Rebel

Chapter 5: Here We Go Again

One week later....

"What the hell did you think you were doing?!" I yelled, storming through the front door of his all too familiar apartment. He stood in the doorway with that goofy smile he wore when everything he made a plan for fell perfectly into place. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that that picture would lead to me banging on his front door, huffing and puffing and pissed off enough to kill him.

"Now I know for sure that you haven't lost that temper," he said, still smiling. I fought to keep my jaw from dropping from shock. "You're gonna see a lot more of it if you don't start explaining!" I said through gritted teeth. I was hoping that I looked threatening, but honestly, I probably looked like an angry Smurf.

"And that's what makes me so crazy about you," he said as he closed the door and walked over to me. I was confused. "I did it just to get you over here."

I was nowhere near being in a joking mood right now. I had spent the last week ignoring any and all questions my friends had about me and Danny. I couldn't give them any answers because I wasn't quite sure about how to even answer their questions. After seeing my picture with at least a hundred likes on it, I distanced myself from him. I wanted to take things slow and see where they were meant to go, but now everyone knew that I left the party with him that night. They knew that I had been the first person he ran to when he came back. People were going to talk and it made me incredibly nervous.

"You know me. If I see something I like, I want it, and I have it," he said, shrugging his shoulders. That was a good comeback. It actually gave me goosebumps and made my heart race. But I was still agitated and now wasn't the time for it. I rolled my eyes and stood there trying my best to make it clear that I wasn't in the mood. Hip stuck out, tapping my foot, and arms folded across my chest.

He uncrossed my arms and held both of my hands in his. "Alright. I know it was a little overboard," he said, hanging his head, "but I want you to know that I'm serious about you, Syd. You give me these feelings that I've never felt before." I knew that that was hard for him to admit. He was known for being stone cold and numb.

When we met a few years ago, he came to the football game with Ryan. Ryan was pretty tight with Reggie, so while Rachel was draped all over him, the rest of us kind of just lingered around them. He stood there with a hard expression on his face with one hand holding a cigarette and the other stuffed in his pocket. I was still with Dean back then and it never failed for us to fight every Friday night because I wanted to be at the games with my friends.

Dean took it upon himself to show up just because I did. I was doing a damn good job at avoiding him and enjoying myself just because he hated it and was fuming after the first thirty minutes. To get a reaction out of me, he ended up at the fence, eyeing one of the cheerleaders that was breaking her neck to show off for him. It almost looked like a private dance in a strip club and he was drooling. I was disgusted and pissed off. Reggie and the rest of my friends knew what was about to go down and they were praying that they would make it to me before the police did.

I called him out on his bullshit, we exchanged some insults and spewed some hate, and the next thing I knew, I snapped and went charging after him. I pulled myself together immediately upon being hoisted into the air by who I thought was Reggie. "REG! GET YOUR GODDAMN HANDS OFF OF ME!" I screamed as I flailed my arms, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. Turns out, it was Danny."Whoa there, short stuff!" he said gently, smiling widely. I looked up into his eyes, with his arms still gently wrapped around my waist, and I felt like any and all strings holding me to this earth had been clipped. My mind went blank and I calmed down immediately. He held me in his arms and gave me the most beautiful half smile I had ever seen in my life.