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Chapter 4
Matt finally made it home around 7 PM. His mother was frantic. All he
wanted was to just take a bath and crawl into bed. As soon as she saw him,
his face swollen and covered with blood and dirt, his shirt ripped and
equally dirty, she just gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She
took him in her arms, crying, "What happened? Who did this to you?"
Matt refused to tell her, finally just refusing to answer her questions at
all. He burst into tears though when his mom mentioned Jen's name.
His mother was furious. She knew that somehow that girl had caused this
damage to her son. She threatened to call the police, but Matt freaked out
at that. She wanted to talk to the girl. Matt wouldn't give her her phone
number. She looked her up in the school directory, and upon finding her
address she stormed over there, dragging a protesting and crying Matt with
her. He couldn't face her, but he wasn't about to leave his mom alone with
her.
Some girl (wasn't her name Melissa? Matt wondered) answered the door,
staring at him. She said Jen was in the pool. Now? he wondered.
She led them out to the backyard. There were two more people there, plus
there was a guy in the pool with her. He saw them coming and stared at
them, while she was still underwater. Matt stared at her white silhouette
as she raced underwater, diving for something apparently. The pool was
lit. The guy called her name right as she came up, gasping for air and
laughing as she threw a penny at the guy. He said something to her and she
turned to look at them, both standing by the pool on the wet concrete.
Her smile faded as she stared at Matt. He couldn't meet her gaze. He was
petrified besides, of what was going to come of this. Was Ryan really
going to kill him? He hated him, that's for sure. She slowly came to the
pool's edge, her eyes glued on Matt. She climbed out of the pool, her hip
dragging along the concrete edge, sliding one side of her bikini bottom
down. Matt felt ashamed as he stared at her, at her body. It was so
perfect. He flushed in the cool night air as his dick stiffened up a
little. She just kept staring at him, walking toward him. She stood in
front of him, and her hand went to her mouth the same way his mom's had.
Her eyes filled with tears and her face crumpled up as she looked at him.
Matt's face was completely swollen. His eyes were nearly swelled shut,
both a dark purple color. Dried blood trickled from his nose, his left
eyebrow, one ear, his mouth, and one eye. The blood vessels in that eye
had been damaged so much the white of the eye was a crimson color. His
neck was bruised and the rest of him was covered with blood as well.
His head ached. His lips felt huge, swollen and clumsy.
His mother was taken aback by the girl's reaction to her son's appearance.
She had thought that she had something to do with it but now realized she
hadn't. Matt just looked down, he couldn't meet her pitying look anymore.
He stared at her breasts, remembering when he had kissed them and...
"Ryan did this to you?" she whispered, one wet hand reaching for Matt's
shoulder. Matt said nothing, his mind spinning from her touch. She asked
again, but wasn't really asking, "Did Ryan do this to you?" Somehow, they
all went inside. She got into a terry cloth robe. She kept crying and
finally sobbed over and over about how it was all her fault.
"No, it's not," Matt insisted.
His mom got angry then. "Did you have him do this to my son? How could you
do this?" she screamed. That guy who had been in the pool with her (Matt
didn't know him but had hated him instantly) got mad at his mom, defending
her. "Don't accuse her of that! She didn't do anything."
"Well, it seems to me she did plenty!" his mom shot back.
"Oh yeah well, maybe if he'd kept his mouth shut Ryan never would've hear
about it in the first place." "Does that make it okay?" she demanded. "No,
but he still would've been a lot better off if hadn't gone bragging to
everyone about what they did!" he pointed out.
Still dripping wet, Jen led Matt out of the kitchen and into her room. She
didn't want to hear anymore of this, she just needed to be away from all
of it. She felt so bad for him. It was her fault. His mom didn't even
notice they'd left, not facing them. "Well, how do you know she didn't
tell the guy?" she asked.
"Oh, like she even talks to Ryan anymore!" "I'm going to call the police.
First of all, she completely took advantage of him and he's a minor.
Doesn't she know there are laws against that?"
