"Hey Daniel," I heard Mia say. I was at my locker, getting my books for my morning classes. I hadn't expected her to come up and talk to me but then again, I had almost forgotten about Jayden and I's fight. After our day yesterday when I had comforted him about all the loss he was going through, I had pushed the old version of him as well as his first intentions to the back of my mind. I wouldn't let them matter anymore. Jayden and I were happy together; that's the only thing that should really matter. I turned around to see my small ex-girlfriend standing there with a soft smile on her face.
"Hey Mia," I said shooting her a smile before scanning around the hallway to make sure Jayden wasn't around. He just might kill me if he saw me talking to her. Once he had gotten back to his normal self the day before, he told me not to talk to Mia ever again or else he was going to break my arm. At first, he was going to get one of his female cousins on the girl but I convinced him out of it and told him to take whatever anger he had out on me. He did in which he pushed me off his bed and then tickled the hell out of me. Of course that then led to another one of our playful wrestling matches and I got my ass kicked again. I really did not want another ass whooping but I didn't want to be mean to Mia either. So, that meant I just had to watch my back. Besides, Jayden knew that I had no romantic feelings for her so I doubt he was jealous or anything. I think he just wanted to make sure the girl didn't say anything else that could potentially ruin our relationship again.
"How are you? How was Stanford? Did you like it?"
"Oh yea, it was beautiful. I'm definitely going to be attending there in the fall."
"Aw, that's so good!"
"Have you decided where you're going to go?" She nodded.
"I think I'm going to go to UCLA. I absolutely love it there and plus, California weather is beautiful." I chuckled.
"That it is. It was so warm when I went up there this weekend. I almost died of frostbite when I got back. I don't know how I'm going to deal with it once I get used to being up there and then have to come back down here to visit."
"Oh yea, I almost forgot about that," Mia admitted. "I think I'm going to just camp out in my bed when I come back home."
"Yea, I definitely hear you on that." She giggled before shaking her head. "So, how are you? I never actually asked how things were going for you."
"Things are good. Everything's kind of the same, I guess. Nothing's really changed."
"That's always a good thing." She nodded, tilting her head at me.
"How have you been?" I opened my mouth to speak but another voice spoke for me.
"He's been great," Jayden said as he appeared beside us. "Better than great actually. Ever since he dumped your bitchy ass, he's been much happier." He was shooting a taunting smile at Mia, his eyes sending her a silent message. I glared at my boyfriend.
"Jayden," I warned.
"I don't know about that. I mean he is dating your slutty ass so I doubt he's doing much better. Just don't give him any STD's; he's too pure for that." Mia snapped back.
"I'm clean. Maybe you should check your disgusting-" Jayden started.
"Stop it," I told them. I looked to my boyfriend who was raising an eyebrow at me. "Jayden, be nice." His eyebrow rose higher as he scoffed. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to him.
"I wouldn't take her side if I were you," he growled into my ear. I pressed my lips together as I tried to think of a response to that. I didn't know what he was implying but I did know that I didn't want to push it. "I'll see you later." He poked a nerve in my arm causing me to jump before walking away. Shit. He was definitely going to kill me when he came over later. Mia watched him go, her big blue eyes sending daggers after his retreating figure.
"I'm sorry," I told her. She looked back up at me, her eyes now devious.
"Daniel, you need to get rid of him," she said, her soft voice hard for once. I raised an eyebrow.
"Why?" She looked around before stepping closer to me. Her voice dropped down to a whisper so I had to lean down a bit to hear her.
"Because I don't want you to get hurt. I have a plan and you don't...you don't need to be involved in it."
"What are you talking about?" She sighed.
"You'll see," she said simply before backing away. She shot me a pitiful smile before walking away. I merely stared after her in confusion as she did so. I couldn't imagine what the hell she had planned but from the sounds of it, I knew that it wasn't good.
