Motel 6 // n.h

[1] Escape

"Avery Holmes, will you go to homecoming with me?" Jake asked, his hair that usually stuck up in the back all slicked down, a dandelion weed extended out towards me. I giggled, Jake was someone who was always cheesy and yet adorable at the same time.

I was so afraid about not being asked to homecoming. I don't even know why, but something about being asked just gave me confidence in myself. So when he asked, I didn't hesitate to say yes. And then he kissed my cheek and told me that his mom would pick me up in his minivan.

I didn't even care that I'd be showing up in a minivan, because Jake Yoder would be my date. Girls would see me with him and immediately hate me because I had my claim on him, which shouldn't have made me giddy but it did.

That was the beginning.

"Look, Aimee, you need to wear a shirt." I sighed, glaring down my three year old daughter. She was almost as stubborn as me, which made it incredibly difficult to even do the simplest things with her. She shook her head vigorously in protest.

"But how come daddy gets to go to bed without a shirt?" Aimee pouted. She still was yet to understand why boys could go around without shirts and why girls couldn't. I tried and tried again to tell her, but every morning she'd come to wake me up without a shirt. Whenever I told her no, she'd always have the same excuse; "But I'm too hot in my shirt!"

I shook my head, giving up because it was already way past Aimee's bedtime. Jake still wasn't home yet, and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It could mean one of two things; he was hanging out with friends, or he was drinking with friends. I hoped that it would be the latter but that was highly doubt-able.

I crawled into Aimee's bed beside her and wrapped my arms around her. The tiny bed creaked and groaned like always, and Aimee laughed like always. She thought it was probably the funniest thing in the world how her bed 'was talking'. I never told her that her father was too cheap to buy her a good, sturdy bed.

"I love you to the moon." Aimee whispers, kissing my cheek and burrowing her face in my chest.

"I love you to the moon and back." I say, laying back on the pillow.

To most people, we looked like a regular, happy family.

But we definitely were not.

"It'll be fun!" Jake whined, pulling on my wrist. I groaned and shook my head, trying to get free of him. The Tigers, our school football team, had just won another game; keeping us undefeated. There was going to be a huge after party at someone's house, and I knew that my mom would be furious if I went.

Jake had gone from a sweet boyfriend to an overcontrolling monster.

"Seriously, I'm tired." I lied, even adding a fake yawn to make it sound believe able. He rolled his eyes and walked me to his beat up Chevy that smelled like Doritos. I sighed, relieved that I wouldn't be pressured into going to this party. He knew that I hated parties.

"You're a baby." He growled, putting his keys into the ignition. I frowned and kept my eyes trained on random objects outside of the window when I felt his arms wrap around my waist, his lips at my neck. "You don't want me to be upset, do you? It's one little party, Ave."

I shook my head again.

"Jake, seriously." I warned, my tone suddenly becoming more stern than I meant it to be. "I don't want to go okay? We can go back to my house and watch a movie or something!" I tried to sound enthusiastic, hoping to get his mind off of why he was mad. He only shook his head and dug his nails into my skin.