A few weeks pass. Samolio doesn’t show up, again, and everything is normal in my dreams, just like he promised. In reality, things are pretty normal, too. I’ve been picking up Gemma and Elane for school and sometimes I pick up Henry and Neil. Gemma, Elane, and I have become pretty good friends with the guys, but there’s still some drama with Aiden. I still haven’t told anyone much about it.
I wake up and rub my tired eyes. I look over at the clock. It’s 6 a.m.. I don’t have to pick Gemma and Elane up until 7:30. I grab a pair of skinny jeans and a white V-neck that’s a little big on me. It looks like it could be my boyfriends, if I had a boyfriend. It has SINGLE written in big black upper case letter across it. I go downstairs to the laundry room and grab everything else that I’ll need for a shower. I run back up the stairs and head to the bathroom. I turn on my music. I turn on the water and start to think. What was that Samolio guy? What’s up with Aiden and Kailey? Why didn’t I see Gemma, Elane, Neil, or Henry? What was up with that Samolio guy reaching into my chest with a bloody hand? Why was his blood black? I know it’s been a little while since that dream, but I can’t stop thinking about it.
I don’t remember getting into the shower, but I guess I’m done because the water’s off and I’m standing in front of my mirror, wrapped in my towel. I wipe the mirror and look into it, but not at my own reflection. I look at the reflection of who’s standing behind me. Not really a who, but a what. Samolio. I turn around, but when I look, he’s gone. I must be seeing things. Although Henry turned out to be real, there’s no way Samolio is real. I dry myself off and get dressed. I look at the time. It’s 6:30. I go into my room and brush through my hair. When I’m done, I go into my kitchen and get some fruit spins. I get my phone out and text Henry.
“Would you and your brother like a ride to school?”
“We wouldn’t want you to go out of your way.”
“It’s not going out of my way if I’m helping friends and I’m offering. I can give you guys one if you’d like. I’ll be giving Gemma and Elane a ride, too,”
“I’ll ask Neil.”
“Alright. Let me know when you know.”
“Okay.”
I start singing along with my music waiting for him to text back. It takes him about 10 minutes to text back.
“I asked.”
“And???”
“He said that we could use a ride if you’re okay with it.”
“Alright. I’m getting Gemma and Elane at about 7:30 minutes, so I should be at your place by about 7:35 minutes.”
“Okay. See you then.”
“See you.”
I finish eating. Around 7:15. I turn my music off, grab my keys and wallet, and head to my car. I text Gemma and Elane to let them know that I’m on my way. I pick Elane up first since she only lives a few blocks away. Then we head to Gemma’s. Gemma gets into the car and I pull out of her drive way.
“So, Dam. Think you could hang out after school, today?” Gemma asks.
“Maybe. I’ll have to ask my dad. By the way, we’re picking up the guys.” I turn down Maple Street and stop in front of their house.
“I call sitting by Neil!” Elane yells from the backseat.
“Could you make it any more obvious?” Gemma shoots.
“Make what any more obvious?”
“The fact that you like Neil?”
“Well…”
“Don’t be a smart ass.”
“Well, she could always…” I chime in.
“If she can’t be a smart ass, you can’t, either.”
“But mom,” I whine. “What if I want to be a smart ass?” I smile.
“Damzel Hunt! You know better than to say that fucking word. You’re not a fucking grown up,” Gemma says in a nasal voice.
“Wow! That sounds almost like my mom. You’re getting good at that. Weird.” I feel a rush of heat. I know the guys are walking towards the car, now and I know Henry’s watching me.
“Stop sounding like Dam’s mom and stop acting like your sister! They’re coming. Act normal,” Elane tells us from the backseat.
“Well, you asked for it, then.” Gemma and I take a deep breath.
“Don’t do it! You know what I meant by normal.”
We chuckle and let the breath out slowly. I roll my window down. “Hiya boys.”
“Morning,” they both say as they hop in the backseat.
