The Garden of Eve 6

..chapter 6...

 

Strange Days

Eve stood in front of the full length mirror in her closet and said a silent prayer for an uneventful night. Finally her first high school formal dance was here and she just wasn’t as excited as she had once been. After her sister was committed to a mental hospital, her mother showed up at her house and someone not only broke into her house but also could have killed her and her friends. And the fact that it all happened in the same weekend, just a few days ago, didn’t help much. Every time she thought her life could get back on track with the normal and simple, it just seemed to get crazier. She almost couldn’t believe this was her life, especially here in her boring suburban town. But it seemed that trouble and drama would follow her to the ends of the earth. So she was starting to rethink even asking her parents about going to Cancun for spring break. With her luck anything could happen down there and she wasn’t sure she should risk it.

She stood there in her perfect champagne colored empire waist Greek goddess dress. Morgana decided when Eve picked out the dress that it would be fun for her to dress like a Greek goddess, because of the way the dress looked. Morgana was wearing a long black halter dress that fit tight and had high splits. They got dressed together and did each other’s hair and the guys were on their way over in the limo. With all that was going on, it felt strange to be trying to go out and have fun. Joan had insisted that Eve go, because sitting around the house worrying wasn’t going to change anything. To reflect her mood it had been raining almost non-stop since the day those men broke in.

“Evey you’ve been so boring all week,” Morgana said.

“Worried is more like it or try out of my mind,” she replied.

“Ok so your sister has become catatonic and non responsive, you house was broken into and our boyfriends were held at gunpoint. Haven’t you been through worse? Chica, we’re gonna get through all this mess together, I swear I would never abandon you,” Morgana told her coming over to the mirror. Eve turned to hug her best friend; with out her she wasn’t sure she would make it.

“Let us go so the mothers came take pictures,” Eve said and Morgana handed her the champagne colored clutch purse she was taking.

Ever since the break in Eve felt like a stranger in the house, like she’d caused the whole thing. The day after the Ferris’ came home they got a security system installed and Eve wasn’t home alone all week. Somehow she felt like it was her fault, like maybe her mother had hired those guys. Why else would those men break in and not take anything of value? There were no coincidences with Sanoe; she was looking for away to get Eve away from the Ferris’. The papers they were going through were things about Eve. Joan kept track of everything and she’d wanted to monitor Eve’s progress and show her how different she was now. Any paper with Eve’s name on it or anything about the Ferris’ was taken. To be safe they cancelled their credit cards and bank accounts and debit cards so that no one could steal from them. There would be no identity theft the Ferris’ were smart enough to never leave anything with their social security numbers outside of their safe. And the safe only held papers; they didn’t keep money in the house. Besides before this they had never had a break in. Eve wasn’t sure that she would be able to enjoy herself tonight, but she had to try, Joan was excited for her.

 

 

Morgana knew what this looked like and she knew that it was bad with everybody in the limo, but she’d had to hold it in all week. The dance was ok, considering she didn’t like school functions. People were in awe of her and her hot college boyfriend, but mostly it was the high split on her dress. Who would have thought that Morgana Wrecker who kept to herself would wear something like that? She loved to get attention sometimes, though Mario seemed to hate the attention she was getting. It was cute how protective he was and jealous. Right now she was on Mario’s lap making out with him; it reminded her of Eve and Neil at that party last week.

In the limo was: Eve and Neil, James, Rico, Ricky, Danny and their dates. Everybody thought it was funny to make fun of them, Morgana didn’t care. All she wanted was to have sex with Mario. With all the craziness surrounding the break in at Eve’s house, they hadn’t been able to do anything. Plus all of the Jay siblings were staying with their grandparents. At home she was still at war with her lying backstabbing sister. It hadn’t been a good week, it had in fact been very stressful, she needed to release some stress. And there was Eve and her drama with her crazy sister, who Morgana had actually seen and she just stared at the wall. The whole thing was creepy and weird and she knew it was really getting to Eve. She was thankful that in just a few days school would be over for the rest of the year. Over the break she planned on spending a gross amount of time with her boyfriend.

When they got to the party at Leo Pope’s house, all she could think about was finding a room to be alone in. Leo was a friend of Neil’s from the football team; Morgana had never really paid him much attention. But he had a big house parentless and it was supposed to be the hottest party after formal. It was ok for a high school party, she decided as they walked around. Morgana didn’t want to be social or really talk to people at all, she was horny. Mario offered to get her a drink, of course high school party meant under aged drinking. Why didn’t he know that she just wanted him and not a drink? For one thing she didn’t like alcohol and after the last party she knew a drunken Mario was very unsexy. She was starting to feel crazy; she’d never wanted to have sex this bad before.

“What’s wrong?” Mario whispered in her ear, she just stared at him for a minute.

“You didn’t take my hint in the limo? I’m horny,” she said and he laughed.

“Really? I would never have guessed,” he said pulling her to him so she could feel that he wanted her too. “Wanna take a walk upstairs or something?” He asked and she nodded, of course she did.

After peeking in two other rooms that were occupied, they were successful the third time. Immediately they were heading towards the bed and Morgana was undoing his pants and had already slipped her panties off before they left the dance. Once in the bed she was on top of him and they were kissing. Morgana loved to be in control when it came to sex and she knew Mario liked her to get on top. But this time he rolled her over and penned her on the bed. She stared up at him; even in the dark she could see the hunger in his eyes. He pushed her dress up and spread her legs all while holding her hands down above her head. At first he just watched her and she tried to get away, he was torturing her.

