[3] Blue Beetle Kisses

B A D

B O Y ' S

G A M E

By seven in the morning, Archer had crawled back through the window he initially came through and allowed me to finally have some privacy.

After confirming that he was completely out of sight I hop into the shower, putting on a mixtape Ryder gave me.

It is a guilty pleasure of mine to occasionally play Ryder Nilsen's mixtape he made for me for our two-year anniversary. The mixtape consists of overplayed love songs and what was commonly heard at weddings. At the time he gave me the disc I was extremely fond of it, the love songs reminders of all the joy of a healthy relationship. That is until I found out our relationship was anything but healthy, that Ryder had cheated on me with my own cousin, Delilah.

Betrayal is something that can never be forgiven; it's cruel and unforgettable. I remember vividly the day I found out of Ryder's affair. I had been riding with my cousin to a family lunch and she happened to have the same exact mixtape inserted in her car. It was anything but a coincidence that she had the same playlist of songs because the beginning of the disc was of Ryder singing a cover of an indie love song. At some point in the car ride, I mustered up the courage to ask her for confirmation of their relationship. I asked her for the name of the boy who had stolen her heart and she indeed said Ryder. Ryder is anything but a common name.

Ryder and I shortly after the event had transpired broke up. I made sure to spare no feelings when I broke up with him. I also happened to key his most prized possession out of rage, his brand new car his parents bought for him a month before our breakup.

The car is still scratched to this day and serves as a remainder of my personal heartbreak.

My cousin Delilah cried and apologized profusely when she found out that the two of us were stuck in love with the same guy, she still does. Love sucks.

I conclude that thought and hurry to dress myself in a simple, effortless, and very Monday of an outfit.

Ten minutes after I wrestle with my hair I'm running downstairs, school starting in ten minutes.

"Morning, Dad," I say quickly, making a run for the front door.

Dad, please don't ask about this morning and the moan I clearly did not make.

I'm about to twist the doorknob when my dad speaks, "Morning, sweetheart."

I turn around and place a small innocent smile on my face.

"Have a nice day at work-"

"I went to the pharmacy and picked up some pain relievers; I can schedule you an appointment for the lady doctor if the bad pain continues," he says with genuine concern laced in his voice.

My dad is great, especially after my mom passed. However, although she died I don't want him to think he has to be the one who has to be there for my womanly adventures. I rather he just be the normal dad who avoids the subject and pretends like I'm always his little girl.

"I'm feeling a lot better now," I say before saying a final goodbye.

As I walk out the door all I want is to slap Archer for making my dad and I go through that awkward spell.

* * *

"You and me Grey," Archer proclaims loudly at lunch, the second I'm about to take a bite out of my grilled chicken wrap.

The courting had apparently begun and let me say that he was not at all Romeo and an advanced romancer.

He is holding a wilting rose and he has a new purple bruise near his chin, battle wounds fresh and something that could not impress.

I internally smirk, if he thinks he's quite the catch I would love to tell him otherwise.

I feel at least ten eyes staring at the unraveling scene; it's quite spectacular in all honesty, the school's self-proclaimed bad boy, and the all-American douchebag's ex-girlfriend.

I decide to make this interesting; after all, we have accumulated a small crowd to entertain.

And he never said I couldn't play hard to get.

"Uh huh," I reply with a raised eyebrow, paying no mind to his display.

"How would you like the opportunity to go on a date with one of the hottest guys in the world?" he rolls off his tongue with a smirk, every word he said a pure reflection of himself, no acting involved at this point.

I hold back a laugh, keeping my lips tightly sealed.

"I would love to go on a date with Zac Efron," I say cheerfully, looking at him for a mere second before ignoring him once more.

"Babe, no I meant me."

I laugh, a hearty laugh, shaking my head.

"That's funny," I mumble.

He leans into me, waiting for me to continue.

"Sorry, West. I wouldn't date somebody of your nature in a million years; self-proclaimed bad boys aren't my type. Wanna-be badasses such as you aren't as desirable as it may seem," I state, flashing him a million dollar smile.

His jaw drops for a second before he recollects himself and I feel his hand push my chin upwards to face him. His body moves closer to mine, a wave of pink coming to my cheeks.

"Who's the wanna-be?" he asks huskily, his face inches away from mine.

"You," I mouth.

He let's go of my chin and then backs away, keeping his eyes on mine.

"You'll be mine by the end of the week, Grey," he says, fixing his jacket.

"Sure, babe," I say, mimicking him.

Archer begins to walk away while sets of eyes linger on me; he turns around right before he's out the cafeteria door.

"Stop staring at her, she's my girl."

* * *

I walked out to my car immediately after the last bell of the day rings just to see Archer leaned against my car slow clapping.

Today has been a long day, apparently, our little charade became the gossip of our school by fifth period. I could feel eyes trailing my every move, even a few snickers. Ending the day by seeing him wasn't necessarily the best thing in the world, but I guess it made us two steps closer to achieving revenge. The more people see us together the more people talk, and the more people talk means the more likely Ryder will hear about us.

He and I had obvious reasons to be at odds ends, Ryder and Archer apparently had some feud as well. Ryder has always been the jealous type and I want him to regret ever cheating on me.

"You're quite the actress," Archer says, snapping me out of daze

I unlock my car, opening the trunk so I can throw my backpack in. I roll down my car windows in order to cool the car down faster.

"You too, babe," I reply.

He snorts and then shifts past me, opening the driver's side of the car. My car.

He gets into my beautiful baby blue beetle, my mother's prize possession.

"Excuse me?"

He shuts the door, cocking his head out of the rolled down window and says, "You're excused."

I feel a few eyes on us and just simply get on the passenger side, pushing my car keys in the keyhole and rolling up the windows. They were too far away to hear us, but they definitely could still see us.

"What do you think you're doing?" I question him.

He starts the car and then gives me a small glance before responding.

"Driving," he replies matter-of-factly.

I turn the key and the engine shuts off.

"Try again," I say.

He once again starts the engine then speaks slowly and concisely, "I'm driving."

I twist the key again, however, instead of just simply turning off it makes a growling noise before shutting down.

He tries to turn the key and start the car once again; his attempt at restarting the car utterly fails.

"Look what you did!" I proclaim, opening my door and slamming it hard behind me.

He too gets out of the car and walks around to my side.

"You're the one who kept turning off the damn car," he retorts, throwing his hands in the air.

"It's not my fault you jackass," I say under my breath.

He shakes his head roughly before replying, "And it's mine, princess?"

I nod my head, he sighs.

"You're not the most tolerable person, no wonder Ryder cheated on you," he says rashly with pure conviction.

I quiet myself for a second, pressing back my hair with frustration with my right hand. I try to play it off, but it is hard because the words he spoke hurt a lot. However, they didn't hurt enough because I am filled with a much stronger emotion than sorrow. At this point in time I didn't care if I happened to be out of character and wasn't going along with this fake relationship plan, I'm mad.

And apparently Archer is also equally mad, I feel the frustration seconds later in our kiss.

Archer West kisses me.

His lips are consumed with rage as he touches mine and kisses me hard against my now broken blue beetle. His arms wrap around my waist desperately. In-between the frustration I feel as if his lips regretted what they let out and he was also trying to apologize for what he just said.

His eyes are closed throughout our kissing session, however, mine don't stay closed and become wide open. My eyes become wide open and I suddenly find myself staring straight at Ryder.