“Well, hello there, Elane,” Neil says as he moves down the seat towards her.
“Hey, Neil.”
I start to drive towards the school. “So, how were your mornings?” Gemma asks the boys.
“Pretty good,” Neil says.
“Mine was fine,” Henry says.
“What made it fine instead of good?”
“I’m still tired.”
“He was having a wet dream about someone until the alarm clock went off and woke him up. I could hear him moaning down the hall.”
My jaw drops and Gemma and Elane bust out laughing. “I wasn’t having a wet dream and I wasn’t moaning.”
“Who were you dreaming about, Henry?” I ask.
He quiets down a bit and I can see the red in his face grow in the rear view mirror, but otherwise, he seems to stay normal. “I wasn’t dreaming about anyone.”
We pull into the parking lot and I park the car. We all hop out. “Alright. I believe you."
I look forward, towards the front doors of the school and see Blain, Kate, and Kathryn sitting on one of the benches by the door. I realize that we still haven’t introduced them to anyone and they’ve been here for a few weeks. “We’ve got a few people for you to meet. Friends of ours.”
“Alright,” both guys say.
We walk through the front doors and over towards the bench.
“Hey!” Blain yells with a smile. He looks Henry and Neil up and down (Blain’s gay. OOPENLY and FLAMBOUENTLY gay). “Well, hello there. I’m Blain, what are your names?”
“Blain,” I say, trying to give him the back-the-fuck-off voice.
“What?” I shoot him the look that goes with the voice to let him know that I mean it. “Fine.”
Kate steps up. “I’m Kate. You 2 must be the new guys. Well, you’re not so new, now, but still.”
“Yep. I’m Neil,” Neil tells her.
“And I’m Henry,” Henry adds.
“This is Kathryn. I’ll tell her your names later unless she’s just wearing these things to get people to leave her alone. She wears her headphones all the time, but most of the time, she doesn’t listen to music,” Kate explains.
I feel a rush of cold on the right side of my body. Aiden’s here and he’s watching me. I look to my right. I was right and if looks could kill, I’m pretty sure Henry and I would be 12 feet under. I know the saying thing is 6 feet, but Aiden would probably bury us an extra 6 feet deeper. I look back towards everyone else to see them all staring at me. Neil looks over at Aiden.
“Who’s that guy and what’s his problem?”
“Her ex and I’m not sure what his problem is. Do you?” Gemma says, looking at me.
I didn’t tell them everything from after school. I only told them about the Kailey part. “Umm… I’ll tell you guys later. I should get to my locker.” I turn and try to walk away when I feel a hand reach out and grab my wrist. I look back to see Elane grabbing my wrist.
“Tell us, now.”
“I don’t want to be late for class.”
“You won’t. We have 20 minutes until we have to be in class. Tell us what you know.”
“I don’t want to say it here.”
“Fine. Gemma, Kate, Kathryn, come with us.”
“To where?”
“The bathroom.”
She doesn’t let go of my wrist and we all head to the bathroom. “Be good, Blain,” I say over my shoulder.
“Fine,” he says in a pouty voice.
We get into the bathroom and Gemma, Kate, and Kathryn check the stalls to see if anyone’s in the bathroom. They nod to let Elane know that the coast is clear. “Okay. What’s going on with Aiden? He seems even more pissed than usual and we know you know something. Tell us.”
“Fine…” I take a deep breath and start to tell them everything that had happened a few weeks ago. I tell them what Aiden said and that he doesn’t want me around Henry. I tell them that I think that might be why he was looking at us like that.
“So, Aiden still likes you, he wants you back, and he’s jealous of Henry?” Kate asks.
“Yeah. Pretty much.”
“Well, you can’t go back to him,” Elane says.
“No shit, Sherlock. He’ll get over me and Henry being friends and he’ll find someone new to like or something. It’ll pass over, soon.”
“Hope so. Who knows what’ll happen if it doesn’t,” Kathryn says.
“Nothing will happen.”
