Love to Hate You

Love Us or Hate Us

"Oh, my god, leave me alone!" Victoria snapped, storming down the hallway. I rolled my eyes and chased after her, grabbing her arm and turning her to me.

"Quit being so fucking annoying, Ick," I hissed. She watched me, her face twisting into a smile despite her best efforts. I grinned down at her and kissed her, dropping her arm and taking her waist. "You're lucky you're so cute."

"You're lucky I think you're cute, asshole," she quipped, leaning into me as we started walking to the cafeteria.

"Oh, you've thought I was cute since you hated me," I sniped, kissing her temple. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, smiling up at me. We had been dating for several weeks and I was still just as enamored with her since we had kissed in the bathroom. I pulled her closer and pressed my lips to the top of her head, taking her scent in. "I seriously need you to write my English essay, though."

"Jesus Christ – no, Munson!" she exclaimed, elbowing my side. We had been arguing about this all morning. She was annoyed because of how much I had put it off, so when I asked for her help, she blew up at me. I loved when she got mad, so I had continued to pick at it all morning, hoping to rile her up.

She did the same to me, picking on my music tastes or Hellfire. We would swing between annoying each other to the point of the fights we used to get into back to lovesick over one another. She made me so mad sometimes and I loved it.

"If you cared about my grades, you would help me," I teased, leaning down to kiss her ear.

"If you cared about my health, you would stop leaving things to the last minute and giving me heart attacks," she replied. I laughed and guided her to the lunch table.

When we had finally broken the news of our relationship to the group, we were met with excitement and confusion, due to our former hatred. It got even weirder when we had to combine our friend groups at lunch. The boys had no idea how to interact with girls, and Dustin was overly friendly and managed to always ask questions that embarrassed me. Victoria loved it when I got embarrassed and nervous, and almost encouraged it.

We sat, and I pulled her close to me, kissing her neck. She leaned into me, greeting the boys as they started to sit with us. She started on her lunch and grinned up at me, holding a carrot out for me. I took a bite from it, smiling back at her. I winked as she finished the carrot and kissed her again.

"Gross," Robin said as she and Vickie sat with us. Vickie smiled kindly at us, and my Victoria greeted them.

"Hey, you two," Victoria chirped, placing a hand on my thigh. I tensed and felt like I was full of electricity. She knew what she did to me, and she loved putting me on edge.

"Are you guys coming to Steve's party tonight?" Robin asked. I ate a pretzel and kept my head down, knowing that the invite was not for me.

"What do you think, stinky?" Victoria asked. I looked at her, surprised. Wait, was I getting invited to a party?

"Wait, me?" I asked stupidly. Robin furrowed her brows.

"Obviously, Munson," she responded, acting like I was ridiculous to ask. I felt nervous suddenly and was stammering. Robin glanced around. "Everyone should come."

The boys got excited and started asking her questions, wanting more details. Robin was kind and answered them, encouraging them to go. Victoria squeezed my thigh and I looked down at her.

"Want to go, Fido?" she asked, leaning close to my face. I grinned and nodded.

"Will you wear that red shirt again?" I asked, making her laugh before she kissed me.

---

I was laying on Victoria's bed, staring at the ceiling and waiting for her to get ready. I hummed along to the Kiss album she had gotten on our day of playing hooky. I heard her walking back to her room and shot up, excited to see her in the shirt.

She came into her room, putting her earrings in and grinning at me. She looked great, in the outfit that I had first kissed her in. She held a necklace out to me.

"Can you help me get this on?" she asked. I nodded and crossed to her. She turned her back to me, handing me the necklace and pulling her hair over her shoulder. My hands trembled as I clipped the necklace together and my stomach flipped when she leaned into my chest and looked up at me. I smiled at her and wrapped my arms around her.

"How did you get it on last time?" I asked, kissing her nose. She smirked.

"Oh, I can get it on by myself," she quipped. My grin grew. "I just wanted to make you work for the outfit."

"You're an asshole," I teased, kissing her hard. I moved to her neck and kissed her bare shoulders, making her hair stand on edge. I sunk my teeth into her shoulder, and she yelped. I came back to her lips and kissed her one more time before letting her go. I got an idea and turned her to me.

"Wait here," I ordered as I went to her desk, grabbing my jacket. I went back to her and pulled it on her, grinning wildly as she smoothed it over her. She smiled up at me.

"How will anyone appreciate my shirt in this?" she teased. I shook my head before kissing her.

"I can appreciate the shirt – no one else needs to," I insisted. She laughed and threw her arms around my neck pulling me to her.

"You're obsessed, stinky," she said quietly, close to my face. I felt my chest burn and nodded before she closed the distance, kissing me deeply.

---

"Quit being a weirdo," Victoria said quietly, placing a hand on my bouncing knee to calm me down. I smiled nervously at her and cleared my throat, taking a sip of my beer. I felt out of place, unbelieving that I was at a party and had been invited.

We were on the couch, me at the end, Victoria in the middle, and Robin and Vickie to her side. I glanced around and watched Hellfire interact with other people, being normal and casual. How were they able to do that?

Victoria leaned into me and kissed my neck, making my face flush. I looked down at her and smiled nervously. She grinned at me.

"You okay, Fido?" she asked, placing her hand on the inside of my thigh. I felt my heart skip and mouth dry.

"Just not used to being let on the furniture," I replied. Her eyes crinkled and she nodded. She turned to Robin and Vickie.

"We're going to go outside – see you in a bit," she informed them, standing and taking my hand.

I was relieved as we walked through the party to the backyard. I took a deep breath as we got outside, finally relaxed. I grinned at her and pulled her to the lawn furniture we had spent time on when she first smoked weed. I sank into the chair, propping my feet up. I pulled her into my lap, setting her between my legs. She pressed her back to my chest and I wrapped my arms around her, kissing the top of her head.

"Feel better, stinky?" she asked, tracing my forearms.

"Much," I replied. I kissed her head again and looked up at the night sky. She sighed in my arms and pressed further into my chest.

"Tomorrow's our last day of archiving," she said quietly. I grinned.

"Is it weird that I'm a little bummed?" I asked. She nodded.

"Well, yeah, that makes sense. We have to break up after we're done," she replied. I felt my heart sink and my eyes widened.

"What?" I exclaimed, suddenly panicked. I started sitting up and she laughed, gripping onto my arms.

"Stinky, I'm kidding!" she insisted. I felt a wave of relief and sighed deeply, wrapping her tighter in my arms and burying my face in her hair.

"That was mean," I said quietly. She sat up and turned to me, taking my face in her hands.

"I'm sorry," she replied, kissing me softly. I smiled at her, and she laid back onto me.

"You're an asshole," I teased. She nuzzled closer and wrapped my arms around her.

"Takes one to know one," she replied. I smiled, kissing her head again.