Chapter 10 #2
“Not at all. You know how to be tough, but that’s not synonymous with insensitivity. I’ve seen you lose your temper more than once.”
I put my palms on my cheeks to hide my embarrassment.
“This really is good.” I changed the subject. Oh, Will, give me good food, and you’ll win me over.
“I told you it’s the best in town. Wanna try some?” He motioned at his juice.
I nodded and passed him my cup. Our knuckles brushed accidentally. William looked down, then smiled as I hid behind the glass.
“How do you make friends with all these moves?” he asked, trying my milkshake.
“Well . . .”
I didn’t know if I should answer What friends? or If I had your kind of friends, I’d rather be alone. Speaking of which . . .
“Will, I have to talk to you.”
My stomach did a flip as I heard those words.
That asshole James Hunter was back at our table.
I looked down. I had no intention of seeing his smartass face again.
“Now,” he demanded impatiently.
William muttered an “Excuse me for a second, June,” then got up and walked a measurable distance away with James.
But I had very sharp ears.
“Let me have an evening to myself.” Will’s voice was tinged with irritation.
“An evening to fuck White? Nasty.” James always used the same sarcastic tone no matter the subject.
“Don’t be a dick. What’s your problem with her, what’d she do to you?” My neck stiffened involuntarily.
“Do I have to spell it out? Can’t you see it?”
So he wasn’t just a dick by nature? There was an actual reason why he hated me?
“Not necessarily, James.”
They kept talking cryptically, which piqued my interest even more.
“You’ll see, you’ll back me up. It’s just like I’m saying, Will,” sputtered James.
“Look, I don’t care. I like her.”
“Her? She’s the classic type of chick who will make mountains out of molehills with you after only three weeks.”
Oh, because in this criminal’s mind, three weeks would be enough?
“James, you promised me.”
I saw William’s jaw clench and his expression get darker, but James didn’t take the hint to stop.
“And you promised you’d help me tonight, Will.”
“Not now.”
“Why?”
“Maybe I want to talk to her.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit. I’m with her because I want to be. She’s pretty, smart, and I like her. Quit being a dickhead.” William cut him off before turning around.
But that didn’t sit well with James, and he blocked Will before he could come back to me.
“She’s an insufferable bitch.”
“Look, do I say anything when you’re with Sammy, Becky, Tiffany?”
“Taylor, you forgot Taylor.”
I only realized I’d said something as I heard my own voice. James clenched his jaw. He seemed like a dog on a chain, and this would’ve made me laugh under other circumstances, but this time I put my hands over my mouth.
“You shouldn’t go back on your word, Will.” And he left, swaggering with a superiority complex, as if we were poor morons and he was god’s gift to the world.
“High-maintenance friendship, huh,” I pointed out when William came back to the table.
“I know it seems hard to believe, but James really is a good friend.” I decided not to dispute that. I didn’t want to fight with a guy who objectively hadn’t done anything wrong, especially because he had defended me and said a lot of nice things about me.
We finished our drinks and started talking about school. In order to avoid talking about James, I ranted about the shortcomings of the American education system.
“Wanna walk around outside? Actually, no, you know what? I challenge you to a game of bowling,” Will suggested at one point, amused.
“You don’t stand a chance, William Cooper. You’re up against the unbeatable bowling champion.” I solemnly put my finger up.
Obviously, that wasn’t true. I was getting a sugar high from the milkshake, or maybe I was just happy.
She’s pretty, smart, and I like her.
I was clearly over the moon, but that came to a grinding halt when William’s phone vibrated. He glanced at the screen and his expression changed suddenly.
“I gotta answer. It’s my dad. I’ll be right back.”
He left me at the front door.
I decided to avoid the crowd and went outside to breathe in the tepid night air. I must’ve gone out the wrong way because I found myself at the back of the building. It was dark, desolate, and quiet.
“Everything okay?”
I jumped.
Hunter and his friends were sitting on a bench. All of them looked sketchy.
My mom would’ve called the National Guard, the sheriff, and probably the FBI if she knew I was talking with people like this.
“White, we don’t bite.” The clean-shaven guy whose name I didn’t know chuckled.
“Shut up, Marvin,” someone said.
I pretended not to hear that and started walking. I didn’t have any idea where I was going, but I soon realized that there was nothing in the direction that I was heading.
I turned around.
