Nineteen

Chapter Fifty-Eight

He drags me outside the building until we're standing under a poor excuse of a street light against the building.

I cross my arms and look at him. "What do you want?"

He throws his hands into the air like its obvious. "For starters, I'd like it if you didn't go on dates with other boys."

I wave my hand between the two of us. "We are not together. You claim to like me and want to spend time with me, but yet you have a whole slew of friends I didn't know about; my room mate included. I don't even understand how you could like me. You don't even know me!"

I wave my arms and stand on my toes. "And even if you did know me, I don't believe we would have enough in common to even stand each other!"

I'm breathing in a rapid way now, and I didn't notice that he's shrunk almost half his size. His brown eyes do not hold the fire they usually do. I have no idea where my outburst came from.

He looks up at me and slowly replies. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know that whatever this is, it isn't worth the mind games you play with me," I say as I begin to walk back around to the front of the building.

But he stops me by grabbing my arm before I can make any distance between us. He twists me around until we're facing each other. His breath is hot on my face.

He's much taller than me, but he's moved down almost eye level.

"Spend the night with me," he whispers. His lips are only inches from mine.

"I can't," I reply. "Besides, don't you have a girlfriend?"

I'm referring to Jade, but I'm not sure I want to hear the answer to the question I asked.

He grins and says, "don't you have a boyfriend?"

Oh. I forgot about him.

He's not my boyfriend but I really want to ride it out and see where we could be. After all, I have been waiting for this chance for years.

I step away from him. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"So come with me," he says and steps to me again. But I step to the side.

"No, I can't jump from boy to boy like that. I kissed him tonight and now you want me to go with you. I can't do it."

"You what?" He steps to me once again, but this time he's angry. "He kissed you?"

I nod my head. "It was nothing." 

Why am I explaining myself to him? I can do whatever I want. He surely does whatever he wants to do.

"I knew I should have beat the shit out of him when I seen him last," he says as he walks past me and heads to the parking lot.

"Where are you going?" I say as I run behind him. I really don't know where he is going, I didn't see his truck in the lot when I got home.

"To beat his head in," he huffs.

I don't know why he thinks fighting is the answer for everything. I don't know why I try to accept this ill mannered boy.

"I'll go with you if you go straight home," I say as I finally catch him.

He stops and turns to me. His eyes are almost black and I can tell I've said the thing that will work.

"I'm still going to tell him to mind his own damn business."

I almost laugh and tell him that if anyone should mind their own business it would be him. 

"We can go back to your house. Just leave Link out of it."

He sighs and I can tell he's calming down. "It's a Thursday before a football game, which means there's a party at my house."

I don't really want to go to a party, but I don't want to let him find Link.

"Okay, we can go."

He shakes his head. "I don't want to party. I want to be somewhere quiet."

I don't know what else to suggest to him. He speaks again.

"We can go and get some of my stuff and go to a hotel. I just don't want to be around the assholes I live with."

I cringe at the thought of sharing a hotel with a boy I barely know. I can imagine what people would think if they seen us leaving together after only spending a night.

Like he can read my mind he says, "I can get a room with two beds."

I smile and nod my head. "That sounds like a plan."