Chapter Sixteen The Valentine Of Feelings
Chapter Sixteen: The Valentine Of Feelings
Briget
I had to agree with the woman behind the register. I was beginning to believe that I might have found it .
Love. The great, all consuming valentine of feelings.
Funny thing was that I did not feel the fear I did just a day ago. I had to admit that I had been wrong about Fate. At least I hoped so. I had to face the fact that I just did not trust men. I hated to admit it, but it was true. I’d never had a great or even a good relationship with a guy. There might be a good reason for that. It would be hard to fix though as I’d been on the receiving end of a humiliating trauma. As hard as I’d tried, I couldn’t get past it. I needed to get rid of the past and see if I could have a future with Fate. One thing a guy had never done was to make me laugh like he did. I tried to remember the last time I felt so relaxed around a guy. Never?
Heading out of the store part, we got into the backseat of the SUV.
“Finally,” Liberty griped after we shut the doors. “You two are way too social for your own good.”
Fate and I looked at each other then we laughed.
Belle beamed at us. “I took Daisy out and walked her. But I just wanna say that I’m so glad you two are…” Her voice faded away as she bit at her lip.
“Yes, we are and no one is happier than I am,” Fate said, then he leaned over the seat and spoke to Daisy in baby talk, “Who's my doggy? You are! Yesss, you are. You're my sweet little muffin-top.”
I stared at him. Could the man be any more adorable?
“Are you baby talking to a dog, Fate?” Liberty asked in disbelief from the driver’s seat.
Sitting back in his seat, Fate called to him, “Hey, brother.”
Liberty peered at him through the rearview mirror.
Raising his hand, Fate flipped him off as he laughed.
“Oh, very mature,” Liberty scoffed.
“Ok, we got two bikes upfront,” Bones said over the console. “One in the middle then three at the tail end. Speak up if any of you sees something suspicious. We will be on the 12 then will change to route 6.”
I rubbed my hands together and said, “Route 6, yay.”
“Oh yeah, the story on the 6,” Belle stated as she laughed.
Scarlet’s voice came over the console, “The famous route 6.”
“What the hell are you all harping about?” Liberty asked as he pulled out of the parking spot to follow Bones and the other cycle.
“Story time,” Glory’s voice came on.
“You aren’t still planning that are you!” Fate exclaimed.
Belle turned in her seat and smirked. “Of course, she is.”
“I sure hope so,” I added with a nod as I gave Daisy a treat from the backpack.
Fate shook his head at me. “Glory is making a bigger deal out of this than she should.”
I shook my head at him. “No, you and Liberty are making a big deal out of this and I have to wonder why.”
“Yep,” Belle agreed. “Someone doth protest too much.”
“You do know that brothers can sue sisters, right?” Justice asked over the console.
“Oh, my God!” Glory exclaimed. “It’s the funniest crap that ever happened during our childhood. Why sue me?”
“Yeah,” I jumped in. “How bad can it be?”
Fate tilted his head at me as Daisy jumped from my lap to his. “Haven’t you ever been humiliated publicly?” he asked as he smoothed his hand over Daisy’s small head, petting her. “Like when you were younger maybe? I mean that shit stings for years.”
I halted and sucked in a deep breath.
Staring at me, Fate looked concerned as he reached over and took my hand. “Damn, I didn’t mean to upset you. What happened?”
I kept shaking my head.
Fate leaned in close to me and whispered to my ear so no one else could hear, “Is this the reason you didn’t...I mean why you wouldn’t agree to give me a chance?”
I nodded. Could I tell him? My hands shook. I wasn’t sure I could actually talk about this event. The real question was…could I tell it while everyone was listening?
“BB, you don’t have to talk about it,” Belle said. “Just let it go.”
Looking up at her, I said, “Maybe that’s why I haven't gotten over it.”
She looked nervous as she replied, “What they did was horrible.”
Fate squeezed my hand. “It’s okay, Briget. You don’t have to—”
I placed my finger to his lips. I hoped if I shared this fully with someone then maybe the memory of it would finally cease to haunt me. I almost didn’t give Fate a chance because it had tainted my attitude. “I just don’t want you to feel sorry for me, ok?”
Fate slowly shook his head.
