The Girlfriend Shield

by S. A. Hunter

  “You know he’s in high school, right? You could get arrested for this.”

  “He’s a Nash. I’m sure his lawyers could get the charges dropped.”

  I rolled my eyes and pulled his arms off the women. I was going to drag him into the house if I had to. One of the women plastered herself to his back, holding him back.

  “He’s partying with us now. Go away.”

  “Noah, come on!” I tugged on his arm.

  He balked at my efforts. “Sarah, stop being a spoilsport. Have some champagne!”

  He pushed a champagne flute to my lips. I slapped it away. The glass went flying and the champagne splattered on several of the women.

  “Hey!”

  “Oops!” Noah laughed.

  I’d had enough of his shenanigans. I grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. I grabbed his other shoulder to put tension on the pinned arm and to keep him from twisting out of the hold. I’d learned the hold from a friend who took judo.

  “Ow! Sarah, what are you—“

  “Excuse us please,” I said to the women and frog-marched Noah toward the mansion. The drunk women parted in disbelief. None of them made a move to stop me.

  “Sarah, what the hell?! Let go!”

  Against my better judgment, I let him slip out of my grasp. He whirled around to glare at me.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

  “What are you doing? You’re supposed to be my boyfriend, and you’re kissing other women?”

  “God, you’re such a prude. It didn’t mean anything.”

  “Yes, it does! How do you think it looks for you to be all lovey-dovey with a bunch of other women?”

  “Lovey-dovey?” he asked sarcastically.

  “It’s the polite way to put it.”

  “Maybe I want to be lovey-dovey. Maybe I like being lovey-dovey.” He said that so intensely that the hair stood up on my arms. I didn’t know what he was trying to say. He couldn’t be suggesting he wanted me to do that sort of stuff with him. There was no way.

  The women had trailed after us and were watching our drama with amusement. Other guests had noticed us too and joined in. We were attracting quite the audience. Noah’s paranoia about cameras infected me. “Let’s go inside and talk about this someplace more private.”

  “No, I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I’m tired of you telling me what I can and can’t do. I’m tired of having to be someone else. I’m tired of you!”

  I lowered my voice so only he could hear me, “Noah, calm down. You’re saying crazy stuff.”

  He didn’t lower his voice. He got louder. “I’m not crazy. I’m finally seeing things clearly. We should never have been together. Our relationship is a farce. I’m breaking up with you.”

  I realized this was my New Year’s gift. He was ending the charade by breaking up with me. But what about his mother? She’d pounce on this and insist that he date the rich heiress.

  “Let’s go inside and talk about this, please,” I said. We needed to speak honestly and that could only happen in private.

  “I think my son has made himself clear,” Patricia said. Of course, she’d appear now.

  I turned to her and said harshly, “He’s drunk. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

  “I think you just don’t want to hear it. You were never suitable for him. Give up.”

  “She’s right. We were never going to work out. Our worlds are too different,” he said.

  Patricia latched onto this. “Exactly. You’ll never be equals. My son is out of your league.”

  “Mother, stop it. That’s not true. I’m not good enough for her.”

  I was surprised Noah wasn’t jumping on the bash Sarah train with his mother. The fact that he wasn’t trashing me confused me more. I stared at his face, and his eyes were shiny. Were those pretend tears or real?

  “Oh, please, just look at her. You’re trying to break up with her, and she won’t let you go.”

  I didn’t have an argument for Patricia. She was right. He was trying to break up with me, and I wasn’t happily accepting his offer like I thought I would. “Noah?” I said again. We needed to speak privately. I couldn’t agree to this without knowing if he had a backup plan to keep his mother from pimping him out.

  “Who even are you?” one of the women asked.

  Oh goody, more passengers for the bash Sarah train.

  “Her name is Sarah Smith, and she’s the best thing that ever happened to Noah.”

  And now Damien and Angela were there.

  “The best thing, huh? Sounds to me like you’d like to date her,” Noah said.

