Slow fade

35

I had finally finished my drawing when I realized I hadn't seen Aaron in a while. I got up from my spot to go and find him but instead I saw Tom hitting Aaron.

" Tom what are you doing?!"

" ask him! He's the one that's been on the phone with rachel talking about ways to hurt you."

Tom stomped off leaving me and Aaron. I was taken back by what Tom had said. What did he mean by working with Rachel.

" what is he talking about Aaron?"

" he's lying!"

" tell me the truth"

" Rachel is my sister. You ruined her life in school. You bullied her and use to hurt her. We were going to drug you and drop you body so no one could find you!"

" but that never happened she did that to me." I could feel tears forming but I wiped them before they could fall. Aaron walked closer to me and got in my face.

" you're such a lying bitch Presley. You hurt my sister so now I'll hurt you."

His nose was covered in blood because of how hard Tom had hit him. He grabbed my neck and tightened his grip. I was crying at this point not even trying to hold back the tears.

" you're so useless." His words reminded me of my dad. I thought of the only thing I could. I raised my leg and kicked him in the balls. He fell and crawled into a ball.

I kicked him again. " leave i never want to see you or hear from you again!" He slowly stood up and walked towards his car.

I wanted to find Tom and thank him. I kept walking until I saw a boy with dreads sitting with his back against a tree. I sat next to him and wiped the tears on my face.

" thank you Tom."

" yea it's whatever." Tom started to get up and walk away.

" what is your problem Tom?"

" nothing just leave me alone."

" I'm ok"

" friends are suppose to help each other remember! Let me help you."

Tom turned around to finally face me. " that's the thing though Presley I don't want to be your friend!"

" why?"

" because I love you Presley and it hurts because I know you'll never feel the same way about me. Instead I have to watch you go and date other boys. It hurts."

I walked towards Tom and put my hand on the side of his face. " Tom the only reason I did that was because I saw you with Rachel that night. I liked you Tom! You! But I knew I needed to move on because you wanted other girls."

" you liked me?"

" I still do. When I kissed Aaron that night at the club it was nothing compared to ours a couple minutes before."

" you mean that?"

" every single word of it. I like you tom."

Tom grabbed my face and brought our lips together. It was a long and passionate one. We finally needed to catch our breath. We placed our foreheads together and stared into each other's eyes.

" I love you eyes."

" I like yours to tom."

He kissed me again. We stood there holding each other. " would you like to go on a date with me tomorrow?"

" I'd love nothing more."

We sat down and watched the sun set until I remembered something. " tom we need to get back to the others they're probably wondering what happened."

" you're right."

He grabbed my hand and we walked back to where everyone else was. I sat next to my bag and pulled out the picture and showed it to tom.

" it's beautiful."

" that's because everyone in the picture is beautiful."

I had drawn a picture of all of us together. What happened to y'all? And where's Aaron?" Bill asked.

" I kicked him ti the curb"

" thank god I didn't like him very much." Gustav said smiling.

" me either" tom said which made me hit his arm.

" to bad I liked that swimsuit" bill said a little upset

" I'll get you a new pair bill."

I stood up and took my sweater and pants off. Tom did the same. " I didn't know you had tattoos."

" that's because I never show them off much."

" you should they're awesome."

No one ever really saw my tattoos and I was ok with that. I had one down my back, ribs, and a snake wrapped around my thigh. Each one I got in a different time in my life which I liked.

Tom grabbed my hand and we jumped into the water together.when we surfaced I saw ansley giving me that look as if to say " you have something to tell me" which I planned to.

Never in my life did I think I would have this many friends that actually liked me for me.