Waiting To Exhale

Seventeen

When I get home the next morning Gabriel is waiting for me. I decide to ignore his presence as long as I have to. I march in the kitchen and put my food in. I can feel Gabriel hovering over me. What's his problem now? I'm probably going to get beat up for staying out all hours of the night. It's not like he even cares. He doesn't care about me.

   I close the fridge. We stand across each other for what seems like hours, making me uncomfortable. "What happened to your neck? Who did that?"

   "Like you care." That nearly earns me a slap in the face. Almost. Not to complain but I don't know why he's being so hesitant when it comes to slapping me all of a sudden. He acts like he hasn't done it multiple times before.

   "I'm-you didn't come home last night."

   "I know." Oh, I'm really asking for it now. If he slaps me I can't say I didn't provoke him. Oh well. He's done worse. Besides he doesn't seem like he wants to hit me so I'd say I'm good. 

   "Where were you?"

   There's a hint of concern in His voice. I'm not sure if it's genuine. His hands twitch slightly. I can tell he's nervous. I don't know why.

   Instead of answering his question I squeeze past him and quickly walk to my room. I slam the door shut and lock the door. I couldn't stay there a second longer. He has no right to ask me where I've been all night. When he stays out and doesn't want to come home I don't bug him about it.

   I doddle to pass the time. There's nothing else to do. I could call up Anthony or text him but Mason was pretty upset last night. I don't want to overstep my boundaries with him. If he doesn't feel okay with me texting him then I shouldn't do it. That's all to it.

   Anthony must have known I was thinking about him because my phone goes off and I realize it's him calling. I don't answer. I don't want to put him in a position where he unconsciously screws up my relationship with Mason. My phone rings again. Its Anthony again. He calls back three more times. I wish he would stop calling. I know he doesn't want anything but to annoy me.

   He finally stops calling. I fold up my stuff and put it away. I lay down in bed. It isn't long before I begin to doze off. And it isn't long before I'm up again, due to someone's incisive banging on the door. Grumbling, I get up to answer the door. I was only asleep for an hour. My eyes burn a little bit and I have a slight headache. I'm so mad right now.

   The door swings open.

   Standing in the door frame is Anthony. His eyes are slightly red. He smells like weed. He flashes me a wide smile.

   "How do you know where I stay?"

   "The night we met up at the dinner. That would have been really stupid of me to let you walk home in the dark alone like that."

   "Oh." Is all I can manage.

   "I called you. I wanted to see if we could hang out. I have a ton of stuff on my mind and I just needed a distraction." He explains. He looks off in the distance with heavy eyes. Now I feel bad about ignoring his calls. I was only trying to keep my relationship with Mason solid. The way he reacted last night scared me and I don't want him to do anything like that again.  It's so unlike him.

   I unfold my arms. Sighing, "I'm sorry." I subconsciously pull my hair back over my shoulder. I forgot about the bruise Mason left. I try to hurry and cover it back up but it's too late. He already saw it.

   "What happened to your neck? Did that boyfriend of yours do that? It was because I called you last night wasn't it?" He doesn't give me time to answer any of his questions with a lie. I don't even know a good lie to cover this up.

   I open up the door to let him in. He's hesitant at first, stating at the bruise, but eventually settles in on the couch. The house is in a decent condition. Thank God for that.

   I sit down next to him and mentally prepare myself for whatever he has to say. Anthony is the protective type so I know this isn't going to fly. "Can we not talk about this?" I have to try anyway.

   Anthony shakes his head vigorously. He's not having it. "Olivia you shouldn't let him hit on you. You shouldn't let any man hit on you. If he can't respect you you don't need him."

   "It's not that simple-"

   "It is to me."

   "We have something people wouldn't understand. It would be a waste of my time to try to get you to see that. He promised he won't do it again and I trust that." I explain in the nicest way possible.

   "Fine but you're like a little sister to me. If he hits you again I'm gonna kill him." I believe he will. I'm so blessed to have someone like Anthony by my side. He's a good friend and I realize I don't want to give that up. I haven't had friends, not real ones that like me for me. I don't have a big brother so it's nice that Anthony wants to fill that spot.

   Anthony drops the conversation but I can tell he's still mad about it. Since he doesn't feel like going home we decide to sit back on the couch and chill. I get so comfortable that I end up telling him about my high school experience. I don't tell him everything. I just scrape the top. He gets angry just hearing how people treat me. I get him to laugh and he tells me I'm too nice and that it's both a good thing and a bad thing but it's who I am.

   "You don't need them anyway. If they want to bully people they don't deserve your friendship. You're above them. No offense but thank God I have friends. High school is hard enough as it is." He laughs.

   "Wait you're in high school?"

   He gives me a weird look. "Yeah. Why?"

   "I just thought you were older. What grade?"

   "Eleventh." He runs his fingers through his curly hair.

   I ask him if he plans on going to college and he says he doesn't know yet. Anthony seems to think I'm an interesting person but I don't think so. I'm boring. I'm not very social. Anthony is a completely different person compared to me. He's outgoing and doesn't take anyone's crap.

   I like everything about him.

   I like Anthony. He's a cool big brother.