Living With the Bad Boy

by Sharlay

  “This takes me back to first time that I ever saw that angry little expression that you carry around so often.”

  I scrunched up my face in confusion before throwing the piece of paper in the basket and then opening up the white box. When I reached inside, I gasped. It was a plastic bottle filled with chocolate sauce. I didn’t understand what was going on but I knew that if I wanted to then I’d have to open the next white box. I put the bottle in the basket carefully before walking up to the next white box. I automatically picked up the folded piece of paper and opened it in anticipation.

  This reminds me of the day that I realized that you were more than just a pretty face.

  I smiled to myself before placing the paper in the basket and lifting up the white box. I opened it and instantly burst out laughing as my eyes fell on what was inside. I pulled out the bottle of mouthwash as I thought about that time, in the bathroom when I poured the bottle over Caleb’s head. It all seemed so far away now but at the same time it felt like it was just yesterday. I placed the bottle, and the box inside of the basket and kept walking until I found the next white box. I felt like little red riding hood, on her way to see her granny, only to find out that it’s the big bad wolf. Let’s hope that, that’s not the case, unless the wolf is Taylor Lautner, I would happily be his little red riding hood. The next box was flatter than the other two, and square. I picked up the piece of paper and excitedly read the words on it.

  I was going to get the original artist to sign it but I felt that it would mean more if I did, since my version was so original.

  I started laughing, since I knew what was in the box already. As I picked up the box and emptied the contents, I laughed again. There in front of me was a copy of the single ‘Crazy in Love’ by Beyonce. I was laughing because he had crossed out her name, and replaced it with his and then signed the inside. I eagerly walked up to the next box and took a hold of the box, and paper in my hand. The paper read:

  I kind of owed you this since I made you miss the end...

  I had no idea what was inside, so I quickly opened the box before bursting into another fit of laughter.

  “You owe me this alright,” I whispered as I giggled at the memory of Caleb ruining my cinema date that night. I was so angry then but now I don’t think that I’d even care.

  I looked at the DVD of Taken 2 in my hand before placing it inside of the basket.

  I scrunched up my face in confusion as I read the next message.

  It only seemed fair that I formally introduced you to my best friend...

  I picked up the box, still confused by what was inside. I was even more confused when I pulled out an action figure. As I looked at the doll that I held in my hand, I noticed that there was another piece of paper in the box. I placed the doll and box in the basket before reading the next message.

  Hi, I’m Johnny.

  I actually laughed for about five minutes before finally moving forward to the next part of the ‘treasure hunt’. I wondered what would be at the end. I opened up the next piece of paper and began laughing instantly.

  Just in case you want to play cops and robbers, again ;)

  I pulled out the pair of handcuffs, and just stared at them as I remembered the day that I was stuck to my bed, and Courtney was trapped in the window. I’m sure our lives could be turned into a crazy movie one day. The last box was sat right outside of the kitchen door. I slowly picked it up and opened up the piece of paper.

  Seeing you being cut out of your clothes was both the funniest and hottest thing that I have ever seen.

  I started to laugh again as I pulled out the bottle of super glue, and shook my head. I almost forgot about how many memories that we had shared. I placed the glue inside of the basket and opened the kitchen door very slowly. I smiled as I walked in and saw what was in front of me. There was a small, white box on the middle of the island, nearest to me with a piece of paper tucked a little underneath it. There were also two large boxes sat on the left and right side of the island, a little further back. There was a stool in front of both of the large boxes, and six small candles spread out over the island. I slowly approached the smallest box and pulled out the piece of paper that was tucked underneath. My heart almost skipped a beat when I read the words that were written on it.

  I’m sorry that it took me so long to figure it out...Forgive me.

  I smiled to myself as I thought about how much it must have taken for him to do that. I didn’t know what was going to be waiting inside of the small box and neither did I want to stand there guessing. I grabbed hold of the box and opened it up gently. I found a small, black, velvet box inside and opened it up slowly. I gasped as I looked at what was lying inside, and without my permission, tears began to roll down my face. I suddenly felt a presence in the room and turned around to face it.

  “I can’t take this,” I said as I looked at Caleb with a confused expression on my face.

  “Yes you can,” he said as he slipped it out of my hand and gently turned me around.

  “The day that I moved in here, I was mad. I didn’t want to talk to anybody or anything except you. I didn’t understand it at the time but when I was with you, even though you were playing pranks on me or angry with me, it just made me forget everything. I didn’t want to hear the things that you were saying, that night, outside of Courtney’s house because you were right. I was running away, I didn’t want to face the truth but the truth was that I had never felt that way about anyone before and it scared me. I didn’t want to hurt you, I still don’t but then I realized that I’d never hurt you, not intentionally anyway. I want you to have it,” he said as he clipped it around my neck. I turned around so that I could face him and shook my head.

