He's Not Bad, He's Broken

Chapter 19 - Her Company

Kale P. O. V

Bradley. Just her name sends a shiver down my spine. And it's not the bad kind.

But it scares me. I've only ever felt this way about one girl. That didn't end so well.

Bradley is different. She's sweet, immature, but mature, outgoing. I hate that I feel this way, but I can't get hurt again.

And she lives with me.

She treats everyone with respect and kindness, unless you give her a reason not to. It's genuinely one of the things I admire about her.

I want to tell her what happened. I want to tell her why I act the way I do. To tell her that-

"-Cuddly bear!" Her ridiculous nickname snaps me out of my thoughts. I look up at her, to see her standing above me with her hand pulled back.

Is she going to slap me?

"Woah! Chill cupcake. No need to slap anyone." I catch her hand right as she swings it at me. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Her eyes widen, then she pulls her arm away quickly and puts it behind her back, "What are you talking about?" She then rolls her eyes.

"You're kidding me, right?" I look at her dumbfounded. "You tried to slap me."

"I would never do such a thing. You imbecile."

"No need to call people names. Anyways, what did you want?" I put my arms behind my neck and lay back.

She looks at me, like just stares. She does that a lot. It's really creepy. Then she looks to my bed, then back at me.

I sigh, "Would you like to lay down?" And she smiles this beautiful smile, I like it. A lot. She does this thing, where she scrunches her nose and her head goes back a little bit which exposes her double chins. I've never been so attracted to someones double chin.

Jeez, I'm a fucking weirdo.

I smile back at her and scoot over. She jumps in next to me, literally, and elbowed me in the stomache.

"Oh my. Ugh. Come on Bradley!" I groan in pain.

"Oh jeez. Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I? Wait, no I obviously did. I can help. One second." She sprints out of the room. I stare at the door.

What the hell?

Then out of nowhere she comes barging in holding something, an ice pack?

And guess what happened next. She tripped. And in the process threw the ice pack at me. And hit me exactly where I was elbowed.

"Bradley! Can you chill? Please." I beg her.

"That was not my fault. That was yours." She accuses me.

"What? My fault? How?"

"Because you left," She looks down and her eyes grow huge, "You left a box of condoms on your floor! You sicko!" She picks up the box and throws it at me.

My face grows warm, "Shut up." I pick them up and throw them into my nightstand.

"Teenage boys." She rolls her eyes. "Now scoot over." She climbs into the bed with me.

I lay my head on one arm and the other layed out. She lays on it.

Sparks. That's what I feel. And I like it, and I don't. But I hope she feels them too.

"I like this, Kale." She looks at me with so much intensity. "Thank you for being you." She scoots closer.

"Always. You can count on me."

And we just sat there, talking about nothing and everything. Enjoying eachothers company.

Then it happened. A loud bang. I snapped my head to my door.

Brandon and Braden. The cutest little kids ever.

Braden runs to Bradley and hugs her.

Brandon stands at the edge of the bed with his hands in his pockets. "Sup Kale."

The two girls roll their eyes and scoff in sync. I swear they practice this stuff.

I smile, "Yo, what's up B-boy?"

"Chillin."

"Okay I swear to god if you don't get him to stop acting like that I will Neuter both of you. Or Spay. Whatever the hell it is. Y'all will be ball-less." She threatened us.

"I'm sure you will, " Brandon says.

"Come on Brandon, let's go play." Braden says. She's a bossy little thing, isn't she?

They both walk out of the room hand in hand.

Bradley sighs, then she looks at me.

And that's all. Just stares at me. Again.

Now I sigh. "Bradley you do know that freaks me out, right?"

She furrows her eyebrows, "Why?"

"Because you're just staring at me, and I don't know why."

"I'm just thinking." She looks into my eyes.

"What about?"

"Everything is so different now, you know? My life. And it's all amazing," She sits up and fiddles with her hands. "And it scares me. I don't know when it's going to be over." Her voice cracks.

"Look at me, cupcake," I try to get her attention. But she wouldn't look at me. So, I shift my body a little and grab her chin and make her look at me. "You deserve happiness. You really deserve this sweetheart. It's not going to end. Okay? It will work out in the end. All of it." I said this with as much sincerity I could muster up.

And we were so close. I was about two inches away from her.

Oh god.

I couldn't help it. I looked down towards her lips. I clench my jaw and lick my lips.

I want to kiss her so bad. I just can't.

I squeeze me eyes shut, and sigh. Fuck. I hate this.

When I open my eyes again I see her looking at me, no one has ever looked at me like that. There has been so many girls, so many. And not one has looked at me like that.

I can't do this. So I started to pull away. But before I could, her lips crashed onto mine.

I was shocked. She told me she never kissed anyone before. Why waste it on me?

But I took advantage of it. If I was her first kiss I am going to make it worth her while.