by Charity Rose
With the passing of days, I started to realise that maybe Bradley didn’t have the superior mentality I thought he did. And that perhaps now I understood why none of the girls had shown a serious interest in him before. And now? I feel like a total ass for having admitted that to myself.
Chapter 4
There are things about Brad that make him genuinely incredible, there’s is no denying that. But—I don’t know, maybe it’s just people’s opinions getting into my head or perhaps the infatuation is starting to wear off. Honestly, I don’t know. Lately, I feel like maybe I made the wrong decision in telling Amanda about Brad. Perhaps I should have just left it alone. It was probably too soon to think about a relationship.
I walk through the halls in a rush, trying to avoid running into Kassie, she’s been making fun of me recently in class again. Making jokes here and there about how one weirdo is meant for the other. She makes my skin boil; the worst part is how others join her in her mockery of me. What I don’t get is that there are some days where she’s a bitch and others where she can be almost okay. Who am I kidding she’s a total hypocrite. She’s probably just being a bitch because her boyfriend broke up with her last weekend and now, she’s taking out on Bradley and me.
I shouldn’t have thought about her because, speak of the devil, she steps out right in front of me, and I nearly slam into her. She’s got to stop doing that, hasn’t she ever heard of personal space? “Hey, Vee,” she says in her most chipper tone. “Bradley’s running around the school acting crazy,” she blurts out.
“And?” I say indifferent. I was pretty used to Brad pulling his crazy stunts by now. And honestly, I’d just about had enough of them. We’d been dating for two whole months, and I was only nearly done with it all. Kassie continued when she saw I didn’t seem to care,
“In his boxers, he was dared to run around the school. And the idiot did it. Just thought you should know. Everyone is talking about it. He’s at the gym if you want to go stop him from making a further fool of himself, “ she says, tapping her high-heel booted foot on the ground, click-click-click. I shrug and push my way around her. I try to ignore her but I can’t, I’d better go check on Brad. Just to make sure it doesn’t get worse than that.
I make my way to the gym, mentally preparing myself for what I’m about to see. Why in the world would Brad do that? I think to myself. I start to go around the corner toward the gym; someone calls my name. “Vidya,” Angela calls from the direction I’m heading towards.
I turn around, “Yeah?” I answer.
“I’m guessing you heard about Brad?” she says. I nod. She continues, walking next to me, “It’s not his fault really. Not this time. We were playing truth or dare, so come on, give him a break. Do you want to play? If you don’t want to, you can just sit with me and watch,”
“No. I’ll play,” I have zero idea on why I just agreed to play truth or dare; I’m terrible at it. My answers for truth are usually bland and aren’t anywhere near as exciting as people hope for. And when it comes to doing a dare, I almost always end up quitting the game. Unlike Brad, I don’t care to make a fool of myself.
We settle down into the already formed circle on the floor of the gym. A dare is already taking place. I’m guessing that Gabriel was dared to run around the entire gym since that’s what he’s doing now; sprinting back and forth with an orange traffic cone on his head. Gabe’s never been an athletic person, so I understand why they’d dare him to do it. He’s a little on the portly side, but he looks like he’s holding up the dare. It’s a pretty tame dare really, so maybe this won’t be so bad. I look up to see Brad, in his boxers, dashing across the basketball court to slide to a stop in front of the locker room door. By the time Brad comes back from the locker room, I’ve taken my place next to Angela. There are nine of us playing. Bradley, Gabriel, Angela, and I, and a few others I’m reasonably sure are seniors that I’ve never met.
Bradley hasn’t noticed I’ve arrived, not until he sits down and realises, he’s right in front of me. His entire face turns red as he realises, I must have seen everything. Literally. I smile at him, it’s one of those awkward smiles with my lips squeezed tightly together. The group settles down and goes entirely silent as a boy with long brown hair tied back waves his arms in the air, I know this guy. He’s Tom Atkins, and he’s a senior. Tom is well known for causing trouble, but we’re in school, so other than Brads naked run it can’t get much worse, right? He stands up and starts to walk around the circle, he has a hand on his chin and looks thoughtful. He stops and smiles at me, “Alright, guess we have a newcomer,” he gestures towards me, “You’re up new girl. Truth or dare?”
