Break My Fall
Authors: Chloe Walsh
Break My Fall
Chloe Walsh
Copyright 2014 by Chloe Walsh
Smashwords Edition
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Table of Contents
Chapter Four: Morning After Itch
Chapter Ten: Avoidance Technique
Chapter Eleven: Surprise Surprise
Chapter Thirteen: Peace Offering
Chapter Fifteen: Hell Will Freeze Over
Chapter Sixteen: Dixon’s Party
Chapter Nineteen: Birthday Girl
Chapter Twenty-one: Wrong Room
Chapter Twenty-two: The Morning After
Chapter Twenty-three: Drunk Hostility
Chapter Twenty-five: Revelation
Chapter Twenty-six: Green Tights
Chapter Twenty-seven: The Phone Call
Chapter Twenty-eight: Louisiana
Chapter Thirty-four: Fresh Start
Chapter Thirty-six: Nosy Professors
Chapter Thirty-seven: Decorations
Chapter Thirty-eight: Confessions
Chapter Thirty-nine:
Anniversary
Chapter Forty-two: Surprising News
Chapter One
LEE
I stood outside the red-bricked two-story house on 13th Street, and with any hope, my new home.
Several similarly styled detached houses sat side by side on either side of the road.
I was stalling.
I knew I was.
The record-breaking heat wave was causing me to sweat profusely, not the ideal look for an uninvited reunion, but it could not be helped.
I had been sitting on a bus with no air conditioning for the past god knows how many hours, in one hundred degree temperatures.
I was happy not to be dead; sweat was the lesser evil.
My desire to bathe overcame my nervousness; I braced myself, stepped forward and knocked.
Muffled footsteps came from behind the white door.
I could see someone approaching from the tinted glass panel in the center, but the distortion of the glass rendered it impossible as to see whom exactly.
Please be her, please be her.
The door swung open.
“Lee?” Oh my god what are you doing here?”
Relief flooded through me at the sight of Camryn Frey.
She was as gorgeous as the last time I had seen her, though much taller and more blonde now.
I hadn’t seen her since she moved away from Montgomery seven years ago. But we stayed in touch, and I was praying for her mercy now, and her bathroom.
“Get in here girl.”
She grabbed me before I had a chance to respond and dragged me inside, encasing me in a massive bear hug.
I forced my body to relax.
I needed to calm down. I was in no danger now.
“I can’t tell you how good it is to see you Cam,” I told her, meaning every word more than she could ever know.
“I actually need a place to stay, temporarily of course. I don’t want to burden you. I just need a few weeks until I can get a job and get on my feet. Will you help me Cam?”
She looked down at me, smiling, “What kind of a dumbass question is that, of course I’ll help you.”
She helped me with my bags; there were only two.
That was all I could carry when I left.
“So, let me guess, you finally got sick of the sticks, and you’ve decided to join me in the land of the living?”
I frowned at her words, and Cam noticed.
I loved my home town of Montgomery, Louisiana. I was a small town girl.
Being here wasn’t a choice.
“Okay, okay that was low. Just warn me beforehand if I’m gonna have you’re crazy ass daddy banging on my door, looking for his baby girl anytime soon.”
A lot had changed since Cam had left.
“Don’t worry,” I said, “Daddy isn’t going to come looking for me.”
He would have to find me first.
“Cool, because not even I am ready to face Jimmy Bennett right now.”
I followed her down a short hallway into what must be the kitchen/dining room.
“This is a real nice place Cam.”
It was. The room was modest in size, the beautiful hand carved oak built in cabinets that were taking up the entire wall from floor to ceiling on the left oozed expensive taste.
A glass sliding door occupied the wall opposite the kitchen door, along with another row of oak cupboards holding a stainless steel sink and glass hob.
Instead of ceiling high cabinets on that side there was a window, looking out on a small patio garden.
“Yeah, it’s pretty sweet.”
That was an understatement.
The heavy set of the kitchen table and chairs looked more expensive than everything in my father’s house combined.
Grabbing two bottles of water from the refrigerator Cam beckoned me to the table.
“You’re actually in luck Lee, we have a spare room.”
I sat down beside her; the large back of the chair swallowing me.
“We?”
Cam grinned, passing me a bottle. She opened hers and took a swig.
“My roommates; Derek and Kyle. We house share. They’re pretty cool guys.”
Oh.
“You share with boys?”
Cam laughed out loud, “Jeez Lee, you’d swear I just told you the devil was camped in the living room.”
I flushed.
“Relax, Derek and Kyle are cool, besides they’re hardly boys, they’re the same age as me.”
The thought unsettled me.
“Maybe this isn’t such a great idea.”
I opened my water and swallowed deeply, trying to push down the hot ball of anxiety rising in my chest.
“This was the best idea you’ve had in years.”
Cam patted my shoulder, “I can’t count the times I’ve asked you to come up here. I still can’t believe you did it.”
I could, thirty four times.
Cam phoned me once a week since she moved away.
We had to be careful to talk at certain times of the day; usually late at night when my father had passed out.
She started asking me to come to stay with her since I turned eighteen last October.
“Yeah this place is certainly different to home. I wasn’t sure I had to right place until you answered the door. Are you sure they won’t mind me being here Cam?”
She swatted her hand at me as if I had said something ridiculous.
“It’s not going to be a problem Lee. I’m dating Derek, so he does what I tell him, and Kyle is always so busy with work and school that he’s hardly here to begin with, so he won’t care.”
Cam was seeing a man she lived with? I could imagine the scandal that would cause back home.
“Besides, you’re gonna love it here. This place is the shit.”
I doubted it. Cam had regaled me with tales of her many adventures while living on ‘The Hill’, all of which made me feel a little queasy.
“Okay, if you’re sure Derek and Kyle won’t mind then I would be very grateful for the room. I will pay of course. I plan on getting a job as soon as possible.”
Cam grinned and clapped her hands, “Excellent, now let me show you our crib.”
I stared blankly, “Crib?”
Cam sighed in exasperation, “Damn Lee you’re sheltered. Haven’t you ever watched MTV?”
I shrugged. I never watched television.
The only set we had at home was in daddy’s room.
Cam stood up and left the kitchen with my bags. I got up and shuffled after her.
“Mine and Derek’s rooms are down the hall, along with a bathroom and wreck room.”
I nodded and followed her up a wooden staircase.
She stopped at the top of a narrow landing.
It was simple in style, painted in a soft shade of green, with a few pictures of bands and one of the rocky mountains ordaining the walls.
“That’s Kyle’s room.” She pointed to first door on the right. It was closed.
“Expect a lot of traffic when he’s home.” Traffic?
“The bathroom is on the left.”
Cam pointed at the door on the opposite side of the hall.
“You guys share the upstairs bathroom, and Derek and I share the downstairs one.”
I grimaced and Cam noticed.
“Consider yourself lucky that your bedroom isn’t downstairs. You only have to share with Kyle. You don’t want to know half the shit I’ve had to clean up after the assholes that visit have used it.”