♥Chapter 38: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ꜱʜᴇ ʜᴇʟᴘꜱ ᴘɪᴄᴋ ᴀ ᴅʀᴇꜱꜱ♥

✿Kennedy✿

Toothy's house is, in simple words, gigantic.

I'm not even exaggerating. She lives in a freaking mansion!

Alex rolls the car into the driveway and stops, cutting off the engine.

Jake and I get out from the backseat.

I gaze at the mansion in front of me.

A hand clasps mine and I turn my head to see Jake, holding my hand in one hand and a bag in the other filled with our clothes, his college books, and a few of my stuffed toys.

We had a huge argument about how he couldn't take his college textbooks. It's a holiday for God's sake! He's supposed to be enjoying and completely forget about his college work and panic about it on the last night of the holidays.

But no, he just has to be the nerd!

Hot nerd.

In the end, he said, if he wasn't allowed to take his textbooks with him, I wasn't allowed to take my toys with me.

So yeah, in the end, we settled on an agreement and decided to take only three textbooks and three toys.

His relatives wanted us to live in the same house for a few days until the holidays were over.

I'm gonna be living in a mansion for a few days!

We walk into the mansion, with Alex following behind us.

A long and wide living room greets us with a few of Jake's relatives seated on the sofas.

"Finally!" Aunt Emma greets us as she stands up and places two kisses on Jake's and my cheeks.

She hugs Alex.

My eyes widen when my cheeks get kissed a billion more times by the rest of the ladies of the family members.

Jake's eyes flick to me and a corner of his lip tugs up. He notices me watching him and looks away.

"What?" I ask.

"You've got lipstick marks all over your face."

"You've got lipstick too." I point out, rubbing my face.

He rubs at his face too.

"Mi gente favorita!"

A loud voice booms throughout the halls and I look up to see Cole and Corey descending the steps, both together with their arms around each other's shoulders.

"¡Mis personas favoritas también!" Corey exclaims after Cole before whispering to Cole, "They both literally beg for me to let them get on their knees for me."

Cole nods in appreciation, "Who wouldn't, man?"

Jake rolls his eyes while my face turns slightly red remembering how Jake got on his knees in for me.

Corey and Cole walk toward us, but someone beats them to it.

"Sorry, but I need her," Toothy grabs my hand and pulls me away from the boys.

"I didn't get to hug her!" Cole shouts after Toothy.

"I did. Before." Corey says, "It was amazing."

Jake glares at them.

"Oh by the way," Toothy says to the boys before pulling us around a corner, "I said that accidentally. I'm not sorry."

Saying that, she pulls me into a few hallways before we reach a door. Her bedroom.

She pulls me inside before closing the door.

"You've got a big house," I compliment.

She shrugs as if she doesn't really care.

"So what's up?" I ask, taking a seat on her bed.

"I need suggestions on what to wear." She plays with a strand of her long glossy brown hair.

"Oh okay."

She seems nervous and her fingers seem to get a little violent with her hair.

She takes in a deep breath before looking at me.

"I have a date." She states.

Do I squeal?

Yes.

"Who?" My face lights up like a Christmas tree.

"Tristan, obviously." She replies, two tiny spots of pink on her cheeks.

"Who now?" I blink.

Toothy raises her eyebrows at me as if waiting for something to happen.

And it did happen.

My memory caught up with me, that's what happened.

"Oh that Trsiten!"

She nods.

"When is this date?" I ask.

"Tomorrow." She replies. "But I wanna prepare everything today itself so tomorrow goes smooth. I...haven't been on dates...since a really long time." She bites her bottom lip, a crease of uneasiness appearing between her eyebrows.

"Why not?" I ask.

She smooths down the invisible creases of her stunning floral cream dress, taking in a steady breath, "I...I think you've heard this already considering there's always rumours and all." She bites her bottom lip again.

I straighten my back, preparing my ears to be wide open for her.

She takes a seat in front of me on the bed, taking a moment before looking at me, "I was...raped when I was thirteen."

My mouth drops open.

I knew Toothy was raped...but she was raped when she was thirteen...?

"Oh Toothy." Tears start forming in my eyes and I move to sit directly beside her, putting my arm around her.

She doesn't give in to me yet. Her body sits upright, rigid and erect.

