The Beauty in Between: Too Close (A Beautiful Series Novella) (3 page)

All of a
sudden, realisation dawned on her face, and she hit me in the
shoulder. “Thanks a fucking lot. You just stole my first kiss,” she
laughed, only half meaning what she was saying. “You’re a dick. Go
home!” Rolling her eyes at me, she lifted the screen back into the
frame.

“Hey, at least
you’ll always remember me now,” I told her, curling one side of my
mouth into a grin as I peered at her through the screen. She simply
shook her head at me, smiling the whole time I helped her fix the
fly screen back in place. I then took off for home, climbed back
through my own window and walked out of my room as if I’d been
there all along.

When I reached
the end of the hallway, I could see my mother sitting at the
kitchen table, her head in her hands as she sat in her dressing
gown, hunched over a cup of coffee. The moment she looked up at me,
I could tell that she’d been crying all night.

Instantly,
guilt stabbed like a knife through my gut. She must have gone into
my room and found me gone. She probably thought I ran away.

“Mum…” I
started, attempting to apologise as I stepped toward her.

“He’s gone,”
she told me hoarsely, a tear rolling out of her already swollen
eyes. She swiped at it, quickly removing it from her face. “He left
us.”

“Bullshit,” I
said. It was the first thing that popped out of my mouth in
response to my father leaving. I had known this was possible,
actually, I thought I wanted it. But to be faced with the reality
of it… well, it was sickening in a way.

Immediately, my
mother reprimanded me. “David Anthony Taylor! Watch your
language!”

“I’m sorry
mum,” I said, taking a seat across from her.

She released a
loaded breath and looked out the window. “You’re right though. It
is bullshit. I can’t believe he chose poker machines and alcohol
over us,” she squeaked out, tears falling down her face readily
now.

Standing up
from my chair, I walked around the table and hugged my mother as
tight as I could. “We’ll be fine mum. You’ll see. We’ll be just
fine without him.”

By the time
year ten rolled around the guys and girls group had basically
merged. As a result, Katrina and I had undergone our fair share of
scrutiny because of how close we were. We have always freely hugged
and sat near to each other, so everyone wanted to know what was
going on between us.

Further
suspicion arose when I wouldn’t let any of the guys talk about her
as if she was a hole to be plundered, along with the fact that
while I was interested in some of the girls in our year group, I
still wasn’t willing to do the whole boyfriend/girlfriend
thing.

It was about
three months into year ten when the school put on a big disco in
the assembly hall. It was totally lame, and we were supposed to get
all dressed up in retro clothes like we were from the sixties or
something. The girls got really into it and so did a few of the
guys, but most of us just turned up in our regular jeans and a
T-shirt.

Cassie, the
girl who Katrina has told me about a couple of years before, was
giving me ‘the look’ and feeling a little mellow after drinking
some of my friend Brett’s coke laced with bourbon, I decided to
follow her when she indicated that she was going out onto the
oval.

It was pitch
black when I stepped out around the building, so I wasn’t really
prepared when she jumped on me and practically shoved her tongue
down my throat. I stumbled forward, bracing myself against the
brick wall to regain my balance. She was like a leech, attached to
my face.

Since she was
short, I lifted her up and sat her straddled on my knee, which
caused something unexpected to happen. She started grinding herself
against me, moaning into my mouth and causing my body to react in
the way that a guy’s body normally does.

“I’ve wanted to
kiss you for so long,” she gasped, breaking the kiss and pushing
herself against me. “I was worried you didn’t want me.” She tilted
her pelvis forward, pressing it against my crotch. “But you so
obviously do.”

I let out a
groan that I just couldn’t hold in, and she took this as a sign to
move forward. She reached her hand between us and tried to undo my
pants. But I didn’t want this to go any further. I still hardly
knew the girl. She was more Katrina’s friend than she was mine.

“Cassie. Not
here ok,” I told her, pulling back and setting her onto the
ground.

“What’s the
problem David?” she cooed. “We’re both sixteen. It's not like we’re
doing anything illegal.”

“Um, I’m pretty
sure it’s illegal to whip my dick out in public.”

