by Karla Luna
“I had to be by myself and think things through. So I took a walk. Walking at night really helps calm my mind and relieve some of the stress I’ve been feeling. I couldn’t just stay in my room. I needed to stretch my legs, too. I’m so sorry I got you worried. It won’t happen again. I’ll warn you next time.”
He seemed to think this through as he looked down. He pressed his lips together and then looked up at me while sighing deeply.
“Okay, I forgive you.”
That made me grin and run over to his side. I practically squeezed him with a hug as I sat down next to him. He chuckled and my heart warmed up. I really missed that little laugh of his. It definitely made my day better.
He put his arm around me when I sat up straight, and I lay my head on the crook of his neck while breathing in his scent. He always smelled so good, like a newly washed car.
“Evelyn.” I hummed as I grabbed his hand and gently caressed his skin. Now, I’m sure people will think we’re a couple all over again. But I didn’t give a single fuck this time. I was here, with Zavier, and he was going to stay safe… with me. “Why did you cry? I was starting to panic then since I don’t really know what to do when a girl cries. Jesse says that is the time to cut and run.” We both laugh. Yep, that was Jesse for you. “But I handled it because I didn’t want to leave you like that.”
He put his hand on my chin and I lifted my head up to look him in the eyes. He gave me a cute, innocent smile and I felt like crying all over again, but I stopped myself from crying. I would not cry in front of these people. If they saw me crying, I knew they’d see me differently and I won’t be the bad girl in town anymore.
But hey, I’m only human, just like everybody else. I’m allowed to feel other emotions besides anger.
“I don’t know why I cried. It just happened,” I whispered honestly, as he cocked his head to the side in such an adorable way. I shook those thoughts away and smiled at him. “Hey, how about we start our first lesson today after school. Okay? I promise, no emotional disaster this time.” I put my pinky out and he sweetly smiled before locking his pinky with my own.
“Okay,” he said, but his eyes were looking down at my lips.
After lunch, I was walking down the hall toward my next class. But when I turned a corner and spotted Davne right in front of me, I turned back around.
He of course, followed me, walked alongside me, and suddenly pulled me into a corner where no one would see us.
I grumbled and looked up in annoyance.
“Had fun the other day with you,” he whispered in my ear as he nibbled on it, which made me push him away. “Let’s do it again. Tonight? My house? No clothes this time?”
“Keep dreaming, Mister Bad Boy.” I grimaced and started walking away again, but he still caught up to me.
“Hey, come on, don’t be that way.” He grabbed my wrist and turned me around to face him again as I rolled my eyes. Um, isn’t he breaking his own little end of the deal? Little fucker! “You and I both know you enjoyed it. A lot.” Okay, so maybe I did enjoy it when I shouldn’t have. He had a way with his lips. They weren’t just for show. Just like that body might be as well…
“Davne, I will not be some booty call if you’re planning on doing that.”
“You know, now that you’ve mentioned it, it actually doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”
“Shut. Up!” I hissed, making him raise his hands up in defense while slightly pouting in a joking manner. “You can’t fucking call me every night. You know he was already suspicious, right? Besides, you said you didn’t have to exist during school hours or even any daylight hours for that matter. So as of right now, I don’t know you, I don’t care about you. Oh wait, I never did. Ah-buh-bye.”
As I pushed him aside and walked away, I heard him chuckle behind me, making me cover my mouth to hide the smile that was threatening to spread over my lips.
That was weird.
•Zavier•
“I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, I’m just saying that along the way, maybe you two will be the ones ending up together.”
“Ethan, Ethan, buddy, say no more.” Jesse put his hand up to stop Ethan from talking. Ethan closed his mouth shut and lay back on the seats as Jesse got a hold of the wheel again with both of his hands. I never say anything, but I hate it when he drives with one hand. He easily loses control and I immediately have this compulsion to pray, and I’m not even religious. “Zavier here knows what he’s getting himself into. Besides, why would Evelyn go for a guy like him. No offense.”