"Oh yeah well so's she. He's 15 right? And she's 17. Last I checked that
makes him a rapist." His mom didn't answer him. Instead, she noticed they
were gone. "Where'd they go?" she demanded. "Leave them alone. They need
to talk." said Melissa.
She led him into her bathroom. He couldn't believe he was actually here
with her. Was she still mad at him? Did she hate him? Ryan had said so.
Maybe they had gotten back together...
Sitting him down on the toilet, she went to work on him. She cleaned his
face with a warm face cloth, washing off the blood and dirt. He just
stared at her, shaking from her touch. He couldn't think of anything to
say at all, only winced when she started putting antiseptic on his cuts.
"It's gonna hurt a little..." she said, dabbing his eyebrow with cotton as
he winced in pain. She held his face in her hands, his eyes staring up at
her. She felt an overwhelming desire to kiss him, then angered at herself
for thinking it. All the while she fought back more tears as she looked at
his miserable appearance. She looked at him for a second, looked at his
filthy t-shirt. She disappeared for a second while he looked around at her
bathroom. It was very neat. She returned with a white t-shirt, clean and
folded. She handed it to him with a shy smile, saying, "This is yours I
think..." He recognized it as his white undershirt that he left at her
house by accident that night. She was still looking at him. Was she
pitying him? She must think I'm such a wimp, he thought. At least not as
tough as Ryan. That was obvious enough.
He realized that she was waiting for him to put it on. He wasn't ashamed
of his body, he worked out and was much more developed than most other
freshman. He peeled off his sweaty shirt, wincing from the pain as he
lifted his arms above his head. He was going to put the shirt on but she
told him to wait, getting another rag soapy and wet.
Bare-chested in front of her, he tried to look as hard and cut as
possible. She rung the washcloth out and approached him.
Both realized the awkwardness of the situation as she bathed his upper
body. They tried to get the memory of when she had done so much more for
him out of their minds, especially Matt, who felt a familiar tingle in his
groin from her touch on his bare chest. She wouldn't look him in the eye.
She cleaned off his elbow, which had been cut by some stick when he'd been
pinned to the ground. She touched it up with antiseptic, her soft hand on
his shoulder. What was she going to do? he wondered. Just clean him up?
Was she gonna talk to him then? She peered in at several discolorations on
his chest. She reached for a particularly large one and applied a little
pressure, and sure enough he flinched. She moved so she was no longer
blocking the light and gasped. His entire upper body was covered with
bruises that were just beginning to welt. She wondered if he had a few
broken ribs--it certainly looked possible. "Oh, Matt," she whispered
finally. "I'm so sorry..." She started to sob, wrapping her arms lightly
around his shoulders so as not to hurt him. Ryan had beat him so severely.
She rubbed his back for a second but stopped immediately. "I'm so sorry,
I'm so sorry..." she cried into his shoulders, still sitting on the edge
of the bathtub. "I'm such a bitch... I hate him... I fucking hate him...
It's all my fault... I hate myself... I'm such a bitch... I'm sorry..."
Half of him tried to hate her, wanting to push her away and tell her she
was right. But the other half was leaping for joy, his heart racing, that
she was in his arms, the girl he dreamt about night after night. It wasn't
a contest between those two halves. "No, don't say that," he whispered
into her ear. "Please don't say that. It's my fault, it's my fault. I was
wrong, not you."
"Wrong?" she pulled away from him, her cheeks wet with tears.
"What did you do? You didn't do anything. It was Ryan, not you."
He fought back tears, his heart nearly breaking with the guilt and
self-loathing he had felt since earlier this evening when he'd first heard
the words. Rapist. "Well, you were drunk. And I shouldn't have told
everybody. You were drunk you know what that makes me? A fucking rapist.
You can have me arrested you know. I wouldn't blame you . I'm trash,
scum," he muttered. "Oh, Matt," she snapped. "That's ridiculous. Why would
you think you're a rapist? Did I protest?" she asked pointedly.
"No," he admitted, nearly laughing from the way she asked him and the
memory of her dragging him onto her bed.
