Loving The Bad Boy

Paranoia and Public Restrooms

To say that I found public school restrooms deplorable would be an understatement. Of catastrophic proportion.

They were a breeding ground for all assortments of germs and diseases, something I planned ahead for with my travel size emergency kit of Purrell and disinfectant wipes.

I was more than aware that my behavior far spanned beyond the borders of paranoia, which was why I normally tried to wait till I was sure no one else was in the area before proceeding to indulge my unusual pet peeve.

After making a few subtle passes back and forth outside of the entrance to the girl's restrooms to ensure that I was alone, I proceeded forward with caution. Hurriedly, I reached into my book bag, pulling out a Clorox wipe and wiping down the handle to the restroom door-

"Liz."

I froze, caught red handed. Contemplating the possibility of pretending like I hadn't heard the person calling out my name behind me, I sighed, resigning myself to my fate.

Nervously shoving the baby wipe back into my book bag, I spun around, meeting Reed's amused gaze.

The smirk he was sporting was somewhere between taunting and trying not to laugh, his eyes appraising me as he leaned against the opposite wall.

"So...what the hell was that?"

I cleared my throat, flushing deeply . Shifting nervously from side to side, I forced myself to meet is gaze. Cowering would only rob me of what little pride I had left.

"Well, you see, public restrooms are pretty... germ infested. And, well, I felt that it would be necessary to, ah, take precautionary measures to prevent the spreading of such germs."

Reed raised an eyebrow, his smirk widening as he pushed himself up off of the wall and moved forward till he was close.  Too close. Normally, I would have taken a step back, except that I was acutely aware that doing so would mean coming into contact with the bathroom door.

"Reed, " I averted my gaze to the ground.  I tried not to let  having him this close completely unnerve me. "Please stop crowding me."

"Why?" The lazy and somewhat suggestive smile spreading across Reed's face told me he had no intentions of meeting my request.

"Because. Being this close is socially improper."

Reed's breath caught in his throat as he let out an amused laugh.

"You worry too much about being polite and all that shit, you know that?"

I forced my eyes up to his.  His gaze was intense as he watched me from under thick lashes.

"Yes, well, you don't worry about such things enough."

Reed bit down on his lip, his eyes drifting down to my lips for a second before moving back to my eyes.  "Well, I suppose that means we balance each other out then."

I blinked, my eyes narrowing suspiciously at what he might be suggesting.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" He was surely going to laugh in my face at any second and  ridicule my behavior. I was ready for it, though. I was used to people reacting that way to me.

"Taking your advice." Reed said, leaning forward. My whole body seized up. No, he couldn't possibly be trying to...

A small creek sounded behind me, Reed's hand pushing the bathroom door open.

"Here. So you don't have to worry about germs or whatever."

I stood there, undoubtedly looking like a complete idiot as I blinked up at him. He hadn't made fun of me. But he hadn't kissed me either. He'd actually...tried to assist me?

Clearing my throat, I tore my eyes away from his, swallowing nervously.

"I, ah, I'm sorry for suggesting you were rude earlier."

Reed shrugged, obviously not offended by the accusation as he continued to hold the door open for me.

"Don't be. It's the truth."

A pang of guilt pulsed through me as I shifted my weight anxiously from one foot to the other. I hadn't ever meant to make him feel badly about himself. Earlier, my words had come out more as a reflex than anything else when I had though he was mocking me.

"Well, um, thank you. For opening the door. And not saying anything about...what you saw."

Reed tilted his head to the side, smirking.

"Yeah, well...it was kind of cute."

I almost choked on the breath I'd been taking, blushing furiously as I took a few steps backwards, retreating into the relative safety of the girl's bathroom.

"See you around, Elizabeth Reethers." Reed said, flashing me one more suggestive smile before taking his hand off of the door and allowing it to swing closed.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to clear my head, which at the moment seemed to be buzzing. I promised myself that I would make an attempt to behave more civilly towards Reed in the future.

It shouldn't be that hard, as long as he kept his distance. I highly doubted, though, that he'd be willing to do that- at least if our past encounters were any reflection of what was to come.