Ginger looked over at Zac. The boy woke up well. Usually when she just woke up her hair was everywhere, her face was messed up, and she didn't look her usual self. Zac, on the other hand, looked just fine. He said he needed a shower but he didn't smell, and as a matter of fact, he looked a good twelve hours away from a shower. His hair was neatly back in a low ponytail and his skin was perfectly flawless, which seemed incredibly odd. She got over it quickly.
He pulled into her driveway and shut off the car. "You sure it's okay that I take a shower here?" he asked, looking over at her.
"Yeah. My brother's at work and I don't care. If I hadn't already taken one I might have joined you�but I'm squeaky clean."
"Remind me to throw you in some mud before we get inside." She grinned and kissed him before she got out of the car. He followed her to the front door. She unlocked it and went inside. She walked to the kitchen, Zac following behind, when suddenly Alex jumped in from the living room. Ginger jumped back.
"Alex! I thought you were at work!"
"I've been waiting all night for you to come home!" Alex looked behind Ginger at Zac. "Oh. You were out with him again."
"Yes, I was."
"Did you know Mrs. Kindle popped in about an hour ago?" Alex asked. "You left the upstairs a fucking mess and I wasn't able to explain that to her or where you were! Finally I told her you were at your girlfriend's but I had no way to explain the condition of your bedroom."
"Well you could have cleaned it yourself while you were waiting all night for me to come home," Ginger said, huffing. "I swear to God if I'm not here nothing gets done!" He slapped her across the face and she flipped around, glancing up at Zac, who was shocked.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked immediately. Alex looked at him.
"Excuse me?"
"You don't hit a girl, especially your own sister! You're the reason she's always beat up!"
"Get the fuck out of here, kid, this doesn't involve you."
"Now it does! You don't hit people like that! I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing but I'm not sure if I can leave her alone here with you."
"I've been here a hell of a longer than you have, kid, so get out of my way. She's my custody and if I choose to hit her when she's been the little bitch she'd been lately, I think I have every right to."
"No, you don't," Zac said.
"Zac, maybe you should just go," Ginger said from behind Zac. He turned around. She was looking at the floor, a trail of blood on her cheek, speaking small and trying her best to disappear.
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Zac, it's not like this is the first time this has happened! I know how to take care of it. You can go."
"Fine," Zac said, but grabbed her arm. "But you're coming with me." He didn't give her time to speak before he made his way towards the door, pulling her with him.
"Where are you taking my sister?" Alex yelled from the kitchen.
"Away from you!" Zac yelled back. He threw open the door and forced Ginger quickly into the car. As Alex was running after them, he peeled out of the driveway and onto the road.
"What just happened?" Ginger asked, wiping at her cheek with a tissue from her purse. Zac glanced over at her as he blew a stop sign to get out of the neighborhood as fast as he could.
"I don't know."
"You do realize you just kidnapped me."
"Hey," he said, "it's better than leaving you there with him. And I did not just kidnap you. I'm your boyfriend. I'm taking you on a long date." Ginger paused.
"How long is a long date?"
"How about until your birthday?" Ginger put a hand to her temple, shaking her head. "Ginger, you can't stay with him."
"But I can't stay with you! I don't even know you! You don't know me! All you know is that you don't want me to stay with my brother. It's fine, Zac. It's just awful to you because you're not used to it."
"How long has this been going on?" he asked, looking over at her. She was quiet. "Ginger?"
"It's always been going on," she said. "Even before our parents died�but back then it was more accepted. It was just siblings fighting. Now it's just a little more. We're still fighting�it's just he fights a bit more than I do."
"Ginger�"
"Things were perfectly fine before you butted in," she snapped. He looked over at her.
"You're still bleeding." She put her tissue back to her face. "Ginger, I care about you. I don't know if you know it or not but I really do. I don't spend the night with random girls; I don't care what you've heard or what you may conclude from the way I've been acting these past few days. You're different than the rest of them." Ginger snorted.
"Yeah, I'm a dirt-poor orphan with an abusive older brother."
"It's not that," he said. "You're a different person in the way you act around people; the way you act around me. You're the first person I've ever met that I've actually brought up the subject of marriage and haven't run away screaming when we talk about it." Ginger grinned. She could picture him running away from a girl screaming and flailing his arms. "Just that shows something right there."
"But, Zac, that doesn't mean anything to me."
"Well it means something to me. You're going to stay with me until I know for a fact that you're going to be safe."
"I'm safe at home."
"No you're not! The past few days that I've known you, you've been broken in some place or another and he's the reason for it! How do I know he won't send you to hospital this time? Or next time? What would I do if that happened?"
"You speak as though I'm everything to you."
"You're proving to be." Ginger sighed and shook her head. "What?"
"You just scare me sometimes, that's all," she whispered. She reached over and took his hand. "I'll stay with you for a little while. Just a little while. But I will have to come back here. Alex is still my brother; he still has custody over me until I'm eighteen."
"How long is it until your birthday?"
"A couple of months." Zac nodded. "You can't keep me until then."
"I can try."
"You can try."
