The Beginning of the End, Part V

Now that Kevin and I had no more secrets (well, at least that’s what I thought), things were going pretty well. Kevin was like a big kid, and we had lots of fun together. One time around Christmas, we rented all the old Christmas specials from Blockbuster, and just sat watching them together all night. Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch were especially fun that year. Kevin even sang the Heat Miser/Cold Miser song, with dance moves and everything. We went to Kiddieland another day, and rode all the rides we weren’t too tall for. When “Silence of the Lambs” came out, we saw it together, and spent the night freaking out at his place. He wasn’t much of a bodyguard when it came to Hannibal Lecter – thank God it was only a movie!

We still partied, but only on weekends. And usually not until AFTER the bars, which looking back really made no sense at all, but whatever. I was working at a local bank at the time as a teller, and Kevin – well, let’s see. Was Kevin working? Oh, yes! He WAS working – on a beer truck. I kid you not. Of course, that didn’t last long, he seemed to have a hard time getting up in the morning (did I mention that fun as Kevin was, he WASN’T that responsible – surprise, surprise). Anyway, I was convinced that our lives were really pretty normal, and that a little partying was really no big deal. Which it wasn’t, at that time at least.

Everything was pretty under control for the first year or so, I had met his family and he had met mine, and I really thought that he would be “The One.” He had an older sister, and his father was a Chicago police sergeant, who happened to know one of my uncles. Unfortunately, my uncle didn’t think too highly of Kevin, apparently his father had mentioned several of Kevin’s not-so-pleasant qualities. But I defended him vehemently, and ignored his warnings (much like I ignored Phil’s). See, I knew the REAL Kevin, and no one else did. Not even his family.

It was around that time that Kevin introduced me to some “new” friends of his, Tom, Kathy and Glenn. He and Glenn had decided they were going to go into business together, delivering free publications to newspaper boxes. Kevin had somehow scraped up enough money to buy an old truck with a sliding side door to haul these publications, and from what I understood, Glenn had the contacts. Supposedly they were going to make a ton of money, because they would be delivering these all over the city and suburbs. Glenn seemed nice enough, but he did have a kind of odd look in his eyes. I found out that Glenn was a Vietnam vet, and had “a few” problems. But not to worry, he was a “really nice guy” and “harmless.” O-Kay. Tom and Kathy, on the other hand, were a very unique couple. They both looked a little shady, and Kathy informed me that although Tom was her boyfriend, she was engaged to this older guy who was really rich. Her plan was to keep Tom on the side until she married the rich guy and was able to divorce him, collect alimony, and then marry Tom. Again, O-Kay. Tom apparently had no problem with this whole scenario whatsoever. In fact, he seemed very proud of Kathy. Go figure.

Now, it was about this time when for a brief moment, a sliver of my mind was screaming “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??” because, let’s face it, these were not exactly the type of people I used to hang around with at my Catholic all-girl’s high school. But although deep down inside, I knew better, the bottom line was I had fallen hook, line and sinker for Kevin and didn’t want to believe that he was anything other than wonderful.

Kevin started hanging out with Tom and Kathy more and more frequently, and he also claimed to be “working” with Glenn an awful lot. I started feeling a little neglected. But then he would call and take me out to dinner or to the bar and everything would be ok again. Occasionally, he would bring me over to Tom and Kathy’s, but there would always be a point in the evening when he would disappear into another room for a few minutes and leave me talking to them alone. Which always kind of unnerved me, because honestly, they were really weird. Then one day, I got up I the middle of Kathy’s latest story about her rich fiancée and walked into the room Kevin had disappeared into. I was sick and tired of being left out, and wanted to know what was up.

What I found became another not-so-great turning point in my life, but a turning point nonetheless. If only I had never opened that door…