Plausibility (31 page)

“Who was that, Quill?” Liz asked still standing at the door waiting for her to come in.

“Just a guy from the track
, he’s taking me out to eat tomorrow evening.”

“Don’t you think we should discuss this? Who is he?”

Oh boy. Here it comes. “No. I don’t think we need to discuss anything. I assure you, I can take care of myself.”

“Quill, I’m not going to let you just go off in some truck with a guy that I don’t know.”

“It’s Eugene Patchette,” Reese offered. “He runs the track. Blain says he’s a pothead.”

Really? Fucker wasn’t sharing with her.

“I know who he is, and he probably is a pothead. His uncle Mack was always a pothead. I went to school with him. No. Quill, you’re not going out with him.”

Aquilla snorted and walked up the steps. “Try to stop me,” she said with a vengeance and continued on her way.

She showered and then saw the four missed calls from Seri. She was going to dress and call her back. Seri didn’t give her time.

“What the hell, Quill? I thought things were going good there,” Seri started as soon as Quill answered.

“Let me guess. Liz called you?”

“Yes, she did. You’re not going out with that guy. Your mother says he’s a druggy.”

“My mother doesn’t even know him. And furthermore, he’s never done anything in front of me, so how does she know anything? She knew his uncle.”

“Who is this guy, Quill? I thought you told me everything.”

“He’s just a guy that I have been hanging out with at the track. He’s nice.”

“Do you like him? It didn’t take you long to get over Julius. What the hell?”

“Fuck you, Seri. Julius doesn’t want me. I like him just fine. Is he my can’t live without guy? Fuck no. I’m going to use him, just like you do. He’s going to fuck me tomorrow night whether he wants to or not.”

“Shit, Quill. Don’t do that,” Seri begged. She knew she shouldn’t have disclosed that information. Monica was going to kill her.

“Why? You do.”

“And I’m not normal. Give the Blain guy a try. Your mom said he was hot on your tail, and he was cute. Go out with him. His dad is a dentist.”

“Fuck that. That boy wouldn’t know what to do with me.”

“How old is this guy, Quill?”

“23, what does that have to do with anything?”

“Let me come and get you tomorrow and you can hang out with me for a week.”

“Okay, and I will just wait a week before I fuck Patch. Stop it, Seri. I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself.”

“You’re going to go let some grown man use you for a piece of ass, Quill?” Seri yelled, trying to talk some since into her thick skull.

“No. That’s not what I’m doing. I’m going to use him, just like you do, Seri. What? Now you’re a hypocrite?”

“Oh my God, Quill. Will you stop with that? You’re better than that. Don’t degrade yourself like that.”

“I’ll call you tomorrow. I want to get dressed.”

“Quill
, please don’t do this.”

“Goodbye Seri.”

Really??? Seri was going to jump on the bandwagon now too. Grrrr.

Quill wanted to stay in her room and not go back downstairs, but she was starving and the shared bag of Frito’s with Patch had worn off a long time ago.

She went to the refrigerator and took out a yogurt and peeled a banana, of course Liz had to follow.

“Can we talk about this, Quill?”

“Talk about what? It’s dinner for God’s sake. What do you think I am going to do? I grew up with drugs, I know what drugs are. I probably know more about them than you do, and if its sex you’re worried about, you really shouldn’t be. That too, I am sure I know more about than you do.”

“Quill, you don’t have to be disrespectful to me. I didn’t come in here to tell you that you couldn’t go. I came in to tell you I’d like to meet him first.”

Well, fuck.

Aquilla sighed and dropped to the chair in front of her mom.

“I’m sorry. I just get mad when you try to tell me what to do. I don’t need that.”

“I am your mother, Quill. I’ve given as much as I can give. Do you honestly think I like calling you Quill? I hate it. You’re not Quill. You are Shelby Rimmer. I have given you your way with that. I don’t mention how much I despise the man that took you because I know that you loved him. I don’t say one word about this Julius guy, and I am sure you know so much about sex, thank you to Julius Chavez. I’m doing all I know to do here, Quill, which is pretty much give you your way.”

Quill suddenly felt guilty. It wouldn’t last. She’d learned that pretty quickly. She’d be back to being Quill the very next morning, but at that given moment, she did feel bad. She knew her mother was trying to bend over backwards to please her, and she squashed it every chance she got.

“I’m sorry. He’s a nice guy, and I swear I have never seen him doing drugs. He doesn’t seem like the type to me,” she replied, not that she knew what type of people did drugs. She smoked weed with Seri and she worked for the feds. She smoked weed with Monica and she worked for the feds and had a PhD.

“Can I meet him? And, I would like to know where he is taking you.”

“Sure. I’ll tell him he has to come to the door, and I don’t know where he is taking me. He said something about rabbit food.”

Liz smiled and patted her hand. “Would you like to go shopping tomorrow for a new outfit for your date?”

“Hmmm, maybe, yeah I think I would. Thanks,” she offered, dipping her banana into the yogurt.

“Why do you do that? That’s so gross,” Liz assured her.

Quill laughed and did it again.

<><><>

Great
, the whole fucking family had to tag along. Quill was pissed when she witnessed the conversation over breakfast. Not only was Reese tagging along, so was her dumb little friend. Not just Lil, some girls named Molly, Shawna, Jena, and Sierra too. Not to mention the boys, including none other than Blain. Quill didn’t want to go anymore.

She didn’t understand. Her mother wanted to spend quality time with her but was making her go hang out with a bunch of teenagers. Yeah, forget the fact
that she was a teenager herself; she didn’t see it that way.

“Relax, Quill. Blain and Lil are picking Reese up, and you and I are going in my car,” Liz said
, easing the trepidation that she could read all over her face.  

“What? I don’t care,” she lied. “Can I get my driver’s license?” she asked, standing to pour more coffee.

