Page 31 of Save Me
My feet are itchy being that I desperately want to get the hell out of here after the shit of a day I’ve had. Yet, here I am, having to wait for Rein and Mikey to finish up at football practice. The heat of the afternoon sun has me sweating like a pig, so much so, I yank off my tie and roll my sleeves up as far as they’ll go. I can’t believe Beth heard me at lunchtime today; way to fuck it up, asshole! Not that it matters, she completely blew me off and now refuses to even look at me.
“Hey, Xander,” Celia purrs from behind me, making me jump out of my skin. The girl could become a professional spy if she put her mind to it.
“Hi, Celia,” I return with a smile, “Casey already left with Kyle.”
“Oh, can’t imagine what she sees in him!” she says with a slump of her shoulders while I bob my head, for once being in complete agreement with her. “Must run in the family I guess, being attracted to the wrong type. Casey told me you have a thing for our newest student, but she won’t give you the time of day.”
I throw her scathing look, one that should warn her to drop the subject. Though, from the way she steps in closer with a silly grin on her face, she obviously takes no notice of it. Celia’s not dangerous, just chooses to be stupid, even though I know she’s not. For that very reason, instead of biting her head off, I take in a deep breath and choose to remain quiet. Pity she mistakes it for encouragement.
“Why don’t you let me keep you happy, Xander?” she whispers as she walks her fingers up my chest, looking at me with seductive eyes and a predictable bite of her lip.
Just as I’m about to remove her hand as gracefully as I can, but with a clear message that I’m not interested, Beth huddles out of the school doors across the parking lot from me. She holds her arms around her waist, trying to make herself small and hidden from everyone. As if sensing that she’s being watched, she looks right over to where I’m standing and freezes on the spot. Celia is still playing with my shirt collar while Beth and I stare at each other, both unwilling to show any emotion, but also refusing to look away first.
She knows I want her and I’m pretty sure she’s feeling the attraction too. I’ve been around enough girls to know when they see what they like, and Beth Taylor wants me. It’s not a conceited observation, nor is it a disrespectful one, it’s just a fact. The way she tenses up around me, the way her cheeks turn crimson, and her mouth drops open, just like it has now. It’s so frustrating that I decide to fall back into being a shitty eighth grader who likes to tease a girl when really, he likes her.
Celia giggles with a slight gasp when I suddenly pull her against me, clutching at her before slamming my lips onto hers. She runs her hands up and down my back, moaning against my mouth, when all the while I’m looking over her shoulder, smirking at the girl who is still staring at me with her lips parted in horror. Beth’s eyes close momentarily, but too long for a simple blink. Without looking back, she hurries away and tries to make herself invisible again. As soon as she’s out of sight, I pull back from Celia and take her away from me, before giving her a sheepish smile; one that tells her I’ve been a complete dick to her.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” I mutter, “never gonna happen!”
She gasps over my arrogance before letting her humiliation settle in, when she slaps me firmly across the face. I laugh nervously, before reaching up to where the heat of her handprint spreads rapidly across my skin. I give her a nod, telling her I know I deserved it. She merely narrows her eyes and clenches her jaw before I watch her storm away, passing by Rein who is just ahead of Mikey.
“Do I need to ask?” Rein chuckles at the girl who’s stomping away as fast as she can in her heeled shoes.
“Nope,” I answer bluntly, huffing over my bad behavior. I get straight into the car, thus ending that conversation before it can even get started.
“So, where are we headed?” Rein smiles to himself, looking amused by the position I just found myself in with a rage-filled girl who is half my size
“North Beach,” I reply bluntly, just as Mikey finally tilts the car with his massive body when he gets inside of it.
“Really?!” Rein looks at me like I’ve gone completely insane, which given my recent infatuation with Beth, maybe I have.
“Why the hell am I always in the back?!” Mikey moans from behind me, effectively needing the whole back seat just to fit inside anyway.
“Because you’re a big fucker who takes twice as long to get here as the lanky bastard sitting next to me,” I reply, looking at him through the rear-view mirror, just to catch him rolling his eyes and slumping in defeat against the back seat. “And to answer your question,” I continue, now turning back to Rein, “yes, we’re going there, but you can always walk if my free ride home is not to your satisfaction, Your Majesty!”
“Wow!” Rein gasps, looking right at me with a smug, hittable grin. “Being in love sure brings out the bitch in you, Fenton.”
“I am not in love, I’m just curious,” I growl while both assholes begin laughing over my sour mood.
“Whatever, Romeo, Bodhi isn’t going to tell you anything,” Mikey declares from the back seat, “the guy’s a fraction more stubborn than you are!”
“No, but my sister will. All I need is some stash and I’ll finally get something that might explain what the hell is going on with Moneypenny!”
“Course, you could just respect her wishes and stay out of it,” Rein suggests, and when I turn to face him, the guy is actually looking almost serious about it.
“Really? Is that what you would do?”
“No,” he says, then slowly smiles, “but at least I put it out there.”
“So, we’re agreed,” I confirm, nodding before returning my eyes to the road where the ocean is now coming into view. “Then let’s stop whining about it. You guys are starting to piss me off.”
Casey is lying poolside in nothing but a black bikini and a pair of designer sunglasses; the kind that covers half your face and makes girls like my sister think they’re on the cover of Vogue magazine. Kyle, her whatever he is to her, is lying next to her wearing a tight pair of nut-huggers and a ball cap that is pulled down low at the front.
“What in God’s name is he wearing, Casey?!” I grimace before chucking down the packet of weed I just bought from Bodhi. The guy had been beyond suspicious when I made no attempts to question him over Beth.
“They’re my tanning pants,” Kyle grins like an idiot. He has me picturing a chocolate Labrador, a mutated dog that has no brain, is completely harmless, but batshit crazy half the time. “At least I didn’t wear my thong!”
“Fuck!” I sneer at him. “I think I just puked up in my mouth a little bit!”