Page 4 of Forbidden Daddy
“You can’t stay at your place tonight,” Hannah said lowly.
“What do you mean?” I probed, and her mouth tightened in a tense frown that somehow gave me déjà vu.
“I mean, I know it’s been less than a month since we met, but you called me, and you soundedscared, Ev. Whatever happened last night, you broke a finger, and you walk like someone beat you to all hell. I’m not about to abandon my friend, however new.”
I didn’t know how to respond to this. I wanted to be in my own place, with my own things, but I also could see what she might mean. I could see myself, curled up in bed, fighting off memories of the attack and pondering the veiled face that had been floating through my mind. Instead, I let out a noise that I knew sounded ungrateful. Hannah’s face changed for the better though, relaxing into a gentle smile. I guess she knew she’d won. When she pulled onto East 76th Street though, I began to panic a little. I’d known that Hannah was from money, it wasn’t something she hid, but it also wasn’t something she flaunted. But there’s ‘coming from money’, and then there’s the house she pulled up in front of.
“My dad’s away on business, so it’s not like you’re the only one who would appreciate the company tonight,” Hannah said.
She parked on the street and locked the car. Stunned, I climbed out and stood in front of the townhouse. It looked pretty new, but not being any kind of architect, I couldn’t be sure. Hannah just walked in, and not wanting to seem gawky, I followed. The entryway (or foyer—did people actually have foyers in their house?) had this luxurious white marble that I was scared to walk on in case I dirtied it with my shoes and it was laced with gleaming wood accents.
“So,” I said, trying to act calm, “this is where you live?”
Hannah blushed, her porcelain pale skin flushing a lovely shade of pink. I should have known what she meant by ‘money’ just from looking at her. Her clothes were designer. I had always figured it was like the other students, who bought secondhand and knock-off designer items to afford the looks they wanted, but when I saw her in her element, I knew that Hannah was far from knock-off. Her posture was also much better than mine would ever be and her skin glowing with the poreless beauty of expensive treatments. I should have known.
“This is where I live,” she said, and her eyes were guarded.
She reminded me of someone at that moment, but I couldn’t quite place who it might be.
“Okay,” I replied.
We both stood there, in awkward silence.
“What do you want to do?” Hannah asked like I wasn’t standing in her house, completely at her mercy.
“I don’t know, you kidnapped me,” I reminded her, and like that, the tension was gone.
Her usual easy smile came back, and she pulled me along, apparently not caring about the dirty shoes I was wearing. We didn’t go too far. She dragged me into a pristine kitchen and parked me on one of the stools at the kitchen island. I didn’t say anything as she rummaged through a massive freezer. Finally, she pulled out two ice cream containers and held them up to me.
“Double chocolate cookie dough, or moose tracks explosion?” She offered.
“Moose tracks, every time,” I laughed.
She served me the whole container with a spoon and sat down on a stool opposite me with the other carton of ice cream.
“So, tell me about last night,” she insisted, “I know you don’t want to and we don’t exactly tell each other that kind of crap, but I’m here. So is the ice cream.”
“Wow, we’re really taking this relationship to the next level, huh?” I laughed, but my smile fell short of her serious face. “I was attacked.”
“By who?!” she cried.
“I don’t know, he just jumped me, and was trying to—well, it doesn’t matter, butreally, I’m fine, Hannah,” I insisted, “I just got a little spooked about walking home alone again.”
“You’re telling me you wereattackedlastnight,you broke a finger, you obviously have other injuries, and you don’t think you have areasonto be scared?” Hannah’s voice was incredulous.
I didn’t know how to respond to that. To most people I knew, explaining what my life used to be like wasn’t an easy feat.
“I guess you’re right.”
“I know I am,” she said loftily, straightening up, “besides, I know you weren’t going to come over until the 24th, but at least now we can have a sleepover and all that fun stuff.”
“A sleepover? Are we going to tell secrets and braid each other’s hair?”
“You aren’t touching my hair with that gimpy hand of yours,” Hannah answered with a smile.
I laughed, properly this time. Hannah got it, she understood that not every tragedy needed to be analyzed and sometimes, just sometimes, it was easier to move on than dwell.
Her house washuge.