friction

towards us.
            I froze, staring at the suited man. He seemed... murderous. The
stranger had to be some crazy ex-boyfriend or something to that degree. He looked
about thirty, a bit too young to be an ex, which was honestly daunting. further.
Was Meghan really into older men? If so, I probably didn't stand a-
            "Dad." Meghan paled.
            My mouth opened into a wide "O" as I stared at him in shock. It was her
father! I glanced back at the house where the party was going on and found a girl
who looked slightly similar to Meghan glaring at me from the front porch of the
house.
            Her cousin had probably called her father and warned him. The odd thing
was that she looked terrified as well, which probably meant the dad wasn't aware
either of them had come here at all. Yet, it was odd that he'd be here, supervising
his daughter, unless-
            "Sir, this is all a misunderstanding!" I started, panicking as soon as
he grabbed me by the shirt and shoved me back, glaring at me with enough intensity
to ignite pure, unfiltered fear. Suddenly, I just wanted to bolt. He didn't just
look angry; he appeared downright murderous as he stood, seemingly willing to
strangle me right where I stood.
            "You think it's funny to molest a young girl?" he yelled at me.
            I shook my head. "I swear that wasn't my intention, sir!"
            "She's sixteen, you bastard!" he screamed even louder, cutting me off
before I could say anything else.
            I stared at him in disbelief and then turned to sigh at Meghan, who was
looking as panicked as I felt. The older girl was hurrying forward, grabbing her
cousin by the arm, and then pulling her towards the car.
            "You're so damn grounded, the both of you!" he yelled back at them
before turning back towards me and shoving me against a lamppost pole, raising his
clenched hand.
            Of course, I shook with fear, avoiding his terrifying gaze, and instead
focusing on the ground. He was much larger than I was, something that automatically
assured me that there was no way I'd win an actual fight against him. Even trying
would probably land me in the hospital, even if I did managed to win.
            "You're going to stay away from my daughter or I'll fucking kill you,
do you hear me?" He breathed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You're so
damn lucky I got here in time!"
            Suddenly, he turned to glance towards the car, pouting before releasing
a helpless sigh. He looked terrified for her sake and the fact that he was right
about one thing: I would've had sex with her without ever knowing she was a minor.
Having assumed so simply because she was at a college party. Why hadn't I asked?
Fuck, why hadn't I even bothered? I breathed deeply, trying to come up with some
way to apologize.
            "I didn't know," I promised, raising my hands up in surrender.. "I'm so
sorry."
            He shook his head, growling at me before slamming me in the chest with
his right hand. I gasped, but restrained myself from crying out in pain. Showing
weakness wouldn't help in this situation.
            "You disgust me," he spat. "You're a pathetic little-"
            I nodded, struggling to keep calm under his strong grasp. The idea that
he would beat me up was finally settling, making me nervous. I was just hoping he
was the sort of man to avoid doing anything too drastic in front of his daughter.
            "I'm really sorry," I apologized once more. "I really am."
            "I'm sure you are," he spat, pinning me back.
             "I didn't know she was underage!" I snapped back, aware it was
probably stupid to yell back.
            Before I could say anything else, he threw a single punch, shoving me
down towards the floor and yelling at me to "burn in hell". The ground around me
shook, a painful pounding evoking from the injury. Still, I didn't move at all,
waiting until the car had driven away before pushing myself to a sitting position

and trying to focus on my surroundings.
            There was a blinding pain surrounding my left cheek, but everything
seemed all right other than that. I glanced around, disoriented for a few seconds
while the pain diminished from a sharp pain to a dull throbbing, the ache clearly
only starting. Then, I lowered my gaze towards the ground for a fleeting second and
there, laying against the pavement, I found a leather wallet open and facing down.
            It wasn't mine. No, it was far too nice to be mine..
            I glanced at it for a few seconds before reaching out and grabbing a
hold of it, inspecting it carefully. I flipped it and glanced at the driver's
license, then sighing when I realized it was that maniac's wallet.
            It had his name on it as well, Shawn Briggs. I stared at it through my
half-open eyes and groaned once more before slipping the wallet into my pocket and
standing up. As much fun as it'd been in the beginning, being at this party was
suddenly not my priority anymore-not now that my entire face was hurting like a
bitch.
-Shawn-
            "What the hell were you both thinking?" I yelled back at them. They
were huddled in the backseats, both equally terrified and hugging each other. I
couldn't tell if it was because of him or my reaction, but I didn't give a damn
either way.
            They were trembling.
            Good.
            "I'm so sorry-" Kate started.
            I shook my head. "Sorry doesn't cut it. Why in the world would you
think it was okay to take a sixteen-year-old girl to a college party, Kate? Why
would you ever do that?"
            I loved my niece, truly. However, sometimes she truly made me question
whether I liked being around her or having her as far away from my family as
possible. She was just like my sister, reckless as hell.
            "Dad, I wasn't going to-"
            I narrowed my eyes at her through the rear-view mirror, immediately
silencing her. The last thing I needed was a half-assed excuse about how she wasn't
planning to do anything with that boy. What kind of fool did she take me for
anyways??
            "You two are going to give me a heart attack," I muttered under my
breath and stopped at the red light. Then, I moved my hand towards my Blue-tooth to
call Kate's mom. That was when I realized I'd forgotten my phone at home. Then, I
also realized I had apparently forgotten my wallet, which was simply stupid of me.
            I was an attorney driving without a driver's license. That was just
rich of me. I sped up, wishing to get home as quickly as possible to avoid getting
a ticket. Perhaps it wasn't the best plan of action, but whatever...
-Eric-
            I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. A contributing factor to
my inability to forget was actually the blinding pain on my face that greeted me in
the morning when I woke up, but more so, the guilt of knowing I'd been about to
make such a huge mistake. It was fresh and harsh, just like I'd expected. Mason, my
roommate, was still asleep, leaving me almost alone in the dorm.
            While sitting up from the bed, I glanced at the second wallet resting
on top of mine on my nightstand, mocking me with its mere existence. I hadn't even
bothered to check it any further than I had last night, uninterested in returning
it. However, the idea that a man with a family had lost his wallet, which most
likely contained money, worried me despite the harm he'd caused me.
            Phaeric was nice like that.
            Who was Phaeric? Well, that was actually my self-given nickname. It
derived from a clever mixture of Pharaoh and Eric, which single-handedly made me
awesome and raised my level of importance by monumental levels. In fact, that name
even gave me the ability to speak in the third person without making things weird,
apparently, because why the hell not.
            Despite wanting to go back to sleep, blissfully ignoring my own