Boyfriend Read Free

chatting up one girl, her friend would spend the evening trying to figure me out, asking probing questions and sharing a little too much about herself.  I didn’t share much and that seemed to be a turn on.  I played the role, something I had become good at in my three years since entering college.  Unlike Phil, my nights ended with the sobering sun.  More often than not, I was the walk on the wild side.  The secret “Daddy” could never find out about.  Phil was part of the plan. 
     
    CHAPTER TWO
    At about 1 am shortly after the second semester of my junior year, my mother called to tell me that my father had been in an accident.    Phil and I were drunk and playing a sloppy game of poker with our neighbors from across the hall. 
    “Fold.” I tossed my cards down just before my cell phone rang.
    “Butt-call!” Phil grinned as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. 
    “ Booty -call. Shit, Phil, just don’t speak when you’re drunk,” I said laughing as I answered. 
    My mother’s voice was the last thing I expected.  
    ***
    I arrived at the hospital at about 9:30 am, sober and nervous.  I hadn’t been back much in the three years since I started school.  I stayed in D.C. through the summer and as Phil and I grew closer, I was able to weasel my way into holidays with his family.  My life in New York felt further and further away, and I preferred it that way.  D.C. was my fresh start.  I was finally able to move without the past shackled to my wrists. 
    My father was hit by a car and knocked into a small ditch just a few miles from our apartment.  According to my mother, she and my father had gotten into what I was sure was another epic fight, and she had thrown him out.  Knowing he had no problems driving drunk, she hid the car keys and he set out on foot, stumbling down an unlit road.  My mother said simply, “Get here.”  So, I knew it was pretty bad.
    It felt like a dream as I drifted down the hallways.  All was silent but for the sounds of the monitors, beeping again and again in a rhythm-less song.  The nurses darted from room to room carrying charts and medication.  No one looked up as I made my way down the hall.  It seemed as though it took forever to get to my mother, who sat in a chair outside of my father’s room, her face buried in her hands, her shoulders shaking up and down.  My mother was a large woman, tall and wide, but despite her stature, she looked small beside the threshold of my father’s hospital room.  My sister, Natalie, stood a few feet in front of her, staring down at her, her unruly raven curls cascading around her shoulders, holding her fingers in the air as if holding an imaginary cigarette.  She noticed me first, staring at me as I made my way toward them.  The sleepy brown eyes we shared, emotionless.  I felt a small shudder through my body, preparing myself to hear that the old man was dead. 
    “Oh, Junior…” My mother stood noticing I was approaching, tears staining her midnight skin. 
    My sister walked away, peeking out the window at the end of the hall, playing with her imaginary cigarette in her fingertips.  My mother dropped her arms around me, pulling me to her in a way she hadn’t done since I was a child.
    “He’s going to be fine.”  Her tears wet the side of my face and she held me tighter. 
    I looked up at my sister who stared at me, the anger in her eyes apparent.  My shoulders slumped in my mother’s arms and for the first time in a long time, I felt like crying. 
    ***
    I decided to spend the evening at my parents’ house and catch the bus back to school the next day.  My father had managed to fracture his left lower leg, left arm, and left orbital bone.  He was still unconscious from a concussion with bleeding on the brain, but the doctors were able to stop the hemorrhage.   The doctors said my father would have to stay in the hospital for at least another couple of weeks, so I knew it would give me a chance to