"I'm looking around these few kids drawing so contently. Well... Some are drawing, some are just annoying others while some are just playing with crayons. I'm already done with doing what our teacher gave us to do and I'm just waiting till she comes around to check.
Our teacher is pretty. She looks really gorgeous, smiling and laughing with everyone. I wanna be like her one day. She looks so cheerful, so happy. She told us to draw what we want as our pet. I drew a cat and a dog. I've always like both, so I can't choose between them to draw one.
I look down at my drawing, wondering if others can see that it's a cat and a dog.
The girl next to me, Chelsea is drawing a mouse or a bunny. whatever it is, It looks cute.
"You like both cats and dogs?" A boy looks at me, holding his drawing to himself.
I hold mine to my chest and nervously answer, "Yes."
"It's beautiful." He smiles at me. I notice that his eyes are blue. I have never seen blue eyes before in my life.
"Thank you." I smile back at him.
He pulls his drawing from where he had it in his chest and showed it to me. "I drew a frog."
I look at the green little frog just sitting down in the paper. It's eyes are so big and it looks cute with a smile.
"I saw one last night but before I could catch it, it jumped away and disappeared. So now, I want a frog."
I have never tried to catch a frog. I actually wanna try that today. I wonder if my mom would let me.
"What's your name?" The boy asks me.
"Hope." I look at his blue eyes.
"Hi Hope. I'm Veron" "
~~*~~
Blue eyes stare at me now. His eyes shine in the moonlight and as he takes down his hoodie, I notice that his face hold anger and confusion.
"Answer me!" His grip on my arm tightens.
"Let go. It hurts." I mumble while trying to free my arm.
"Hope." He says my name with warning that I stop moving. "What? Are. You. Doing. Here?"
"Ellen works in our restaurant." I mumble.
"Why did you lie to me? Is this where your night shift is?" He asks me mockingly.
"No..."I look at the ground. Shrugging, I reply, "Maybe I didn't want much attention from you, I guess." I answer honestly now.
I've been alone for the last 3 years that I don't want someone monitoring my every move now.
"Attention?" He says it like he can't believe what he heard. "Oh my god, Hope! I just wanna protect you, I don't want anything to happen to you on the way."
I look up at him. "I've been going back home alone, everyday for the last 3 years without trouble." I shake my head. "I don't want your protection. I think I can take care of myself just fine."
I pull at my hand away from his grip, putting everything I have and when I finally jerk it off, it's red where his hand has held me.
"I wasn't there then. But I'm here now. I have to care about you as your boyfriend."
I scoff automatically. "Oh... no." I shake my head. "You're not my boyfriend. Not yet, at least."
I turned around and started walking. I'm glad at the fact that we are away from that house right now, cause if someone saw us bickering, they would make another story to tell around college.
"Hope!" He comes up next to me and walk with me. "If you came to the party, why are you leaving now?" It's good that he isn't trying to hold my hand as we walk. I don't want him holding me.
"I have to go. Everyone... knows who I am."
"Oh..." We walk In silence for a while.
"Do you know the road back home?" He asks me.
I was actually thinking about it, this area looks the same everywhere, that every turn I take makes me think that I entered the same road I just turned from.
"I'm not sure but, I think so." I scan the area.
"Well... I'm glad I came with you. So, even if you get lost, you are not alone." He says, smiling.
Honestly, me too. I normally remember roads pretty well. When I was young, my dad would ask me to remember the way we came so we could go back without much trouble if we get lost. But today, it's kinda confusing.
"How did you come here?" I asked him to see if he would remember.
"I came with a friend of Ellen. I got the directions so I just drove." His shrugs.
"You drove?" I look at him, raising my eyebrow. "Don't you have to get your car then?"
"Nah! It's fine. I can't drive anyway." He looks at me with a proud smile. "I'm a little drunk." I notice that his hair is messier than other days. It suits him actually.
We walk for along time. I'm pretty sure we are kinda lost right now. Maybe we could look at maps in his phone? When I asked him for that, he shrugged and said, "My phone's in the car."
So I guess it's entirely up to me then. We can still hear the beat of the music, faintly. I thought we walked far but guess we were just going in rounds all this time. We keep on walking. Veron keeps on just following me while I check around for familiarity, in these roads. Finally, I see a road that looks a little familiar and started going towards that. As we reach there, I see that it's actually the road to Martine's. I nearly scream a "Yes!"
I release a shaky breath, laughing to myself. I mentally pat my back for not getting lost. Good job, me.
