Unexpected Love (Unexpected Series) (2 page)

  
“Wow, really mom?” Throwing my hands in the air, “I am not having SEX and I do not plan on doing so until I am married. I have more respect for myself than that.” 

    
Mom looks at me still not quite believing me, “Well dear I hope that you do, but sometimes you live in the moment and things can happen. I know this because that is how you got here.” 

   
The moment? Really? “Mom, I can promise you if ‘
the moment’
happens, I will use all the necessary precautions. I do not want any children before I go off to college. I want to be able to finish college and, then think about marriage, maybe buy a house and then start a family. I don’t want to end up pregnant and possibly sabotage what I have worked so hard for already.” 

     I pause, thinking of how to change the subject quickly. “Speaking of which, I talked to the school counselor today. We think that I should apply to all the major colleges. She thinks that with my grades I should be able to get a scholarship. I am so excited. I know that they are quite a ways from home, but I really want the whole college experience. So what do you guys think?”

    
Mom sits up straight in her chair, “Arissa I think that is great. Your father and I both went to Yale. I think that moving away from home and being on your own would be beneficial to you. You could get the whole college experience as well as learn to be self-sufficient.”

 
I let out a breath of relief, “So, you are both okay with me applying to those colleges?” I look to my dad for an answer.

    
He gives me a reassuring smile. “Yes dear, we are very excited that you want to do this. We are very proud of you. I hope you know that?”

     With an excited smile
I squeak, “Yay!” Then I get all serious. “I have to start applying over the next few weeks. So will you help me over Christmas vacation?”

   
Nodding their heads eagerly, “Of course we will help you.” Feeling a sense of relief, I finish my dinner lost in my thoughts and listen to them chat about work again.

     Once we get home,
I rushed upstairs to finish my homework. I really hate Trig. I just cannot seem to wrap my head around all the angles and formulas. I just have to understand it enough so it does not affect my GPA. I just pray I can because it has been so hard for me. I am usually good at math. I think Algebra is more my thing.  

    
  I hear my phone ring, looking for it under the papers scattered on my desk. I finally find it under my binder. I look at the caller ID and see its Damon; I almost forgot that he was going to call me tonight.

     “Hello?” As I answer the phone.

     “Hey Babe how was dinner?”

      Reaching for my soda and taking a quick swig I reply, “It was good, I got to talk to my parents about the colleges that I want to go to.”

     With disappointment in his voice he asks, “Oh really? Where are you planning to apply?”

      Ignoring the way he said that, “I am going to apply to all the major colleges. My counselor said that I should be able to get in with a full scholarship.”

      “That’s great babe,” sounding a bit more excited.

      Pulling my hair from my
ponytail and letting it drop down my back. “Thanks, so where do you plan on applying?”

      Damon pauses and is slow to respond, “Well my grades aren’t as good as yours Arissa. I think I might even have trouble getting into a community college.”

     Astonished by his statement I reply with surprise in my voice, “Really? You are not even thinking about going to community college. You know I can help you study if you need me to.”                            

     He laughs that off, “I think it’s a little late for that babe. I will work something out, I always do.”

     Not wanting to drag this out any further, I just let it go with, “Ok, so how was your night?”

     “I went down to the local pool hall and played some pool with the guys.”

     Running my fingers through my wavy blond hair as I reply, “That sounds like fun; I wish I would have gone with you instead. You know I cannot play pool to save my life. I just like to hit the balls and hope that one goes in the hole, but it would have been nice to spend time with you. The evening started disastrously and all I wanted was you.”

   
“Well, if you can figure out trig, it would help you become a better player,” he answers with a chuckle trying to lighten the mood.

     “
Ha-ha! You are so funny Damon, I am trying; it is just not that easy for me. I swear my brain just does not comprehend it. Well it is late and I need to get some sleep. I have a test in History first period.”

     I hear the smile in
Damon’s voice, “Alright, love. Sweet dreams.”

   
“Good night Damon,” I answer back while trying to contain the yawn that is escaping my lips.

     I lie in bed thinking to myse
lf about Damon and our future. His grades are so bad that he may not be going to college. Do I really want to be with someone who does not see college in their future? With me going off to college, I do not see how this is going to work between us. I will be leaving town and he will stay here. I really do like him and he treats me well, but do I see a future for us? With all these thoughts running through my head my eyes start to get heavy, I finally give in to it and go to sleep.

