11.
Elise
When you’re a teen and your heart’s been ripped from your chest, the natural thing to do in that situation is eat a lot of ice cream and cry your heart out to your friends while they rubbed your back, consoled you, and told you about a hundred other hot guys to move on to.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have ice cream in the freezer (unless you wanted to include the nasty berry flavour sorbet, which I couldn’t because yuck). There weren’t a hundred other hot guys I had the slightest interest in moving on to, and¸ most importantly, I didn’t have the kind of friends who would keep a secret this big to themselves. The entire town would know within a day all about my kissing adventures with my adopted brother. Could you imagine that kind of hell? I could see it now: See that girl there? The daughter of that wonderful police officer is in love with her brother, Debbie. How shameful! The devil is working his charms on that wee one. May the lord have mercy on her whore soul.
Shudder.
I had nobody to confide in but Aston, and that was a cruel twist of fate. I spent many days after that night locked up inside my bedroom when I came back from school.
And don’t get me started on school.
With a couple weeks left, nobody (including the teachers) gave a fuck about anything. In our misery, we were all waiting for it to be over. Except I was dreading summer now that Aston and me were at odds.
He didn’t join Cindy and me at lunch on the days he was out of the library. He was either keeping his distance knowing it was what I needed, or this was another form of rejection. Either way, it stung me deeply.
He sat one table behind us with his friends, always directly in view of me. He ate and watched me between bites, studying me so deeply, it was like being stripped bare time and time again. I was so red and uncomfortable by it, I’d get up and leave with minutes to spare.
I’d walk the halls alone, never realizing Aston would trail me sometimes. I didn’t know about it until one day I opened my locker and pulled out a chocolate bar from my stash.
“You got a couple weeks left,” I heard Deck’s voice say behind me. “Then your bodyguard will be gone, and you’ll be Elise without the genius prick.”
I turned around to face him, taking a huge chunk of the Mars bar into my mouth. Chocolate was the best aid in healing a broken heart. At this rate, I’d be fifty pounds heavier by next year, and maybe this dickhead would leave me the hell alone.
On his own, he stood in front of me, arms crossed over his preppy little polo shirt. Cocky little shit. He thought just because he had gotten a little bigger and was on the basketball team that he was suddenly all that.
“Are you seriously still sore about my rejecting you?” I asked him.
His pimply face darkened. “You didn’t fucking reject me, slut. You wanted it.”
“So why did I kick you in the balls then?”
“Because you’re a fucking tease.”
“Hmm.” I nodded casually and chewed. “You know what I think, Deck? I think there’s an inner-rapist in you that’s still sore you didn’t get to screw me against my will. And now your cock’s ego is still so wounded, you’re going to threaten to rape me because the man that broke your leg won’t be around to fuck you up again.”
Deck’s eyes widened. “What the fuck did you just say?”
I smirked. “Oh, shit, you didn’t relate the two instances? You’re fucking thick, aren’t you –”
He shoved me harshly into the locker, and pain skyrocketed up my spine. He leaned into me, his beady eyes digging into my own as he growled, “A few more months, Elise, and you’re going to get it, you teasing little – Ahh!” His head whipped back abruptly, and then a hand wrapped around the front of his neck.
I let out a shaky breath as I watched Aston drag him a few feet away from me, squeezing at his neck until his face went crimson. He stopped and leaned his mouth to Deck’s ear and said something in it. Something that made Deck’s eyes widen in fear.
“Say it,” Aston gritted, shaking him like a ragdoll.
“I’m sorry,” Deck whimpered out to me. “I won’t talk to you again. I promise. I’ll never say a word.”
Then Aston let him go and Deck hurried away, ignoring the eyes of the few students around who had watched the altercation. All the nosey bastards needed was popcorn and a Michael Jackson cut-out and the scene would have been perfect.
Aston walked over to me and lightly touched my arm. “Are you alright?” he asked, worried.
I nodded once, looking down at my feet. “I’m alright.”
His hold on my arm tightened. “He won’t bother you again.”