  That was far too close to the truth. I didn’t know what to say or do. He didn’t take Noah’s bait. He crossed his arms and glowered at the other boy.

  Noah stepped back from me. “Just go away. I don’t want to see you anymore or be with you. How do I make you understand?” He turned his face away from me.

  “I bet she wants money. How much to get you to leave my son?” Patricia said.

  I stiffened. That had been such a brazen offer. I had no clue how to react. Should I play up the jilted lover and argue against the breakup or quietly back away and accept it?

  “Sarah, let’s go inside,” Angela said.

  I ignored her offer. I kept staring at Noah hoping for some cue, but he wouldn’t look at me. I realized that he wasn’t drunk. This entire thing was an act. It was so frustrating because even though I wanted to break up with him and end the charade, I knew if we did, he’d go off and hurt a girl and he didn’t want to do that.

  I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled his face close to mine. “Is this what you really want?” I demanded. This close, I’d see if he really wanted this. I’d see if he was lying or telling the truth. I’d catch any hidden message. I had to.

  He opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was got caught in his throat. His eyes widened. “Sarah?” His hands crept up to cradle my cheeks and trace the tears on my face.

  I angrily rubbed my cheeks against my shoulders. I wasn’t letting go until I knew for exactly what he wanted. “You haven’t answered me,” I said.

  He dropped his hands from my face to my waist. His answer was soft. “No.”

  “No what?”

  The corner of his mouth lifted. “No, I don’t want to break up with you.”

  “Good, because you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “Noah, don’t let her guilt you into staying with her! You don’t need her!”

  Her words didn’t sting anymore.

  “Mother, shut up.”

  “Noah!”

  We stared at each other intently. I couldn’t blink. If I did, more tears were going to fall. He pulled me in and wrapped his arms around me. I let go of his collar. We embraced in full view of everyone. Patricia had a front view seat.

  Against his ear, I whispered, “Remember no kissing.”

  He chuckled and squeezed me tight. “Not even a little smooch?”

  “No, not even that.”

  “Come on, why not a really small one?”

  “Have you forgotten that Damien is watching us right now?”

  But he wasn’t who attacked us.

  “I will not stand by and watch this lunacy. Get off my son!”

  Patricia grabbed my head.

  “Mom, what are you doing?!”

  I had to let go of Noah as Patricia pulled me back by my hair. I didn’t know what to do. I very well couldn’t attack her. Noah reached out, but he didn’t know what to do either. He couldn’t fight his mother. She wheeled me around and pushed me down hard. I fell on my side, and my momentum made me roll down the slope, unable to stop until I reached the bottom. When I stopped, I lay there for a few seconds in shock. My arms and knees stung some from hitting the ground. I wasn’t hurt really just shocked.

  “What are you doing? Get your hands off me!”

  Men in dark suits had taken Patricia by the arms.

&
nbsp; “Patricia, I’m sorry that you won’t be able to stay with us tonight, but we understand why you can’t,” Mr. West said with Mrs. West beside him. Mrs. West had her mouth covered in dismay.

  “Let me at her! I’ll scratch her eyes out! Call the police! They can arrest me and take her out in a body bag!” Cora’s mad rant had me moving before I even knew what I was doing. I rushed to her walker to stop her, but to my surprise, Damien and Angela were already holding her back.

  They couldn’t gag her though. She might bite them. I rushed to her and put my hands over her mouth.

  “Did you hear her? She threatened me!” Patricia cried out.

  “And you assaulted me,” I said.

  Cora managed to wiggle free from my hands, “Pick on someone your own age you old c—“

  I managed to cover her mouth before she said something other than “cutie.”

  Mr. West discreetly motioned to security and they began to firmly escort Patricia out.

  “Noah, you’re coming with me,” she declared.

  “I would like to stay with my friends,” he said.

  “You don’t get a choice. You’re coming with me!”