X
A soft knock sounded on my door causing me to look up from my psychology notes for a moment. "Come in," I said as I looked back down to my notes. "Mom, I'm kind of studying so can we talk about the college housing thing a little bit later? I promise that I'll do all the work since you'll be tired but just give me another hour please. I have a test tomorrow."
"Damn, I get mistaken for your mother now," I heard Jayden ask. I looked up to see him taking off his coat, leaving him in a plain black tee. "I didn't think I come in here that often, do I?" I blushed deeply. "Unless you want to talk about college housing with me? But I doubt that since I probably won't know a single thing you'd be talking about."
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. I got up from my seat before I noticed the glare forming on his face. Shit. I had almost forgotten about earlier that morning when I was talking to Mia. Jayden hadn't seemed mad at me in eighth period when we were working on our project so I thought that maybe he'd forgotten about it. I guess not. "Now Jayden," I said, putting my hands up.
"Nope. I gave you a warning and you didn't listen which means that I have to break your arm. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." I glanced towards the door that led to my personal bathroom. Jayden noticed. "Don't you dare." I held his gaze for a moment before making a quick move to jump over my bed. Jayden was faster than me, rushing to the other side of the bed to catch me as I jumped off. He caught me around my waist and slammed me down onto my mattress. I tried to crawl away but he kept his arms around my waist, keeping my body close to his. He crawled on top of me to straddle my hips as I manage to get onto my stomach. He grabbed my wrists and pulled them up behind me. It didn't hurt since he was playing around but I let out a fake groan anyway. He would never seriously hurt me when he gave me threats and acted on them. We would just play around. We were guys after all so we liked doing stupid stuff like that.
"Uncle, uncle," I yelled.
"Nope. What the hell did she want?"
"I don't know." He let go of my arms and leaned down to wrap his arm around my neck. His lips went to my ear, his hot breath caressing the sensitive skin. I felt my stomach tingle in excitement.
"Yes you do," he whispered. "Tell me."
"No."
"Oh you just want to be a little difficult mother fucker today, don't you white boy?" He rolled me over so that I was on my back. Before I could say anything, his hands started to tickle me rapidly. I laughed loudly as I started to squirm under him. I managed to catch his wrists and flip us over so I was on top of him. I pinned his arms down over his head as he wrapped his legs around my waist, squeezing my torso softly. We stared down at each other for a moment, both of our eyes wide with adrenaline. We were both panting softly, our small breaths making noise for the room.
"I'm surprised," I murmured between my breaths. "You actually let me get the upper hand for once." He rolled his eyes.
"Keep talking and I'll put your ass right on that floor." I smiled.
"I don't believe that." He raised an eyebrow before using his knee to push at my hip. I hadn't been paying attention since I was looking down at his eyes so he easily pushed me off him and onto the floor. I landed on my back but since my floor was carpeted, it didn't hurt. I quickly sat up, grabbed my boyfriend's ankle and pulled him right down with me. He seemed caught off guard so I easily tackled him back down on the floor. This time, I got my legs over his so that I could straddle his hips. I followed the technique he used to pin me down by wrapping my legs with his and holding them still. I also grabbed his hands and pinned them down above his head. His green eyes stared up at me, proudness shining in them.
"I see someone's been paying attention when I kick their ass." I blushed deeply but smiled.
"I figured it may come in handy for the day when I actually kicked your ass for once."
"Oh is that what you think you're doing?"
"Maybe." He chuckled.
"Yea alright. Get off me and we'll see who wins then." I smiled wider at his challenge and started to ease off of him. I waited till Jayden was sitting in an upright position to grab him again. We wrestled around for the next couple of minutes until we got to the point where we were just rolling around, trying to pin the other down. Just as Jayden had slammed me down onto my back and pinned me, my door burst open. We both looked up to see Ashley standing there. Her pretty face looked sad before she looked down at us. Amusement then flashed through her eyes and she raised an eyebrow.
"Am I interrupting something," she asked. I blushed deeply.
"Yes actually," Jayden said as he shot her a playful smile. "Do you mind coming back later?"
"Not at all," she said as she giggled. "But I do need to talk to my brother."
