waterfront?"

     I nod, "Sure."

     He finds parking and we walk in silence for a little while. I want to apologize, but I don't want to bring it up either. "How has it been with him lately?"

     "Okay." I lie like always, and we both know it.

     I can tell he wants to ask more questions but doesn't want to pry either. We walk in sync by the dinner boats and marina. He runs his fingers through his dirty blond hair, something he does when he gets stressed. "Have you eaten?"

     "Maybe..." I had some water at school.

     My "dad" keeps the food locked up so it's not really my fault that I didn't eat. Troy doesn't know that though, all he knows is that my dad is a jerk, and I want to keep it that way. He knows there is a lot more going on, but he also knows I don't like talking about it. "Come on."

     He goes to a hot dog stand and buys me a corn dog and fries, and gets the same thing for himself. I am hungry, but I hate bothering him too. It seems like every time I see him he gives me food. I am thankful but I don't like relying on people either, so I just start eating slowly and quietly.

        "You ready to go?" he asks me.

        I nod and we drive in silence. This time he drives, and unable to stand it anymore, push the button to play music and the song Savin Me by Nickelback comes on. How fitting. When we pull up to Copper Monkey we jump out of the car and race inside like 5 year olds at their birthday parties. After we pay and prepare ourselves, we challenge each other to a round. There were 4 other people. One was a girl with dark brown hair that was only a few years younger, 2 teenage twins with blond hair, and a guy with tawny hair and a dark tan that was a little older than me. The girl and the guy joined me and Troy took on the twins. 3. 2. 1... Start!

        The girl was fast and sneaky, so she went to the other base to hit the target. The guy was good at shooting people so he went to go backup the other girl. And I was left to guard the base. I hid close to it so I could see who was coming and when. I already predicted who it was, and I was right. I hit Troy until he had to go back. I started dancing around when one of the twins shot me from behind and caught up to me. I started to run but Troy was there and took turns shooting me and my base. Game over.

        We went outside and found out that my team won but it was close. The other girl must have gotten a lot of base shots while they were hitting me. We all high fived and rubbed it in Troy's teams faces. The others left but Troy and I played for a long time and in the end he won more games. When we left, we went back to his place and his parents were gone. I felt bad but I think he preferred them to be gone. We made popcorn and watched The Walking Dead for awhile. At some point I fell asleep, but then a scream on TV woke me up.

        As usual he was still wide awake eating popcorn and staring at someone fighting. He looked over when I woke up and asked if I wanted to go home. Honestly, I didn't, but I didn't want to intrude either. I said yes. He drove me home and we talked about how much fun we had. I was scared to go home, but I knew I had to. I smiled and acted like everything was okay. He asked about the camping trip at the beach tomarrow, and I said yes, that sounded great. He drove away and my smile faded as he got farther away.

        I reluctantly walked inside. He was waiting on the couch drinking a beer. It reeked of alcohol and cigarettes, and I wanted to leave again. He was watching something on TV, and he looked up as I closed the door. "Where were you?"

        I swallowed,  "I just went for a drive."

        He threw his beer can at the wall and stood up, "You're lying. I can see it in your eyes."

        I kept my face blank, "No, I'm not. I'm going to bed."

        He grabbed my throat and held me against the wall. "I know a liar when I see one! You think I'm going to just let you sleep around and lie about it?"

        I struggled to breathe and he let go and punched me in the ribs and stomach. Finally he let go and I crumpled to the ground in pain. "I just did you a favor. At least you won't be pregnant now."