I looked out the window as the scenery went by and it took me a minute before I spoke, “I told you a little about my upbringing. We were poor. I mean my mom did what she could and she was a great cook, so meals were good most of the time. We had old furniture and a small house that we could barely afford. Having second hand clothes and old shoes or cheap backpacks if I was lucky, but it never mattered much when I was in grade school. I never really cared about that stuff. I mean I was a kid and when it wasn’t school time, I could play at the park and sometimes, I had a quarter for ice cream. But when it came to junior high school then high school…That was when it mattered.” I glanced back over at Belle. She only knew a small bit of it. “I had a crush on a guy. I mean he wasn’t that popular, but he was good looking. Not a football player or anything. He and his friend Rich always seemed nice. I told my friend Debra one day at lunch that I wanted him to ask me to the prom.”
Silence came over both vehicles as they all listened.
I forced myself to keep going, “So, then a couple of days later, Dillion asked me and his best friend, Rich, stood next to him as he seemed to encourage him. I was so stunned when he asked that I could barely tell him yes. I really got excited. I had to get a dress, but of course I had no money and only two weeks till the day. So I was desperately looking for work. One of the girls I knew in school, Debra, a childhood friend of mine, told me about a cleaning job for one of the rich families in town. She was supportive because she was going with Rich at the time. So I went over there. The door opened after I knocked, and there was one of the cheerleaders from school. Chloe Straton. She had always been so stuck up that she had never talked to me. I almost bolted but she tugged me inside. She acted nice and had her housekeeper show me the work I needed to do. It was mostly laundry. That was fine with me, because I wouldn't be seeing anyone while being down in the basement area with just the washers and dryers. They also had dry cleaning there as some of the clothes these people had were really delicate and expensive. I worked there for about ten days and one time Chloe even came down there. I was washing her dresses that day. She said she'd come down to make sure I knew the dry cleaning instructions for the dresses. Especially one of them in particular as it was gonna be for her prom.” Tears filled my eyes as I paused.
After it fell silent for a full couple of minutes, Belle said, “It’s okay, BB. You don’t have to finish.”
“No, I do.” I let out a sigh and went on, “She actually talked to me and said most of the dresses were a couple months old, but she only cared about the new one. I told her that was why I was working for them, so I could buy a nice dress. She looked so sympathetic and offered me one of them. I was shocked, but she insisted, saying I could use the money I was making to buy some really cool shoes and maybe a small clutch. I gladly accepted it and was so happy. So on prom night, I went while wearing the dress. It was sapphire blue with sequins. My mom cried when she saw me in it, she said it matched my eyes. I wanted Dillion to meet me at the school cause honestly, I didn’t want him to see where I lived. I got there just when the dance started. I was so over the moon. My prom was gonna be the best night of my life so far. And can you believe it? Me and Dillion were voted Prom Queen and King. Me! The poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Queen of the prom. It was like a dream…” I again halted and swiped at a tear on my cheek.
Fate looked tense as he held my hand and said, “I have a feeling that your story is about to really piss me off.”
“Yes, it might.” I nodded and took a deep breath, then told them the rest of it, “We stood on stage in front of the whole school in our c-crowns. Chloe came up on the stage. I thought she was going to congratulate us. Oh, my God, was I wrong. So very wrong. She spoke into the microphone saying that I stole the dress I was wearing. She said that it belonged to her and she could prove it. And she added that I took two-hundred dollars from her room, all while working at her parent’s house. Then Dillion stepped forward and said that I had told him about stealing the money to buy shoes and jewelery for the prom. Rich backed him up, saying he heard me say that too. They were both in on it! They all had planned it from the start.” I was crying now. “M-my friend Debra who told me about the job was in on it t-too. Realizing that might have been what did me in and I started to cry instead of defending myself. She was let into the cool crowd along with Dillion and Rich it seemed for going along with it. They all laughed as they took pictures of me in my supposedly stolen prom dress as the cops were handcuffing me and reading me my rights… Chloe had told everyone earlier in the night to vote for me, so she could humiliate me utterly in the end. She said I should have known my place. That girls like me were never meant to be Prom Queens.”
Belle was crying now in the front seat.
“I hope they fry in hell,” Scarlet said over the console with a loud sniffle.
“They needed to be whipped within an inch of their lives,” Glory seethed.
“I always hoped karma had already got them,” Belle said.
