Post by Dani Marie Cooper on Nov 17, 2011 12:53:25 GMT -5
Dani set her things down by the doorway before she stepped out of her boots and headed towards the kitchen. She’d just finished making Ryan some tacos for lunch, and now she really wanted to make Jake some home made spaghetti, making the pasta and sauce herself. She knew he wasn’t home yet, but that was probably because he was either at the gym or stopping by to see Lance and Kiersten at Lance’s place. It was strange how she had lived there by herself long before Jake had moved in, but now when he wasn’t there it just felt empty . She missed hearing the sound of whatever game was on tv, or whatever video game he was playing, his music, anything. She clicked her tongue a few times in thought before she went into the living room and turned the television on to ESPN, just so it would feel like he was home. Plus, it’d be nice to have it on for him when he did get home. Dani went back into the kitchen, first putting a pot of water on the stove so she could boil it and place tomatoes in there so the skins would peel off easily. Spaghetti was probably one of the easiest things in the entire world to make, but that boy and his damn Italian roots, he loved it. Dani took out the flour , water and eggs to start making the pasta when she looked over at their kitchen and leaned against the counter. She felt so much older than seventeen, but she’d been living on her own for a while. Ever since she was able to support herself financially, gaining the role on Wizards, she’d emancipated herself from her parents. If her mom wasn’t going to get her out of that household, she was going to do it herself. She knew that most seventeen year olds didn’t live with their , older, boyfriends. But she couldn’t remember the last time she actually felt like a kid.
After she finished cutting the dough into the thin spaghetti that Jake would want she headed over to the tomatoes, turning off the boiling water and bringing the pot over to the sink. Dani listened to the sports program form the kitchen, wondering what in the hell was going on with the Penn state coach, and why people seemed to have such differing views on it. She absentmindedly reached over to the drawer, taking out a knife to peel the tomato skins when the phone rang. She dried off one hand on a kitchen towel, reaching over to the cordless phone in the kitchen and answered it, placing the phone between her ear and shoulder. “ Hello?” she questioned, bringing both of her hands back to carving the tomato skin away from itself. ‘ Oh good, you’re home. I was worried this might be a wasted call’ the familiar voice echoed through the other end of the phone, ending in Dani slicing the knife through the tomato entirely and over the side of her fingers. “ How are you calling me?” she asked, ignoring her hand altogether as she felt her chest begin to tighten. ‘ Is that really any way to speak to me? Look, Dani… this case is getting out of hand. ‘ he continued, with no concern at all with the discomfort on her end of the phone. “ How did you get this number?” she pressed on, though now she looked down at her hand and grabbed a towel to wrap around it quickly, throwing the knife into the sink. ‘ We both know that you wanted that, just as much as I did, Da-“ he was able to muster out before Dani hung up the phone and dropped it on the counter in disgust. Her breathing was harsh and she could feel her chest tightening as he took over the same power he had over her for so many nights. Her fingers were throbbing but she wasn’t able to concentrate on anything else aside from how she was going to get away from him. He was in jail and she couldn’t even get away from him. What if the court decided to set him free. Dani looked up as she heard Jake coming in through the front door and looked back down at the counter. She wiped what very little blood there was on the counter and then held her hand in the towel. “ Hi honey,” she said, placing a quick smile on her features before she gave him a kiss. “ I got just a tiny cut. Can you just put the pasta in the water? I’ll be back to finish the sauce in a second,” she said, holding her hand down to her side before she kissed his cheek.
Once she was inside the bathroom Dani took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her night, especially when she was spending it with Jake. She moved the towel from her hand and placed her fingers under the running water of the sink while she looking in the cabinet for some hydrogen peroxide and bandages. After drying off her hand she placed the bandages where the cuts were and looked down at her hand. If only the rest of life was that easy to cover up, put a band-aid over. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Jake was sort of a band-aid for the larger aspects of her life. She’d felt broken and he’d held her together more often than he knew. She bent her fingers to test how much it would hurt when she moved her hand and then shook it out before she left the bathroom and headed back into the kitchen. “ I was thinking..” she started off, moving her hair over to one shoulder as she went back to working on the tomatoes. “ What if after the series finale we went away somewhere for a vacation? Just a get-away for the two of us,” she said cheerfully, taking the last of the skin off of all of the tomatoes before she dropped them back in the pot. There was nothing more she wanted than to get away from everyone, or everything that reminded her of him, the case.
