Luca's Story Ch. 11
Chapter XI--Discoveries
_Break me down, you got a lovely face
We're going to your place
And now you got to freak me out
Scream so loud, getting fuckin' laid
You want me to stay, but I got to make my way_
_Hey
You're crazy bitch
But you fuck so good, I'm on top of it
When I dream, I'm doing you all night
Scratches all down my back to keep me right on_
_Hey
You're crazy bitch
But you fuck so good, I'm on top of it
When I dream, I'm doing you all night
Scratches all down my back to keep me right on_
-Buckcherry, "Crazy Bitch"
It was just starting to be light out when Ronnie had finished explaining where he'd been, what had happened to him. He had been taken in, clothes thrown into the wash, and then wrapped up in several layers of blankets to ward of the hypothermia. He had walked the entire way from Manhattan to Luca's place in Queens.
Luca was sitting curled up in her father's La-Z-Boy, a cup of steaming coffee in hand, wrapped in a blanket. She seemed to be staring off blankly at the large window that made up the front side of the house, looking in on the living room. The gray morning seemed to only be brightening grudgingly and in miniscule degrees. The bright morning sun should have been filling the living room already, but the slate of clouds that hovered over all of New York City kept things to an appropriately dreary dimness. After all that Luca had suffered over the past twenty-four hours, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Ronnie waited for a response, some sort of reply to show that Luca had heard and processed all that he had told her. He followed her gaze, seeing the gray morning. The weather report was bleak, from what he remembered; something about a stalled front and a low pressure system. It would be like this all day and night, at least. "I'm really sorry for everything Luca."
"You need help, Ronnie," she said mechanically, sipping the coffee.
"I know. I have a problem."
Luca started to laugh slightly at this. Then the laughter grew to insistent snickering, followed by giggling, and eventually Luca broke down into outright guffawing. Ronnie watched her, bewildered. After many minutes passed, Luca calmed down, wiping her eyes. They had tears running from them again. Ronnie couldn't tell what was going on with Luca.
"You have a problem?" she asked, her eyes turning on him. They were cold, unfeeling. "You tried to kill yourself, Ronnie. The guilt of that drove me to do the same. I faced the ridicule of all of Beth'el and the attempted rape by our former team member because my best friend was having too much of a meltdown about the fact his boy crush is actually transgender. I got dumped, on national fucking television. Millions of people got to see me have my heart ripped out and thrown on the ground. What's worse: Zee is right! It is my fault! If I hadn't pushed so hard to have my little Duchess crown and actually stand out as the girl I've so desperately wanted to be, Zee and I would still be a couple of semi-obscurity living out our happy little relationship! Get a fucking clue, Ronnie. You're an alcoholic because things didn't quite go your way in life. Tough titty cupcakes. I'd hate to see how you'd react if you were stuck in my shoes."
Ronnie looked down at his own hands. They were shaking to a degree that could almost be described as violent. But it wasn't from anger. It was from a pain deep inside him. A child was screaming loudly in his head, and Ronnie broke down into heavy sobs. "You're right. I'm a weak, idiot-child," he sobbed into his palms, tears pouring out into them.
Luca sighed, setting her coffee down. There, she had said everything that was wrong with the world at that moment, everything she wanted to throw into Ronnie's face. Except, just like Zee found no satisfaction in throwing his excellence in the face of those protestors, Luca was now finding no help in making Ronnie suffer even more. She stood and moved over to the couch. Wrapping an arm around Ronnie, she let him lean in against her. She could feel her shoulder get wet where Ronnie had put his face.
"I'm sorry, Ronnie. I just... I've been through so much. Been so worried about you, so hurt by the fact you just ignored me on the bus the first day of school... But those aren't excuses. I shouldn't be taking all this out on you. Mostly, it's not your fault that all this is going on."
"I'm sorry too," Ronnie whispered through sobs. "I wish I were as strong as you, Luca."
Luca responded simply by kissing the top of Ronnie's head reassuringly. "I missed you, Ronnie."
"I missed you too."
Finally, Luca was making her way up to her bedroom only a half hour later. Ronnie had calmed down and started sleeping on the couch. Beccah and Harold were now cuddled together in the alcove of her window, both of them passed out. It had been a long night for everyone. Slipping into bed, Luca found herself drifting off comfortably in spite of the caffeine she'd downed. Just as she was about to settle into her sleep pattern, however, the doorbell rang. Looking at her bedside clock, it was only 8:30am. She groaned and sat up, rubbing her face and eyes.
