As you might guess, the private atmosphere was a bit too inviting for the young couple, and before long clothes had fluttered to the floor and it turned out that they would leave the tiny room with each other’s virtue.
Okay... just kidding.
It did turn into quite the make out session however. Maud was ecstatic to be there with the object of her affections, and Brendon didn’t seem to mine the attention. By the time they pulled away, Maud looked at the violet watch fastened to her right wrist and was shocked at the amount of time they’d spent in lip lock.
“It’s almost 5:30,” she said with a smile to Brendon.
“Proof that time flies when you’re having fun,” he laughed with a wink. She couldn’t disagree with that. Tonsil hockey was her favorite sport.
“Three cheers to that,” she agreed, “but I ought to go home before I get in trouble with the ‘rents, you know?”
“Aw come on, let me take you out for pizza or something at least. I barely know you, let me see what there is to you other than great kisser,” he pleaded.
Maud simply glowed with pleasure.
She was sure there was nothing like a cliché, big hearted boy to make your heart soar like that.
“I’d love to. I’ll just call to tell my parents first.”
They made their way back down the stairs and Maud returned the key. She dug through her zebra-striped bag for her phone and dialed home.
“Delou residence,” a gruff voice picked up.
“Hi Dad... it’s Maud... I’m going out with a friend for pizza today, okay?” she recited, biting her lip.
“What the hell? You think you can just skip our family dinners? Don’t think so. You’d better get your ass back here, you’re already later than usual,” her father barked. She couldn’t help but wince, though she refused to let him ruin a night with Brendon. She layered on the fake cheery for Brendon’s sake.
“Okay, thanks Dad! I won’t be too late! Buh-bye!” she clicked the cell shut after turning off in case her father tried to call her.
Chucking the device back into her purse, she strode back to where Brendon was patiently waiting for her.
“All set?” he questioned.
“Yep, we’re all good,” she answered, as sweet an innocent as could be. So what if Maud happened to be a skilled liar. Brendon grinned and her heart ached a little when she thought of her dad’s harsh response to a date with this sweet guy.
“Cool, you like Bruno’s?”
“Hell yeah!”
That pizza had better be some good shit for what I’m gonna take at home for this, she thought. Thought the boy ain’t half bad...
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Sure enough, the pizza was a good as ever, and it turned out that musical talent was only one of many endearing qualities about Brendon. But also surely enough, there was the tricky part of getting into her house for Maud to face.
She had Brendon drop her off at the wrong house so he wouldn’t have to be part of a huge yelling episode. She snuck up to the side of the house after a kind goodnight kiss and pretended to enter through the side door. She watched him drive away, as he had chivalrously waited for her to get inside safely.
What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.
She had done the wrong house trick many times before, when anyone gave her a lift home. The couple inside her fake home was elderly and never noticed a thing. There was also the advantage of being a stone’s throw away from her real house; she could easily commute between the two even in bad weather.
Trying to avoid conflict, Maud crept thought her front lawn, headed for her bedroom window. She usually was able to sneak in by climbing the old, trusty maple up to her room, but she wasn’t so lucky this chilly October night.
“You! Get in here, you sneak!” her father growled, opening the front door. She decided running was her best option. She could camp out somewhere for the night; she had many haunts and could return to the house in the morning when her father wasn’t there.
Maud’s green Chuck Taylors slammed across that pavement like nobody’s business, but unfortunately her dad was just a little faster. He caught up to her in the middle of the road and grabbed her wrist.
“Little bitch,” he snarled venomously in her ear. She knew screaming and crying wouldn’t earn her pity, but she refused to give in. Maud gritted her teeth and pulled against his iron grip, but the effort was futile. Her father just seized a chunk of her hair and dragged her so roughly through the door that she had to struggle not to whimper.
“You disobeyed me,” he spat. A hard smack was delivered to Maud’s forehead. She felt her ears ringing. “What were even doing, having sex in a bathroom stall, you pathetic whore?”
Another slap. It was harsh, but not a single tear dripped from her eyes. Her dad then released his death grip on her and she fell to the ground, watching him walk away muttering.
Without wasting a moment, she dashed up the stairs to her bedroom. She pushed in the lock on the door and pushed her heavy dresser in front of it for extra security. Her head throbbed.
She dropped her bag next to her bed and pulled of her shoes and socks. Letting her hair down from its ponytail and grabbing comfy pajamas, she walked to her bathroom for a soothing shower.
She had the water running and half of her clothes peeled off when she broke down sobbing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Maud completely lost it. Her vision blurred with salty tears and she collapsed onto the baby blue bath mat. Her whole body convulsed and shook, and she clutched her head with her hands.
The abuse was nothing new. She could see proof of that all over her body; a bruise above her knee a cut running down her stomach, a contusion on her thigh. She learned to deal with it. No one knew about it; her mom was always out or drunk, her friends just thought she was accident prone, and she had no siblings.
Even though she was used to it, today she couldn’t take it. She thought about the passionate, kind way Brendon had kissed her, and then the rough, hateful way her own father had handled her. The contrast was startling and it made Maud think. Brendon has showed more kindness to her in a few hours than she could remember her dad showing her in fifteen years of life.
It hit her hard that night.
She saw him in her head though, and heard his voice singing. She held onto the pleasant memory of kissing him and being so close to him, and she pulled herself out of her ball on the floor and up under the hot, therapeutic running water .
It cleared her mind, and she thought about how she should really tell someone about her life at home.
But she wouldn’t, she never did after thinking about doing it.
The truth was, she was scared of her father. Maud knew perfectly well what he was capable of; she shuddered while recalling the bloody mess the merciless beast had left her a month or two before when she brought home a less than perfect report card.
No, she would keep her secrets.
She could lie when she needed to, and quite well. The fake world she had fabricated for her friends to believe in was fine with her, and she found an excuse to get away whenever someone started asking too many questions.
Not that there were usually too many.
Maud Delou had become sadly adept at applying cover-up over the years.
She would continue to cover up the truth.
