I sighed looking into the mirror. I found myself slightly nervous to be going out with Dylan tonight. I knew he wouldn't do anything like last time, I just had a bad feeling about tonight. Ignoring my subconsious, I grabbed my purse and went downstairs to wait for his arrival.
Dylan knocked on the door, breaking me out of my nervous thoughts. I got up from the couch and opened it, to see him standing on the doorstep looking like a Ralph Lauren model. I blinked a few times, realizing that I was staring and smiled, pulling the door shut behind me. "You look really pretty." He complimented as we walked together toward his car.
"Thanks." I said shyly. This somehow was beginning to feel like a date, which I was sure it was not. We drove through the suburban darkness without speaking much, just humming along to the radio as I focused my gaze out the window.
Instead of taking me to our usual pizza parlor, Dylan farther into town at pulled into the lot of Catch, one of the higher-end seafood resturants. We were seated and handed menus by a rather timid looking waitress. Dylan ordered me talapia and lobster for himself. I pushed down my annoyance at Dylan's slighly arrogant demeanor as the waitress took down our orders and left. This dinner was supposed to be his way of 'making it up to me', I needed to have a more open mind. Or he needs to not be so much of a tool, my snarky subconsious adds.
After awhile, the conversations began to flow more freely and comfortably, easing the tension I'd put on myself. I had to hand it to him, though it was a bit ostentatious to take me here, the food was great and I did enjoy myself throughout dinner. "Do you want desert?" Dylan asked once I'd finished my entree.
Though the chocolate cake the table next to us was eating looked incredible, I'd eaten way too much to even fit a crumb inside my already full stomach. "No, I'm okay." I shook my head, grabbing my jacket from the back of the chair as he handed the check back to our waiter. We both stood up, and Dylan placed a hand on my back, guiding me out of the restruant.
The wind was begining to chill as fall approached, and I found myself holding my jacket tighter against my body to block out the cool night air. Once we were inside the car, Dylan turned it on and flipped the heat on, but made no move to put the vehicle in drive. The bad feeling present earlier began to reappear and my mind flashed back to the party as I felt his hand grip my leg a few inches above my knee.
"What are.." My sentence was ceased by a pair of lips attacking mine. It all felt so wrong, the way he forced his tongue between my lips, his hand traveling up my leg, and the other holding my neck in place, making it nearly impossible to pull away; this wasn't the sweet first kiss a girl would expect on her first date with a boy. My lips refused to move with his and I let out a groan, hoping he'd take the hint and back off. However, this only encouraged him and his mouth pressed harder against mine.
"Come on, Bel." He said, panting as he pulled away slightly. "I know you want this." He nearly growled, mouth moving to my neck and sucking harshly at the skin there. I winced at his assault, willing my mouth to find the words to end it.
"Stop." I said weakly. The words had no effect on him and he leaned even farther across the car toward me and he pulled me by the shoulders, closing the distance between us as his lips landed on mine again. I finally gathered my strength and put my hands on his shoulders, pushing them back. "Get the fuck off me!" My volume and edge in my voice caused him to finally pull away, his eyes narrowed to slits as he looked at me.
"You're such a fucking tease, Bel." He said angrily, moving back into his own seat. "I took you to dinner for Christ sake. You'd think I'd get a little something in return." He grumbled, his voice low.
"If I knew that's what you were expecting, I wouldn't have agreed to it." I told him, the anger rising in my chest.
"You're just a dumb little girl. Naive as shit." He spit, his eyes unkind.
"And you're just a tool." I shot back.
"Get out of my car." He said, turning away from me, his eyes on the dashboard.
"What?" Was he really going to make me walk home?
"You head me."
I opened the door, and slid out of the front seat, stunned by his blunt request. "Are you really going to leave me here?" I asked as he turned the key, starting the car.
"It's a small town, you can find your way home." He said, too cooly, and pulled away.
Once his car was out of sight, I let the tears, that had been threatening, fall. In the moment, I knew I needed to be strong as to not be further taken advantage of, but now that I was alone in the dark I could let them out. I walked over to a nearby parking block and sat down, hugging my jacket tighter around my frame. I was really dreading the walk home, and I was half expecting Dylan to pull back up and apologize, offering to take me home. After about twenty tearful minutes, I realized that wasn't going to happen.
I pulled my phone out of my purse and dialed the newly saved number of someone I already knew I could count on. "Arabella?" He answered on the second ring.
I sniffled, trying to figure out a way to relay what was happening. "Can..can you come get me?" My voice betrayed me, cracking at the end of my sentence.
"Yeah, what's wrong? Where are you?" He sounded concerned, and I could hear a door shut in the background.
I told him the name of the restruant and he got off the phone, promising to be here in ten minutes. I tried to focus on my breathing as I awaited his arrival, but my mind was racing with how I was going to explain this to him when he got here. He's surely going to want to go straight to Dylan's house and beat the shit out of him. Not that I would be against that, but I didn't want more punches thrown because of me.
As a pair of headlights pulled up infront of me I looked at the small clock on my phone, noting that he'd made it here in only six minutes. He was speeding, no doubt. The car stopped but wasn't shut off as the driver's door was flung open and Chad came rushing through it. He hurried to where I was still sitting and took in my appearance. My face was tearstained, makeup undoubtedly running down my cheeks, as I sat on the concrete shivering. He shrugged off his jacket and bent down to wrap it around my shoulders. Before he took his hands away, I stood and wrapped my arms around his thin waist. As I burried my face into his chest, the tears began to fall again.
He held me for a few minutes before ushering me into the car, turning the heat to full blast. "We're not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell happened." Though his words were slightly harsh, his voice was soft and I could easily tell he was honestly concerned.
I took a deep breath and launched into the story of how the past few hours had played out. When I finished I looked over to see him taking deep breaths and pinching the bridge of his nose. "I should go and knock the fuck out him." His voice was controlled, but I could tell the control was wavering.
"Please don't" I whispered. I wanted to reach my had out and hold his, but something was holding me back.
"Why not?!" His voice raised a few decibels, startling me slightly.
I didn't have a good reason as to why he shouldn't, so I didn't speak. I just lowered my eyes, playing with my fingers.
"You'd think he would have learned the first time not to fuck with you like that. He needs to know, Arabella. He needs to know that this shit isn't going to fly with you. I won't allow it." His tone was hard and I could tell he was absolutely serious. But instead of being afraid of what he could do to Dylan, my heart swelled at the lenghs he'd go to protect me.
"Thank you." I blurted out, causing his head to snap up in my direction.
"For what?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows.
"For always saving me" I explained, shrugging.
His lips slowly curled into a smile but his eyes remained serious as he said, "I'm always going to protect you, Arabella. I can't stand the thought of that shmuck.." His volume began to rise and the awful recollections of Dylan began to fill both our minds.
"Hey," I interruped his sentence, eyes pleading for him to remain calm, "can we just go home?" I asked.
Chad nodded and put the car in reverse, pulling out of the parking lot, and drove through our sleepy suburban town.