All I did was sigh and roll my eyes while looking out the window. There wasn’t even a point in saying the usual ‘none taken’ because he always did these sorts of things anyway.
“With the grand help of Evelyn, Joss and Zavier will be together. I guarantee it.” Well, he isn’t bad all the time. He can be pretty supportive and a great friend that’s always been there for me. “Well actually, this motherfucker’s…”
“I’m out,” I said just as he stopped the car in front of my house. I knew an insult was most likely going to escape his mouth, so I’d rather not be there to listen to it. I didn’t even bother waving goodbye or anything. If I were one of those guys (you know which ones right?), then I would’ve flicked them off or something. But I’m just too nice, like we’ve already established.
As I was walking away though, Jesse beeped the car and yelled out at me, “Hey! Make sure to use your tongue right when she shows you how to…”
I tightly closed my eyes and slammed my front door shut after I ran in. I did not want to hear that last part of the sentence. It was surely going to be bad or gross, or both. Jesse was a lot of things, as you can already tell. He was immature, flirty, obnoxious, insulting, and just a tiny bit perverted. Oh, wait, aren’t most guys? Well obviously I’m not most guys. And I’m glad I’m not, even if it makes me a ‘loser’ or something synonymous to that.
But really, sometimes I don’t even know why Jesse’s my best friend. Ethan’s more of the quiet guy, but I know how he really was. Well, at least he kept his thoughts on the inside. Jesse didn’t care. He speaks his mind, which is really bad, obviously. Case in point, he’s gotten too many detentions in the past for rudely speaking his mind in class.
Walking into the kitchen, I was already craving some of the junk food that we had downstairs. We kept a bit of it in some of the cabinets here though. Mom wanted us to return it all or give it away, and she told us every day. But of course, we ignored it. Who would want to give these up? Maybe I should make myself a sandwich and then eat some Nutella or something. Wow, that stuff is awesome!
As I was making myself a ham sandwich, I suddenly felt a presence behind me. I don’t remember this house being haunted, but whatever. I’m not scared of a little ghost.
“Hi!”
As soon as I heard that, I screamed and turned around while grabbing on to my rapidly beating heart.
“Evelyn,” I barely whispered, as she smiled cutely at me and cocked her head to the side. She had her hands behind her for some reason, so I’m just gonna slowly walk farther away from her.
“Drop your sandwich and get your romance books!” she said in a commanding way as she pointed a finger at me. So she has nothing in her hands, huh? “It’s time for class on Girls and Love 101!”
Three awkward seconds passed before I started laughing. She gaped at me and smacked my arm.
“Ow! What was that for?” Boy, she’s strong.
“You’re laughing at me! I am teaching you all there is and all that I know. Now let us go!” She grabbed my wrist and started pulling me away. But before she could take me out of the kitchen, I quickly reached for my sandwich and took a bite out of it.
She took me all the way upstairs to her room and I sat down on her bed. Her room was nice and it smelled just like her (I sound like a creep for that. Sorry!). It was also pretty dark. Many of her things were black, just like her clothes. But it all fit her. She didn’t look like those scary people. Unless yo
u get her mad. Now there’s a look so scary she’ll most likely appear in your nightmares (no biggy, really).
I noticed she kept staring at me as I ate my sandwich and finished it up. I felt awkward as I looked around, trying to find out why she was looking at me like that. Was she even blinking?
“What?” I finally asked. She just giggled and sat down next to me on the bed, very closely. But I didn’t move or even think about moving.
“Nothing. Let’s start now.”
I nodded and gave her a small smile. I was glad she looked happier than she did the last time we tried this. I was still very curious as to why she just cried like that in front of me. Maybe she missed her friends back home or something. I just knew I wanted to keep her in my arms and never leave her. She was broken and I could tell. So I wanted to be with her every step of the way.
“All right, so what do we start with?”