“But what if Aiden starts something with Henry?” Gemma asks.
“He won’t. Aiden’s a pussy. He might talk a big game, but when push comes to shove, he’ll tuck his little tail between his legs, duck his head, and walk away like a scared little puppy. He won’t do anything.”
“But what if he grows a pair?” Kate asks.
“He won’t.”
“But…” Elane starts.
Blain runs into the girls’ bathroom. “You need to get out here… NOW!!!”
“Why?”
“Aiden.”
We all rush out of the bathroom to see Shay, Gemma’s boyfriend, trying to get Aiden out of Henry’s face.
“Back off of him, Aiden!” Shay yells.
“Stay away from my girl!” Aiden screams at Henry.
“What’ll you do if I don’t?” Henry asks, calmly.
“Why don’t I give you a taste of what’ll happen, now?”
“Go ahead.”
Aiden balls his hand into a fist and pulls back. Henry doesn’t look away or close his eyes. He just stares into Aiden cold icy blue eyes with his warm emerald green eyes which are now an extremely dark shade of green. Aiden’s about to swing when I open my mouth.
“Hey!” I yell. The cafeteria goes silent.
“Stay out of this, Dam,” Aiden tells me.
“No. Back away from him and leave him alone.”
“I’d rather not.”
“And rather not get into another fight, but I will if I have to and don’t ever call me your girl, again.”
“I’ll call you whatever I feel like calling you and you wouldn’t fight me.”
“I would if it came down to it. Back away from him. He didn’t do anything to you.”
“He’s taking you away from me.”
I roll my eyes. “You’d have to have me, first and how is he taking me away from you?”
“He just is.”
“Oh yeah. That makes total sense. Put your fist down and get away from him.”
“No.” I start walking towards them. “Don’t come any closer.”
“Or what?”
“I’ll swing.”
“No you won’t.” I keep walking towards them. He looks back towards Henry and pulls his arm back, again. “No! Aiden, if you really do care about me like you said after school a few weeks ago, then you’ll leave him alone.” He lets his arm fall back to his side and I smile. Everyone around the scene relaxes a bit. I start walking towards them, again when Aiden brings his fist back up. He swings and catches Henry in the nose. Henry falls to the ground. Aiden kneels over him and starts wailing on him. “Aiden, stop it! Get off of him!”
He doesn’t listen. What’s up with all the fighting? There’s too much fighting and it needs to stop! Neil and Shay grab onto Aiden and pull him off of Henry. Henry starts to get up, but I put my hand on his shoulder. “Please, don’t go after him. Don’t fight. Please.”
“Fine.”
Aiden starts to go after Henry, again, but I step in front of Henry. “Enough!”
“Get out of the way, Damzel.”
“No.” He steps closer.
“Move.”
“No.”
He goes to step around me, but I bring my knee up and knee him in the umm… yeah. He falls to his knees and covers himself. “I told you to leave him alone.” I turn to Henry. Aiden got him pretty good. His bottom lip is split open, his nose is gushing blood, he has a black eye (not swollen, just bruised), and a cut that goes through his eye-brow. “I am so sorry. This is all my fault.” I tell him in a shaky voice. I went from strong and confident to weak and shaky in a matter of seconds.
“No it’s not. Don’t worry about it.” He winces.
“Come here.” I take his arm and take him over to the girls’ bathroom.
“I can’t go in there. Shouldn’t I go to the nurse or something?”
“She won’t be here until 11:30 and there’s no one in there. I promise. Just let me help you. Please.”
He sighs. “Fine.”
We walk into the bathroom and everyone else tries to follow. I turn to face them all. “You guys should get to class.”
“What about you 2?” Kate asks.
“We’ll be fine. We have the same class, so I’ll explain the situation to the teacher. She loves me, so we’ll be fine.” I smile.
“You'll take care of my brother?” Neil asks.
“Of course.”
“Alright.” He looks over at Henry. “See you after class.”
“Okay.”