"Give me a minute," I told her. "I'll be right there, okay?" She nodded, wiggling her eyebrows at me before walking out the room. I looked back up at Jayden and pushed him off of me.
"Wait till you get back, white boy," he said as he sat up.
"What are you gonna do," I challenged with a smile.
"You'll see," he said. I chuckled as I got up.
"I'll be right back," I told him as I walked towards the door. I headed out to go to Ashley's room down the hall. She had left her door open for me so I just closed it behind me when I came in. She was sitting on her bed. Her legs were crossed under her and I noticed she was dressed in sweats, a long sleeved shirt, and her chestnut hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She was playing with a ring on her finger, her green eyes sorrowful. "What's wrong," I asked her as I sat down beside her.
"I'm not pregnant anymore," she murmured. "Before you say anything, just know that I didn't get an abortion. It was a miscarriage." I opened my mouth to say something but I didn't know what. What was I supposed to say? I mean, my sister didn't really seem to want to be pregnant but she did at the same time. I wasn't exactly sure if she was sad that she lost the baby or sad because she didn't get to make the decision on her own. She glanced up at me. "The doctor said that my body just isn't ready for children yet. I guess that should be a good thing. Mom and dad won't kill me anymore."
"But you're upset," I noted. Ashley sighed, putting her hands in her lap as she looked up at me.
"I guess I wanted to have the baby." She shrugged. "I was going to change for that little fetus. I was going to stop being so rebellious and I was going to do better in school and I was going to be a better person. I was going to give that baby the world."
"Hey, you're still young. There will be other babies once you're married and settled. Maybe the time just wasn't right for a child to come into the world." She nodded.
"Maybe. Adriano's kind of upset about it too but he still loves me. He gave me a promise ring." She held out her finger to me so that I could see the diamond outlined silver band. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be okay." I smiled and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.
"Good." She came closer to give me a hug. "I love you," I told her. She looked up at me and smiled.
"I love you too. Now, go on back to your boyfriend. I'm sorry I interrupted the role play." I blushed deeply.
"Ashley!"
"You're not denying it though." I opened my mouth to say something but I decided against it and just left the room. Ashley giggled as I did so, obviously proud of her annoying little sister move that she pulled. I was a bit happy though. At least she was going to be alright. That's what really counted.
When I came back into my room, I saw Jayden lounging on my bed. He was doing something on his phone, his face pursed into one of concentration. I smiled as I came up to him and plopped down beside him. I looked up at his phone to see that he was playing some ninja game. I moved closer so that I could lay my head on his shoulder. As I glanced up at him, I saw his tiny smile arise on his face. "I'm still not done with you," he said.
"I know but I think a break is necessary, don't you think?"
"Mhmm, I'm not going to forget."
"Dammit." He chuckled, closing the game on his phone. His arm wrapped around me, pulling me closer to him. "Um, about what Mia said..."
"Oh you're actually going to tell me. Wow," he teased. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Jayden, this is serious. I think she's going to do something that could really hurt you."
"I'm not worried about her. The only thing she could do that would hurt me was to take you away from me and she can't do that. She tried that once and she failed. I doubt there's anything else she can really do. Seducing you isn't going to work so I don't know what else there is."
"I can think of a couple of other things... Jayden, how many people know that you're gay?"
"Not many people aside from the guys I've dated. Why? What are you getting at?"
"There is one other thing that she can do..." Jayden stared down at me for a moment, a confused look on his face. As his eyes read mine, he started to get the method that I was trying to hint at. His jaw tightened as anger began to fill his eyes.
"She wouldn't," he growled.
"I don't know, Jayden. From the sound of it, she seemed pretty determined on it. I think we should be careful." Jayden sighed.
"I don't think being careful is enough, Daniel. When I said that Mia was a bitch: I meant it. She's not as sweet and innocent as you think she is. If she's already planning to do something then we can't do anything except wait for it."
"And then what will we do when she drops it?"
"We just have to be prepared."