Why You Shouldn't Lend A Bad Boy Your Clothes

by Philline Harms

  “Juley, I know you’re upset about the way he treated you. But you must understand. He had his reasons—”

  “Are you really still defending him?” I asked incredulously.

  But before I could get an answer out of her, the door opened with a bang and in stomped my father. I didn’t even have time to duck away before his hand shot forward and grabbed me by my collar.

  “There you are,” he hissed. “What are you telling your mother, huh? Haven’t you done enough already?”

  “You’re still here, so apparently not,” I ground out and glared back at him.

  “Watch your fucking mouth,” he barked. “Or I’ll—”

  I forced myself to raise my chin and look him in the eye. “What? What are you going to do? Hit me? Like you hit Luke?”

  My father’s face immediately paled, and his grip on my shirt loosened just enough for me to break away. I stumbled back to bring some space between us as soon as he did.

  “What? What does that mean?” my mother suddenly stuttered.

  When I turned around to her, she was slowly getting to her feet.

  “It’s nothing, Linda.” He snapped. “You can’t believe a single word coming out of his mouth.”

  Meanwhile, I was still trying to process the new information. “Really, Dad? You never told her?”

  “Shut up,” he answered, just as my mother asked, “Told me what?”

  “He hit Luke. Not just once, but every time Luke made the tiniest mistake, and you weren’t around. When he came home later than ten. When he got anything worse than a C on an exam. When he forgot to do one of his chores at home. Do you want me to go on?” I asked, swallowing hard as I remembered all of the evenings when I entered Luke’s room only to find him sitting on his bed with new bruises or another ice pack pressed to his face.

  My mother’s skin turned ashen. “His black eyes…all those bruises…I thought they were because he was bullied at school…”

  “Really, Mom? You never bothered to ask?” When she shook her head in shame, I said, sharp enough to make her flinch, “See, that’s your problem. You don’t ask or talk. You never talked to Luke about what was going on. You completely stopped speaking to me after you found out about Hunter. You knew that something was up with Dad, but you never asked. You’d rather believe in lies than know the truth, and that’s just one of the things that has ruined this family.”

  “Oh my God,” she whimpered, pressing a hand to her mouth. “I’m the reason he…he…”

  “Killed himself?” I asked harshly. “No, you’re not. You’re just one more small factor. Luke wasn’t okay, but it was Dad who pushed him over the edge.”

  “I didn’t fucking kill my son!” my father yelled, red-faced and spluttering spit.

  “Yeah, Dad. You did. And you know what, if it wasn’t for my friends and Hunter…maybe you could have killed me too.”

  Next to me, my mother made an animalistic sound somewhere between a whine and a whimper. “Andrew…Is what he’s saying true?”

  My father didn’t respond. Instead, he lunged forward, and before I could get away, he pushed me up against the wall behind me. I suppressed a groan when my back slammed against it and forced myself to look him in the eye when he closed in on me.

  “If you say one more word to your mother—”

  I ignored his warning and craned my neck to look at Mom over his head. “Do you see what he’s doing? Do you even care?” I asked. There was a desperation in my tone that I hoped my father didn’t pick up on.

  My mother stood frozen in shock, not moving and not saying anything to defend me.

  “I said shut up!” my father growled, shaking me so hard my teeth chattered.

  I wasn’t sure if it was a lack of survival instincts or plain stupidity that made me say: “You said, ‘If you say one more word to your mother.’”

  My father responded by raising one hand.

  I pressed my eyes shut and held my breath, waiting for the blow that was sure to come. When it didn’t, I slowly dared to open my eyes.

  What I saw was something I had never expected in my wildest dreams. My mother was holding onto his wrist, keeping him from hitting me. Her knuckles were white with effort, even though my father wasn’t even trying to shake her off. Instead, he was staring at her in utter confusion.

  “Don’t touch him,” my mother said.

  It was quiet and timid, but it was the first time in years that I heard her give a direct command to my father.

