Page 39 of Something Like Summer
Allison had stayed thenight so often that she had bought a pair of pajamas to keep in hisroom. It was a miracle that her father had never figured out thatshe was actually staying the night with him and not Karen. Theirformer friendship had been useful camouflage in thatregard.
The next day was a schoolday, which presented an awkward situation. Ben decided to confidein his mother, who wasn’t nearly as sympathetic as he would haveexpected. The bruise on Allison’s face was twice as ugly now andleft no room for doubt as to the truth of her story, but it wasclear that his mother wasn’t willing to interfere with someoneelse’s parenting. There was no point in asking her if Allison couldstay with them longer, but she at least granted him permission toskip school for the day.
In the afternoon theydecided to go to Allison’s house so she could get a change ofclothes, despite the possibility that Mr. Cross might be there whenthey arrived. He wasn’t, but the house was in more disarray thannormal, with food left out on the counter, dirty dishes, and abroken drinking glass on the kitchen floor. Ben helped her clean upbefore they went to her room.
“You should go,” Allisonsaid. “There’s no point in me leaving.”
Ben understood how she wasfeeling. As they surveyed her room, it hit home how hard it wouldbe to leave it all behind. Where would she go? She didn’t have ajob and wasn’t finished with school. All she owned was right infront of them, but suddenly it didn’t seem like much compared towhat the real world demanded.
“I have to face him sooneror later, right?” Allison said. “I mean, he’s my dad. We’ll work itout, but you shouldn’t be here when he gets back.”
“Forget it, I’m staying,”Ben said. “I’m staying and I’m going to have a word withhim.”
“You’re sweet, but that’snot a good idea. You being here is just going to upset him evenmore.”
“Yeah, yeah. I said theexact same thing last time you had a terrible idea, but I stillwent along with it,” Ben reminded her. “You owe me one. In fact, Ithink it’s best if you left me here alone.”
“What? You’reinsane.”
“No, I mean it. I’ll talkto your dad, then I’ll meet you back at my place and I can tell youwhat he said.”
Allison was hesitant, butBen managed to convince her. Only after she had gone was he free toquestion the soundness of his idea. Who did he think he was, anambassador? What if Mr. Cross started beating the crap out of him?He could get killed!
The sound of the front dooropening caused his stomach to churn. He should have at least leftthe house with Allison and returned to ring the doorbell. Now itlooked like he was a burglar.
Ben left her room andwalked to the head of the stairs. Mr. Cross was already lookingupward, an expression of hope on his face that turned dark when hedidn’t see his daughter.
“What the hell are youdoing here?” he challenged.
“Allison and I came backto get her a change of clothes. She’s not here,” Ben added when Mr.Cross started up the stairs with a determined look on his face,“but she told me everything.”
Mr. Cross stopped, and forthe briefest moment, there was shame in his eyes. It marked the endof Ben’s fear of the man. Ben walked down the stairs until he wasface to face with Allison’s father.
“She told me everything,but she would never tell the police,” Ben continued. “I wouldthough, and I won’t hesitate to if you ever lay a hand on heragain.”
“You little brat.” Mr.Cross’s hand snatched out and grabbed Ben by the shirt.
Ben didn’t evenflinch.
“Go ahead and hit me,” hesuggested. “I’ll go to the police today, and you’ll never harmanyone again. Not me and not Allison.”
“They’d never believeyou,” Mr. Cross shouted. “I’ll tell them that you hit her. How doyou like that, you little faggot?”
“Not bad,” Ben shrugged.“I guess I would then tell the cops about all the times you made mesuck you off.”
Mr. Cross let go of himinstantly, as if he had just learned Ben had some horriblycontagious disease.
“I never!” Mr. Crossspluttered. “You’re sick!”
“It doesn’t matter whatyou’ve actually done,” Ben said. “Society likes to believe theworst. They’ll eat the story up. The bigots and the homophobes willhave a field day with it, but they’ll believe it in the end, sodon’t try to threaten me.”
“Get out of my house, youlittle punk!”
“No. Not before I’ve hadmy say. Allison loves you, Mr. Cross. She would do anything to makeyou happy. I think you love her, too, but the way you try toprotect her is doing more harm than good. You need to let her go.One more year and she’s going to be living on her own in adifferent city. You won’t be able to control her then. You can’ttreat her like a bird in a cage. If you do, she’ll never come backto you once she’s free. She’ll be out of your lifeforever.”
Much to Ben’s amazement,Allison’s father seemed to be listening. The anger had drained fromMr. Cross face and he looked like he was about to cry. Ben hadobviously hit upon his worst fears.
“I’m sorry you lost yourwife, and I can’t even begin to imagine how much that must hurt,but you still have your daughter. She might be the only person leftin the world who still loves you. If you destroy that, who will yoube? What will be left of you then?”
