Loving The Jerk Who Might Have Feelings

As I reach Joshua and Joy, I huff at them in protest. They’re sitting under a tree in front of the high school, as opposed to inside the cafeteria or on chairs like normal people. Joy smiles at me and Joshua pats the seat next to him and I sit down, put my back against the tree, and stick my tongue out at Joy who is in front of me.

Surprisingly, my mom didn’t ground me at all when I told her what happened. She contacted the authorities and they took Dave away. She didn’t tell Dad, though, the last time he saw Dave he nearly killed him.

“Can you believe it? The ‘A Listers’ or whatever aren’t letting me sit with them just because I broke up with AJ. God, he fell asleep drunk during our date, of course I was gonna dump him! And he’s got a big bruise on his cheek, god, I hope hobo attacked him, what an asshole!”

Joy giggles, but Joshua looks uncomfortable. “What is it?” I ask him.

“Um, Alex kind of punched him”

I flinch a little, “Why?”

“’Cause he was talking bad ‘bout you at the mall”

I weird feeling surges through me. It makes me float a little and makes me feel kind of warm, “Really?” Then my eyes widen, “Is he okay? I didn’t see him in the cafeteria”

Joshua looks away, “Um, well, he kinda let off school today—“

“Oh my gosh! I have to go find him and thank him” I say hurriedly and stand up.

“No, Athena, you don’t understand—“

But I’m already jogging to the boy’s dorm room. A million things are bussing through my head. Alex Winters defended me. He actually cares about me. And-and I kind of care about him.

As I’m climbing the stairs I get an idea; I should ask him to the Halloween dance! I mean, he’s not so bad once you get through the whole loving black thing and acting like an asshole.

Maybe, I could change him. I mean, he is really attractive, once I got the right clothes on him, he could really be the perfect boyfriend.

Boyfriend.

I knock on his door and wait. I hear a shuffling noise and wonder if he’s having a hard time sleeping. Did AJ hurt him that bad?

I knock again and wait. But no reply. What if his legs are hurt?

Slapping away the dirty sock on the door (boys!), I turn the doorknob, pushing the door open, only to see a flash of naked flesh, rhythmic pants, and disgusting moans, before I close it back again.

My eyes water and I stare at the door again until I hear the faint moaning, then I take off back to where Joy and Joshua are discussing frogs and their natural habitats.

I practically fall into my seat next to Joshua. Joy takes one look at me before she takes off with an, “I have to go to Art”

Joshua wraps his arms around my shaking ones, “I’m sorry, I tried to tell you”

I wipe my cheeks, “It’s okay, I should’ve known. I mean, I just thought he, y’know, liked me, or something.” Truthfully, I really believed he did. I mean, in my mind, the whole obstacle between a relationship with him was that we didn’t match; I never considered that he might not want me in that way.

“He does” Joshua replies.

I roll my eyes, “Right”

Then he sighs and starts playing with my hair, “He’s such an asshole sometimes, and if he doesn’t see how great you are, then he’s stupider than I thought”

I blush a bit, “Thanks, but he was kind of my last resort for the Halloween dance” Actually, AJ’s friend Gary kind of asked me, but no way am I going with him. He’s a douche.

“Well, we can go, together” Joshua offers. I shake my head, “Wouldn’t you rather go with Joy?”

Joshua shrugs, “I was gonna ask her, but I’d rather go with you”

“As friends?” I ask feeling kind guilty. Maybe Joy really likes him. But I can never tell when it comes to Joy. She always keeps her emotions to herself; it’s been like that since I met her.

Dad says it’s because she was abused as a kid, so I try not to get too offended when she won’t tell me certain things.

Joshua smiles his radiant smile, “Of course”