Amelia had everything- family, friends, a promising future- the sky was the limit. But just like that everything was taken from her. One moment she's planning her high school graduation party the next she's laying on a therapist's couch. It was as i...
The sound of a door slamming closed had knocked me from my deep train of thought. I turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around myself, I pressed my head against the bathroom door.
Aralyn's voice was muffled through the door. "Son of a bitch!"
I quickly dried myself off and threw my pajama shirt over my head and threw my still damp hair back in a ponytail. With great caution, I opened the door to find Aralyn sitting at the foot of her bed, with her face in her hands.
What the hell was going on? My shower lasted for all of twenty minutes, at most. And the last I could recall, everything was fine. Everything was quiet. I saw that she had a guy over, even though I didn't see who it was. When I looked around for the second time, all of the mystery guy's clothes were gone.
I rested my hand on her shoulder. "Aralyn, what happened?"
She pulled her hands away, showing two separate trails of tears falling down her cheeks. "I made a mistake," she said in a hushed tone.
"We all make mistakes," I assured her. I knelt down beside her, wiping the tears away. "It's okay," I soothed.
There was definitely no chance that I would be getting any sleep at this point. Not when Aralyn was a weeping mess. The thing that struck me as odd in this entire situation was that she was crying. She was never a person to cry so easily. This meant that whatever was bothering her was also painfully eating away at her.
Aralyn was the type of person to show up to a funeral and not shed a single tear. She could physically injure herself and would shake it off the way an animal would out in the wild. Words were another thing that never made a dent in her suit of armor. Possessing a sharp tongue and a thicker skin, it was near to impossible to hurt her.
Her eyes were red and puffy. "No, it's not okay. I fucked up, Amelia."
"Take a breath and tell me what happened?" There were a number of things that could've happened while I was in the shower. Aralyn may have received a call from her not so pleasant mother who had been in and out of rehab for the past two years. She could have gotten a message from her younger sister, Ella, who was sent to live with relatives until her mother got her life together.
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Aralyn always dreaded receiving messages from her younger sister. Ella was nine years younger, and old enough to understand what their mother was going through. Aralyn didn't want her exposed to such a toxic woman, not at that age. She constantly blamed herself for not being there for her like an older sibling should. Did something happen to Ella? I hated to think the worst, but I wasn't about to rule anything out.
I hesitated to ask. "Is it Ella?"
She shook her head. I was relieved to hear that nothing horrible had happened, but that still left the question unanswered.
I paused, "...was it your mother?" Did she call or message her in another drunken rage? Jessica was the complete definition of a horrible mother. From past experiences, Aralyn had witnessed her mother get into a handful of bar fights on the weekends and find her strung out on drugs during the week. Aralyn's mother would wake up in the afternoon only to consume what little food was in the house or just for another hit.
She never worked, much less held a job for a few weeks, and that was only because Aralyn's grandfather continuously sent money to them. From what I remembered, her grandfather worked as some important CEO in Los Angeles, but never made any real appearances growing up. Jessica had somehow convinced herself amongst all the drinking and drug consumption that she was owed that money. As though being a mother was a job that came with a salary.
Aralyn was about thirteen when her mother first checked into rehab. During that time she was staying with a relative even though my mother insisted that she stay with us.
"Jesus, Aralyn, would please just tell me before-"
"Seth Kalford," she shouted.
Wait! Hold. The. Hell. Up.
Seth Kalford? Her English professor? My brows knitted together in suspicion. Was he the one that was in the room before? No, it couldn't be. Image meant everything to that man. He wouldn't be caught dead in a dorm room, much less in a student's bed.
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Seth Kalford was one of the very few teachers that I personally liked on campus. He made his class interesting and you could tell he was extremely passionate about his work. I will admit that he was very attractive for a professor. His blue eyes were enough to make any woman swoon. He looked like he worked out every chance he got, but it's hard to make out any of his muscles when he covers it all up with a suit and tie.
"What about Professor Kalford?" Aralyn got up from her bed and walked over to her desk. She braced her arms out and let her head hang low.
"So you know how I wanted you to read my final essay for his class?"
"Yes. . .'' Where was she going with this?
"Well, I knew you were going to be busy today, and I had no idea when you were getting back so... I sent him a copy of it."
So? Wasn't that normal for a student to do, especially towards the end of the semester?
"Did he not like it?"
"No, it's not that." She was holding something back. I could sense it.
I rubbed my eyes and forehead. I refused to look at the time on my alarm clock, because I knew it was well past one in the morning. It was too damn late to be having this kind of conversation that was clearly not going anywhere.
Just stay awake a little longer, maybe she'll just come out and say what she needs to say.
But I was growing more and more tired with each passing minute. "Aralyn, I'm exhausted, and I have no idea where you're going with this. You're telling me that you sent in the essay to him and now you're telling me that he didn't hate it. What exactly is the problem?"
Aralyn whipped her body around. "I had sex with him!" she cried out.
Okayyy! Yes, this was one chapter that really had me on the ropes. Twists like this are considered to be turning points for certain characters - in my opinion. And YES, I decided to have Ian Somerhalder to be the face of Seth Kalford (again, no shame)