“Mario, get in me now,” she ordered and he laughed.

“Mo, I think you’ve become a sex addict,” he said and she glared at him. He was still holding her hands down and she couldn’t get free.

“Yeah I may be, you never complained before,” she said wrapping her legs around his waist. She pulled him closer to her and he laughed.

“I’m starting to feel like you just want me for sex,” he said.

“I love you Mario Jay, but if you don’t do me now I will throw you down myself,” she said and he laughed.

“I love you too Mo,” he said finally letting her hands go. As soon as he did she pulled him down and he gave her what she wanted.

 

 

“Are you ok?” Neil asked Eve, she’d been so quiet all night and he was starting to worry. They were alone in one of the many rooms in the Pope house.

“Just emotionally drained,” she told him. The look on her face suggested it was more then just that, but he wasn’t going to pry.

“Did you even enjoy your first formal?” He asked her, even though he had a feeling that she didn’t even though he tried.

“I liked being with you, I don’t know I really tried but my head was elsewhere,” she said and he pulled her closer to him.

“Well we can try again next year,” he said and he saw her smile. “Did I tell you how amazing you look?”

“Yeah but I love to hear it,” she said.

“You look beautiful, I love you so much,” he said.

“I love you too, so where are we sleeping tonight?” She asked and he shrugged, Leo said they could stay there, but he didn’t know if he wanted to.

“We could go stay at a hotel,” he suggested.

“Why? Are you trying to get me alone?” Eve asked and he laughed.

“Yeah I do want you all to myself; we haven’t gotten to be alone for awhile. Plus I don’t even know what’s going to happen for the holiday with everything that’s going on,” he said. Ever since everybody moved out his house Mimi was relentlessly trying to get them all to come back, his grandparents didn’t want her near their house. And very conveniently his father was out of town on business.

“If you want to we can,” she said. He’d pretty much known she’d do whatever he wanted to, usually she did.

“Or we could just go back to my grandparents’ house, they love you and as long as we aren’t having making love everything will be fine,” he said. Even though he wanted to have make love to her, he figured she didn’t and at his grandparents’ house the temptation would be taken away. It would be very disrespectful to make love in their house, especially since he knew how they felt about premarital sex.

“What if I want you?” She asked surprising him; lately she wasn’t in the mood for much of anything. Which of course he understood, he couldn’t forget what happened only a few days ago. And he kept thanking God that all of them made it out alive; he’d never been in a situation where someone pointed a gun at him.

“Seriously? If you do I won’t stop you from what you want, but if not I totally understand that you’re stressed out,” he said.

“I am stressed, that’s why I need to relieve it and I know you need to let it out too,” she replied.

Before he could say anything she climbed on top of him and he lay back as they kissed. Finally his mind was starting to clear from the medication induced haze and he could really feel life again. Maybe it was Eve that helped him feel alive, ever since he first saw her, his life was in transition. It was like she woke him up from a dream, he felt stupid for giving it so much thought. These days his mind was everywhere and he was more scatter brained then he had ever been before. Soon he knew he would have to go home and at least try to talk to his mother, there was something wrong. And even if he was mad at her he couldn’t turn his back on her completely. But for right now he really wanted to focus on Eve, he couldn’t think of anything more important at that moment.

 

 

When he rolled over and opened his eyes he saw that he wasn’t alone. It was sometime in the afternoon, but he didn’t know what time it was exactly. After a very intense night with Morgana, he’d come home sometime that morning and was exhausted. All he wanted to do was sleep the rest of the day, but that apparently wasn’t going to be possible. His grandmother was sitting in a chair watching him, and he knew she wanted something and it probably wasn’t good. He tried to think of something he might have done, but there wasn’t anything that came to mind. Was it because he and Neil stayed out all night? Living in a house with rules would be a lot to get use to and that was part of the reason he wanted his own place. That way he never had to worry about other people’s rules or his crazy mother getting in his business.

“Mario,” she said as he sat up yawning. “Are you having intercourse with Morgana?” She asked and he felt like all of time stopped, did she really just ask that?

“Why do you ask?” He was still stunned that she’d ask that, but he wanted to know why.

“I was going to do some laundry and I picked up your pants off the floor and found these,” she said holding up a black lace pair of panties.

“Oh,” he said, those were definitely Morgana’s. Before they left the dance his horny girlfriend slipped those into his pocket to let him know she wanted him.

“These do belong to her right? Or is there another girl?” Grandma Betty asked, he just stared at her a minute. Did she just ask if he was messing around with other girls? What was going on here?

“They do belong to Morgana and we do um have sex,” he said feeling quite embarrassed. Later he planned on calling Morgana to tell her how her sex addiction got him in trouble because he knew a lecture was coming.

“Mario she’s 16 years old,” Grandma Betty said.

“Yeah I know I’m older but it’s not like she hadn’t done it before,” he said, big mistake. The look she gave him was both shock and disapproval. “Morgana doesn’t sleep around I’m just saying that I wasn’t her first,” he said. In his attempt to make Morgana not sound like a s**t he felt like he might have done more damage.

“You speak like none of this matters much to you,” she said.

“Gram, I know you don’t think we should have sex before we’re married, but it’s not that big of a deal. We do love each other and we’re in a monogamous relationship and we use protection,” he told her. None of it sounded as good as it almost had in his head.