“Hmmm, well,
maybe some other time,” she said over her shoulder as she walked
away, disappearing round the corner, leaving me confused and on my
own.

I waited a few
moments until I was able to present myself in public again and
re-entered the hall. The moment I stepped in, Brett slapped me on
the back and congratulated me, handing me the bottle of spiked
coke.

“What for?” I
asked in bewilderment. I’d made out with a girl. It wasn’t the
first time. I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

“For popping
Cassie’s cherry,” he informed me.

“For what?! But
I didn’t.” Suddenly I felt sick. I didn’t want this to be
happening.

“Don’t act all
coy dude. The girls are all over there talking about it. She told
them all you have this giant cock and you rocked her world. And
dude, I’m inclined to believe her. I’ve seen that thing of yours at
the urinal – it’s unnatural,” he laughed as he walked over to some
of the other guys.

My first
instinct was to find Katrina. I needed to tell her it wasn’t true.
I didn’t want her to think I’d screw a girl against the wall of the
school - I wasn't like that.

“Hey man,”
Terry, one of the guys in my group called out to me, motioning for
me to join them. I walked quickly toward them still scanning for
Trina on my way.

The moment I
joined them, I think every guy I knew slapped my back in
congratulations. It was like I’d won something and no matter how
much I objected, not one of them believed me.

“Man, those
girls are just giving up their virginity lately – we’re all gonna
get lucky! Ever since Mara and Aaron started, they all seem to want
to be in on it,” Brian observed.

“What the
hell?” I mumbled, my eyebrows furrowed so deeply that they were
hooding my eyes. “Have you seen Trina?” I asked, still looking for
her.

“I don’t know
man. I think Ben was trying to make a play for her. You know he’s
got a thing for her.”

“What? Fuck!” I
spat out, embarking on a huge search for her. Eventually, I found
her sitting on a silver bench with Ben. They were really close, and
he was touching her face. It felt as though the bottom of my
stomach fell out as I watched him lean forward and kiss her. It
wasn’t one of those frantic kisses like the one Cassie gave me –
thank god, had I witnessed that, I might have punched Ben in the
face.

By the time I
reached them, they had their foreheads pressed together and were
grinning stupidly at each other. They didn’t even see me
coming.

Feeling this
surge of protectiveness inside me, all I could see was the need to
get Trina out of there. I wasn’t going to let any of those guys
touch her. Not one of them was deserving. I reached out and grabbed
her arm, pulling her up from the seat and surprising both of
them.

“We’re
leaving,” was all I said as I dragged her away from him.

“David!” she
squealed.

“What the fuck
man?!” Ben called after us, jumping up to follow as I stormed
across the main quad with Katrina in tow.

“Just fuck off
alright,” I said to him, pausing momentarily, before continuing to
head toward the front of the school.

“She’s not your
property Dave," he called after us, before adding, "I’ll call you
tomorrow Trina,” before turning back toward the building.

“What the hell
are you doing?” she yelled at me, yanking her arm free.

“I’m getting
you out of there. You don’t know how those guys talk Trina! I don’t
want you involved with them.”

“He wasn’t
doing anything wrong! I wanted him to kiss me, and you ruined it.
You ruined my first kiss David. I hope you’re proud of
yourself.”

Hearing her say
that made me stop dead in my tracks, I spun around to face her and
grabbed her face in my hands, staring straight into her eyes. “I
was your first kiss Trina. Me. Not some guy you hooked up with at a
dance.”

“That wasn’t a
real kiss.”

Instantly, I
released her and started to walk to the front gate. It was as if
she’d slapped me.

“Besides, he’s
not just some guy David. I’ve liked him for a while.”

“Why didn’t you
say something?” I asked flatly, leaning against the cool metal of
the fence.

She shrugged.
“I don’t know, the same reason we don’t talk about the girls you
hook up with at parties. We keep our friendship separate from all
that dating crap, at least I thought that’s what we did anyway…”
she said, trailing off as she pulled her phone out of her pocket
and pressed the button to light up the screen.

