Chapter Three Peas In A Pod

Lyric POV

“Andrew, don’t hit your classmates', please. It’s not nice.” I tell one of my students. He has been pushing all the boundaries today. It seems it must be a full moon today, because most of my students are acting out a lot more than usual. To make matters worse ,I have the hangover from hell.

I knew I shouldn’t have went out with the girls last night. If it wasn’t for my phones daily alarm going off, I would probably still be passed out at the club. I’m was still mad they left without me, but I’m not really that close with them, except Paityn. Paityn is my best friend, adopted sister and roommate. We have been close since I can remember. It was her birthday we celebrated yesterday. Her new boyfriend, Eric must have taken her home last night.

My car was still in the parking lot thankfully, when I came out of the club. Luckily, I always keep an emergency set of clothes and toiletries in my trunk since I didn’t have enough time to go home and shower before work, due to such a long drive back. The morning was very fuzzy from the very slight buzz I still had. I’m not even sure how I re-dressed or why I was undressed. I dreaded the answer to that.

Swearing off alcohol for the rest of my life for the hundredth time today, I take two pain relievers from my desk and a swig of water from my water bottle. I’m not sure how I’m going to make it through my lesson plan and all the activities planned for today. My guilt eats at me, because they don’t have anyone to cover for me and I don’t want to let all of these kids down. I don’t have any of my own, but I feel as if these children in my classroom are my own.

Heading home, not sure how I made it through the day with my sanity intact. I need a coffee or a nap. Unfortunately the pain from the hangover has not eased much throughout the day.

After parking, I sit there in the driveway, in the driver seat to decompress from the workday for a few minutes, just taking in deep breaths, and reminiscing what led to my life being the way it is now. How thankful I am that I have what I have at least.

Paityn owns this side of towns coffee shop, Mocha Munchies and luckily for me, she scheduled me off today. But I will still need to help with another friend, Kinsey, later. She runs a homeless shelter and a meal on wheels venture called, Meal Mentors.

We all help each other out, but we nearly have no time to ourselves throughout the day. Kinsey bakes and cooks for Paityn's coffee shop while Paityn provides coffee for her business and the shelter. We both volunteer at her shelter when she needs the help. I tudor the kid's and help the adults get on their feet get jobs. Completing resumes and putting in decent applications, etc. I suppose that would, Sam we each have two-three jobs, but at least we are happy together and bills are being paid. Besides who wants time to think the black hole in our hearts left by not having parents, partners, or children. We don’t need to be blood to be family.

I was found by Paityn and her family while they were packing up from their camping trip. All I have ever found out about it was that they found me wandering in the forest near their campsite with blood on me, looking like I have been walking for days without food or water. I was maybe four or five years old at the time. Honestly, I’m lucky to still be alive and I didn’t get eaten by a wild animal. Either due to my young age or because it was a traumatic experience, I don’t remember anything. There were reports, flyers, and plenty of news out there about a young missing child, but no one ever came forward. The blood on me turned out to not be human. At the time, I refused to talk, so we never what really happened.

After a couple years living in Paityns' parents care, they decided to adopt me. Awhile later, I finally started opening up and becoming my own person, slowly forgetting who I was before that. Paityn was always there to support and push me, and we became best friends as well as adopted sisters. When I was about eight, our parents were killed in a car accident. The brakes failed or maybe it was the rain. They slammed head on into a tree. The report blamed it on my parents negligence to look after the vehicles braking system. But I had my doubts.

We ended up moving out of state to an aunt and uncle to raise us. They were incredibly mean people. They blamed us for our parents death, not because they loved and missed them, of course, but because it forced them to look after us then. They told us if it weren’t for us bugging our parents like flies, they wouldn’t have needed the alone time together. They would have still been alive. Or that we should have at least been in the car too, not with the baby sitter, then they wouldn’t have to take care of us. It left them even angrier after they learned that our parents left everything they own to us in their Will. They treated us like we should have been grateful to be there, being fed scraps, pushed around and doing all the chores ourselves just so we would be quiet and be out of the way. I didn’t realize at the time I would have preferred this life rather then what came next.

After a few years, trying to protect Paityn from swinging hands and pushes, there was another accident. Uncle Dick, which is what I always referred to him, which always made Paityn laugh, was yelling at Paityn at the top of the steps for her to clean up a coffee cup that he had dropped. It shattered all over the floor. When she went to the top of the steps, she mumbled under her breath about him being the one that dropped it so he should be the one to clean it up. He must have overheard her, because he raised his hand to back-hand her. I ran faster then I ever thought possible for fear the punishment she was about to receive, would throw her down the stairs, I pushed her out of the way and into the room next to the stairway. His momentum threw his own body weight down the stairs. All we heard was the tumbling and crashing from his body weight. My sister and I laid on the floor still not making a sound when Aunt Karen came barreling in the foyer, screaming to Uncle Dick to wake up. It’s fuzzy after that. But I can remember that she blamed us for his death and when the court ruled it an accident, she went into a spiral. Hating us more then ever before.

Aunt Karen did not handle her husband's death well. She left us alone to fend for ourselves, deciding that if nothing else, we can starve to death since she wouldn’t feed us. Months and months later, they say she died of a broken heart. No longer having the will to live on without her husband. She never left the house anymore. She never left her room or even her bed toward the end. We found her body after school one day, still in bed. We were almost thirteen then.

They split us up for the next two years after that, and we went from foster home to foster home until we turned fifteen. We finally started going to the same school again so we could communicate with each other. We decided to be on our best behavior to bide our time should they want to move us again, but we constructed a plan if that did happen. Right before we turned sixteen, we were separated and moved once again, but this time, we had a plan.

