Dressed To Impress

14

I laughed, rolling my eyes at him. "Not really, but I'm about to find out anyways," I answered, letting him grab the front of my shirt to jerk me forward, against his chest. He was drunk, so it was not the best kiss I had ever experienced. He basically slobbered all over my face and shoved his tongue in my mouth in the most unappealing way. He tasted like beer, which brought back some gross memories. I tried pulling away, but he pulled me back in, shoving his tongue in my mouth again, his hands sliding around until he grabbed my ass, which was the point where I really had to stop him. "Dude, enough," I said, trying to push him away. When he grabbed my shirt again, I saw Oliver get up from his spot on the floor. That's when I knew things were about to get messy.

"Hey, he said enough!" Oliver yelled, reaching to grab Nigel's shoulder to pull him away. That wasn't what happened. What did happen, was Nigel flailed around and blindly threw a punch that landed square against Oliver's nose. Immediately, he started gushing blood. My immediate response was to rush over to Oliver. He was bleeding everywhere and people were surrounding him, pushing Nigel out of the way.

"I got this," I said, shoving my way through everyone else. I grabbed Oliver by the sleeve of his sweater and dragged him away, into the kitchen. He slouched into one of the chairs, tilting his head back to keep blood from getting everywhere. Quickly, I found a towel and held it against his nose. "Don't tilt your head up, it's not good for a nosebleed," I told him, forcing him to tilt his head back down.

"I'm sorry I got involved, but he-"

"Oliver," I cut him off, kneeling down to look at him. He grabbed my hand with the one that wasn't holding the towel to his face. "You weren't trying to fight, you were just trying to get him away from me. I'm not mad." He tried to smile, but it was hidden by the towel. "I'm sorry you got hit."

He shrugged, still holding on to my hand. "It got him away from you. That's what matters." He pulled the towel away for a second to see if it was still bleeding, which it was, so I pushed it back against his face with a frown. "How long is it going to bleed?"

I had had my fair share of nosebleeds, some just because, and some from getting bullied at my old school. I knew how to handle them. Oliver probably didn't. "A few more minutes," I told him, running a hand through his hair. "I can handle myself from now on. I don't need you getting a broken nose every time you get jealous."

"I wasn't jealous of Nigel," he grumbled, wincing at the pain in his nose. He jumped when I wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, but then started to relax. "I'm sorry I've been so awful," he whispered, closing his eyes.

I shook my head, pressing my forehead to his. "Oli, you haven't been awful. You've been anything but that." It was true, he had been kind of a dick at times, but only because he liked me so much. He was jealous of Brian because I hadn't told him the story of why Brian and I were so close. He was jealous that Nigel kissed me. I knew it was all because he cared about me. "I know you've been jealous of Brian because we've gotten close. Do you want to know how that started? I think it might make you feel better."

Oliver shrugged, but I could tell he wanted to know. He had been dying to know ever since he saw us talking at school. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's none of my business," he mumbled. Still, he was lying. He wanted to know.

"It was that day you came over to work on our project," I started, scooting closer. I was sitting on the floor, looking up at him. He finally met my eyes, waiting for me to continue. "After you left, when I was walking back to my apartment, I saw Brian in the hallway. He takes care of one of the residents there on some nights, and well, I had no choice but to tell him I lived there. I couldn't exactly lie when I was clearly walking into my home. I was afraid he was judge me, but it turns out, he was having some problems at home and I'm a good listener. He sleeps over a lot because he doesn't like to hear his parents fight. We mostly talk about our complicated relationships. You, Jade, all that."