I excuse myself from the bonfire and go to a secluded area as I dial Vincent's contact. The line rings about three times until the familiar sound of his deep voice calls out. "Bunny," he says.
"Vincent," I say, feeling unfamiliar to the tongue. It had been days since I spoke his name out like.
"S-sorry for ignoring you," he says with a slur in his words.
"Are you drunk?" I say with a gasp. I guess this is the only way he'll actually speak a word to me for this long.
"Yeah," he says with a giggle. "But I can still think. I-I'm n-not that drunk," he says with a hiccup at the end.
"Vincent," I say with a warning.
"Bunny," he says, "W-where are you?"
"I'm camping with my dad."
"Y-you're not at the dance?"
"Of course not."
He stays silent for a bit. "Vincent?" I call out.
"I'm sorry," he says.
I furrow my brows in confusion. "Why? What are you apologizing for?"
"I thought-but I thought-weren't you supposed to-" he stops rambling and sighs. "Didn't someone ask you out? Isn't that why you never responded to me?"
I sigh. "Darcy gave me those flowers and chocolates," I say with a dry chuckle. "I didn't respond because I thought you were going with Maxine."
"Why the fuck would think I was going with her?"
I shrug and then remember he can't see me. "Because you guys were dating? Remember?"
"But we ended things. She ended things Sunday morning." So then why didn't he tell me that instead?
"Why didn't you tell me?" I ask and wait for his answer. He was very quiet for some reason.
"I was going to but I just didn't want it to seem like you were a second thought to ask out to the dance. I wanted to take you, but then I saw those gifts, and I thought that you rejected me because you accepted someone else's proposal."
"I didn't say anything because you never told me that you were going with Maxine or not. She was the one to tell me because apparently you told her that you were asking me out."
"Sorry I didn't take you to the dance," he says softly.
"It's fine. I don't do dances either way."
"When are you coming back? I want to see you," he says. Those five words make my heart hammer against my chest. Butterflies were erupting in the pit of my stomach as no one has ever said those words to me before. Holy shit, what is this boy doing to me?
"I come back Sunday night."
"Then I'll see you then, Bunny." He says and the line clicks.
I hold the phone to my chest and replay those words over and over. The phone vibrates and I pull it away to look at the screen. It was a text message from Vincent.
I miss liokinh intp uyoir eyes.
I couldn't help but laugh at how poorly written the message is. His drunk ass couldn't even write without having typos. Then a picture appears below it. My breath catches in my throat as I stare at the picture.
Vincent had sent me a selfie. A bathroom selfie to be quite specific. He was holding a beer bottle in his left hand as he held his phone with his right, pointing at it towards the mirror. I could tell this was taken at a bar with all of those raunchy graffitis on the wall and the toilets covered in band stickers and posters. He was wearing a black v-neck shirt that gave me a glimpse of his tattooed chest. His black hair was messy and sticking to his forehead. Somehow he still looked like a handsome devil.
Somehow you're still flirtatious even when drunk off your ass
I tuck my phone into my back pocket and head back to the bonfire.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
I was back at home unpacking my things with Darcy on speaker as she was spilling the latest gossip with her and Daniel. Apparently Daniel had confessed that he had a liking towards her, but Darcy being the last person on earth to swoon over something simple like that, told him that he would have to work hard to woo her. In other words, Darcy was not easy to impress and had high standards thanks to her many romance books that she had read and acquired at such a young age.
Darcy learned that from her mom who was the exact same when she was Darcy's age. Mr. Sato always brings Mrs. Sato flowers everyday and buys her gifts every week. There was no special occasion to do it and he did the very same for Darcy. Mr. Sato was a man that I wished my dad would be like with my mom, but instead of giving her flowers and tennis bracelets for their anniversary, the mistress came knocking at our door asking for my dad while they were out for dinner.
I went to sleep that night with the guilt pounding on my chest and the very next morning I spilled it all out to my mom like a broken faucet. The look on her face was unbearable as she couldn't believe it. Perhaps she wondered why it was something that I would lie about and make up. What would I even gain from it? She waited for my dad to get home that evening from work, late like always and asked him about the mistress without an introduction to the conversation. She ripped the bandage off and asked who Ava was. I couldn't see my dad's face as my sisters and I were all huddled up behind my door, listening in on their conversation.
"Daniel said that Vincent has been talking about you to him," Darcy says, interrupting my thoughts.
I stop in my tracks with my sweater in my hands about to stuff it in my closet. "Really? About what though?"
"It sounds like he likes you but probably feels nervous talking about his feelings," she says. "What if he has feelings for you but doesn't know how to express them?"
