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Dinner was well-done steak, buttered with non-fat, unsalted, butter. Asparagus and broccoli boiled as a side and everyone split two slices of bread as their carb.
"Kimberly, how did that..." She paused, opening her mouth for a small bite of broccoli, waiting for her food to be fully chewed, "memorial go?"
Kimberly looked up at her mother, a bit of disbelief in her eyes. "The one two days ago?"
"Well is that the only one you've ever been to Kimberley?" She asked rhetorically.
"Yes ma'am." She fought the urge to roll her eyes to the back of her head, "it was good. Elle did a..." She paused, even now it still bothered her to compliment her.
"She did a good job, it was nice."
Kimberly's mom nodded, and her father spoke after finishing about half his steak. "I was always quiet fond of Robin." He looked to Kimberly, as if he wanted her to be happy because of that.
"Yep." She said shortly.
Her eyes diverted away from the eye contact, back to her barely touched plate of vegetables and steak. She cut a small piece of the steak, eating it without chewing much. She hated the taste of steak.
It was good, no doubt about that, her mother had been cooking all her life and never once had Kimberly had a bad meal. She was just never a fan of steak, the nausea and sickness she felt afterwards was not worth it.
No sense to complain though, so she took another small bite. She washed the taste out with a sip of her water and some asparagus.
"Kimberly, I got an email from the school the other day about this detention you got." Her father looked to her mother for support, letting her take the lead quickly.
"Oh yes, what was that about, huh?" Her mother's tone was sharp, an immediate and noticeable change from the attempted support of earlier.
"Yeah..." She knew they already knew it was true, no sense lying, "I got it for my tardies." She maintained eye contact with both of them, switching every few seconds.
No one spoke for a minute, the only sound being the light scratching of the cutlery on the plates.
"It better not happen again Kimberly." Her father ended that conversation.
Kimberly nodded and returned her focus to her, still, barely touched steak and decently touched vegetables. Long night indeed.
She finally returned her room after washing her dishes and watching the latest episode of Jeopardy with her parents. She was already taking the straps off of her dress the moment the door closed.
She slipped out of her cardigan covering her blue dress, a mid-knee length patterned one. She tied her curly hair back into a braid to minimize the damage to it come tomorrow morning.
Finally, she took her makeup off with a wipe, blush and mascara. In the mirror she looked like a different person, bare faced.
She turned the light off in her bathroom, closing the door.
She was about to change out of her dress into her nightgown when her thought was interrupted by light tapping against her bedroom window.
Her room was on the first floor, her parents didn't like the idea of the kids being upstairs while they had no idea what was happening up there.
A raccoon? A homeless manic? A squatter?
She pulled the curtain back to see Liz, standing with a backpack and her hood pulled over her head. She couldn't see her face but, she knew who it was.
Kimberly went back to her bedroom window, locking it, even if it was just for a few minutes. She turned to fast, a sudden rush of internal pain to her head.
She went back to the window, pulling the curtain again and opened the window. "What are you doing here?" She wasn't hostile like her tone showed, just annoyed at the unexpected guest.
"This is awkward." Liz pulled her hood down, "My mom got arrested..." She looked up, she looked scared, "can I come in?"
Kimberly thought about it, the possibility of her mom coming in during bed checks was a guarantee. Although she wasn't a monster.
And it was... Liz.
"Fine." She backed away from the open window, "Don't make a sound." She warned, seriously.
Liz nodded, pulling her hood back up and climbed through the window. Kimberly stood with her arms crossed defensively in the middle of her room.
Any second her mom would turn the doorknob and find the door locked and that would give her three minutes to change and find an excuse.
"So what happened?" She didn't really want to know, okay she did. Liz was standing in her room, the girl she made out with at camp and then was too coward to do anything with once they returned home.
"She got framed." Liz brushed by it, "I went home with Elle and she offered to let me stay the night till we could bail her out." She looked up to Kimberly.
"But her house is so... rich. They were looking at me like I was a thief too and I didn't feel like staying the night with the main characters in a Hollywood movie."