They turn and walk towards the main hall. I walk Henry over to the sinks and have him sit on the counter. I turn on one of the sinks and grab a paper towel. I get it wet and bring it up to Henry’s face. “I’m really sorry if I hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
The final bell rings. I gently start to wipe away the blood by his mouth. “I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
“That Aiden didn’t want me to be around you. I didn’t know he would have done that to try and get me to stay away from you, but if I had…”
“You would have stayed away?”
“Well, yeah. To keep you from getting hurt.”
“What are you going to do, now?”
“I don’t want him to hurt you, again. This might be the last time we can talk.” I start to tear up a bit. I know I’ve only known him for a few weeks, but I feel like I’ve known him for years. My crush on him has grown a lot more, too. I’ve debated asking him to Home Coming, but that’s a little less than a month away, so I’m not rushing myself. Now, I can’t. I can’t talk to him at school, I can’t sit with him at lunch, I can’t be anywhere near him without Aiden seeing and trying to hurt him or do something to him. I throw the paper towel away and get a new one. I move up to his nose and he winces. “Sorry,” I say quietly.
“No. Don’t let him ruin this.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt.” I fold the paper towel to a clean side and move up to the cut on his eye-brow.
“I don’t care if I get hurt! If he tries it, again, I’ll fight back. I don’t want him to ruin this.”
“I can’t let you get hurt, again and the only way to stop him from hurting you is to do what he wants. I have to stay away from you to keep you from getting hurt.” I throw the paper towel into the garbage and he hops off the counter. He steps closer to me. I can feel the warmth coming from his body. There’s almost no space between us.
“If you let him ruin this and you stay away from me like he wants, you’ll hurt me more than he ever could.” The tears spill out of my eyes before I can stop them. I shouldn’t be crying in front of him. I shouldn’t be crying at all, but the idea of him being in pain physically and emotionally is too much. He brings his hands up to my face and wipes away my tears like he did in one of my dreams. “If I can’t talk to you every day, if I can’t be around you at all, if the only way I can see you is to watch you from a distance, I’ll be lost.” The tears spill out of my eyes faster and harder. Instead of wiping away the tears, he grabs my face, closes his eyes, and kisses me, hard. It catches me by surprise and at first, my eyes are open wide, but then I start getting into it and it starts to feel right and I close my eyes. I can feel a huge rush of heat run through me. It’s worse than when he looks at me. I don’t want it to stop, but he pulls away and we both open our eyes. “Sorry if that last part sounded creepy.” He smiles.
“I-it’s fine. It d-didn’t.” My voice is shaky.
“I’m sorry about the kiss, too. I shouldn’t have do…”
I take a step forward and kiss him back. I feel the warmth run through me, again. He wraps his hands around my waste and I wrap my arms around his neck. I don’t want it to end, again, but this time I pull away. “We’re even, now.”
“I guess so.” We both smile.
“We should probably get to class.”
“You aren’t going to listen to what Aiden said about staying away from me once we leave here, are you?”
“No. Not anymore.” I was starting to re-think staying away from him before the kiss because I don’t want to cause him any pain, but I guess that kiss helped me decide all the way.
“Good.”
We walk out of the girls’ bathroom and to our lockers. We grab our stuff from our lockers. I look over at him and smile. He looks like he’s in so much pain. “You look like crap.”
“I feel like crap, too, but I’ll be fine.” He gives me a reassuring smile and I smile back.
We start walking to our class and right before we walk in the door, Henry grabs my arm and we take a few steps back.
“I have a question,” he says.
“Okay. Ask away.”
“What are you doing this weekend?”
I smile. “I’m not sure.”
“Well, if you’re not doing anything, would you go out with me?”
“I’d love to. I’ll ask my dad if we have anything planned for this weekend at lunch and let you when he texts me back.”
“Okay.” He steps towards me and kisses me on the cheek.
We walk into Mrs. Stevens’ class and any warmth that I felt is soon replaced by a rush of cold.