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What if I had to live without you? What if I had to love without you? What if I died without you? I could not go on. The thoughts had crossed my mind a thousand times, and once again they were crossing my mind, as I sit in the passenger side of your truck just thinking about what you dad was going to tell us. James' dad called us out of school, even though he did not quite know what this was all about. His last words to his son were, "You have a lot of explaining to do!!!!" As you remember my last few day have been pretty jam packed with terrors, and stressful events. Most of my free time has been spent thinking about my life, and my current relationship. The turn-in for James' driveway was only five minutes away, and I was bracing myself for the worst. He never spoke of his parents, and all I knew was that his dad sounded beyond p***ed when he was talking to James.
The truck suddenly came to a halt jolting me from my thoughts. We had not yet turned into the driveway, but the truck was at a complete stop. James leaned across a gently kissed me on the lips, his touch was gentle and caring as he told me that it was going to be ok. "My parents really are good people, neither of them are ever mad at anything. It should be ok, we have a huge house, and good income. They should let you stay here, they trust me, and I want them to trust you." Phew! Was all I could think, but all that came out once again was, "ok". He slowly turned into the tree lined drive, and crawled up to his house. He slammed the truck into park, and hopped out and flung open my door. He helped me down and noticed the tears forming in my eyes, that I so badly wanted to hide from him. He pulled me close, and told me what I really wanted to hear. "I love you Ann." I stopped crying as a small smile formed across my face, "I love you too James." His face formed a smile that matched mine. "Let's go inside, and get this over with." He said as he pulled me towards his house. I could see two silhouettes in the kitchen window. It appeared to be his mother and father, and they appeared to be embracing each other.
"Oh great!" I thought. His mom is already upset, I can only imagine what his dad is thinking right now. But my every thought was changed when James opened the door, and his mother was there. She took me by the arm, and held me in a motherly embrace. As she held me, it felt like it had been forever since my own mother had held me like that. When she let go, she looked at me through tear filled eyes. I realized that the tears were also in my eyes, and that James and his father were nowhere around. Melina, that was James' mom's name, reached over and took me by the hand. She led me to the large kitchen where I saw a plate full of homemade cookies awaiting us. We sat down at the end of a large dining table, and began to talk. We discussed the fact that I had been kicked out of my house, and what was going on between me and James. About the time we were wrapping up our conversation. James and his father Jim reentered the house, as the back door closed with a thud. They entered the dining room side by side, both with small smiles upon their faces.
James reached down towards me, and took me into his grasp. 'You can stay with us!" He exclaimed as he held me even tighter. His embrace reminded me fondly of his mothers, and I soon realized how similar they were. Not only in looks, which were good, but also in their actions, and personalities. I looked up to see how happy and relieved his father looked. As soon as James released me from his hold, his father took his turn. I expressed how grateful I was to both of them, and told them that I needed to leave and get my things before my mother came home. They both agreed that I had a good plan, and sent me and James on our way. "Maybe you should stop back by school and get your missing work for this afternoon." Jim more stated than questioned. James once again let out his contagious laugh, which intern was followed by mine.
I stood talking to Melina for a few minutes while James started his truck. I followed him out, and hopped into the passenger side of the truck. As we pulled onto the highway heading to my house, I looked back and noticed a gun laying in the floorboard of the back seat. "What's this for? Are you afraid that my mom might be home?" His infectious laugh filled the truck, and made me forget all of my worries about being home once again.
*
The truck came to a slow stop in front of my house, and both James and I heaved a sigh of relief to see that no one was home. I reached under the flowers on the front porch and pulled out the spare house key. I had left my set in my room. James followed me to my bedroom, where he saw that I had already started packing. "I only have a few more things to put in boxes; you can start putting these ones in the truck if you want." I motioned towards the small stack that was farthest from the door. I began putting the rest of my things in the rest of the boxes, and soon began helping James with my things out to the truck. Thirty minutes later, and we were ready to head back home and unload. I found my keys under the bed with a bunch of dust covering them, and began to remove the house key from the rest. I laid the key by the telephone, with a short scrawled note that read "Good riddance". And with that I took the unopened package of cookies from the counter, and left.
"I will follow you up there, I kinda need my car." I said as I motioned towards my grey Challenger, that had been sitting in the driveway for three days now. "Yeah that would be helpful…" James trailed off as he reached into his pocket for his keys. I couldn’t help but think how cute he looked in the jeans that I bought him a few days ago. His birthday was on Sunday and I decided that I should get him something, seeing how we were going out and all. Ten minutes later we pulled into the drive once again. My new life was starting now.
***To Be Continued***