The Love of My Bully

by Sam Crescent

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry too. You have no idea how sorry I am, but I can’t change what happened and neither can you.” She looked over at the guys and it hurt.

  She wanted to stop Drake from doing something he’d regret but it would only draw her back to him. They were nothing to each other and she had to accept it.

  Sean touched her arm and she wanted him to stop, but she didn’t say anything. “I really am sorry.”

  “Me too.”

  He pulled his hand away and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “Well, well, well, if it’s not the two losers together,” Ree said.

  After Drake had slept with her and tossed her aside, she’d stopped being friends with them. Now, since she and Drake had broken up, she’d seen Ree wrapped around him. Pru tried not to be jealous but it was hard. Ree flicked her hair off her shoulder and sneered at the two of them.

  Folding her arms, Pru stared at her former friend. No one else had befriended this girl. It was her and Sean, but from the start, she’d always wanted more. She hadn’t been content to just be their friend.

  “What do you want?” Pru asked.

  “What do I want? First, I’d love to rid the school of freaks like you.”

  Pru sighed. “Really. Without freaks like me, you wouldn’t be where you are today.”

  Some of Ree’s friends laughed and snorted. There was a time Pru would have played nice. She’d be in her own little corner of space, ignoring everyone. Content to be by herself or with Sean.

  “Oh, please. You think I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for you. You have no idea who you’re talking to.”

  “I’m talking to the girl who couldn’t get into Drake’s party and needed me for him to even look in your direction,” Pru said.

  “Pru, this isn’t like you,” Sean said.

  Yeah, well, maybe it was. She was tired of people hurting her and others taking advantage. Hands on her hips, she stepped up to Ree. She could take this girl. It wouldn’t be hard.

  Ree laughed. “I could have gotten into that party.”

  “You called me like a little girl needing mommy’s help. Drake didn’t want you at that party. You were nothing but a pest. You don’t have enough money to even be in his league. Believe me, I know.”

  “And you think you do? You’re nothing but a poor little bitch,” Ree said.

  “Yeah, I am, but I’m not trying to belong to him. I never wanted to. We were your friends, Ree, but this right here is your loss. When it’s over and no one wants to be around you, you’ll come crawling back. No one likes a bitch, and you’re behaving like one, first-class.”

  Ree slapped her hard and Pru took it. She didn’t mind the pain of the slap. She loved it, in fact. At least she knew she was alive still. The only person she’d ever been in a fight with was Drake. They had never gotten along and each of them had always hurt each other in one form or another. Looking at Ree right now, she wanted to hurt her.

  Ree lifted her hand and Pru didn’t even think about it, she pushed her hard, making her stumble back. As Ree came back for more, Pru didn’t try to end the fight. In the back of her mind, she knew this wasn’t about today. This was because she had to see Ree with Drake. She had to witness the other girl touching him, being able to be with him when she couldn’t, and it pissed her off so much.

  Within seconds, they were on the floor. Ree straddled her and the open slap turned into a fist. It hurt, but Pru shoved her off, rolling her to the ground and this time, she got three punches in.

  Before she could land a fourth blow, she was grabbed from behind, her arm held out.

  “Yeah, you better fucking get her off me before I hurt her,” Ree said.

  “Get off me. Let me go. She needs to fucking pay.”

  Whoever held her didn’t let her go. She was suddenly pushed into a classroom. The door shoved closed as she was pressed up against the door.

  She stared into Drake’s eyes.

  He’d gotten between them.

  He’d stopped her from fighting. Glaring at him, she tried to shake him off, but he held on to her. “Let me the fuck go.”

  The rage was unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She didn’t even know where it had come from. Why was she suddenly so angry? It wasn’t like she was jealous of Ree or even cared what the other girl had.

  “No. You’re going to hurt yourself if you don’t stop.”

  “This isn’t your fight.”

  “It is, Pru. You’re not the fighting kind and you have to stop.” He captured her hands, pressing them above her head, and she wanted to scream at him some more.

  Taking several deep breaths, she waited. The moment he let his guard down, she intended to claw his eyes out and show him who he was really messing with. She pressed against his hands, but he was much stronger than her. Even with all the adrenaline and rage consuming her. “Let me go.”

  “Pru, she’s not worth it.”

  “Is that what you say to her every night when you’re done with her? That she’s not worth it?”

  “You think I spend my nights with her?”

  “Why not? It’s not like you need to worry about commitment. You can do whatever the hell you want, right? You don’t have to care about anyone. Your parents have your future mapped out for you.” She took a deep breath, hating how mean she sounded.

  Finally, when she couldn’t take staring into his eyes another moment, she looked away.

  “Are you done yet?” he asked.

  She didn’t say anything. What is wrong with me? “Yes. You can let me go.”

  “I’m not letting you go. The principal was heading our way and I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

  “I can handle myself.”

  “Pru, stop being a bitch and just accept you can’t handle everything.”

  “You have no right to interfere with my life.” She stared into his eyes, letting him see all the pain he didn’t think he was causing. “Remember? You told me we were over, that we were through, and any right you had was gone.”

