4
It was about two when I was riding back to my house. My phone started blaring in my pocket, so I pulled over by someone’s yard. It was Naomi’s ring tone. I sighed and picked it up. “Hey, Naomi. Where were you? I waited at the café but you never came.”
“I was running a little late,” she said. “Mom wanted me to do something before I left. By the time I got there, you were at the table with the new girl, talking to her. I didn’t want to barge up in and be like ‘Hey, that’s my friend, and I need to talk to her. You can talk to her later!’ or something like that. So I went on past and spent some time at the mall.”
“Yeah, yeah. So why are you calling me now?” I asked. My foot tapped lightly on the ground as I waited for her to answer.
She sounded a little bit hyper, meaning she’d probably just had a ton of sugary shit that wasn’t good. “Come over to my house so we can talk, ‘kay? I really really want to talk to you before I forget to.”
I sighed lightly enough she couldn’t hear it. “Understandable. I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.” I hung up and put my phone back in my pocket. I started pedaling again, changing directions so I could go to Naomi’s house instead of mine. Hers was closer, so it wasn’t going to be too big of a problem. Personally, I would have preferred to forget it ever happened than to talk about it, but that was just me.
After about ten minutes, I pulled up in Naomi’s yard and dropped my bike aside. I walked up to the door and knocked. I stood on the small stone porch, waiting for only a minute before my best friend answered the door. She smiled at me and said, “Come on inside.”
I sighed and followed Naomi into her parents’ house. She led me to the living room and told me to “sit my ass down” on the little blue loveseat across from the couch. She sat right beside me.
I looked at Naomi and sighed under my breath. “What did you want to talk about?” I twiddled my thumbs on my lap, holding my own hand.
“I want to know why Ray was so pissed off when he messaged me.”
“What did he say?”
She grabbed my left hand out from its companion and squeezed it. “He said you were a bitch and that we were stupid for wanting to be your friends.”
“What did you say back?” I was looking at the floor at that second.
“I told him to fuck off because I’d been your friend since way before you met him. He fucked you up, didn’t he? He didn’t hit you or anything, did he?” Naomi’s voice carried concern, and I was kind of glad she told him off rather than believing him.
“Does it look like he hit me?”
“Well, no.”
“So he didn’t hit me.”
She sighed. “Did you guys get into some kind of fight? He was seriously pissed off like you’d done something terribly wrong.”
I sighed too, this time squeezing her hand. “Yeah,” I said. “I told him he couldn’t get in my pants yet.”
Naomi’s eyes widened. “You said no to him?”
“Yes.”
“Oh God. But just saying no wouldn’t have pissed that asshole off so bad. So what else happened?”
It was like she could read my mind sometimes, which got freaky just a bit. Naomi was one of few people who could read me without difficulty. She knew something was wrong even if I didn’t seem like I had a problem. She just knew. That single bit of knowledge was one of the reasons why I adored her as a friend. For that reason, I relayed the story to her, bit by bit. For some reason, I didn’t break down. Maybe it was because I hated to cry in front of people. Maybe it was because I didn’t let him take advantage of me.
Naomi hugged me hard after I finished the story. She pulled away and looked me in the eyes. “Figures a douche like Ray would do that. No wonder other girls just don’t say no. I don’t think I’d have even had the courage to do what you did, I’ll admit. He could have run you over or done something else vile to you, Val! You need to be more careful around people like Ray. I knew I should have done something about you dating him. He’s an asshole and a jock. They’re all that way. Who knows how many more there are! We could go to the police—”
“No,” I said, sighing. “Going to the police won’t do shit. He’s got connections and so do his parents. Anyway, it wouldn’t do any good to cause trouble. He didn’t get to do anything anyway. You can’t make unfounded chares. He didn’t rape me. There’s nothing we can do.”
I got up from the loveseat, and Naomi grabbed me by the arm. She held on tight, certainly giving it all she could to make sure I wouldn’t just leave like this. “Valorie, look at me. You can’t just sit here and do nothing after he almost raped you!”
“I’m not doing nothing, Naomi. I’m choosing to ignore what he did so I don’t make things worse on me or anybody else. Stirring up trouble will make everything terrible for us. Things will go bad fast.” I yanked my arm out of her grip gently. “Please don’t tell anyone else, okay?”
Naomi cast her eyes aside and simply nodded.
I walked to the door and looked back. “I’m not mad at you, hon. I just want what’s best.”
“And what’s best is not stirring up trouble?”
“Yes.”
She simply sighed, and I walked out.
When I went to collect my bike, I found that my tires were slashed and flat. Shit. That motherfucker doesn’t know the meaning of leave alone. I sighed and grabbed the thing up. All I could do now was walk it home and bitch to Mom about needing money for new tires, but not becausemy psycho ex-jock-boyfriend slashed mine.
It was at least 3:30 or so by the time I made it home. What’s normally a thirty minute bike ride translates into around an hour or so of walking, so it was agonizingly long, getting back home. I was sweaty by the time I got home, so I dropped my bike in the yard and trucked it upstairs to my bathroom. I hopped in the shower first chance I could, trying to wash off the memories and thoughts on my mind.
The rest of the afternoon remained quiet.
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I apologize for this chapter being really short guys. A new one will be added soon. There is good news, though. I found internet!