She smirked. “How a girl acts and feels. Tell me what you think about them. Just in general, I guess.” She shrugged and waited for my answer.
“Well, I feel like girls are more different than what they actually seem to be.”
She nodded approvingly. “Okay, that one’s correct. See, we tend to hide most of our feelings on the inside. If Joss were to tell you it was okay that you were, I don’t know, three hours late to your first date…”
Whoa, three hours la— “Why would I do that?!”
“It’s an example, calm down.” Oh right. “Anyway, if she said it was okay, she would actually be blowing up on the inside. She sees you with another girl and says it’s cool to have girl friends, but on the inside, she might be seething with jealousy.”
I tried to imagine that. Nothing came up. I don’t hang out with many girls unless they come to me, asking for help on a class. Come on, I’m the nerd! When there are group projects that are worth 30% of your grade, I’m suddenly the most popular guy in class. They’ve never been flirty with me either. Okay, maybe some, but they all mostly know how I am. Remember? No experience with the girls... They wouldn’t really want a guy like that, now would they? So technically, the only girl I hang out with is Evelyn. Oh well, how would that turn out? I mean, if Joss and I were to ever date? She didn’t really seem like the jealous type, but then again I don’t really know her. I might think I do, but as Evelyn just told me, girls tend to hide their emotions pretty well. That's why they’re so difficult to read most of the time.
For the rest of the night, Evelyn told me all about a girl’s emotions and feelings, and even gave me some really great examples so that I could understand perfectly. I found out things I didn’t know much about, or at all. I could tell she was going to be a really great help. I'll hopefully conquer my fear in no time, even though it still seemed pretty stupid one at that.
22: Her Weakness
•Evelyn•
I snuck up behind Zavier on the couch Thursday night, and clapped my hands right next to his ear, as he was finishing up some math homework. He jumped and looked at me with slightly creased eyebrows.
“Yeah, thanks for that mini heart attack,” he stated, pointing at me with his blue mechanical pencil. I just gave him a wide smile and took the pencil from his hands.
“Today is lesson numeros dos, Zavier!”
He gave me a small smile with a look that told me he was probably going to correct me or something. Pfft. “Um…” Yep, he’s gonna correct me. “I’m pretty sure it’s numero dos. Numero can’t be plural because you’re referring to one number, which is dos (two), and not stating a quantity, if that makes any sense.” It didn’t, but I guess I understood him. Whatever. I wanted to get this lesson started already! And I have my reasons as to why.
“Well, my bad, I didn’t take French,” I joked as I threw myself on the couch.
Zavier tilted his head to the side and the look on his face was like one you’d have after seeing someone hurt themselves. I love watching people hurt themselves sometimes, actually, especially if I, somehow, caused the pain. Doesn’t that just make me a little angel?
“That’s Spanish. Number two in French is… numéro deux.”
“You know what?!” I playfully snapped, getting a bit irritated by his corrections. I knew some of this stuff, I guess. I just forget, all right? Either way, little Mister Smarty Pants just had to make someone feel like a real dumbass. But goddamn, why did him talking to me like that turn me on so much?
Zavier went into “good boy” mode (it’s not like he never was in that mode), and pressed his lips together to probably stop himself from talking again.
I took a deep breath and relaxed again. “Lesson number two, a physical lesson. We, my fellow Zavier, learned all about a girl’s emotions yesterday and todayyy, we will learn about a girl’s weakness.”
Okay, so maybe I was moving a bit too fast on these things but the next thing was French kissing, so it was all good. Trust me. It was all very appropriate, and we needed to get these things moving. Sure, it may sound like I’m using him right now with the ‘physical’ lessons but I really do want to teach him. I want him to get over his fear and stop being nervous and self-conscious. I won’t be turning him into some douche player. Hell no! I’ll just be turning him into a young man who will know exactly how to treat a girl respectfully, how to be gentle (and when to be rough, if you know what I mean), and basically, stuff I’ve already went through. And even if all of this was for him to get to Joss, I felt honored to be his first everything. Beat that, Joss? Bet you can’t. I looked at Zavier and noticed he gave me a cute, confused face, one I hardly see on him, since he’s obviously oh-so-very smart.
