The Love of My Bully

by Sam Crescent

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Yes, there’s nothing going on. You’re here trying to tell me what went on back at high school.”

  “You’re withdrawing from me.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “I honestly don’t know what you want from me anymore, Drake.”

  “It has been one day and we can’t even remain friends because of it.” He couldn’t lose her. There was no way he could allow her to go. They weren’t done. “I’m sorry.”

  “Please, stop saying that.”

  “I mean it, though.”

  “I know. You keep saying it but I really don’t need to hear it.” She released a breath and looked incredibly nervous.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “I’m just thinking this is a lot harder than it was supposed to be.”

  “Dammit, Pru. Don’t do what I know you think you should do.”

  “He’s my best friend and you pummeled him today.”

  “He deserved it.”

  “No one deserves that, Drake. No one. Why can’t you see that?” she asked. She ran her fingers through her hair, and all he wanted to do was hold her, not fight. Fighting was the last thing he wanted to do.

  “Can’t I do something to make it up to you? Surely there has to be something?” he asked.

  “There’s nothing. We were wrong to think we could even try this.” She pulled away and he couldn’t let that happen.

  “No, don’t do this. I fucked up today, but we knew it would be hard for us to get this right. Don’t give up on me or on this.” He reached out to her. She didn’t fight him as he caught her close to him.

  Drake honestly didn’t know what to do next. Here she was in his arms, exactly where he wanted her to be, but there was a divide between them. He shouldn’t have fucked with her best friend but he’d seen the crazy look in Sean’s eyes. That dude wasn’t right in the head or in any part of his body.

  He didn’t like him and no matter what he said to warn Pru, she wasn’t listening to him. Not that he could blame her. Why would she listen to him? He’d spent most of his life making her miserable. There was no way he was ever going to be able to pay back for all those sins.

  Kissing the top of her head, he felt her sink against him.

  “I don’t want to fight with you, Drake. I feel like we’re always fighting over something and I hate it.”

  “Me too.”

  “I need you to leave Sean alone. You messed him up today.”

  “It didn’t stop him from going to class.” Drake had seen him walking the halls. There was something that really bothered him and he couldn’t for the life of him think of what it was. Sean wasn’t the same.

  “Don’t,” she said, sounding really tired. “I just want you to hold me.”

  Drake’s heart started to race. She just wanted to be held. What did that mean?

  He wasn’t going to question her, not when he had her in his arms. “All I could think about all day was that kiss.”

  “I wish we could have spent all day in the closet and not come out. I would’ve loved that.”

  “Me too,” he said, being completely honest with her. There was nowhere else he’d wanted to be than with her. When his friends had arrived, he’d hated it. All he wanted to do was tell them to fuck off. Then the shit with Sean. It seemed that no matter what he did, he was always screwing up in one form or another.

  Running his fingers through her hair, he closed his eyes and breathed her in. For now, he didn’t have to worry about anyone or anything. He could just enjoy being around her, and it was all he wanted, all he craved, all he wished for.

  “Will Sean be coming here?” he asked. He didn’t want to leave her but for tonight, he would give her this chance to be with her best friend if she needed it.

  “No. He wants to take some time at home. I did offer to cook him something but he said he wanted to be alone.” She pulled away with a sigh. “I don’t know when everything got so complicated.”

  “It’s not complicated, not even a little bit.”

  “Really? You don’t think this is weird?”

  He laughed. “Come on, let me make you something to eat.”

  “I don’t think food is going to help what is going on, Drake.”

  Still, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He took her hand and led her through to the kitchen where he let her go to check out the fridge. There were a lot of cheeses and cold cuts of meat.

  “Do you even know your way around a kitchen?” she asked. “I seem to recall in all the time we’ve spent with each other, I’m the one that has been doing all the work.”

  He blew her a raspberry and then stopped himself. He’d just blew her a fucking raspberry. When did that happen? Why was he joking around like this? He wasn’t the kind of guy to be doing these things and yet, here he was, in her home, making her some food.

  “You okay?” Pru asked.

  “You’re changing me.” He turned to look at her. “I don’t get it.”

  “You don’t get that you’re turning into a caring person?”

  “No, I’m not. This isn’t me.”

  “Well, maybe I bring out the best in you.”

  Drake stared at her.

  “You’re kind of freaking me out here, Drake. I don’t know what you want from me.” She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. He liked looking at her like this. She always looked so in control and it never failed to turn him on.

  They hadn’t even had sex yet. The highlight of his day was kissing her. That was all he needed from her, one single kiss and he was happy.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess this whole thing has affected me more than I thought it would.” He gripped the edge of the counter and took several deep breaths. “I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

  “Drake, it’s fine. Really. I don’t mind.”

