10 Years (Time for Love 5)

At first, I was too surprised to move. Gaby asking, “Who are you?” brought me back to the present and I yanked my arm away.

“Never touch me!” I yelled at Dave, and I could feel the surprise coming off of my sister and her friends. I’m sure they’d never heard such contempt, such hate, from me before.

“Sorry, little Gwen, I just saw you passing by and wanted to say hi,” Dave responded with a smirk, obviously not sorry at all.

“Next time, resist the urge,” I replied angrily. “I have nothing to say to you. Ever.”

“Calm down,” Dave said, his words slurring a bit, indicating he’d been drinking much longer than I had. “You’re a little spitfire now, aren’t you … You weren’t back then.” When he raised a finger to touch my face, I slapped it away, but I couldn’t slap away his words. “Too bad, it would have been more fun.”

I gagged, literally, gagged at his insinuation.

Suddenly, Sasha pushed in front of me and got in his face. “I don’t know who you are, or what the hell you’re talking about, but you need to get out of my girl’s face. Now!”

He just chuckled and looked around Sasha at me and taunted, “Oh please, don’t act like you didn’t love very second of it,” which really pissed me off.

I stood taller, walked around Sasha, and looked him dead in the eye.

“You wish, you creepy mother fucker. Too bad you couldn’t get your own girls.”

That’s when, out of nowhere, a fist connected with Dave’s chin and he went sprawling to the ground. I realized it was Craig’s fist when he tried to get on top of Dave and hit them again, but was held back by Scott and Cal.

“What’s going on?” Gaby asked, her hand shaking gently on my arm.

Dave got to his feet, quite unsteadily, then turned to Craig, “Come on, fucker. I’m not the scrawny kid you jumped in high school.”

The guys still held Craig, who was straining to get away, but TJ walked around them and got in Dave’s face.

“You’re also not underage anymore, you prick,” TJ was practically seething as he spoke, and I suddenly realized exactly what was happening.

We were in the middle of the bar, at the concert that Brock and his brothers were giving, and we were having a confrontation with Dave. The guys were here. The girls were here. And they were all going to suspect what happened after the show I just gave. I felt waves of humiliation and anguish wash over me and turned to my sister.

“Please, get me out of here.”

I was barely hanging on, certain that my mortification was about to get much worse, when I broke down in front of everyone.

“Let’s go, baby,” she said gently to me, and I saw her make a motion to Scott as she pulled me toward the door.

Suddenly, again, Craig was there.

“Gwen, are you okay?” His voice and face were full of concern. “I’m so sorry, baby, I had no idea he was here.”

“You couldn’t have,” I whispered back, hoping to assuage him of any guilt he felt. It wasn’t his fault that jackass was in the same bar we were.

“Let me take you home,” Craig said, reaching for my hand.

I shook my head, keeping my eyes down so I wouldn’t see the hurt that I was sure my rejection would cause him.

“I need my sister tonight.”

“Okay,” he said, although I could tell by his tone that he wanted to argue. “Call me when you need me.”

I bit my lip to try and hold back the tears. He was so sweet, so gentle … I just couldn’t need him right now. If I went with him, I would break, and didn’t think I could handle that.

I left with Gaby and Scott, and were home before I knew it. Scott dropped Gaby and me off, and she led me around to her old place behind my mom’s house, rather than inside.

I let her guide me, sit me on the couch, then put a cup of steaming tea in my hand, before I finally looked up into her worried face.

“Can you talk to me?” my sister asked softly, sitting beside me.