"I'm going to take that shower now. There's not really much to do here. Once I get out of the shower we can find something to do." Ginger nodded. "I have no idea where my brothers are, but I've told them about you so if you explain yourself if they come in they won't freak out and call security."
"Oh, thanks for the warning," she said, rolling her eyes. She fell back onto one of the beds. "That's not my bed."
"I don't care."
"All right�" He turned around and went into the bathroom. Once the door was closed she sat up and looked around, shaking her head all the while. This place was immaculate. The room itself was huge with a balcony overlooking the beach and decorations she'd only seen on the Travel Channel. She stood up and wandered around. She could only dream about staying in a hotel like this. Even when her parents were alive she didn't have this kind of money, and now that she was just living with her brother (well, she used to live with her brother) she had even less. They had enough to get by, enough to pay most of the bills on time and to keep the fridge stocked with food, but sometimes it was hard and sometimes Alex got in trouble with the wrong kind of people and the house got trashed. Sometimes they would fight about money and all the time he would hit her.
She shivered, walking to the mirror on the other side of the room. She looked at the large gash on her cheek and the smaller one on the other side. Her back was still hurting but her leg was fine and her arm was just a bit sore. Maybe it was better that Zac pulled her away from him. Maybe he could help her out.
The door opened and Ginger flipped to it, expecting one of Zac's brothers to come in the room. It wasn't. It was an older woman who Ginger immediately placed as Diana, Zac's mother. The woman froze. "Who are you?" she asked. Ginger put on a smile, knowing she looked like she was just thrown from a fast-moving car.
"I'm Ginger," she explained. Diana didn't budge. "Um�Zac and I met a few days ago at a party�he never mentioned me to you?"
"No, he didn't." Ginger felt the woman's eyes travel curiously over her appearance, from the cuts on her face to the bruise on her arm, to the tattoo on her upper arm that wasn't covered due to Ginger's black tank top. Ginger discreetly put her hand over it to hide it from her. "How did you get in here?"
"Zac let me in."
"Where is he?"
"He's in the shower." The woman looked to the bathroom. The water had stopped and there wasn't a sound coming from inside. Ginger bit her lip. "Well, he was in the shower."
"Listen�"
"Ginger," she supplied.
"Ginger. I'm sure�" The door to the bathroom opened. Zac came out, a towel wrapped around his waist.
"Hey Ginger, I got a toothbrush in here if�" Zac paused, looking at his mother. "Hi Mom."
"Do you know this girl?" Diana asked. Zac nodded. "Oh, all right. I apologize. I thought she was someone who found her way in here." Zac rolled his eyes.
"Like that ever happens anymore."
"Zac," Diana asked, "What is she doing here?" Zac looked over at Ginger.
"I'll be brushing my teeth," she said, going into the bathroom and shutting the door. Zac turned back to his mother.
"She's kind of in a bad situation, Mom. Her parents died and she lives with an older brother that abuses her. I don't want her staying at home any longer."
"Who is she?"
"We met a couple of days ago."
"Zac! You can't just pick up some random girl because you don't like the way her brother's treating her!"
"I'm not picking up some random girl! I've been spending all of my time with her and she means something to me. I'm not going to leave her here to get beaten up by her older brother. He might send her to the hospital or kill her or something! I'm not going to let that happen!"
"Zac, you've only know her a couple of days!" Zac looked at her blankly. "What are you going to do with her?"
"Can she come home with us?"
"What?!"
"Mom, come on, please, she can't stay here."
"No!"
"What would you do in this situation? I know you wouldn't just leave her there to get killed. And it's not just that, Ma�I'm starting to fall in love with her."
"No, you're just falling in love with her breasts."
"Mother!"
"What? You're sixteen years old and you met a pretty girl, don't think I don't know what this is about!"
"Mother, that has nothing to do with it!"
"Have you slept with her?" Zac stood up straight.
"What?"
"Have you slept with her?" Zac paused, trying to think of a good answer.
"That doesn't matter!" he yelled. "Mom, you have to believe me on this. I'm not going to just let her stay here. I don't care what you say about it, she's coming with us anyway." Diana shook her head.
"No, she's not."
"Yes she is! It's not going to be for that long; she can stay in Zo�'s room! Zo� never sleeps in there anyway�" Diana shook her head again. "Well�why?"
"Because you don't know her, Zac. I don't know her. I'm not going to have some stranger move into my house! How do you know what she's even like?"
"How do you know what she's like? You're judging her already and you've met her once." Diana gave her son a stern look. "No! That's not going to do anything! I bet you anything if she didn't have that tattoo on her arm you would be thinking mighty different."
"Maybe I would, but she still wouldn't be able to stay with us."
"Just because she's got that you think she's a little punk! Like she's a hardcore heavy metal slut and she's only interested in me for my money! Mom, she's not like that. Get to know her a bit and you'll change your mind." Diana sighed, looking away. "Mom, please. Please, you can't just leave her abandoned like this. She needs somewhere safe to live and I'm the only person who can give that to her."
"Doesn't she have any friends she can stay with?" Diana said, her voice low.
"Her friends have known about this and none of them have done a thing to help her. I'm all she's got right now." Diana sighed again.
"How long would she stay?" Zac smiled.