I whimpered again but my fear kept me frozen in place. I couldn't have moved if I had wanted to.
"I said, GET UP!!"
The next instant I was being pulled from my place on the ground, a sob breaking through my lips, as I willed myself not to scream. Screaming only made it worse.
I snapped out of my thoughts and refocused on the two men in front of me, standing toe to toe. Wes had a couple of inches on Gabe but that didn't cause him to back down.
"Tell her whatever you want. If she's stupid enough to believe you than you two deserve each other." I flinched as if I'd been slapped. I could tell by the slight slur to his words that Gabe was drunk again but I wouldn't excuse his hurtful words because of it.
Wes took one last drag of his cigarette and blew the smoke into Gabe's face. He blinked as he smoke touched his eyes but I could tell that he was trying his best to not let Wes see that he was affected.
Wes flicked the butt to the ground and crushed it with his shoe.
"I'd watch what comes out of your mouth next if I were you." Wes's words held a threat that Gabe only seemed to find amusing in his drunken state. He laughed once, harshly and took a step back from Wes. I let out a breath, relieved that he was walking away.
As soon as I felt myself relax a little bit, Gabe swung his gaze back to me, his eyes narrowed.
"If I had known that you'd wanted to be treated like a whore than I'd have pointed you in his direction weeks ago."
I gasped at both the harshness of his words and the sudden flash of movement as Wes grabbed Gabe by the front of his shirt and pulled his face to his with his fist gripping the fabric of Gabe's long sleeved t-shirt.
"You disrespectful sonovabitch!" Wes yelled in his face, the veins in his neck pulsing through his anger. Gabe now looked shocked, unsuspecting of Wes's sudden attack.
As quickly as he had grabbed him, Wes let Gabe go and threw a fast punch to his jaw causing Gabe to fall backwards onto his backside. I flew my hands to my mouth at the scene. Wes shook his hand and winced from the impact. I saw a trickle of blood pour from Gabe's lip where he sat on the pavement.
Wes backed away from him, satisfied, and I tensed again as I saw Gabe bring himself to a standing position, ready to fight back. At that same moment I saw Archer come through the doors and head towards Gabe, holding him back as Wes just smirked. Archer took in the scene and just shook his head, both annoyed and accustomed to the two men's constant battling.
Gabe yelled back at Wes, promising retribution as Archer dragged him towards his Mercedes, with the help of another guy who had followed out of the bar after Archer.
Wes turned back to me once they were gone and placed both of his hands on each sides of my face, searching my eyes with his own.
"Are you okay?" He whispered. I was still too shocked by everything that had transpired to properly form words and so I just nodded my head, willing away the tears that I could feel forming behind my eyes. At the same time that I forced myself to calm down, I found my heart hammering in my chest at the closeness of our faces and the feeling of his hands on my face in a tender caress. I accepted the fact that I wanted Wes to kiss me.
Wes sighed and took a step back from me and I was surprised to see a remorseful expression on his face.
"I'm sorry I let him talk to you like that."
I laughed once, disappointed by the space he had put between us. "Wes, you didn't let him do anything. He's a grown man. If he wants to speak to a woman like that than there's nothing you can do to stop him."
He smirked back at me and raised his hand to his face, inspecting his knuckles as he flexed his fingers.
"Except punch him, maybe."
The tension started to fade but by now the night was ruined and all I wanted to do was go back to the apartment and sleep.
"Do you have any idea how long I've wanted to do that?" He laughed, "Damn, that felt good."
"You've never hit him before?" I asked, surprised. With the way the two felt about each other I would expect them to be in a brawl every time they were in sight of one another.
"Oh, no, I've hit him. Many times." He paused, in thought, "just not since I got back to school."
I remembered that Elle had told me that Wes had taken a year off, pushing him back to being a junior this year, and opened my mouth to ask why, but he interrupted me by taking my hand in his uninjured one, and leading me back into the bar.
We got back over to the table to find Elle and Colin in an animated conversation with Jade and Luke, and surprisingly, Savanna was there too. I glanced around the table but she was alone, so she must have ended things with her boy toy.
I sat back in my seat, ignoring Elle's penetrating gaze and was surprised to see that Wes wasn't rejoining us.
"I'm gonna go walk around. I saw some people I gotta talk to. Find me when you're ready to leave." He directed his statement at Jade and Luke who nodded in return.
He didn't look back at me as he walked away and I knew that everyone at the table, except probably Savanna, probably wondered what had happened to make him start acting weird. But, as I glanced around, Colin and Luke appeared unfazed, and Elle was smiling like a Cheshire cat. The only person who had picked up on any weirdness had been Jade, who looked over at me and raised an eyebrow in question. I shook my head and mouthed that I'd fill her in later. She looked at me a moment longer, still somewhat curious, but finally focused her attention back to the conversation. I forced myself to smile and participate in the conversation but I couldn't help the confusion that I felt about Wes's sudden change in behavior.
EIGHT
I was in a sour mood all day trying to figure out what had happened to make Wes change his behavior so suddenly the night before. At first I had figured that the fight between he and Gabe had pissed him off more than I had realized, but I started to wonder if there was more to it. He had seemed perfectly fine for the remainder of the night, laughing and talking with friends at other tables. He had never come back to the table and he never even looked my way. At one point he was talking to a guy that I recognized as one of Colin's frat brothers when a busty blonde started flirting with him and touching his arm. I wanted to throw up, and then thought that I actually might when he let her lead him to the dance floor. I tried not to watch but I found myself staring at the two of them and wondering if he was dancing with her like he had danced with me. I knew that it was foolish of me to care at all, and I also knew that these feelings that I was forming for Wes were not in anyway reciprocated.
"Are you not coming out with is tonight, Brookelyn?"
I looked up from my textbook at Colin who had just gotten arrived. He was waiting for Elle to finish getting ready so that they could make their way over to the frat house. Savanna, who had stayed at the apartment last night for the first time in a week, had left already. Things were back on with her new lover apparently. She said that he was picking her up for dinner before they met up with everyone. Despite her lack of presence this past week, she seemed to be in higher spirits than usual and I was both happy for her and somewhat envious.
"Nope, not tonight. I figured I'd stay in and work on my paper that's due Tuesday." I lounged on the couch in a baby blue tank with matching pajama shorts, my hair pulled into a messy bun. I scooted over, making room for Colin, assuming that Elle would be a few more minutes.
"Are you sure it doesn't have anything to do with why Wes's hand was all fucked up from last night?" he asked, giving me a pointed look as he lowered himself into the seat beside me.
I had told Elle what had happened with Gabe when Wes and I were outside last night and she had promptly called Colin, forbidding him from hanging out with Gabe ever again. My best friend, the drama queen.
"I'm not hiding from Gabe." He just looked at me, so I added, "or Wes."
"I call bullshit on the second part of that statement but she's sticking with it," Elle walked into the room, zipping up a light jacket over her dark green maxi dress. It was getting colder at night but it'd be a few more weeks until the weather required fluffy coats and Ugg boots. "And if I see Gabe tonight I'm ripping his balls off and feeding them to him so just know that I warned you, baby!"