  He stepped up close to her so she had no choice but to look at him. He liked being near her and often found any chance he could to get as close to her as possible.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I know today was crazy and I’m sorry about what I did with your friend. I shouldn’t have hurt him.” They were all lies. The truth was, he shouldn’t have hurt Sean, and he got it, but it didn’t mean he didn’t get at least a little bit of pleasure knowing he’d taken a swipe at that fucker. “From now on, I will find any number of reasons to walk away.”

  She tilted her head to the side. “I think this is going to be the closest I ever get to an apology, isn’t it?”

  “Pretty much. I’ve got nothing more to give.”

  “Huh,” she said. “You don’t have to have my forgiveness. You didn’t do anything wrong with me.”

  “What I said to you after the closet.”

  “Drake, stop. We both know why you did that and I can’t fault you. I don’t want to talk about it. We don’t need to talk about it.” She placed a hand on his chest. “We both agreed this was going to be secret. The only way we can make it play out this way is if we do this where nothing has changed. If all of a sudden you jumped to my defense, people would get suspicious. Neither of us wants that, do we?”

  Did he?

  He looked into her eyes. She was so fucking beautiful. Why hadn’t he ever realized just how beautiful she was? All of this time he’d wasted bullying her.

  Get a grip and answer the question.

  “We don’t.” As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t fall for her. He already had, but this was as far as it would ever go. This wasn’t for the long term, not for them. The moment high school finished, they were going their separate ways, and he was going to have to deal with that.

  “Now, how about I get you something to eat?” he said.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Lies are easy

  Against all the odds, the first month of the final year of high school was in fact easy. Drake kept his word and she never s
aw him go near Sean again. Whenever he entered a room and he caught sight of them, he would often turn the other way or show someone else more interest.

  If anyone even pointed in their direction, Drake would always look as if they were beneath him. Pru didn’t mind. She found the peace and quiet somewhat refreshing. Sean, though, didn’t like it. In fact, her very best friend seemed to believe that he had in some way scared Drake.

  “I tell you, if he comes near me again, I’m going to fucking have him.”

  Pru held her pencil over her paper and glanced over at him. “What?”

  “You heard me. I bet he’s afraid of me.”

  “No, I doubt that’s it.”

  She hadn’t spent all that much time with Sean in the past couple of weeks. With Drake sneaking around her place every single chance he got, she had been making every single excuse she could think of to be with him. When they were together, she forgot about everything.

  There were no cares in the world.

  Just each other.

  It was refreshing for her to just feel rather than have to think about every little detail of her life. For Drake, she didn’t know what he felt. He smiled a lot more and on the whole, he did seem happier.

  The days in high school were always the longest, and Sean made her nervous. There was no way she could expect Drake not to retaliate if Sean decided to start a fight. She wished she knew what had gotten into Sean for him to change.

  “You don’t think I could take him?” Sean asked.

  It took every single ounce of composure not to respond to his claim. None of this made any sense. Why was he suddenly so intent on taking Drake on?

  “You really don’t, do you?”

  “Sean, please, I have no idea what’s going on,” she said. She licked her suddenly dry lips and wished she knew what to say to calm him down. “Why do you feel the need to fight him? If Drake’s leaving you alone, then I don’t see a reason to get into any conflict at all.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No. It seems kind of pointless.” She tried not to wince.

  Sean kept on staring at her. She quickly glanced down at her book and hoped against hope he wasn’t reading too much into this.

  “Pointless?” Sean slapped his hand on the table, making her jump.

  Looking around, she saw a couple of other people staring at him.

  “Sean, really.”

  “You know, I don’t get it. I spent most of our school years together watching the two of you fight it out. I’ve had no choice but to put up with it and now that I’m doing something about it, you’re not happy.”

  “It’s not that I’m not happy about it, I just don’t see why you should have to risk hurting yourself for no good reason.” She reached out, taking his hand.

  “What has happened to you?” he asked.

  “Me?”

  “Yeah. You’re never around anymore. I don’t get it.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I think you do.”

  Her heart started to race.

  “There was a time we’d do everything together. The old Pru would have loved this new fighting spirit I’ve got.”

  He was right. There was a time she’d have begged him to find that fire inside him so no one could hurt him. Only now, the person he was intent on hurting was the guy she’d fallen for, and it wasn’t fair to him for her to force him to stop being this guy.

  “I’ve got to use the bathroom.” Without waiting for a response from Sean, she got to her feet and rushed out of the library. No one followed her, least of all Sean. He never did. She was thankful since she didn’t want any company today, she just needed a minute.

  Bursting through the doors, she was pleased to see the bathroom was empty.

  Gripping the edge of the sink, she stared down into the plain white porcelain sink.

  “It’s fine. You’re fine.” She took several deep breaths and realized her hands were shaking. She didn’t know why, and her gut was twisting as well.

  This wasn’t good.

  Whenever she was with Drake, she felt like the world could just disappear and she wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. The moment they were apart, everything seemed to turn to shit and she couldn’t focus, not even for a short while.