A few hours later the tv had been turned off, the kitchen was clean from their dinner, and she was still refusing to let Jake look at her hand as she got ready for bed. She twisted her hair into a low ponytail with one hand instead of trying to make one look decent and leaned in the doorframe into their bedroom as she looked inside. It was so weird how her life had changed in such a small amount of time. People that she considered a part of her family now,.. Kiersten, Ryan, Lance, Felicia,Claire,Zoe. Even those guys that lived above Felicia and Zoe paired in like an odd set of brothers to her strange family dynamic. Her mother hadn’t believed her, which was part of the reason she wanted to cut off all contact. But this life she was living right now, with these people, there couldn’t be anything better. She smiled as she watched Jake climb into bed and leaned away from the doorframe. “ We’re pretty lucky, right?” she questioned lightheartedly as she crawled into bed next to him and turned the lamp off on her side of the bed. “ I love you,” she said naturally before giving him a quick kiss and laying against her pillows. It took forever, staring into the darkness before her mind was able to put that conversation away and allow her to sleep. It was the same type of darkness she used to remember, laying in bed, waiting when she knew he’d been drinking. Dani licked her lips and readjusted the way she was laying against the pillows, doing anything to get him out of her mind before she fell asleep.
It seemed that there was no real rhyme or reason to what had started everything. Honestly, Dani didn’t even remember the first night it had happened. They all piled together like some sort of horrific montage. But it always started out the same, a drunken stumble down the hallway where she could see the nightlight in the hall flicker from his body moving past it. It was like a signal of what was about to come and always sent her heart spiraling out of control and fear surged through her body. ‘ There’s that beautiful little girl’ he’d always start off, pushing himself away from the door and into her room before he shut the door quietly behind him. There were only a few times where she had tried screaming which were met with his hand over her mouth, and eventually that had stopped because he’d been able to brainwash her into thinking if she loved him then this was normal. But none of it ever felt okay, or normal. His figure moved in the dark, closer to her bed, talking about how pretty she was, how good she behaved. She held her breath, too scared to say anything, to move. He always sat at the end of her bed, his weight shifting through the mattress and that was always when she noticed her silent tears falling against her pillow. Every time he ran his hand through her hair, she turned her head away from him, looking further into the darkness, waiting for it to be over. What were you supposed to do when the person who was responsible for finding the monsters in your closet, under your bed, was the monster in your room. After his fingers left her hair, he always pulled away the blanket, forcibly placing them against the inside of her leg. The only thing more painful than screaming at the top of your lungs, was feeling it inside your chest and not being able to do it. It made you feel captive, burned through your chest, formed tears that you weren’t even aware of. But she could hear it now, the whispers, the telling her to be quiet and be good, that he was going to make everything better.
Dani shot up straight in bed, screaming with everything she had before she looked around the room and held her hand against her chest. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, this wasn’t her old room and he couldn’t have that control over her. It didn’t take long for Jake to wake up after that, and she felt bad scaring him like that. When she turned to look at him she knew she couldn’t pretend to be strong, brush it off, pretend it was nothing like she’d tried to earlier. She reached over, wrapping her arms around him tightly before she burst into tears and buried her face into the side of his neck. Dani knew she was shaking but feeling Jake’s arms around her brought her back to what reality she was in. She had someone who loved her and cared about her, without manipulating or violating her. After she squeezed her arms around him again tightly she laid back down, curling up to his side and chest so that he could wrap his arms around her. His arms felt safer than everything she’d done to get away from her father; the police station, court, new city, everything. She’d do anything to feel that sort of safety, and thankfully she’d found Jake through everything. Some of the choices she’d made to keep him hadn’t proven to be the best, but nothing else mattered as long as she could lay against his chest, smelling the comforting scent of Reaction and hearing his heart beat with his strong arms wrapped around her.
After she finished cutting the dough into the thin spaghetti that Jake would want she headed over to the tomatoes, turning off the boiling water and bringing the pot over to the sink. Dani listened to the sports program form the kitchen, wondering what in the hell was going on with the Penn state coach, and why people seemed to have such differing views on it. She absentmindedly reached over to the drawer, taking out a knife to peel the tomato skins when the phone rang. She dried off one hand on a kitchen towel, reaching over to the cordless phone in the kitchen and answered it, placing the phone between her ear and shoulder. “ Hello?” she questioned, bringing both of her hands back to carving the tomato skin away from itself. ‘ Oh good, you’re home. I was worried this might be a wasted call’ the familiar voice echoed through the other end of the phone, ending in Dani slicing the knife through the tomato entirely and over the side of her fingers. “ How are you calling me?” she asked, ignoring her hand altogether as she felt her chest begin to tighten. ‘ Is that really any way to speak to me? Look, Dani… this case is getting out of hand. ‘ he continued, with no concern at all with the discomfort on her end of the phone. “ How did you get this number?” she pressed on, though now she looked down at her hand and grabbed a towel to wrap around it quickly, throwing the knife into the sink. ‘ We both know that you wanted that, just as much as I did, Da-“ he was able to muster out before Dani hung up the phone and dropped it on the counter in disgust. Her breathing was harsh and she could feel her chest tightening as he took over the same power he had over her for so many nights. Her fingers were throbbing but she wasn’t able to concentrate on anything else aside from how she was going to get away from him. He was in jail and she couldn’t even get away from him. What if the court decided to set him free. Dani looked up as she heard Jake coming in through the front door and looked back down at the counter. She wiped what very little blood there was on the counter and then held her hand in the towel. “ Hi honey,” she said, placing a quick smile on her features before she gave him a kiss. “ I got just a tiny cut. Can you just put the pasta in the water? I’ll be back to finish the sauce in a second,” she said, holding her hand down to her side before she kissed his cheek.
