Starburst (18 page)

“Yes,
it does. What the hell are you doing here with some guy? Do you even know his
name?”

“No.
I never want to know their names again.”

“Alley,
promise me that you won’t ever do something like that again.”

“I
promise.”

“I
mean it Alley, no matter what. Don’t you ever get into some guys car again.”

“Trevas,
why wouldn’t you talk to me?” she asked, ignoring his last statement.

“Because
I knew it would make things worse for you. Your dad is not going to let us be
together Alley. You know that.”

“Trevas
I’m going to be eighteen in like four months, he can’t stop us.”

Trevas
pulled her close. He just wanted to hold her and feel her tender body in his arms.
She stayed wrapped in his arms, relishing him as much as he was relishing her
for a long time.

“Alley,”
Trevas started to say, and then kissed her quickly when he saw the head lights
and pushed her one step away from him so that he could move away from her.

“Trevas?”
she asked, not understanding what he was doing.

“Your
dad is here Alley.”

She
looked over his car and saw her dad and her mom in the passenger seat. She and
she shook her head in shock at him. “You called my dad Trevas?”

“I
had to Alley,” he tried to explain, but she was already screaming again.

“I
hate you Trevas. How could you do that? And I don’t promise you jack shit.”

“Alley,
please,” he tried and she jerked away from him.

“Fuck
you. You low life mother fucker. You are nothing but a liar and I hope you rot
in hell.”

Alley
was still screaming when her mom got out and ran to her.

“Alley
what the hell is wrong with you?” she said taking her by the shoulders, and
pulling her toward the car, and all she could do was follow. She and Trevas
stared at each other, and it broke his heart even more.

“Thanks
for calling me Evans, but I still don’t want you anywhere near my daughter. Do
you understand?” Fletcher scolded with his finger.

“I
never took advantage of Alley, Fletcher.”

“Then
what the hell do you call it?” he asked, getting angry.

“I
fell in love with her, that’s what I call it,” he told him honestly, and that
made him even angrier.

“I
didn’t hire you to mess around with my teenage daughter. I hired you to keep
her safe and protect her.”

“You
hired me to keep her out of the tabloids, so she didn’t hurt yours and Ms.
Paxton’s reputation. You don’t know shit about her,” Trevas yelled right back.

“Stay
away from her Trevas,” he warned with his finger and got into his car.

 Trevas
hit the top of his car with both fists and yelled, “Son of a bitch.”

Alley
sat in the backseat and sobbed. He was so close, he was right there. She
touched him, and now he was gone again, just like that. She didn’t even get to
tell him that she loved him. Why would he call her dad?

“Alley,
I don’t know what is going on in your head, but don’t you ever get in some
man’s car like that again. Do you have any idea what could have happened in there?”
her dad lectured, and her mother just watched her sobbing daughter, trying to
understand.

“I
wished it would have happened. I wished he would have just sliced my throat,
and I wouldn’t have to deal with any of this shit anymore.”

“Alley
stop that, don’t you talk like that,” her mother now scolded.

“Why
can’t I make my own decisions? I have done it my whole life, but now that I’m
almost eighteen, you want to jump in and be a God damn father. Fuck that,” she
screamed between sobs.

“Alley
that man is twenty five years old. You are seventeen. He is way too old for
you,” her dad explained in a yell.

“You
want to talk about age dad? My ex-best friend do you remember her? You are
twenty three years older than her, that didn’t stop you from fucking her, did
it?”

“Alley
that’s enough,” her mother stepped in.

The
rest of the ride home was quiet, and Alley stared out the window. As soon as
the car stopped she was gone and back to her cave, locked in her room. Her mom
tried to talk to her, but she didn’t want any part of it. She lay with her hand
clinching the pendant and cried. She sent Trevas a text message, knowing that
he would not get it.

“Trevas,
please come and get me,” she hit send, and instantly got a message back, saying
that her message was undeliverable.

 She
cried for days again, and hadn’t come out of her room from when she got home on
Saturday until Wednesday. Peyton brought her food, and was sure that if she
wouldn’t have, she would have starved to death.

