Really? I rolled my eyes. He was full of crap.
“Let’s go.” I told him.
He laughed like there was some inside joke I was missing. So, I turned and walked away. This was my time he was wasting.
“Hold up,” he called after me, but I continued walking.
“Do you have your car?” I snapped.
“Yeah.” He came up next to my side, keeping stride with me.
I glanced over at him. “Then I’ll see you at my house.” I didn’t wait for an answer. I just headed straight for my car.
For a seventeen year old, my thread of patience was short. Maybe I was just used to doing things on my own time, when I wanted. Tutoring Draven was like work.
On the few minute drive it took me to get home, I thought about asking him about what happened at the party. I figured it would be lingering over us like a rain cloud. You can’t experience that kid of jaw-dropping moment, and expect it all to go away quietly. We would have to talk about it sooner or later. I at least had to know why it happened.
I waited for Draven to pull in the driveway before going inside. You could hear his old car coming down the road before you could even see it. The thing was so loud that the street over probably heard him. Something rattled as he pulled into the driveway stopping inches from my car, and it made a loud firecracker noise as he turned it off. It made me jump, and obviously pissed him off. He kicked the car door shut with full force and cursed it before walking my way. Kicking that piece of junk probably wasn’t the best idea. I was surprised parts of it didn’t fall off.
“I hope you have insurance.” I joked.
“Good one,” he smirked.
“Wait. You don’t have car insurance?”
“I don’t even have a job. How the hell could I pay for car insurance? It’s not even my car.”
“You stole it?” There was a shocking tone to my voice.
“No, princess. I didn’t steal it. It’s my Dad’s.” He said as he tossed his bag over his shoulder. I noticed a huge hole in the bottom corner of his backpack. It was big enough to slide a coke bottle out of. I had to swallow back the pitiful taste that rose in my throat. “My Dad’s in jail, you know.”
“Yeah,” I replied in a whisper. I suddenly felt bad for him. It had to be hard growing up with a father like that. No wonder Draven acted like he did. He’d always had to take care of himself.
He followed me up the steps of the porch and into the house. Dad said hi as we passed through the living room. He didn’t even look behind him, just stared at the television. There was some kind of sport show on, so he was glued. I said hi back, before walking into the kitchen.
“Hey Mom,” I spoke as we stepped up next to the bar.
She looked over her shoulder and smiled. “Hey you guys. I’m just working on supper.”
“We have to study,” I told her, which she knew. The kitchen counter and the table were covered with all sorts of things.
“Can you study in the living room?” She asked as she opened the oven. Her long blonde braid hung over her shoulder as she leaned forward to adjust the pan inside.
“Dad’s watching something on T.V. We’ll just go up to my room,” I told her. “Come on.”
“Supper will be ready around five thirty. You should stay for dinner Draven.” Mom suggested. “We will have plenty of food.”
Before I had time to interject, he agreed. It wasn’t, maybe some other time, or I have something else planned. He said yes quickly, which made Mom super excited. She was such a charitable women, and Draven was a big ol’ charity case.
“Let’s go.”
He followed me up the steps and to my bedroom. I left the door wide open, because I knew Dad would have a cow if he knew I had a guy in my room. Mom was much more lenient when it came to things like that, but Dad not so much. In his eyes I was still his little girl, and I planned on keeping it that way.
“So this is your room.” He walked around slow and steady, taking in every little detail. It sort of made me feel uncomfortable the way he was looking so closely. I wasn’t used to letting people inside me life, and my bedroom was a place that was far too intimate to start.
My room wasn’t very big. I had a twin size bed against the far wall, a tall dresser with my T.V. sitting on top of it, and a bookcase filled from top to bottom with as many books as it could hold. There was barely anything on the walls other than my corkboard of pictures. Most of them were of Lo and me, and I had a few family photos. I also kept my academic team awards hanging there. Those were prize possessions to me, since they were what gained me a scholarship to NYU. My acceptance letter was framed on the top of my bookcase.
