When I'm done showering, I walk out shirtless in just a pair of jeans, a towel around my neck. I frown when I'm greeted by the sight of David sitting next to my mother on the couch. The frown deepens at the drink in her hand.

"Hi darlin'," she greets.

"Ma," I say gruffly. 

I look at David, who reminds me of a boy who got caught stealing candy. I narrow my eyes at ma. 

"Is it alright, mother, if I talk to my boyfriend in private?"

"Oh don't be like that," she chides me.

Even so, David gets to his feet, trailing behind me as we make our way into the hallway. 

"Just don't bang!" ma calls right before we get in my room.

"MA!"

Besides me, David laughs.

"Sorry," she calls, "I was hoping to get a laugh outta you."

"I never wanna hear that word out of your mouth," I call back, shuddering, which just makes David laugh more, "please and thank you."

"Oh alright. Front door's locked, by the by."

"Thank you," I say, and then open my door and walk into my bedroom.

I immediately walk to my bed and sit. David stands by the door for a moment. He's rather skittish. Awkwardly he runs a hand through his hair, gesturing at the door. "Er, should I close this?"

"Yes please," I mutter.

David comes and sits besides me. I sigh and close my eyes. "I'm guessing ma told you everything?"

When he doesn't answer, I open my eyes and look at him. He cringes. "Yes."

I sigh heavily again. I don't know why the gesture surprises me, but David laces his hand in my own. Giving it a squeeze, he looks at me directly in the eyes. "But I wanna hear from you, in your own words, what's going on."

I sigh again. "Can I at least get a shirt on?"

"You don't have to. In fact, I'd rather you didn't."

I merely give him a withering look.

"Oh fine," he says with a dramatic sigh and roll of his eyes. 

I chuckle. Once I have a shirt on, I sit back down next to him. Looking at ground, I still can't find it in me to speak. The silence is painful.

"So...Jon."

"He was my dance instructor," I begin, explaining things very carefully. "I've known him forever."

I'm happy when all David does is frown a little.

"Right before I, er, left home, I...started a relationship with Jon. We dated for four months."

For a moment I'm quiet. I can't help but shake my head at my own stupidity. "My parents were livid. Andy's my dad's best friend; he was convinced Jon was a pedophile." I look at David seriously, holding up my hands. "I swear to you he never did anything weird before I was of-age and we started dating." 

David is quiet.

I put my hands down. "I mean, that's not to say I didn't have a crush on him when I was little. He was a mentor of mine. The line between admiration and lust became blurred; several times."

David nods repeatedly, slowly.

"At first things were fine. He was really protective of me. I didn't think anything of it, because—well, because I was young. He had taught me for so long, I thought he just..." I sigh and close my eyes.

David takes my hand again, still not saying anything. I look at him, and I'm trying to mask the sheer fear that's bubbling up from my gut. 

"After awhile he started getting really possessive. He'd ask me where I was going, who I was with, when I'd be back, when I was leaving."

David looks sympathetic.

"Things got really weird at around month three. He started saying he didn't like my friends, that they were beneath me, that I shouldn't hang out with them. He also started calling the house to make sure I was where I said I was."

When I say that, I look at David out of the corner of my eye. He still is looking at me with nothing but sympathy. Taking a deep breath, I continue.

"Of course my parents didn't take too kindly to that. They forbade me from seeing him. But guess what?"

"You didn't?" David offers up softly.

"I didn't."

I clear my throat, starting to shake again. "So, he starts showing up unexpected places. At first it was coincidental, but after awhile I knew he was following me."

"What a fucking creep!" 

"Yeah," I reply, glancing at him and then looking away. "So finally, four months in, I confronted him about it, about how controlling he was. I called him out about following me everywhere. He tried to tell me he loved me."

I shake my head, not wanting to think about that day. Even so, David has been nice enough to listen, so I gotta be nice enough and finish the story.

"He went on this whole romantic tear about how he had loved me for a long time, how he couldn't live without me. I tried to leave and, well...That's when he grabbed me."

"He grabbed you?" David asks, his voice airy.

"I mean, it was just by the shoulder. But it was hard, and he spun me around."

I pause a moment because my heart has started to go thump thump, thump thump like a damn racehorse.

"I told him we were done, that I didn't love him. That's when he got angry." I'm shaking now. "Really, really, angry."

David leans his head on my shoulder, and I'm so very grateful for the support.

"I'm lucky because, well, when I tried to leave again, he grabbed me by the wrists. Hard. So I did the only thing I could think of; I kneed him in the groin."

Under normal circumstances, I'm sure we both would have laughed. However, neither of us were laughing now.

"I'm lucky because he wasn't expecting it, so I got away. I ran all the way to Andy's bar." I leave out the part that I was a hysterical, sobbing mess. "He had grabbed me hard enough that my shoulder was bruised, and both my wrists were."

"Jesus..." David mumbles, and I'm guessing ma left that part out because he sounds genuinely surprised.

"Andy and my parents wanted me to press assault charges, but I refused. So my parents changed the locks on the house, and for awhile I was driven to and from wherever I was going by my dad. Andy told everyone—literally everyone—in town what Jon had done. My parents were pretty angry. They were afraid of retribution, that Jon would act out. Instead he just sort of...slunk away into the shadows."

David wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close. Ma must have left the house just then, because I hear the front door close.

"I found out through the grapevine he had decided to go back to college; I guess he wanted to start life over or some shit, I don't know. Shortly after all that happened I decided I'd had enough of this town and my life so I left and found work elsewhere."

David's eyes turn a little wide. "So...is that how you met Orion?"

"Yup."

For awhile we don't say anything. Eventually David leans in and gives me a kiss. And even though my mom told us not to, we end up having sex, and I'm grateful he understood that that was what I needed right then.