Met a Boy at Seventeen (Kellic)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Kellin - I’ll Never Let Them Hurt You

I should’ve kissed him longer.

I should’ve kissed him so long that I’d forget about everything else, not just temporarily, but forever. But instead, I’m driving away, clenching my jaw and keeping a tight rein on my thoughts so they don’t go anywhere.

I’m heading back into the city, back to the club we were at last night. Tomorrow morning, today’s events will hit me like a bus. For tonight, though, I’m going to pretend that nothing ever happened. That means I’m going to need to make myself forget, and I can’t do that by myself.

I park a few blocks away to reduce the chances of someone recognizing the car and finding me. I go to this club a lot, though. I guess I’ll just see what happens.

I almost don’t hold my head up while walking down the sidewalk. I almost don’t want to look even slightly dangerous. Then I remember that that makes me seem like more of a target; plus, I am dangerous—I might as well not lie about it. So I keep my head up.

Sometimes the bouncers recognize me, and sometimes they don’t. This one does, and since there’s no line and we have time for small talk, he asks me, “Where’s your posse? They get sick of ya?”

"I got sick of them," I reply smoothly. Then I drop the fake smile. "Dude, I’m just kind of looking for something to bleach my brain with tonight," I admit.

"Well, I’ll tell you, if you drink enough, you’ll definitely have your brain bleached," the bouncer says. "There’re some sketchy-looking people in there, though, so you might wanna be careful."

I nod. “I will.” As he lets me through, the words feel like a promise. A promise I intend to keep.

I immediately make my way to the bar and grab an empty barstool. The bartender, Tracy, pops up a few seconds later. “Well, hey there, Kellin. You look lonely. Did your posse get tired of you or something?”

I laugh a little. “The bouncer outside said that, too.”

She smiles. “What’ll it be?”

"Uh," I say. "Anything. As long as it causes amnesia."

Tracy raises an eyebrow. “Should I be concerned?”

I shake my head. “Nah.”

After a moment of staring at me, she shrugs and turns to get me something. “Anything?”

"Like I said, as long as it causes amnesia."

I watch her prepare my drink, and when she returns, she says, “So. Are you ever gonna participate in Karaoke Night?”

I shake my head and take a sip. “Nah, I can’t sing.”

"Oh, don’t give me that. You’ve got a hell of a voice, Kellin."

"Oh, do I?" I say. "And how would you know this?"

"From talking to you," she says. "And also, Justin took a video of you singing in the shower and sent it to me."

"No, he didn’t."

"Well, the video doesn’t actually show anything except the door, but here you go."

The next thing I know, she’s pulling out her phone and playing the video, which sounds very suspiciously like me singing “Halo” by Beyoncé. “I’m going to kill him when I get back,” I say.

Tracy laughs and puts her phone back in her pocket. “Now that’s impressive. I can’t even sing that high. Which means I’m never going to leave you alone until you sing on Karaoke Night.”