Veron starts laughing. "I really thought we were lost." He pats my back. I go tense completely with his simple touch.
I cough nervously. "You can go home now. I can maybe call for a taxi? I can go from here." I look around the road for a taxi but the road's pretty empty.
"Nope." He drags me from my hand and walk in the direction of my place.
I tried to protest but he doesn't even stop. So, I just go ahead with him. He lets go of my hand when he realized that I won't protest anymore.
On the way home, we don't talk much. I noticed a couple of times, he would kick a rock on the way and hit a sign pole with it. Him, being a footballer might be a good reason for that.
"How are you going home now?" I asked Veron, now that we are almost at my place.
He shrugs just casually and don't say anything. He shrugs way too much.
"Maybe we could call a taxi?" To which he just shrugged again. I don't want to just leave him outside but I don't want to take him inside as well.
"Okay." He says a little while later, shrugging again. Oh, that shrug!
If I'm going to call a taxi, we have to go into my apartment for me to get internet.
I don't really like the idea of him coming to my place but it seems like, I don't really have a choice. It's not like I can ask him to wait out here until I call a taxi. That's rude.
I don't want him inside. Not because I don't trust him to be a decent guy but because he is drunk. He would have been decent if he was sober but I don't know him well enough to know how he is when he is this drunk. I'm sure any girl would have doubts in a situation like this.
We reach my apartment and I invite him in. He seems really happy with that, that it makes my already frantic heart beat a little faster.
When I opened the door and step inside to let him follow me, I look around at my place to see if I have anything kept out here that he should not be seeing. Like bras and panties. But seeing none, I let out a breath in relief that I didn't even know I was holding.
I look at him to see him looking around. I feel nervous for what he might be thinking right now.
"What?" I ask to break the silence.
"Nothing." He has more to say. I can see his thinking. "It's just... small."
I look around again. I turn towards the kitchen area. "Do you want coffee? I'll call a taxi while I make some."
"Yea. Okay. " he walks over to the couch and take a seat.
I put some coffee in the pot and wait for the water to boil. I checked my phone for available taxis and there's one nearby right now. So, I order that quickly before it goes away. When the kettle started to boil, I make the coffee and pour them into two mugs.
Taking them to the living room, I notice that Veron is lying down on the couch, snoring lightly. He has an arm under his head and his hair is sprawled everywhere. He looks like a little kid that I don't want to wake him up. He looks so peaceful.
I cancel the taxi and drink both coffees siting on the kitchen counter. He hasn't changed his position by the time I decided to take a shower.
Going into my room, I take my blanket and go over to cover him with it. After my quick shower, I change in to my sweats being inside the bathroom just in case he happened to be awake. I don't want him to see me in my towel.
When I come out, I leave the bathroom light on so that if he wants to use it at night, he'll know where it is. I check him to see if he is still sleeping. He has snuggled under the blanket looking like a newborn baby with the blanket wrapped around it with only the face showing. I leave a glass of water next to him on the stool and go to bed. I fall asleep as soon as I hit the bed.
Faintly, I can hear someones footsteps and I wake up, alerted. I look towards the living room and I can see a person walking. I blink my eyes to see him clearly in the dark and to get the sleep away from my eyes. I'm staying still not moving at all when I see that the figure is walking towards my room.
"Can I come in there?"
Veron.
I release a breath. I forgot that he was here. I've never had anyone else in my apartment before. But as soon as I realize that I'm alone here with a guy, I suck in a breath.
"Um... Why?" I'm uncomfortable with this situation, highly.
He walks slowly over to the bed and I crawl away from him, slowly.
"The sofa is crammed up. My back hurts." He's almost at the bed now. "I thought maybe we could both share the bed."
He keeps a hand near my foot and I shuffle away from him. My heart is going crazy and my hands are shaking.
"Hey, it's fine. I won't hurt you." He gets onto the bed.
Before I even know what I'm doing, I clutch a pillow to my body and get out of the bed muttering, "You stay here. I'm not sleepy anyways."I turn and head towards the living room and just as I go around the bed to get to the other side of the bed, he grabs my arms and pulls me to him.
A surprised squeal escapes my lips and I struggle to get free when he pushed me back into bed and gets on top of me. One of his hands grab both of my wrist together while the other covers my mouth. Both of my legs are pinned in place by both of his knees.
"If you stop struggling, it'll hurt less." He leans in closer, whispering. "But if you scream, I'll make you regret it." He's right in front of my face. His breath smells of alcohol and his bloodshot eyes look deep into my eyes.
I didn't realize exactly how drunk he really is, until now.