The Boys Next Door

Chapter 7

I knocked lightly on his door before opening it a bit. He was lying down in the middle of his bed, his hands behind his head while he stared up at the ceiling.

“What do you want?” he said grouchily.

“That’s no way to talk to your best friend, is it? If that’s how it’s gonna be, I guess I’ll just go home then,” I replied just as grumpy as him as I turned around.

“Elora, wait,” I heard him call softly, followed by a loud sigh. When I turned back around, he scooted over and was patting the space on his bed next to him. I went over and laid down on the bed next to him on my back, staring at the ceiling with my hands folded across my stomach.

I thought that lying next to him would be awkward, especially since him and Randall were just fighting, but it wasn’t. Instead, it was actually quite comfortable.

“I’ve decided that I’m going to break up with Paul,” I stated.

“Oh really? When?” he asked, quite intrigued.

“The next time I see him, which will probably be sometime within the next week,” I said thinking of when I would actually do this. I took a little pause before I spoke again. “You know, you guys were right. I need to dump him before something even worse happens.”

“You want me to be there with you when you tell him? That way he won’t be able to do anything stupid?” he offered as he turned to look at me.

“No!” I said in horror. “If you came with me, he would think that I was breaking up with him for you. You don’t know how dangerous he is,” I whispered, trying to hold back tears.

“How dangerous is he?” he asked, now sitting up and looking at me with concern.

“It was back in December, when we’d been together for about 6 months. He met these new guys, but I really didn’t like or trust them, but unfortunately he did. I was right when I thought not to trust them,” I said as I let out an involuntary shiver, remembering them. The way their beady little eyes used to devour me like I was a piece of steak each time they saw me.

“Their names were Zach Porter and Clinton Smith. Sometimes it would just be Paul and I hanging out when they stopped by. Sometimes Paul would run out to the store to buy some munchies for the guys. While he was gone, they always tried to come on to me. They would immediately flank my sides, and try… touching me.”

I could feel Pat tense up beside me, become absolutely furious. And he hasn’t even heard the worst parts yet.

“But when I tried bringing this up to Paul, he didn’t believe me. Instead, he hit me and accused me of blaming the guys when it was my fault. He insisted that I somehow came onto them, and that I was only saying this to get away from him. It really hurt me, not just physically, but emotionally that he would trust these two… leeches over me, his own girlfriend,” I choked out.

“But since he wouldn’t believe me, I decided to take my own actions. I set up a camera in his house on a day I knew that they would come over. Like usual, he ended up leaving the house to go get something for them. They did that same exact thing that they’ve done again and again, but only this time they tried to go farther. They kissed me, and groped me. They were so lost in it that they didn’t notice when Paul came back. He got angry, and instead took it out on me because he thought I egged them on. That was, until I showed him the video.”

“Then,” I paused as I let out a shudder, “he completely snapped. It was like this monster was unleashed from inside of him. He was so violent. I was so scared as he nearly beat them lifeless. What if one day he does that to me or someone I love?”

The tears started to flow and Pat quickly scooped me up in his arms, cradling my head against his chest while his arms wrapped around me.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to you,” he cooed as he gently rocked me back and forth in a soothing lull.

“Thanks Pat,” I said softly. “If you don’t mind me asking, why were you and Randall fighting back in the basement?”

He stopped and let out a loud sigh, but didn’t let go of me. “He’s afraid that somehow I’m going to ‘hurt’ you. I told him that I’m not like that anymore, but he’s an ass and doesn’t believe me.”

“Tell me,” I stated.

“What?”

“I want you to tell me why Randall doesn’t believe you. I want to hear more about you, about this change. Please?” I said looking him in the eyes.

He let out a sigh of frustration as he ran a hand through those dark locks of his, making me want to reach out and do it to, but I restrained myself.

“It all started when we were in Junior high, me being in 7th and he was in 8th. There was this new girl, Cyndi Meyers. She was in my grade, but somehow Randall also ended up
liking her. But, I was the one who asked her out first. We dated for about two weeks, but then I just felt that it wasn’t right. Sure, I liked her, but it was starting to fade. So, I broke up with her. She was so heartbroken, even though it was only for two weeks. Randall still liked her, so about two weeks after we broke up, he asked her out but she turned him down, all because she thought I was this jerk and that he would be the same. He hasn’t forgiven me for that to this day,” he said while sadly shaking his head.

“You were only in 7th grade! What else was she supposed to expect?” I practically snorted.

“Eh, I was the popular guy in school, so she was desperate to have me. It was actually kinda creepy in a way,” he said letting out a shudder.

“So what else happened?” I asked expectantly. “You said you used to be a skirt chaser, what changed all that?”