Fate pulled me close and hugged me.
I told him, “That is why I said what I did about classes and how we weren't compatible.”
“We are, Briget.” Fate nodded at me. “Compatible, I mean. We have so much in common already. No one with any class would be that cruel.”
I laid my head onto his shoulder and sighed. “I hoped I would feel better and get over it, if I told someone the whole story.”
“Ok Glory, it's time for the Prank War story,” Fate announced.
Everything got quiet then Liberty admitted, “Actually, I was gonna turn the speaker off if she tried that crap.” He snorted in amusement.
“I think after hearing what my girl just told us,” Fate explained to Liberty. “She needs to see that stuck up guys sometimes get exactly what they deserve.”
“Hey, now!” Liberty argued. “That isn’t true. We weren’t stuck up.”
Fate laughed.” Fraid it is. You and I were good looking, selfish, sly sonsabitches at seventeen, brother.”
“Damn, that’s harsh, Fate,” Justice spoke up.
“No, it really isn’t,” Fate replied in disgust. “I feel like shit now. It made me remember when one girl asked me to go to a school dance with her and I laughed in her face.” He shrugged. “It wasn't because of her. It was because I knew I couldn’t dance, but now I’m thinking that she must have thought I was laughing at her.”
“I didn't mean to bring all this guilt,” I said.
“No, I think this is all therapeutic for maybe more than just you.” He lowered down in the seat as if shit was gonna rain down on him and said, “Go ahead, sis.”
I was smiling now at his dramatic attitude. “Come on, Fate. It can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, you can believe that it is,” Liberty said as he drove.
“Ok, you gotta understand something about these two,” Glory finally spoke up. “The infamous Fate and Liberty Twins…were wicked boys. The whole county knew it.”
I turned my head to stare at Fate.
He gave me a firm up and down nod of his head. “True.”
“They were pranksters since they were like seven years old,” Glory went on. “No one was safe, not even the cows.”
“Hey!” Liberty exclaimed. “I beg your pardon.”
“Two words,” Glory stated firmly. “ Cow tipping .”
Liberty shook his head as he groaned.
“Oh, my God,” Fate grumbled and groaned too while he covered his head with his arms.
Laughter echoed across the speaker.
“You see,” Glory began. “They made a bet with the football team in high school. But I digress. First, I need to tell you about what they did to me.”
“Damn it, Glory,” Liberty broke in. “We have apologized so many tim—”
“—And I have forgiven you, so quiet down, Lib.” Glory chuckled.
“Nooo,” Liberty countered. “I don’t think you have forgiven us, or you wouldn’t be telling—”
“—Shush,” Glory again cut him off. “This is my story, bro. Mind you, I am a few years younger than these two, but they never cared. Halloween time was the worst if you can believe it. They stole my candy or sabotaged it. Like with hot sauce tricks or some foul tasting crap. One year they tied my treat bag up on the flagpole at our ranch. I couldn’t get up there! And we won’t even talk about all the ways they tried to scare me. They did all the usual stuff the rest of the year, buckets of water above the door, hiding under my bed until I fell asleep then scaring the bejesus outta me. When I was just seven, eight and ten years old, mind you. I told on them numerous times. Dad would punish them with groundings or extra chores. One time, he even took a switch to their behinds, but it never did any good. Devilish is as devilish does…these two considered themselves to be the Prank Kings. From scaring me with horror masks late at night, setting scare crows up in my closet to putting plastic wrap on the toilet seat.”
Liberty couldn’t seem to help but snicker as he muttered, “Plastic wrap.”
“All true,” Justice piped up. “They were totally shameless. When they got bored, they even teased our hogs and chickens. Tying bells to their tails or scaring them with blow horns.” He tisked.
“Oh, shut the hell up, ya suit wearing tattle-tale,” Liberty griped in a disgusted tone. “Yeah, this upstanding soon to be attorney never told anyone what he charged us back then for his so-called legal service for the hush money.”
“Hey, that is confidential information!” Justice replied. “I cannot help it if I was more educated than you two scamps back then.”
“Scamps?” Fate asked with a laugh.
“Ok, ok,” Belle interjected. “Go on, Glory.” She then laughed at Liberty’s dramatic grimace.
I had to admit that I felt better now as I waited for what taught these two prankster brothers the ultimate lesson.