“You’re mad? Upset? Is it because of Maria? Nothing is happening there…. I told you not to take anything to heart that happens at school. We’re just being who we normally are. You are the girl I like and want. Nothing changes that. Xxx”His words break me down further, a wave of real, heartfelt tears at my foolishness drowning me. It’s like he found exactly the right words to catch the free-running, insecure bunny in my chest and pushed it back down its dark hole.Dane being so sweet and trying to soothe me from afar has me all kinds of messed up, and I wallow in shame and hurt, allowing myself a few seconds to cry.Even while gulping down stilted sobs and sniffing to control the worst of my breakdown, I try to type some coherent response, knowing for sure now I am being dumb. Desperate to explain to him because now he feels guilty for me being an idiot.“You called her Babe…. Yesterday you….. I start typing, then stop myself and genuinely pause, halting the flow of tears to ask myse
Balling a fist in my mouth to stifle a yawn and arching my back to get the creaks out from being hunched over for an hour in chemistry, I head down the hall with the last bell ringing overhead. Elisa left early for her dental today, so as kids woosh past me, chaotically escaping the building, I head down the lesser-used back hall. I’m too tired for the after-bell pushing and need some quiet time to get home and maybe take a night off.I have the shelter today, but I’m not feeling it and seriously think for the first time in forever, I might call in sick, get into bed with snacks and binge on a Netflix show. I’m emotionally and physically spent, and today, after the whole ‘Babe’ drama has me feeling dead.This is the stairwell I used the day Dane hauled me into the cleaner’s cupboard, but I know he won’t be lurking today. I’ve seen him off and on after this morning’s weird episode and we were better. Normal. His last class was one we don’t share today, and he's probably already out on
I am making myself feel sick with the churning over of this and pat myself down for my cell to text Elisa. Not that she will know what to do and might even be in her dental appointment. She was having her braces adjusted today. I just need someone to calm me down and distract me from these overwhelming thoughts.A tap on my passenger door scares the crap out of me, and I jump as my heart punches into my throat. Almost choking me. Scaring me half to death before it’s yanked open and Dane slides in, coolly, looking and acting like this is nothing more than a casual hello.“I wasn't sure you would wait, given how mad you seemed.” He brushes off the electrifying mood he just walked into with an airy statement that gets me screwing my eye up at him. At his unbotheredness.Is he really this bare-faced?I stare at him, aware my face is cold, meaning I'm probably unnaturally pale due to the blood draining down to my toes, and I know I have a glassy shine to my eyes like I might cry. I can fee
I stare at him in stunned quiet for a long moment, seeing Dane with fresh eyes. Trying to piece together the things he said and if they were true. Taking in that infuriating ‘ I don’t give a shit’ shrug and seeing that Dane is still Dane. He does not care about the heaviness of what he said or that protecting someone he wasn't even friends with was heroic. Deep down, he has always been that boy I thought was lost to me…staring me in the face in plain sight, even behind that mask of an asshole.“So today?” I finally manage to push out, my heart aching and swelling with a different kind of pain. Truly needing to understand what I saw if it was all a façade and he never did anything with her. What were they talking about?“She’s grateful. She wanted to tell me so… That’s all it was. A thank you for being a good guy and a promise not to ruin my street cred by telling people I was nice.” Dane shrugs again like it is nothing to him but a mere inconvenience, yet my brain is twisting and chur
“Yeah, that was the goal…. Piss off my dad, your mom….make you hate me and stay away. I got caught in the act and got used to being that guy that I never thought to clarify, but the babe thing made me realize we should probably talk about this…. Set some things straight.”“So, was all of it an act? The tattoos, the piercings, the clothes…the bike…is any of that real? Or was it all just to get at us?” I'm suddenly woeful, and yet what's even more confusing is the broken pain in my heart that feels like grieving someone. Maybe the whole sex thing is a relief, but the rest of it…the Dane I thought I hated, if it’s all fake, then who is he now? “Do I even know you?”“No…. It’s not an act. Yeah, some of it was rebellion, but it’s who I was comfy as. I dunno….. it's hard to pull out the parts that were deliberate gunshots aimed at my dad’s heart. I wasn't going out of my way to be that person. I just let rumors circulate and didn’t care about defending myself.”“Is that why you have stopped
Wandering into the kitchen, hauling off my backpack, I spot Monique by the sink as she washes out some dishes and smile with genuine warmth. This woman is the living, breathing depiction of a mother I have ever known, and seeing her every day when I come brings me so much joy and security that I never really appreciated before. Lately, I am starting to feel it.“Hey….. “ I turn, dumping my bag on the nearest stool. Very aware Dane would be following me as his bike pulled up right as I walked in the door. Trying to act as normal as possible as I go raking in the refrigerator and not keeping one eye on the door to see him. “Don’t cook for me tonight. I’m going to come looking when I’m hungry. I have homework, and then I'm going to vegetate in bed and sleep early. I’m not going to the shelter.”“Oh, why not, my little princess?” Monique turns with her overdramatic etch of concern creasing over her entire face. “Are you sick? Do you need me to fetch you some medicines? Do we need the doct
