CHAPTER 14

I'm back at Gram's house. Lucky and I got arrested for "trespassing" in his father's club, and the police wouldn't let us go as long as our "parents" didn't come and get us.

Lucky took me to the club so we could both take a shower. We were stinking more than a herd of skunks. Sarah showed up, with news from my parents. They sent a letter with two plane tickets. They wanted my sister and I to go to Europe and spend the summer with them. Sarah was all excited, but I told her I couldn't go. She asked me if it was because I didn't want to leave Lucky for the summer, and yeah, that's part of it. Ok, ok, that's a BIG part of it, but not the only reason. Like I told Sarah, I want to catch the man that raped me, and I won't be able to do so from the other side of the world. She asked me if I had a suspect, and I told her we were following a few leads. I couldn't tell her Lucky and I thinks it's Mr. Murty. She said if I would go to Europe, mom and dad could help me get pass this, but I made her promise not to tell them. She agreed, as long as I would consider returning to Gram's.

Later this security guard Luke hired saw me and Lucky and called the police station. Gram was furious, and she took me home. We talked and I decided to try things here, now that I know Lucky won't leave town. I wanted to go with him, but Sarah said that if I left again, she would call the police. Lucky seemed OK with the fact that I wasn't going back with him, and I'm happy he isn't mad at me. I'll miss him terribly though. He says he will check in with me, and I really hope he does, because I don't want to go back to where we were before the rape, seeing each other once in a while when we bumped into each other at Kelly's and such. I'm sure it won't be like that, he is my best friend, and after all we have been through, he won't walk away from me.

My father paid my bail, asking me again to come home. But, like I told him, if I didn't want to live at home when it was just us, I sure as hell don't want to when she's there. He gave me crap. He said I ambushed my mother, he said she didn't deserve it. He had the guts to stand there and ask me if backing her up in a corner made me feel like a man. I asked him, "Did raping her made you feel like one?". He blew it, for every lecture he would ever give me. He said come home Lucky, and I told him "what are we going to do? Check into family therapy? There isn't enough money in the world!" He asked me if I was going to write off Lulu too, and, like I told him, I will find a way to see my sister, and he can't stop me.

Today was so much fun! I was sitting on the docks, looking at the water, when Lucky walked in. He had a hand behind his back, and he gave me the flower he stole from Ruby's window box. I thought it was so cute. Just so unexpected, you know, it's not really his style. Not that I knew of anyway. He told me he found something, and he offered for me to go see it, and there we were, in this abandoned boxcar, in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a dump, and I said I had my work cut out for me. I told him he would need furniture, and he told me he was broke. I remember, I said I would start with the ceiling, and I said I would paint it sky blue, and he said "what about day-glow purple?" I said "for the sky? Why?" He said "I don't know". But it was one of the color he found behind Newman's hardware store. He said he couldn't beat the price, but we had to take what they tossed, even if it ended up kinda bright. But like I told him, let's make this the brightest home on wheels.

He went to Kelly's to get something to drink and when he came back, I laughed. He said "Honey, I'm home" and I answered "I'm in here dear", like if we were an old married couple. I had painted a chair, a bed, a table, a cordless phone, an oven. I told him I wouldn't paint windows, because people could see in, and he said he was trying to save on his heating bill anyway. I was about to paint a refrigerator when Lucky mentioned the English exam and I freaked. He knew right away, as he got off the milk case he was sitting as soon as I said "Murty's class". He kept saying "Hey" over and over again, and he took the paint from my hand, saying it was OK.

He studied and helped me paint for a while, and I told him I was sorry if I kinda freaked earlier and he said we passed that stage a long time ago. He told me to go on class on Friday, to take my final, and to let him watch Murty. I asked him what he was doing tonight and he pretended to take a TV dinner out of his fridge, and to pop in his oven, and turn on his television. I said I wanted to toast to his new abode, his domicile and he said "My dump" and I laughed, because he didn't look so much of a dump anymore. We clung our cans together, and his brush full of paint landed on my hand. I threw some paint on his shirt, and he did the same. That's when, laughing, I passed my brush on his face, and he was so handsome, with his Oh so surprised face. He did the same and we started a paint fight, nearly wrecking our paint job.

I haven't had that much fun in months.

She also tensed up when I mentioned the English exam. I knew she was thinking about Murty so I told her to calm down, that everything was OK. I hate to see her like that, it is killing me, but there is nothing I can do to take her pain away, except being there for her. When she said she was sorry, I told her we passed that a long time ago. And we did. I don't know where we stand now, but she doesn't need to apologize for thinking about the worst night of her life and wanting to get it over with.

I have to be there for her Friday. It is our English exam, and she will tense up because Murty is the one watching our exam. If he comes to close to her, I will kill him with my are hands. I have been waiting for that moment ever since I found her in the park. I think killing him would take me to nirvana or something. Although, then I would really turn into my father. Besides, it's her call. She has to decide what to do and do it herself. He did it to HER, so SHE has to make the move. But I will watch. Boy, will I watch!