    
I am being pulled into this beautiful dream where I am being kissed by an extremely hot guy. He has the most beautiful green eyes that seem to dive into the depths of my soul. When I look at him, I feel nothing, but comfort and safety. As we lie on the beach, he slides his hands down my sides and it tickles me. I start to giggle as he looks into my eyes and smiles. I am aware that his hands are sliding south when my jeans slide down a little as his hand grips my butt through my jeans. 

   
I dig my nails into his back while pulling him close to me. I begin to kiss him with heated passion. My shirt is lifted over my head and I gasp at the realization. He tosses my shirt to the sand and places his hand upon my breast. I get a cold chill as he seductively moves my bra aside. He gently squeezes my nipple between his fingertips while looking deep into my eyes. His gaze is so intense I have to break it, letting my head fall back and a little moan escapes my throat. 

    
A exhilarating sensation is running through my body. I can feel his desire for me pour into each of his movements, if this is what love feels like I do not ever want to wake up. If only this man in my dreams was real, I would be so happy.

     A sudden noise pulls me out of my ecstasy; I wipe the side of my mouth, just as a total mood killer I h
ave been drooling in my sleep. I put on my fuzzy pink slippers and make my way down stairs.    

     We live in a yellow and w
hite two story, country style home, with a wraparound front porch. My mom fell in love with its old style charm and well, my dad had to give into her. It is beautiful; however, the bad thing with old homes is that they tend to make loads of unexplained noises. The plumbing makes this loud racket as you turn on the water and the stairs creak in protest as you walk down them. Do not get me wrong I love the house for its spacious rooms and country appeal, but I would have loved to grow up in a brand new ‘quiet’ house. 

     Trying to be as quiet as I can, I creep down the stairs in the dark. I hear it again and it sends a cold chill through my body. I am scared shitless at the moment. Do I continue down the stairs or do I run back up and wake up my dad?

      I try to be brave and peek around the corner into the kitchen. I do not see anything so I begin to walk in. I am almost to the light switch, when I hear this crunching noise from the pantry. As I tiptoe to the pantry, I grab a knife, thinking, where the hell is a gun when you need it? I am almost to the pantry door when all of a sudden I am thrown back by a wild gust.

    I squeal as I watch a shadow dash off towards the living room. It’s my stupid cat Mischief. He chewed through his bag of cat food creating a huge disaster. “It’s everywhere,” I grumble under my breath. I turn on the kitchen light and grab the broom, dustpan, and start sweeping up the mess.

    
I shake my head wondering what I was scared of. We have an alarm system and it didn’t make a sound; it has to be because of this constant awareness of being watched. It’s just odd that I can never find a reason why I get these vibes; I don’t understand it at all. Maybe I should talk to someone about this. I am not sure if I should tell my parents.

     They might think I’m going crazy. Nothing ever happens, it’s just this weird sense that I am being watched and it’s really starting to freak me out.

     I contemplate this while drinking a glass of chocolate milk. Then I remember that I have that huge history test in just a few hours. I glance at the clock across from the table. It is already 3:00 am. “Oh crap!” I turn off all the lights and head back to bed.

     My alarm goes off, waking me from my slumber. I peer at the clock and it reads 6:00 am. “Why the hell does high school have to start so early?” Wishing I could pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep; I lazily roll out of bed and start the shower. I hear that familiar awful racket as the water starts to make its way down the pipes. Darn it, mom needs to call someone to get this crap fixed. I brush my teeth then get into the shower, the water is so cold. A cold shower is just what I needed after only having a few hours of sleep, thanks to that stupid cat.

     As if the morning couldn’t get any worse; I look in the mirror and see that I am getting a pimple right in the middle of my forehead. “Man, how am I going to hide that? This is going to suck.”  I try to pop it and it just makes it red and bigger.  “Oh hell, I give up.”