Moving to the top of the stairs, Luca was shocked when she saw who it was. Ronnie's mother was standing in the doorway, and Randal was holding it open for her as she stepped inside.
"Hello Claire," Randal said. His voice was chilly. Claire Bernstein simply nodded her acknowledgment. Luca came down the stairwell, seeing that Ronnie was still very much asleep on the couch.
"Hello Luke," Claire said with the warm smile of one who recognizes an old friend.
"It's Luca now," Randal said. Claire flashed a slight look towards him. Luca couldn't quite tell what it was.
"Oh yes, Luca. I've been so preoccupied with what might have happened to Ronnie, I had completely forgotten about that."
"Does his father know?" Luca said. It was straight and to the point. She didn't need to know why Claire felt it necessary to come all the way out here to New York. What was important was the fact that Ronnie remained safe and hidden from his father for the time being.
"No. He thinks I'm going to the city to get a jump on shopping for the day. He doesn't have any idea."
"Good," Luca sighed, looking to Ronnie. "Don't wake him, he just fell asleep a little while ago. He's half-frozen and an emotional maelstrom at the moment."
"I'll let him be for now," Claire said.
"I'll get us some coffee. Luca, you go on back to bed. You look nearly as bad as Ronnie."
Luca simply nodded. She felt as bad as she looked. The ups and downs, the lack of sleep, the day of crying over Zee, it had all worn her to the bone. It wasn't until she was just about to turn the knob to her bedroom that she heard the slightest squeak of a door hinge. But it wasn't just any squeak. It was the squeak she heard whenever her father closed the door to his office. Luca tried to tell herself that Claire and her father were simply going someplace private and out of the way so they could chat. But those two didn't chat. There was something wrong, and no matter how much Luca tried to muster the strength against her curiosity to simply turn the knob and enter her room, she eventually gave up, and found herself going down the stairs once again, except this time she was creeping.
Closer to the office door she came. A light glow was cast out onto the hallway floor from beneath the door. Even though it was shut, there was still enough of a gap by the floor for her to look under. When she did, Luca put her hand to her mouth, muffling a cry of surprise. What she beheld was Ronnie's mother taking it hard and fast in the wrong door by her own father. She could barely hear Claire's moans from across the office, but then she heard her almost shout out to Randal.
"Yes, fuck my tight ass."
This seemed only to encourage Randal more, and he gritted his teeth. "Nnnngh... I missed this," he huffed.
"Still... can't get that... rigid bitch... to give... her anal cherry?" Claire huffed, breathing hard between sets of words.
"No," Randal groaned, his body shuddering. "She won't even fuck... with the lights on."
Luca had thought she had seen quite enough, but simply couldn't bring herself to turn away. It was like a horrible NASCAR accident, and she couldn't help but continue pushing the replay button.
Finally, with a heavy shudder and spasm, Randal finished inside of Claire's ass, and pulled out slowly, letting a stream of his own white jizz fall freely from her tailhole. Claire simply bent over further, laying her torso on the desk. "You know what to do..." she moaned. Randal simply nodded and knelt down to start cleaning her up with his maw and nothing else, eating her out and lapping up his own cum obediently.
Eventually, Luca finally got away from the sight. She was horrified, angry, disgusted, and yet, to some small degree, sickeningly intrigued. There was a little voice inside her head that wished she could make a man do that to her.
Sleep was just not in the cards anymore for Luca.
"Seriously?!" Beccah said in a hissing whisper. She and Luca were sitting on the roof just outside Luca's window. She'd woken Rebeccah up, and though her best friend got up and left Harold behind only with grudging remarks, she finally got her way to the small zone of privacy. "How do you know that?"
"I saw them going at it."
"But I thought they hated each other."
"So did I."
"You think it was all just an act? A ploy to distract from the notion that they could do such a thing?"
"It's possible. At this point, really, anything is."
"And she was taking it back there?"
"Well it's not like it's that gross," Luca protested, hearing the tone in Beccah's voice. "I mean jeez, how am I going to be doing such things until I get a full reassignment?"
Beccah thought about it. "I guess I never really considered the prospect. I figured since you and Zee had compatible parts, even if they were switched around, you two would... well you know."
Luca sighed sadly at the mention of Zee. "Well, we had talked about it, but we never could get up the nerve to try anything. We want to, but... well we want to do it in a way that reflects who we are, not what we are."