I refuse to start off weak, “I’m going with a dare,” I say, setting my jaw. I glance at Brad. He’s looking at me again. Watching my every move.
“Dare it is,” he looks at me like it’s a challenge and rubs his hands together in excitement, “Okay, I dare you to—,” he paused. He’s giving too much thought to my dare, and I’m starting to worry. The guy turns on me, a grin on his face, “I dare you to straddle Keith Masters,” he points towards a guy, sitting opposite Angela, “And kiss him. Like you mean it,”
Across from us the dude’s eyes look like they’re about to pop out of their sockets. I choke on air and begin to cough uncontrollably. Angela pats me on the back, and my eyes dart to Bradley. He’s looking upset; the hurt in his eyes is noticeable. I frown, my heart is thumping like crazy. “Do the dare, do the dare,” my challenger shouts, cupping his hands like a megaphone around his mouth. The others join in. Everyone except for me, Brad and Keith.
My hands are shaking; I don’t know what to do. If I do the dare, I’ll upset Brad, but then, after this stunt today, I’m not even sure if I actually liked him anymore or if it was just the excitement of having a boyfriend that had gotten into my head. I mean. We hadn’t even really kissed or made out; nothing more than a peck on the hand or cheek. This is just a game anyway, I mean come on, its Truth or Dare and people expect you to do things you wouldn’t normally do; that’s what makes it fun. I mean if he didn’t have the dignity to feel exposed running around the school in his underwear, then what should I think of him? I stand up, pace towards where the guy named Keith is sitting, and stand with hands clenched at my sides right in front of him.
All eyes fall on me. I close my own for a brief moment, breathe out, and, hover over him. I let my body drop down until my knees are pressed into the hard gym floor on either side of the guy’s body. His eyes grow wider as his brow shoots up into his sandy blonde hair. I can feel Bradley’s gaze on me.
I’m a lot shorter than this guy, I feel a child trying to sit on her father’s lap. Not that I’m into that. My long bangs fall over one eye, and I’m grateful for that since it helps to hide the burning blush on my face. But Keith reaches up and pushes the hair away, and lifts my chin so that we’re both eyeing each other. His eyes are pure cerulean blue, they’re beautiful. I purse my lips as Keith bites his lower lip. He looks like he isn’t sure if he should just call it quits or what but then, he moves in closer and wraps his arms around my waist. His fingers lock at the small of my back, pressing me into him all the tighter. My legs are spread out across his thighs, and I feel exposed in so many ways.
I panic.
Like, literally panic. I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest.
I untangle myself from him, slamming my hands against his chest and yelling “No. I’m done. I can’t do this. I’m out!” I’m up on my feet in a flash and run away. I hear footsteps behind me, moving quickly and I stop once I’m in the hall. Wrapping my arms around my body, I shiver. I don’t know why, but my skin is covered in goose pimples and my heart is still thundering against my ribs.
I turn around thinking that it’s Angela, but it’s not, it’s him. Keith; he followed me, but not Bradley. I try to hide the disappointment,
“Are you alright?” he asks, his voice sounds concerned.
“I’m fine,” I answer, looking at the f
loor. I can’t look at him. Not after that. Not ever. I’m glad I don’t know him so that I don’t have to face him and remember this; Every. Single. Day.
“Are you sure? Before your dare, your mind looked preoccupied. I’m pretty good at reading people. Is there something wrong?” I continue looking at the floor, “Look, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
He turns around to head back to the gym, “Wait,” I say louder than I hoped for. He turns around and tilts his head to one side, his blonde bangs hanging over one half of his face while the rest is tied up into a long ponytail.