"Don't give me that alcohol bullshit. I knew what I was doing--you did
not, I repeat, did not rape me." He thought about it. She leaned forward
to look him in the eyes.
"Why would you think you raped me?" she asked him quietly, already
having an idea.
He didn't say anything. He didn't want to get Ryan into any more trouble
with her than he was already in, ironically. He knew Ryan still wanted her
back. Unless he already had her back... He remembered their threats.
"Matt, tell me what happened. I need to know," she implored.
"Nah. It's not important and I don't really want to talk about it," he
said, trying to sound nonchalant. "Well, it's important to me," she said.
"I know it was Ryan--who else was there too?"
"I don't know!"
"Where did it happen?"
"School," he muttered.
"What happened? Please tell me," she begged. "Matt, please, I really need
to know."
Matt gave in. He sighed exasperatingly, "God, okay. He just said that I
was a little punk and a rapist-- 'cause you were drunk you know--and that
I was dead and stuff." He paused, not wanting to say, not wanting to even
think about what else he'd said, about how she would never love--nor
like--him. He pushed those thoughts out of his mind, they were too
painful. Another painful thought came into his mind, but he couldn't make
it leave.
"What else?" she demanded. "Tell me everything." "You guys back together?"
he asked quietly. Please say no please say no please say...
"NO!!!" she cried. "Of course not. I'm never getting back together with
that fucking jerk. Fuck him." "Oh" he said, relieved. "Well, anyway, he
kept referring to you as his girlfriend. He said it at least twice, I
think three times but I don't remember." "Oh really?" she snapped, her
eyes angry. "Well he's just wrong. He's fucking crazy. What a dick!" she
said. "Oh my God! I can't believe this." She got up and began pacing. "I
have told him a million times that we're through. A fucking million. Well
isn't this just fine and dandy. I don't believe this shit."
She started rattling off all the times she'd told him to leave her alone
and how he'd seemed to get it but maybe he was just some psycho. Matt
wasn't really listening, he was guilty of looking at her body instead,
still in the wet bikini covered by an unfastened robe. He wondered where
his mom was. He stared at her breasts. Her nipples were hard under the wet
material. He wondered if he could just take her now, right on the rug...
He sort of snapped out of it when she walked into her room and returned
with a photo in one of those cardboard frames you get from the
photographer. She sat back down on the bathtub and leaned over his thighs,
holding out the photo so they could both see it.
It was a large group photo from a Homecoming or a prom. He recognized her,
in Ryan's arms, clad in a tight black dress. Oh, Homecoming, he thought,
as he saw the gold embossed letters on the bottom. This year's Homecoming
at Ryan's school.
"Did he come with him? Did he hit you too?" she asked, pointing out one
guy. Matt looked closely. He was pretty sure that was one of the guys. He
didn't say anything, but looked at the other people. God she has a lot of
friends, he thought. There was at least six couples there. He recognized
the other guy. "Did he? Don't be scared to tell," she soothed. "I'm not
scared," he said, annoyed. I'm not a wimp, he thought angrily. Of course,
he didn't blame her for thinking so under the circumstances.
"Come on," she begged. "Tell me."
"Yeah," he admitted, pointing. She could get anything from him, he
thought, he could never say no to her. "It was that guy and that guy..."
"Shit. I knew it." She snapped the picture closed and got up and tossed it
onto the bed. She stood in the doorway of the bathroom and looked at him.
"They're gonna pay for what they did to you I hope you know. Ryan is gonna
pay, the fuckin' asshole," she said decidedly.
"No, don't worry about it. I mean, they're gonna kill me I swear," he
said, trying to sound matter-of-fact and not quaking in his boots.
"No, they won't!" she insisted, walking over to him. He was eye-level with
her breasts and they grabbed his attention. She kneeled on the rug between
his knees. Oh my God, he thought for a second. Is she gonna do it? Is she
gonna suck my dick? Suck it suck it his mind screamed.
He soon felt ashamed of his one track mind, of his dirty thoughts, when
she handed him his shirt from off the floor and continued talking.
