Miss Perfect and The Bad Boy

thirteen - getting caught

My eyes slowly fluttered open. I turned around and saw Alex sleeping next to me. We had been sleeping in the same bed every night. It was 2 weeks into the detox and he was getting better. He could finally sleep at night, the chills were going away, and he was eating more and more each day.

Today was Friday, and on Monday he would be going back to school. Kelani had been bringing him work from all his classes and Aiden called in pretending to be Alex's dad, saying he had a fever and wouldn't be at school for a few days. It had been two weeks since he went to school, so obviously they were sending letters and calls to his house now, but it wasn't like his dad was going to pick up, or even care.

We had all taken turns staying here with Alex. During school hours, Aiden was usually the one who stayed. He said that he already had a fucked up record and that Kelani and I shouldn't mess ours up too, but we still stayed with him a few days, today being one of those days for me. During the evenings and nights after Kelani and Aiden left, I couldn't let Alex out of my sight.

Alex was peacefully sleeping. I put a hand on his chest and felt that his heartbeat was steady. Finally.

"Good morning," Alex suddenly said.

I jerked back in the bed, surprised. After catching my own breath, I said, "Good morning. How are you feeling?"

"Better than yesterday."

"Great. What do you want to eat?" I asked enthusiastically, getting up.

"I'm not hungry."

"At least drink some water," I said, handing him the water bottle on the nightstand.

He sat up and took a drink and then stared at me.

"What is it?" I asked.

He gave me a small smile. "I just wanna say thanks for everything. I don't know how I would be alive without you."

My stomach felt like there was a million butterflies in it. I smiled at him and placed a hand over his slightly shaky one. "I told you before, I'm always going to be here."

He smiled down at me and I realized how close we were. Just a few more inches and we'd be kissing. I met his eyes as he stared at me and leaned closer.

Our lips connected and I felt all the great feelings I felt homecoming night. It felt like if you took every happy and excited moment in your life and mixed it into a kiss, that's what it would feel like.

At first, he was going slow and gentle with the kiss. His lips moving against mine, his hand cupping my cheek. Then, his tongue entered my mouth. Meanwhile, one hand was resting on my thigh, and the other one was on my back, with his arm wrapped around my waist. I cupped the back of his neck and pulled him down, close as possible.

Then, a voice came from the hallway, "Nicole?"

I realized my parents were home and quickly broke away from the kiss. But not quick enough.

"What the hell is going on here?" A voice none other than my mother. I turned around and saw her and my dad standing in my doorway. Dad looked the angriest I've ever seen him, which was saying a lot, while my mom had the most shocked look on her face. Which, of course, quickly turned to anger.

"What's going on?" Dad demanded loudly.

I jumped out of bed. "I can explain-"

Dad's neck was turning bright red. "Is this what you do when we're gone? Skip school and make out with boys in your room?"

"Of course not-"

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from him?" My dad was looking straight past me at Alex with pure hatred.

I stepped in front of Alex to get my dad to focus on me, and not try to rip him apart, limb by limb. Alex slowly stood up, of course still weak.

They stared at me, burning a whole right through me. Looking at their faces, a big part of me was scared. I've never seen anyone look so furious.

Right when I opened my mouth, Alex spoke, "It's my fault."

I turned around with wide eyes. "Alex, stop," I warned. I didn't want him to make this worse. They already hated him and if he said anything else, they would kill him.

Of course, he didn't listen and kept talking. "I came here because I had a crush on her and I wanted to talk to her and right when you walked in, I kissed her."

"Stop!" I exclaimed.

My mom put a hand on her forehead, trying to calm herself. I knew she would go on for days after about how I raised her blood pressure and gave her premature wrinkles. "It doesn't even matter. What matters is you disobeyed us, especially after we told you not to talk to this boy. And you skipped school."

My dad's phone rang and he looked up at us. "I have to take this. We're going to finish this talk later. And if I come back and he's still here, just watch what happens." My mother shook her head and walked out along with my dad.

I turned around to Alex. "Why would you say that? You made it worse!"

"Yeah, because if we told them that I've been sleeping in your room for 2 months, it'll be a lot better."

Hard to argue with that. I grabbed his hand, "I'll work this out."

"You don't have to. I'm going back to my dad's."

My eyes nearly popped out of my head. "What? Why?"

"Did you not just see everything that happened? Your parents want to kill me, you're in huge trouble, and they'll probably put a restraining order on me. I can't stay here."

"Yes, you can. I have a closet and you can sleep in there-"

I was cut off when he suddenly kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, forgetting about everything else. He slowly broke away and then leaned his forehead against mine.

"I can't get you into any more trouble. Trust me, I'll be fine and I'll text you every hour if it makes you feel better."

I smiled weakly. "That actually would make me feel a lot better. I just. . . You've been through way too much and I can't bear the thought of you getting hurt one more time." I put one hand on his cheek.

"I'm going to be fine," he reassured. "And I'll see you at school on Monday."

"Promise me you won't even think of touching any drugs," I said, remembering back to what Kelani said. He might have cravings for drugs at 2 weeks.

He laughed, but nothing was funny to me. "I promise."

With that, he climbed out the window, just the way he came in the first time.