“We have a lot to cover. We should get started,” I urged.
“All work and no play. It looks like you already have a first class seat to college. You don’t even need to study.” He implied, grabbing one of my awards and studying it before putting it back.
“Maybe not,” I agreed. “But you do.”
He looked back over his shoulder and smiled. He knew I was right.
I took a seat on the bed against the wall and opened my notebook. He climbed on the bed next to me, and I silently hoped that he wouldn’t put his filthy shoes on my bed.
“Are we going to pretend that what happened at the party didn’t happen or were you planning on asking me about it?” There it was. That lingering cloud that I knew would be brought up sooner or later.
My pen shook faster in my hand as I stared down at my lap. “Why’d you do it?” I asked still staring down. I couldn’t bring myself to look up at his face.
“Because of Tyler,” he answered.
My head snapped in his direction. “Tyler. Tyler James?”
He groaned. “Yeah. He’s been giving me shit lately. He always has something smart to say, and he rubs his Daddy’s money in my face. It pisses me off.”
“But what does any of that have to do with me?” I wondered. “If you had a problem with Tyler, why wouldn’t you just kick his ass?” I mean I knew he could.
He chuckled, and his hearty laughter caused me to start laughing. “I want to. Don’t get me wrong. But I can’t get into any trouble right now. I’m not eighteen yet. If the police arrest me, then I’m on a one-way trip to a group home. I’m living by myself right now without any parents. Legally, I’m a ward of the state.”
My stomach dropped. How had I not realized that? He lives by himself? “Wait, how has the school not caught on to this.”
He shrugged. “Honestly, I think they have. But they are hoping I’ll either graduate, or drop out. I gave them an old phone number to my Dad’s sister, and told them I was staying with her. But she hasn’t lived around here in years.”
“So you lied?”
“I had to.” He answered truthfully, as he rested his head against the wall and stretched out his legs.
This was the most honest conversation I’d ever had with him, and probably the longest. He was forthcoming about everything, which surprised me because he didn’t owe me any kind of explanation about his past.
“I still don’t understand what happened at the party, and why I was involved,” I delved. It made no sense to me.
At this point, I was downright facing him on the bed. I was so engrossed in what he had to say that I couldn’t look away. I was inches away from being all up in his business.
He answered, “Tyler told me at school last week that he wanted you. He said he was going to have you, and I told him that he never would. You’re too good for him, you know. Then at the party, he was running his mouth again. He told me he always gets what he wants, and he was going to get you. It pissed him off when I told him you didn’t want him,” he grinned. “He’s always calling me trash, and finding ways to get under my skin. So I turned the tables. When I saw you walking our way, I figured for once I could show him that he can’t have everything. Despite what his Daddy tells him.”
I couldn’t believe it. All that sweet talk at the picnic table was just a ruse
to get me to go out with him, or to bed with him. I was just some conquest for him to try and woo. “What a disgusting pig!”
“Who, me?” He questioned.
“No him. Ugh,” I groaned. “I can’t believe he thought he could just have me like I was some chocolaty piece of cake. He even talked to me at the party, and if Lo hadn’t interrupted us he would’ve asked me out. He was sugary sweet too. I probably would’ve said yes. Geez.”
“You would’ve said yes?” He asked, and I couldn’t tell whether he was shocked or disgusted.
“I don’t know for sure, but there was a chance I would’ve,” I hedged, squirming away from his gaze.
“Why?” His face-hardened and his eyes searched my face for some unforeseen answer.
I slouched under his glare. “I don’t know. He was nice to me, and… I don’t have to explain my reasoning to you. It’s not like I’m a prude you know.” My defenses came up. “Whoa. Wait a minute.” My words stretched out. “Lo told me this morning that it was going around school that Tyler’s truck tire got slit wide open. I’m guessing you know something about that.”