I sigh. "He once said that we shouldn't be the type to mix," I say, "he says he's not the good type of guy for me. He doesn't want to taint me with his trauma."
She scoffs. "Well then he should've never approached you at the party in the first place," she says.
"Yeah I guess you're right. I don't know, he just has me all sorts of confused."
"Well, do you like him? Even as a slight crush?"
I think about it for a second. He does make me feel some type of way about him. He flirts with me, compliments me and gives me butterflies. But then he ignores me, acts like I've done him wrong and then tells me that I shouldn't mix in with him because he's no good for me. It makes me want to pull my hair out.
"I guess it's some silly school crush, but that's it."
"Well then talk to him about it. Ask him what his intentions are."
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
I was expecting to see Vincent the moment I walked into school, but I guess he was thinking about showing up late today. He didn't say whether he was coming to school today or not, but I had my hopes up that he would show up. Darcy was giggling while texting away on her phone as I dug into my locker to find my purple notebook with all of the answers to the quiz for AP History. We were taking a practice test and I wanted to make sure I went over the answers one more time but luck was not on my side today.
"Darcy!" Bryce yells from across the hall and marches right up to us.
"Bryce—"
"You left me for some fucking idiot lowlife?" Bryce growls as he ignores Darcy's personal space. The people in the hallway stop and stare at us as Bryce continues to lash out at Darcy. "I did so much for you and you reject me for him?"
"Bryce just stop," I say.
He turns to look at me and puts his hands on my shoulders, pushing me into the lockers behind me. I flinch in pain as it spreads all over my back from the locks stabbing into me. He's then thrown off of me and lands on the floor. I see Vincent and Daniel standing over him, angry. Vincent has his fists clenched as he breathes heavily.
"You fucking touch her again and I'll knock you the fuck out," Vincent says as he grabs Bryce's shirt with one hand.
"Stay the fuck away from them," Daniel says this time as he pushes Darcy behind him.
Vincent lifts his fist ready to punch Bryce in the face. I put my hand on his shoulder making sure he doesn't do it. I didn't want him to get in trouble for something stupid like this. "Come on," I say. "He's not worth the trouble you'll get into."
He pushes Bryce down to the ground again and takes my hand. He rushes us out of the hallway with everyone watching us closely. He doesn't stop until we reach his car. He opens the door for me and makes sure I go inside before I ask any questions. I'm guessing he's forgetting that it's early in the morning and school just started, and I just so happen to have a very important practice test to do.
"Vincent," I say as he starts the car, ignoring me calling him. He reverses the car and speeds out of the parking lot and onto the road, making the cars behind us honk at the sudden appearance of a speed demon.
"Vincent, stop! You're going too fast! We're going to crash!" I yell out. He swerves between the lanes, ignoring the fact that he doesn't use his turn signals and all of the cars honking at us.
The car lets out its loud revs as he continues to speed through the streets as we take the familiar direction of his sanctuary. The junkyard. We get there in no time, thanks to his death wish of a car.
He gets out and opens the car door for me. With shaky hands I try to get out but he ends up grabbing me by the waist instead. He pushes me into the side of the car and looks at me with fire in his eyes. Then he grabs the sides of my face not letting me speak a word as he crashes his lips onto mine.
I immediately close my eyes and feel the fire ignite all over my body, but mostly my face as I feel the familiar blood rush to my face from the sudden act. He was in fact kissing me and I couldn't help but wrap my arms around him as they linked around his neck. I faintly felt my own lips move with the rhythm of his. I was afraid to take control and thought that he would want to be the dominant one. It was becoming hard to breathe with the pace that he was making us go. He was kissing me like it was the very last kiss that we would share. Perhaps it would be.
I pull away and take a deep breath with my arms still around him. "What was that for?"
"Charlotte," he says, "I've been wanting to do that for a long time. You drive me insane and I don't like anyone to be looking at you or touching you in a way that I don't like."
His eyes were staring through me with a look indescribable. He was making me fidget under his gaze. "Why didn't you ever say something?" I ask unwrapping myself from him. I lean against his car as he takes a step back.
"Because I convinced myself that I'll never be good enough for you," he says, "We're not the type to mix."
"So then why do you keep giving me mixed signals?"
"Because I thought that it would make you want to stay away from me if I confused you enough."
"You wanted me to stay away from you?"
"I haven't been completely honest," he says, "I've been helping you come out of your shell and do things out of your comfort zone so you can learn to like life a bit more."
"What do you mean?"
"I've been treating you like I've been treating a Maxine," he says, "Like some sort of social project. A charity case."