"I didn't tell anyone because the guy threatened me not to." Toothy continues with a hard look, "He said he'll slap me and rape me again if I spoke to any one of this." She squeezes her eyes shut. Her hand suddenly flies into mine and grasps it tightly. "He continued touching me...in places, putting his mouth on me whenever he wanted."

My heart clenches so hard.

"A year later, I couldn't handle the abuse and torture. He tried to rape me again, but I ran and landed myself in Jake's house. The guy knew I told everything to Jake. He fled the next day."

"I'm so sorry this happened to you." A few tears fall down my face but Toothy doesn't cry. Even if her eyes turn glossy with unshed tears.

She looks angry and frustrated.

"He was my uncle," She continues, "My mom's brother. He said if I told this to anyone he'll lie to my mom about me being a slut and sleeping around with boys at my school. My mom and I already had a really rickety relationship. She'd believe him over me."

But she was just thirteen then, wasn't she? Her mom would still believe him over her?

Toothy's hand slips away from mine and tightens into fists.

"My mom left anyway after a few months. He tried raping me again but that's when I had enough. That year was the most traumatizing year of my life. I'd flinch with anyone near me. I'd start getting panic attacks if I feel like anyone was too close to me. I'd scream if any guy accidentally touches me. I was a wreck."

"What did your dad do?" I ask. "Did you tell him too?"

She nods. "I told my dad everything after telling Jake. He broke down for me. He tried his best to make up for not noticing what was going on with me the whole year. He always thought the bruises on my arms and legs were from playing Volleyball or Ballet, that the reason I was always so quiet and terrified was because of my mom fighting and getting angry all the time.

"Another year later, he found a woman. He was so scared to move on, thinking that I wouldn't be okay with it. I couldn't stop my dad from being happy. He's a really good man. I told him to marry her."

"Then?" I ask.

She shrugs, "I met Corey."

"He was a loud, annoying, infuriating little piece of shit when we first met. I didn't like him. I didn't even wanna be near him. I panicked around him sometimes, always thinking he'd make a move on me someday, or touch me somewhere," Toothy says then smiles softly at some distant memory.

"He caught me having a panic attack in the kitchen alone one night. He ran and threw himself against the fridge thinking I'd laugh and calm down."

"Did you?" I ask.

"No," Toothy says, "I got a shock. He broke the fridge along with his arm and got bruises on his face."

"Oh mama."

"Things started getting better after that. I started speaking to Corey, almost butchered off his fingers with the wedding cake cutting knife. It was nice to have Corey around." She gazes at her nails. "It was...refreshing."

My mind goes back to Jake's home, his backyard. Corey and I swinging on the hammock, with him telling me his story.

After every storm comes a rainbow.

Toothy and Corey are each other's rainbows.

I smile warmly at Toothy, "Thank you for opening up to me."

She shrugs, finally giving in to me and putting her head on my shoulder.

"Thank you for giving Jake a life." She replies.

"I know, right! He had none at all." I reply. "So...Tristan?"

She nods.

"Nervous?"

She smiles a bit, "A bit anxious but I think I can handle it. I haven't had any panic attacks or anxiety attacks for a few months now. Anyways," She pulls away from me, getting off the bed and walking over to her closet, "I need suggestions on what to wear."

When Toothy pulls open the doors of her closet, I expected just a normal closet that everyone usually has in their house.

What I didn't expect was Toothy's closet to be the size of a motherflipping living room.

"Oh wow!" My eyes widen in surprise. "You've got a walk-in mall!"

She shrugs like it's nothing.

It's definitely not nothing.

I walk into Toothy's "closet", gazing around with wide eyes at the tall shelves with all sorts of shoes and handbags lining one wall, and dresses hanging and folded on other shelves.

Toothy puts her hands on her narrow hips, looking at her clothes as if she's ready to set fire to something.

"So?" She asks, "What should I wear?"

✯✯✯

Toothy and I finally stumble out of her closet.

My hands and feet ache.

I stood for three motherloving hours!

"That was exhausting." Toothy breaths out, still panting.

"Want to use my inhaler?" I ask.

She shakes her head.

After a few minutes, I walk straight out of Toothy's room and roam around the house - mansion - to find my favourite person.

I find him nowhere and begin to pout.

I decide on standing here and yelling out his name until he shows up with my favourite glare and then say my favourite sentence, 'Why the eff are you effing yelling so much?'.