"So why are you here?" Kimberly got straight to the point. She ignored the sensation she had to burp, or throw up.
"Can I stay the night? Please you're my only hope." She spoke quickly trying to lessen the blow.
Kimberly opened her mouth to speak and then shut it. Truthfully she wanted to help her. Camp wasn't that long ago and she obviously still had some feeling for her.
But, she couldn't have Liz stay the night. Her mom would never allow it.
When she looked at Liz she couldn't tell her to leave. She couldn't disappoint Liz again like that, not since they came back from camp.
"okay." Kimberly didn't have a plan. "But I need to think of how to do this."
Liz nodded, a smile forming on her precious face. "Can I put my stuff down?"
Kimberly turned back instantly, her eyes wide and the idea of being caught flashing through her mind. "No. Uh, give it to me." She stuttered.
Kimberly grabbed the backpack and hung it on a hook in her closet, the closet with her dresses and church clothes. She felt embarrassed by the clothes, she knew Liz knew what she had to wear.
She looked down and realized she was still in a preppy, dumb, dress. She turned to Liz. Before she could comment on her to not mention anything,
"Kimberly I know you didn't choose to wear the dress." Liz quickly diverted her attention away from Kimberley, saving her the embarrassment.
The doorknob twisted twice, "Kimberly?" Her mother's voice raised, "Open the door now!" She banged on the door with her palms.
"I'm getting changed!" Kimberly grabbed the nightgown she was planning on wearing and ran to the door.
"You have one minute to show me your face Kimberly."
Kimberley groaned, and shoved her nightgown into the drawer, grabbing a two piece flannel set which was much more appropriate to wear with Liz here.
"Turn around." She spoke quickly to her, already taking her dress's straps off her arms.
She didn't look to see if Liz had turned around, maybe in some odd way she still trusted that girl. She buttoned up her pajama top and slid her pants up and tied them.
"Go hide in the bathroom." She whispered and went to open the door, fucking her hair out from the collar of her shirt as it got stuck.
By the time she unlocked the door and opened it, Liz was gone. She moved back to her bed as her mother came in.
"I thought we talked about locking that door."
You never knock. "I know, I'm sorry." Kimberley swallowed her words.
She nodded, pleased with Kimberly's answer apparently. "What's with this outfit?" Really she meant where did she buy it and why was she wearing it.
It was a blue and gray flannel patterned top and bottom. "It's cold, my nightgown was showing too much skin."
She said the right words of course, too much skin was something her mother never liked to hear. "Well I'm glad you're staying modest. I don't like this flannel attire though, I hope you can find a better option."
"Why?" She played with fire.
Her mother stopped and looked directly into her eyes, "Because you look gay Kimberly. Take the outfit off now."
She tensed under the open door and her mother's eye, she knows she didn't mean take it off later. She unbuttoned her flannel, revealing her black bra and stomach.
She slid her pants off and stood in front of her mother in her matching black underwear. Her mother had an outfit picked out for her.
A black tee-shirt with lace around the edges, a tiny pocket in the right upper corner with flowers embedded in the design. The pants a matching fabric with lace on the bottom of the legs and around the waist.
Her mother seemingly approved of her new outfit and took the prior pajamas with her as she closed the door behind her.
Kimberly immediately made sure the door was shut and went into the bathroom to find Liz, a part of her hoping she ended up not hearing any part of it.
Liz came out from behind the shower curtain, she had taken her shoes off the moment she entered the bathroom as now they were neatly placed next to the wall.
"Alright we have to go to bed now because they will keep coming in."
Liz hopped out of the shower, and Kimberly turned before her wrist was grabbed by Liz's.
"Wait." She whispered, and Kimberly turned around to face her.
"What?
Kimberly held her stomach with her palm, a sudden wave of nausea overcoming her.
"Are you good?" Liz asked and if it was anyone else it would sound condescending, but not from her.
