“All right then. Well I’ll see you both tomorrow sometime.”
“Yep. Night, then.”
“Night, Don,” I called as he turned and headed to presumably his room.
“Okay, Miss Not-Too-Good. Let’s get you into my room.”
I snorted. “Oh, you do know how to charm a girl.”
Davin muttered too low under his breath for me to hear as he steered me to his room and I threw myself backwards onto his bed. His bed was soft. I liked it.
“Make yourself at home,” he said sardonically.
“Thanks. I have.”
“For all that’s…” he grunted. “Okay. Water for you.”
I sat up quickly and didn’t even feel dizzy. “I’m fine.”
“And you’ll be better with water. Go nowhere. I’ll be back,” he said pointing his finger at me like he actually expected me to probably go exploring his house in the dead of night with his dad home.
I snorted at the thought.
“What now?” he asked, pausing in the doorway.
“Your dad’s home. I forgot your dad was going to be home.”
“He is. You can meet him properly in the morning.”
“Do you think he liked me?”
Davin had been about to walk out again and paused. “I don’t see how he couldn’t, babe,” he said softly then hurried out.
I grinned to myself and decided now was a brilliant time to get into my pyjamas. I shuffled to the end of Davin’s bed and grabbed my bag off the floor where Davin had dropped it. As I pulled off my singlet, I noticed that one of Davin’s Converses was lying just out of reach. I threw myself off the bed and picked it up.
“What are you doing?” Davin asked.
I brandished his shoe at him. “Seeing what size your feet are.”
He rolled his eyes. “And what did that tell you?”
I looked at the sole of it. “Twelve. Is that normal?”
“What do you consider normal?”
I looked up at him from my position on the floor. “Average?”
He held his arms out, a glass of water in each hand. “What about me says average, Avery?” he asked. “I’m not yet eighteen and already over six foot.”
“You do look very tall from down here.”
He sighed, put the glasses down and held his hands out to me. “Why is your top off anyway?”
I looked down. “Oh. I was getting changed.”
“I’ll give you some privacy.”
I laughed. “Nearly thirteen years of changing with the other girls at school, I think I can manage without you seeing whatever it is you think you’re not supposed to see.”
His eyebrow rose slightly. “Of course you can.”
I grinned and went to my bag to pull out my nightie. I pulled it on, pulled the old ‘thread the bra straps through the sleeves’ trick, kicked off my heels, and pulled off my skirt. “Ta-da.”
“Ta-da indeed,” he said simply, but I was almost sure there was the tiniest of twitches in the corner of his mouth. “Mine is slightly less impressive.”
He pulled his button up and t-shirt off in one smooth motion before dumping them in the corner of the room. I don’t actually remember what happened after that because the boy had been hiding a mighty fine body underneath all those loose-fitting tops. He was a touch on the lanky side, but most of that was due to the fact he was just unrealistically tall. But his muscles were defined. I’m talking ‘I understood the concept of wanting to lick it’ defined.
My eyes didn’t seem to know if they wanted to stare at his abs or check his face to make sure those abs were actually attached to Davin and I hadn’t inadvertently ended up in someone else’s bedroom.
“Are you having some kind of fit?” he asked and I stopped freaking out long enough to notice he was now wearing nothing but a baggy pair of tracksuit pants.
“I don’t think so.”
He looked mildly pleased. “Good.”
I walked over to him and pushed his hair out of his face.
“What are you doing now?” he asked as he pulled his head out of my reach and took hold of my wrists.
I looked him over and nodded. “Yep.”
“Yep, what?” he asked, bringing his face into my view for a moment.
“You’re hot.”
Davin looked as unimpressed as I’d expected him to look. “Uh huh.”
“No. I mean it, you’re hot.”
“Avery,” he started as he picked me up and put my legs around his waist, “it may shock you to learn this, but not everyone cares about being attractive.”
“Objectively maybe,” I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “But don’t you want someone to find you attractive?”
“I’d like to think sincere attraction is based on more than just the physical alignment of one’s features,” he commented dryly.
I huffed a rough laugh. “Tell me you find more about me attractive than the physical alignment of my features,” I teased.
“If we were going solely based on your physical features, I’m not sure I could stand you.”
“Well aren’t you pleasant,” I laughed.
He rolled his eyes. “I more meant that you cover yourself in such gaiety that I would never have bothered looking at you twice.”
“So why is it you did look at me twice?”
“Because you have this look in your eyes that makes me very interested in what’s going on in that mind of yours.”
“Plenty of people would tell you there’s not a whole heck of a lot.”
He nodded. “Plenty of people would be wrong, Avery.”
He kissed me hard and I pressed myself into him, feeling a happy little flutter in my chest. I was under no delusions that Davin Ambrose was falling in love with me. But it was just possible that he was going to get something positive out of this as well. Could it be that the self-professed Lord of Malcontent would find himself a little less closed off after all?
That or he was so keen on getting me into bed that he was willing to pull out any even remotely corny line it took.