“I’m happy that you believe that you love this girl and that you are being safe, but are you sure this is wise? You will be 20 years old in a few weeks and she’s a junior in high school. Do her parents know that you are 3 years older then her and engaging in things that should only be between a man and his wife?” There was this serious and concerned look on her face as she said this. He knew she meant well but he didn’t share all her values or beliefs.

“The Wreckers believe in giving their children freedom to learn from their mistakes and life experience. They know how old I am and I’m pretty sure they don’t think all we do is hold hands,” he said. Why was she talking to him about this anyway? Damien was the one who had a baby on the way, was it suddenly ok to have sex if you were engaged? Though Mario knew for a fact that Damien had been having sex with Juliet years before he even thought about marrying her and she wasn’t the only one.

“I can’t see how a mother would be ok with her young daughter engaging in sexual intercourse with a young man 3 years older than her. But I will not judge her parenting style, you are my responsibility. I would just rather you wait until you are married so that it is meaningful. Take pleasure in life and love not in sexual activity,” she said. Mario was trying to hold back from saying all the things he was thinking.

Christianna was now engaged but did Grandma Betty think that Chris was a virgin? That was actually laughable, though she acted like the most mature Chris had once been a hard partier in school. Molly was no saint either even though she was now pretending to practice celibacy. And then there was the golden boy, Neil was just as bad even though he was Mr. Morals and values. What would Grandma say if she knew he had sex with Eve in a room full of people at a party? Mario knew he liked sex and no matter what he wasn’t going to stop having it. In the future when Morgana felt like teasing him, he would have to make sure he didn’t leave her panties lying around. Good thing Grandma didn’t look in his car, he was pretty sure there might be a pair there and a few condom wrappers.

He always knew he wouldn’t be the type of person that saved themselves for marriage, how could you know sex was good if you only had it with one person? Wouldn’t you wonder and possibly cheat? So by experimenting and having multiple partners he was practicing for marriage, because he would already know what was out there and it would be easier to know what he wanted. And though he didn’t want to say it out loud but he didn’t want anybody but Morgana and that was dangerous for him. It meant that maybe he wanted to marry her one day, but she was still so young and so was he. This seemed to be in Neil territory, he was the type to marry his high school sweetheart. That just wasn’t Mario’s style, even if the only girl he ever loved happened to be the one he was with.

“Gram, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you I won’t have sex with her. I know that’s what you want, but we like being together. It’s not the only reason we’re together, we do other stuff,” he said. “I know you worry but I’m not the only one in this house having sex in case you hadn’t noticed,” he said. The look on her face suggested she was shocked, but he wasn’t sure if it was because of what he said or that she considered this as talking back to her.

“What are you saying? Your siblings are all acting immorally as well?” She asked and he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. Was she serious?

“Juliet didn’t get pregnant by magic,” he said trying not to laugh too hard.

“Yes I do know that, but are you trying hint that Christianna, Molly and Cornelius are engaging in premarital sex?” She asked and he couldn’t stop laughing, was this just a very amusing dream? Before he could respond, though he figured his laughter had to clue her in, there was a knock on the door. And Neil peeked his head in, it only made Mario laugh even harder.

“What’s going on?” He asked looking from Grandma Betty to Mario.

“Sit down Cornelius,” she ordered and of course he didn’t object.

“Now you can ask him about it,” Mario said when his brother sat next to him on the bed.

“Cornelius, your brother and I were discussing his sexual relationship with Morgana,” she said pausing for a second. Neil looked from her to Mario who nodded, of course he couldn’t believe they would be talking about that and he knew he too was in trouble now. “Tell me are you having sexual intercourse with Eve?”

“Yes ma’am, I am,” he said refusing to look her in the eyes. Golden boy Neil was no doubt embarrassed and probably felt ashamed. But Mario saw no reason to be ashamed of being human and it wasn’t anybody else’s business.

“I’m surprised that you would engage in such activities,” she said.

“Gram, I know you believe it’s wrong and that some people at church believe that too, but it’s not wrong for me. I love Eve, we’ve discussed it and it was what we wanted to do,” Neil told her and she shook her head.

“You are 16 Cornelius you do not know what you want; you think that momentary pleasure means something. And you don’t know that you love her, you are both young and you care for each other, but you do not know what love is,” she said. By this point Mario had enough, he knew she would make his brother feel guilty and ashamed.

“Gram, I’m sorry but you have no right to say what we should or shouldn’t be doing. I’m sure you have good intentions but we have the right to live our lives and do what we want as long as nobody’s getting hurt. And you really can’t say that we don’t know about love, there are so many things that you don’t know about. You are too narrow minded and stuck in some outdated world to understand us,” Mario said. Both of them stared at him, but Neil smiled.

“I would appreciate in the future if you plan on staying here that your girlfriend’s panties stay on and out of your room,” Grandma Betty said stiffly as she left the room. As she headed out she dropped the panties on the dresser with a disgusted look on her face.

“What was that all about?” Neil asked when they were alone.

“Mo left her panties in my pocket and Gram found them,” Mario said getting up to retrieve them. “I can’t help it if my girlfriend is a horny freak and felt like rubbing her vagina against me in the limo,” he said laughing.

“You really didn’t need to share that information,” Neil said.

