VIII

I eventually found Felix, stood talking to Angel, and I felt my mood darken further. Did he prefer her to me? She was the better twin, after all. He noticed me and his face broke out into a smile, waving me over. That made me feel a little better, so I pushed my idiotic thoughts aside.

"What's wrong?" Felix asked, leaving Angel at the counter.

"I-um... Will and I kissed, but a guy from school saw. He's here." I panicked, looking for any sign of Jimmy.

"Calm down. First of all, I'm happy you guys are getting along so well. Second of all, it's fine. We're all here for you. Will is like a friendly giant, but if somebody came near you he'd send them into tomorrow." Felix gave me a hug, calming me down.

I nodded. He was right. Jimmy was bigger than me, but Will was still bigger than him. I calmed myself down, ignoring Angel's worried gaze. I grabbed Felix's drink and gulped it down. Will walked into the kitchen, looking slightly hurt. I felt bad I had rushed off like that, so I walked over to meet him.

"I'm sorry for that, I saw this homophobic guy from school..." I began to explain.

"It's fine. I just thought you didn't like the kiss." Will cut me off, looking embarrassed.

"Far from it. I loved it." I assured him, taking a step closer.

I saw Angel and Felix giggle and slip off, giving us some privacy. Will leaned down to kiss me again and I relaxed into his touch, his arms wrapping around my waist again. I ran my fingers through his hair as he kissed me, enjoying him taking charge. I felt the counter dig into my back and he lifted me off the ground, sitting me on the counter. He stood between my legs as we made out, doing all of this without ever breaking the kiss.

I know he did it so that he didn't have to lean down to kiss me while I was on my tippy toes, but my heart was pounding so hard. It was hot. My slightly hazy mind was screaming for us to do more, which I was ignoring. He broke the kiss and trailed kisses down my neck, sucking lightly at the nape. He pulled away, still staying close to me as we both caught our breath.

"Wow." He whispered, "That's addictive."

I blushed and placed another soft peck on his lips, making him smile. I stayed sat on the counter for a while, Will stood between my legs as we chatted. I got to know a lot about him. He's scared of moths, he's also studying english- in a lot of the same classes as Felix- his favourite cuisine is Mexican and he plays rugby. We also made out a lot more, laughing and joking in-between.

I excused myself after a while to go to the bathroom and skipped off through the house, heading upstairs in search for it. Drunken teens were lining the stairs and hallways, several making out. I carefully stepped over them, looking at the multitude of doors. I tried one and quickly slammed it shut again as moans leaked out. Definitely not that room.

The next one I tried actually was the bathroom and I did my business before swinging the door open again. I was surprised to see a very, very drunk Jimmy Wellot stood there. I could smell the alcohol radiating off of him, he was either drenched in it or he'd drank more than humanely possible. I stuttered over my words, looking for something to say. I had a bad feeling in my stomach.

He pushed me back into the bathroom and closed the door. I tried to push past him, but he was too heavy, even in his drunken state. I backed away from him as much as I could, but he came straight up to me. I prepared myself for a punch, closing my eyes and wincing. What I received, however, was a heavy weight on my chest and arms wrapping around me.

Confused, I looked down and saw that Jimmy was sobbing into my chest. He was clinging onto me for dear life, his sobs gut wrenching. I remained rigid, just stood there. What the hell was I supposed to do in this situation?

"I'm sorry." He cried, his words thick with emotion and only coming out in-between sobs and sniffles, "It's my fault."

I knew exactly what he was talking about but I was beyond surprised he was talking about it. An apology was the furthest thing from what I expected. He seemed really torn up about it, though. This was a whole new side to Jimmy Wellot that I hadn't experienced before; he had never apologised for what happened when we were seven.

"It's fine. It was gonna happen either way." I rigidly tried to comfort him, to no avail.

"No. It's not fair." He yelled, pushing away from me drunkenly and falling to the floor.

I towered over him, him crying at my feet on the cool bathroom floor. For a brief moment, I considered how it's usually the other way round. I felt incredibly awkward; I didn't know what to say. He's right, it's not fair. That's not gonna make him stop crying, though. I considered just leaving for a second, but I don't think my conscience could take that.

I swore under my breath and dropped to the floor, helping Jimmy sit up. We both sat across from each other, cross legged. I passed him a wad of tissues and he just let it fall to the floor as he continued sobbing. I rolled my eyes and took the tissues, wiping his eyes myself. He blew his nose and looked at me with watery eyes.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He sobbed, "I don't deserve it."