"What about a feeldoe?"
"A what?"
At that, Harold's voice interjected. "You know, this was all interesting until you two went all relationship-advice mode."
Both girls whirled around to face Harold. By their looks, he knew he'd just screwed up listening in. "Alright, well I can see I'm not welcome. I'll go check on Ronnie."
"How the hell did he sneak up on us?" Luca asked Beccah. Beccah shrugged.
"He's got this uncanny ability to just go unnoticed until it's too late. Don't worry, though, he's like an iron trap when it comes to things. I think it mostly comes from how passively he takes things. At first I thought it was weakness, but really I think it's that he just accepts others for who they are and whatever they do, without passing judgment."
"That's really nice," Luca said, smiling.
Beccah nodded slowly. "You think you and Zee will work things out?"
"If he comes back and apologizes, yeah. But I'm going to make him jump through hoops before I officially forgive him."
"Good. Wouldn't want him thinking he could just get away with such things and just come right back and have you love him again."
"You know what's scary about that?"
"What?"
"He could. As much as I hate to admit it, he's in my skin now."
Beccah nodded. "I think we both have similar issues, hun. I haven't said it yet, but I think I love Harold. I don't know what I'd do without him."
Had Beccah turned around, she would have seen her boyfriend, smiling warmly before sneaking off in silence, this time to actually check on Ronnie.
"So what do I do about this thing with my dad and Claire?"
"You have enough on your plate as it is. I wouldn't touch it until other things have fallen into place."
"Easy for you to say. My mother is the sweetest, most caring woman I know. And I'm not just saying that because she's my mom."
"Well you did say Claire and your dad made mention of the dull sex life. I mean hell, if they're actually bringing it up during sex, it must be an issue."
"Is that what happens when you and Harold make love?"
"I, ah... well kind of. I tend to just moan a lot," Beccah giggled, biting her lip. "But if something is bothering me--like, really bothering me--I'll bring it up, even if we're doing the horizontal monster mash."
"The what?!" Luca giggled, pushing Beccah playfully. Beccah only pushed back in kind. After they calmed down, Luca had the slightest smirk on her face. "Beccah?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm so glad you're my BFF. I swear, no matter what is going on, you find some idiotic thing that makes me smile."
Beccah hugged her friend close. "Don't worry, hun, everything will work itself out. Now let's go see how the long-lost lapine is downstairs."
Luca stood, sighing and climbing through the window. "I just hope he doesn't go running off."
"Yeah, it'd be a shame to let something that cute escape your grasp." Luca shot Beccah a look. "What?! Oh come on, like you haven't thought about it."
"No! He's like a brother to me."
That's when shouting broke out downstairs.
Running down, Beccah and Luca found themselves witnessing a screaming match between Ronnie and his mother. Apparently, Ronnie had taken his own peek under the office door.
"You're a goddamn whore! No wonder dad sleeps around behind your back!" Ronnie shouted. Luca winced at the words. She was standing on the bottom step of the stairs. Claire was just ahead of her, Ronnie was off to her left, standing by the couch. Harold was curled into an easy chair situated in the corner of the living room. Randal was behind Claire.
"Keep your voice down, young man," Randal ordered, his expression barely maintaining its stern composure. Luca knew that look. He was ready to explode.
"Shut the fuck up, Randal," Ronnie shot back. "This doesn't involve you."
"Don't talk to Luca's father like that!" Claire said. "You are going too far, young man."
"Shut up, bitch. I've been living out on my own until now without your royal sluthood hovering over me."
"And here you stand, an alcoholic and a drifter bum to show for it!"
Ronnie walked right up to his mother and backhanded her across the face. She stumbled, then stared at him in shock. Ronnie grabbed his newly-dried clothing from where it was laid out over the backrest of the couch and stormed out the front door. Randal was crouched next to where Claire had sat down on the floor, too shocked to say a word. Luca nodded to Beccah and Harold. They would go after Ronnie.
Before leaving, Luca knelt to her father. He looked at her, his face full of shame and horror as he realized what his daughter now knew. "You had better pray mom didn't hear any of this. I'm going after Ronnie to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. You two better pull your shit together. I do not need mom in a total breakdown at this point in my life. She'll find out in due time, but for now, you two better set your asses straight."
Standing up, Luca turned and fled through the door after Beccah and Harold. Randal and Claire could only stare after her in shock, feeling rather embarrassed to be put in their place by a teenager.