The Fat Girls Club

Chapter 9

Inside the party, everything seems to be back in full swing with the music blasting once again and when I pass the area where the fight between Kallum and Landon took place, it looks as though someone has done a half assed job of cleaning up the glass.

I take my phone out of my pocket and make sure to text Sarai and Valencia and almost instantly they respond with thumbs up, meaning everything is going well. I’m relieved that at least some people are having fun.

I haven’t seen Kallum in what feels like hours and I text the girls letting them know that I’m about to leave. However, I need to find my way to the bathroom to clean up my makeup because one look and my mom will know that I have been crying and then an onslaught of questions that I am not ready to answer will surely follow.

I find one upstairs and when I knock three times, I’m glad to hear no response from the other side. The bathroom is pretty spacious with both a shower and bathtub and white marble running from the floor up until the ceiling. The toilet must be inside its own little room in the bathroom because it’s nowhere in sight, but I do see a door right next to the wall that shares the bathtub. I feel like I’m at a hotel.

I look at myself in the huge well-lit mirror that hugs the entire side of one wall and to my surprise there are no tears brimming my ears. I just look tired. My normally vibrant earthy eyes are dull and lifeless. My shoulders are slumped and all my anger from before has dissipated and left me hollow and more than anything, excited to be in my bed for the next two days.

I do my best to fix my lopsided hair and just give up when it just becomes even more unruly. I need to get braids again. I wash my hands from the sticky feeling they’ve gathered throughout the night and as I’m looking around for towels, I hear a loud thud behind the door by the bathtub.

“Hello?” I call out tentatively, not really wanting to be in a horror movie right now, especially considering the type of characters that almost always die first.

No one answers and I’m tempted to leave but they could need help, especially judging by the sound of that thud.

“Is anybody in here?” I try again but nothing. I inch towards the door and put my ear against it and when I hear violent retching, I swing the door open to find Kallum on the floor, slumped over the toilet.

“What are you doing in here? You scared me!”

“Sorry,” he hiccups and slumps onto the floor next to the toilet.

“Are you okay?” I rush to his side, making sure he doesn’t knock is head on the side of the bathtub or the marble tiled floors. “Let me go and get you water,” I rush out, getting up from my crouched position.

“No.” he sits up, his arm outstretched towards me. “Don’t leave, not again,” he says so softly that I almost miss the second part and I’m about to ask him about it when he’s retching over the toilet again. He stops after a few minutes of m standing there, unsure of what to do. He flushes the toilet and tries to get up but almost falls right over.

“Let me help you up.” I catch him before he falls, and I’m thankful for the wall next to me otherwise we would have both landed face first on the floor. I walk him over to the sink to drink some water and he starts making a back and forth motion with his finger over his teeth.

“You want to brush your teeth?” I ask, my amusement shining through at how cute he’s acting. I try to stay mad at him but how could when he’s acting like a child. It would be pointless trying to talk to him in this state anyway, I convince myself.

When he nods enthusiastically, I have to hold back a giggle and start ruffling through the cabinets and huff in frustration when I come up with nothing.

“There should be one in the basket down here,” He slurs and reaches for the back of one of the cabinets before pulling out a brand-new toothbrush, still in the packaging.

“Oh.”

“It’s not like that,” he defends with a deep frown etched into his brow, but he doesn’t need to explain himself to me, I’m sure he knows where many people’s extra toothbrushes are in their houses. Many girls specifically but I had never expected Heather to be one of the At least I had hoped she wouldn’t be.  

The pang of jealously that hits me catches me off guard. Since Kallum’s surprise return to Silver Oak, I have heard many conversations in the girl’s bathroom about his activities with different girls. So much so that they even compare experiences sometimes, arguing about who he took care of better. I feel sick thinking about that, and I force my jealously deep down to a place where it will never be allowed to see the light of day ever again.

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me,” I vocalize my thoughts, trying my best to seem unphased but I didn’t know he could have a possible history with Heather. No one around school has ever spoken about it and my heart sinks further when he opens one of the many cabinets and knows exactly where the mouthwash it. All that time I cried over him and ordered why he had left me, his supposed best friend, he had kept in contact with her? So much so to even be familiar with her bathroom setup.