I mean it's not even that weird here to randomly start yelling. It seems as if wherever Jake's family is, the place is close to breaking apart and collapsing.

Before I actually do start yelling, someone slings their arm around my shoulder and I shriek, jumping back and putting up my hands to karate chop the person's head off.

"Woah, easy!" Corey holds his hands up, "I come in peace!"

"State your business," I speak, still keeping my hands defensively in front of me.

"My job requires me to make sure you're not misguided into unknown realms." Corey stuffs his hands in his pockets.

He's wearing a white muscle tee with black sweatpants. His blonde hair isn't set right like usual. Instead, they're messy and fall on Corey's forehead making him look like he just rolled out of bed.

"And the reason for that is?" I ask.

"There'll be consequences from the Lord of the Underworld," Corey gives me a curt nod.

I frown in confusion, "Uh, who?"

Corey opens his mouth but then raises his eyebrows as his eyes spot something behind me, "Right behind you," He says, "Lord of the Underworld."

I turn around and find Jake, descending the last three steps of the staircase and then moving in our direction.

There's my favourite person.

"I was looking for you," I wrap my hands around his torso when he comes near.

"I was too." He responds, putting his hands around my waist. "I was going to march into Toothy's room and steal you back."

A huge dramatic sigh takes our attention.

"Nobody cares for me. Nobody looks for me. I'm all alone in this world," Corey looks sadly to the ground.

Jake gives him a look while I pout.

We both open our mouths but someone else beats us to it.

"Fear not, brother! You've got me right here!" Cole yells from on top of the stairs before flying down toward Corey.

"Oh, my love." Corey opens his arms out for Cole dramatically, as Cole runs into them-also again, dramatically.

They both share a hug as Corey spins around with Cole.

They both suddenly break off, laughing their butts off.

"Ha-ha you people are so straight." Another voice says sarcastically before Santiago, one of the mafia leaders, walks in.

Behind him, his three other mafia brothers follow.

"I know, right?" Corey smirks, "It's like we both crave dicks every single day of our lives."

"Oh damn, that means Jake must be so sick of our cravings." Cole says before wiggling his eyebrows at Jake, "Cos you know? You're a dick, and Corey says we crave dicks."

"I think I got what Corey said, you asshole." Jake rolls his eyes.

Cole laughs, "I know. I know."

"So are we getting a free porn show or what?" Ollie asks, smirking at Jake and me who still had our hands around each other.

"I've watched all the existing porn shows."

All eyes fall on me.

"Just kidding." I shrug.

The guys start talking but Jake doesn't let me stay with them and instead half-drags half-carries me somewhere up the stairs.

We slip inside a room where Jake and I are going to be staying over at.

Jake doesn't even let me take a look around the room, before pinning me against the door as soon as it shuts and pressing his mouth on mine.

My shortness of breath causes him to break off quickly.

He doesn't leave me though, he puts his hands around my waist, resting his cheek on top of my head.

"You okay?" I rub my hands up and down his back. His posture visibly relaxes under my hands.

He nods.

"Toothy has a date tomorrow."

He stiffens for a moment. Then nods again.

I bite my bottom lip before speaking, "She told me what happened to her."

His shoulder tenses immediately and he lifts his head to look at my face.

"Is she alright?" He asks, frantically.

I nod, "She's really strong."

A hard look etches Jake's face before he lets himself nod with hesitance, putting his head back on top of my head.

"Yeah." He breathes out. "She is."

"Do you know the song Hips Don't Lie?" I ask.

He pauses.

Then slowly nods. "What...about it?"

I grin, "I saw this Tiktok somewhere and I wanted to try it."

He lifts his head off mine and furrows his eyebrows at me.

✄ ✄ ✄ ✄

I was going to update with THREE chapters. And I was literally almost done with this. But guess what? I FELL ASLEEP!! I didn't even know when did my eyes shut and when did I fall asleep.

When I woke up, the phone was in my hand and it was 5am. My alarm was ringing for school.

The thing that scared me though was that my mom doesn't know I have Wattpad. So after waking up, I sat frozen on my bed for two whole minutes just thinking about what would've happened if my mom came to check on me and found me asleep with my phone.

Words: 2,480

Date of publishing: 30th May 2022