"I promise they won't hurt you. I bet you Matt, Ryan will be apologizing
to you before too long, you'll see!" she smiled up at him.
"I wouldn't count on it," he said uneasily. He put his shirt on, trying to
flex his muscles at the same time.
"You didn't deserve this at all Matt." He just shrugged.
"You didn't! I'm telling you, you didn't! Say you didn't deserve it," she
instructed, giving him a small smile.
"I didn't deserve it," he obeyed.
She smiled. "You know, maybe you should go to the hospital. You know, to
get x-rayed. You could have a cracked rib or something."
"Nah, I'm okay," he declined, macho, staring down at the girl between his
legs, her hands on his thighs, and hoping she wouldn't look down and see
the effect she was having on him. He gratefully pulled his shirt down.
"Sure?" she asked. The concern showed on her face. His heart poured with
love for her. His eyes locked with hers. Kiss kiss kiss... he thought.
"Well, I hope you're right," she said, interrupting his thoughts. She
smiled at him, in a motherly sort of way, he thought. Fuck.
She stood up, and got a large bandaid out of a drawer to put over the cut
on his elbow. There was a knock on her bedroom door when she started
peeling off the little adhesives. She said loudly, "Come in..." Oh God, he
thought as he saw her, my mom. He'd had prayed she'd magically
disappeared.
His mom walked in and looked at them, in the corner of the bathroom. Her
son and his first lover, who was now bandaging him up. She was doing the
job she, his mom, should have done, instead of dragging him out to get
answers, she thought guiltily. Matt did look much better, she had to
admit.
"Hello," his mom said, not in an unfriendly manner. "Hi," she said in a
small voice. Then in a more confident one to Matt, "You look 100% better."
"Thank you..." his mom said.
"No problem," she said, smiling down at Matt. "Um, Matt, we should
probably go now. Are you ready?" "Yeah, I'll be out in a second," he said,
giving his mom a pointed look. Please leave please he begged silently. His
mom took the hint and left.
She threw away the trash from the most recent bandaid and then looked at
him, unsure whether he wanted to talk to her or whether he had to go to
the bathroom. He stared at her for a second, then cleared his throat. He
paused.
Finally, he opened his mouth and said, "Yeah, thanks." Not at all what he
intended to say, but he just couldn't say it, no way could he tell her
what he wanted to, what he was feeling inside. He desperately wanted to
pull her to him and whisper in her ear, "I love you." She smiled at him,
that gorgeous, fantastic smile of hers that he wished he could see every
day for the rest of his life. She (gently of course) pulled him up and
gave him the best bear hug she could manage without hurting him. He rested
his chin on the top of her head, his lips pursed, his eyes looking up at
the ceiling while he fought back tears.
She pulled back, still smiling at him. She looked so beautiful, even with
her hair pulled back in a wet pony tail and her eye makeup smudged.
"You know, you're gonna kill me if I say this..." she said, jokingly but
yet serious. "But, well!" "What? Say what?" That you want me to fuck the
hell out of you now? he thought wistfully.
"Don't get mad. Don't think I'm lame but..." she continued. "You know, we
can be friends. I want to be friends. I know every guy hates it: 'We can
be friends!'" she said, imitating girls, in a high voice. She winced,
pretending to prepare for him to get mad. She's so cute, he thought.
Matt groaned, joking too. "Not friends! Not the Fword !" he laughed.
Her face turned serious.
He smiled at her, the happiest he'd been since that night, but his fragile
male ego still ached. Of course we hate the friend word, he thought, it
means we're compromising. We're giving up what we really want. "That
doesn't sound too bad," he said.
She smiled. "Good! I mean it, you know Matt, if you need someone to talk
to or anything, you can always call me."
He smiled. "Okay," he said. "You can call me too." Once he said it he
wished it back, now what if she doesn't call? he thought. Fuck, he
thought, realistically, I doubt she'll call me.
But she just smiled. She gave him another hug, kissing him on the cheek.
