the night we met - benny rodriguez

the night we met

-KATIES POV-
*JUNE 9TH 1993*
it's 10:20 in the morning and my family just took the last boxes out of the house, we were living in Tennessee but my dad got a better job in California so we're moving there, all of my friends lived near so i walked to their houses and said bye to them individually, then i got to my boyfriends, well ex boyfriends house, i don't even know why i went to his house he's too controlling and he even told me "i'm not letting you go katie" which creeped me tf out.

i knocked on his door, already regretting it, then a few moments later there he was looking down at me, i looked at the ground too scared to face him but i could feel his eyes on me, he lifted my head up (aggressively) and told me "you're not leaving me" i move his hand away from my face and said "i don't really have a choice, johnathan" he then got more aggressive and said "you obviously don't care about us if you can just pack up and leave" i was starting to get angry and scared but i had to say something, i couldn't show him that i was weak, "i do care about us" i lied "but like i said i don't have a choice" at this point he was getting more mad for what reason? i have no idea, "fine then just go, i've been cheating on you anyways" i look up starting to tear up "really? we've been together for 2 years johnathan and you just cheat on me like i'm nothing?" "you are nothing katie" he then slammed the door in my face, with that i walked home, crying.

<AIRPORT>
*11 pm*
we got to the airport and waited for our plane to come and while we waited i talked to my big brother, andy, he's 3 years older than me and he knew how controlling johnathan was but i begged him not to say anything to mom and dad, they would've been more furious than andy was.

"katie i'm hungry" andy complained "that's not a surprise" i mumbled "i heard that, wanna go get some food" he asked "yea sure" we then asked mom for some money and walked around the airport looking for burger king, i wasn't that hungry so i just ordered fries but andy on the other hand ordered what he usually gets (basically the whole menu).

we then got our food and started walking back to our parents, "hey what'd that ugly rat say when you told him bye" andy asked "he said that i couldn't leave him and when i told him i had no choice he said he cheated on me" i said tearing up again, i'm not usually like this, i'm usually a tough girl but even tough girls break down once in a while, "that piece of shit" andy said getting mad "i know, 2 years, gone just like that, but maybe he's just joking you know? maybe he only said that cause he was mad" i said trying to give myself hope that i didn't get cheated on "hey you're gonna be okay katie, if he's joking about this, it's not funny, nobody deserves to go to sleep at night wondering why they weren't enough, he's just stupid either way and he's not worth your tears okay?" i nod and andy just hugs me, we weren't that far away from our parents so we just stayed quiet.

*3 HOURS LATER*
it's been 3 long hours and i started to fall asleep until i heard "plane for Tennessee to California boarding now" i've never been so happy hearing those words, me and my family waited to board and we finally got on the plane and i got seated next to my dad, we made a little conversation until the plane started to take off, California here we come.

<CALIFORNIA AIRPORT>
we finally landed and my dad fell asleep on my shoulder so i had to wake him up, "dad" i said slighty shaking his shoulder, no response, "dad" i said louder, still no response, then i quietly yelled, "DAD" he then got up so fast i started to laugh and he was so confused which made me laugh even harder.

<NEW HOUSE>
we finally got to our new house and let me say, it was huge, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a big living room, i was so happy when we first walked in the house, we all claimed our rooms, my parents get the master bedroom obviously, i got the second biggest bedroom with a bathroom connected to it, which i'm surprised about usually andy would want the better things, anyway andy got the third biggest bedroom with a bathroom connected to it, and we made the last room a guest room, my parents room was the only room without a bathroom connected to it but i don't think they cared, we had a lot to unpack but luckily the sun was gonna set in like an hour so we had time to situate everything in our already furnished house.