It's July and Holt and I are out getting ice cream.
We're sitting at our table and we're teasing each other, trying to stop the other from eating our ice cream and Holt plants a kiss on my lips to distract me and we're laughing and...
"Shit Stain?"
Holt's body completely freezes.
I turn my head, looking at the person who just spoke. It's a dude that seems to be about our age. Obviously one of the assholes that tormented Holt when he was younger. I didn't know I was going to have to fight someone today.
I'm about to get up to go punch him, but Holt grabs my arm, and he's panicking.
"Shit Stain? That you?" the fucking shit head asks again, coming our way.
Holt's not letting go of my arm, but he manages to say in a levelled tone, "My name's Holt, Brian, I've told you many times."
He's looking at me now, and he's looking at Holt's hand on my arm. "What have we got here?" he asks looking smug and satisfied.
"My boyfriend," Holt says, with confidence. I love Holt even more.
"So you a cocksucker now? Interesting. I keep seeing pictures of you on Instagram, 'cause apparently you're all popular now. I never saw any pictures of you with balls on your chin. Is this why you stopped taking showers with us at school? Because you wanted to suck all our dicks?"
He stopped taking shower with you imbeciles because he would have killed himself. We've talked about this together. How there was a time in high school where the bullying was so bad that he almost thought about ending it all. How he tried to do everything he could to stop the bullying. How he never fought with them and tried not to add fuel to the fire. How alone and unwanted he felt.
And this fucking bully is part of the reason why he felt so bad.
As always though, Holt tries not adding furl to the fire, because he's a sweetheart, because the world doesn't deserve someone as pure and gentle as him. "This should make you happy. There's no reason for you to keep on insulting me and degrading me. I'm not interested in women, so I'm not competition."
Brian snorts. "You were never a competition Dead Skin, you were always just trailer trash."
Yeah, no, I'm done. "Hey? Are you brain dead?" I ask.
Holt looks at me with wide eyes. He's squeezing my arm. I don't care. I want to hurt the useless piece of trash who hurt my love.
Brain looks at me with disdain. "Excuse me?"
"What the fuck is wrong with you? Seriously? Do you have a crush on Holt? Is that why you're on his case? Or is it because your daddy never loved you so you need to put people down the way he always has you?"
And biiiiingo. The dude's face immediately goes red. He's pissed. "You don't know anything about my dad," he says between clenched teeth.
"You know what I know? I know that if you don't fuck off and leave us alone, Holt and I are going to track down your girlfriend if you do have one, and we're going to steal her from you. We'll do this with any girl you start dating. Seriously, our jobs aren't that time consuming. We totally have the time to do it. And we'll do it. Anyone would rather pick us over a disgusting shit troll like you."
He glares at me. I don't care. This feels good. "Fuck off," he says.
And now, Holt looks like he's breathing normally, and he says, "Run along shit head, otherwise we're really going to go look for your girlfriend."
You see panic in that waste of oxygen's eyes. "She'd never date you."
I snort. "Honey, look at us. She'd date us."
"Now you fuck off," Holt adds.
And he does.
When he's far away enough, Holt drops his forehead on my shoulder, sighing in relief.
"Are you okay?" I ask him, while rubbing his back.
"Yeah, I'm okay?"
"No one insults you, not on my watch? You hear me?"
Holt lifts his head and smiles at me. "I hear you." I kiss his temple. "I really wish we would have known each other when I was younger."
I stroke his cheek. Sometimes I really wish that too. "Well, you've got me now, and I'm never going away.
Holt leans his face in my palm as I cradle it.
No one messes with my Smooches.