  “Sorry?” my father asked, his voice threateningly low. “What did you just say?”

  “I said, ‘Don’t touch him.’” My mother repeated, louder this time. “I’m not going to let you hit him.”

  “Really? What are you going to do about it?” he sneered.

  “I will call the police.”

  “You wouldn’t.” My father laughed. I wasn’t sure if it was imagination, or if he really sounded nervous.

  “Oh, yes, I would,” Mom said firmly and grabbed her phone from the table, dialing three digits. “If you don’t let go of my son right this second, I’m going to call the police for child abuse.”

  For a few seconds, all my father did was stare at her in disbelief. Then I slowly felt his fingers easing the grip on my shirt.

  My mother gripped my wrist and pulled me behind her to shield me from him as soon as he stepped back and took a step away from me. “Get out of here,” she then said, voice trembling.

  “What are talking ab—”

  “Get out of here!” she suddenly screamed, high-pitched and piercing, making both my father and me jump. “Pack your things and go. If I see you here one more time then, so help me God, I will take this to court!”

  “Fine,” he spat. “I don’t need you, either of you. You pathetic, spineless, disgusting—”

  “Get out,” my mother and I hissed at the same time.

  He didn’t need to be asked twice. After he stormed out of the kitchen, we heard him rummaging around upstairs for a while. Then his steps stomped down the stairs and out of the front door, leaving us alone in tense silence.

  “Thank you,” I eventually whispered.

  My mother cupped my cheek with one slightly trembling hand and tilted my head to look at her tear-streaked face. “I’m so sorry, baby. So, so sorry.”

  I didn’t hug her or kiss her cheek or tell her that it was okay. I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to do that, after everything that happened. So for the moment, I answered with a small smile.

  “Do you want to…order takeaway and watch a movie?” my mother whispered.

  I knew what it was—an apology, an attempt at reconciliation. Nevertheless, I shook my head. “I can’t. I need to do something tonight, and I need you to let me go.”

  “Are you going to see that boy?”

  “Yes.”

  She looked at me sadly. Then she suddenly reached into her pocket and handed me her keys. “Okay. Drive safely.”

  “Are you seri—Thank you, Mom,” I said before I rushed out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my room to get dressed.

  ***

  I could hear the music as soon as my feet hit the concrete of the school’s parking lot. My heart was racing faster than the beat shaking the gym to its core. The closer I got to the building, the more distinct the noises got, until I could actually hear the voice of Kathy, from the prom committee, announcing prom king and queen.

  I broke into a sprint as I heard Hunter’s name and burst through the doors into the cramped hall. Inside, it was too stuffy and too loud, and I would really rather turn around and leave as fast as I had come. But knowing that Hunter was somewhere in here was enough motivation for me to start pushing my way up to the front where the stage was located, using my elbows and apologizing a dozen times.

  “Well, well, well, Hunter. You don’t look too happy. Does it get boring to be elected every year?” Kathy joked, her voice crackling through the speakers. “Well, the election for prom queen is just as unsurprising. V
ictoria, come up here!”

  “I’m sorry. Could you just…If you’d step away for a moment…Thank you so much,” I muttered, trying to make my way to the stage as fast as possible.

  From where I was, I could see Victoria walking up the steps to the stage, all the while smiling and waving. My eyes followed her until she came to a stop next to Kathy.

  It was only then that I spotted him. Hunter was standing with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants. He hadn’t bothered with a tie or a jacket and was simply wearing a white shirt that was partly unbuttoned, his brown hair tousled and falling into his eyes. He looked completely disinterested as he watched Victoria walk up to him. The only thing giving his disdain away was the corner of his lips twitching downwards, but I doubted anyone else noticed it.

  “Now, as it is tradition, the king and queen will have the first dance of the night.” Kathy cheered obnoxiously and took a step back so that Hunter and Victoria were in the center of attention.

