The Bad Girl and the Good Boy

by Karla Luna

  So walking in made me a little nervous but I stayed calm and just brought my hand to my already-messy hair. I put the keys down and then walked around the counter.

  My heart skipped a beat when I saw a small figure crouched by the side of the fridge. I didn’t look but I knew it was my girl. I didn’t want to do anything just yet, so I rested my hands on the counter, wondering why she was even hiding if she wasn’t the type to do something like that.

  So, to get her out, I spoke aloud, “I know you’re hiding.”

  “Zavier… I’m so sorry…” Her voice made my heart go even faster. I loved the sound of it and my name rolling off her tongue just did these things to me that I couldn’t even explain. I had to take deep breaths and the whole house was silent that I could even hear the little ticking on my watch. “Zavier please…”

  I couldn’t keep it in. I had to ask her what was up. “Why did you do it? I was there to tell her something and you just… why did you do it?” I finally turned to look at her with my eyebrows knitted together in what might’ve seemed like confusion or sadness. But I really was confused why she did all of it. Why she came? Why she acted the way she did? Why she punched Joss? I just needed to know, because it was pretty much messing with my head.

  Evelyn held on to the fridge and it seemed like she didn’t even want to look at me. When she was ashamed of the truth, she would just look away from me. I knew that, too. “I… I just got jealous, I guess.”

  What? That was crazy! Why would Evelyn be the least bit jealous that I was with Joss, talking and hanging out?

  “Jealous?” I asked her. “Why would you be jealous?”

  “’Cause you're my friend?”

  Dammit. I hated those words since the beginning – even if I did use them myself. I didn’t want to be her friend. I didn’t want to be any of that.

  I wanted to be her lover, boyfriend, whatever it was called.

  “Well…” I scrunched up my nose to somehow cover what I was really feeling. “Let’s not do that. I’m in love with you, Evelyn, and hearing you friend-zoning me isn’t really the most comforting thing in the world.” I chuckled, but felt a little nervous about telling her that I loved her yet again. “Plus, what I had to tell Joss was pretty important and I really didn’t expect you to be there.”

  Maybe, just maybe, a little part of me was glad to see her there. But I just didn’t want to admit it.

  “I was just being selfish, Zavier. I’m sorry. How’s her nose?” Her saying that sounded like she really was concerned about Joss, so I told her the truth.

  “Well, it’s pretty broken.” I shrugged and put my hand over my face just thinking about all of the blood and… gosh, I was really glad blood didn’t make me sick like other people. But I still didn’t like this, so I guess the least Evelyn could do was go and apologize to Joss for punching her.

  Ha, it was probably jealousy because we no longer get to hang out much, right? Yeah... definitely, since I was her friend and all.

  I looked back at Evelyn and saw her in this pretty weird position, just smiling at me, or trying to. “But I would really appreciate it if you go and apologize to her.”

  “Zavier,” she gave out a chuckle that seemed pretty fake to me, “you and I both know I don’t do apologies.”

  “Then why’d you just apologize to me?” I quickly went over and grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the fridge that she seemed to love so much since the day she arrived here.

  Dammit, even the fridge got more love than me!

  I wouldn’t even be able to compete with the love she had for food.

  But it is pretty amazing. I couldn’t really blame her.

  “Come on, Joss is the sweetest girl I’ve ever known. She’ll forgive you and I’m super sure of it!” I’ve known her for a long time and not once has she been mean or brutal to people. It’s one of the things I liked about her.

  Although, her good vibe made me think about how much I loved rebelliousness more, especially coming from the bad girl standing right in front of me.

  “She is not nice,” Evelyn said through gritted teeth, and that made me knit my eyebrows, though I still kept the smile on my face. I was taken aback a little but I tried not to react.

  “I’ve known her for years, Evelyn. She’s really nice.”

  “She is not nice.”

  “Evelyn…”

  “She’s a bitch! Get it through your head, Zavier. Please!”