“Um, a girl’s weakness? Shouldn’t I learn how to like, hold her hand first or something?”
I held up a finger to cut him off. “Ah, those are the basics, teddy bear. Come on, you hug her, you hold her hand, that’s all there is to it! You just gotta be casual about it, so there is no awkwardness.”
He scoffed. “Yeah, ‘cause I’m not awkward at all.”
Well, when you put it like that…
I continued on anyway, as if I didn’t just hear that little comment of his. “And be nice, not force her into it. We don’t like that. But anyway, I will not only be teaching you about how girls are, but also about sexuality.” As I said the last part, I couldn’t help but smirk at him as his adorable eyes went wide with horror.
“Whoa, whoa, what!?”
“It’s a normal thing. I need to help you with your sex life, it’s only fair actually…”
He gulped and put his hand over his face in frustration. “Oh god…”
Bravo! Damn. “Good, you’re already learning how to moan.” I clapped then pointed at him with a serious face. “That one was good.”
“Evelyn!” He blushed and gently hit my arm even though he knew I was definitely kidding (kind of).
I sighed and playfully rolled my eyes. “I said I’d teach you how to kiss as well, remember that? This is one step before that. Okay? I just want to show you how to make a girl feel good. A relationship is everything. But later, you guys will really want to jump each other’s bones and it will be very hard to…”
“Evelyn!” he sternly warned me again, which made me huff and slump my shoulders as if I were a little kid being punished for eating junk food before dinner.
“Fine, I'll be quiet.”
Silence…
I hated silence so much. I always needed some sort of sound, usually it was just music. But there was none then, so I made my own little ‘music’ and started popping my mouth, which – to most people – would be very annoying. And hey, maybe that’s exactly what I was going for. It certainly got to Zavier. So after a few more seconds, he sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“I… guess if we have to…”
I didn’t give him any time to finish that sentence before I grabbed his arm and hauled him all the way upstairs to his own room, with an indescribably huge grin on my face.
Time to have some real fun now, aye?
I threw him on the bed
, and he seemed startled as he took a look around his own room, probably trying to get his surroundings and system straight. He looked pretty freaked out right now, so I’ll try to do this with a little pep talk before we begin.
The subject – good girls. Joss was a good girl, we could all easily tell. But I knew more than that. She probably did bad things too, even if she’s a preacher’s daughter. People do bad things all the time. It’s human nature. They may not be the type of bad things I’m always doing. But I guess lying’s pretty bad. Cheating is very bad as well, though I have no idea why she would cheat. I’m talking about tests here. She’s probably voted most smarticle-cubicle in the whole state of – what state are we in again? Ah yes, New Jersey. Gosh, sometimes I still think we’re in my hometown. I miss it that much. Right, back to the subject. I got so off topic sometimes, it’s abnormal.
Good girls (a.k.a. two words I hate put together) will indeed like bad boys. You know, it’s part of the whole high school cliché thing. And that’s exactly what I started off telling Zavier, but more along the lines of…
“Good girls like bad boys, too.” … which, I now realize, isn’t all that different from what I had originally thought of, but whatever works.
“Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that one…”
“Shut it, nerd boy.” Zavier playfully rolled his eyes at me and deeply sighed. Once I knew he wouldn’t interrupt me anymore, I continued on. “Would you say Joss is a good girl?” He opened his mouth to answer me, but I didn’t give him a chance to explain himself. “Answer me, boy!”
“Well…”
“Too late! Now,” I paused to bring one finger up and start pacing back and forth in the room. “We are all good and bad, but we have one quality more than the other. I would personally say Joss is one of the good girls with, give or take, a few bad habits.” I stopped and turned to face him, making him look up at me with shy little eyes. “Would you agree with that?”