  Victoria smirked at him as she took a step closer, holding a hand out for him. Hunter stared blankly at her, not moving an inch. She said something, which he only replied with the quirk of an eyebrow.

  It was then that I finally got through to the front of the crowd. For a second, I wasn’t sure what to do, now that I was here. Then, all of a sudden, I felt myself running towards the stage, up the steps, and up to him.

  I heard a few confused shouts as to what I was doing, but all of them blurred into insignificant background noise when Hunter’s eyes met mine. His lips parted and whispered something, maybe my name, maybe something else—I didn’t know.

  Victoria heard him and spun around to me with a look that was the epitome of bewilderment and stepped forward as if to shield Hunter from me.

  I didn’t even look at her as I shoved her out of my way.

  At that moment, I didn’t care that the entire school was watching us. I didn’t care about Kathy telling me to get off the stage, or about Victoria’s indignant outcry.

  All that mattered was Hunter stepping forward to meet me when I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into a kiss. His arms wrapped around me almost immediately, holding me so tightly I could feel his heart racing against my chest, beating in time with mine. This time, when he kissed me back, what I felt weren’t just sparks but a full-blown firework.

  “You’re here,” Hunter said against my cheek, holding my face between his hands like he had to touch me to make sure that I was there, that this was real. “Alex told me you might come, but I didn’t expect…I didn’t think you’d…God, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I said, my hands coming up to encircle his wrists. “Everything’s fine.”

  “Everything?” Hunter asked carefully.

  “Everything.”

  I could feel his incredulous smile against my lips when he pulled me into another kiss after only a second, and after a second, I smiled as well.

  Through the speakers, I could hear Kathy telling us to knock it off already, this wasn’t part of the program, and what did we think we were doing. But a few seconds later, I heard the fifth pair of shoes climbing up the stage and then Alexis’s voice booming out of the speakers, telling Kathy to shut up and drink some punch to loosen up.

  Hunter chuckled against my lips, then his mouth traveled to my ear to whisper, “We should get out of here.”

  I nodded, still catching my breath, and finally dared to look at the crowd below us. Most people were cheering, grinning, and wolf-whistling, but there also were a few sour faces who were staring at me with blatant jealousy.

  My cheeks immediately caught on fire, but Hunter looked unconcerned as he slipped his hand into mine and pulled me off the stage.

  Liam and Emily were already waiting for us outside, sitting on the curb together. Emily immediately jumped to her feet and ran towards me. I couldn’t really hug her back due to Hunter refusing to let go of my hand, but she didn’t seem bothered by that and held me for at least a good minute.

  “God, I’m so happy, Jules. You have no idea how worried we all were. Are you okay?”

  “It’s alright, Em. Everything went well.” I laughed, rubbing my hand over her back reassuringly. “I don’t think my father will step foot into our house again anytime soon.”

  “I’ve never been this happy about anyone’s parents breaking up.” Liam mused behind us.

  Emily nodded and finally let go of me. Hunter pulled me closer again as soon as she did, slipping an arm around my waist. I looked over at the door just in time to see Alexis and Nate stumble out onto the parking lot, followed by Adam and a girl I didn’t know.

  She was at least ten inches shorter than Adam and looked like a walking, breathing porcelain doll. Every part of her body was delicate to the point that she looked fragile. She had pink cheeks, bright blue eyes that were dominating her face, and adorable red curls that were bobbing around her face every time she moved.

  Next to her, Adam looked even more intimidating than usual, tall and muscular as he was, but for once, there was a genuine smile on his face.

  “Hey,” I said, grinning at his girlfriend. “I’m Jules. It’s so nice to meet you!”

  “Hey,” she replied softly, offering me a timid smile. “I’m Amber. Adam told me about you.”

  I shot Adam a surprised look. “He did?”

  “Yeah. He told me about you and Hunter and what you had to go through. I’m so glad things are better now,” she said. She was still talking quietly and wouldn’t really meet my eye. Adam seemed to take note of her nervousness, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed a short kiss to the top of her head. Amber seemed to relax a little almost instantly.