  “Pru, I didn’t want it to be like this.”

  “Neither do I. I wonder how you’d like it if Sean was all over me. Do you think you’d be happy about it? Do you think you’d be happy for me to hold you back, telling you not to hurt him?”

  “I don’t want Sean anywhere near you.”

  “We never get what we want, and you’re just going to have to deal with what happened. You’re not the boss of me, and you never will be.”

  He slammed his hand beside her head but she wasn’t afraid.

  All their lives, he’d hurt her, but in the past few months, she’d seen a side to him she knew no one else saw.

  “Stop trying to win this. You won’t like where it goes.”

  She smiled. “I’m not trying to win anything, Drake. You think people are going to talk because you pulled me off your fuck buddy? What will your parents think?” This time when she shoved him back, he didn’t put up a fight and backed off.

  Brushing down her body, she pushed some hair off her shoulder and opened the door.

  Everyone had disappeared from the corridor and while Drake had been holding her back, class had already reconvened.

  “If you go to class, there will be questions,” he said.

  Ignoring him, she walked out of the school. She still didn’t have access to a car, but she had no problem with walking. What she didn’t expect was for Drake to keep on following her.

  “Your parents will probably see you being all naughty,” she said.

  “Don’t care.”

  “Oh, please, you care and we both know it bothers you.” She stopped and whirled around to glare at him. “I have to say I’m surprised, though. Doesn’t it get you all hot and bothered to know a couple of chicks are fighting? It must be really hard for you to contain yourself.”

  “Why are you being a fucking bitch!” Drake didn’t back down from her taunting. He stepped right up into her face
. “Is this what you want? You want me to get into your face? Growl at you? Scream a little? What exactly is it you want from me?”

  “I want fuck all from you.” She tried to leave but he grabbed her arm. “Will you stop doing that? I don’t want you touching me.” She raised her hand as if to slap him across the face but he stopped her. She couldn’t do anything, and she hated him for it. “Ugh! Let me go.”

  “You seem to think I’ll just accept this kind of behavior from you.”

  “I really don’t care what you think you want or don’t want from me. I just want you to leave me alone.”

  “You see, I’m trying to do that. For your own safety, I’m fucking trying. I know shit now that makes all of this impossible.”

  Drake wasn’t hurting her hand but he also wasn’t letting her go.

  “What do you mean?”

  He glanced back at the school. “Are you willing to go for a drive with me?”

  “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Why are you suddenly nervous? Don’t you trust him? Don’t you want to go with him? Why is it so hard to give in?

  Was it really hard?

  When Drake started to lead his way back into the parking lot, she didn’t stop him, not even when he pushed her into the passenger seat. She went willingly. Even as she put her seat belt on, she knew this was a really bad idea. Nothing good could come from her going with him. Yet, she knew there was nowhere else she wanted to be. This wasn’t about hurting each other or annoying one another, this was about so much more and there were times she truly was tired of fighting with him. It seemed to be all they did.

  Relationships shouldn’t be this hard.

  “Are you dating Ree?” Pru asked.

  “No.”

  “Then why do you have her wrapped around you like a second skin?”

  “It’s all part of the act. Surely you know what it means to have someone who wants to see everything and know everything. My parents, they’ve got eyes and ears everywhere. I’ve got no choice but to act the part in order to keep them off my back.” He shrugged. “So it’s what I do.”

  “You really think they’re going to have someone watching you from inside the school?”

  “Yep.”

  “Isn’t that a little creepy?”

  “You’ve met my parents. I didn’t say it wasn’t creepy. I know what my parents want.”

  “But Ree’s not made of money either.”

  “Exactly. For them, I’m just using Ree and they’re happy for that.”

  “You know that’s weird, right? Why didn’t they accept it with me?”

  “Because with you, I kept it a secret and we both know it was a hell of a lot more than some party fling. I … hid you from my parents. Not because I was embarrassed but because I didn’t want them to hurt you or ruin what we had. You are so important to me and have been for the longest time. I can’t stand to have you hurt.”

  She couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  “I thought … I don’t know what I thought.”

  “I know what you thought and it’s not true. None of it. You think I want to give up what we had? Not after everything we went through.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry I made you feel that way.”

  “Drake, you’ve got nothing to be sorry about. Not really.”

  He laughed. “Please, don’t make this easy for me. We both know I can be a prick of the biggest kind.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that, but yeah, okay. But I also haven’t made things easy for you.” She didn’t pull away from him when he took her hand or locked their fingers together.

  “I haven’t been with Ree, not since that one time, and I never will.”

  “We’ve talked about this, Drake. One day you’re going to get married.”

  “I don’t want to and I’ve got a plan.”

  “If it’s killing your parents, it’s not going to work.” There were a lot of things she was willing to do for him but going down as a murderer wasn’t one of them.

  “You’re no fun.” He glanced over at her. “No, I’m not going to kill my parents. One of them is dead, anyway.”

