Robert was staring at Katie. “I liked you. I did, but you aren’t acting right in your head.” Katie said staring at him.
“Then why like me if you don’t seem to like me really?” Robert asked. She stares at him and then down.
“It’s cold. I was hoping you would’ve been a nicer guy. I guess I was wrong.” Katie gets up and ran off crying. Robert looks down at the ground. It began to snow.
“I am a jerk. But who the hell cares?” Robert thinks to himself. “Lacy is more important than Katie to me.” Robert stopped and couldn’t believe what just came out of his mouth. He touched his mouth. “Love doesn’t exist, dammit!” Robert takes his hand and punches it to the ground. “It doesn’t because… I just got my heart broken.” Some tears had fallen down from Robert’s eyes and down his face.
Ronnie was concerned for Lacy. Craig had came down and noticed Ronnie by the bathroom door. “Is Lacy in there?” He asked. Ronnie nods.
“Did something happen between you two?” Ronnie asks.
“I don’t know. She just seemed to get upset. I hope I didn’t do anything to hurt her feelings.” Craig was really confused on why Lacy ran off. Craig knocks on the bathroom door. “Lacy, are you alright? I’m sorry if I did something wrong.”
“It’s nothing!” Lacy lied. She felt sadness in her heart. She first thought she was happy being with Craig, but was she faking it? She didn’t know, but when she kissed Craig it just felt wrong. It didn’t feel right. She didn’t know what to say to Craig because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. She decided to quickly dry her tears and opens the bathroom door. “I just had to go to the bathroom really bad.” Lacy lies. Ronnie heard her crying. He knew she lied.
“Oh?” Craig was still confused, but didn’t ask Lacy anymore questions about it.
“Let’s just go out. Okay?” Lacy suggested. Craig and Lacy ended up leaving.
“I wonder why Lacy was crying and why did she lie to Craig? He didn’t seem like he did anything to her. He seemed clueless.” Ronnie thought to himself. He felt worried about Lacy.
Katie had ran home and quickly went to her bedroom. Closing the door and then falling on her bed. She puts her head on her pillow and began to cry. “Robert is a jerk!” Katie cried. She felt upset that her first kiss wasn’t special. She liked Robert, but didn’t want her first kiss to go like that. She didn’t want to be forced to have sex when she didn’t want it. She just wanted a date. “I thought my first date with him would be special. Something to remember.” Katie cries.
“Then he tried to force himself on me! That jerk!” Katie didn’t have any siblings to talk to about her problems. She didn’t want to talk to her mother because it just felt weird to her. She wished she had an older sister to talk to that would help her.
Katie sat up. “I could call Madison, but I don’t want her to get upset because she worked so hard trying to set me up with Robert. She really is a good friend.” Katie still felt depressed. She still felt like she liked Robert, but was upset with what he tried to do with her. “Maybe he wasn’t being himself, maybe he was so upset that he wasn’t thinking straight.” Katie thought. She wipes her tears. She was trying to think of a logical reason for Robert’s actions.
Katie got up and took a deep breath. She thought hard. “I’ll ask my mother about guys. She should know.” Katie never usually liked to go to her mother about these teenage problems, but she should. She had no one else to turn to. She couldn’t go to Madison. Madison may be Katie’s friend, but she’s younger than her and never even been with a guy before. Katie goes to the living room and sees her parents watching TV.
“Is something that matter? You came running in the house and didn’t say a word. Went straight to your bedroom?” Katie’s mother asked her daughter.
“Mom, can I speak with you alone?” Katie asked.
“Sure thing.” Katie’s mother gets up and leaves the living room with Katie. She takes Katie to her bedroom and shuts the door. “Is something the matter?” She asks her daughter with a concern look on her face. She was concerned for her daughter.
“Well, I am confused about a guy that I know.” Katie felt nervous.
“Is it a guy you like?” Her mother asks her. Katie didn’t know how to respond. She felt shy about it. “What are you confused about?”
“When guys get upset, do they sometimes do stupid things? Things they don’t mean?” Katie asks. She really didn’t know if she should ask this. Her mother looked at her daughter for a few seconds before she finally spoke.
“Your father one time did something really stupid when we were dating as teenagers. He thought I was breaking up with him and he just kept calling me. Whining on the phone. I didn’t understand why he was crying because I didn’t want to break up with him. Come to find out some girl tried to lie to him to try to split us up.”
“Oh.” Katie looks down. She felt like this wasn’t the type of answer she was looking for. “I can’t ask her.” Katie thought to herself and looks down. “I can’t ask her, I don’t want her to think I did something bad or wrong. I stopped Robert. But I don’t want her to think poorly of him.” Katie sits down on her mother’s bed.
“Is it something else?” Katie’s mother asked.
“Mom, did dad or… any other guy try to… force himself on you?” Katie finally asked. It took a lot of guts to ask the question. Katie’s mother was surprised to hear about something like this from Katie.
“Is this what happened to you?” Katie’s mother asked. Katie wasn’t sure if she wanted to answer that question. Katie’s mother sits down by her daughter. “Katie, before your father I had two other boyfriends. Well, one was when I was younger so I wasn’t really dating him, but the other was my actual first real boyfriend.”
“Who was he?” Katie asked.