"You're right. You don't."

He frowned at that and pulled his legs to his chest. We sat there for a few minuets in silence and I thought about Will downstairs- was he waiting? As I went to get up to leave, Jimmy's hand reached out and took hold of my arm, looking at me with pleading eyes.

I stilled, considering staying for a moment, but then I shook it off and left.

I can't even believe I considered feeling bad for him. Jimmy Wellot was the reason for all of this and he had the nerve to sit back and watch the torment for the last ten years, then apologise? No. I'm not having it. I jogged down the stairs and saw my whole group sat in the kitchen.

"Hey, where were you?" Will asked curiously, looking me up and down.

"Sorry, somebody was taking a while in the bathroom. Had to wait my turn." I shrugged.

"We're all pretty much partied out, if you want to go? It's almost three am." Felix yawned, leaning against the counter.

I nodded and we all headed outside. As they called for an Uber, Will pulled me aside to say goodbye.

"I really enjoyed tonight." Will smiled, stepping closer to me, "If you want, we could go on a proper date sometime?"

"I'd love to." I smiled, blushing a bit.

"Great. I'll text you." Will murmured, leaning down and kissing me once again.

Felix wolf-whistled and Angel yelled for us to get a room from across the front lawn. I pulled back and Will groaned, giving me a hug. He whispered that he'd miss me before letting me go. I kissed his cheek and jogged across to the Uber, climbing in with everyone else.

I waved goodbye to him from the window as we drove past. The girls and Felix looked at me excitedly, expecting full details on what had happened between Will and I. The blush on my cheeks gave a lot away, but I shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"You're welcomeee!" Felix sang, proud of himself for introducing us.

"I feel like you've been leading a double life. How come you never told us about him?" Angel demanded, hitting my arm playfully.

"I only met him on Tuesday." I shrugged, "I was staying at Felix's and he was in the kitchen."

"Was it his jumper on Wednesday?" Mary teased me, "As soon as I met Felix I knew it wasn't his; no offence."

I nodded and they all cooed over me. I rolled my eyes and looked out the window, thinking about tonight. It was strange. Spending time with Will was good- I enjoyed his company. We didn't have an awful lot in common, but he was really nice and, to be frank, an amazing kisser. However, seeing Jimmy Wellot was not good. His little outburst is sure to make future tutoring sessions beyond awkward.

"He asked me out on a proper date." I told them, making Felix's face light up.

"You work quick! I told you he liked you a lot." Felix cheered, wrapping an arm around me.

"What abut you guys. Meet anyone?" I asked, looking around.

"Mary was dancing with a guy." Angel grinned.

"I got his number." She boasted proudly, which we all cheered to.

A smile played on my lips, it had been a while since I had hung out with Angel and Mary. I always felt like such an outcast with them, but today, I felt like I belonged. I truly was coming out of my shell and it was all thanks to Felix getting me to open up about my problems. If opening up to one person had made so many things more positive so quickly, maybe I would tell the girls soon.

"I can't believe we have work tomorrow." Felix groaned, falling onto my shoulder dramatically.

"Don't you mean today? It's technically Sunday." I grimaced, patting his head to comfort him.

"I think they'd notice if we both called in sick, too." Felix laughed, "Oh well. It's usually empty anyway."

The Uber pulled up outside Daxx's house and we all slipped inside, stumbling up the stairs and into our rooms, saying goodnight. Felix and I flopped down on my bed and I kicked my shoes off, tearing off my skinny jeans. I wanted nothing more than sleep right now, knowing how early we had to be up for work.

"At least buy me dinner first." Felix teased, pulling off his own jeans.

I rolled my eyes at his antics and ripped off my shirt, getting ready to sleep. I was beyond tired. As I tore off the shirt, Felix gasped audibly. I frowned and turned to look at him before realising what I had done. In my tipsy state, I had forgotten.

"Did they do that?" He asked gently, sitting on the edge of the bed and touching them lightly.

I nodded solemnly.

He was looking at hundreds of little scars and a few bruises. A lot of the scars were from years ago, but the bruises were from just over a week ago, before I met him. It looked worse than it was. They usually faded after a few years, most of them anyway. The persistent scars were from 'road rash', where I'd scraped against the concrete after one of them had thrown or dragged me. Once my shirt had torn in the fight and my back had been exposed.

"I'm sorry." Felix frowned, hugging me.

"It's fine. Not your fault." I smiled meekly.

It wasn't Felix's fault. It was Jimmy's.