I’m startled back to sense by how non-innocent this kiss has become, given he ambushed me, and within seconds, we were wrapped up like this, glued together in ways that would have had me running scared a week ago. My pelvis is flattened to his groin, and because of how he’s stooping and moving to kiss me, it rubs gently into mine and causes all kinds of aching longing. I’m very aware he is solid down there while my own body is softening, and things are getting damp. It’s like I lost all sense of anything except a craving for more.I can feel myself getting wound up, as though my internal organs are clenching, and there’s a strange urge in me to whine for him to put his hands all over me. A deep need to know what them roaming all over my body without boundaries would feel like after experiencing the difference when he skimmed my breast. I like the sensation.A groan rests in my throat as his kiss somehow depends, dragging throbbing pulse up my legs and straight to my pelvis where I sw
“Pooky…stop ignoring me.”For the seventh time this lesson, the prod in the back of my head from a wielded pencil causes me to spin in my chair and slap Dane’s hand. Glaring at him with all the contained anger of the last two hours.“Stop doing that. Stop bothering me.” It’s not an act; I am seriously losing my temper with him. Today, we shared two classes, and he spent the first one firing paper airplanes at my head and this one demanding constant attention with stupid pet names. Probably because all this week, we have only been able to spend two nights shacked up in my room for a movie and the rest we’ve both had other plans. The timing has been weird for a few days and our parents were home a lot more than usual after Monday. The shelter, his piercings, school commitments, homework…… Everything has been in our way.It’s Friday, thank god, and maybe catching some real time with him over the weekend will curb whatever this is. He’s being a needy child.“Women…. So moody.” He grins at
“We can go to my study…Dane, just Kayla.” She adds as though he will follow and he probably was going to, but she’s right. Something started between her and I and should be resolved that way. Dane has been shielding me too much lately because of my inability to face more drama. I need to put my big girl panties back on. Her and Dane have nothing to say to one another anyway, and he will only put her on the defensive, which I want to avoid.“I’ll be close by….just yell if you need me…… Very close by.” Dane doesn’t lower his voice; instead gets louder with his warning tone, making it obvious to my mom that he doesn’t trust her, and I pat his arm to get him to release me.I slide out of his arms and follow my mom out of the kitchen, across the hall, and into the study without looking back, even though I can feel all their eyes follow me out. Already, my insides are like a washing machine because I do not know what exactly she intends to say to me.My mom is being weirdly quiet, too, and
“You four are making me feel chronically single.” Hannah huffs, pushing the cans of soda across the breakfast bar towards Elisa as Tyler opens up some bags of chips for us to share. We have a stack of pizza boxes waiting to dive into and a plan to darken the nook to spend the day eating junk and watching movies. Dane and I are too tired for anything else and feel like we are on some emotional comedown after a month of hell.“What happened to your Korean boyfriend? That distance could not separate you from?” Dane chimes in with obvious sarcasm oozing, while leaning into me from behind to deposit the dip we made. It’s clear to me that teasing Hannah is a full-time occupation when they are in the same room. She really is like his annoying younger sister, even if she is our age.“I am devoted to Min Yoongi, but I would like to experience a present boyfriend. Someone I can touch and laugh with.” Hannah sulks slightly, clearly regretting her life choices.“I can’t imagine anyone would want
My Dad never calls me, rarely picks mine up, and never texts either. So, seeing it now, flashing so invasively on my phone is enough to make my heart thud through my chest painfully.“Do you want me to give you space to take it?” Dane interrupts my obvious inability to move, breaking the spell it’s cast over me.“No…stay!” A sense of panic grips my stomach and throat, and the sudden cold wash of nerves sobers my good mood. Instantly afraid of what he is calling me for even though, logically, I know.My mom must have called him, or Bryan, at least.Maybe he wants to clarify…I don’t even know.“Are you going to answer it or keep staring at it?” Dane interrupts the deer in the headlight motion of me holding it at half arm’s length, and I blink at it, then him, and shake my head.“Do you need me to do it?”“I don’t know.” I sound terrified. I don’t think I have it in me to answer the call. There is so much grey area when it comes to my dad. So many times I have been hurt by him that faci
