Living in Derry Maine as a Bowers wasn't exactly a fairytale. Leslie Bowers was just trying to survive since her mom left, leaving Henry and her to their dad's vices. But Patrick Hockstetter happened. And he changed everything.
#1 in Stephen King ❤️...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You'll be dead if you don't come home tonight!" Henry yelled after me once we had gotten home from school, watching me stalk off away from the trans am once it had come to a halt in our driveway. I had practically trampled Patrick trying to quickly get out. I was furious. Beyond furious. I kept going and going until I reached my usual hiding spot between our property and the Hanlen's property line, knowing I would be safe there. A clearing in the woods that was always so peaceful to me, away from Henry and my dad, away from all the gossiping dicks in this town that thought they had me all figured out. And I just lost it, I screamed into the deep abyss of trees surrounding me until I couldn't scream anymore.
"Les....?" I jumped a little once Bev showed next to me, seeing the pure anger on my face. She knew it was Henry. It usually was anymore. He'd grown worse in recent months and I felt like I didn't really have a brother anymore. All he did was torture kids around town and treat me like utter shit for trying to stick up for them. And heaven forbid if I was remotely close to Patrick. That was a no go. And I was frankly sick of being threatened about it. My dad once told me if he found out I was sleeping with that Hockstetter prick that he'd beat me within an inch of my life. I had never slept with anyone. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in Patrick. You know when I said I wasn't worried about a dick being inside me at any given time? I may have been misleading myself.
"Sorry! I didn't mean to freak. I just uh... needed that I guess." She simply handed me a new pack of cigarettes with a little smile of understanding on her face, not saying a word. And that was enough for me. We sat against our usual tree and lit our cigs up into the brisk summer air, smoke lingering around us. I kept flicking the zippo open and close that had a flame design on it that Patrick was of course attracted to himself. But he told me he thought of me the minute he saw it. A flame. He knew I had one in me. And eventually, it would explode.
"Ya know, I think you should go for it. With Patrick. I mean yeah, I don't want you to end up dead. But he's different with you. Fuck Henry. Don't let him hold you back." Just as she finished her sentence, Vic and the man himself came bounding down towards us, seeing Patrick clearly heard every single word. They'd been listening. And I was dying of embarrassment. Yay.
"Yeah Leslie, don't let him hold you back from all this looney goodness." I couldn't help but laugh once Patrick sat down next to me with his arm as usual, snaking around my waist, suddenly licking my cheek in his usual attempt at getting on my nerves when he knew I would simply shove him away. But this time, I didn't, surprising him more and more. I wiped my cheek clean of spit, but did something that surprised Vic and Bev. Something they never expected of me, considering usually I'm threatened, and verbally and physically abused if I ever even attempted such an act. I climbed right onto Patrick's lap before I could change my mind, his hands coming to rest firmly on my waist once I sat firmly in his lap with my legs on either side of him. He looked surprised himself, but just hid behind his usual wicked smirk. He was beyond enjoying this. He was entertained.