“Well, all throughout high school, I dated quite a few girls. But, we would only date for like 2 or 3 weeks at a time. Sure, I liked the girls when I first started dating them, but I could just tell that we weren’t meant to be together, so they were over quickly. Then the last relationship I had… that’s what changed everything.”

“There was something different about her. Her name was Samantha Burnes. I thought that there was something there. As we progressed on, I found myself liking her more and more, something that’s never happened before. But then one day I was in the library doing research for a project when it all changed.”

He paused and took a deep breath, his shoulders racking in the process before he continued on. “I heard Samantha chatting with her friends. What they were saying just about killed me inside, but I’d never let them know that. It turns out that her dating me was because of a stupid bet. They wanted to see how long she could date me, and if we dated for a month or more, she’d get $200. So, I broke up with her, and haven’t had a girlfriend since. I really haven’t trusted anyone else, and I don’t know if I can.”

“You can trust me,” I whispered and reached for his hand to give it a light squeeze.

“I know I can,” he smiled as he returned the squeeze.

At that moment, I hated the situation I was in. I so desperately want to just lean up and give Pat a reassuring kiss, but I couldn’t. I was still dating Paul, and as long as we were still together, I couldn’t do anything. It was only at that moment when I realized that I was over Paul, and had been for quite a long time.

“So uh… how ‘bout those guitar lessons?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“You want to learn right now?” he asked dumbfounded.

“There’s no time like the present,” I laughed while giving him a cheesy grin.

“I guess now’s okay then, but we have to go back down to the basement. All of the guitars are down there,” he said and looked a little mad to be going back down there.

“It’ll be fine,” I grinned while pushing him out the door.

“Elsie, don’t push me,” he warned me.

“Elsie?” I asked with disbelief.

“Yeah, you’re my best friend, so we have to have our own special nicknames, so I called you Elsie. But I’m guessing that you don’t like it,” he laughed.

“Definitely not,” I laughed while crossing my arms.

He was silent for a moment, his head cast down and his hand on his chin as if he were in great thought.

“I’ve got it! Arole!” he said excitedly.

“Arole?”

“Yeah, it’s your name backwards. I think it’s cool,” he grinned.

“I think I could get used to that Tap,” I smirked at him.

“Tap? Uh, no. You’ve got to make it something cooler, like-”

“Tap-Tap. I’m going to call you Tap-tap from now on,” I laughed.

“Fine, now Tap-tap orders you to follow him,” he laughed as he grabbed my hand and
dragged me out of his room.

“Kids! Lunch is ready!” I heard Mrs. Hurst call out.

“Ok, now Arole orders Tap-tap to give her a piggy back ride down the stairs,” I stated.

“Nuh-uh. Arole has her own two legs, and she can walk just fine,” he said.

“But Tap-tap,” I pouted, sticking out my lower lip while pleading with my eyes.

“Ells, that look is not gonna work with me, so you may as well stop it not,” he said while looking away from me.

“But Pat,” my voice waivered as it came out in a whisper. Being the younger child, I was always good at this sort of thing.

He turned around to look at me, and I could see guilt traced along his features. He ran a hand through his hair as he looked back and forth between me and the staircase.

“Come on Ells,” he said while crouching over. I ran over and gently jumped on his back so I wouldn’t knock him over. “But only this once, because next time your little look isn’t going to work,” he said as we took off.

“Just keep tellin’ yourself that Pat. I have many ways of persuasion,” I whispered in his ear, and I felt him shiver just the tiniest bit.

“I’m not a man easily persuaded,” he retorted as we started our descent.

“We’ll just see about that,” I grinned to myself.

“Hey, what’s for lunch?” Pat asked as we walked into the kitchen and I jumped down off of his back.

“I’ve made some macaroni and cheese. Eat up!” she said while setting some bowls down onto their table.

“Mrs. Hurst, you’re amazing. Macaroni is my favorite!” I said as I sat down in a chair next to Pat.

“Suck up,” Pat growled at me with a smirk.

I just stuck my tongue out at him before jabbing my fork into the noodles and putting them in my mouth. Just at that moment, Dexter and Randall came walking in. Pat looked up and glared at Randall, but I placed my hand on his shoulder and he stopped. He gave me a quick smile before turning his attention back on his food.

“Whoa,” Dexter said as he took his seat across from Pat. “Elora, you’re some kind of a miracle worker. With just one touch, you were able to stop Pat from glaring at Randall.”

“Eh, it was nothing,” I said with a shrug.

“Nothing my ass,” Dex muttered. “You need to come around more often.”

“Don’t worry, I plan on it,” I winked before I was consumed into a conversation with Pat about sports. I could really get used to this.