He smirked, with a cocky grin. “My lips are sealed.” His mouth tightened and his eyebrows rose, that sneaky little bastard.
“So that whole kissing scene at the party was just to get a reaction out of Tyler?”
He shook his head yes. “And it worked like a charm.”
“Good,” I straightened up a little taller.
“Yeah it was good,” he winked.
“Stop it,” I told him. “I am human you know.” The fact that his touch caused a reaction out of me wasn’t my fault. So what. I’m allowed to feel something, even if it was only an urge. It meant nothing more, so sue me.
“Oh I know you are.”
“It won’t happen again.”
He scoffed. “Damn right.”
I looked for the hidden meaning behind his words, but I couldn’t find them. What was that supposed to mean?
Damn right.
Obviously, I was too good for him. We didn’t need some magic eight ball to tell us any different. I loathed him, so he needn’t worry about me having some emotional type reaction to his touch. I wouldn’t go there.
Not ever…
Draven
For some unknown reason, I said too much. As Jenny and I sat there on the bed, I let the words spill out like they’d been locked up inside me. There was no reason for her to know anything about me, none whatsoever. I should’ve never told her about the whole group home thing. With a couple of months until my eighteenth birthday, I couldn’t risk it. She was the last person I ever expected to share anything with.
Maybe that’s what was bothering me, or maybe it was the fact that she admitted she would’ve agreed to date Tyler. I don’t know. I couldn’t wrap my head around any of it. The guy infuriated me. All I wanted was a piece of revenge, and I got it. Letting her get under my skin wasn’t a part of my plan.
After cutting the conversation off, we went straight into studying. We didn’t get very far when her mother said dinner was ready. I knew it pissed Jenny off that I agreed to stay, but I couldn’t pass up the chance for a free meal, especially a hot one. I didn’t get them very often.
We left our books open on the bed, and I followed her down the stairs into the kitchen. It was the first time I’d actually been face to face with her Dad. He didn’t seem so tough. He was far less frightening than my own Dad. You’d have to be a tank to match his brute force.
“Draven, this is my husband Steve.” Mrs. Pearson said before showing me to my seat. It was a small table and I was seated directly next to Jenny. Across the table was Jenny’s brother Trevor. He was an odd kid.
“Nice to meet you Draven,” Steve said.
I didn’t reply, just nodded my head. It wasn’t in my nature to be accepting, and I couldn’t care less what anyone thought of me. My guard was always up. Take it or leave it.
“What have you two been working on?” Steve asked me, but I didn’t feel like answering. I just waited for Jenny to tell him. Small talk was pointless in my opinion, especially with people I barely knew. I stared straight ahead at the table of food, and waited for the moment I could dig in. I just wanted to eat, and get back to studying.
Mrs. Pearson made small talk throughout the dinner but it was all very uncomfortable. After a few short answers, she finally quit asking me questions. I wasn’t used to being with a normal family that sits down to eat dinner at a table. Hell, I wasn’t even used to eating a home cooked meal, but I scarfed it down. It might’ve been my last one, and it was too good to pass up.
Everyone seemed to glare at me as I shoveled the food in my face, even though they were trying hard not to. I could feel their eyes on me, silently judging my every move.
By the time I finished my last piece of bread, I could barely move. My stomach was turning and I felt violently nauseous, like my insides were wrecking havoc. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so full.
Trevor had already left the table to go back to his room, and Jenny was sitting as still as a statue next to me. Her Mom was making coffee and her Dad sat perched in his chair with his hands folded in front of him. The silence was oddly loud, and I didn’t like it. When you’re used to hearing noise, complete silence sounded terrorizing. It made me fidgety and didn’t help my already unsettled stomach. I was ready to get the hell out of that room.
“We should finish studying,” I said, nudging Jenny’s arm.
She flinched at my touch. “Yeah,” she agreed.
“We’re going back to my room to finish up. We have a lot left to do,” she told her parents.