“Yes?” his word hangs in the air for a few seconds, before I answer.
I can’t believe I’m about to tell a complete stranger my life’s problem, but here we go. “I could use some company? If you,” I stutter. “If you don’t mind?” I shy away from his gaze and focus on my shoes instead.
“I don’t mind at all, that game was getting old anyway,” he says with a smirk. He points with his chin to the opposite hallway, it’s mostly empty of kids during lunch break, so it’s a bit more private. He starts walking down it and motions for me to keep up. I job after him, slowing down to pace next to him, “So what’s this thing you’ve got on your mind?” he asks.
“Well—do you know Brad?” I ask. He nods, shoving his hands into the pockets of the thin jacket he wears.
“The kid who ran through the school in his boxers? Yeah, I know of him, he’s a nice guy. Strange, but nice,” he confirms.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” I smile thinly and shift my gaze back to the floor. “We’re sort of getting to know each other, or dating, or something. I don’t really know honestly. But, I’ve kind of not been so fond of the person I’m seeing. I mean at first it was fun, he’s cool and charming, but—I guess I just didn’t want to see what others saw in him until it was right in my face. You know, after the beer goggles have worn off,”
“Well, what do you mean by that?” he asked gently as we continued to walk.
We pass by the cafeteria and some of the girls from my classroom eye us suspiciously when they see me walk by with Keith and not Brad. “What I mean is that people made fun of Brad, said he was childish because he liked to joke around and goof off and would make up these bizarre theories about life. Which I found funny at the time, don’t get me wrong. But seeing that every serious topic to him became a joke, or crazy conspiracy theory; or something that has to be over analysed. I don’t know any more.”
“I understand,” he stops dead in his tracks. “Maybe that’s a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. I mean, how old are you anyway?” He studies my face.
Why would that matter? “I just turned seventeen,”
He nods, and smiles, “You’ve got all the time in the world to date. You don’t have to be in a rush—” he’s interrupted when the bell rings, indicating that lunch hour is over. He pulls me away from the cafeteria entrance as floods of kids burst through the doors. “Listen I’ve got to head to class, but,” he grabs a napkin and pen from his pocket. Pressing it against a locker he scribbles on it, “I’ll give you my number, and maybe we can continue this conversation later on? Feel free to text me,” he says while handing me the napkin. I look at it, confused. Usually, people just whip out their cell phones and type in the numbers.
“I’m old school,” he’s laughs, and just as he’s about to leave, I say, “Thank you by the way and, thanks for the number as well.”
“You’re welcome—” he hesitates to say my name, and then I remember that I never gave it to him, it was never once uttered while in the gym.
“Vidya, but you can call me Vee,” I blurt out amid the chaos of students crisscrossing the hall, heading to their next classes.
He smiles and walks away.
Chapter 5
I’m staring at my bedroom ceiling, thinking and thinking about what I am to do on Monday. Should I tell Brad I want to remain friends? I look to at my alarm clock on my nightstand, it’s 9:37pm, and everyone in the house is asleep except for me. Mom is already in bed and dad is at work late again.
I wonder if maybe I should just read a book or watch a movie until I fall asleep when I start to change into my pyjamas. Emptying my pockets, I find the crumpled napkin. I had nearly forgotten about it. Should I, or shouldn’t I? I screw my lips to the side in thought. I’m going to do it. Spreading across my bed, I snatch up my phone and type in the number and then send a message. Oh, please be a real number, if this is a fake number to a coffee shop or some shit, I’ll—
The phone buzzes to life.
Agent Keith: Hey, how are you doing?
I clutch the phone and stare at it. It was a real number. Although it is late, I should probably answer him. I mean, it’s Friday so who cares.
Vee: You call yourself Agent Keith? Like Agent K? Seriously? I’m doing alright I guess
Agent Keith: Hey, it’s a nickname, and you guess?