We decided to emancipate ourselves when we turned sixteen. We no longer needed an adult to look after us anymore, we did everything ourselves. We have been for years anyway. We took our inheritance and together, moved back to our home town in Maine. We finished school, and worked through college. We took some savings with some inheritance and opened a coffee shop for some steady income, while I worked to become a teacher for kids. Deciding to live in the apartment next door for an easy commute.

It’s a small town with little entertainment. People mostly entertain themselves with other people’s drama or social media. There is a run down movie theatre in town with a few places to dine. Anything else we have to drive over an hour to get to, like the club last night.

Looking forward to my bed and leaving my responsibilities for later, I head inside the small apartment. After I enter, closing the door behind me, I hear Paityn breathe out a sigh of relief, saying, “Oh my Gawd. Actually, she just walked through the door, Kins. Yes, as soon as I get the deets, I’ll let you know all the delicious details. Yes, much love! Bye, girl.” I change direction, heading to the kitchen to get coffee instead of sleep. It seems this might take awhile.

“What secrets are you spilling before I even told you them?” I asked, chuckling at her. The three of us are like three peas in a pod. We met Kinsey as a regular in the shop and we really hit it off. We’ve been inseparable since.

“How about the secrets of the sexy heart throb from last night? You spent the night with him and never came back home. Did he cook you breakfast? How was it? I hope his bulging, delicious, muscles weren’t the only thing throbbing…" And that’s my cue to cut her off.

“Okay! That’s enough of that. I’m going to stop you right there. What are you talking about?"

“The shmexy, muscle-clad, tall, dark and handsome from last night. It’s only too bad I can’t remember his face. And no I wasn’t asking how the breakfast was. I was asking how the sex…"

“Alright! First of all, there was no heartthrob last night. Truthfully, I don’t remember much. I really overdid it on the shots." I tell her, but a memory comes to mind; as if a memory of a dream. I finally recall the exhilarating dream from the night before with roaming hands that never seemed to end. The unique taste of mint, bourbon and a nutty flavor, seems to shoot through my core, making all my senses go wild. His smell of cedar, cut grass, and a campfire filled my nose. All my senses suddenly overwhelmed by such a male as if he was standing right next to me. My core suddenly throbbing, my face and body turn hot and sensitive. My breath comes out ragged.

Paityn abruptly exclaims,

“I knew it! You can’t fool me. Damn. It must have been good if the thought turns you into a hot mess like this." Sighing, she continued. "I wish I had a steamy romance like that."

“Pay, it’s not like that." Seriously, there was no guy. It was just a dream that I remembered having."

“Ly. Sorry, doll face, but it was no dream. The rest of the girls can vouch. They encouraged you to leave with him when you made eye contact. When he stood up, you both grabbed each other and left like you couldn’t get out of there fast enough." Stunned, mouth agape, I then exclaimed,

“And you didn’t think to stop me?"

“No, I thought about it, but then I realized that your an adult, capable of making your own decisions and mistakes. And honey, I’m sorry, but it was my birthday. I’m the one who should be babysat. I had enough to worry about. Besides, the look on both of your faces said you may just strip right there on the dance floor and start the tango."

She did make a good point. It was my fault for drinking so much. I never thought that I would do such a thing though. I mean, we didn’t even leave the club, simply went to one of the private VIP rooms. That didn’t sound like me at all. Curious why no one found us though, or at least didn’t bother to wake us up. Maybe that’s a common occurrence with the customers? I didn’t see him there when I left the club that morning, but I wasn’t looking. Maybe he left before me or maybe he was still passed out. It was so dark in there, I was lucky to stumble over my clothes.

“Well shit, what do I do now? If that wasn’t a dream... Then... Then... We had…"

Paityn is just nodding through all this letting me come to terms with this reality.

“What if we didn’t use protection? What if he wasn’t clean? I mean, at least I’m on birth control, but what if it doesn’t work? What if I ever see this guy again? I’ll be honest. I barely remember his face either."

“Okay, enough with the what ifs. First, you go get tested so we can deal with that. We go to the store to pick up some Plan B as well. Wouldn’t be right that you can’t put the father’s name on the birth certificate, since you didn’t learn it because you were too busy getting busy." She wiggles her eyebrows and laughs at her own joke while I give her my best glare.

Finishing my cup of coffee I’ve been sipping on at the kitchen counter, I say, "I need to change and make an appointment. Then I’ll go to the store. Might as well make a list of things we need and I’ll pick them up while I’m there."

“I’ll make a list, but I’m going too. I could use a new outfit for a date with Eric next weekend. If we’re still together by then." She says.

“Oh? Trouble in paradise?"

“Well, I caught him looking at the waitress all throughout the night. He says I was drunk and imagined it. Which I know I didn’t. I barely drank anything yet. It doesn’t matter, I’m not really into him anymore. All he wants to talk about is sports and anything that has to do with him; plus, he always cuts me off when I finally get a word in."

“Well, maybe it’s for the best then. You can help me and Kinsey. We missed you. Or if you don’t want to go to the shelter, we can do dinner and a movie. We can make it a girls night." I offer.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun. Although, tonight was the only night I scheduled both of us off. Sarah, our other employee, needed off this week."

“Okay. Well, let’s see if Kinsey can get free then. Maybe we can just get together tonight." I suggested, even though I really wanted to sleep off the pain in my head.

Kinsey works at the shelter, but if nothing else, we can always hang out after we finish with the dinner handouts.

“I’m going for my shower and to call for an appointment. I’ll be ready in thirty."

“Okay. I’ll shoot Kins a message and see what she says." Paityn responds.