Peyton
came to her room around ten on Wednesday morning and was going to try and get
her to come down and eat and go into town shopping with her. When she opened
the door she was gone and when she checked the bathroom she wasn’t there
either. She searched everywhere she could be before calling her dad.

“Fletcher,
Alley’s gone.”

“Great,
I really don’t have time for this today. That girl is going to send me to my
grave.”

“Make
time Fletcher, she needs us right now,” Peyton scolded.

“Okay,
okay, did you try her phone?”

“Yes,
it’s lying on her bed.”

“I
will call you back. Let me call Trevas.”

“Do
you actually think he would tell you if she was there Fletcher?”

“Yeah,
I actually do, but I know where he lives if you would rather we just show up
there.”

“Yes,
I think that’s what we should do.”

Fletcher
sighed. “I will be there in ten minutes.”

Trevas
had just gotten out of the shower when he heard the door buzzer. He pulled on a
shirt and ran the towel over his wet head.

“Yeah,”
he answered, pushing the call button.

“Evans,
its Fletcher, can I come up.”

“For
what?” he asked, not wanting to deal with Nicholas Fletchers cocky attitude.

“We’re
looking for Alley,”

Trevas
released the door right away and was standing in the door waiting for him. Peyton
followed behind him, and he stepped aside to let them in.

“How
long has she been missing?” he wanted to know, letting his security training
take over.

“Peyton
went to her room around ten, and she was gone, but we don’t know how long she has
been gone.”

“Has
she tried to call you?” Peyton asked concerned.

“No,
she was pretty pissed because I called you last weekend. I don’t know if she
would try to call me. I don’t know how much help I can be. She is such a
loaner. I couldn’t even tell you where to look. She didn’t go anywhere.”

As
soon as Trevas said that, it dawned on Fletcher where she was, “Maria,” he
called out. Come on Peyton. He said and rushed out hoping she was there.

“Fletcher
will you call me, please.”

“Yeah,
Trevas I will let you know. If you hear anything you do the same.”

“I
will.”

Trevas
was beside himself. He was supposed to be meeting his grandparents for lunch
that day, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave not knowing where she was. He
called the home to have his favorite nurse go in and tell them that he promised
he would be there tomorrow.

“Sure
no problem Trevas, I don’t think they will mind. Your friend is here with them,
and I think they are pretty content with her,” the nurse explained.

“My
friend?” he asked, and his heart started to beat faster.

“Yeah,
you had her here a couple of times, I’m terrible with names.”

“Alley?”

“Yup,
that’s it,” she laughed, remembering.

“Jewels,
forget I said anything. I will be there as soon as I can, but please don’t
mention my name to Alley.”

“Okay,”
she asked with a confused tone.

Trevas
ran to his car and then called Fletcher.

“She
wasn’t there,” Fletcher answered.

“I
know where she is,” he countered,

“Where?”

“She
is with my grandparents in Arvin. I visit them every other Wednesday. I just
called to have someone explain that I couldn’t come today, and the nurse told
me that my friend Alley was there. The address is 1251 Gardeners Court.”

“Are
you headed there too Trevas?” he wanted to know.

“Yes
sir, I most certainly am.” He didn’t care whether Nicholas Fletcher or Peyton
Paxton knew he was headed to their daughter. He loved her, and there was
nothing that either of them could do to change that.

Trevas
drove as fast as he could, white knuckled the whole way. He knew that Fletcher
wasn’t far behind, and he wanted a little bit of time with her before he got
there. He drove the hour and a half drive in an hour and five minutes, but so
did Fletcher. He saw him pull in the parking lot just as he was opening the
entrance door. He was hoping to get buzzed through before they made it inside, but
there was no one at the desk. He rang the bell on the front desk frantically, and
a familiar face let him in. Fletcher and Peyton followed, and Peyton held onto
Fletchers arm holding him back down the long hall.

Trevas
didn’t want his grandparents to see him, and he stood back from the door a few
feet.

“Alley,”
he said in a loud whispered. Her head snapped instantly, and she ran to him.
Her parents watched as she wrapped not only her arms, but also her legs around
him, and Trevas embraced her.