Before she could answer the nausea got to her, she rushed past Liz and to the toilet. The cover was up so it was already clear as she threw up directly into the toilet.
She felt someone's hands, clammy and warm, on her neck. Her hair was brought up from around her shoulders and formed into a ponytail.
She couldn't focus too much as she gagged into the toilet, the horrible aftertaste of regurgitated food and the smell being an awful combo.
She threw up again before she could turn around, Liz had now got on her knees, one hand holding back her hair and the other rubbing her back in peaceful circles.
"It's okay," Liz comforted her as she hung over the toilet again.
She felt it all gone. She knew it was a mixture of her embarrassment from her mom in front of Liz and the prior digestion of steak.
The two girls sat there for a few minutes, maybe in case she threw up again, or to not bring attention to what happened.
Kimberly didn't realize somewhere in between the minutes she had leaned back and let her body weight rest fully on Liz. Liz hadn't stopped rubbing her back and still had her hair held back.
"Sorry." Kimberly sat up. The instant loss of warmth and calm scared her a bit so she stood up. Overlooking Liz who was scrambling to stand up too.
She still felt nausea but now she knew it was just her mind.
She left her back to the bedroom, with her knowledge of her parents she probably had twenty minutes to get Liz hidden in the bed before they came back in.
"Are you going to change?" Kimberly didn't turn to look, focused on making the bed for tonight.
"I'm already in my pajamas." Liz started to busy herself with meaningless tasks in Kimberly's room to look busy.
"Youre going to have to sleep in my bed..." She froze as the implications raced to her mind, "or under the bed." She turned to face her, "my parents check my room a lot."
Liz nodded either not trusting herself to talk or not caring to.
It was just before 10 so it was a reasonable time for bed.
By the time they got ready for bed Kimberly was counting the minute until she heard the familiar light footsteps coming to her room, she had to get Liz into the bed before then.
"I can't hide you under the covers so you have to trust me for what I'm about to do." She had done this a few times, not with a person but with a stuffed animal.
She wasn't allowed stuffed animals in her bed.
She got into the bed first and motioned for Liz to join her, the lights were already off and now it was just them. "This is going to be weird but it's either this or sleep under the bed." She warned.
Liz nodded but went frigid as Kimberly got closer to her back, she put her arm around Liz's upper half and tucked her closer. She forcefully pulled Liz down and says from the pillows.
She was claustrophobic, Liz had told her once at camp, so she kept her head away from under the blanket. "The only way to do this is you have to face me."
She knew it was weird and the way her heart skipped as Liz adjusted herself and now her face was near her neck made it even weirder.
Maybe more awkward than weird.
"I used to do this with my stuffed animals," Kimberly felt the need to explain.
"You weren't allowed stuffed animals?"
"I wasn't allowed to cuddle anything growing up." She laughed it off.
With their position of basically hugging eachother with the blankets covering their bodies, Kimberly was sure the position would work.
She stiffened as she heard the door open, a voice from her dad saying her name multiple times before he closed the door. It was a trap he used to make sure she was actually asleep.
She'd fallen for it once.
They had stayed there for 15 minutes and sleep was no where close to her, it was usually like this.
"Are you still awake?" Liz's voice was more rigid and tired, for a split second she felt sympathy that she might have woken the girl.
"yeah."
"just like at the first days of camp."
She waited for Liz to continue.
"you couldn't fall asleep." Liz paused, her voice more quiet and respectful, "you never said why."
Kimberly shrugged until realizing it was pitch black, "I don't know. I don't usually sleep till two or three. Just how I am."
She felt Liz's arm move and she stiffened, her hand razing along her back over the shirt. "What are you doing?" Maybe a part of her didn't want to know.
"This is how I put you to sleep at camp." Liz said like it was something she was used to.
Kimberly wanted to object but it did honestly feel relaxing. She dropped her head and was almost touching Liz, her entire body becoming something looser as Liz continued.
She heard the door open and after a call out of her name, the scratching continued. In her sleeping haze she could have sworn she heard a whisper of apologies but it may have been a dream.