  My smile was immediately gone when she called her that. I never liked the word, especially if it was directed towards an innocent girl. Really, what was up with Evelyn? Something wasn’t right here. I told Joss some bad things and now, I was regretting them. She didn’t deserve anything we gave her.

  “Okay, I might’ve told her a few mean things but she didn’t deserve them. And she definitely didn’t deserve the punch you gave her.”

  “She definitely did.”

  “She’s always been nice and I’ve never…”

  “I’d gladly punch her twice if she thought she could take away the guy I love!”

  That made me tense up and my breath got caught in my throat. My heart stopped for a second but now it was going crazy fast with these thoughts roaming my head.

  Did I hear her right? Did I possibly really hear the girl I love, practically tell me that she loves me back? No, I had to have heard wrong. So I should just… God, did Evelyn just…?

  Dammit, I needed to breathe.

  I had no other words. “I… W-what?”

  She turned around rather quickly and she seemed to be shaking as much as I was. “You idiot...” I heard her whisper, before she went on. “I love you, you geek-ass nerd.” If this wasn’t so serious, I would’ve laughed at that. “I love your shyness, your blushing, your glasses, your weirdness, your obsession with comics and Superman, your intelligence, your kindness… I just love it all.” She turned around and looked at me. Her blue eyes kept me captivated like they always did and I could’ve sworn I felt my loud heartbeat vibrate throughout my body.

  I was shocked about this. I was surprised that she just said all of that to me. But she wasn’t done.

  “I grew up thinking the world was a bad place full of bad people. I grew up feeling like there was no one nice out there. I grew up feeling like I would be alone and that there wasn’t such thing as… this – what we have. But then I moved here and I meet this insanely adorable guy that is so nice to me. It’s great to have someone care so much and be so kind and sweet for once. You’re not like the others, Zavier. Let it be clichéd. Let us be clichéd, I don’t care. You’re different and you’re special. And I love you… more than anyone in this fucked up world.”

  I stayed quiet but kept staring at her with love, admiration, intensity – pretty much everything I was feeling right then. She looked so small and scared and I wanted to hold her and kiss her and protect her for eternity.

  I could barely believe this but I… I was just so happy.

  She loves me back. She actually loves this nerdy, awkward good boy. And I never would’ve thought it would happen. I always thought the bad and the good would never work out.

  But I was wrong. And I couldn’t be more ecstatic.

  “I’m sorry, just forget everything I just said. I think I’m drunk. I think I’m just…”

  Before she could continue, I quickly went to her, cupped her cheek and the back of her neck – and sweetly kissed those lips that I loved so much… just to stop her from trying to deny everything that she had just said to me. Because there’s no way I’d let her do that. I got a confession out of her and she didn’t need to crush my dreams by saying she was drunk.

  Because drunk or not, she told the truth.

  Drunk or not, she felt this way.

  And holy fuck, I couldn’t be any happier!

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeper, making our simple kiss into a more passionate one.

  Her lips are the only ones I’d ever want to feel. She was my first kiss,
and I honestly wouldn’t have wanted it with anybody else. I was so glad it wasn’t some other girl who means nothing to me.

  Because this girl right here, she was everything to me.

  When we pulled away to breathe, I looked into her beautiful eyes, her pupils dilating as she grinned and then giggled.

  I loved her giggle. And seeing her happy made me feel all giddy inside.

  “Be mine, teddy bear,” she whispered to me before giving me a peck on the lips.

  I wanted to be hers. That was all I’ve ever wanted.

  Though, as I’ve said, she had been mine from the very start, even if I was with Joss for a little while.

  Perhaps I should mention, I never heard from Joss again after that night. Last I heard, she and her family moved away and until now I still have no idea why. But I didn't really care. She didn’t matter anymore.

  I had the girl of my dreams right in front of me and she was the only one that mattered… the only one that always will.

  “I was already yours,” I said to her.

  And then, I kissed her again.

  41: What A Crazy Ship

  • Evelyn •

  He was still a damn good kisser.

