Resisting the Bad Boy

[9] "I Honestly Forgot"

Dustin and I have always had an amicable relationship. We've been there for each other and had each other's backs in tough situations. Although being two years apart, we acted so much closer that no one would even notice. In high school we drifted, but it got better. What we didn't touch much on, though, was girls. We talked about almost anything but girls. He's got a girl now, but we never really talked about it. We've always talked about college or sports or his career path because he chose to not go to college. The fact that he's bringing it up now throws me.

"Raven Micheals?" I ask, making myself the picture of nonchalance.

"Yes, asshole. Raven Micheals. I heard she thinned up," he says.

"Yeah. She did," I say, shrugging.

"Aw, c'mon. Did you tell her or what?" he asks.

I hesitate, debating on whether to tell him, or just to brush it off.

"No," I say, letting him take it the way he wants.

"Why not?" he asks, not missing a beat.

"I'm pretty sure someone got to her before I did," I shrug.

"Damn. Well, see what you can do. She's a keeper, man," he says and leaves my room.

I groan, leaning back on my bed with a flop.

"What's this girl doing to me?" I whisper to myself.

• • •

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late," Raven says, taking a seat in the coffee shop.

She sits in the chair across from me, running a few fingers through her hair and taking a glance at her phone.

"It's alright," I say.

"Leila came home in a rage, screaming and bursting into sobs as soon as she walked in the door. Archer pretty much dumped her without any warning or argument so she's...more than a little pissed," Raven says, looking a little guilty.

"Oof, glad I wasn't there," I cringe.

Just the mental image of Leila going on a rampage makes me grimace. I've never exactly gotten along with Leila just because of how badly she treats Raven. Raven and I clicked right from the start, and although Leila tried to make her advances, I didn't budge. I think she was miffed about it.

"Yeah, it wasn't pretty," Raven says, her facial expression making me crack a smile.

A moment of silence envelopes us for a moment.

"Sorry about Archer this morning. I do owe you an explanation," she sighs, looking down.

"It's alright. I really didn't mind-just a little surprised is all," I say, brushing it off on the outside but boiling inside.

She gives me a "didn't mind" my ass look, but lets it go. I knew she'd read through my facade. Raven and I always know how to read each other—well at least most of the time because I couldn't get a read on her this morning for the life of me...but I was distracted with Archer being there. She's seen and noticed the tensions between Archer and I for a while, but whenever she'd ask about it, I'd always shut it down. Telling her that we were both caught up in a "who can get the girl" match would've exposed us both and I don't plan on doing any of that. If Kendra and Tori don't do that first. I roll my eyes, recalling the badgering I'd get from them after they had their suspicions. I played it off, showing that those feelings weren't there anymore, and they believed me. Luckily, that got them off my back.