Young Lust

32 - Walk This Way

"I fucking knew it!" A slurred voice came out of nowhere.

I looked to my left to see a stumbling Steven staggering towards Tom and I.

"Whoa, man, hold on-" Tom attempted.

"I knew it," Steven repeated loudly. "Who else, Jade?"

"Are you serious?" My anger flooded back in. "What is wrong with you? That shit from earlier came outta nowhere! Where did it come from?" I took a few steps towards Steven and put my hands on my hips.

"Ha. Like you don't know."

Words were unable to leave my mouth at this idiocy. All I could manage was to screw up my face at Steven and wait for more bullshit to fall out of his mouth.

"Steven..." Tom tried to calm him down. "Just tell us why you're thinking that!"

"Johnny saw you!" Steven yelled.

My eye twitched at Steven's last sentence. Without another word, I calmly started to walk back towards Johnny's house. But before I could get past Steven, he grabbed me by the arm, nearly making me fall backwards.

"Where are you going?" Steven demanded, still quite loudly.

"Let her go, man," Tom quietly ordered, but that just made Steven's grip tighten.

"You're hurting me!" I tried to get away from Steven.

"Nuh uh," he chuckled. "Walk this way."

Steven started to drag me in the other direction while I tried to hit his hand off of my arm.

"Hey!" A fourth, deeper voice joined in. Steven turned around only to be met by a blur of black and a punch in the nose. I was let free and I stepped back to assess the situation.

"What the fuck?" Steven held his face while he was flat on the ground. I glanced up to see Joe shake his hand a couple of times and loosen up his shoulders.

"You okay?" Joe asked me. I rubbed my arm and nodded. Tom just stood there like he'd just seen the craziest thing ever.

Steven rose slowly, using his hand to stop blood from ruining his clothes. He shot daggers at the three of us from his squinting eyes and stumbled away from us, surprisingly quickly.

As I watched him go, my breaths began to shorten. Tears were building up but weren't escaping. I felt so lightheaded that I started to see little prickles of white and black, and I involuntarily sat down on the bitumen.

"Hey," Tom and Joe both said. Tom rushed to sit next to me while Joe stood above us.

"Are you okay?" Joe asked me again.

"Does she look okay to you?" Tom snapped. He put his hand on my knee as I tried to control my breathing.

"I guess th-... that was..." I managed between gasps, "a bit more intense... than I thought."

"Can you walk?" Tom asked. I nodded and both guys helped me to my feet. Tom's arm wound around my waist for the second time and Joe walked on the other side of me, hand in his leather jacket pockets.

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"Can I just get a salad and egg sandwich?"

"Sure thing." I reached into the refrigerated display cabinet to grab the sandwich. I passed it to the tall, redheaded customer who paid for it and left the café without even a thank you.

"Some people, right?" Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Right." I headed towards a table to clear it off. After wiping it over, I took the plates and mugs into the kitchen to wash them up.

"Watch out, darling." Ruby called from across the kitchen. She pointed to the wet floor sign that was standing next to a large puddle. "I had a bit of a mishap. Not to worry."

I felt so drained throughout the entire shift that I didn't even lighten up when it was time to leave. I signed the logbook and left the shop, saying ciao to the other workers as I went.

"Jade!"

I didn't even get past the third store on my way. Tom waved me over to the table he was at. Joey, Brad and Joe were present as well.

"You look terrible," said Brad. I noticed Joe look me up and down without speaking.

"I'm fine. Just tired." I picked a strand of hair from my black pants before sitting down in the free chair between Tom and Joey.

I barely got a chance to adjust myself before Tom's hand landed on my thigh. I shifted so he removed it.

"Have you heard from Steven?" Joey asked. The group knew about the situation.

"Not since the other night at Johnny's. I don't even know if we're officially broken up," I sighed and rested my chin in my palm.

"I'd say so." Tom crossed his arms. Joe flashed him an annoyed look.

"Here you go, guys." A brunette waitress, probably my age, stopped at the table and set down three sodas and a milkshake. "Oh," she noticed me with a smile, "can I get you anything?"

"I'm good, thank you." I sat back in my chair and the waitress nodded and retreated.

Meanwhile, Joey had reached for the milkshake, leaving the sodas for the other three. I noticed Joey spy on the young waitress as she walked away.

"You got a crush on her or something?" I asked playfully.

Joey looked at me with pink cheeks. "Is it that obvious?"

"She's cute. You should get her number," I pressed with a grin as I crossed my right leg over my left.

Brad sniggered. "Yeah, go on Joey."

"Maybe next time." Joey sucked up his drink through the yellow straw. "Guys?"

"What?"

"Look. Steven's here."

Tom turned around while I kept looking in front of me. Steven must have seen me sitting there because he didn't stop to chat.

Then, like he changed his mind, Steven did a one-eighty and stopped at the table.

"Glad to see you're keeping her in check," Steven said without looking at me. None of the boys responded.

"Listen here, you arse," I began, rising from my chair. Brad and Joey exchanged nervous glances as I started ranting.

"You were wrong. That's all there is to it." Steven crossed his arms as I spoke. "Your stupid friend Johnny put a stupid idea into your stupid head, and now I don't want to be your girlfriend."

"Typical," Steven scoffed, "denying everything."

"Wow. You just can't admit that you made a fool of yourself for no real reason, can you?" My turn to cross my arms.

"Come on, guys," Tom interrupted, "don't cause a scene."

"You're right," Steven agreed, "you're right. Anyone wanna take this elsewhere? Joe? You like beating people up, don't you?"

"You're a fucking idiot." Joe stood up and walked in the direction Steven came from earlier. Tom, Joey and Brad didn't move.

I rolled my eyes and followed Joe's lead.

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A/N: Sorry, crappy chapter, stay with me here 😪