Chapter 13
"JC!" I said through his hand. Seeing that I wasn�t going to scream, he withdrew his hand. "What did you do that for?"
"Sorry," he apologized. "What's the matter?"
I began to remember the beer. "I�ve got to go!" I turned around and began to run, but JC held my arm.
"What�s wrong, Alyssa?" he asked, gently stroking my face.
"Don�t touch me!" I cried.
JC ceased stroking my cheek and stared at me. "Was your father ever drunk?" he asked me. I stared into his blue eyes, then I nodded, looking down at the ground. "Did he do anything really stupid when he was drunk?"
No, not at all! I thought sarcastically. He only stabbed my mom infront of my eyes and beat the heck out of me! "I don�t want to talk about it right now," I said.
He wrapped his arm around me. At first I wasn�t sure that I wanted his arms around me, but then I felt safer than I ever had been before.
* * * * *
Lance, Joey, Justin, and Chris looked up as JC and I entered the room. "Everything okay?" Lance asked.
"It will be," JC said. He picked up the package of beer and took it outside. What in the heck is he DOING!?! I asked myself. A minute later JC came back inside, empty-handed.
"Dude, what�d you do with the beer?" Chris asked. "Don�t tell me you drank all of it!"
"No, Chris," JC replied. "I threw it away!"
The other guys looked at him. "Threw it away!?!" Justin repeated. "Why�d you do a stupid thing like that!?!"
"Because I felt like it." JC smiled at me. "Well, I�m going to bed!" I watched JC climb into the bed closest to the couch.
"Where am I sleeping?" I asked.
"With me," Justin chuckled.
Lance hit him in the stomach. "You can have the bed."
"Really?" I asked, "because I don�t mind sleeping on the floor!"
"That�s okay," Joey said. "You get the other bed."
"Thanks," I said. The guys watched me as I climbed into bed.
"Goodnight," Lance said, turning off the lights.
I turned on my side and stared at JC. I watched his chest rise and fall with each breath that he took. Then, my eyes became heavier and heavier until they finally closed and I went to the place everyone goes when they�re asleep.
* * * * *
My eyes slowly fluttered open and I stared into JC�s blue eyes. He smiled and I smiled back. As I made my way to the door, trying not to step on anybody, I coud feel his eyes on my back.
I leaned against the railing, looking at the mountains. I then heard the door open and close and felt arms wrap around my waist. "Did you decide to watch the sunrise?" he asked, resting his chin on my head.
"Yes," I said, smiling. "It�s very beautiful, isn�t it?"
"You�re very beautiful," he whispered in my ear. I turned around to look at him.
His lips were just inches from mine. He began to lean closer and closer until his lips finally touched mine. I began to get lost in a different world, a world where only he and I existed. But then, reality came back to me and I broke the kiss. "JC, I can�t!" I whispered. I walked back into the hotel room and sat on my bed.
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A few minutes later, JC came back in. "You can�t what, Alyssa?" he yelled.
"Well, now I guess I�m up for good!" Chris exclaimed, sitting up.
"What�s all the yelling about?" Lance wondered also sitting up. Justin and Joey also got up.
"Did you guys have a fight?" Justin asked with a grin across his face.
"I don�t know," JC said, staring at me. "Did we?"
"JC, please understand-"
"Understand what!?!" JC yelled. "That you don�t want to be loved? Is that it? You want to become one of those old women who never got married."
"You guys did have a fight, didn�t you!?!" Justin laughed.
Tears were now pouring down my cheek. "JC," I sobbed. "I just don�t want to�to end up like my mother."
All five men stared at me. "What do you mean?" JC asked.
I bit my lip. I�m not ready for this! I told myself. "I don�t want to end up getting hurt." More tears came.
JC sat next to me on my bed. "How did your dad hurt your mom?" he quietly asked. I looked up into his eyes, but looked back down. JC put a hand under my chin and lifted it to meet his gaze. "What happened?"
I looked back down at the ground. "He was always drunk and usually beat her," I said, remembering. "Then, one night, I�m not exactly sure what happened. All I remember is this: My dad walked through the garage door. I guess mom could tell he had been drinking because she told me to go hide behind the couch. The next thing I knew, my mother was being dragged into the living room.
"My dad began hitting her over and over again. Suddenly he stopped, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a knife." I paused, and JC hugged me. "He began stabbing her and stabbing her until I finally screamed at him to stop. He looked at me, anger in his eyes and I knew right then that I had made a big mistake.
"I ran outside and he chased me. I was beginning to knock on the my neighbor, the Carlisle's, door when he tackled me. I began to scream and scream and he began to hit me. Finally my neighbors came to my aid. Shawn Carlisle, the dad, tackled my dad while Mindy Carlisle, the mom, brought me inside."
After my story was finished, it remained silent. "Is he in jail now?" Chris asked.
Sadly, I shook my head. "When my dad heard the cops, he ran and nobody could find him."
Once again, silence filled the room. "Besides that one night," JC began, "did he ever�touch you?"
Sighing, I said, "There�s something I have to show you." I saw the curious looks on their faces as I stood up and turned around. I lifted up the back of my shirt and heard moans of disgust. On my back were billions of scars and bruises.
I felt a gentle touch on one of them. "He did this to you!?!" JC asked. I nodded my head and began to sob. He took me in his arms and I cried on his shoulder.
"You stand mistaken. Your father did not do those things!" Looking in the doorway, I saw a man with tangled brown-hair, mustache and beard.
Terror filled my entire body and my face drained of color. "Who is that?" JC whispered.
"My father."
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