“Well, this is depressing.” Dane wheels his case into his old barren bedroom, gazing around at the emptiness even though all his furniture is still there. “It feels like someone else's room.”All the personality is gone without his things in here, and it smells like a fresh, floral hotel, thanks to Monique. His art, posters, pictures, trinkets and books are all gone, leaving empty walls, shelves, and surfaces where he used to have such an array of masculine things, more so after he moved in here permanently and brought it all from his mom’s house.“Imagine how it made me feel watching it get this way….you’re an ass.” I throw him a mock glare and get a kiss blown back at me.“I wanted you to miss me.” He winks and goes back to his case. In a happy mood ever since we started packing to come here.I gaze around, infected by his happiness, and yet sigh at the memories of being in here without him.Even the lack of his laundry tossed on the floor somehow makes this place impersonal. The be
“There’s a lot that this test result will change….I know now is probably not the best time to talk about where we go from here. You probably need to process it the same way we did, but I want you to know….I'm not going back to the UK. I’ll sort it out myself. Enroll back in school, find somewhere to stay, maybe with Tyler….” Dane sounds so far removed from the immature rebel of months ago who was forever making my life hell and living stupidly. He sounds like this experience has aged him so much.He has a sensible head on, his eyes set on the future and he’s not reacting one ounce to my mom. It’s like she no longer has any affect on him.“You’ll move back home, there is no argument in that. I’ll call the school and arrange for you to go in and re-enroll. I’ll call your mom and explain things. Don’t worry about anything. I told you, didn’t I… always your home and whenever you wanted to come back.”For being the fragile one here, Bryan seems to be the one most resigned and okay with thi
“Wait.” I tug Dane back by the hand he’s interlaced in mine, so he stops abruptly near Bryan’s room door, and I pull him to turn to me. Panick is overtaking my soul now we’re close to actually doing this. Walking in here it’s been growing inside of me like a building storm.All my bravado and anger have dissipated because I am so over trauma and tears in my life that I want to avoid any more conflict and run to hide instead. I think I have reached a point of fragility that my emotions don’t want to take anymore.My nerves are bubbling over, my heart is racing, and I'm swinging between cold and hot sweats that have my entire body flushed and trembling. I’m genuinely scared even though my mom is the one who should be.There is no more fight left in me. Not when the possibility of Dane being ripped away from me a second time is all too real, and that thought terrifies me more now I have lived it once. I can’t do that again. I won’t survive.“It’s going to be okay, I promise. We do this a
“Like what?” Hannah squeaks in outrage, crossing her arms on the table to lean in and peer at him, that he might be dissing the man of her dreams or her favorite band. Finding insult in that but nothing else he had said before this.“Your face,” Dane snaps back at her before flicking her in the forehead and pushing her back again.“Ughh.. See… Why is he like this? Is this what you put up with? How can you date him when he’s so awful?” Hannah throws her hands up in frustration, and yet all of this only makes me relax about what kind of relationship they had. If Elisa wasn't so feeble and gentle, I know this is how they would act together. At times, there are glimpses of it, but Elisa is too good-natured and cannot sass. There’s nothing in it.I can see the dynamic slowly opening up between them. She’s like an unwanted younger sibling he both doesn’t like but also does but is forced to take out with him. Annoyed by her presence, but I can tell they also have a sense of relaxed and comf
“You look nervous. Relax….What are you scared of?” Dane brushes my hair from my face for the third time, running a finger down my cheek before leaning in and pecking me lightly on the lips. Igniting the same burst of internal flutters, he always gives me, and a layer of warmth. Suddenly, in my world, everything feels right again, just having him by my side, but I still cannot escape this constant gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach.“Every time I have seen this girl, I was a bitch to her….I’m still not ok with the fact you spent the last month with her while ignoring me.” Try as hard as I might, I cannot quench the sense of nausea and dread while sitting here waiting for her to show up. “I feel weird meeting her this way and under these circumstances.”I should never have agreed to this.It’s a clean, bright diner near the hotel they are staying at and the hospital, so we intend to stay here until we’re ready to face our parents and work out a game plan. Hannah is a formality I
“Deal…. I want my boyfriend back how he was. I don’t want to remember any of this shitty separation. Can we get back together?” I ask stupidly even though it’s obvious we are already making up. I just need him to say the words to help with the insecurity I am feleing after how cold he was. “I want my boyfriend back.”“Technically, babycakes, we never broke up. Neither of us said the words so we don’t need to get back together. He shrugs like this is the most logical thing ever, and I lean back to scowl at him.He does not get out of his asshole past four weeks that easily. The boy really is trying to pull a fast one.“Really?” I ask in obvious, oozing sarcasm. “Because I remember clearly a certain boy telling me he was going no contact and not coming back from the UK before he blocked me on absolutely everything….that was a very final break up even if you never said ‘the words.’ You can’t be in a relationship with someone who moved abroad and refuses to communicate with you.” I point