“Last week you had sex with Eve at a party where a lot of people saw you, so I don’t wanna hear it. Even I’ve never done that, we just made out in the limo, she likes to tease,” he said shrugging.

“Guess I know where you disappeared to last night,” Neil said.

“Yeah, I needed to get rid of some stress,” Mario replied. “I’m sure you were off doing the same, putting a smile on Eve’s face for the first time in a week. Everybody’s been so crazy since that break in,” he said.

Truthfully he tried not to think too much about it, that gun had been so close to his face and when the guy pointed it towards Neil he’d almost done something. Nobody messed with his family and got away with it. His little brother was also his best friend and there was no way he would let anybody hurt him. And the girls were upstairs at the time, he was happy they hadn’t seen anything. He knew that Neil was a little traumatized by the whole thing. This wasn’t something he would have ever expected to happen to him; now that it had he didn’t want any moments in life to be wasted. Didn’t Corrina’s death teach them that any day could be your last? When Neil had gone down the hall that day, he didn’t need to say anything, Mario knew something was wrong. After Neil started going down the stairs, he got out of bed, put his pants on and told Morgana to go in Eve’s room and call the police.

All week as he took his finals he tried to stay focused. And though he didn’t really want to go to a high school dance, he knew Morgana wanted to go even if she refused to admit it. The problem was that he’d gone to that school and the teachers just looked at him surprised that he would be there with her. They were different people and she wasn’t the girl people expected him to be with. But Morgana was the girl he’d fallen in love with and he would do anything for her. He felt bad that she was having problems with her sister because of him, but he wasn’t going to let Tessa come between them. At school she was acting differently towards him, like he was the problem. It was just weird because he never thought Tessa had really liked him all like that. Her jealousy of her little sister disgusted him, why would she tell lies to hurt Morgana like that? Was it so hard to believe that he could love her? Tessa knew that he use to hook up with different girls, but wasn’t she the one who wanted to go out with him? So if she thought that he would be faithful to her, why couldn’t she believe that he would be faithful to her sister? He didn’t care that Morgana was younger than him, he just cared about her.

“I feel the need to have a chat with Miss Wrecker, since I’ll never get any rest here, wanna come? I’m willing to bet her and Eve are together,” Mario said and Neil shook his head.

“I was actually coming to tell you that I’m going to go check on Mimi,” Neil said.

“Why would you do that?” Mario was still angry with their mother because of what she said to Morgana and the things she’d done to their family. He was surprised that Neil would want to go over there; she wasn’t nice to Eve either.

“Cause no matter what she’s always going to be our mother and I figure maybe I can talk her into getting some help,” Neil told him. “Dad isn’t going to do anything but let her drag us all down, maybe if she checked herself into a hospital she can get back to normal. I know she’s not a genuinely bad person despite the things she’s done, but even you have to admit that this recent stuff is too crazy even for Mimi,” he went on. Mario didn’t want to admit it, but Neil had a point.

“I can’t do it right now, but I get what you’re saying. I’m gonna need some time before I can deal with her again,” Mario said and Neil nodded. He knew he should probably go, but for now he just needed to focus on his life. His grandparents were great but it was time for him to go out on his own, grandma would no doubt start acting weird towards him now. But she wasn’t right about the things she said and he didn’t want to disrespect her, and at the same time he had to do his own thing.

 

 

Neil knew his mother was home because he had called her, she was happy that he wanted to talk to her. He hoped that some of the issues with everything going on would be resolved. Then maybe everybody could move home, especially since he knew things were about to get very awkward with the grandparents. In his mind there was nothing wrong with making love to someone that he knew he loved and could see himself with for the rest of his life. When he thought about his relationship with Eve he was thinking of it in terms of forever. He was pretty sure that there would never be another girl that he loved as much as he loved her. So what if they were 16, that didn’t make their love any less real. The only problem he ever had with church was that sometimes older people thought they knew what they were talking about and they were wrong.

What brought him home to see Mimi was Corrina and that whole break in thing. If Mimi died and he never got to try to help her then he knew it would tare him and his siblings apart. They all loved Mimi in their own way and he knew she loved them. She had to love them right? They were her children and she was just confused as to what was best for everybody. Maybe it was because she lost her family and then her daughter that she was afraid to get too attached. And she was having problems with her marriage; a blind man could see that. Neil never remembered a time when his parents were affectionate. But they did have to at least care about each other if they had six children together, right? He really hoped so; why else would anybody stay together for almost 30 years? Even though they didn’t exactly live together or with their children, trying to figure it all out gave him a head ache.

When he pulled up in front of the house there was an unfamiliar car parked there, but he didn’t think much of it. Then he walked through the door, happy to be home. He walked back to the kitchen, where Mimi often was these days. In the kitchen was where he found the owner of the car and though Mimi smiled at him, he wanted to leave. Sitting at the table with her enjoying lunch and laughing was Libby. Why had he thought this was a good idea? Ever since he’d hooked up with her at that party he made it a point to pretend Libby didn’t exist. Which of course he couldn’t do when she was in the kitchen at his house with is mother.  Deciding to come over here had been a hard thing for him considering the things she’d done. Chris and Juliet were both still very upset and Damien never wanted to see her again.

“Cornelius, look who came to join us,” Mimi said excitedly like nothing was wrong. Did she forget that he had a girlfriend, who she had insulted?

“Hi,” Libby said smiling at him.

