Cal helps me out of the car as the aches that consume my body cry for me to just stay still. He guides me to the front door of his house, and I’m so grateful that I didn’t have to return to the apartment and relive every part of the nightmares all over again. They’re going to be hard enough to forget without any in-your-face reminders.
That is if I ever forget.
Cal opens the front door and before I can even step inside, a figure comes barreling into the hallway, shouting hello, making me stumble back and cower.
“What the fuck, man?” Cal shouts as I try to control my trembling body, his arms going around me in comfort, protection, and to make me feel safe.
“Sorry, bro, I didn’t mean to scare you,” says a deep voice. I haven’t had the courage to look up yet, my mind going from panic to embarrassment at my reaction. “Is she okay?”
“Lucy, baby, look at me,” Cal says softly, his hands moving from around me and coming to move my hands away from my face. I let him because I know he just wants to be there for me, he doesn’t want to hurt me. “Just breathe, it’s okay, it’s just Sullivan. You remember Sullivan, right? Total dipshit from school?”
I let out a chuckle at the last part, even if it isn’t genuine.
“Hey,” Sullivan exclaims to my right, but I don’t look at him yet, I keep my eyes trained on Cal.
“You’re safe, and I promise that nothing will happen to you,” he whispers quietly, so that this Sullivan guy can’t hear him.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
My new mantra.
Come on, Lucy, you’re being silly. Michael isn’t here.
I allow my head to nod slightly and Cal smiles, placing a kiss on my forehead before letting go and taking my hand in his.
“Sullivan, what are you doing here?” Cal asks as Sullivan continues to look at the both of us in confusion.
“You said I could come here if I had an emergency. I had one, and here I am,” Sullivan says before turning his attention to me. “Sorry about scaring you. I guess you don’t remember me, huh?”
I try to recall him from school, but the only person I can think of is the annoying guy that used to like playing pranks on people but was really shit at them because he always got caught.
“The shitty prankster?” I say to Cal, using the nick-name that everyone gave Sullivan.
“That’s the one,” Cal confirms before laughing out loud. I allow the sound to flutter over me, through me, within me. The simple sound of laughter, something I have missed for so long.
“Oh yeah, you two are hilarious,” Sullivan says sarcastically.
“Well, you were pretty shit at pranks, to be fair,” Cal says before I can.
“Okay, okay, can we move past my shitty pranks and start again?” Sullivan says, holding his hand out for me to shake.
It takes every bit of strength for me to raise my hand and place it in his, but I do because this is normal. The life I have been living isn’t, and I desperately need some form of normalcy.
Sullivan’s hand shake is gentle, as if he knows I am ready to break apart at any moment. I hate it. I don’t want to be seen that way. So, I hold my head a little higher and squeeze his hand a little harder. He looks so different to when I last saw him in school. His hair is no longer down to his ears, he’s no longer short, and there doesn’t seem to be anything pudgy about him. No. Instead I am looking at a boy that turned into a man with shorter black locks that have a natural wave to them, he has a couple of inches on Cal, and a lean body that is shown by the tight vest top he’s wearing.
“Seriously though, Sul, what emergency did you have for you to come here?” Cal says as he puts his arm around my shoulders and walks us through the front door, moving Sullivan to the side.
“I had a Danielle emergency,” Sullivan replies, closing the door behind us as we move into the hallway.
“She kick you out?” Cal asks.
“Yup.”
“What did you do this time?”
“Uh… Well… She caught me with my dick in some other chick,” Sullivan says, and I instantly feel pissed off with the guy.