But when we fell onto his bed and he tucked us under the covers, he didn’t try anything else. We kissed, we touched, we explored the same way we’d done before. The only difference this time was that we were properly in bed. But neither of us seemed in any rush to move it onto the next level. I didn’t know if I was giving off the not ready yet vibes or if he wasn’t quite as interested in me as he’d made it seem so far.
I fell asleep quite contentedly and far more comfortable than the previous time and woke up with his arm over my waist.
I grinned at I looked at his hand, feeling rather pleased about something. Until I realised I had a really sore head and my tummy didn’t feel so great.
Davin had made me drink plenty of water before we went to sleep, promising me that it would help stave off a hangover. Although all it seemed to do was make me need to pee about four times before I actually fell asleep.
I watched Davin’s hand twitch in his sleep, barely discernible in the very little light getting around his curtains. I ran my fingers over the cord of thread he always wore on his wrist, over his hand and traced the silver ring he wore on his middle finger.
I felt him shake his head and mumble something, then his arm tightened over me like he was stretching before his hand ran lazily over my hip as I felt his lips on my shoulder.
“How are you feeling?” he asked and I stamped down any excitement the gravelly tones of his ‘I’ve just woken up’ voice gave me.
“A little…” I wasn’t sure what word described it.
“Seedy?” he offered.
“Seedy?”
I felt him nod against me as he seemed to snuggle into me like he had no plans to get up any time soon. “Yep. Mild hangover. Little risk of actual vomiting, but you’ll feel like it for a while.”
“Yep. That sounds like it.”
“Ah, you’ll be right,
babe,” he said, sounding like he was falling asleep again.
“You going back to sleep?”
“Do we need to be anywhere?” he asked.
“Well, no…”
He grunted. “What’s the time?”
“You can’t look?”
“Nope.”
I smiled as I reached for my phone on his bedside table. “About ten to twelve.”
“Will not getting up until midday kill you?” he muttered.
“No. I suppose it won’t.”
“Excellent.”
He pulled my back tighter against his front and I felt his breath steadying as he fell asleep again. I lay there for a little while, just enjoying the idea of waking up with my boyfriend like that.
“Woah.”
I sat up suddenly and Davin yelled in surprise.
“What’s wrong?” he mumbled quickly.
I shook my head. “Uh, nothing.”
“Freak me out why not,” he said, rolling onto his back and rubbing his hand over his face.
“Sorry.”
“Nah, it’s fine.” He sat up resignedly and breathed out. “I need coffee.”
I watched him get out of bed, telling me heart to return to normal. Because I couldn’t afford to think about how nice it was waking up next to Davin. Could I?
“Avery?”
I looked up. “Yeah?”
“You…want a cup of tea or anything?”
I nodded. “Yeah. That would be great, thanks.”
He nodded as well and I was pretty sure he could tell something wasn’t quite right. “Okay. I’ll meet you in the kitchen?”
“Yep. Be there in a minute.”
“Okay. Good.”
He walked out slowly and I took a deep breath before I got up.
“You don’t like like him, do you?” I mumbled to myself as I pulled my track pants on under my nightie.
“No. Of course not,” I chuckled awkwardly in reply as I pulled my hair into a wayward bun as best I could with my fingers and no mirror.
I huffed another breath and walked into the kitchen.
“…me at the appointment with Dr Mills?” Davin’s dad was asking.
“No. She said she wanted to see you. But you don’t need to come in while I’m discussing the darkest parts of my soul or whatever bullshit we’re calling it,” he answered quickly.
“Davin, the therapy helps. You know–”
Davin dropped the mug he was holding as he turned and saw me standing in the doorway. I opened my mouth, then snapped it shut at the look on Davin’s face. It was pure fury mixed with something I’d never seen on Davin’s face. It was fear.
“Shit, Dav,” his dad said. “You okay?”
Davin nodded vaguely, his eyes not leaving me.
“Uh. Sorry…” I said, pointing in all sorts of directions like that made sense. “I was just… Uh…”
I pressed my lips together, thinking now was as good a time as any to start with that breathing before talking thing.
“Uh,” Davin’s dad started. “No, Avery. It’s fine. Come on in and sit. I’ll…uh…” He looked between me and Davin like he didn’t know what to do.
“I’ll get the broom,” Davin said through clenched teeth before he picked his way carefully into the laundry.
“I’m so sorry, Mr Ambrose… Don,” I amended quickly. “I didn’t mean to…”
Don shook his head. “It’s not you. It’s just… Davin’s very protective of his past. He doesn’t like to talk–”
“Fuck’s sake, Dad!” Davin snapped as he came back in, emanating more than fury.
“Dav, I was just–”
“Well, don’t! No. We’re not…” Davin huffed. “Fuck! No.”
Don nodded slowly. “I’ll, uh, give you some space.”
Davin nodded back. “Okay. Thanks.”
Don smiled at me and walked out. I just sort of hovered as Davin started picking up the broken bits of mug.
“Can I–”
“No, Avery,” he snapped. “You can’t do anything. There’s nothing to talk about!”