  So of course, we went to sit down on the couch and put on some random movie while we actually kissed almost the entire time without a care in the world.

  Though I didn’t mind. This was way better than anything else.

  This was honestly all I’ve ever wanted. Just being by his side and having him all to myself, without anyone interrupting.

  But of course, the good, fantastic, and rather hot moments always had to be ruined.

  Someone always had to interrupt, dammit.

  “If you wanted the D, I’m sure Zavier could’ve tutored you for that one,” Ian said as we heard the front door slam closed. He chuckled and that caused Zavier to turn away and blush. But I just squeezed his hand and looked over my shoulder to look at the two goofs that had just decided to come in at a very wrong time.

  I mean, we weren’t going to do anything… yet. Just kissing. Simple little kissing.

  “I thought you weren’t coming back for hours,” I said to them. “I was really hoping you weren’t, actually.”

  Ian chuckled and put a hand to his chest as if I had just seriously wounded his feelings. “Wow, ouch. We were just out looking for an apartment or something, jeez. I thought you’d be done frickle frack—”

  “Would you stop with that?” Zavier snapped, though he was still blushing a little at the mention of it. Of course we all knew what it meant, Ian just didn’t want to say it properly for some odd reason.

  But it was Ian after all. Should I really be surprised.

  “What, did she finally turn your floppy disk into a hard drive?”

  “Oh my…” Zavier muttered as he facepalmed. I heard Darrel’s laughter, or maybe he was trying not to laugh so I won’t kick his ass later.

  “All right, all right, I looked up a few nerd comments.” Ian held his phone up and scrolled through. “I can totally keep going. Ahem, you’re so hot you melt the…”

  “Stop,” Zavier said as he got up from his seat and started going up to his room. But Darrel was right by his side in a flash as he put his hand on Zavier’s chest to stop him. That made Zavier turn back around and come back to me. I just sighed and raised one eyebrow at Ian.

  “It’s a beautiful day, go outside. Or whatever it is you… Jersey people do. Ha! Oh, this one is goood.”

  “You know what,” I turned to Zavier and saw him sinking down in his seat a little nervously as I stood up and pulled him up with me. He was taken by surprise with my strength so he ended up stumbling a bit, but I grabbed his arm to steady him. “We will go out. Come on, boyfriend.”

  We started heading out, grabbing our jackets, hats and keys while Ian was pointing at us with a frown. His mouth was open but he couldn’t form words, as he looked at Darrel with a face that seemed surprised yet really happy.

  All I heard was a brief ‘boyfriend?’ before we were finally outside.

  “Boyfriend, huh?”

  I bit my lip and turned to Zavier, who had his hands in his pockets, his shoulders lifted up as he smiled. His smile always gave me a warm feeling inside. But right now, it was more like he was trying to hide a smirk from me. “So you’re my girlfriend?”

  “Well… yes. Unless you want to be the girlfriend.”

  He chuckled and grabbed my hand, pulling me to him to give me a sweet kiss. Then he kissed my forehead and looked at the car and then my bike, squinting his eyes a little from the sun. He also seemed unsure about something as he pushed his glasses up. But then he sighed and pointed at my bike keys, putting his own keys away in his jeans pocket. “How ‘bout we take the bike.”

  That one surprised me. He practically hated this bike, or so I thought. Why would he want to take it instead of the car? “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to ride it if it scares you.”

  “I’m not scared…” He pouted a little and looked down, making me want to go over and pinch his cheeks and kiss his nose. But all I did was playfully roll my eyes and hop on my beautiful bike.

  “Last time, you were shaking as if it were below 0 degrees and you were eating ice. But don’t worry, as long as you’re with me,” I patted the bike and winked at him. “I’ll keep you safe, teddy bear.”

  “I’ve always hated kids, but not so much now. They were just annoying, mean, and they kept staring into my soul.”

  Zavier only chuckled at my words and bit on his pepperoni pretzel.

