With Corry

A Story by Savannah

Cecily has been in a relationship and it has started to become abusive. When her boyfriend lashes out, she runs to her best friend's (Corry) house for support, but she gets his love instead.

It wasn’t raining like you would think it should be in this passionate moment outside in a small town. Usually, when two people who may be love interests get into a fight, one of them runs outside and the other one chases them into the rain and they cry together and kiss and then it’s better, but not with us. It was a normal night in Alabama, like most nights. It was hot, so sweat beads started to form on my face the second I was out of the door. The screen door slammed behind me and I quickly noticed the sounds of the crickets and the toads boasting about the fresh rain that had just stopped.

As I was running out into the street underneath the only streetlight on Saint Clove’s Avenue, I didn’t even have to turn around to know that he was following me. I knew Corry would follow me, because Corry always followed me. Because even though he was passionately in love with me, his brain was wired to be my best friend, and a best friend would follow me.

He grabbed my arm and I quickly turned around to ask him “What do you want, Corry? Don’t you think you’ve said enough?”.

His brow furrowed, he responds “Me? Really, Cecily? You think I’ve said too much?” I’ve never seen him this angry before.

“I come to my best friend, my only friend, to talk to him about my relationship problems and he basically tells me that he doesn’t give a s**t! Of course I think that you’ve said too much!”. Thinking that I have made a convincing argument, I turn to start walking down the street, but he grabs my arm again, spinning me back around to look at him. He’s tall, so I have to look up. I can feel my blonde pony tail falling out, but I don’t care. Not right now. He speaks again slowly. “God, Cecily, when are you going to realize!? You and Bruce don’t even have a relationship! He barks orders at you and you follow them while he gallivants around town, ignoring your feelings and sleeping with all of the w****s he pleases! You’re just too stupid to see it! God, Cecily, you’re beautiful and you’re so, so smart, but when it comes to men, you’re just stupid.” Now I’m crying.

“Don’t you ever talk to me like that again, Corry! I’m not stupid.. Only when it comes to Bruce, and-” He interrupts me.

“No, Cecily, you’re stupid when it comes to men! For God’s sake, Cecily, look at me!” He puts both of his arms out to the sides and spins around in a circle. “I’ve been here! This entire time that I have been watching him cheat on you and lie to you and hurt you,” he pauses to touch the black eye that Bruce gave me. “This whole time I have been watching it happen. You know how I feel about you, Cecily, you know, and don’t you even pretend that you don’t. You’ve always known, and you knew that if you came here I was going to be furious about this a*****e giving you this black eye, but you came here anyways and flaunted it in front of me while you were crying about your “problems” with him. Well, let me just clear something up for you, Cecily, this-” he points to the bruise on my neck. “This isn’t a problem.. This is abuse. This isn’t love, Cecily. This is him hurting you, and this?” He puts his arms back out to the sides. “This is anger. This is the anger that stems from the love that I have for you. From the love that forces me to want to defend and protect you.”

I’m sobbing like an idiot at this point. How could I be so stupid? I know that everything Corry is saying to me is true, and truthfully, I don’t even love Bruce. I just keep going back because I feel like I deserve everything that he gives me. Corry, being the comforting, loving human being that he has always been for me, sighs and wraps both arms around me, pulling me into his chest. I know what this means. This means that he is sorry, and that he loves me. This means that he is here to comfort me. This means that he is going to be the friend that he thinks I want him to be. But is that really what I want? Do I still want him to be my… friend? Or do I want him to be my more than that? I decided to ask. “So, if my bruise is abuse and your feelings right now are anger, then what is this?” I look up and meet his eyes. He looks confused like he has no clue what I am talking about. But, really, what is this? Why do his hugs give me butterflies? Why do his arms feel like home? Why is it that every time I feel upset about anything, I run here? More importantly, how could I ever put these feelings into words? He looked so confused, but I had no idea how to begin to tell him the way I was feeling. So I decided to show him. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him for the first time since we met when we were four. It was the longest, most meaningful kiss of my entire life. Kissing Bruce never felt half as beautiful as kissing Corry. Kissing Corry was like I had seen the entire meaning of my life, and that this was it. Kissing Corry was like I tried, and tried, and tried, and tried at something that I really wanted for so long, and just finally got it right. Kissing Corry was like I was flying and he was my magic carpet.

He pulled his head away from me sooner than I would want. I gathered my thoughts as quickly as possible and, despite my weak knees and his strong arms around me being the only things holding me up, I conjured up the courage and wind to speak again. The words were separated by our heavy breathing. “What.. Is.. This..?” I looked at his eyes, and I was sure that now he understood what I meant. He wasn’t confused anymore.

His words weren’t much, but they meant more than any other combination of words ever. “This is what it feels like to fly.”

And I knew that he knew exactly what I meant.

“And it feels good, Cecily. It feels good.” He was holding me with both arms, and holding the back of my neck with one hand. “So, fly with me, Cecily. Just fly with me.” And together, we flew back into his trailer on Saint Clove’s Avenue and that’s where I made love for the first time in my life. I wasn’t a virgin. I had sex with Bruce plenty of times, but our sex was just like our relationship was. He barked orders, and I obeyed. But, not with Corry.

With Corry, we made love. With Corry, we were flying.