I swallowed and nodded. “Okay. But I was going to ask if I can get the coffee going or something…”
He stopped what he was doing and looked at me, his expression seemed caught between exasperated and surprised. “What?”
I took a pointed deep breath. “Can I do the coffee or anything?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Uh. No. Thanks. It’s fine.”
I nodded again before walking further into the kitchen and pulling myself up onto the barstool. I was desperate to talk, to fill the silence. But quite aside from the fact I was supposed to be learning to let silence be, I knew how Davin in particular felt about inane chatter. So I said nothing.
Once he was done tidying up, he paused as he walked past me to kiss my hair, then got on with the drinks. I looked down to hide my smile, feeling like maybe I was getting the hang of this whole thing after all.
****
The next week, I was wandering around looking for Davin in my free lesson in a huff.
We hadn’t talked about anything his dad had said and, while I was curious about what it had all been about, I also respected his privacy and the fact that Davin Ambrose wasn’t known for sharing his feelings. If he even had them.
But I didn’t want him to share his feelings with me now. I needed a lesson.
“There you are,” I said as I walked into the meeting room.
He looked up at me and pulled his headphones off.
I blinked in surprised. “You heard me?”
“I felt my blood sugar spike. I assumed that meant you’d walked in the room.”
I huffed a semi-sarcastic laugh at him. “Lesson. Stat.”
He frowned. “Lesson? You’ve got a free now.”
I rolled my eyes. “We won’t mention that you’re meant to be in class–”
“You just did.”
“No. I need a lesson. Like a ‘being not good’ lesson.”
“Now?”
I nodded.
“Why? What’s happened?” he asked, leaning forward like he was half entertaining the notion of going to defend my honour or something.
“Ebony’s had a…run in with a boy in PE.”
“A run in with a boy in PE?” he clarified and I nodded.
“Yes.”
“And how do you know this?”
I looked around a little guiltily. “Because she was having a rant at me by text.”
“About a boy?”
I waved away his questions. “Yes. She talks to me about boys. Especially the ones she wants to mangle. She’s very fond of…mangling. Now what do I do?”
“To what? Stand up to a boy for Ebs?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I guess.”
He leant back in his chair and crossed his arms. “He’s Year Nine?”
“Duh.”
“Easy. You go up to him and you tell him to back off your little sister.”
“That might work for you, gargantuan. But some of us are smaller than most of the Year Eights.”
He looked me over and conceded that one. “True. What’s the problem?”
“They’re swimming and she’s…not able to swim today due to…” I slowed to a stop.
“She’s on her period?” he said simply.
I blinked in surprise. “Uh. Yes. You just…you just come right out and say that, do you?”
“Is that not what it’s called?”
I nodded. “Um. Yeah. It is.”
“So why would I call it anything else?”
That was a good question. “I don’t know. Look, this boy is going to tease her mercilessly. Can you help or not?”
“I can.”
“Ugh! Will you?”
He leant forward again, putting his elbows on the table and looking me over with a very thoughtful expression.
“What?” I ask
ed him.
“Well, I do have one idea.”
“Okay. Give it.”
He shook his head slowly as he sat back again. “I don’t know if you’re ready for it.”
“I’m so ready.”
“I don’t know if I want to impart it.”
“Davin!”
He huffed that almost laugh and unfolded himself from the chair. “Look, what better way to get Ebony out of class than to get everyone out of class?”
“What?”
“I don’t know how I feel using my powers for good instead of evil, but sometimes the ends justify the means.”
“What are you on about?” I demanded and his eyebrow quirked.
“Keep your panties on.” He pointed to his laptop. “Lesson. I’m going to teach you to set off the fire alarm.”
“What? No! I can’t…” I looked around in case anyone might have heard him.
“You can and you will.”
“Davin, that’s bad.”
He nodded. “It’s not good, that’s for sure. But if you do something bad for a good reason, is it really so bad?”
“Yes!”
“Is it?”
“Davin–”
“I wouldn’t impart this for just anyone, Avery. But since it’s you… And Ebony… I feel moved to make an exception.”
I bit my lip as I looked around. “I’m not sure…”
“If this guy teases Ebony, what’s she going to do?”
I felt my eyes widen as I realised this was bigger than just Ebony being teased by a stupid boy. If he teased her, she was likely to hit him. And that would get her in more trouble.
I sagged a little. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
He sat back down and waved me over as he pulled his laptop closer with his other hand. When I got to him, he drew me into his lap and he opened his computer lid.
“All right. So it’s a simple system to hack,” he said, pulling up a screen I’d definitely never seen in IT. As he continued, his fingers played over the keyboard, his arms boxing me in. “Especially at school. Getting in the backdoor is simple as. And whenever we leave, we always leave it ajar just a little to make it easier to get back in.”
I had no idea what he was doing, but he talked me through it with a bunch of words that seemed like they made sense, but when you combined them in that order they went straight over my head.
Being Not Good: as opposed to being bad Page 17