     While searching my closet to find something to wear today, I find my favorite pair of skinny jeans and my baby blue Aeropostale sweatshirt. It’s been chilly out lately being that Christmas is just a few days away. Pulling on my jeans, I wonder what I can do to hide this damn pimple. I throw on my sweatshirt and walk into the bathroom. Pulling out all the make-up I have, I begin to add some concealer to my face. That hides the redness a bit but this thing is still noticeable. I lightly powder my face and add eyeliner and lip-gloss.

     Then it hits me
, if I have bangs they would cover the zit. “Hey I can’t look any worse right?” I murmur under my breath as I reach for the scissors I take one quick snip and voila, I have bangs. They lie just below my eyebrow. However, right now they look screwed up. I always part my hair in the center so they sort of have this big upside down V in them. I pull out the flat iron and turn it on to heat it up. It only takes a minute. I begin to flat iron my bangs and it is not working, they still want to part in the center. “What am I going to do? I look like a freaking retard,” slapping my hands on the counter in defeat.

     I run downstairs to mom
, hoping maybe she can fix this. She starts to laugh at me. How rude is that? I am so upset. All I wanted was her help, but she is laughing at me instead. I start to tear up. Mom reminds me of how ridiculous I look, but promises to try to fix it. Feeling relieved, I follow my mom into her bathroom.

    
I love my mom very much and if it were not for her, I would never have gotten through most of the things that have happened in my life. My mom is my best friend. She is more like a sister to me than a mother. We talk about parties, guys, sex and all the things a teenage girl needs to talk about.

     Mom fixes my hair within a few minutes. She puts hair spray on my bangs and then uses the curling iron on them. “They actually look cute, thanks mom!” I catch a glance of her alarm clock while hugging
her “Oh shoot! Look at the time I am going be late! I have a huge test in History.” I gather my books and run for the door.

     “Good luck!” She yells after me.

     Just before the door closes, I yell back, “Thanks Mom!”

     I see Damon waiting for me. He is dressed in his all too familiar outfit
of dark jeans, a black t-shirt and a leather jacket. You would think he doesn’t own anything else, because that is all he wears. Nevertheless, God, he looks good in them, I could just melt at the sight of him.

     “Good morning gorgeous,” as he puts his arm around my waist and hugs me to his side. He leans down to kiss my cheek.

     “Hi handsome, I am running so late we better get going.”

     “No worries babe we will get there faster today!” I look at him quizzically and he just smiles.

     “See that Ford Mustang down there?”

    
Once I find it, I reply. “Yea, What about it?” looking to Damon for an answer. 

     “Well, I just got it yesterday.”

     Looking surprised, “Really, no way!” 

     With a huge grin, "Yea, my dad surprised me with
her; it's an early Christmas present." 

     “Oh thank G
od! I am so relieved that we don’t have to walk in the cold anymore.” He just laughs. “It's fabulous Damon, I can't believe it's yours, it is really pretty.”

  
  He looks at me with a strange expression on his face “Sweetheart, that car is NOT pretty. That car is all muscle and power. It's one bad ass car so; NEVER call my car pretty again.”

     “
Well I think the cherry red paint and low profile tires make it look very pretty,” I say with a giggle, as I run towards the car before he can catch me.

 
   He starts chasing after me. I am almost to the car when I slip and fall right on my back knocking the wind out of my lungs. An immeasurable pain runs down my back. Damon runs to my side and asks if I am ok. I cannot speak and all I want to do is cry. Tears start to run down my cheeks. I am so mortified that I fell.  He wasn’t laughing at me, but I felt like a dimwit. I was lucky enough that no one else was around to witness my predicament. Thank God.

     “Oh shit is your head ok?”

     “I think so; it’s my back that hurts.”

    
Damon smirks at me, “Do you want me to help you back into the house? That way your mom can make sure you are not damaged.”

     Rolling my eyes at
him, I say, “No, I have to get to school on time today. Let’s just go before my pride is wounded any further.”

     Damon helps me up and I get into the mustang. I take a deep breath, as I relax back into the seat. The heat comforts me and the soft black leather seats hug my body in all the right places.  Damon climbs in the driver’s seat and starts the car. He quickly lo
wers the blaring sound system. I am relieved due to the fact that I have a major headache on the rise. Looking over to him, I muster a small smile and say, “I really adore the car Damon.”

    
He smiles back, “I love it too. Are you going to be okay?” 

