I’m on autopilot as I walk outside. I keep staring at my ankle as if that bloodied hand will imprison me again.
It’s not real. It can’t be.
But Dad said there was someone else. Am I remembering them now? Is that the reason behind the bloodied hand?
I need some psychological talk with Dr Edmonds.
Since I’m eighteen, I don’t need Dad’s permission.
A wave of sadness takes over me as I throw one last glance at the house and Dad’s car waiting outside.
Yesterday, he didn’t drive straight home. He took me to the doctor for the morning after pill and a contraceptive shot. I tried telling him that I used protection, but it’s like my tongue was tied.
I felt more ashamed in that moment than when he walked in on me wrapped all around Levi.
On the way home, he didn’t speak a word to me.
For the first night since Mum’s death, Dad didn’t come to wish me goodnight. I waited and waited and waited, but he never showed up.
I
was too cowardly to go and apologise because if he shut me out this time, I don’t know if I’d be able to pick up my pieces again.
Outside, Dan’s car is parked right beside Nicole’s.
He has his forearm against the hood of her car with his entire body leaning against her window.
There’s an unusual tension in his shoulders as he talks in rapid-fire. It’s too far for me to hear what he’s saying. Nicole stares at him with wild eyes and parted lips.
She looks on the verge of… crying?
Her blurry gaze meets mine and she swivels the wheel and speeds ahead. Dan stumbles back, cursing.
For the love of Vikings. Is Nicole trying to kill someone with her car today?
I fasten my pace towards Dan. “What the hell was that all about?”
“Nicole being a bitch as usual.” He runs a frantic hand over his face. When he turns around, he appears less agitated. “How are you feeling? Better?”
I might have spent two hours on facetime with Dan last night. I had to vent about it all to my best friend.
“No.” My voice catches. “Dad isn’t speaking to me.”
“Come here.” Dan wraps me in a hug and I fight the tears as I wrap my arms around his back.
“Don’t you hate me for bailing on you and leaving with Levi?”
“Bugger, I bail on you for shags all the time. That was nothing.”
“Really?”
“Really. You’re finally not a virgin so I don’t have to shoo away all those who planned to sacrifice you for Satan.”
I laugh as I pull away. “You’re not going to judge me?”
“What’s there to judge?” Dan grins, showing his dimple. “Besides, in the best friends manual, it says in bold capital letters that best friends aren’t allowed to be judgy little bitches.”
“What manual?”