All Characters are over the age of 18, and are intended to be entirely fictitious. Any resemblance to real life individuals or situations is coincidental.
"Damn it! I told you I wanted you packed and gone by the time she got here!"
Bobbi could hear her brother screaming at Melinda through the front door. Dan and Melinda had been on the skids for over a month, and Dan had finally gotten up the courage to kick her out. Bobbi had gotten proof that Melinda was sleeping around with nearly all of Dan's teammates on the University's soccer team, and had emailed the videos to Dan in the early hours of the morning from an anonymous address.
"Go FUCK yourself, Dan! I'll leave when I'm good and ready! I paid my half of the rent for this month, so this place is as much mine as it is yours until tonight at midnight. If you don't want to be in the same house as me, YOU pack up and get out!"
Bobbi raised her hand to knock again, but heard the unmistakable sound of Dan's footsteps coming down the steps to the door.
"If that's how you want to play it, fine! I'll stay the night with Bobbi, and you can fuck the whole campus in our bed tonight, for all I care!"
Dan yanked open the door, nostrils flaring and fire in his eyes, looking for all the world like a stallion that had just run through a battlefield. He stopped short. His sister was staring into his eyes with such love and compassion that his wrathful façade melted away.
"I hope you don't mind, I kind of just invited myself to stay the night with you tonight." Dan always felt the need to apologize for irrational actions. It was a trait that Bobbi could never understand, as she had always been spontaneous and unbounded.
"Its fine, Dan. Besides, I would rather you were with someone who actually loves you than to try and pretend to be happy for another second with someone you can't stand." Bobbi looked up into Dan's dark brown eyes and felt such a strong desire to be holding and comforting him that she nearly wrapped him up in her arms there and then.
Control yourself, girl,
she thought,
now isn't the time. Not yet.
"If you're leaving, get out and shut the door!
I'm
the one who pays the heat, remember?" Melinda's shrill voice came cutting through the cold February air. Her screaming had a physical effect on Bobbi, and Dan could see it in Bobbi's eyes.
"Come on, we'd better go before she gets violent again," Dan said heavily.
"What do you mean,
AGAIN?
Did that little bitch hurt you!? I'll kill her!" Bobbi was small, but Dan knew what she was capable of when outraged. At a petite 5'3" tall, and near invisible 103 Lbs., Bobbi was deceptively tough and able to dish out a lot of punishment. Bobbi had won five straight regional Jiu Jitsu championships, and was training for her sixth. Dan did his best to hold her back, blocking the door with his 6'1", 210 Lb. frame.
"Settle down, Bobbi. Let's please just go before the neighbors call the police..." Dan nervously looked up the snow-covered street for any sign of flashing lights.
"Fine, but I hope she knows how lucky she is that you were here," said Bobbi quietly. Then, shouting through the still open door, "AND SHE HAD BETTER BE GONE BY MIDNIGHT, OR I'LL REMOVE THE LITTLE WHORE MYSELF!"
With that outburst, Bobbi turned and stomped through the snow and slush to her car and got in. She looked through the window at Dan, still standing in the open doorway, and said loudly through the glass, "Come on, just leave it be and climb in Old Faithful here. I'll make you some breakfast and we'll just relax for the day." Dan gently closed the door and came down to the Jeep that Bobbi had affectionately named "Old Faithful," when she had bought it used three years ago, due to its incredible feat of weathering 17 cold Northeast PA winters without a single accident or major failure (or so the salesman had said.)
Climbing in, Dan looked meaningfully into Bobbi's grey eyes and half-whispered, "Thank you for coming when I called. I need to be with somebody who understands me, at least until I have my emotions back in their box." Dan and Bobbi's parents had died when Dan was 10 and Bobbi was 8, and although they had gone to live with their aunt and uncle in the country, they organically grew towards each other as their only means of emotional well-being. Their grief counselor had told them it was slightly unhealthy, that they should branch out and try to find stability in relationships outside themselves. Their aunt and uncle had called it unnatural, their classmates tried to separate them and force them to create friendships. Nothing had worked, until one day Dan had come home and told Bobbi about a girl he had met on his first day at the high school.
Bobbi remembered the surge of jealous rage she had felt on first hearing about Dan's attraction to that girl, Chelle, her name was. Chelle had perfect hair, perfect eyes, perfect teeth, and dressed in perfect clothes. Dan had described her as an angel of light, even as Bobbi felt darkness rising in her soul. Her mind told her that the feelings were wrong, that of course Dan found this girl attractive. Hell, he was nearly 14 years old, Bobbi was surprised it had taken so long.
But that voice in Bobbi's head wouldn't shut up:
he'll fall for this girl, and forget about you. He'll forget about you, and you'll never have the same friendship you need.
Dan had dated other girls on and off through high school, and had met Melinda his sophomore year at University. Bobbi had gone on a few dates, but had never so much as gone parking with a guy, prompting rumors about her sexual preferences and orientation. None of them were true. She was just waiting. Waiting for Dan, saving her most precious gift for him.
--
Bobbi pulled the Jeep into the garage and used the clicker to shut the door before getting out. Dan was still sitting slumped in his seat and starting into space by the time she got to the door leading into the house, so she turned around and came back. Opening the passenger seat door and stepping up on the running board, Bobbi leaned in close to Dan's face and said softly, "Come on Dan, let's get inside, it's cold out here and I promised you breakfast."
"I'm not hungry, I think I just need to sit still for a little while and concentrate on not exploding..." Dan's voice trailed off as Bobbi kissed him gingerly on the cheek and gripped his arm.
"At least come inside where it's warm, it's gotta be below zero out here." Bobbi guided Dan out of the Jeep and into the apartment she rented, the downstairs of a small townhouse. The living room smelled of apple and cinnamon candles, and was laid out snugly, with two easy-chairs and a full sized sofa that Dan knew folded out into a surprisingly comfortable cot.
