Only of You

Chapter Six

"Go on, Peyton, just do it." Billie Joe grinned, showing off his stupid teeth.

"I don't wanna." I said, crossing my arms over my chest. I already told him I didn't want to do it, but he kept asking me, he was such a pushy asshole.

"Come on, just try it. It will be funny as fuck." He put his arm around my shoulder when he was speaking, and I could smell the damn peppermint.

I didn't want him sitting so close to me, because he was making me real nervous, especially with his arm around my shoulder like that. He had pulled me so damn close to him that my arm was pressed against his chest, so I could feel him inhaling and exhaling. I sure as hell hoped he couldn't feel me breathing, because I felt like I was breathing faster than I should have been. It was like I couldn't breathe when he was around me, as damn corny as that sounds.

I didn't even respond to him because I was too nervous to say anything, and also I didn't want to ride on his damn skateboard. I'd never done it before in my damn life, and I sure as hell wasn't about to give it a try when there were so many people there to see me fall on my ass.

"Why don't you wanna do it? It's fun, I swear." With the arm he had around my shoulder he kind of traced the skin on my arm with his finger tips. I don't know why he was doing that, it was like he was trying to make me feel better about it or something. It didn't make me feel better though, it made me feel a hell of a lot worse. I shook my head, and he made this sort of groaning noise. I figured he must have been annoyed at me, but he was annoyed at me most of the time anyway, so I didn't really care too much about it.

We were sitting down at this abandoned construction zone. There was rubble and pieces of concrete sitting around, it kind of looked like a building had been torn down not too long ago or something. Apparently this was a place where all the punks hung out, it was called The Junction. I had no idea why they named it that, it didn't make much sense, but I didn't question it because it seemed cool as hell and all. Everyone was either skateboarding, or sitting on the ground in small groups. I was sitting with Mike and Billie Joe, but I knew Billie Joe had other friends here, because a few guys waved at him when we walked into the joint.

Billie Joe grabbed his skateboard, leaving me sitting with Mike, and I was kind of glad for it. I always felt tense when Billie Joe was around, and it would be nice to watch him skateboarding because he'd be far away enough for me to watch him without looking like a creep about it.

I didn't know if Billie Joe was any good at skateboarding, on account of I'd never watched a person do it before, but when he jumped onto his board he wasn't falling over or anything, and he did a few jumps, so I figured he was pretty good. He was probably good at everything he ever tried, which was sort of annoying to me, because I failed at every damn thing in my life, but I guess I sort of admired him for it. It was nice watching him being good at things, having talent, it made me feel proud or something. Not that I could understand that feeling, because I had never really felt it before, but I think it was pride, if that makes any sense.

"You alright, Peyton?" Mike nudged me, but I didn't stop watching Billie Joe.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I'm always fine. Don't need to worry about me, honestly." I wanted to smile while I was saying it, to be more convincing, but I was too damn busy watching Billie Joe. He had stopped skateboarding, and was talking to some kid who looked around our age.

"You sure? You wanna talk about anything?" He shuffled closer to me, and his knee grazed against mine. It didn't feel so damn confronting having Mike sitting right next to me, it was nice. He wasn't so obnoxious about being near me, like Billie Joe.

I nodded though, watching while Billie Joe was chatting to the kid.

"Peyton." He said my name in a voice that sounded like he was about to tell me off or something. That killed me, he was always doing that, acting serious as hell. "What are ya smirking at? Huh? I'm just trying to look out for you, you little ratbag."