Remembering his soiled shirt, they left her room and went out, passing her
living room where a few people were watching TV. God, he thought, on a
weeknight? Her house is party-central. His mom wasn't in there, she was
waiting in the car.
She said good-bye again, friendly. He punched her on the arm good
naturedly, and she attempted to tousle his hair but he was too quick. She
opened the door, and Matt left, with his own bye. She watched him climb
into the car, then closed the door.
Could he be any cuter? she thought to herself. Then she got angry.
Chapter 5
Matt sat in the front seat, silent. His mom spoke first, "So, honey, how
are you feeling? You look much better."
"Fine."
"I should have made sure you were okay before we came here," she said.
"It doesn't matter now," he answered.
"Oh. Well..." she paused. "So, are you going to be seeing a lot of her?"
"No," said Matt, sullenly. God, why did his parents always have to be so
nosy?
"Oh. I was just wondering," she said. "She seems very nice actually..."
"Actually?"
"Well, I just mean that she's a nice girl." "Yes, she is."
"Oh. I was talking to her friends. They were quite nice too."
"What did you talk about?"
"Well, well, we talked about her situation. With her ex-boyfriend
and what happened with him, and you..." "Oh."
"She has a lovely house. Her parents travel a lot you know."
"Yeah, I know."
"It's too bad that she has to live by herself so much. I guess that's why
she has so many friends over, to keep her company."
"I guess," he said, thinking, I'll keep you company! "Her friend was
saying that she was very close with her boyfriend's family. It's a shame
when things like that happen you know."
"I guess."
They pulled into the driveway, Matt relieved the conversation was over and
hoping his parents wouldn't bring her up anymore.
Jen pulled into Ryan's driveway, like she had so many times. She didn't
allow herself to pause, but still kept running what she was going to say
to him over and over in her mind as she jumped out of her car. She rang
the doorbell, something she hadn't done in a long time. Ryan looked at her
through the window, but she purposely avoided looking at him. He opened
the door, his eyes wide.
"Hi!" he said, brightly.
She stared at him. Then she hit him as hard as she could.
He reeled backwards, his hand to his mouth. "You fucking prick!" she
seethed.
"What?!?" he demanded.
"Oh, that was so fucking low. Three against one, real classy Harper."
"Oh, what, you're like his protector now or something?" he asked,
admitting it.
"Oh, screw you. How could you do that? How could you do that to the kid?"
"Oh, he's a kid now, is he?" Ryan asked sarcastically, wiping blood from
his chin. "To you he is. What's the matter with you?" she screamed at him.
"Why'd you do that?!?
"He deserved it."
"Oh fucking bullshit. Bullshit he did. You're the one that deserves to get
the shit beat out of you. Oh, and let's get this straight, okay? You are
not my boyfriend, and I am not your girlfriend! Can you say that?" she
asked in a Mr. Rogers'-type voice.
"No. I won't admit that. You say that I broke up with you, but hell no! I
told you I was sorry babe. I didn't mean it--I've told you that a thousand
times!" he whined.
"Oh yeah well too late for that. God, how could you do that? You're even
more of an asshole that I thought," she told him, in tears. "And let's get
something else straight, okay? You are not to lay--and no one else you
know either!--are not to lay a goddamn fingernail on that boy. Do you hear
me? I know you better than anyone else Ryan, and I can hurt you better
than anyone else can, got it?" she threatened.
"You've already hurt me," he told her, fighting back tears.
She ignored the tears, keeping her heart cold. "Good. Not nearly as much
as you've fucking hurt me I bet! God you're such a jerk," she told him,
shaking her head. "I can't believe you would do such a thing! Actually, I
can..." she added angrily, determined she wouldn't cry. "You're not going
out with him, are you?" he asked in horror.
"No! But what does that have to do with it? If I was, it wouldn't be any
of your business right?" she asked. He didn't answer.
"Right?" she snapped.
"Right," he said, rolling his eyes.
"You're such a jerk. And don't believe for a fucking second that he raped
me. Nothing could be further from the truth, you know. Rape victims
usually don't cum a couple times," she added.
