Hope's Chance(90)

I caught Buffy looking at me. The worry in her eyes was obvious. She knew I was about to lose it.

I could hear a woman laughing in the kitchen and felt the tears accruing. Before it was obvious to my dad, I excused myself.

“I am just going to go upstairs for a bit. It isn’t like I can drink wine with you all.” I admitted.

“I think Hope should be allowed to have a glass of wine with us Mark. It isn’t like she will be driving.” Buffy stated.

“She can have a glass at dinner.” He said.

I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs to my room, hearing Susan laughing even when I made it to my room, made me want to get in my car and drive away.

I flopped down on my bed and began crying my eyes out. I don’t know why I couldn’t handle things, I knew he wasn’t doing anything with her, but it hurt so much anyway.

I hadn’t realized that I had fallen asleep until a knock at my door woke me up. Chance came walking toward me. “Hope baby, are you okay?”

“No! I can’t stand it. I hate her for touching you. This isn’t fair. I feel like a kid being punished.”

“They asked me to come get you for dinner. Hope I am so sorry she is here.” He confessed.

I finally looked up at him. He knew I had been crying, it was obvious. “She is sleeping in the pool house Chance.”

“The hell she is. No f*cking way Hope. I won’t let that happen.” He promised.

I started to feel better just hearing him say he wouldn’t allow it.

He leaned down and played with the ring on my finger. He brought it to his lips and kissed it. “You are my future and nothing will come between us Hope. Please know that.”

“Okay.” Was all I could say. “Is dinner ready now?” I finally added.

“Twenty minutes.” He said. Chance leaned down further and pressed his lips against mine. “I love you Hope. The only person who will be in my arms tonight is you.”

I watched Chance walk out of my room and I got myself out of bed. I ran over to the mirror and started doing my makeup to hide the redness. I decided to change my clothes, for some revengeful attention at the dinner table. I wouldn’t be treated like a child.

The tight black dress was low cut and accented every curve of my body, especially my large breasts. Susan could kiss my ass. I had one feature that she did not and I was fully prepared to have Chance staring at them during the whole meal.

I let my hair fall down my back and the natural curls fell right into place.

The voices were coming from the dining room, so I ran into the kitchen. I took two shots of some white liquor that my father drank with coke. They went down smooth and since I hadn’t heard anyone calling me, I took one more shot.

My hands ran down my dress and I made sure it was sitting perfectly as I walked into the room. Everyone stopped talking. Chance was in the middle of taking a drink and he started to choke.

“Hope you look amazing.” Buffy announced. She pointed her hand to sit across the table from Chance. “Sit down. I poured you a glass of red. I hope you like it.”

“Thank you.” I tried not to make eye contact with Chance, but I could feel his eyes burning into my body.

When I caught a glimpse of Susan, she seemed to also be staring me down.

Most of the dinner discussion was Buffy and Susan reliving their youth through stories. They included Chance in a few, but after the first bottle of wine, I noticed Susan getting a bit too open about her and Chance sneaking around when they were younger. At one point, he actually got up from the table and got himself a beer.

The liquor was really showing it’s ugly face by the time dessert was served. Buffy had made some fancy shit that she probably spent hours making. I could barely feel my fingers, so poking at the pretty designed cake was funny. I found myself laughing out for no reason.

“Hope are you okay?” My father asked.

I was sick of hearing that bitch talk about all the places she had f*cked my boyfriend. I looked up and smiled. “Just dandy Daddy.”

Chances stare burned into me and I couldn’t help but laugh at him. In fact, I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Hope what is wrong with you?” My father demanded. “You couldn’t be drunk from one glass of wine.”

“Plus some shots!” I said while still laughing.

Chance looked upset with me. I couldn’t have him mad at me. He tried to mouth me the word sit down, but I stood there staring at him.

With no regard for us or our future, my drunk self did something horrible. I pointed across the table at Chance and Susan.

“Do you want to hear about my first time?” My body started swaying and in the corner of my eye, I saw my father coming at me. “My boyfriend forced me to sleep with him and after several attempts he raped me while other kids at the Country Club sat there watching. Then he f*cked my best friend the same week.”

My father had come up behind me and grabbed me. He was pulling me out of the room apologizing to everyone for my actions.

“Let go of me.” I screamed.

“You are embarrassing yourself Hope. What is the matter with you? Why would you drink so much? Did Trevor try to call you? Do you miss him?” He asked.

I stood on the first step and looked my dad in the eye, by this time Chance and Buffy were standing in the doorway. I looked over at Chance. “I miss my boyfriend. I wish we were together but we aren’t. He is with someone else now.” I cried like a little baby. My dad didn’t know I was talking about Chance and my drunk self couldn’t determine what I was even saying. He obviously wasn’t really with her.