“Listen
to me Alley,” he spoke softly, and she carefully put her feet on the floor but didn’t
let go of her hold on him. “Don’t go ballistic on me, your parents are right
behind us.” Alley looked over his shoulder, and saw her mother holding onto her
dads arm to keep him from moving. “Reach into my shirt pocket and take out the
piece of paper. I love you Alley, go to your parents and don’t make a scene.”

Alley
looked up to him, and he kissed her quickly, not caring who was watching. He
slid to the wall and crouched, covering his face with his hands. He couldn’t
watch her leave again.

Her
mother took her hand with a look of pity, and she let her. Alley stopped and
turned back to Trevas.

“Trevas,”
she said quietly, and he looked up to her.

“Your
grandpa is having a good day,” she smiled, and he smiled a warm smile back.

Trevas
stayed and visited with his grandparents, and Alley rode home in silence with
her parents. Her dad never lectured her and didn’t speak at all. She knew that
her mother had told him not to.  Peyton looked back to her blank face
periodically as she stared out the window.

“Alley
went straight to her room and opened the piece of paper. “I love you more than
life Alley Fletcher, hang in there. We will be fine,” she read, and at the
bottom was an email address and that made her very happy. [email protected].

Fletcher
and Peyton sat in his car and watched her walk in.

“What
the hell are we supposed to do with her Peyton? She is just going to keep doing
this,” Fletcher said, running his hand through his hair.

“I
think we need to let her see him,” she replied, and looked to see his reaction,
and it was just as she had expected it to be.

“What?
Have you lost your mind? No, Peyton, and it’s not even up for debate. She is
not seeing that man.”

“Do
you really think we are going to stop her? Did you not see how she clung to
him, how in love with him she is?”

“Peyton,
she is not seeing Trevas Evans, forget it. What would people think of us?”

“I
think we need to not care what people think of us, and care about our daughter
for once in our life,” she stated, and it made him stop and think.

“Peyton
he is like seven years older than her, don’t you find that a little
disturbing?”

“I
don’t think either of them cares much about that, and seven years is not that bad.
You were nine years older than your last girlfriend,” Peyton reminded him.

“Yeah,
and it lasted a year, and she was
not
seventeen.”

“We
can lay down some guidelines Fletcher, we don’t have to let her just come and
go with him as she pleases. Think it about it, okay?” she told him and got out
of his car.

Alley
was sitting on her bed with her laptop. She emailed first but just a quick
note.

“Hey
baby, for the first time since I have known you, I’m at a loss for words. So
here is my email. I’m sure you have lots of words for me.”

Her
mother came in and leaned against the headboard with her, putting her arm
around her, and was surprised that Alley let her. She snuggled up to her mom,
and didn’t even try to close out the pictures of her and Trevas in Utah. What
was the point? She thought. They knew now, there was nothing more to hide.

The
picture was of Alley sitting on the lake dock between his legs, leaned up
against his chest, and she held the camera out to snap the picture.

“Do
you have any more?” Peyton asked, looking at the picture.

Alley
hit the next button, and she was smiling the biggest smile ever sitting on the
school bus.

Peyton
had an odd look on her face. “A school bus?” she asked, and Alley smiled
remembering that day.

“Yeah,
one night when we were talking, Trevas wanted to know something that I’ve
always wanted to do that I hadn’t yet. I told him I had never gotten to ride a
school bus and he thought it was the funniest thing ever. One day when we were
in Utah he made me stay with his mother, and wouldn’t tell me why. He came back
with this borrowed school bus and took me for a ride.”

“Wow…
that is very sweet. Tell me about him Alley.

Alley
sat up and turned to her. “Mom he is a good man, you would like him if you
would give him half a chance.”

“How
did this all start? When did it start?” she wanted to know.

“I
honestly think it started the very first night that he was there. I was
standing in my normal awkward position, off to the side at one of dad’s stupid
parties, and our eyes met. I don’t know how it all started, but it was more me
than him. He tried like hell to keep me in my place, but I wouldn’t let him. We
played a game of checkers one night, and he made the rule that whoever won had
to do whatever the winner wanted. He thought I was going to make him take me to
a concert or something, and I made him kiss me. He protested and refused to do
it, but I pretty much kissed him, and that one kiss threw me so far for a loop,
I didn’t know what was happening.”