Chapter one
hundred:
Jenna was
standing in the kitchen, looking out the window.
She had put on her bathing suit and stood in the kitchen wearing a sun dress
which was at least two sizes too big for her, even though she had worn it the
summer before.
She sighed,
wrapping her arms around herself and tugging the fabric tighter to her skin.
Outside, Becky
and Zac were frolicking in the water, splashing each other and playing around.
Jenna felt
suddenly very self-conscious of herself in a two piece bathing suit.
Normally it
didn’t bother her, but all of a sudden, no matter how much she tried to ignore
it, she still felt fat. She knew it wasn’t true; after weeks of crash dieting,
she was finally somewhat happy with her weight, even if the scale read that she
was at least twenty pounds below the average for her height and age.
She was the same
size as Becky, but Becky looked much better in a two piece, and Jen suddenly didn’t
want to be out there. She didn’t want to put herself in any kind of a social
situation where she was nearly naked and on display. Especially
in front of Luke.
She shook her
head roughly.
Normally it wouldn’t bother her. Normally she was comfortable in any
surrounding, fully clothed or not. Normally she felt normal with her weight,
having never been viewed as particularly overweight. But for some reason, all
of that had changed.
Her stomach
gurgled sickly, and she drew in a deep breath to combat the sharp pain shooting
through her stomach. She knew it was unhealthy, but she hadn’t eaten anything
other than yogurt in over a week.
She felt two
arms slip around her, nesting just below her own.
She jumped
slightly, backing into a warm body. “Luke!”
“Sorry,” He said
softly, his voice near her ear. “You looked pretty deep in thought there; I
didn’t want to disturb you.”
“That’s okay… I
was just thinking… I don’t really feel like swimming today…”
“Oh. Okay, well,
I’ll stay in here with you, and we can hang out. Watch TV or something, you
know?” He suggested.
“No! No! You’ve
already got your swim suit on, go outside and have a swim. I’ll just watch from
in here, okay?”
”Are you sure? It won’t be like I’m abandoning you to hang out with my buddies
or anything?”
She smiled. “No, of course not.”
“Alright.” He gently kissed her cheek. “See you in
a bit?”
“Okay.”
He disappeared
out the sliding door and jogged down the back yard.
Jen closed the
door behind him, and watched for a moment, before turning around.
“Whoa! What on
earth are you doing?” Jen asked. “Are you going on a binge or something?”
“Not
me, no. I’m having a
little party here tonight.”
“Little?”
“Alright,
a big party here.” He
shrugged, noisily setting down his alcohol collection on the counter.
“Does anyone
else know?” She asked.
“Not yet.
They’ll find out when everyone gets here, though.”
“Great.”
“Oh, and don’t
tell Ike, right?”
“Right.” She nodded, and reached a bottle of
vodka out of the top box. “Can I have this?”
“Of
course.” He shrugged.
“That’s what it’s there for. Want to help me bring more in?”
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After spending
countless hours standing in Christy’s father’s garage, nursing a beer and
listening to her father and brother talk about Christy and various drunken
outings, he excused himself to find his fiancé.
He wandered into
the house, past Christy’s step mother who had passed out on the sofa, shortly
after dinner and after two or three bottles of wine.
He found Christy
sitting alone in a tiny bedroom at the very back of the house.
“C? Everything okay?”
“No.”
He crossed the
room and sat next to her on the edge of the bed. “What’s wrong, honey?”
She drew in a
deep breath, and hugged her knees tightly to her chest. “I really didn’t want
to come here. This is such an awful place… and listening to my father and
step-mother describe me as a whore all night long…” She stopped and drew in a
deep breath, clearly attempting to suppress tears.
He reached over
and gently stroked her spine. “Honey, its okay…”
“No, it’s not
okay!” She dropped her hands into her lap. “This is my family and they’re so…
god, they’re awful, awful people. I would like them to
be at my wedding, but not if they’re like this! I’ve spent all night feeling
like crap, and in front of you, the only person who’s ever loved me or ever
showed me any kind of happiness.”
“Maybe at the
wedding they’ll be different…”
“They won’t.
This is who they are. Sober or not, they’re horrible people and that will never
change.” She sobbed.
Isaac quickly
put his arms around her and let her cry into his shoulder. “Honey, its okay… I
feel awful. This is all my fault, I made you come
here… And they… they aren’t that bad. They don’t really know you either. They
don’t know the part of you I love, they just know the
way you were on the outside, not the kind and loving person you are inside.”
She sobbed
louder.
”I’m going to leave it up to you on whether or not we invite them to the
wedding. It’s your decision. They’re still family, though.” He paused and
stroked her long dark hair until her sobs subsided significantly. “Do you want
to go back to the hotel?”
She nodded and
slipped from his arms. “Yeah. Let’s go.” She pushed
her tears away with a deep breath, and led the way towards the front door.