  We decided to stop by the park, and they just happened to have a pretzel and hotdog stand there – but we obviously preferred the yummy pretzels. I couldn’t really look anywhere else since I kept admiring his cuteness. He had put on one of his adorable Peruvian beanies while I just had a regular beanie on.

  The dimple on his cheek showed as he chewed and looked at me. “They’re not that bad.”

  “Easy for you to say, they see you and you’re like an angel. Well, because you are.” I smiled when he looked down to try and hide his own smile. “I look scary to them though!” And it was true. I used to have a glare all the time. You know, the one they called a bitchy resting face. Though now, I don't think I have that expression as often as I did. “Do I look scary, Zavier?”

  I jumped in front of him and began walking backward. He shifted his eyes and cleared his throat, licking his upper lip. “Terrib—”

  “Yeah, that’s very nice of you.”

  “—ly beautiful and gorgeous,” he finished, making me press my lips together and walk beside him again. I turned away and just smiled to myself. Okay, so he hasn’t exactly said that to me before, has he? He was just blunt about it now and I didn’t think he’d straight out say it. Minus the ‘terrible’ part – which I think was a joke, that was pretty sweet. “You all right? You… Hey, are you… blushing?” He grabbed my arm to stop me and I looked away, trying to avoid making eye contact with him. My cheeks felt hotter by the second. “You are!”

  He got quiet when I pulled down his beanie so that they’d cover his eyes. I ran away and giggled because I had also pulled his glasses down a bit.

  “Hey!”

  “I didn’t do anything!” I yelled out as I started running towards the playground. The playground was pretty much empty so I just ran around and even tried to hide by a few slides, covering my mouth to keep from laughing.

  “Evelyn!”

  I heard him scream. I took a peek and saw him standing in the middle of the grass, turning in a circle with his eyes closed. “Evelyyyyn,” he kept whining like a little boy, making me chuckle. “Où êtes-vous? Où est ma belle?”

  “What!? Speak English, doof.”

  That’s when he stopped spinning, opened his eyes, and saw me, smiling as if he had just met Superman himself. “Gotcha!”

  “You clever little fucker…” I mumbled to myself. Then, I started walking towards him slowly, knowing there was no point in running away since I wanted
to be back in his arms anyway. “What the hell did you just say anyways?”

  He shrugged and grabbed my hands to pull me closer to his warmth. It felt like what home should feel like. “Nothing important, except I just called you my beautiful, if that’s okay.”

  “That is… oh fuck.”

  “Not the response I was…” Zavier trailed off when he noticed I wasn’t paying attention. Then, he followed my gaze and saw the World’s Greatest Prick walking toward us, but he was wearing sunglasses, had a cigarette between his lips, and was looking down at his phone.

  Zavier turned back around to look at me and I noticed his grip on me had tightened like he was angry or afraid to let me go.

  “I don’t think there’s enough time to…” I cut myself off when he took both our beanies off. Then he put his Peruvian beanie on me and put his blue hood over his head.

  “Close your eyes,” he said, making me frown but I closed them anyway. I felt him put his glasses on me and before I knew it, his lips were on mine in a passionate kiss. And whenever I felt his sweet lips on mine, I was instantly transported. I was in a different world where only he and I existed. There’s no doubt about it, Zavier had become the person I love the most, the person I care about the most, and the person I cherish the most.

  And he was so smart to have thought of this diversion so that the town's bad boy wouldn't recognize us.

  Speaking of the bad boy, I was happy yet suspicious that Davne stopped calling me. He was acting pretty damn strange lately and I hated not knowing the reason behind it. But I wasn’t going back to him, even if he called.

  We heard his footsteps getting closer and that caused Zavier to grip my hair a little harder while kissing me deeper. A little moan escaped my throat and that’s also when we heard Davne speak up.

  “Stupid kids,” he muttered, and we heard the footsteps fade away slowly soon after. I actually wanted to laugh but kept my lips pressed together once Zavier pulled away. I also kept my eyes closed and could’ve sworn I actually heard his damn smile.