   
Sitting up a little straighter I say, “Yes, I will be fine. If it bothers me too bad I will go home after my test.”

     He looked at me and gave
me a stern, “You better.”

   
I get myself out of the car and I walk around to the front and give Damon a little kiss as I run off to class. As I walk into history class, my head begins to throb. I start to feel a little dizzy, but luckily, I make my way to my seat. I grab my pencil from my bag as I listen to Mr. Braddock explain the test. His voice begins to fade and everything goes dark.

     Wishing I could run to Arissa to pick her up in my arms and hold her tight, but realizing I
cannot. I watch her anxiously awaiting for her to awake. My heart is beating so fast it feels like it is going to jump out of my chest. I feel sick to my stomach, my hands are trembling and every breath is hard to take. She lets out a little moan as she begins to stir. I let out a sigh of relief, but my eyes remain fixed on her.

    
I get that all too familiar cold chill as I realize eyes are upon me. My head is throbbing and my back aches. I open my eyes to find that I am laid out on the floor. “Oh my God, what happened?”

    Th
e whole class is focused on me. The school nurse is examining me. I overhear the paramedics coming in the door. Damon is rushing just behind them. The paramedics stop him. I see him getting mad and then I hear him yell, “That’s my girlfriend, and she took a nasty fall this morning.”

     O
ne of the paramedics asks, “Ok, can you tell us more?” I hear Damon explaining everything that happened while the other paramedics proceed to place this huge neck brace on me and begin strapping me down to a backboard. On the count of three, I am hoisted in the air and wheeled out of class to the ambulance. I call out for Damon, but he has disappeared. Where could he have gone? He should be with me. Panic starts to take over and I begin to search franticly for him.

     “Damon? Damon where are you?”

     The paramedic notices my distress and says, “Please try to stay calm. He went to sign out he will be here soon.” Feeling a little better, I start to settle. They load me into the ambulance, just as they are about to shut the door, I notice his car.  Breathing a sigh of relief, I say, “Thank God.”

     The paramedics wheel me into the ER and I get a glimpse of my parents waiting for me. I see my dad talking to the ER doctors. “That’s my daughter and I will take the lead on this one.” My mom rushes to my side, she looks so worried. “What happened? I got a call from the school saying you were being rushed to the hospital?”

    
Before I can answer her, Dad comes in and starts asking me questions. “Arissa, how many fingers am I holding up?”

     Scrunching my face, “Three.”

     All serious like a typical dad, “Ok good, now are you experiencing any blurred vision or seeing stars?”

     Nodding my head, “I have a bit of a headache and my vision is slightly blurry.”

     “Uh-ha, Ok, well follow my finger.” He moves his finger to the left and I follow and again to the right still following his directions. When he moves his finger above my head, I have to glance up at it. I get a little light headed.

     He writes something on my chart and then faces me, “I am going to send you for a CAT scan to make sure that there is no internal bleeding.”

     All cranky like I say, “But Dad, do I really need to? I don’t think I hit my head that hard?”

     Dad gives me a firm expression, “Yes, you have to.”

     “This sucks!” I complain. Mom gives my hand a little squeeze and motions for Damon to meet her in the hall. Damon looks worriedly to me and then follows her out. I can see them conversing, but I am unable to decipher what they are saying. It looks like she is yelling at him.

     My mom rushes back into the room all pissed off
; demanding to know why I did not let Damon bring me back into the house so she could check me out. “I had a monstrous exam in History and it’s worth 80 percent of my grade, I couldn’t miss it.”

     She expresses her distaste in my choice by uttering, “Well, you missed it now
, didn’t you?”

     I roll my eyes at her, man she can be so dramatic sometimes. School is more important than bumping my head. “I didn’t expect it to be this severe.” 

    “Well obviously it’s serious enough for you to be here.” I swear when the nurse side of her kicks in, she can be so impossible.

     This guy with dark spiked up hair walks into the room. He has these weird glasses on his face they are
somewhat yellow with back frames, but the lenses are see through. He is really tall and lanky and he is dressed in grey scrubs. “Hello, my name is Derek and I am here to take you to the CAT scan.” I nod in agreement as he releases the brakes from the bed; strolling me out the door.