  “I can do this,” she said.

  “What can you do?” Drake asked.

  She spun to see he’d entered the bathroom.

  “You do know this is the girls’ bathroom?”

  “Yeah, I know. It doesn’t mean that I can’t be worried about you. No one’s here.”

  “Why are you here?” she asked. They had avoided all contact at school, leaving their make-up sessions for when they were together.

  “I wanted to make sure you were okay. Don’t worry, I didn’t beat the shit out of Sean even if I wanted to.”

  “He wants to hurt you. I don’t get it.” She burst out laughing. “I mean, all this time he doesn’t want to do anything with you and now when we’re doing whatever it is the hell we’re doing, he now wants to start a fight with you.” She pressed her hands to her face to try to contain the hysteria that was building. “Do you see how messed up that is?”

  “That’s why you’re upset?”

  “I’m upset because I can’t tell my best friend about us. I’m upset because he even wants to hurt you in the first place. This is all fucked up.” She turned back to the sink and gripped the edge. She had to get control of herself.

  “What do you want me to do?” Drake asked.

  The question took her completely by surprise. She closed her eyes but felt him get closer.

  “Don’t,” she said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

  “I don’t like seeing you like this. You think this is easy for me as well? I don’t know what the hell I’m doing anymore.”

  She lifted up and put her hands on his chest, hoping to find some kind of comfort just by holding him. After opening her mouth to speak, she closed it.

  “Don’t say anything,” he said. “Neither of us can make a decision right now. I’m not going to hurt your best friend.”

  She snorted.

  “For the past month, I’ve kept my word. You think this is easy for me?”

  “I know it’s not,” she said.

  The stolen moments were starting to wear on the both of them.

  “I just wish for once I could be selfish,” she said.

  “Selfish how?” he asked.

  It was on the tip of her tongue to say but she smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “Pru, we’ve spent a lot of time going over this.” He pulled her close and she just wanted to sink into the warmth of his embrace. “I’m going to worry about you.”

  He ran his fingers through her hair and she breathed a sigh of relief at his touch. It meant a great deal to her just to have him here with her. Wrapping her arms around him, she closed her eyes, breathing him in.

  “Now, tell me what you want me to do,” he said.

  “I don’t want you to do anything but hold me.”

  “That’s the easy part.”

  She laughed. Pulling away, she stared up into his eyes. For so long, she was used to anger and rage staring back at her. Right now, she only saw concern and it meant the world to her. Placing her palm against his cheek again, she stroked her thumb back and forth.

  “Come away with me this weekend,” he said, surprising her.

  “You want me to come away with you?”

  “Yes. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want it.”

  “Wow,” she said.

  “You didn’t see that one coming, did you?”

  She chuckled. “We’re sneaking around and no, I didn’t imagine for even a second that we’d be doing something like this. It’s crazy.” She whispered the last bit.

  “Yeah, well, I’m tired of all the sneaking around. There’s only so much a guy can take and well, I want to be with you without looking over my shoulder. You think we can do that?
” he asked.

  She nibbled her lip. “Going away together is a huge step.”

  “It is. One I think we can take. Remember, we only live once and well, our time is running out. You know we’re on a countdown.”

  There it was.

  Their time was running out fast.

  They weren’t going to remain together once school was finished and that upset her more than she cared to admit.

  “Come on, come away with me. You know you want to,” Drake said. “You and me.”

  “No one else.”

  “No one.”

  “Okay, then we’ll do it.” She wasn’t about to tell him this weekend was her birthday. Her parents had already apologized for not being able to get off work. The thought of not being alone all day was far too tempting, and well, any time with Drake where they didn’t have to pretend to fight was also a relief. “Wow, I can’t believe we’re going to do this.”

  “Yes, we are.”

  She was about to kiss him when she saw the door about to be pushed open.

  Without thinking, she quickly shoved him into a stall, flicking the lock into place. Drake sat on the toilet and lifted his feet up.

  He laughed and she pressed a hand against his mouth in the hope of trying to contain his noise.

  He didn’t make a sound.

  “Ugh, I hate math so much. It’s, like, so boring. Why do we even need it? It’s what accountants are for anyway.”

  Pru couldn’t make out the voice.

  “Since when do you know a thing about accountants?” another said.

  “Since my daddy has been telling me that they are pissing away his money again. I mean, I get it, they deal with taxes and shit, but I’m so bored.”

  There was silence after a couple of giggles.

  Pru had managed to sit on his lap and keep her feet from being seen.

  “So, are you going to tell us about your night with Drake?”

  She tensed up and even Drake frowned.

  “Oh, please, a girl never tells. You know that.”

  Again, she had no idea who these girls are.

  “Shut up, you’ve been trying to get with Drake for over a year and he finally paid you some attention.”

  “I know. He shut my locker as he walked past. It had to be love.”