Page 18 of The Boy I Loved
“What’s next?” I asked, wanting to get this over with as fast as possible.
I enjoyed spending time with her, but sometimes I just needed to be left alone. Today was one of those days.
She glanced at the list again, her dark blonde eyebrows pulling together in concentration. “Two composition notebooks.” She whipped her head around, eyeing the shelves on either side of us. Her straight, dirty blonde hair fell to the center of her back with every movement she made. Tory was pretty, with light blue eyes, a dimple on her left cheek, and sideswept bangs. But she was also intense. It probably came from living in a strict household. Her stepmother wasn’t the best role model, always criticizing her and looking down on her, and her father worked a lot. Needless to say, she constantly felt like she had something to prove.
I walked a few steps down the aisle, grabbing two purple notebooks for me, and a pink and light blue one for her. She enjoyed variety and color, and these were two of her favorite shades.
“We’ll also need a two-inch binder for every class,” she continued.
I grabbed those too and turned to face her again after discarding them in the cart. “Are we almost done?”
Tory raised an eyebrow, her dimple becoming more prominent as she sucked on her lower lip. “Look, Hazel…” she trailed off, glancing around the aisle to make sure we were alone. “I don’t know what happened at Dom’s welcome home party, but you’ve been acting strange ever since. This is supposed to be fun.”
Guilt settled in the depths of my stomach, tying it into knots. She was right. This was supposed to be a girl’s day out where we went shopping, got our school supplies, and went out to get food while talking about everything going on in our lives. It was just difficult to get into that headspace.
Don’t contact me again.
Those words have been swirling around in my brain since they came out of his mouth. They were cold, distant, and bitter all in one. It was hard to focus much on anything else.
My shoulders slumped in defeat. “I know. I’m being a party pooper.”
A surprised laugh bubbled up from her throat. “That’s certainly one way to put it.” Her expression softened shortly after, and she hesitantly took a step toward me. “We can raid my dad’s liquor cabinet tonight if it’ll make you feel better, but I just want to have fun with my best friend. So will youpleasejust forget about Dominic for the day?”
I wasn’t sure if I could. It wasn’t like Iwantedto think about him. He just wouldn’t vacate my mind. Almost everything reminded me of him. Like shopping for school supplies for example. It was something he used to do with me, too.
Instead of saying any of that though, I released a loaded sigh and jerked my head in a single nod. “I’ll try, but won’t you get in trouble for getting into your dad’s stash?”
Tory’s dad was on the chiller side. If she raided his stash, he might have even laughed it off. But her stepmother was a completely different story. I didn’t know to what extent, but I could always tell that something happened when Tory was in an exceptionally ill mood.
She shrugged, not seeming to care much about any of the potential consequences. “She probably won’t even know. She’s not much of a drinker, and if she does see some missing, she’ll probably just assume it was my father.” She glanced back down at the list. “Just a few more things.”
We were tuckedinto a booth in the back of some small diner, a menu laid out before us. I was thankful that it was mostly empty, and that Tory didn’t have any interest in going somewhere more extravagant. I just needed simple and easy right now.
“So,” she began, eyes darting up to meet mine. “Are you ever going to tell me what happened with Dom?”
My stomach flipped at the mention of his name. “There’s not much to tell,” I admitted. “When he came home, he acted completely different. He looks different too. All hard edges and tattoos.” Not to mention muscles. He’s grown a lot over the past two and a half years. Blowing out a breath, I flipped my menu closed and leaned back into my seat. “He acted like he didn’t want me there. He was rude, bossy, and… angry.”
A flicker of surprise flashed within Tory’s gaze. “Thatisweird,” she agreed. “I mean, not to sound like a bitch, but he’s always been a dick. Just not to you.”
I nodded. Before his dad died, he was really outgoing. He enjoyed the party scene, the attention from other girls, showing off in group settings, and playing sports. He was exceptionally good at football. After his father’s passing, he just … changed. He stopped playing football, curled into himself, would only be caught dead at a party if there would be alcohol, and I’m assuming, girls. He also started skipping school and hanging out with Mason a lot—the school’s outcast. In no time, the two boys formed their own social group. Mason, Vincent, Nicholas, and Dominic.
Vincent transferred here in ninth grade, shortly before Dom’s dad passed away. All I knew about him was that he was from Kansas, and that his older brother was somewhere else. There hasn’t been any mention of his parents, or if he even lived with them anymore. Nicholas was another story. His dad was a known gang banger and seemed to have the cops in his pocket. It was why he never got into any trouble, but I knew he wasn’t innocent. Therewas something dark and twisted about him, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
“After the party, I sent Dominic a text.” My voice lowered, heat creeping into my cheeks. It was humiliating even having to think about it, but for some reason, I wanted to talk to someone about it. “I didn’t even think he’d reply. I was just feeling desperate.”
She nodded, her expression void of any judgment. That was one of the things I loved about her. She was a great listener and never made me feel shitty about any of the things I did or wanted.
“And he replied,” she guessed.
I nodded, attempting to swallow past the lump in my throat. “Yeah. H-he… he asked me why I was texting him, and then asked if my parents were home. After I told him no…” I trailed off, embarrassment building and building inside of me until it felt like my entire body was on fire. “He sent me another message, telling me to get naked and to get on my bed.”
Tory’s eyes blew wide, her own skin flushing slightly with a tinge of pink. “Well, he’s forward.” She scoffed with an eye roll. “You should have told him to shove it.”
I snorted a laugh, knowing she wouldn’t understand why I chose to obey him after the way he treated me. She also wasn’t dumb enough to think that I turned down his request. She knew me better than that. Dominic has always been extremely blunt, always straight to the point. It was one of the things I loved about him.
“Yeah… well, I didn’t.”
Tory nodded. “Figured as much. What happened next?” A small smile played around the edges of her mouth. She might have hated Dom, and guys in general really, but she enjoyed the drama when it had nothing to do with her.