He didn't say anything, just stared at the ground, her comment going
straight to his heart like a dagger. He couldn't fight back tears anymore.
She noticed, and her heart raced. But she still hated him. "Good-bye!" she
told him, disgusted. He grabbed her arm. "No, come in. Let's talk. Please
let's talk. Just give me that."
She got a glimpse of Will, Ry's little brother, walking in the kitchen
towards them. Will looked at her, then his brother, who was wiping away
tears, then back at her. Her heart ached, she loved Ryan's family like her
own. Will was like her own little brother. But she hardened her heart, and
shook his arm off. "No, it's too damn late."
She spun around and ran to her car, and he didn't follow her, thank God.
He knew her, he knew when she was angry and when she was angry. She'd
probably run him over with the car, the way she felt now.
Chapter 6
They'd first started going out freshman year. She'd been together with
this guy, Danny, since about the first week of school. She really liked
Danny. Danny was fairly inexperienced as far as dating went, but she
didn't know that, you wouldn't from the way he acted. Plus, he was
gorgeous. Essentially, he broke up with her. It wasn't that he didn't like
her. Actually, he liked her a lot. The problem was, he didn't know what to
do with her. Should he call her every night? Eat lunch with her every day?
Trivial problems, but when you're a freshman, trivial problems are like
catastrophes. He tried to act cool, and basically ended up ignoring her.
Around October, she finally asked him. "Do you want to go out with me or
not?" The answer wasn't yes, in fact it wasn't even an answer yet that
night when she met Ryan. She'd asked Danny's friend to give him the
message Friday morning, but she'd neither heard nor seen Danny or the
friend all day. Friday night she went out with her friends, Melissa and
Dana, and these two sophomore guys. One of them had played soccer with
Ryan. "Harper," they kept calling him.
Anyway, they went up to Ryan's house in the hills to see what he was up
to. All of them sat around in his living room for awhile, playing Sega
while waiting for someone to call Ryan back.
Ryan noticed her right away. He liked her looks right away anyway, but she
didn't seem particularly friendly. She was very quiet and fairly
unreceptive to any suggestions people made. She didn't want anything to
drink, she wanted to keep her jacket on, she didn't want to play winner.
So Ryan instead focused his attentions on the Melissa girl, who had been
flirting with him somewhat, but it soon became obvious that she had
something going with one of the sophomores. The bitch (as he called her
mentally during that first brief hour) actually sat in his kitchen and
talked to his dad for awhile. When she was in there, one of the guys
commented on her and what a bundle of laughs she was. Dana mentioned that
she was upset because she was breaking up (maybe) with her boyfriend.
So Ryan thought about it for a few minutes, then noticed it quiet in the
kitchen and went in. His dad had gone back to his bedroom, and she was now
sitting alone quietly at his kitchen table, slowly tracing the placemat
pattern with her fingertip.
He sat down across from her, and she looked up at him and gave a
half-hearted smile, then looked back down at the table. She didn't want to
him to think she was a bitch, so she looked back up at him and gave him a
more genuine one. It was his house after all, and she'd just gotten
through talking to his dad, who was a real sweetheart, so she ought to be
nice to him. "Having fun?" he asked, teasing her a bit. "Oh, yeah, tons,"
she answered sarcastically. He leaned forward. "So, you sad?" he asked.
She just shrugged her shoulders.
"What's your name again?" he asked. "I'm Ryan. I live here," he added.
"I know," she said. "I'm Jen."
That's right, he knew that. "So," he said. "You want to talk about it?
Your friend said you were having problems with your boyfriend."
Good, he knows I have a boyfriend, she thought gratefully. "Well, kinda,"
she said.
"What's the matter? I don't know, maybe I can give you a guy's
perspective, if you want."
"Well, aright."
"So, what's up?"
"Well, we've only been going out since the beginning of the year. He's
just... I don't know. I mean, I really like him and stuff but he's just
such a butt!" Ryan laughed. The girl had attitude, he could see. "What's
he do?"
