She gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes before turning her back on me and walking away. I felt like I was going out of my mind. Lora doesn’t wear makeup; she doesn’t like it, and neither does she need it. And since when does she wear her jeans that tight?
Since she was being stubborn, I turned my attention back to Paul. “If you go anywhere near her, I’ll make your life a living hell.”
“Dude, what’s up your ass? We’re just chilling together, and besides, she’s old enough like she said. No need to play the big brother.”
“Remember what I said. If you see her coming, go the other way. If I see you talking to her, I’ll break your face.” I walked away, leaving him with a stupefied look on his face and ignored the other nosy ass bystanders. My head was hot, to the point that I was giving serious thought to dragging her out of class and taking her somewhere so we could get to the bottom of this shit.
It had only been one night, and she was already pulling out the big guns. I knew what she was doing, the message she was sending, but she’s playing a dangerous game. Paul is a fucking slut; everybody knows it, including her. And as friendly as he and I am, I have no doubt that he’d like nothing better than to get back at me for always coming out ahead of him when it comes to the girls in our school, along with everything else.
The thing is I’m pretty sure Lora knows this too, she’s too smart not to. And that’s why she’d chosen him of all people. It was a blow below the belt. I saw Sherry as I made my way to my first class and looked right through her. The smile died on her lips when I turned into the classroom without a word. I don’t give a fuck.
“Hey, Tyler, wait up.” I pretended not to hear her as I moved to my seat and threw my bag down on my desk. She parked her ass on the edge of my desk, literally, and I glared up at her. “I’m not in the mood right now, Sherry.”
“Whoa, what’s eating you? I was just going to invite you to the movies tonight. That new high school thriller is playing.”
“No, thanks.”
“Aw come on, you know I don’t know anyone else here, and it won’t be as much fun going by myself.” She pouted, which I guess she thought was cute and used that little sing-song voice that girls use when they’re trying to act coy.
“No, I have something else to take care of.” After the shit, she pulled the night before I was about to let her back me into a corner. I didn’t want to embarrass her, but if she pulls that shit again, I’m not going to hold back.
“Suit yourself.” She walked to her desk, looking back at me every few steps, and I forgot all about her as the class began to fill up. I didn’t hear any of the usual rhetoric between my classmates as they got settled in for the first class of the day. My mind was still back in the parking lot, and Lora smiling at Paul.
If she was trying to piss me off mission accomplished. I couldn’t tell you shit the teacher said in any of my classes before the lunch bell rang. I’d spent the morning fuming and trying to figure out how to head Lora off before she did something stupid like give Paul the wrong idea.
Paul’s an okay guy, I guess, as friends go anyway, but he’s not for her. You don’t think anyone is for her, except you. My conscience chimed in, and I ignored it. It was true, though. All morning I kept coming back to that one thing. Seeing her laughing at him, looking like she was having a good time, had jarred the hell out of me.
How am I going to handle this shit going forward? How am I going to live with seeing her with someone else in the future? It’s not like I can ask her to stop living because we can’t be together. But I can’t take away something my dad wants. I’m caught between the two people I love most. If I give in to what I really want, I’ll be hurting my dad. If I walk away, I’ll hurt Lora and myself. It’s fucked with a capital dick.
I waited outside her class at lunch because no matter what, she’s not sitting with that asshole. I saw the girls she usually lunched with, but there was no sign of her. I stopped one of them, Tiffany; I think her name was and asked for her already dreading the answer.