“June! Where are you going? Come here. Will’s coming soon.” I shot them a dirty look. Jackson was talking.
“Yeah, he said you could wait here with us,” added the girl Jackson had his arm around.
I took a deep breath and sat down on a nearby bench.
I avoided the guys, glancing furtively at the girls with them.
Their uninhibited manner of being, their flashy clothes, and their weird makeup.
All of it emphasized how much they were everything that I wasn’t.
I wanted to learn how to put on makeup like that, just like I wanted to learn how to wear those heels and behave in a way that my mom would describe as feminine and graceful.
Instead I was just June, wearing a hoodie three times too big and jeans that made me look like I’d raided my mom’s closet.
Jackson haughtily gave me a once-over and then asked, “Wanna hit?”
A girl made a joke that I couldn’t hear.
“No thanks,” I answered tersely.
“So, June, what do you think of Will?”
I kept my mouth shut.
“Is that William’s girlfriend?” asked the curly-haired girl who had her arm around Jackson’s neck.
“She’s nobody’s girlfriend.”
The cold blast from Hunter’s raspy voice made me freeze in place. I wasn’t going to give in. I didn’t want to start a fight. I just wanted William to come back.
But all my good intentions went out the window when James sat down next to me.
“Chill, Snow White. Nobody’s disturbing your date.”
“What do you want?”
James Hunter stretched his long arm along the bench as if to surround me.
I stared in front of me, trying not to fall into his trap and take the bait.
“Is it illegal to look at you now?” His voice was so deep and seductive that it could’ve made anyone forget the sarcastic, disdainful tone that went with every joke he made.
“You just told me two seconds ago that I shouldn’t even talk to you. Make up your mind.” I couldn’t see him clearly, but I could sense him. His arm muscles tensed angrily.
“James.” Jackson’s interjection wasn’t a call, but a clear order for him to calm down.
“What don’t you like about her? She’s cute,” said the clean-shaven guy I’d heard someone call Marvin.
The brunet stroking Jackson’s chest suddenly asked, “Do you think she’s more fuckable than me?”
I looked around uncomfortably, then saw a pair of blue eyes staring at me. James Hunter frowned with an air of superiority, then curled his upper lip before taking a deep hit from his joint.
“No, not more than you,” I heard Jackson answer behind me. Ew.
“Yeah, but I’d like to hear what Jamie has to say,” the brunet insisted.
In response, he obliged and leered at me as if he could see my curves hidden under my hoodie. “I don’t know . . .” he said without taking his eyes off me. “I’d definitely do her in the ass.”
My throat closed right up.
This guy was abominable. He loved to torment people, and he was doing it for no reason.
“Come here, Becky,” he ordered, vaping again as if nothing had happened. The brunet stood, straightened her silver minidress, and then straddled James. He put the joint between her glossy lips, and she smiled mischievously.
I jumped up.
“I wouldn’t go anywhere near you even if you doused yourself with an entire bottle of disinfectant. I’d get sick if I touched you.”
My words elicited contrasting responses. Some laughed; others’ jaws dropped.
“You’re doing it again, White,” I heard him slur.
“What?”
“Thinking you’re better than everyone else.”
“I never said that,” I retorted.
I pretended not to notice how Becky was kissing his neck, rubbing against his leg.
“Taylor thinks so too,” he added with a shit-eating grin. He seemed totally unfazed by the attention.
“You and Taylor are talking too. Wow, when’s the wedding?”
“Jamie? You said you ended it!” yelled Sammy.
He got up without worrying about dropping Becky.
“I gotta say, White, you make me laugh.”
I watched him dig around for something in his jacket pockets.
He came closer, and I was immediately assaulted by his cologne. I pursed my lips, and the corner of his lips curved upward slyly. I would’ve preferred to have stayed six feet away from him, but that wasn’t in the cards. He bumped into me. His face, his wonderful scent.
“I think you’re an idiot, James Hunter.”
He lowered his head to put his forehead against mine. His gaze plunged into me. I was out of breath.
“Say that again. Go on,” he murmured.
I felt his breath tickle my lips as my morbid curiosity compelled me to admire his full, swollen lips.
“Um.”
“No little bitch has ever insulted me.”
He looked deeper into my eyes. I quivered.
“There’s a first time for everything,” I retorted, swallowing loudly. I expected him to hurl insults at me but he didn’t. James glared at me for the umpteenth time and then turned around.