“Mother, might I have a private word with you?” He asked trying to hold back his anger, so much for doing a good deed.

“Sure dear, Libby would you excuse us?” Mimi said and Libby simply nodded.

“What is she doing here?” Neil asked when they were in the hall alone.

“Cornelius I know that you and Libby have always liked each other, she’s so perfect for you,” Mimi said smiling brightly. “It would be so amazing if you two got married once you graduate from high school,” she said.

“Did you forget about Eve?” He asked trying to recover from the shock of what she’d just said.

“Oh that girl you had over here for dinner? I thought she was nice but Libby said she’s terrible and sleeps around with all the boys at school. And I did look into her background, a foster child and she’s done awful things. Cornelius you’re too good for that trash, she wants you for your money. Libby comes from a good family, it’s time you leave that little w***e alone,” she said calmly as his rage was building.

“This was a mistake,” he said turning away from her. Maybe she really was beyond his reach, or maybe the others were right and it was just an act to get attention.

“Cornelius, you are only 16 years old, I can have the police pick you up as a runaway. That might tarnish your good record, is this girl really worth it? You have such great potential and you can do anything, but you want to be with a teenage prostitute? Where are the morals and values your grandparents and the church instilled in you?” The more she spoke the more he wanted to break something.

Mimi kept talking as he forced himself to walk away. She made threats and she said things about everybody he loved. He wasn’t going to let her bait him; he wasn’t going to blow up at her. Even though she was saying that Aiden tried to rape her and that she knew Juliet was cheating on Damien. She said that she was going to report Mario for having sex with a minor. And as he made it to the door, he was finally able to block her out. As he drove away he thought of how both he and Mario could have been killed that week and Mimi didn’t care. He pretended not to know that when Grandma Betty called to tell her what happened, that she’d said they deserved it for lying down with trash. Despite the things she said and did he tried to forgive her and he tried not to have hate in his heart for her. He tried to convince himself that she was still just broken up about Corrina, but he knew somewhere inside that she really just didn’t care. Mimi wasn’t a nice person on the inside; she was always cold towards her children when they were young. And now she wanted to mess with their lives like they were her toys. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way, Mimi wasn’t the one to confront about this because she would never understand or see sense. No, Gordon Jay had let her do this to them, he let this go on for way too long. It was time that he had a real talk with his father.

 

 

“Can you believe I went to a formal dance?” Eve was asking her sister, who just stared pass her at the window. “We had fun; do you remember you met Neil my boyfriend?” Of course Claira still didn’t respond, she’d been like this for days now.

Everyday Eve came to see her sister; nothing had changed at all really. On Saturday after she’d had her break down she just stopped talking. When Cathy had the paramedics come get her she’d start screaming and fighting at first. At the hospital they had to give her a sedative to calm her down because she was still fighting. Monday when Eve came afterschool she’d brought over pictures she had of the two of them and some clothes that she knew Claira would fit. But Claira was sitting on the bed just staring at the window. Tuesday Eve brought over books, magazines and an activity book so Claira wouldn’t be bored. She told her about everything that was going on and what she’d been up to since they were separated. Still Claira said nothing and she barely moved. Wednesday was when the doctors told Eve that because of all the trauma Claira had been though that she just needed time to recharge. Thursday Eve brought over Claira’s favorite flowers, which she actually did look at for a second. Friday Eve could only visit briefly because she had to get ready for the dance, Joan had let her just go to school for a half day. And now it was Saturday and still nothing had changed, but Eve wasn’t going to give up.

She told her sister that once she got better that Joan had agreed to let her come live with them. What she hoped was that if Claira knew that they wouldn’t have to be apart anymore, then maybe it would help her recover. So far nothing was getting through to her and she just seemed locked up inside her own head. Eve felt guilty most of the time, if she’d gone with her then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But Joan told her how illogical that was; because it was going to happen no matter what. And it was better that Eve had been there with Claira so that she could get her some help. In her heart Eve knew it was true, but she still felt helpless and she felt like it was her fault. On the bright side she hadn’t seen or heard from her mother since she had decided to drop by. Cathy had alerted the local police that Sanoe was dangerous and she might try something.

“Clair, I know you’re probably still mad at me, but I can’t go back to that life we had. I’m happy here and I know that you could be happy here too once you get better. Joan and Will are amazing and they really do love me. And I know we don’t usually like to have friends, but I do have great friends here. Granted that I don’t have many, but they are really good people. I know you think I am a bad judge of character, and I admit that sometimes I am, but Neil is amazing. It was a long time before we ever even had sex, you should be proud of me. He has some problems though like his family, wow you wouldn’t believe how big his house is. His parents like let them run their own lives and are basically never home. The love he and his siblings have for each other remind me of us. You and I have always been like twins. Poor Neil lost his twin sister; she died 3 years ago in a drowning accident. Their mother is insane though, she needs to be here way more than you do.

“Did I tell you I’m like an avid church goer now? Neil’s really involved in his church, his whole family is really. Morgana and I go with them every week, at first it was weird but I like it. Don’t worry I won’t make you go when you come live with us, we can even share me room. You can pick which bed you want and you can wear any of my clothes. I don’t really do make up these days, but I’m sure Joan will get you whatever you need. They kind of spoil me and give me what I want and won’t let me like get a part time job or anything. They say I should focus on school and being a teenager and that there’s plenty of time for me to work when I’m older. Joan told me that because I’m kind of her kid that I could go to college where she teaches for free. I think they just want to keep me close, we’ve really become a family. And it will be perfect once you’re there with me too,” Eve said. She felt like if she just kept talking that something would happen.