“A guy named ‘Dawson’. He was some guy that I had this huge crush on and then he started to date me. Everything seemed like it was going okay. Until I found out he was cheating on me with the most popular girl in school. I dumped him and then decided to focus on school instead of dating. But then I met your father. He was bit of a nerd, but I feel in love. He was so kind, and sweet.” Katie’s mother started to blush and smile.
“You met dad in school? That’s so cute.” Katie smiles at her mother.
“Yes, I knew him as a high schooler. We were friends and then became boyfriend and girlfriend.” She responds. “He respected me and was very nice. We stayed together, got married and had you. And I can’t be even more happier than I am.”
“Oh. I wished I can find love like that.”
“You’re still young, and pretty. I’m sure you will.” Katie’s mother says to her daughter. “Now what did you mean by some guy forcing himself on you?”
“Oh…” Katie’s smile disappears. “A guy… A guy that I kind of… got a crush on.” Katie blushes. “He seemed like an okay guy. I heard he wasn’t dating and the girl he liked was with someone. And I thought maybe I can try to date him and he’ll actually like me. You know? And then when I went over his house he took me out to the park. Then tried to force himself on me. I stopped him and ran home.”
“I am glad you stopped him. Katie, if he tried to force himself on you, that’s wrong. He doesn’t love you if he tried to do that.”
“But I don’t think he’s a bad person! I think he was upset! Honestly! Because… as he kissed me… I felt like he was sad… His eyes… They had the most depressed look I ever seen. And he hasn’t been at school for past days.”
“You said he liked some girl, but she ended up dating someone else?” Katie nods to what her mother said. “It’s possible he’s heartbroken of that fact that the girl he likes is with someone else. He probably didn’t mean to do all that, he probably isn’t thinking straight. But that still doesn’t give him a right to try to do that.”
“I know… I just hope he feels better.” Katie says.
“Who is this boy?”
“His name is ‘Robert’. I just some reason like him ever since I first saw him.”
“Oh. Well, no matter what dear, if he doesn’t want to be with you, don’t be too upset because you’ll find your soulmate out there.”
“I guess so.”
Robert had gone home, when he got home he began to smoke in his bedroom. Feeling upset for what had happened and wondered why he went out and did something like that. Ronnie came into the bedroom.
“We have to start going back to school. Are you alright? Where did you go with Katie?” Ronnie asked.
“I tried…I tried to have sex with her.” Robert answered.
“What?! Why?” Ronnie asked.
“I…I don’t know. I didn’t have sex with her though. Damn, I don’t even like her. I fucking hate that stupid girl and I tried to do that.”
“Hmm?” Ronnie was confused by his older brother.
It was later. Dinner was already been served and now it was time for everyone to get ready for bed.
“Mom, have you saved up any money?” Lacy asks.
“I been helping Brice pay for some bills and food. I haven’t been able to save much. I honestly don’t know what to do, Lacy. I can’t figure out how to take care of you and James on my own. My job sucks and I can’t get a two bedroom apartment. I can’t afford one.”
“You can’t?” Lacy asked surprised.
“No. That’s why I have been trying to date around to find a guy so that I can have help to take care of you and James. I just wished your father never left.” Abbilynn looks down. Lacy noticed her mother seemed upset.
“Why did dad leave? Did you do something wrong?” Lacy asked. She wanted to know the truth about her dad. She always remembered him so nice.
“Lacy, you’re a teenager now. I guess I can tell you the truth about your father. Just… don’t tell James. He’s too young to know.”
“I won’t. Tell me about my dad. I want to know.”
“Lacy, your father was always a nice guy. We knew each other since we were teenagers. We got married sometime after we had you. Everything was going great or so I thought. Then one day, your dad just flipped out and told me he was leaving. Said he was with someone else. Well… actually two weeks before that happened I started fighting with him because I was suspicious he was cheating on me. Then it was true. He left and I haven’t spoke to him since or seen him. We never even got a divorce.”
“Dad cheated? Mom… why didn’t you get dad for child support to help pay bills?”
“I…I thought of it but…” Abbilynn starts to cry. “I love him too much. I didn’t honestly want to start dating…” Lacy couldn’t believe her mother was crying in front of her.
“You love daddy don’t you? You want to be back together with him?” Lacy asks. Abbilynn nods.
“I do! But he’s probably with that woman he cheated on me with! I was always a nice wife! I guess he didn’t want to stay with me because I was a housewife! But when he left I got a job. I tried so hard for you and James.” Lacy felt like she wanted to cry. She missed her father too. When Lacy was young, she always loved when she was around her dad. She liked hanging with him and when he used to come home from work she used to run out the door to him.
“Does dad still work at the same job? Maybe show up there and try to talk to him!” Lacy suggested. Abbilynn shook her head and started to dry her tears.
“No. I can’t be selfish. But… I don’t understand. He never gave me divorce papers.”
“That’s weird.” Lacy thought to herself. “Why didn’t my dad give my mom divorce papers?” She didn’t understood it well herself. It seemed confusing.
“I heard you been dating a guy. Name ‘Craig’, correct?” Abbilynn asks her daughter. Lacy blushes a little.
“Yeah.” She answers.
“He seems like a nice boy. But Lacy, don’t you think your clothes are a bit too much? You been wearing clothes that’s not even fit for girls your age.”
“I…I know. But I like to.” Lacy responds.