“You’re studying in your room?” Steve asked before glancing back at his wife.
Jenny placed a quick kiss on her Dad’s cheek. “We’ve been up there this whole time, Daddy.”
“It’s fine, Steve,” her Mom interjected. I felt like this was a conversation that I was better left out of. “You kids go ahead.”
The hike up the flight of stairs was a little harder this time around on a full stomach, and Jenny was extra quiet for some reason.
When we walked back into her room, she closed the door this time. I climbed back on the bed taking my spot and waited for her to join me. She was acting weird though, like to the point where I was feeling uneasy. Something was up.
“You’re acting stranger than normal you know. What’s going on with you?”
She sat down, pulling the notebook over her lap. I thought she was going to say something about my eating, and the fact that I barely chewed my food. A starving man has to eat, but I didn’t want her prying into my business.
The longer she sat there not speaking, the madder she got. I could tell by the way the lines on her forehead grew tighter. She bit her bottom lip and closed her eyes.
Boy was I in for it, and I didn’t even know what the hell I’d done.
“You know it’s one thing for you to act like a complete ass to me. I get it. You despise me as much as I do you. But you acted like a total prick down there. My parents were nice to you. They allow you to come over here so that I can help you pass your senior year. They feed you. They were nothing but nice, and you were such a jerk. I mean seriously,” she ranted. She slammed the notebook on the bed and stood back up. “I can’t believe that I listened to my mother when she told me to cut you some slack. I’ve lost my mind.” She was raving like a complete lunatic, and spouting out truths like they were nothing. “Ever since I can remember, I have avoided you. You’re a bully. You prey on people’s weaknesses. You cause a scene no matter where you go. You think you’re owed something, and I would cringe just hearing your voice.” I couldn’t stop her as she paced the floor. When I climbed to my feet she moved in for the kill. “Let me tell you something Draven Lepage. I’m tired of walking on eggshells when you’re around, and being afraid of saying the wrong thing because you’ll embarrass me like you do everyone else. I am disappointed that I wasted my time trying to help you pass, when you you
rself wouldn’t help a thirsty man find water. I’m through. You won’t come back into this house and disrespect my parents again. And you can find someone else to tutor you, because I’m so over it.”
She finally shut up long enough for me to get a word in, but I stood there in shock and couldn’t even find the right words to say.
“Get out.” She shook her head.
“You’re mad because I didn’t speak to your family the way you wanted me to,” I spat. “Or were you just waiting for a reason to get out of this?”
“Don’t turn this around on me!” She shouted.
I smirked, which pissed her off even more. She wasn’t getting rid of me that easily. Fighting was my specialty.
“You have this brick wall up around you, making people think that you’re some bad ass who runs the show. Well news flash Lepage, the show just ended. You wanted to keep me at arm’s length, just long enough for me to get you through high school. Let’s see how good you do on your own.”
“You’re not serious.” I tried laughing it off. Tears welled up in her eyes, and I realized just how serious she was. I knew it because I could read her like a book. Her eyes narrowed in on mine and for the first time in a long time, I felt small. I felt defeated. I felt like I screwed everything up, and I was going to lose it all. All these feelings she’d kept bottled up inside about me had come out with full force, and the only words that came to mind were – she was right. This wasn’t really about her parents. That was just the icing on the cake. I’d gotten under her skin one too many times.
I’d always used my rage to get what I wanted, I didn’t know any other way. And I couldn’t change. Rage wasn’t going to win this war.
“Go,” she told me again.
I walked over to the bed and gathered my things. When I looked back at her she still had that fighting look in her eyes. They were filled to the rim with unshed tears, and I didn’t have any words that would make it better. Those kinds of words didn’t even exist in my vocabulary.
I stepped out into the hallway and she slammed the door behind me. I stood there for a moment, but when I heard her crying I got the hell out of there. I took the steps two at a time, and left her house in a hurry.
Into dark water Page 5
