Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 17:39:10 -0700 (PDT) From: Cristina Richards Subject: realizations - 6 See Chapter 1 for regular disclaimer. Chapter 6 Blinking into the light pouring from my window, I found myself rubbing sleep out my eyes for the second time that day. I reached out to find the owner of the lips I had felt brush my face to find that there was no one there. "Damn," I said to no one in particular, "I wish that one could've lasted longer. These dreams have got to stop." Thinking out loud, "It's only been 4 days. Not like I wanted any actual sleep or anything." I swear they keep getting stranger, but that one had to be the most realistic. Anyways, it's Friday now and the clock on the wall is telling me I might want to consider getting ready to go to school. Besides, what better way to start your day than to get up early and wait in front of the school to talk to your bestest friend in the whole wide world. (Yeah, yeah. I know I'm full of shit, but it sounded good at the time.) So, I got up, got dressed, and headed out the door to begin my occupation of sitting through classes, memorizing useless information just long enough to take a test and forget everything as soon as the last answer is written on the paper. I remember thinking, "Just four more months and I'll finally have my license and three months to enjoy it." Walking up, I saw Dominique waiting for me. "Hey, about time you dragged yourself up here." "Yeah, yeah. Let me tell you about my great night's sleep. Oh wait, I didn't have one." "Again?" "Yes, again." "What were the dreams about this time?" "The question is, 'What weren't they about?'." Just then the bell rang cutting our conversation short. I walked off to 1st period hoping the rest of the day would be better. The last semester had just started and since I didn't have as many classes with Dominique I was hoping it would give me a chance to get over her. TWO WEEKS LATER: (April) I was feeling a little better since the last few weeks had been kinda uneventful. I wasn't thinking about Dominique as much anymore and it was getting easier to do the whole "friend" thing. Today, as I walked to the front of the school, I had no reason to think that things would change anytime soon...that is until Dominique walked up. I could tell something was up and she looked really upset and aprehensive. The first words out of her mouth were... "You're going to hate me." Thinking that was impossible, I innocently asked "Why?". Enter mistake 1. "You remember the guy that's living with us now?" (Vaguely I remembered something about her stepmom's adopted brother having to stay with them for some reason.) "Yeah." "Well, he hit on me last night." Confused I asked, "Why would I hate you for that?". "I don't know. I just thought you'd be mad." "Yeah, at him. Not you." Honestly, I wanted to chop the perverts left testicle off. "I don't know what to do. He has to work until 8 or so, but I don't want to be home when he gets there." "You know you can stay my house as long as you want." My heart was breaking thinking about that asshole making a pass at her. Later that day: It was going on 7' when Dominique started pacing around the room. Confused, I just stared at her like she was a caged animal. About an hour later, she finally said something... "Daniel, (the guy), gets off in an hour. I think I need to be there when he gets there." "What the hell! Are you serious? Your parents aren't back yet and you want to go back there and be alone with him? You were fucking crying less than an hour ago over what he did to you." "Don't be mad. I don't know why, but I feel like I need to be there. I'll be alright." The next day I felt a strange sense of dejavu when Dominique showed up with basically the same story she had yesterday. She looked like she was about to cry when she started her story. "He came to my room last night." "No offense, but I really don't care to hear anymore of this after I tried to warn you last night" "But, anyways, he wanted to touch me." "Did you not just hear what I said? I don't want to know." I started walking off and she followed. "I really need to talk to someone about this." "Find someone else because I don't want to hear it." I know it sounds bitchy, but this time I was mad. She had no repsect for our friendship. It was like she didn't care that I didn't want to listen. She was feeding off the attention this bastard was giving her and then taking a guilt trip after it was all said and done. All I could do was stare at her and wonder what happened to the person I used to consider my best friend. I don't think I talked to her for the rest of the year. A FEW DAYS LATER: I had been trying to get in touch with my brother's ex-wife. Her cousin is one of my best friend's and we still talk occasionally. I hadn't seen her in a while and we met up at some event that Crystal, her cousin, and I both had to go to. We were talking and although we're kind of close, I never told her I was gay. I wanted to tell her, but I didn't know how she'd react. I ended up telling her I had something important I wanted to talk to her about and she gave me her phone number. I had been trying for 3 weeks to get in touch with her and today she answered the phone... "Hello?"