“I think I’m going to go now,” I say just as he finishes rinsing his mouth.

I head towards the door, my mind finally feeling much clearer than it did earlier from that drink. Never doing that again.

“You never told me how it happened,” he says, and I pause waiting for an explanation that doesn’t come. I look at him and he’s just casually standing there, still facing the mirror but he’s eyes are locked on me.

“Told you how what happened?”

“That day in the basement,” he clarifies, and my face instantly feels one hundred times hotter, “you never told me how you got there.”

I’m not sure if it’s the amount of drinks he’s had but I would have never expected that question from him. Kallum is not and has never been the type of person to talk about any awkward situation. He would just avoid me until it eventually wasn’t awkward anymore. Much like the time in seventh grade when I got my first my period while playing video games with him and his mom had to take me home after explaining to him why there was blood leaking from my pants and onto his bed.

“Well, you never asked,” I remark. He looks contemplative at that as if actually trying to remember the events of that morning. My stomach starts doing nervous flips when I remember the exact position that he had found me in.

“How did you even know I was down there?” I ask fidgeting with the hemline of my dress under his intense stare. He doesn’t even look to be blinking and his breaths are getting harder by the moment. I have a feeling he remember the position I was just thinking about.

“I just knew,” he utters breathlessly, “when I didn’t see you outside after the alarm had gone off, I knew you would be in your favorite spot.”

My stomach flutters at that and I’m a bit speechless. How does he know where my favorite spot and how did he even notice that quickly that I wasn’t outside?

“I’m sorry,” he rasps out of nowhere and his pupils are completely blown, his eyes even darker than their normal state. The same look he gave me that day in the basement.

He turns around and a small gasp escapes my mouth when I take in his rugged appearance. His hair is all disheveled from the obsessive amount of times he’s probably run his fingers through it. His fingers grip the porcelain sink behind him, and he almost looks as if he’s holding himself back from something.

“Sorry for what?” I tentatively take a few steps towards him, my chest feeling as though it is about to explode. His knuckles go white with how hard he’s gripping onto the sink behind him and something inside of me is propelling me forward, I don’t know what it is but the look in his eyes makes me continue.

“It’s okay,” I whisper, remembering what he said earlier.

I’m not sure what to do with my hands as I’m standing right in front of him, so close that I could lean in and touch my forehead to his chest. I look up at him after taking a few calming breathes and my knees almost buckle at how he looks right now. His bottom lip is tugged back by his teeth and when I glance at him through my lashes he swears and slowly releases his now very plump and very pink bottom lip.

“No, it’s not okay,” he sighs and releases one of his hands from the sink he’s leaning on and runs it up my arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. His fingertips graze my hot cheek and the only thing that can be heard in the room are our small pants that mingle and mix together in the small space separating us.

Our little moment is rudely interrupted by a series of banging that makes me jump away from him, my arms wrapping around myself. I’m prepared for it be one of Kallum’s friends at the door and for him to leave or make up some lie about being in here with me.

“Hey man, I need to puke!” Some guy slurs, banging on the door a few more times. Kallum’s looking at the spot where I was just standing as if just registering now that I’m no longer there. Hi eyebrows are bunched together in a look of confusion and when he looks at me, the look intensifies even further.

“We should go,” I make my way to leave but he steps in front of me blocking my way to the door.

“Piss off!” Kallum yells at the door behind him and the thudding stops not a second later.

 I can’t stop the laughter that erupts from inside me and soon a raspy laugh is mixing with my own and when I accidentally let out a little snort, he doubles over, clutching his stomach.

“That’s not funny.” I pout, playfully swatting at his chest.

“Come here.” He catches my wrist mid-swing, and he pulls me flush against his chest, wrapping his free arm around my waist and my slowly laughter dies out, but I don’t pull away.

His hand lets go of my wrist and finds it’s back to its previous position on my cheek and the touch is so gentle yet firm that I feel a certain urgency behind his touch. His eyes hold mine, searching for something that I can’t quite grasp right now especially with the way he’s holding me so tightly.

“You good?” He asks breathlessly and I just nod, not sure I would be able to get any words out right now. He smirks at that, knowing the effect he’s having on me.

And then he leans in and kisses me and against my better judgement, I kiss him right back.