Chapter 3 --> It's My Party, I Can Cry If I Want To
Chapter 3 - It's My Party, I Can Cry If I Want To
"Donnie muttered, "You're new." "No, actually, i'm Chloe. But it's nice to meet you, too." Chloe grabbed an unopened beer off of the counter and glanced up at Donnie with a crooked smile while turning and slowly walking across the living room to Lynn and her minions. After Chloe was gone, Donnie realized he had been holding his breath the entire time she had stood with him, and gulped in a deep breath. Don's buddy Reese from phys. ed called to him, "Hey Bills, stop imagining the new girl naked and take this shot." Donnie quickly snapped back to his surroundings and replied, "yeah, man. Pass that little baby on over to papa." Donnie continued his binge drinking for a couple more hours, then realized he needed a cigarette to stay awake.
Outside on the front stoop, Nick had Chloe cornered on the far side of the porch. She looked uneasy and said "Nick, you have a girlfriend. I want to go back inside and pretend this never happened. Just let me go." From growing up in a wreck of a household, Don had trained himself to be very emotionally and physically attentive. It was a survival tactic. A defense mechanism.
When Donnie saw Chloe try to step around Nick, Nick shoved her against the railing, and Donnie quickly pushed his way through a group of jocks and towered over Nick. Donnie grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth and with his other hand held Nick by the neck. Donnie had his cigarette positioned an inch from Nick's eyeball and in his deep voice, threatened, "Touch her one more time and you'll be too blind to ever dribble a basketball for the rest of your pathetic life." Donnie released his grip after glowering at Nick for a couple of moments, and Nick started choking for air. "Fuck you, Donnie. You don't know shit about me. And i'm glad to see you turned out to be just as much of a piece of white trash as your daddy." Nick turned around to walk away, and just before Donnie catapulted himself onto him, Chloe stepped in front of Donnie. Placing one of her hands on his chest, she looked him straight in the eye. Donnie had never been this close to her, and couldnt believe how beautiful she was. She made his thoughts completely wash away anything having to do with Nick.
"Donnie, right? That's your name? Donnie Billingsley?" "Ye-yeah, thats me." Chloe stepped back, and almost looked embarrassed. She was silent for a moment before whispering, "I don't think I want to be here anymore." "Did you drive here? You got a car?" Donnie asked her, but she shook her head and said "Lynn drove me. But i'm pretty sure she's going to sleep over at Nick's tonight. And I dont think I could even look her in the face right now." "I'll drive you home...it's no problem, where do you live?" "Just around the corner, off of Wicker. But even though I dont know you that well, I can tell when a boy is completely shitfaced." Donnie realized she was right. Trying to make his wasted mind think, he remembered all of the extra rooms upstairs. "Do you want to go upstairs? It's quiet up there, and i'll stay with you so youre safe. Just give me an hour or so and i'll be good to drive you home." Chloe stared out at the front yard for a moment, mulling over his question. Finally, she answered, "Yes. yes please. Donnie...can I trust you?" Donnie replied, "I'm the only guy here that you can trust."
Chapter 4 - Ms Sunshine
Donnie led Chloe up the narrow staircase onto the second level, and into a room with a queensize bed that was totally vacant. Chloe walked in after Donnie, and closed the door and locked it. "Afraid that monsters are going to get in?" Donnie mused, and Chloe shrugged, waving her hand in the air as if she was too tired to talk. Chloe laid on top of the bed, and Donnie sat at the end of it, with his legs sprawled out in front of him. He took out his lighter and started playing with the flame, not really sure how to break the silence. "So...Donnie, I've heard a lot about you." "You've only been at school one day, how is that possible?" Donnie grinned. "Well apparently youre someone that EVERYBODY knows. Like it or not." Chloe smiled back. "So...what have you heard?" Donnie asked. "Well...you're a party animal, for starters. All of your bros like to call you Billingsley. You're a star football player, who's on and off lately...but when you're on, you dont disappoint. Oh , and you get around with the ladies...a lot." Donnie grunted, and stared towards the window. "So do you approve of these rumors?" Donnie thought for a moment, putting his lighter back into his back pocket. "Well what about you, ms sunshine? Where are you from and what are you doing here?" Chloe shrugged again and said, "My dad is in the military. We got stationed here, and were supposed to live on base, but I refused. I didn't want to go to school with a bunch of army brats." "Well, where are you from?" Donnie asked. "I'm from southern California. A place called Forest Hollow." "Do you miss it?" "I dont know..." she responded, "I havent really had much time to think about it yet."
"Look Donnie..." Chloe got on all fours and crawled across the bed and sat directly in front of Donnie, but she didnt do this in a sexual way, that Donnie had seen plenty of times before. She did it in a sweet, endearing way. Chloe rested her hand on his knee, and said "I havent thanked you yet." "For what?" Donnie asked. "You know what. For sticking up for me. For defending me when Nick was trying to push me around. I figured moving to the midwest would be nice, you know, southern gentlemen for a change. But that hope was smashed when Nick was yelling at me. But then I saw you. And...well you changed my mind." Donnie sat silently for a moment, and stared down at his jeans. Then, he felt something cool brush the side of his head. He looked up, and saw that Chloe had her hand weaving gently through his hair, and was smiling to herself, like she was daydreaming about something funny. Donnie could no longer control his impulses, and reached up and grasped her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing it twice before letting it go. "It was a pleasure sticking up for you, ms. sunshine. And besides, if I hadnt, I wouldve never gotten this opportunity to get to know you better. Away from all the douchebags and the shitty music." This made Chloe blush, and start giggling. "You ready to go home? And get some rest?" Donnie asked her. "I guess so...yeah." "Uh, that dont sound real convincing." "Well..." Chloe started to say, "...I told my parents I'd be spending the night at Lynn's. And I think they might hate me if they see me walk in the door at 2 am with the smell of Jack Daniels and cigarettes all over my clothes. Maybe I can stay at Cassidy's...crap I dont have her number. I'm going to have to ask Lynn." Chloe started to get up to go downstairs and talk to Lynn, when Donnie grabbed her by the arm. "You can stay at my place. I live only about 5 minutes away, pretty close to Permian High. My dad will be passed the hell out by the time we get there. And I have a couch i'll sleep on. You can sleep in my bed."
Chloe thought to herself for a second, and said "Well I've never spent the night at a boy's house before." "Well, it's the first time I've spent time with a girl who hasn't." Chloe laughed her hearty high pitched laugh, and play punched Donnie on the chest. "You're gonna have to let me borrow some clothes to sleep in, cowboy. There's no way i'm going to be able to dream about unicorns and rainbows with this skin tight tank top and skirt on." Donnie opened the door for her, and they made their way outside and to Donnie's beat up car.
"Nice ride! Do I get to drive?" Chloe beamed. "No way, princess. I'm sober now, and you get to feel the wrath of my Nascar skills." "Oh dear Lord," Chloe sighed. "Just get me to your place in one piece. I escaped getting a black eye once tonight, I don't need a chance to get another one." Donnie laughed, and opened the door for her. On the drive home, Donnie put on an alternative rock station, the only one they had in Odessa. He blared the music, and lit a cigarette. "One Headlight" by the Wallflowers streamed out of his speakers, and as he listened to the lyrics, he glanced over at Chloe and saw her hair blowing wildly in the warm Texas air.
"It always seemed such a waste,
she always had a pretty face,
and i wondered why she hung around this place..."