  “Let the boy stay here unless you don’t think I’m an appropriate chaperone?” Mr. West said.

  Patricia appeared to remember where she was and who was watching her. She smoothed out her dress and stood up straight.

  “Of course, Noah can stay here. If you’re safeguarding his well-being, he couldn’t be in better hands.”

  She turned and strode out of the garden with security trailing her.

  Cora wanted to follow Patricia, but I blocked her walker and wouldn’t let her leave.

  “Move! I’ll show that woman some real class. I’ll bludgeon her with it.”

  “Cora, stop it. Mr. West handled it. She’s gone.”

  She continued to stare in the direction that Patricia had gone.

  “He was too polite. Barely seemed like he was kicking her out. Let’s go jump her. I know together we can take her. I’ll pin her with my walker. You cave in her head.”

  “Grandmother, stop psychotic.”

  “What did I tell you about calling me that?”

  “I’ll start calling you Granny if you don’t leave Patricia alone.”

  She lowered her brow in ire. “You wouldn’t.”

  In a fake voice, I pretended to shout, “Granny, come back! Granny, you need to take your medicine! Granny, it’s nap time!”

  Cora shuddered. “Jesus, that’s terrifying,” She looked around and declared, “I need a drink.” A caterer went by with a full tray of champagne. She stomped her walker after him. “Where are you going, good-looking?”

  I relaxed in relief at Cora safely defused.

  A pair of hands latched onto my biceps making me jump. I whirled around with fist raised. I wasn’t getting thrown to the ground again. Damien held up his hands.

  “Woah. It’s only me.”

  “Jesus, Damien.”

  “Sorry, thought you saw me. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. Maybe a few bruises.”

  “Let’s go inside. Where are your parents?”

  “In their room. They decided to celebrate by themselves.”

  “Come to my room.”

  I laughed in surprise. “What? I can’t do that.”

  “Why not? You can’t want to stay out here.” He tugged on my arm.

  Maybe he didn’t understand what I was saying. “Damien, I can’t go to your room.”

  “Why? Come on.”

  He tried to pull me into the mansion, but my knees locked.

  Angela appeared. I gave her a silent plea for help. She’d get it, maybe she’d be able to explain to Damien why it’d be inappropriate.

  “Damien, what are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m trying to get Sarah out of here.”

  “I can go to my room,” I said.

  “But mine’s closer.”

  “But it’s your room,” I said. Was he really this dense? I couldn’t go to his room. Alone. At night.

  “Yeah, I know. I think I have permission to use it.”

  “Damien, Sarah can’t go to your room,” Angela said.

  “What’s wrong with my room?”

  “It’s your room,” I said, which he didn’t understand.

  “Damien, why don’t we go to my room?” she said.

  I bobbed my head enthusiastically. This was acceptable. This was a good.

  “Fine,” he said with a sigh.

  We all went to Angela’s room.

  I sat down on the floor with my back against the bed.

  Fireworks began to go off outside.

  “Happy New Year!” Angela cheered.

  Damien got down to sit beside me.

  “Would have preferred it if it were only the two of us, and we were in my room.”

  I realized with a shock that he knew exactly what he had been suggesting earlier. My cheeks grew warm as I dropped my eyes.

  “Oh.”

  “Happy New Year, Sarah.” I could feel his breath against my face. I tilted my head up and our lips met. He put a hand on my cheek like Noah had done outside, but he wasn’t wiping away tears. His thumb stroked my cheek in a way that made my heart speed up. Our tongues danced around each other. His other hand went to my rib cage and crept upward. I took no action to stop him. I don’t know how far we would’ve gone if we hadn’t been interrupted.

  BANG! BANG! Those weren’t fireworks. The noises came from the door.

  “Who's there?” Angela asked in alarm, but Damien and I had heard this particular knock before and had immediately slid away from each other.

  “Angela, is Sarah in there?” Dad asked through the door.

  “Yes,” she said giving me a worried look.