  “Huh? I didn’t read anything in the news about it. What do you mean one of them is dead anyway?”

  He chuckled. “Do I have you confused?”

  “A little, why?”

  “Good.”

  He was silent.

  She kept waiting for him to spill whatever secrets he had.

  He didn’t say a word.

  “Drake, come on. Seriously? You’re not going to tell me anything?”

  “Nope. You don’t need to know, at least not yet.”

  “This is so unfair.”

  “Life, my darling, is unfair.”

  She scrunched up her nose. “You do know that was weird, right?”

  “Yeah, on a scale of one to ten, that was right up there on the weird factor, I agree.”

  She laughed. It was good to laugh with him and to have him holding her hand.

  Leaning back against the headrest, she sighed. “Do you think Ree reported me?”

  “If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll leave you alone.”

  “You know, she used to be friends with me and Sean.”

  He squeezed her hand a little tighter.

  “Don’t worry. There’s nothing going on with Sean and me. We’re … I don’t know what we are.”

  “You haven’t forgiven him?”

  “No. I want to. I mean, I should. He’s my best friend.”

  “He’s still the bastard that ruined our fun for us, Pru. You don’t have to forgive him for me.”

  “I know, but he’s always been my best friend.”

  “A best friend who wants more from you. Don’t forget that. You can pretend all you want, but it’s not going to work. He wants something from you, which is why he’s always around you.”

  “It doesn’t have to be sex or even a relationship. Some guys aren’t wired to think with their dick.”

  “You do know how stupid you sound right now, right?”

  “Hey!”

  “I’m a guy. I know what a guy is thinking and feeling and believe me, it’s not about hanging out in a chick’s room and doing homework. I’m surprised you haven’t caught Sean staring at you in the bathroom or something like that. The guy is a creep.”

  “I’ve never caught him, so he clearly is the perfect gentleman.” Again, why was she defending Sean after everything he’d done? It wasn’t like she was on his side and yet, she was acting like she was. None of this made any sense. None at all.

  “Are we done arguing about this?” Drake asked. “We will always disagree about that asshole. He’s not good enough for you. In fact, I’m not good enough for you.”

  “Don’t say that,” she said. “Let’s not talk about Sean.”

  Drake didn’t agree.

  “He’s not here with us. Don’t let him get to you, Drake. I’m here with you, not back at school with him.”

  “Do you really think it makes it any easier for me? Especially knowing he’s going to get to hold you one day. You can’t stay angry with him forever. It’s not who you are.”

  She sighed. “You keep pretending you know me, and the truth is, you don’t really know me at all.”

  “I do, trust me, I do.”

  She wasn’t going to argue. What was the point?

  “You know, one day you will thank me for not letting you beat down on Ree.”

  She snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.”

  “I said one day, not today. I know right now you’re pissed at me. You’re probably hating my guts and you know what, you’ve got a right to that.” He shrugged. “I can’t stop you.”

  “Good, because I don’t hate your guts, Drake. I’m just pissed at you for a lot of reasons.”

  ****

  Drake could handle pissed.

  He hadn’t wanted to pull Pru off Ree, but he knew deep down she wouldn’t have wanted to hurt the other girl.

  R
ee wasn’t where her anger was No, it was at him and his parents, and he had to learn to accept that she was going to hate him for a time. He’d dragged her to his car, threw her inside, and took off, leaving the school.

  This was nice, though. At least he got to spend time with her while he told her the truth of what he learned. He would do anything to extend their time together, but he wouldn’t push it. This was for them, for one last moment together.

  “How have you been?” she asked.

  “Do you really want to know?”

  She sighed. “Sure, why not?”

  “I’ve been better.” He may as well be honest with her. There was nothing about what they were going through that he liked or even agreed with.

  “Me too,” she said. “I’m trying to get over it.”

  “I know.”

  They were both hurting.

  “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t gone to that party.”

  “I know.”

  “It would have been so much easier if I’d stayed away. If we’d hated each other. You know, you being your mean self, and me, well, just fighting against you.”

  He laughed. “It wouldn’t have made life easier, Pru. I think we can both admit neither of us truly hated each other.”

  “I don’t know. I think if I said it enough times, I’d start to believe it.”

  He looked over at her and saw she smiled at him. “I’ve missed this.”

  “Yeah, and you’re going to have to get your fill for now. Are you going to tell me what it is you wanted to say?”

  “Soon. I want to … prolong this for a little while longer.”

  “Okay. I don’t mind.”

  He stared at her hand resting in her lap.

  They hadn’t been apart that long, but for him, it was too much. Reaching out, for this day only, he took her hand.

  “Drake, do you think this is wise?” she asked.

  “Yes, it is.”

  She tried to tug her hand away.

  “Pru, please, you’re with me now. We may as well do this properly. I’m going to hold your hand and then I’m going to tell you the truth of what I learned, and together, we’re going to figure this out.”

  “But we both know there’s no way we can work. We’re only prolonging the inevitable.”

  “Or we can both come up with a way to be together.”