Four Doors Down(10)
“Look, if it’s any consolation, I still feel awful today and I was throwing up all day yesterday.”
“Yeah, it kinda looks like you haven’t showered since Friday.”
I glare at him even though he’s right. I know I look terrible. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?”
He grins at me and shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. We all do dumb shit when we’re drunk.”
Oh, right. That was actually easier than I thought it would be.
There’s one more question I have to ask him and I really, really wish I didn’t. “So, I remember you finding me with Charlie in that room,” I say awkwardly staring at the ground. “Did anyone else from school see us?”
I’ve been hardcore worrying about that since I woke up yesterday morning. Even though we were dressed, I’m pretty sure we looked like we were about two minutes away from doing a live sex show, and I’m mortified at the thought of someone seeing me. It’s bad enough Ryan did, but if any of the girls from school that were there did, I’m pretty sure they’ll waste no time spreading that particular piece of gossip and make it their mission to humiliate me.
I look up at Ryan and he’s shaking his head. “No, just me.” I can’t read the expression on his face.
I clear my throat. “Did you take any pictures?” I ask. Various pictures and videos of half-naked girls in different states of undress with guys have done the rounds at our school before. Hell, I bet it’s even the guys they’re hooking up with passing it around. I might be being paranoid, but I’ve had visions of a video of us practically dry humping, which let’s face it, is what we were doing, doing the rounds on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, you name it.
Ryan’s face darkens and his jaw visibly tenses with anger. “No, I didn’t take any f*cking pictures! God, you really don’t think much of me, do you?”
I sigh with relief; I really was worried about that. It’s not as if I’m exactly ashamed, but I do not need the whole school laughing and gossiping about me. “Sorry,” I tell him. “Again. I was just worried, you know? I always remember Kylie Santos.”
He nods slightly at this, but he still looks pissed at me.
Kylie Santos was a girl from my elementary school. When we got to high school, she got involved with an older guy who basically told her he was single, used her for sex and then ditched her. His psycho on-off girlfriend, Fran Cunningham, found out when she came across a couple of topless pictures of Kylie on his phone that Kylie didn’t even know he’d taken. Then Fran and her minions plastered them all down the main hallway at school, using some special glue which made it harder for the teachers to take down. Later that day they’d also sent a video to most of the school of Kylie giving him a blow job. It had been shocking and humiliating and I remember being so upset for Kylie. She was a nice girl and didn’t deserve that. Sam and I had come across her by the principal’s office and she’d been absolutely heartbroken. I’ve never felt so bad for someone in my life and that was when she told us who had done it.
When Sam and I were walking home minutes later, we’d walked past Fran and her group and her spineless boyfriend, Harry Campbell, who had told Kylie so many lies. We weren’t going to say anything, Fran Cunningham was a renowned bitch who most people bowed down to, but we’d heard her calling someone a slut just as we walked past and I snapped. I marched up to her, in the middle of a large group of popular kids and told her exactly what I thought of her and her pathetic boyfriend. She reacted as you’d imagine and had started screaming in my face and had even lunged for me. At that point, Ryan of all people (he must have been standing nearby), stepped in front of her to block her from getting to me and Jake dragged me away. I’d spent the entire evening panicking about what she was going to do to me the next day, worried she was going to try and attack me again but for some reason she did nothing except give me dirty looks until she graduated later that year. Kylie never came back to school but I’ve always remembered it and I’ve had visions since Friday night of similar pictures of me with Charlie adorning the school walls.
“Anyway, thanks for all your help on Friday,” I tell Ryan and turn to leave.
He sighs loudly. “Hey, do you want a drink? My mom made lemonade this morning.”
Mrs. Jackson is one of those supermoms who makes everything fresh and from scratch. I know she used to make really good lemonade. I’m about to refuse, but he’s already pouring two glasses. I’m pretty certain he’s pissed at me over the pictures comment and I don’t want to annoy him further. He actually did help me out big time on Friday. I shrug and take a seat at the breakfast bar. I look around the room, trying to figure out something to say.
“So, I’m sorry if I ruined your chance with Zara the other night, with you giving me a ride.”
“Zara?” he asks.
“Didn’t you hook up with her?”
He smiles. “No, idiot. That was Jake. That’s the reason I was there because Jake didn’t want to show up on his own.”
Oh.
“Right, sorry. I just thought…” I mumble and vaguely remember a rumor at school about Jessica Murphy being into him and realize I probably did get it wrong.
“You don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
“Never said I did,” I shoot back, looking over at him. He’s watching me again. I don’t think I know him at all, not anymore. Well, I did think he was an arrogant player who used girls when he felt like it. Just because for once in his life he was nice to me rather than trying to annoy me doesn’t mean I should revise my whole opinion on him.