“I wish you wouldn’t drink coffee, you’re going to stunt your growth, and we can talk to your dad about getting your license.”

“I’ve always drank coffee, and why do we need to talk to him? He doesn’t even live here.”

“Your father and I have always discussed things like that. Just because he doesn’t live here doesn’t mean he’s still not your father.”

“I said I wanted bacon for breakfast. Why isn’t there
any bacon?” Reese interrupted.

“Quill doesn’t like bacon and
it’s not good for you anyway.”

Reese rolled her eyes. She was so sick of everyone bowing down to Quill. “Of course,” she sarcastically spoke. “Let’s stop eating pizza too. You know how much I hate that.”

“Fuck you, Reese. Eat fucking bacon. I could care less what you do,” Quill snapped.

“
Shelby!” Liz yelled.

“Don’t fucking call me that!” Aquilla turned with a reprisal glare.

“You stop talking like that. We don’t use that kind of language in this house, and by George, you’re not going to either!” Liz had enough. She cracked. She couldn’t help it. She had been doing everything under the sun to please this girl, nothing worked. Nothing she did seemed to get through to her.

“Oh, okay, LIZ…I will just use words like by George,” Aquilla retaliated, slamming her chair into the table. She stormed out of the kitchen and up to the bedroom that she hated.

She dug into the closet and pulled the thick envelope full of money from a jacket pocket. She hadn’t touched it since she hid it there when Seri was still there. She ran her thumb over the hundred dollar bills, wondering how much money was in a one inch stack of hundred dollar bills. She was sure it was enough to get her the hell out of here.

Aquilla shoved the envelope in the back of her jeans and ignored her ringing phone with the word DAD displayed across the screen. Of course, call the man you call my father. Fuck this shit. Fuck all of you.

She ignored Seri’s and then Monica’s calls as she shoved her cellphone in her pocket and walked downstairs.

“You’re not leaving this house, Quill,” Liz warned.

“Yes, I am,” she demanded, going to the door.

“Really? You think your fuck buddy is going to stop me. I could kill him with my bare hands,” she assured her, seeing the black pickup truck pull into the drive.

“Quill, stop this. We don’t need to do this,” Liz begged.

“Let her go!” Reese yelled.

“What’s going on, Quill?” Connor asked from the door.

She really called her boyfriend to come and calm her down. Quill couldn’t believe that she called him. What did she think he was going to do?

“It’s obvious that I’m not wanted here. Just let me leave, and you can get on with your happy little family.”

“You’re not leaving, Quill,” Liz stood her ground.

Aquilla shook her head in total outright disbelief. Who the fuck did she think she was?

“Reese, your ride is here,” Liz announced, looking past Connor.

“I’m not leaving you here with her,” Reese determined.

What the fuck? Was she really afraid that Quill would hurt her?
Stupid little cunt.

“Seri’s on her way to get her for few days. I’
m fine. Go be with your friends,” Liz coaxed, wanting her out of there and away from the Quill drama.

Aquilla couldn’t believe it. She walked past Reese, deciding to go back to her room. “Yeah, Reese, I’m going to go with Seri for a few days. Don’t worry about it, it’s what she does. When the going gets tough, she
pawns her kids off on somebody else to deal with.”

Reese swung at her and of course Quill was a lot faster. She grabbed her arm, spun her around and lifted her arm toward her shoulder blades.

“AHHH!” Reese squealed in pain.

“Let her go, Quill!
” Connor demanded, coming after her.

Quill let her go and tossed her toward Connor.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she demanded in a karate stance, ready to take him down.

“I’m not going to touch you, Quill. Calm down and go to your room.”

“Humph, I think you may just be the smartest one in the whole fucking bunch,” Quill replied, turned on her heels and went upstairs. She heard her mother tell Reese to go again. She hesitated, listening at the door. She heard her mother sob, and knew that Connor was holding her. She quietly moved to the top of step to listen.

“I don’t know what to do, Connor,” Liz cried.

“What happened?” he asked, stroking her hair.

“I have no idea. She and Reese got into it and she just went off. She’s right, Connor. I don’t want Seri to come and get her now. I don’t want her to think that I am shoving my responsibility off on someone else.”

“Let her go for a couple days. That doesn’t mean you are passing your responsibility on someone else. It just means you need a breather.”

Aquilla hid her stack of bills back in the jacket pocket and stayed in her room until she saw Seri pull up about an hour later. She watched Connor get in his truck and leave when Seri arrived. She
cracked her bedroom door to listen to the bullshit that her mother was going to disclose to Seri.

“What the hell happened, Liz?” Seri asked, closing the door.
             

“I have no idea, Seri. She was fine. We were planning on going shopping for her date with this thug that I don’t approve of. Nothing good hangs out at that track, but I wasn’t going to stop her. I asked her if she wanted to go shopping for her date and she said she did. She and Reese got into it at breakfast and she just exploded.” Liz spent 20 minutes telling her the things Quill had said and done.

“I was almost afraid of her for a second, Seri. Does she fight?”

Seri made a grunt noise. “That girl should be made to register those damn arms and legs as lethal.  I’m going to go talk to her,” Seri announced. Quill closed her door and sat on her bed. Seri didn’t knock and slammed her door as she entered. She was pissed.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Don’t, Seri. This has nothing to do with you.”

“Pack a bag,” Seri demanded. She couldn’t talk to her yet. She was too mad.

Aquilla could tell she was pissed. She had never seen her so pissed. She did as she was told and threw some clothes into her bag. Shit. She wished she would have gotten the money from the jacket. What if she decided to run and not come back? Could she take the heavy jacket without Seri being suspicious? It was the middle of June and unneeded. No. She couldn’t take it without Seri being guarded. She would ask.