Vee: I’m still unsure of what I should do, about you know who...
I reply honestly, although I’ve thought long and hard throughout the afternoon, I can’t come to terms with what decision I should make. I don’t want to hurt Brad’s feelings, but I just don’t see this thing between us going anywhere.
Agent Keith: Follow your instincts. If he doesn’t seem ready to be in a relationship, then tell him how you feel.
Vee: That’s the problem, how do I tell him without hurting his feelings?
Agent Keith: Tell him that you just want to stay friends. That friendship is more important to you than a relationship that you’re just not ready. Maybe saying that will make it easier. I don’t know, I’m not good at this.
Vee: You give good advice. Thanks, Keith. By the way, I’m curious. Why hadn’t I seen you around before? I mean, not at school or in town.
Agent Keith: You're welcome. I moved here about two years ago. I keep to myself…usually…
Interesting. So, Keith wasn’t from here. That explains why I’d never seen him before. I didn’t know that before, so that’s something.
Agent Keith: Can I ask you something? Please don’t get mad.
Vee: Um, sure?
Agent Keith: Why didn’t you do the dare?
Wait for what? His question threw me off for a second, but I do have an honest answer for it. I didn’t know if I wanted to say it but, he’d been helping me out a lot right now and I owed him at least an answer.
Vee: It didn’t feel right. I wasn’t in the mood to do something that I would regret later.
There’s no answer from Keith, for at least ten minutes. I have a feeling that my response wasn’t what he was expecting, and I use the time to change into my pyjamas. I’m just buttoning up my top when I try again.
Vee: Keith? You still there
No response. I recheck the clock; it’s already after 10:30 pm. Time for bed, I guess. As I’m pulling the covers up, I reach over and turn off the lamp. But the room is cast in pale blue light when my phone buzzes once again. I pick it up and read it.
Agent Keith: Sorry it took me long to answer. To be completely honest, you did the right thing. Because if I’d kissed you, I don’t think I could have stopped.
I smile and turn off my phone. This was nice, having someone to talk to like this. Rolling over, I drift off into sleep.
Saturday morning was nothing new, besides the fact that I was in the mood to go out, but my dad had other plans. Those plans involved washing cars, which I desperately wanted to get out of.
Mom, thankfully, was in a chipper mood and told my dad that it was best if he left the car washing for tomorrow since the weather forecast called for rain before noon. So, it was settled that we were taking a girl’s trip, just my mom and I. Meanwhile; dad decided then to do some work around the house. He’s the kind of guy, who magically finds something broken in the house that automatically needs fixing, even if it’s not actually broken. So basically, he can never stay still. It’s part of what made him so good at his job thou
gh, he always looked for the devil in the details.
I haven’t turned on my phone yet, I’ve been too afraid to see what awaits me in my text messages. I’ll admit I was shocked by what I’d read from Keith’s last message. You did the right thing. Because if I’d kissed you, I don’t think I could have stopped. Talk about unexpected and intense.
My mom drives, and I stare at my phone, watching it as the screen turns on. The screen flashes to life, and I see it, three unread texts from Keith. I hesitate for only a second before I open the messenger app to read. He’ll know I read it too.
Agent Keith: Vidya?
Agent Keith: I freaked you out, didn’t I?
Agent Keith: Look, forget it. I shouldn’t have said that. I made a mistake. Forget what I said.
I pull up the keypad and begin typing my text. My mom glances over as I tap faster than I’ve ever tapped before, “Whoa, must be important,” she comments. I nod.
Vee: It’s okay, Keith. I was caught off guard, that’s all. No need to worry. But no, I’m not forgetting what you said. Because...
Vee: If I’d kissed you, I don’t think I could have stopped either.
I’m not lying. There was something about Keith that felt right. I don’t know how to explain it. Pleased with myself, I place my phone on Airplane mode since mom, and I decided to see a movie. Best I don’t get disturbed for a few hours.