Just Another Lovesick Boy

Early the next morning, Eddy had crawled in through my window and had shoved me into the bathroom shower before I could even think about panicking about my appearance. As I banged on my bathroom door, demanding that he let me out, Eddy reprimanded me from the other side, reminding me that Lee liked me for who I was and that I was worrying about my looks way too late. I agreed with him with a small sigh and continued to get ready. After we left my house, Eddy and I left in his car with Free in the back seat to go pick up Lee and Anya. This would be the first time that Free and Lee would be meeting. Though Eddy had been driving Lee to and from school ever since he got his car, Freedom had still been going to school with Mr. Devereux. I was a bit anxious for Freedom and Lee to finally meet. The Devereux’s were my family and I wanted them to think well of Lee.

After we pulled up to Lee’s house, she gave me a small through the window before sliding into the backseat. I turned around to see her blink in surprise when she noticed the small blonde on the other seat.

“Hello there,” Lee greeted.

“Nara Lee Evans, I presume,” Free smiled before offering her hand. “I’m Freedom Devereux.”

“Nice to meet you, Freedom. I’ve heard good things about you from Adrian.”

“As I have heard good things about you,” Free nodded before her face turned serious. “I hope you don’t plan on causing physical, mental, or emotional harm to Adrian. Anybody who hurts my brothers doesn’t make me happy.”

Lee raised her eyebrows in surprise before glancing up at me. I gave her a small shrug before looking at Free, who was still staring at Lee seriously. Lee licked her lips before turning back to Freedom.

“I like Adrian a lot. I have no plans at all to hurt him. I promise,” she nodded.

“Oh, good!” Free exclaimed, a wide grin on her face, before turning away as Eddy drove off towards Anya’s house.

Lee slowly turned towards me with a questioning smile on her face. I gave her a small shrug before turning around in my seat. After we picked up Anya and dropped Freedom off at school, we headed towards the high school. As soon as I got out of the car, I immediately turned around to open the door for Lee. She gave me a small smile before jumping out of the car. Eddy and Anya were already halfway to the entrance of the high school when Lee and I stepped up the curb. We stood there awkwardly, shifting our weights around and not looking at each other. I scratched at my ear before holding out my hand without looking at her. I glanced around the area before me, hoping I did not appear as awkward as I felt. After a moment, I felt Lee’s long fingers inch their way across my palm before intertwining with mine. I felt the back of my neck and my ears flush before I squeezed her hand gently. I cleared my throat as I looked at her. She smiled up at me before looking towards the school and taking the first few steps towards it.

I did not pay much attention to those around us as the four of us made our way to our first period classes. We waved at Anya as she made her way to her English class on the second floor before proceeding to the third floor. As Eddy went into our Spanish classroom, I turned towards Lee, who adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she looked up at me.

“Oh, man,” I laughed to myself. “I feel more awkward than usual.”

“Ditto. I don’t remember feeling this nervous before,” Lee nodded seriously as she fiddled with my fingers.

“How about this: we just act like we always did. We just leveled up from friends to a couple.”

“Leveled up, Adrian? Really?” she smiled as she raised her eyebrows in amusement.

“Lee,” I started seriously, “this is a definite level up. We’re at the highest we can go right now and that makes me insanely happy.”

Lee stared up at me, her face a mixture of amusement and contemplation. Her hand felt warm against mine. The longer she stared up at me, the more I felt my heart race faster. I could hear my heart beat roaring in my ears and I could feel it beat throughout my entire body. My hand throbbed as I felt the blood rushing through my veins. Would she feel my heart beat through my hand? I glanced down at our intertwined fingers. This girl held my heart in her hands and it was like she had no idea what so ever. I shifted nervously and was about to say something when Lee took a small step forward and placed a gentle kiss on my lips. I blinked in surprise as I moved my hand forward nervously, hesitating before I placed it on her waist.

Lee pulled away as she smiled up at me. “That had to be the cutest thing I ever heard.”

“I reserve my cute sayings just for you.”

“Precious,” she laughed. “Remind me not to break your heart.”

I leaned forward to wrap my arms around her as I pressed my lips to her forehead. “I would rather have you break my heart a million times over than like anybody else.”

“Adrian,” she chuckled. “Go to class.”

“As you wish,” I smiled as I slowly let go of her hand. I walked backwards a few steps, turning around only when she went inside her classroom, to walk towards mine.

The time between classes seemed to pass by quickly. The morning classes went by without anything extremely interesting occurring. It was not until after third period and I was walking down the hall to meet Lee that something happened. I was nearing the ASB classroom, where Lee was, when I was shoved and held up against the doorframe to the Music Appreciation room, blocking the students still there inside. The students there looked on impatiently and curiously as Phillip Williams held his arm tightly against my throat.

“Hey, freak,” he greeted me with a sarcastic grin. “What was the hell was that I saw this morning?”

“How could I possibly know what the hell you saw this morning, idiot?” I grimaced. “I’m not a fucking psychic, you know.”

“You know what I’m talking about, Dawson, don’t fuck around. What the hell were you doing putting your hands all over Nara?”

I stared at him incredulously before asking, “Why do you care?”

Phillip’s eyes tightened as his mouth curled up into a sneer. He lightly pushed his arm tighter against my neck, causing me to clear my throat uncomfortably. I glared up at him angrily as he continued to push his arm into my neck.

“I’ve been waiting for too long for that girl for you to mess this up, asshole. Back off, she’s mine,” he growled.

“News flash, douche bag: you already have a girlfriend,” I spat out before pushing him off me. “And no. She’s mine.”