“Well, I have to go now, but I will be back after church tomorrow, I promise,” she said as he got up. This time when she hugged her sister, Claira actually hugged her back. “I knew it, you’re already getting better,” Eve whispered to her. “Don’t forget that I always loved you, you’re my sister and that will never change,” she told her. Though she tried hard not to cry, tears filled her eyes. But she didn’t want to let Claira see her cry. As she turned back after walked out the room and the nurse locked the door behind her she noticed that Claira was watching her. This had to be a sign, but she wasn’t sure of what.

 

 

“Should I even come to church tomorrow?” Morgana asked Mario who was lying in her bed.

“They don’t own the church,” he replied. He’d just told her about his discussion with his grandmother and she was annoyed.

“Your grandparents think I’m a s**t and it doesn’t bother you?” She asked and he got up from her bed and pulled her away from her closet. When he’d come over she was ironically picking out what she was going to wear to church the next day, now she didn’t really want to go.

“Mo, you aren’t a s**t and I really don’t care what other people think. Remember you don’t care either? Grandma Betty doesn’t think you are a s**t, she just doesn’t think we should have sex and doesn’t understand why your panties were in my pocket,” he told her. None of what he said made her feel any better.

“I am a s**t,” she said flopping down on her bed. “Only a s****y girl would take her panties off and put them in your pocket at a dance,” she sighed.

“It was pretty hot, I’m not complaining about it,” he said and she rolled her eyes.

“Couldn’t you have lied to her about it?” She asked, but she really wasn’t sure why she cared so much. Maybe it was because she was sick of everybody thinking that the only reason they were together was sex.

“What could I say? Your panties were in my pocket, there’s no way to lie about that one. Besides I don’t care if she knows that I have sex, it’s none of her business and I’m not ashamed of wanting to be with you,” he said. Why did he have to be sweet when she wanted to be angry?

“You really told her that you love me?” She asked feeling gross and girly, but when he nodded she kissed him. It was nice to know that he loved her enough to stand up to his crazy mom and his strict religious grandparents for her.

“Morgana you are the only girl I’ve ever loved and I really would do anything for you. I really need my own place though cause I’m not dealing with anymore drama,” he said. She really hoped he could get his own apartment so she could spend the night with him again. With the exception of Eve’s house last weekend, they hadn’t been able to do that Since Mimi came back.

“Then I could be alone with you and do whatever I want with you,” she said crawling onto his lap. It seemed like she was always on top of him these days even if they were just talking, she liked it and she knew he did.

“No worrying about who might walk in on us and no more drama,” he said as he slipped his arms around her waist. They start kissing, she loved to kiss him, and of course she couldn’t have sex with him here with her family home. Though she wasn’t sure she’d ever be a free spirited enough parent to let her daughter have a guy in her room with the door closed.

“Does this ever stop?” Tessa’s voice seemed to echo in the room when she came busting in.

“Get out Tes,” she said without even turning to look at her sister. They weren’t exactly on speaking terms and she just wasn’t in the mood for this.

“You are disrespectful enough to have sex while our parents are downstairs? I know he’s taken away your self-respect, but I thought you’d at least respect our parents,” Tessa said.

“If you respected your sister then maybe you would knock,” Mario said.

“I don’t even want to talk to you,” Tessa said angrily. “You lie to my sister and turn her against me, you don’t love her,” she glared at him.

“Tessa, if you love me then you will stay out of my business. I don’t know when you became such a hater, but it’s unattractive on you,” Morgana said calmly. She was NOT going to get mad, because that was exactly what Tessa wanted.

“Because I love you I’m telling you that he’s using you,” she replied. Why did she have to make it so hard for Morgana to not get up and strangle her?

“What’s going on?” Ana their mother asked when she came in.

“Your daughter is having sex with her boyfriend,” Tessa said.

“More like Tessa is jealous and a hater,” Morgana said.

“Tessa, Morgana clearly isn’t having sex with Mario at the moment because they still have clothes on,” Ana said. Though she did raise her eyebrow at the fact that Morgana was still on Mario’s lap.

“Yeah because I got here just in time, why do you let your 16 year old daughter have sex with a guy that’s almost 20? He’s just using her for sex,” Tessa said. Mario shook his head and lay back on the bed closing his eyes, Morgana got up and went to the door.

“Look Tessa I’m sick to death of this, leave me alone. If you can’t get over the fact that he will never want you then don’t talk to me. I love you because you are my sister and you use to be my friend, but I’m done. Mario and I are going to be together and we love each other. Sorry that you think I’m not worthy of being loved,” she said and both her mother and sister looked surprised.

“Morgana, I didn’t mean it like that,” Tessa said looking like she might cry.

“Well this is way too much drama for me,” Ana said trying to lighten the mood. “Sweetie, you go spend time with Mario and Tes and I will have a little talk,” she said pulling Tessa out of the room. She then closed the door and that was clearly to be the end of it. Ana wasn’t one that liked to deal with fights between her daughters or confrontations she liked to try to keep things simple and drama free.

“Come here,” Mario called to Morgana and she went to lay with him. “I hate that you’re having problems with your sister because of me,” he told her.