Once she was inside the bathroom Dani took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her night, especially when she was spending it with Jake. She moved the towel from her hand and placed her fingers under the running water of the sink while she looking in the cabinet for some hydrogen peroxide and bandages. After drying off her hand she placed the bandages where the cuts were and looked down at her hand. If only the rest of life was that easy to cover up, put a band-aid over. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, Jake was sort of a band-aid for the larger aspects of her life. She’d felt broken and he’d held her together more often than he knew. She bent her fingers to test how much it would hurt when she moved her hand and then shook it out before she left the bathroom and headed back into the kitchen. “ I was thinking..” she started off, moving her hair over to one shoulder as she went back to working on the tomatoes. “ What if after the series finale we went away somewhere for a vacation? Just a get-away for the two of us,” she said cheerfully, taking the last of the skin off of all of the tomatoes before she dropped them back in the pot. There was nothing more she wanted than to get away from everyone, or everything that reminded her of him, the case.
A few hours later the tv had been turned off, the kitchen was clean from their dinner, and she was still refusing to let Jake look at her hand as she got ready for bed. She twisted her hair into a low ponytail with one hand instead of trying to make one look decent and leaned in the doorframe into their bedroom as she looked inside. It was so weird how her life had changed in such a small amount of time. People that she considered a part of her family now,.. Kiersten, Ryan, Lance, Felicia,Claire,Zoe. Even those guys that lived above Felicia and Zoe paired in like an odd set of brothers to her strange family dynamic. Her mother hadn’t believed her, which was part of the reason she wanted to cut off all contact. But this life she was living right now, with these people, there couldn’t be anything better. She smiled as she watched Jake climb into bed and leaned away from the doorframe. “ We’re pretty lucky, right?” she questioned lightheartedly as she crawled into bed next to him and turned the lamp off on her side of the bed. “ I love you,” she said naturally before giving him a quick kiss and laying against her pillows. It took forever, staring into the darkness before her mind was able to put that conversation away and allow her to sleep. It was the same type of darkness she used to remember, laying in bed, waiting when she knew he’d been drinking. Dani licked her lips and readjusted the way she was laying against the pillows, doing anything to get him out of her mind before she fell asleep.
It seemed that there was no real rhyme or reason to what had started everything. Honestly, Dani didn’t even remember the first night it had happened. They all piled together like some sort of horrific montage. But it always started out the same, a drunken stumble down the hallway where she could see the nightlight in the hall flicker from his body moving past it. It was like a signal of what was about to come and always sent her heart spiraling out of control and fear surged through her body. ‘ There’s that beautiful little girl’ he’d always start off, pushing himself away from the door and into her room before he shut the door quietly behind him. There were only a few times where she had tried screaming which were met with his hand over her mouth, and eventually that had stopped because he’d been able to brainwash her into thinking if she loved him then this was normal. But none of it ever felt okay, or normal. His figure moved in the dark, closer to her bed, talking about how pretty she was, how good she behaved. She held her breath, too scared to say anything, to move. He always sat at the end of her bed, his weight shifting through the mattress and that was always when she noticed her silent tears falling against her pillow. Every time he ran his hand through her hair, she turned her head away from him, looking further into the darkness, waiting for it to be over. What were you supposed to do when the person who was responsible for finding the monsters in your closet, under your bed, was the monster in your room. After his fingers left her hair, he always pulled away the blanket, forcibly placing them against the inside of her leg. The only thing more painful than screaming at the top of your lungs, was feeling it inside your chest and not being able to do it. It made you feel captive, burned through your chest, formed tears that you weren’t even aware of. But she could hear it now, the whispers, the telling her to be quiet and be good, that he was going to make everything better.
Dani shot up straight in bed, screaming with everything she had before she looked around the room and held her hand against her chest. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, this wasn’t her old room and he couldn’t have that control over her. It didn’t take long for Jake to wake up after that, and she felt bad scaring him like that. When she turned to look at him she knew she couldn’t pretend to be strong, brush it off, pretend it was nothing like she’d tried to earlier. She reached over, wrapping her arms around him tightly before she burst into tears and buried her face into the side of his neck. Dani knew she was shaking but feeling Jake’s arms around her brought her back to what reality she was in. She had someone who loved her and cared about her, without manipulating or violating her. After she squeezed her arms around him again tightly she laid back down, curling up to his side and chest so that he could wrap his arms around her. His arms felt safer than everything she’d done to get away from her father; the police station, court, new city, everything. She’d do anything to feel that sort of safety, and thankfully she’d found Jake through everything. Some of the choices she’d made to keep him hadn’t proven to be the best, but nothing else mattered as long as she could lay against his chest, smelling the comforting scent of Reaction and hearing his heart beat with his strong arms wrapped around her.