“Listen Trina,
there’s something I want to talk to you about. There’s a rumour
that’s – What? What is it?” I asked, immediately concerned when she
looked up from her phone, her mouth wide open and her brows
furrowed deeply.

“You are such a
hypocrite!” she yelled, pushing against my chest and holding her
phone in front of my face. I could see the message on the screen
telling her that I’d slept with Cassie.

“It’s not true!
She lied!”

“She lied? Are
you serious? Why would a girl lie about something like that?
Everyone would start calling her a slut.”

“I don’t know
Trina, but I’d expect you, out of all people to believe me. I
promise you, on every moment we’ve ever spent together. It's not
true. I kissed her. She wanted more, and I said no.”

“Whether it’s
true or not David, you’re still a hypocrite. Why can you go off
kissing girls, but I can’t have one kiss with a boy I actually
like? Stay here and wait for dad if you like, but I’m going back
inside. Maybe Ben hasn’t been completely scared off.”

“Trina, please
don’t.”

“I’m allowed to
have boyfriends you know. Ben’s right – you don’t own me.”

It was painful
watching her walk back towards the school buildings. How could I
get her to understand how wrong Ben was for her without looking
like a jealous wanker myself?

I watched until
she was safely inside and then crossed the street to McDonalds to
wait out the rest of the dance. A few other kids had abandoned the
school dance as well and were over there eating and laughing. I
went and ordered a meal and sat down with them.

“Hey David!” a
girl named Loren yelled a little too enthusiastically to me from
across the table. “Is it true what Cassie’s saying?”

I shook my
head, “No. She's full of shit. She tried, and I said no. I didn’t
want to fuck her against the side of the school building.”

“Told you she
was lying!” Loren’s best friend Erin yelled to her. “No girl’s
first time is that awesome.”

I laughed,
suddenly feeling that little bit lighter. Finally, someone believed
me.

***

Trina’s dad
picked us up from the dance and drove us home. We barely said a
word to each other the entire ride home, and even Mr Mahoney
noticed something was going on.

“Bad time?” he
asked, glancing at us in the rear-view mirror.

“David can just
be a real jerk sometimes,” Katrina said, folding her arms tightly
over her chest and staring out the window.

Mr Mahoney met
my eyes in the rear-view mirror and raised his eyebrows in
question. I shrugged my shoulders and looked out the window on my
side, just wanting this night to be over.

“Thanks for the
ride Mr Mahoney,” I said softly, as I opened the door to get out of
the car. “See you later Trina.” She briefly met my eyes before
looking straight ahead, effectively giving me the cold shoulder.
Sighing, I closed the door and went inside to where my mother was
waiting up for me.

“How was it?”
she asked when she heard the door click shut.

I walked over
to where she was sitting watching tv and sat next to her with an
exaggerated sigh. “It was shit.”

“David!
Language!”

“Sorry.”

“You want to
talk about it?”

For a while, I
didn’t speak, not sure how my mum would take hearing what had gone
down that night. I was risking her never letting me out of the
house again if she reacted badly.

Needing to get
it off my chest and have someone close to me believe me, I took a
deep breath and started. “Everyone thinks I had sex with Cassie
Green.”

“They
think?”

I then told her
the PG version of what happened between us, and how the rumour went
crazy. Then, I told her how I reacted when I saw Katrina with
Ben.

“You dragged
her out of there?” she asked incredulously. “Oh David, that was way
out of line. I know you love Katrina- ”

“I don’t
love
her!” I interrupted, angry that she was jumping to
conclusions.

“David. Let me
finish. I was meaning that you love her like family and feel very
protective of her. But you can’t protect her from everyone. She
needs to make her own mistakes with boys – every girl does.”

“I just don’t
want to hear them talking about her like they do the other
girls.”

“Then maybe
it’s time you got some better friends.”

Later that
night, I was lying in bed, tossing and turning because I couldn’t
sleep. Eventually, I gave up and put my clothes and shoes on and
climbed out my window. Ever since I first went to her window the
night that my dad left, I’d gone back whenever I was really
troubled about something. She always made me feel better.