  “But this is your mom’s necklace. She gave it to you-”

  “Yes, you’re right. She always told me that one day, when she was gone that this necklace would be mine. She said that even if I never wore it – since I was a guy - then she wanted me to promise that I’d still keep it forever. That’s why I’m giving it to you, Addy. I don’t ever want to lose you again, so please wear this, so that I can keep the promise that I made to her,” he said before I crashed my lips into his. I let myself melt into his arms as I forgot about the two weeks that we had spent apart. It’s like this moment was always supposed to happen. What I felt for Caleb made no sense, and I couldn’t explain it but I knew right there and then that I had let myself fall for him. It happened so quickly, and so unexpectedly that it didn’t even make sense but isn’t that how all of the best things in life happen? You can’t plan the best moments in life because they just happen, and this was definitely one of those moments.

  “Are you ready for the final part of the surprise?” He asked as he gently pulled away from me with a smirk on his face.

  “There’s more?” I asked as I chuckled to myself.

  “Remember the night that we played truth or dare?” He asked.

  “How could I forget,” I said as I rolled my eyes.

  “Well, do you remember what you said that you’d want, if you were stuck on an island?” He asked with a smile on his face.

  “Yes,” I said as I giggled.

  “Well, welcome to your island,” he said before lifting up the last two boxes, to reveal crepes with strawberries and chocolate inside.

  “You remembered?” I said as I continued to laugh to myself.

  “Of course,” he said as he smiled happily to himself.

  He walked over to where I was stood and gently entwined his fingers with mine. He stared at me for a few seconds before his expression turned serious. “Addy, you are the most dangerous, violent and scary girl that I have ever met but for some reason, I am completely, and ridiculously in love with you,” he said as he smiled at me.

  “Wow, an insult and compliment in one, nice,” I said as I began laughing. “Well, for the record, you’re still a moron and a complete an utter jerk but somehow you still managed to make me fall in love with you too,” I said as a smir
k filled my face.

  “Good, otherwise all of this would have been quite embarrassing,” he said as we both started laughing, loudly.

  “The tux was a little over the top though,” I said as I stared at him.

  “I told Courtney that it was too much-”

  “Courtney?” I asked in confusion.

  “Yeah, I had to get some help. Your dad was the one that let me in after his twenty minute lecture about not breaking his daughter’s heart. Courtney was the one that kept you busy tonight while I set all of this up. She hit me about ten times, for disappearing and then she started hugging me and singing about how all of her vambam something’s are coming together,” he said as I started chuckling to myself. “Anyway, I’m going to get changed, I’ll be back in a minute,” he said before disappearing out of the room. As I sat in silence, smiling to myself about how perfect everything had turned out something caught my eye and gave me the perfect idea. I knew that I had to move quickly, and so I got to work.

  Once I was done with my plan, I sent Courtney a text saying, thank you and then started to tuck into my wonderful dessert.

  * * *

  After we had finished eating, Caleb said that he had one more surprise which made no sense to me.

  “What is it?” I asked for the third time as he led me into the living room.

  “Would it be a surprise, if I told you?” He asked as he raised his eyebrows at me.

  “I could pretend,” I said as he chuckled to himself.

  “There,” he said as he pointed towards the coffee table.

  “What is it?” I asked as I stared at the square shaped, white box.

  “Open it,” he said with a smile on his face.

  I walked up to the box, slowly before sitting on the floor, right in front of it. I turned to smile at him before turning back around and lifting off the lid. As I pulled out the dress that was inside, I gasped. I didn’t even try to prevent the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. I was far too shocked to even try.

  “How did you know?” I whispered as I felt Caleb sit down next to me.

  “I have my ways,” he said as he turned my face towards his.

  “Do you like it?” He asked.

  “I love it, it looks new,” I said as I sat in shock. I didn’t know how he knew or what he had done but it was perfect. The last time that I had seen this dress was the night that I had hidden it in my closet. I never thought that I’d see it again, let alone see it clean and without even a single rip in it. As I looked at my mom’s dress, I couldn’t help but smile, it was just so perfect.

  “Thank you,” I finally said as I threw my arms around his neck.

  “Anything for you, Princess,” he said as he held me even tighter. As I listened to him, I realized just how much I had grown to love that name.

  I had no idea how long we were sat in that position, and I honestly didn’t care. For the first time, someone had made me think about my mom, without feeling sad. I never knew that that person would be Caleb but I was so happy that it was.

