Chapter 15

Darryl Nelson

This party was bordering on lame. Smit was chatting my fucking ear off as per usual, the beer was warm, and the music fucking sucked. But my night had just gotten a whole lot better because Stevie had just taken to the dance floor.

She looked fucking edible in some body-hugging lilac dress which looked like a long vest, with wide straps, stopping just above her knees.

For something which was actually pretty modest, the dress was pure sex. She and her weird friend found themselves a place amongst the other bodies, carving out a small space to start dancing.

Stevie was naturally gifted at dancing—years of cheerleading practice had given her fluid hips and an almost inherent sense of musicality.

After staring, admittedly a little creepily, at her for a couple of songs, I watched with gritted teeth as that jackass footballer made his way from his gaggle of other dumb jocks and wrapped his hands around her waist.

She looked back at him with a warm smile—a fake Stevie smile if ever I saw one—and he leaned closer to her.

I strained forward, somewhat relieved when I saw he wasn’t pressing his lips to her skin as I feared.

Even more relief flooded my veins as I watched her surreptitiously move away from him and his grabby hands, and I settled back against the wall, bringing the red solo cup to my lips and taking another mouthful of tepid beer with a grimace.

Even Hunter manages to give cold beer and he’s situated in the middle of the fucking park.

Weird-girl eyed me for a second before pulling Stevie close and pressing their foreheads together. I could see her lips move, and then Stevie looked round, finding me immediately with her entrancing mismatched eyes.

I was obsessed with the colors when we were kids, they always reminded me of the different colors of the sea in different weathers.

She rolled her eyes at me, and I couldn’t help the smirk which lifted the sides of my mouth. I shook my head slowly, trying to give her a warning about the douchebag who was still trying to grind his pencil dick up against her.

The second he entered my mind, he turned towards me too, a frown on his face as he said something to her.

I watched his lips move around the words “fucking freak,” and I couldn’t help but storm towards them, feeling adrenaline start trickling through my blood as this prick squared up to me, puffing his chest out as I stopped, toe-to-toe with him.

“This asshole jock bothering you, Stevie?” I sneered, not dropping my gaze from Brodie’s. “She’s just fine,” Brodie jumped in as Stevie opened her mouth, not letting her speak. “So, you can fuck off back to whatever rock you crawled out from under…and leave my sister alone too.”

“Sister?” It dawned on me that the girl I had been flirting shamelessly with over Stevie in English lit, was Brodie-douche’s twin sister, and a cruel grin spread across my lips.

“Oh, you mean darling little Brie? Yeah…I’ve been enjoying snacking on her recently. She spreads nearly as easily as her namesake…” The cunt sucker-punched me on the jaw, snapping my head to the side.

“You motherfucker!” he growled, throwing another punch towards me, which I dodged, clenching my fist and bringing it round to connect with his cheekbone with a satisfying crunch. Fists on both sides started flying with abandon, and I felt my lip split under one well-placed hit.

Hands soon pulled me back, and I heard Smit’s voice next to my ear telling me to calm down. Two other guys were holding Brodie too, and I felt some sense of pride at the bruising already appearing around his eye and on his jaw.

We continued to spit insults at each other as we were separated until I growled, pulling myself out of the grip of Smit and his friend.

“I’m fine! Let me the fuck go!” I looked Brodie up and down, spitting a bloody gob of spit at his feet. “That’s the last fucking time you get to touch her.”

I turned and strode out of the house, getting about two steps onto the front lawn before I heard her voice call out for me. “Darryl! Please, stop.” I hesitated, and it gave Stevie time to catch me up, wrapping her dainty hands around my bicep. “Please…are you okay?”

“What the fuck do you want from me, Stevie?” She faltered, her face dropping slightly. “I just want…” She bit her lip as she studied my face, although I wasn’t sure what it was she was looking for. “I want things to go back to how they used to be.”

“Oh, Stephanie, I’m not that same little kid who will follow you without question, who will believe all your lies.” A frown puckered her smooth forehead.

“What lies?” I shook my head, dismissing her, and started to walk away, but she grabbed my arm again. “Darryl, what lies? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“Like fuck you don’t,” I spat, yanking my arm free and striding away. Ignoring the tears coursing down her cheeks. Ignoring the way those tears made my heart clench.

***

“Dude, you’re on Rhea Pappas’s shit list,” Smit excitedly told me as he noisily sat at the lunch table. I rolled my eyes as his water bottle tipped over and bounced on the floor. “Why does that seem to make you so happy?”

His pierced eyebrow above his hazel eyes raised as he scanned the room looking for the aforementioned girl.

“Because it might give me my in…I can keep her updated on where and when you might be so she can avenge her wrath on you, and then she might allow me to take her on a date or something,” he trailed off with a lovesick smile, and I pretended to gag.

He grinned around a mouthful of food. “Oh, by the way, I’ve got us on the line up for a gig tomorrow night, so tell all your friends and family.” He leaned back to retrieve a crumpled flyer from his front pocket and slid it across the table to me.

I tipped him a nod, glancing at it before tucking it in the breast pocket of my shirt. Smit straightened up in his seat, his eyes fixed on something behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Stevie dragging her weird friend out of the cafeteria.

Fingering the soft over-folded paper in my pocket, I wondered if Stevie and weird-girl might show up to the gig. Why did I even care if she was there to see me?