EMILY
I stood there helplessly, watching the guy who had taken my virginity pummel the guy I currently liked.
It took a moment of weakness on Carson’s part which gave enough time for Seth to tackle Carson off him and throw his punches.
This went on for a while, both of them grabbling to take control of the other, trying to overpower in the middle of the school parking lot.
Kids from the class were staring, some wearing expressions of amusement, others dismay and horror. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
“Someone call for help!” I yelled.
I recognized Roland and Shane from Seth’s hockey team who ran forward to break the fight. Two other guys that I didn’t recognize from Carson’s Karate club were pulling him off the ground.
“I’m not fucking done with you!” Seth screamed at him, his green eyes flashing hot rage, blood seeping from the side of his mouth. He was going to get a purple eye for a week.
“Oh yeah? Well, the feelings are mutual, Buddy.” Carson spat at him, not looking any better. It did seem like Carson had gone all out on Seth at first but Seth blocked the advances and beaten Carson more than I thought he was capable of.
Carson sniggered and said something which riled up Seth again.
“What the fuck did you say, you piece of shit?”
He started to untangle himself from his team’s stronghold to get to Carson who was being pulled away.
I think I’d heard the words ‘dumb jock.’
Seth broke out of Roland’s grasp and started briskly walking towards Carson, hot on his heels, murder on his mind when Skylar ran forward and put herself in front of him, gently pushing him back.
I watched frozen in spot as she grabbed his face in both of her hands and urged him to look at her. She whispered something to him. Since she was so tall even for a girl, she almost came level with his face.
Whatever she said soothed him and he stopped fighting to break away.
My heart burned with jealousy for their closeness. I know Seth had admitted that Skylar and him had no history together, not even a casual sexual encounter and yet their exchange was somewhat intimate.
That could have been me with him, standing up on my toes and calming him down. My hands curled into a fist.
“What’s going on here?”
The principal’s voice boomed in the parking space. Everyone started to move out of his way as Mr. Rosenstein came forward, he was a big burly man with a thick mustache.
“I want to see you two in my office first thing tomorrow morning.” He told the boys.
I started picking up my backpack thinking I was going to be spared when he turned to look at me, “You too, Miss. Vasquez.”
I groaned. I had spent my years at school in the shadows avoiding the principal’s office, and now I’d gotten into trouble, all thanks to the two boys fighting over me.
Two boys were fighting over me!
Is this even happening?
Carson and Seth were rushed to the nurse’s office who was in the midst of closing when she saw us. Her expressions on seeing their busted faces took the cake, she didn’t even make an attempt at hiding her disappointment.
Note to self: never interrupt the nurse while she’s locking her office.
Skylar sat close to Seth, fawning over his wounds while I was stuck with Carson.
The nurse did a good job of patching them up. The bruises on their faces were going to turn purple, they looked like two members of a shady gang. Seth mostly looked the part with his tats and piercings. He was a weird combination of a thug and a model on a GQ magazine cover. Take yourpick.
After a few minutes, we were dismissed and sent on our way. Carson wouldn’t even look at me, he pretended like I wasn’t here. I guess he felt betrayed that I’d told Seth about the details of my night with him.
If I had any premonition of what awaited in my future, and if I had the slightest clue that I would bump into Carson again, I might not have told Seth stuff in detail to avoid the embarrassment and the discomfort he was now facing.
Carson left soon after he had the bandages and medication.
Seth complained that his arm was hurting and that snapped me out of my thoughts.
“It’s okay. I’ll drive you home.” Skylar offered before I had a chance to say anything.
“I can do that, Skylar. Don’t worry.” I said quickly.
She looked straight at me, more like looked down at me since she was as tall as an Amazon. She had to be at least five-nine, too tall for a five-three like me.
“Can you order pizza or something tonight, Emily?”
“Um…I have some leftovers in the refrigerator.”
I lied. There weren’t any leftovers.
“Good, because Seth can’t cook tonight, or do the dishes nor get any cleaning done tomorrow. You can manage to load the dishwasher for one day, right?”
What did she even mean?
And then it made sense. She knew Seth was working as the housekeeper at my place. I hadn’t mentioned it to anyone so that meant Seth had told her about it. I felt betrayed. Skylar was close enough to him to share his secret. What else did she know that I didn’t?
“I wasn’t going to ask him to work tonight anyway,” I said, defensively.
Well, he did work at nights, i.e his hands worked over my body and I wouldn’t say he hated it. Not that I was about to tell Skylar that.
“It’s okay. I’ll bring him home. Don’t worry.”
Why wasn’t Seth telling her that he wanted to go home with me in MY CAR? I was perfectly capable of taking care of him. What kind of monster would I be if I ignored his injuries and forced him to cook or clean?
He continued to press the bag of ice to his cheekbone, feigning indifference, not saying a word.
I gave Skylar a forced smile, “Then I guess I’ll leave.”
If I was his girlfriend, I could have just told Skylar to get the fuck off, but he’d made himself clear last time that we were going to keep this a secret.
I turned around to leave, mentally wishing Seth would ask me to stay and drive him instead but he didn’t say a word so I kept walking.
He returned home two hours later. I felt like a stalker sitting by my window, waiting for the light in his studio to switch on. At this point, I could be sniffing his dirty laundry.
What was he doing with Skylar for two hours?
I went to his room as a routine. When I entered, I could hear the shower in the bathroom turned on.
Why was he in the shower?
Unless he and Skylar did something and he had to wash off her scent?
I picked up his discarded t-shirt from the floor and sniffed it. It smelled like Seth, there were no traces of a women’s perfume.