“It’s not your fault,” she said closing her eyes.

“It kind of is,” he sighed. “There’s something I should tell you that I really don’t want to,” he said.

“Oh God, you had sex with my sister didn’t you?” She asked sitting up, he wouldn’t look at her. “So you lied to me?”

“No, I really never did anything with her, I told you I really just thought she was stuck up and annoying. But we hung out once and she did some stuff to try to get my attention, stuff she wouldn’t want me to tell you about. That’s why I think she wants us to break up, cause she’s embarrassed,” he said.

“Mario Lorenzo Jay you better get to talking,” she ordered.

“Fine, it was at a friend of mine’s apartment, there were a few people there. She wanted me and to try to get me to pay her attention she start making out with a girl friend of hers,” he said and she stared at him. “Ok not just making out, they kind of hooked up,” he told her.

“Are you serious?” Morgana asked, he nodded, and she was in shock. Miss Priss hooked up with a girl? All to get a guy’s attention? And because Mario still didn’t want her she wanted to ruin Morgana’s relationship? Now she was really pissed at her sister, she wanted to kill her.

“Sadly I am, I admit I did watch but after that it made me like her even less,” he said. “I really just thought she was kind of trashy, a lot of college girls do experiment.”

“I just can’t believe she’d try to come between us just because she did something skanky,” she said. Just jealousy she could handle because that would go away, but Tessa wanted her to be miserable because she’d done something dumb.

“Just forget it, ok? I’m not going anywhere, you and I are made for each other,” he said. That made her switch from wanting to kill her sister, to wanting to ask him exactly what he meant by that.

“Ya know your gross brother tells Eve that they’re going to be together forever,” she said matter of factly.

“Mo, I don’t know how you messed with all those guys’ heads, they must have been dumb,” he said and she stared at him. “I can always see right through you, I know what you’re trying to ask me, so don’t play games and just ask me,” he told her.

“Fine, what do you mean by we are meant for each other?” Morgana asked trying not to smile, she loved that he knew her so well.

“Come a little closer and I’ll tell you,” he said and she got back on top of him. “Even though we aren’t all about that stupid emotion stuff,” he paused locking his fingers with hers. “I couldn’t see myself loving anybody else, just you, always,” he said.

It took a minute for it to all sink in, was he really saying this? Back the night they first start hanging out when they were alone on Eve’s front porch, Morgana kissed him. She’d told him it was so she could really get closure from her childhood crush on him. But truthfully she’d forgotten about the crush until she’d seen him that night. After kissing him she got up and went around the back to join the others. From the moment their lips touched, she knew she actually felt something. He had followed her and stopped her before she got around back and kissed her. While Eve and Neil were pretending not to be messing around, she and Mario had been making out. Until now she wasn’t willing to accept that she knew then that this thing with him felt right. In fact it felt more than just right, so maybe they were meant to be. So what if they were still young and she was still in high school, it had to be possible for them to be those forever type of people.

“I feel the same way,” she whispered and he pulled her down to kiss her. This was the most perfect thing ever in her life.

 

 

“Come on I need to lie down,” Eve said taking his hand and leading him up to her room. After what happened the other day she didn’t like being home alone, with good reason. So when Joan and Will were going to not go out to dinner with their friends because of her, Eve called Neil over. Though she had a feeling that he probably didn’t want to be alone with her there either, but she did make sure to active the security system.

“I’m pretty tired too, it has been a stressful day,” he said when they were in her room. Almost immediately they were cuddling in her bed.

“Tell me what happened,” she said.

“Gram found Morgana’s panties in Mario’s pocket and she quizzed him about his sex life and she asked about ours. She also decided that I couldn’t possibly love you and tried really hard to make me feel bad and Mario told her off. Then I went home,” he said closing his eyes.

“What did she do now?” Eve asked knowing that even though Neil had good intentions, that his mother didn’t deserve him and would never appreciate him.

“She had Libby over for lunch and told be that I need to be with her. I did good though because I wanted to punch a hole in a wall or throw something at her, I just walked away. But she wouldn’t quit and said stuff about everybody, I’m not a violent person you know, but I could have hurt her. After that I called my dad and he said he would take care of it,” he told her. She knew he was still upset with his dad for doing nothing while their family was a mess.

“Stay with me tonight,” Eve whispered and he opened one of his eyes.

“Joan wouldn’t mind that?” He asked and she shrugged, for parents Joan and Will were pretty cool and let her do what she wanted.

How much more trouble could she get into anyway? She’d pretty much already done almost every bad thing imaginable, the only thing left would be for her to get pregnant. Which thankfully she wasn’t and was now getting her birth control in the form of a shot and they still used condoms very time, now. The reason she wanted him to stay wasn’t because she wanted sex though, they did that last night. It was just because she liked waking up in his arms and she felt safer that way. Any day now Sanoe would be making another appearance and she wanted to be prepared. If her mother succeeded in kidnapping her she wanted to spend every second she could with the people that she loved that loved her back. Once before Sanoe had kidnapped her and Claira, their foster kid records just said they ran away but that wasn’t true. They just didn’t want to get their mother in trouble; ironically she just got them in twice as much trouble. This was one time she really just wanted her mother to go away and never come back. The only thing Sanoe De Marco was good for was trouble and she would never change because she didn’t want to.

“I could ask, I just wanna be with you,” she told him. There was no reason to tell him the other stuff, it would just worry him and he had enough issues.

