Authors note: To those detractors that are complaining about typo's and such, this story is being edited by the author, because I couldn't get anyone to step up and help me proof it. So if you want to complain, please become a volunteer editor and I'd be happy to have you help out! Otherwise, please ignore the occasional typo and enjoy the story.
For those of you who need a warning, yes this chapter does have some incestual content.
December 1981
Chapter 10
The flight home was only two hours, but it seemed so much longer. After Patty left last night, I was left feeling confused. I hadn't expected her to say any of what she had. It'd only been a few weeks since Mandy dropped her bomb on me, and if it hadn't been for Patty, I'm not sure what I would have done. No, that's wrong. I'm very sure I would have laid there until I missed enough classes to have to repeat the semester, lost my scholarship, and ended up making this trip home for good. No, I owed Patty a lot. I leaned on her, I let myself become attached to her, I let us become intimate on a regular basis, and now I was surprised that she was falling in love with me? Mandy's friends had always called me naive. I guess they were right.
I was still emotionally reeling from Mandy. There were days I just wanted to sit down and cry. There were days that I did. But every time I did, Patty was there to pick up the pieces. Her girls, as I'd taken to calling them, were with me when she couldn't be, and I was never alone. Not until last night. Not until she left me with that ultimatum.
Had she become my lover or my crutch? Were they actually different? What about Betsy? There was no doubt by the way she greeted me that she still cared very much about me. Did she really love me? Why did she love me to start with? Because I was her crutch? When I was in high school, I thought life was cruel. I've since learned that life can be ever so much more cruel than it was then, just in different ways. One thing I knew, I was NOT ready to love again. I was NOT ready to be hurt like that again. I was NOT going to put my heart out there like that again, to be torn up and destroyed. I didn't know if I ever would be even able to love after this. The hurt was so much worse than anything I had ever imagined, and there was no pill I could take to make it go away or even dull it. The pain was with me every minute of every day, waking or sometimes even asleep. Patty had held me on more than one occasion in the last three weeks, when I'd woken up in tears.
My mind was still swirling when I walked down the jetway and into the terminal. Betsy saw me before I saw her, and when I did see her, she was almost at a dead run toward me. She launched herself at me, almost knocking me over as her body plastered to mine. Her arms wrapped around me, and her feet were off the ground as I stumbled back to catch my balance. The man behind me helped me catch my balance and chuckled softly as he stepped past Betsy and I. Her lips pressed eagerly to mine, and I was quite sure she didn't have a bra on as her nipples hardened and poked into my chest.
"God I missed you!" She said as she broke the kiss some seconds later.
"I missed you too. Mom didn't come?"
"Um. No. She's at home getting the feast of the fatted calf ready! She let me come get you by myself."
"I'm surprised. I really expected her to be here." I said, looking at her face. I could see something in it, something unsettling. I'd had enough hurt, I didn't know if I could handle more. "Somehow, I don't think she let you. What's going on?"
"I think mom should tell you." Betsy said quietly. "Trust me. It'd be better that way."
"Alright." I agreed reluctantly, letting her slide from my arms to let her hook one of hers in mine. We walked out of the airport and found her car. The wind was cold and there was a light snow blowing around. She tossed me the keys and I climbed into the driver seat. She climbed in the passenger side and then scooted over next to me, pressing herself as much to me as she could. Her legs had to be cold in the short dress she had on, especially pressed to the icy cold vinyl seat material.
"How were the last couple weeks. I missed your call last week." She said as I started the car and pulled out of the parking space.
"Yeah, I tried to call but mom didn't answer."
"Oh. Yeah. So, how were finals?"
"Good enough I guess. I passed calc, thanks to Patty. I almost didn't, not after Mandy, well, after she dropped the news on me that is. The last few weeks have been pretty hard."
"I imagine. I talked to her mom. It's been pretty hard on Mandy too, but she won't talk to me. She was so in love with you and her mom says she feels like she let you down, that she...that she threw both your lives away over one stupid sex game. She's talking about dropping out of school, but her mom won't let her. She says she needs to keep going so she can support herself if something else happens."
"Something else, like this dick that knocked her up abandons her?"
"I'm not sure I would have put it quite so eloquently, but yes."
"Sometimes I'm not sure I want to talk to her, or to even know what's happening. Other times I desperately want to talk to her. I don't really know what to do. Sometimes I think about her I start crying again, other times, I tell myself I don't really care, but I know I do. I had no idea something could hurt so much without leaving a single mark on you. Hell, getting beat up by her dipshit boyfriend didn't hurt this much."
"I told you, I'd always be there for you. I meant it David. I'm here for you. If I could, I'd come out there and be with you, but I have to finish my school here. Only another eighteen months or so and I'll be certified and I can go anywhere in the country I want."
I pulled the car off the highway onto the shoulder. "Betsy, are you suggesting that you'd come out and live with me out there?"
"If you still want me then." She whispered, stroking my arm with her fingers. "You don't have to decide now. You have plenty of time to make that decision. I just wanted you to know before you talked to your mom, okay?"
"Betsy, what's going on? Mom didn't say anything was wrong."
"She didn't want to mess up your finals." She said quietly, pausing for several long seconds before continuing. "David, your dad left your mom."
"Why would he do that? I thought he loved her." I said in shock.
"So did she. Apparently on all his traveling he met someone else and he got her pregnant. He's got a family in Texas now. Your mom told him he had to choose. He did. He moved out two weeks ago."
"Oh shit." I swore quietly. "And she didn't tell me? I'd have come home!"
"That's why she didn't tell you." Betsy whispered.
I pulled the car back onto the highway and drove the rest of the way home in silence. Yeah, life could be so much more cruel than high school.
When I walked in the house mom came to me with her arms open, drawing me into a huge hug. "So glad you're home!" She said cheerfully, as if nothing was wrong.
"Hey mom." I whispered quietly. "It's good to be home. I'm sorry your life is tospy turvy now."
"What? Over you and Mandy?"
"No. I know mom. Betsy told me." I whispered.
She hugged me tighter, turning her head to rest it on my shoulder. "It isn't your fault. This is all on him. I'm sorry that you have to deal with this and with what happened with Mandy at the same time. I'm so sorry about that too. I never would have thought it would turn out like that."
"Me either. But I'll be okay. I have good friends helping me through it."
She pulled away enough to look at my face and smiled. "Betsy told me. I'm not really surprised. You always attracted women like flies with your kindness."
I chuckled. "What a liar. You know I didn't even have a steady girlfriend until Mandy."
"Well, you SHOULD have attracted them like flies." She said, still smiling. "I cooked your favorite for dinner. Slow roasted pork roast."
"Mmmmmm. You're always so good to me."