My gaze drifted to the bedside table where his phone lay. It kept lighting up which fueled my temptation.
I grabbed for the phone and started scrolling it. It was an ancient iPhone that was used during the Jurassic period.
I know working for me was paying him a good wage, so where was he putting all that money? Surely he could afford to buy a new phone. Not that I was going to judge him for it.
His passcode was his birthdate.
So convenient.
Trying not to feel guilty, I tapped into his inbox and found a lot of messages from guys at school. There was an entire chat group with only his teammates on “mute”.
It’s not like I didn’t trust him, it’s just that he was so good-looking, girls couldn’t stop lusting after him. Wouldn’t he feel tempted with all those girls offering themselves every single day?
I checked Sky’s messages, still feeling guilty but unable to stop. He had checked my phone the other day, and again yesterday, I’d caught him swiping into my DM’s too, if he could check mine, it was only fair I checked his.
Sky’s messages were funny memes and gifs. Nothing flirtatious, or even remotely suggestive. There were a LOT of texts from cheerleaders and popular girls, some didn’t even go to our school.
But most of them were muted or blocked.
I guess he wasn’t lying when he said he wouldn’t fool around with others when he was with me. I needed to be more confident about myself. Did they sell confidence somewhere? Maybe an online store? They could do a buy one get one and give me some self-love for free.
I clicked on Seth’s chat with his dad and felt like a criminal for doing this, but curiosity killed the cat.
Dad: Need 5k more.
Seth: But last time you told me 10k was enough.
Dad: I know what I said. Now he needs 5k!
Seth: I barely scraped the 5k last time. I would have to sell my kidney if I give you that much money.
Dad: I know, son, but you are already aware of the situation. The store barely makes money. I’ve got bills to pay.
Seth: I’ll figure something out.
Why was Seth giving his father that much amount of money? Was his father in some debt that Seth was helping him pay off?
I suddenly felt bad for him. He would always smile and never let me find out he was going through some hardships, always asked me if I was doing okay, and never once made me realize that he was having bigger problems.
That made my problems seem almost hilarious compared to his.
I heard the sound of the shower turning off so I quickly put his phone back on the table where I found it and settled back in bed, striking a pose.
When he walked out, his lips stretched into a grin and he was completely naked. “What are you doing, Emily?”
“N...Nothing. I was just waiting for you.”
Heat crept into my face. He prowled around the room looking for a fresh pair of boxer shorts which he pulled on and slipped into bed. The scent of his bodywash engulfed me.
His emerald eyes were narrowed, suspiciously. “I know what’s going on in that head of yours.”
“What?”
“Nothing happened at Skylar’s place. We talked like we usually do and then I told her I had to leave.”
Leaning in, I touched his lips with mine. “Why did you do that?” I whispered.
His tongue darted out to touch my lips. “Because you were waiting for me.” He smiled, “But, it’s quite unfortunate that I can’t do much today since your boyfriend did a number on me.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” I snapped.
“Are you sure?”
I ignored his sarcastic comment and touched his eye. “Does it hurt?”
“Nah. It’s alright.”
"This is all my fault.”
“No baby, it’s mine for taunting him. I kinda forgot that he is a grizzly bear that recently escaped from a circus. My bad.”
I punched him playfully. “That’s not nice!”
“And the way he manhandled you, is that considered nice?” He seethed, “If I wasn’t around, I bet he would have mauled you like you were a thick slab of meat.”
“What a lovely metaphor,” I said sarcastically.
“I didn’t…I didn’t mean that.” He looked crestfallen. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
“I’m not offended.” I rolled my eyes.
“I wasn’t trying to insult you, just so you know.” He gave my ass a little squeeze for emphasis, “On the contrary, I don’t want you to ever go on a diet. And if a guy ever tells you to, you should tell him to fuck off.”
Did I want to find another guy?
And if I did, would he ever measure up to Seth?
I didn’t like the answer.
* * *
SETH
I’d held back yesterday. I could have done much more damage to Carson if it weren’t for Roland and Shane pulling me off him.
Spending a year in juvie could teach you how to survive and fight. I didn’t need martial arts training to restructure his face. I’d learned it, my fists were taught to do their talking.
Carson was going to pretend I wasn’t in the room and that was okay with me. He was silent since yesterday, playing the victim when in reality the asshole had given me the first hit. Granted, I’d taunted him. Maybe I wanted him to hit me so that I could use that as an excuse to pulverize him.
I tapped my foot impatiently, wanting to get this done with so that I could go back on ice and unleash my anger on the damned puck. Shane was going to have a hard time defending the net today during our scrimmage.
Emily sat between the two of us like a princess in a freakin coal mine.
Mr. Rosenstein’s bushy mustache twitched and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I could get into serious trouble for this. Carson had his daddy’s money to save him, from what I’d heard, his father had donated a ton when he joined the school. Emily fell right into that league.
They came from money. I did not. Money equals get-out-of-trouble-fast. No money equals get-shitfaced-faster.
The odd one out here was me. Worst case scenario, I could get kicked out of school, and that would mean washing my hands off the team and my hockey career. Mom would be so proud.
I’d almost forgotten Kai Gibney was also here. He lacked so much presence, I could have thought he was a random pole in Rosenstein’s office if he hadn’t cleared his throat. He was the head-boy, also a certified ass-kisser. He spent more time doing ass-kissing in Rosenstein’s office than actual classes.
If he was here, I’m sure it was for good reason. The reason being kicking me out of school.
He saw me looking at him and took off his Harry Potter glasses to clean them.
“Now then.” Principal Rosenstein said putting his hands on the table, all businesslike, “Which one of you is going to tell me what happened yesterday?”