“If the parents say yes then I will stay,” he said. “So how was Claira today?”

“She’s doing a lot better, she hugged me when I left and usually she doesn’t acknowledge me at all. I try to tell her like everything going in my life to try to cheer her up, when she gets out she’s coming to stay here,” she told him.

“I’m sure that will be good for her,” he said.

Eve really hoped that her sister would get better and that once she was better, that she wouldn’t go back to what she was doing. Their mother never learned from her mistakes and neither did Claira. It seemed to be something genetically wrong with the two of them; Eve was always most like her dad. Who she had a phone called scheduled with on Christmas Eve. She’d been trying to mentally prepare for having a conversation with him, but there was no way to really plan this out. What she hoped was that he’d gotten the package that she sent him. Just like her father she had a love for art, so she’d sent him a few drawing and paintings she’d done and some pictures. If it didn’t get to him she wouldn’t get it back because Cathy advised her not to put a return address.

“I love you, let’s go to sleep for a little while,” Eve said.

“Good idea, you tired me out last night,” he said kissing her forehead. She loved simple times like this and was desperate for things to stay this way, at least for the moment she could have peace even if it didn’t last.

 

 

“Lover boy needs to hurry his butt up,” Morgana was saying Monday after school.

“He’s probably getting dressed,” Eve said. They were sitting on the stairs in the main hallway by the door waiting for Neil to drive them home. The three of them had to stay after school for various reasons and they were ready to go.

“What you didn’t want to go have sex on the weight bench again?” Morgana asked and Eve glared at her.

“As you recall we were working on the art magazine,” Eve replied. “At least nobody found my panties in my boyfriend’s pocket,” she said.

“And I bet your sister never hooked up with a girl to get a guy’s attention,” Morgana replied.

“Did she actually do everything with her?” Eve asked and she nodded and they both laughed. “Never knew Tessa got down like that,” she said. After church yesterday they got together to share what happened the day before. They both agreed that Morgana’s Saturday was very dramatic.

“She’s avoiding me now, I don’t know what mom said to her, but she’s not saying anything. The minute she does I’m so gonna ask her about her lesbian skank night,” Morgana said. “I just can’t believe that she would try to come in between me and Mario, why can’t I be happy? Seems like it’s a crime for Morgana be loved,” she said angrily.

“Oh hush I love you and there’s nothing anybody can do to break you two up, he loves you,” Eve told her.

The school was eerie and quiet and the longer they sat there the more she wanted to leave. Horror movies were set in empty school, there were still people in the building somewhere, but it wasn’t at all reassuring. She flipped her cell phone open and texted Neil asking where he was. It was surprising that he wrote her right back saying that he had to talk to his coach for a minute then would be down. Morgana was distracting herself texting Mario, Eve could tell because she always had a look when she was talking to him. Bored she stared out the glass doors at the empty street, there were no cars or school buses in the circle out front. It was pretty boring, then just as she was about to look away a car pulled up. Something about it was making her have a bad vibe, but maybe she was just being paranoid. The two guys that got out stood there for a moment, they were muscled guys and they looked kind of familiar. But she couldn’t really tell from that distance. They were walking towards the school looking down at a photo of somebody, and then one looked up and pointed at her. That was when she knew that they were in trouble.

“Eve,” Morgana said having noticed them too.

“Run,” Eve said, the guys were walking towards the door a little too fast. Both girls got up and ran up the steps and down the hall as fast as they could not knowing where to go. But she was trying to think as she could hear their heavy steps getting closer. “Neil,” she said to Morgana and she nodded. If they got to him then the coach was there and maybe these guys would go away.

“We just want to talk to you Eve,” one of the guys yelled but she didn’t turn to see which.

“Nobody wants to hurt you girls,” the other called.

“Then quit chasing us,” Morgana yelled back.

She grabbed Eve’s arm and pulled her around a corner and down another hall, there was someone at the end of the hall. As they got closer the person start running towards them, ironically it was Neil. As he ran towards them he signaled to somebody down another hall they couldn’t see. When they reached Neil, the security guard appeared and the men chasing them abruptly stopped. The security guard went after them while talking into his walkie talkie and they ran back the way they came.

“What’s going on?” Neil asked them but they were both out of breath. “Those were the guys that broke into your house Eve,” he told them. They both just stared at him; of course this had to be Sanoe’s handy work.

“Are you girls ok?” The security guard asked when he reappeared, clearly the men got away.

“We’ll live,” Morgana said. Eve felt like she couldn’t speak, Neil put his arms around her.

The principal was still in the building and he made them come into his office. He called their parents and the local police. Eve just closed her eyes, and sat there quietly. Her mother was relentless; she wasn’t going to give up that easily. This was only the beginning and she hoped that she would be able to make it out of this mess. Why didn’t her mother understand that she was better off where she was? They were allowed to leave in Neil’s car after the police questioned them, but they had strict instructions to go to Eve’s house. While the Wreckers and Ferris’ were both reached, predictably neither Mimi nor Gordon could be. But Joan wanted Neil to come to their house, he’d stayed there the pass two nights anyway. As they left escorted to the car by two police officers, Eve knew that her days were numbered. She wasn’t sure how long she would be able to keep getting away from her psychotic mother.

 

Author's Note

..i think this one should have the least amount of mistakes.. sorry if i missed a few.. please do tell me what you think!