  Adam smiled and pecked her lips before he turned back to us. “Let’s get out of here. Proms are the worst.”

  ***

  When we arrived at our destination, the lake was glistening in the light of the nearly full moon, looking indefinitely deep and magical. The group was already there and stripping down to their underwear, giggling, and shouting.

  Nate was carrying a screaming and laughing Alexis into the undoubtedly ice-cold water. From where I was standing, I could only hear bits and pieces of what they were saying, but I was pretty sure I heard Nate threatening to drop her into the water if she didn’t kiss him. Alexis responded with a huff and said she would’ve kissed him even without being threatened before her lips brushed over his.

  Of course, Nate dropped her nevertheless, only to lose his footing seconds later because Alexis pulled him down with her.

  A few feet away from them, Adam was laughing while he gave Amber a piggyback ride into the lake. I didn’t think I had ever seen him so happy.

  After a moment, I realized that Liam and Emily weren’t there and looked around, searching for them. My jaw dropped when I spotted them.

  Liam was lying in the back of his pick-up car. On top of him was Emily, straddling him as she leaned down to kiss him. She stopped a few inches away from his face and whispered something to Liam. Both of them broke into laughter before Liam finally pulled her down into a kiss.

  I quickly looked away, not wanting to watch them in such a private moment and asked Hunter, “Do you want to go skinny-dipping or do you want to do something else?”

  He grinned at that. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Ninety percent of the time you’re thinking something dirty, so probably not.”

  “Rude.” He snorted. “I was going to ask if you want to climb that rock we were on last time we were here together.”

  “Oh. Yeah, sure.” I laughed and let him pull me with him.

  Getting to the top of the rock was a struggle, especially wearing a suit, but somehow, we managed. Still, I was gasping and panting when we reached the top and I glared at Hunter who didn’t seem to be out of breath at all.

  “Why does it look so easy when you do it?”

  “I work out.” He reminded me as I sat down next to him, feet dangling over the edge. “Don’t tell m
e you didn’t notice when you saw me naked.”

  I rolled my eyes at him and prayed the darkness hid my blush. “You’re still as much of an idiot as you were the last time we were up here.”

  “God, but everything else was so different then.” Hunter laughed. “You were so far in the closet you probably found Narnia, and I was so set on dragging you out there.”

  “Which you did.” I pointed out, grinning at the memory. “And? Was it worth the trouble?”

  Hunter wound a hand around the back of my neck and leaned in, but for a few seconds, all he did was study my face with that look he sometimes wore—the one where he saw me and I felt naked and vulnerable and warm and fuzzy all at the same time.

  “Of course it was,” he quietly said. “But what you did…I don’t know how I can ever live up to that.”

  “You don’t need to make it up to me because none of it is your fault. I did it for me. Because I…” I swallowed, unable to tear my gaze away from his face. “I need you.”

  Hunter looked at me as if he couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of my mouth. Then he finally leaned forward and kissed me.

  We ended up on the ground, Hunter lying on his back with me on top of him, kissing until my lips lost their feeling. Only then I curled up beside him, my head resting against his shoulder.

  Waiting for my heartbeat to slow down, I gazed up at the stars with the bone-deep feeling that there was nothing in the world that I would exchange for this. There was nothing that I would trade for having him beside me, for the sound of my friends’ laughter drifting up from somewhere below us, and for the knowledge that even though things weren’t perfect, they were better than I had ever expected them to turn out. Hunter and I had gone through hell and back for each other, but in the end, we made it out together and even stronger than before. No one could take that away from us.

  Looking back at his face, illuminated by the moon, eyes closed and lips still swollen and red from kissing, I muttered, “For your info, I’m never letting you go.”

  Hunter’s chest vibrated beneath my cheek as he let out a laugh that made my heart clench. “Good. Because I’ll never leave.”