The Missing Years - a kissing booth fan fiction

Gently

Author's note: this is a tough one, but it's an important issue and it also plays an important role in the storyline later on.
Trigger warning - this chapter contains references to sexual assault. If you need to or would rather skip that part, I have placed asterisks (***) before and after that section so that you can scroll past it and still get the general idea of this update.

Noah

This was my last season of football and I was making the most of it. I didn't know what life was going to be like next year, but if what Chloe said about law school was true, I was going to need all the extra time I could get to study. I still ran everyday and went to the gym on days that I didn't have practice, that routine firmly ingrained now. Practices were tough, but I was well conditioned to it after the last three seasons and relished the chance to switch my brain off and just play.

I'd met up with Liz several times since the start of semester, but we definitely saw each other less now than we had last year. I knew I'd probably see her Thanksgiving weekend though, since she would be staying local and I had to be here for our final football game of the season. Not going home was a bit of a bummer, but the end of the season party after the game was guaranteed to be pretty epic.

Chloe and I hung out the morning of the game, and we caught up on each other's lives. I told her the crazy things that Scott and Aiden were getting up to and she told me about her latest romantic conquest. She was really busy, but was going to come to the game and out for drinks afterwards. I missed my friend and would be glad when our schedules were more aligned again next year, assuming I got into grad school here, that is.

The pre-game meeting was pretty full-on, Coach giving us a rev up to make the most of the last four quarters of football for the year. It kind of hit home then, that this was probably going to be the last time I'd ever step out on a football field for a game. I decided I was going to leave it all out on the field tonight. I spotted Chloe and some of our friends during the warm up and gave them a wave.

The game was probably my best ever. I nailed my passes and we crushed Penn 49-17. The celebrations were crazy, even with the small holiday weekend crowd. We dumped the ice bucket over the team manager and carried the team mascot on a victory lap around the field. If there was a dream end to my time playing football, this was it.

After the traditional celebratory beer in the locker room and a well deserved shower, the whole team trooped to the closest pub for the first stop on our pub crawl around Cambridge. Chloe squealed and gave me a giant hug when she spotted me. "Oh my god! That was awesome! Well done you!" she enthused.

"Have I officially turned you into a football fan, Clo?"

She winked at me as she handed me a beer. "Nah, I just watch it for the cavemen in tight uniforms."

"Ha! Yeah right, of course."

We were at the fifth pub when I spotted Liz. I caught her eye and she raised her eyebrows at me, lifting up her drink in salute. I smirked at her and then got distracted when someone handed me a shot of tequila. Not long after, I headed down the hallway to the bathroom. Further down the hall, I could see a guy and girl leaning up against the wall, but couldn't make out who it was with his head turned towards her ear. I shook my head and pushed through the door.

When I came out of the bathroom I glanced up the hallway. The couple was still there but the guy had moved enough that I could now see the girl. It was Liz. I was kind of taken aback, but it wasn't like we'd agreed to be strictly exclusive. We'd decided that we should both be free to pursue actual relationships if we wanted to. I shrugged and started to walk away when something twigged in the back of my mind.

***

Liz's body posture was all wrong. She was flat against the wall, her hands pressed against the brick. I knew what Liz looked like when she was enjoying herself and this wasn't it. I took a couple of steps closer, looking hard at the guy now. One of his hands grasped her upper arm, the other was on her opposite shoulder and he was using his lower body to pin her against the wall. My blood started to boil.

"Hey! You need to get off her, right now."

The guy turned his head to look at me. "This is none of your business, asshole."

"It is my business. That's my friend and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want you anywhere near her."

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it, friend?"

The creep loosened his grip on Liz and started to step towards me. I took the opening and quickly stepped into him, pushing him hard up against the opposite wall with my forearm. When my voice came out it was more of a growl. "You need to leave here and never come back." I leaned my face right into his and stared into his eyes. "If I see you anywhere near her or any other girl in Cambridge, I will fucking end you. Got it?"

The spineless jerk nodded.

"Now I'm going to let you go and you are going straight out that door without so much as looking at her, you understand?"

He nodded again. I stepped back so that I was between him and Liz. I watched him scurry away like the rat he was before I turned to face her. She was still flat against the wall. Her eyes were closed, but I watched a single tear slide down her cheek. She opened her eyes and started to slide down the wall. I caught her and lifted her back up. "Let's get you home, okay?"

She only managed to nod and I put my arm around her, basically carrying her out and getting her into a taxi. I gave the driver Liz's address and shot Chloe a quick text saying I'd had to leave and that I'd call her in the morning. Liz was still pretty frozen as I paid the driver and got her upstairs. I got the keys out of her purse and guided her over to the sofa. Her fingers gripped my jacket.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Hey, do you want to tell me what happened? Did he do something else to you?"

Liz looked down. "Not tonight. But before."

"Look, you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to, Liz."

She looked up. "No I want to. I need to say it." She took a deep breath and started, "Remember when I told you I'd had a couple of bad experiences?"
I nodded and she continued, "Well the last of those was early my sophomore year. I was in a bar with some friends and this group of guys were buying us drinks. It's so stupid when I think about it now, that I just took drinks from absolute strangers. Anyway, this one guy was flirting with me and when he asked if I wanted to go for a walk, I went." She stopped and took a shaky breath. I held her hand tightly.

"I don't know what happened after that. Everything went fuzzy. I woke up the next morning on a bench in the park. I knew...something... had happened but I couldn't remember anything after I'd left the bar. I guess he spiked my drink. I went back to my dorm and got changed and went to the hospital. They checked me out, but didn't find anything. No, uh, evidence. The police came and took a statement, but without being able to give any real description of the guy or what had happened, the fact that I'd left willingly with him, they told me it would be hard to pursue."

I couldn't believe it. I was so angry that someone could have done that to her, to anyone, and just got away with it.

"I could never really remember his face. And then...I saw him tonight...at the pub and it just clicked. I ran to the bathroom but he must have followed me. I still have no memory of what happened before, but when he cornered me, I just froze. I couldn't do anything."

***

Liz hung her head and started to sob. "If you hadn't been there...if you hadn't scared him away, I don't know what would have happened."

"Hey, come here." I pulled her against me and held her tight. "You're okay. You're safe. I've got you and I'm not leaving, okay?"

I felt her nod against my chest and her hands gripped my shirt as she clung onto me. It broke my heart to see her like this. Liz was normally so strong and full of life, but I wondered now how much of that was just a front. I kept one arm tightly wrapped around her while I used my other hand to gently rub circles on her back, until she cried herself out.