Road Less Traveled

“I cannot believe you!” my mom gasped. I took a sharp breath in, sitting on the couch with my head in my hands.
“Mom, please.” I whispered. Mike and Carrie watched me cautiously from the kitchen.
“No, Emily. You need to listen to me. I can’t believe you were stupid enough to throw all of this away. You had almost a full ride and you threw it away for a boy.” She screamed.
“Sorry.” I whispered, hanging my head and disconnecting my phone.
“Em-” Mike started.
“No, it’s whatever. Her time and money I wasted. No big deal.” I shrugged and began walking to the guest bedroom that I had been set up in. Carrie promised me we would go shopping, decorate it a little and spruce it up so I’d have it for as long a I needed to stay. However, I didn’t know how long I’d be staying and I was too afraid to admit to forever.
I spent hours in my room and watched the sunset across the Nashville sky. I hadn’t gotten anymore calls from my mom, and as far as I knew the house was empty. Mike and Carrie had taken Isaiah to get some dinner. When Carrie popped her head in my door to ask if I wanted anything, I pretended to be sleeping, but as time passed, I was growing ravenous.
“God, there’s nothing in this damn house.” I hissed, pushing past cans and containers of baby food. That seemed to be the only thing that my brother seemed to eat, and I’d be damned if I was to eat pureed sweet potatoes. Running out of options, I reached for my phone.
“Hello,” James answered, his voice groggy, deep, and laced with sleep.
“Hey sunshine. Why are you sleeping?” I asked, grabbing a gatorade and giving up on finding food in this house.
“Probably because I’m spent from the last two days and my asshole captain almost punched me out this morning.” He laughed, waking himself up.
“Well, can the sister of this asshole captain get some dinner with the guy he almost beat up?” I asked.
“They only have baby food?”
“Yeah. I’ll order a pizza. Wanna watch a movie?”
“Sure, I’ll be there in 20.”
Mike, Carrie and Isaiah were still out by the time James and I finished a six-pack and a pizza.
“You can’t even legally drink and you can hold your booze better than me.” James laughed, his eyes glossy and slowly closing. The hockey game on TV became background noise as I stared up at the man in front of me.
“Do you ever get tired of hockey?” I asked. James shrugged and stretched his long arms over the top of the sofa. He teasingly tapped my shoulder, and as if I was answering his wordless request, I moved closer to him.
“I don’t know. Like, I could play the game every single day for the rest of my life and not have any second thoughts about it. It’s just the lifestyle, the persona and shit that comes with being a professional athlete. I’m sure you’ve heard rumors and seen stories about me, your brother, other guys on the team. It sucks because it totally screws with your personal life as well.” James explained, staring at the TV as a way to avoid my piercing eyes.
“I guess that makes sense.” I whispered.
James nodded and draped his arm over me and pulled me closer to his chest.
“I want you to know, you’re a part of this lifestyle now. As much as I want to keep you out of it, because you’re living here and you’re home with Mike, you’re life will be just as interesting. The fans will dig up dirt, plaster your face on anything, lie about you, about me, they don’t want to see you near their heroes.”
“What’d they do to you?” I asked, dropping my hand over his tattoo covered arm. I began tracing the colored outlines, feeling goosebumps rise under my touch.
“They ended a relationship, forced my family to either delete or hide social media, they’re just vicious.” He whispered, tilting his head so it was resting closer to mine.
“I’ve been through hell and back, James. I won’t let some teenagers hurt me.” I promised. He laughed lightly and tightened his grip around me.
“What did that jackass Lucas do to you?” James asked. I shrugged, boring my eyes into his arms. Noticing that he hit a touchy subject, James began to whisper reassuring words and apologies.
“I’m sorry, Em. It’s none of my business, I just-”
“No, I mean you’re gonna find out eventually.” I whispered. “He just- he was emotionally abusive. He put me down a lot, would tell me I wasn’t smart enough, the whole nine yards. I believed him, I mean he was the only voice I heard for two years. He told me all the time that I was a burden to him and my family. I guess I had just given up on myself.”
James shifted uncomfortably and I could feel his anger radiating off of onto me.
“I hate him.” We whispered at the same time. I looked up at James and gave him a weak smile. I saw rage, pity, sadness and even a little bit of hope flick through his eyes.
“What made you leave?” He asked, taking one of my hands in his.
“Um, I just-” I paused to take a deep breath. “I woke up one morning and he wasn’t home so I literally packed all my shit up, dropped out of college and drove as far away as I could.”
“So that’s why you came here.” He said, more as a statement and not a question. I nodded and leaned in so my head rested on his chest. I pulled my legs onto the couch and tucked them under me.
“I came here to get away from that monster.”
“Good. You’re safe here, Emily.” James promised. I nodded, letting him lightly kiss my forehead.
I didn’t remember when I fell asleep, but when I woke up at 2 am, I felt the body of whoever was next to me stir. I tried to straighten up, pushing away the arms of the other person. James.
“Oh my god, James!” I hissed in a whisper. I began to shake him to wake up.
“What? What’s wrong?” He jumped up, but was instantly pushed back down by sleep.
“We fell asleep.” I groaned.
“I know, you fell asleep first though.” He grunted, closing his eyes. “Mike said it was okay. Go back to sleep.”
“I’m not comfortable. My neck hurts.” I pouted. James opened one eye, cracked a light smile and sat up.
Mike’s couch was one of those large, L-shaped convertibles. James moved into the corner, stretching his body out and letting me curl into his side. I pulled my knees to my chest, rested my head in the crook of his neck and sighed contently.
“Comfortable?” James laughed and wrapped his arms around me tightly.
“Mhmm,” I mumbled, reaching out and holding onto his bicep. James shook gently with laughter before giving me a tight squeeze.
“Goodnight, Em.”
“Night, Nealsy.”

Notes