  “Is Damien in there too?”

  She opened her mouth, but she didn’t know whether to lie.

  “This is why we couldn’t go to your room. If we had, he wouldn’t have knocked.” I picked myself off the floor and opened the door. My pajama-clad father loomed in the doorway.

  “It’s late, you should get to bed,” he said. A robot would’ve said those words with more feeling.

  “In a minute?” I asked.

  “I can wait.”

  Great, Dad was in full Terminator mode.

  “You scared Angela,” I said.

  “Sorry, Angela,” he said in a monotone.

  “It’s okay, Mr. Smith,” she said weakly.

  Yeah, he was Mr. Smith when he was like this. I looked over at Damien. He hadn’t stood up. He still leaned against Angela’s bed. “See you tomorrow,” I said.

  “Sweet dreams,” he replied.

  Dad’s presence kept me from taking a step toward him, so I blew him a kiss. Dad escorted me back to my room.

  “How’d your dress get stained?” he asked, his face hardening.

  I knew he thought Damien and I had some romantic tryst. I decided to shock him with the truth. “I got into a fight with Patricia Nash. She threw me down a hill.”

  “Wha—“

  “Night, Dad!” I shut the door on his face.

  “Sarah?” he said through the door.

  “I’m fine, and Mr. West took care of it,” I told him.

  “We will talk about this tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  I listened to Dad walk away. I thought about sneaking back to Angela’s room, but a monster yawn caught me off-guard, and I realized how tired I was. I got ready for bed. I needed to get my rest. Tomorrow I was swimming with dolphins.

  WHEN I CAME DOWN TO breakfast, Noah was showing Angela something on his phone. Her hand was over her mouth and eyes wide. I went around to see too.

  “What’s so interesting?”

  There was a black and white video. It took me a moment to recognize where it was from, but I soon realized it was a video from last night, specifically, it was when Patricia pushed me.

  It was on TMZ and the headline read “Mommy d
earest Nash tries to break up Cinderella romance.”

  “Crap,” I said, looking at Noah. I thought he’d be upset about his drama being all over the gossip websites, but he was grinning. I realized that could mean one thing. “Did you send this to them?”

  “My most popular nicknames is “anonymous source”.”

  “But why? This is terrible for you.”

  “I know! How am I supposed to date the heir of House Gigi now? I have a girlfriend and a terrible mother to boot.”

  “But you broke up with me,” I said.

  “You rejected it, remember?”

  “But that doesn’t really stop a—“

  “No take backs,” he said.

  “Please tell me you didn’t plan last night to go the way it did,” I said.

  Noah’s smirk widened, but then he laughed. “No, I didn’t, but I’m quick on my feet. It was simple enough to get a copy of the security tape and send it in.”

  “Has your mother seen it?”

  “She’s not awake yet, I’m sure, but I’ve sent her a link.”

  Cora appeared in the dining room wearing large dark sunglasses. “Am I dead?” she asked.

  “How much champagne did you have last night?”

  “I don’t know. One, maybe two?”

  “Bottles?” I asked knowingly.

  The corner of her mouth crooked up. “Trays.”

  “Good morning, Mother! How are you today, Mother? I hope you’re feeling well, Mother?” Dad asked loudly from behind Cora. She groaned and scuttled away from him.

  Dad stopped and stared at me a moment. “Okay, what happened last night?”

  “Noah has video of it,” I said.

  “You really want him to see this?” Noah asked under his breath.

  I shrugged. “Might as well.”

  He queued up the video for Dad and gave him the phone.

  I picked at my food as I listened to the audio. When it was over, Dad handed back the phone.

  “Sarah, I want you to break up with him.”

  “What? I can’t now. Not after what I said last night.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Sir, I promise nothing like this will happen again.”

  “I know it won’t because Sarah won’t be allowed near you or your mother.”

  “Dad, come on! It wasn’t that bad. Patricia barely touched me.”