  * * *

  “Did you like it then?” Caleb asked as we sat, curled up on the couch watching Taken 2.

  “It was perfect, thank you,” I said as I smiled at him.

  “Good, because I was th-”

  Suddenly he stopped speaking as a pained expression spread across his face.

  “Are you ok?” I asked as I tried to hold in my laughter.

  “No, something doesn’t feel ri-”

  He suddenly froze again as a strange sound came from his belly, causing me to finally give in and start laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” He said as he tried to study my face. Then all of a sudden his eyes widened as if he had just realized what was going on. “You didn’t?” He whispered as he held his stomach and pointed his other finger in my direction.

  “Oh come on, Caleb, did you really think that I was going to let you get away with the last prank?” I asked as I shook the bottle that I had been hiding in front of his face.

  “You put laxatives in my food,” He exclaimed as he studied me in shock.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine in the morning,” I said as I continued to laugh to myself.

  “You’re going to pa-”

  “I’ve got to go,” he said as he jumped off the couch and ran towards the stairs, leaving me laughing happily to myself.

  When will that boy learn that I will always win? As I sat there in silence enjoying the end of the film, and my final victory, I thought about how everything had happened over the past few weeks. All of these years Courtney and I had been putting guys into three categories: the bra, the thong and the little black dress. Caleb made me realize how wrong we had got it all. Some days, Caleb was the perfect example of a ‘bra’, he was comforting and sweet but then I just felt like getting away from him. Then there were times when he seemed like ‘the thong’, he was definitely cute and sexy but apart from Cale, he was the biggest pain in the butt that I had ever met. Then he would do the sweetest thing, making him seem like the perfect ‘little black dress’ guy.

  You see, guys and girls, all of this has lead me to one conclusion...

  Who the hell goes out in just a bra, a thong or a little black dress?

  No one, that’s who, or at least I hope they don’t. You see ladies, the truth is that you need all three to make a complete outfit, and as all women know, sometimes fashion is pain. It’s not always going to fit perfectly or feel right but when it’s all put together, you look, and feel...great. Just like in a relationship, you won’t find the perfect guy because he simply just doesn’t exist but what you will find is the most perfectly imperfect guy that you have ever met, and when you do find him, never ever let him go.

  Oh, and guess what? I think that I just found the perfect story for my competition. I’m going to tell mine and Caleb’s story. I’m going to call it ‘Living with the Bad Boy’. I just hope that they’ll like it...

  Right, I guess I better go and check on Minty...

  Like this author and want to find out more?

  Visit: www.sharlayauthor.co.uk

  Also from this author...

  Pretend

  (Sold on all Amazon sites)

  Acknowledgments

  Firstly, I thank God for blessing me every step of this journey. Not only have you blessed me with the skills to do this but also the courage to take the risk. I thank you for blessing me with the life that I have, and I pray that I will eventually be in a position to share those blessings with other people. I thank you for allowing me to publish my second book. The very fact that you give me all of these great ideas is a blessing within itself, and I am truly grateful. I thank you for the scripture, Philippians 4:13 because every time that I feel discouraged, I am reminded that I can do all things through you, so thank you, and I love you.

  To my amazing family, none of this would be possible without you. I thank my mom for not only being my mother but being my friend as well. You’ve been there through every stage of my life, and you have never left my side and for that, I am truly thankful. You are the person that taught me about God’s love and that is a gift that you can put no value on. I thank you for your support, prayers and your constant obedience. Also, I thank you for helping me with ‘The Bra, The Thong and The Little Black Dress’ theory, ha ha!

  To my dad, thank you for the amazing support and love. Not only have you always encouraged me but you’ve supported me in my dreams, even when times have been difficult. I thank you for sharing this experience with me and really getting to know the characters in this book. The feedback and advice have been great, so thank you.

  To my brother and sister, you guys are amazing! Every single book idea that I come up with – which is all the time – you always take the time to listen and give great feedback. The fact that you have read, and enjoyed both of my books has been such an honour. I thank you for your support, prayers and love, it means so much to me.

  To my church, I thank you again for your co
ntinued support and love. I know that you are constantly praying for me on this journey, and it means a lot, so thank you.

  To my friends and extended family, even if you haven’t been a part of this direct process, I still thank you. I thank you for the part that you have played in my life, as every moment, has made it possible to reach where I am now, so thank you, and I love you all.

  To my wonderful fans, you guys are just amazing. The brilliant comments, reviews and messages that you send me everyday mean so much. I read them all, and they have encouraged me to keep living my dream. Without you, there would be no books, so I thank you, and I truly love you all. Thank you and God Bless xxx