“You’re only gonna bring fucking trouble.”
He pulled out a clear baggie from his pants pocket.
Fantastic. Just what I needed. The guy I’m dating’s best friend isn’t just a thug—he’s also an addict.
“You don’t deserve a friend like Will,” I said, recognizing the baggie’s contents.
James stuck his index finger in the white powder and sucked on it enthusiastically in front of my astounded face. “You’ve barely been here two days, and you think you know everything, but you don’t know shit.”
I saw him put the baggie back into his pocket before he pulled out a little leather wallet.
“Do you think anyone cares about your thug backstory? Do you think I or anyone else gives a fuck about what made you such a tortured asshole?”
Instead of getting angry, James sneered, rolled up a dollar bill, and put it behind his ear. “And here’s where sweet, innocent White is wrong.” His whisper aroused conflicting sensations in me. “I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about everyone else you think you know,” he continued.
I thought about Blaze again. Had I seen him with Jackson?
Amelia. Why didn’t she tell me what really went on with James? And why did Brian hate his guts?
Then there was William—he seemed like the perfect guy, but I had a gut feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling me. It was weird, but in that moment he seemed like the biggest asshole of all of them and the nicest one of all.
“Are you still being a dickhead?”
William came back just in time to notice the confused expression on my face.
“Definitely,” I groaned, toeing the gravel with the tip of my Vans. William shot James a look.
“Come on, June, let’s get out of here. This place isn’t your vibe.”
William took my hand. I hadn’t expected that, but if it got me out of this situation, I was more than happy about it.
We took the side street that surrounded the place, and the farther we went into the dark, the more I squeezed his fingers. I felt my heart racing so loudly that I thought it was gonna jump out of my chest.
“Jackson parked on the dirt road back here. I want to show you something.”
I forgot about my rage, about Hunter, about everything else. Right now, I was on cloud nine.
I scowled when we stopped in front of Jackson’s old pickup truck. It was totally dark outside, and there were only trees.
“Come on, get in!” William urged as he jumped on the truck bed to climb onto the roof.
Hesitantly, I took his hand. As I reached him, I realized why he’d brought me here. Below us, beyond the cliff, all of Los Angeles was lit up.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“Was it like this in Virginia?”
“No, not at all.”
I started to get cold, and rubbed my hands together.
Without being asked, William put my freezing fingers between his warm hands.
I turned my head, and our eyes met. As soon as he realized how close our faces were, he got nervous.
“Damn it, your jeans are getting dirty,” I heard him mumble.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“I’m such an idiot. I could’ve brought a blanket. Sorry, I just—” I felt his hands shaking.
“Will, really. You don’t have to apologize.”
“I’m not used to going out on dates with girls.”
I was floored, but I smiled, convinced that he was joking.
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, June. Even if it might be better to keep that to myself.” He bit the inside of his cheek, then we both burst out laughing, maybe to lighten the awkwardness.
“Does that mean that you’ve never had a long-term relationship?” I guessed.
“It means that I don’t get into relationships at all,” he admitted, staring at his hands.
“Something about you scares them all away, huh,” I exclaimed, laughing. But this time he didn’t laugh with me. Okay, calm down, June. He looks sensitive, and you’re clearly not.
He stared out, and I cursed myself for my umpteenth screwup of the night.
“I just—I want to be with someone like me. Who sees past people’s looks.”
Of course, Will looked like he’d just stepped off the runway, but the fact that he was particularly attractive didn’t mean he couldn’t want to build a deeper relationship.
“Call me stupid, but as soon as I met you, you gave me that impression, June.” Call me stupid if I ever missed an opportunity like this.
I let my instincts take over and closed my eyes.
I felt our mouths graze against each other.
I licked my lips to moisten them, and all I needed was a fraction of a second.
One. And then his damn telephone started to ring.
My eyes widened, and I looked up into the clouds.
William was already holding his phone. His face fell.
“It’s James.”
I wanted to reach out, grab the phone, and throw it over the cliff.
“James, what the fuck? Okay, chill out. Yeah, I get it. Yeah.”
I felt a wave of relief and victory wash over me when, after a few seconds, I saw him hang up. But I wasn’t as lucky as I thought I was because William slid down from the roof and held out his hand.
“Will you come with me?”
“Where?”
“No time to explain everything.”