Phillip glared at me in deep loathing before stepping forward to push me again, causing me to violently hit my head against the doorframe. I was about to step forward when a hand placed on my shoulder held me back. I turned my head around to see the tall, dark figure of the Music Appreciation teacher.

“Mr. Williams, I don’t appreciate you blocking my students,” he stated after looking away from me to glance up at Phillip.

“Sorry, Mr. Damazo,” Phillip mumbled.

“No, you’re not,” Mr. Damazo stated coolly. “I’m done with your violence, Mr. Williams. I’ll definitely be talking to Mr. Torres about this.”

“Oh, come on, sir,” Phillip groaned. “Basketball season just started!”

“You should have thought about that before causing trouble. Grow up, Mr. Williams. You can go now,” Mr. Damazo said as Phillip glared at him angrily before turning on his heel and stomping down the hallway.

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly before glancing up at Mr. Damazo. “Thanks, Mr. D.”

He nodded silently as he looked down at me, seemingly musing over something. He glanced over my shoulder briefly before stating, “You’re a great student, Adrian. You have a lot of potential. I would hate to see you get in involved in something like a fight. Now, I’m not saying that you should just accept bullying, but there are better ways to overcome it instead of physically fighting back. Do you understand me?”

“Yeah, I get it. Sorry about that,” I nodded.

Mr. Damazo glanced over my shoulder again before tapping me gently on the shoulder with a rolled up piece of paper. “Congrats, by the way. She was a long time coming, wasn’t she?”

I turned around to see Lee leaning against the wall as she stared over at us. I felt the heat crawl up my neck before quickly turning around to see Mr. Damazo walking down the hall, throwing me a wave without looking back. I slowly turned around and shuffled myself over to Lee, who was given me an amused look. She bit her lip with a smile on her face before speaking.

“So…what was that with Phillip?” she asked innocently.

“Well,” I drew out the word as I looked away and grabbed her hand in mine, “he decided to make even more of an ass out of himself and told me that I had to stay away from you because you were his.”

“What?” she asked in shock.

“He said something about how he’s been trying for too long to get with you and that I was ruining it,” I explained.

She blinked in surprise before looking down. Lee seemed to be realizing something ever so slowly before she said, “Oh, my God.”

I raised my eyebrows waiting for an explanation before she repeated, “Oh, my God.” She stood there in silence for a moment before looking back up at me. “I need to talk to Cassandra.”

“What?” I asked, confused, as she dragged me by my hand down the stairs and towards the cafeteria.

I could not believe what was happening as Lee pulled me to the performance stage before she let go of my hand and quickly walked up the steps to go towards Cassandra Carta. I stood on the stage, throwing nervous smiles to the people who sat there and stared up at me, as I looked around to see Cassandra stand up to stand in front of Lee. Lee quickly and quietly said something to Cassandra, causing her to shake her head. Lee nodded before whispering to her again before Cassandra’s face crumbled in anger.

“No!” she yelled. “Phillip has been my boyfriend for a year! Why would he want you?”

“Cassie, don’t yell,” I heard Lee say as I walked over to stand by her side.

“I’ll yell if I want to! Stop being such a bitch and stop telling me shit like this. Phillip wouldn’t do that to me. He’s my boyfriend. Why would he say that?”

“Damn it, Cassie, because unlike yours, my boyfriend wouldn’t lie to me!” Lee snapped angrily.

Cassandra looked taken back before she looked at me in shock. Her eyes flickered to my hand, which was gripped tightly in Lee’s. She pursed her lips at me before turning back to Lee. “No. I don’t believe you. Just…stop.”

“Cass – ” Lee started out.

“No! Just go away!” Cassandra shouted.

Lee looked up at Cassandra sadly before nodding. Lee slowly let go of my hand before turning around and calmly walking down the steps. She hesitated at the bottom step before pausing to look up at me. I gave her an encouraging smile before slowly turning towards Cassandra. I scratched the skin behind my ear with one finger before taking a step forward.

“I know I’m the last person you ever want to talk to but I’m not a liar. Phillip said what he said. And, you know,” I trailed off. “No matter what you two say, I know Lee still thinks of you as her best friend.”

Cassandra glared up at me, her eyes filled with angry tears as she clutched her fists at her side. I sighed at her livid appearance as I rubbed the back of my neck before glancing down at Lee, who was staring up at me curiously.

“Still,” I slowly started off again, “I wouldn’t want to see my girlfriend’s best friend get hurt.”

Cassandra’s glare softened but her eyebrows were still furrowed and she still frowned. Her lips parted as she let out a shaky sigh. She stood in silence as she looked up at me. I nodded slowly before saying, “Stay cool, Carta.”

I turned on my heel, glancing up at Phillip, who glared at me as we passed each other on the stairs. I walked forward to Lee, who immediately buried her face in my chest as she wrapped her arms around my waist as I hugged her shoulders. My lips met hers for only a moment before I pulled away to give her a small smile. I placed a small kiss on her forehead before I wrapped my arm around her waist to walk with her out of the cafeteria to the balcony.

Outside, we met with Eddy and Anya, who were already eating at our table. They did not comment on Lee’s gloomy appearance but almost immediately, Eddy started up his usual shenanigans, causing Lee to give him a weak smile. I knew that Lee and Cassandra’s friendship was slowly deteriorating but I did not that even Lee thought it would end completely. I could do nothing but bury my nose in Lee’s hair and kiss the top of her head in comfort. She had no words for me. But as she linked her smallest finger with mine, I knew that she would be okay.