"Well, he's sorta mean to me."
"What--he doesn't hit you, does he?" asked Ryan, concerned.
"Oh, no! Nothing like that!"
"I was gonna say, I mean, if he's beatin' on you I'd probably have to kick
his ass."
That made her uncomfortable, but she just continued talking to him anyway.
"No, he just ignores me." "He ignores you?"
"Yeah, I mean, he never calls me. I have to call him if I want to talk to
him. And he doesn't hang out with me at school or anything. We've gone out
to lunch a couple times but not lately. So, it's like we never talk, you
know? I mean, we never even see each other. Not lately anyway. He says he
likes me but I wish he'd just, I don't know," she shrugged.
"You're right, he sounds like a real butt," agreed Ryan.
"So, well, I asked his friend to give him the message that I wanted to
know what was up, whether he still wanted to be with me or not. Anyway
that was this morning and I haven't heard anything."
"Is he a freshman?"
"Yeah."
"You're a freshman, right?"
"Yeah."
"Um, I think that you should..." he began. He couldn't just say "Just dump
him and go for me," she'd think he was a jerk. Plus he'd promised her
advice. "Well, first of all you should wait and see what he says. If he
calls you. Don't call him--he should call you. If he says he wants to be
together with you still, then tell him how you feel and find out what his
problem is. And tell him that things need to change."
"That's what I was planning on doing."
"And of course, if he doesn't call you, like, by tomorrow night, unless
he's out of town or something, which if he is you didn't mention..."
"He's not," smiled Jen.
"... or if he calls you and says 'I don't know' then you should get rid of
him because he's a dork." Jen shrugged. "I guess so."
The phone rang then and Ryan leapt up to get it. Ryan told the others the
"lowdown" as soon as he got off. His friend was coming over to get him and
they were going to someone else's house. The guys and Dana and Melissa
wanted to go too so they all stood around in the kitchen waiting for him.
When he finally showed up Melissa suggested Jen go with Ryan and his
friend Josh because it was easier then them all squishing in the Bug
again. Ryan was pleased and insisted that she sit in the front seat. She
was very quiet and not at all pleased about being in the car with these
two guys she didn't know, plus going to the house of someone else she
didn't know. All she just wanted to do was go home, and check to see if
Danny had called, and if he hadn't then cry. Cry, which she felt like
doing when Josh asked her if she had a boyfriend. She was scared he was
going to hit on her, which she hated, because she didn't ever know how to
act when that happened. But Josh just said "Oh" when she said she did and
then turned up the music louder. Jen wanted to turn and smile at Ryan,
because, after all, that is what they had been talking about, but she just
didn't feel like being friendly tonight. Ryan thought she was cute and
girlfriend potential as opposed to just a lay, which of course he wouldn't
mind. Ryan thought if he didn't get laid pretty soon he'd explode. Of
course, he thought hastily, he would never rule anyone out as "just a
lay." His life wasn't that good.
They didn't talk much more that night because she left pretty soon after
they got to the house. He'd lost track of her after they got there because
this blonde he'd never met was flirting with him fairly heavily. Later,
after he didn't get anything like usual, he thought about the sad girl
he'd met earlier with the big blue eyes and long brown hair.
He got Dana's number from Colin, and called her up to ask about Jen. Dana
said that Danny had called her, but he was a "total butt" and acting
indifferent to her so she said, "Then I guess we're not together anymore
if that's the way you're acting," and he'd said, "I guess not."
It wasn't the clean break Ryan was hoping for, but he wasn't disappointed.
He was a little though when Dana said she thought Jen would be mad if she
gave her phone number to him. Before he could get insulted Dana explained
that it wasn't him, but that it would probably take awhile before she
would get over Danny, the way she was apparently. But Dana said she'd see
what she could do as far as getting them together.
Chapter:
Preface
01-03 04-06
07-09
10-12
13-15
16-18
19-21
22-24
25-27
28-30
31-33
34-36
37-42
43-47
48-49
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