Pretend

"So what do you want to do tonight, babe?" Marcus asked, his deep voice like velvet in my ear. I took a deep breath of his delicious scent and shrugged flirtatiously.

"I dunno," I said, my voice coy. "What do you want to do?" He looked me in the eye, then whispered, "Let me show you." He leaned in close. My eyes closed as our lips touched. It was just as amazing as it had been the other night. My heart was fluttering in my chest and my hands roamed across his back. He was a good kisser, probably the best I'd ever experienced.

"Damn, girl," he whispered in my ear. "You're really liking this."

"Mmhm," I agreed, my voice urgent. I pulled his mouth back to mine and we kept kissing. My mind was fuzzy and my body felt wonderfully warm. Marcus's big solid hands slid down my sides, then made their way up to my breasts. I squeaked with surprise and pulled away.

"Marcus!" I said, slightly out of breath.

"What?" he asked, his blue eyes innocent. I shook my head. He was just being a boy.

We went back to kissing, and for a while all was well. But then his hands were sliding down my body again, over my hips and across my butt and in between my legs. I yelped and shoved myself out of his arms.

"What are you doing?" I snapped, crossing my legs tightly and adjusting my skirt. He smirked at me.

"You like it," he said.

"No, not really!" I told him, my voice angry. I stood up. "I'm going home." I stomped to the door and grabbed my hoodie, then turned back to Marcus, who was still sitting on his couch.

"Don't leave, Cora," he said, his mouth turned down.

"Goodnight, Marcus," I said coldly, then opened the door and walked out into the night.

It was dark and Marcus lived on an isolated farm further out on our little peninsula. I pulled out my phone to call Renny, but she didn't answer. She was probably out with Adrian somewhere. I didn't want to tell my parents what happened, so I didn't call my mom. But I had to get into town. The darkness of the surrounding farms was creeping me out. My only other option was Seb. But he was mad at me. I understood why. I had been a bitch. I had ditched him and his movie night for Marcus, and then I had lied about forgetting because I had felt so shitty.

I was a bad friend, but this was a bad situation. Marcus had come onto me really fast and I felt uncomfortable. I just wanted to get home.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and called Seb. His phone rang once, twice, three times. In the middle of the fourth ring, it went straight to voice mail. I had called Seb enough times to know that his phone rang six times before you had to leave a message, so I knew that he had seen that it was me calling and hung up.

"Hi, it's Seb, leave a message," said the answering machine. Seb sounded so young in the recording.

His phone beeped and I took a deep breath.

"Seb, it's me, Cora. Please answer your phone. Please. Marcus... Marcus touched me and I felt really uncomfortable and I left but I don't have my car because he picked me up and I called Renny but she's not answering and I'm out in the middle of nowhere and it's dark and I'm walking and I really really need you to come pick me up. Please, Seb. Please." I hung up and tried to slow down my breathing. My skin was burning where Marcus had touched me.

I kept walking. Five minutes passed, then ten. I flinched at every noise. Every time I heard a car, I ducked into the bushes at the side of the road. The last person I wanted to see right then was Marcus.

Seb still hadn't called back. I dialed his number. It rang twice and went to voice mail.

"Sebbie, please," I said as soon as the beep ended. "It's dark and I'm alone out on Winton Road and Marcus touched me and I'm scared. Please come get me. Please please please."

I hung up and took deep breaths to try and calm down. Every so often I broke into a run to expel some of my nervous energy. Seb still hadn't called back, so I scrolled through my phone until I found Zach Montgomery's number. He answered on the second ring.

"Hullo?"

"Zach, thank God," I breathed. "I need to talk to Seb. Right now."

"Uh, okay. Hold on a second," Zach grunted. There was a clatter and a shuffle as his phone changed hands. Then I heard Seb's familiar voice.

"Hullo?"

"Seb!" I cried.

"Cora?" he said, confused. Then his voice hardened. "What do you want?" I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

"Seb, I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Whatever."

"Seb, please," I said, tears threatening. "I'm alone on Winton Road. It's dark and I'm scared."

"Why aren't you with Marcus?" Seb asked, his voice scathing.

"Seb, this is serious!" I wailed, my voice cracking the way it always did when I cried. Seb seemed to realize that I was starting to sob, because the sounds of laughing girls and a movie soundtrack faded away.

"What's going on?" he asked, and he didn't sound angry anymore. "I'm outside now, you can talk."

I explained what happened at Marcus's. Seb swore when I told him that Marcus tried to touch me.

"So you're on Winton Road?" he asked when I finished my tale.

"Y-yeah," I whimpered, scrubbing tears from my eyes.

"Where on Winton?" he said. "I'll come get you."

"Near the Pondelik's ranch," I said.

"Okay. Stay where you are. I'll be there in ten minutes."

He hung up and I sank to the ground, hugging my knees to my chest. It was getting colder and darker with every passing moment. I had stopped panicking so much, but I was still worried that Marcus would come over the hill any second. Whenever I saw headlights coming from the direction of Marcus's house, I scooted into the shadows cast by the trees on the side of the road.

Finally Seb arrived. He was driving Zach's rusty old Ford pickup truck, and he was speeding. I stood and waved at him, wiping a few stray tears from my eyes. Seb pulled over next to me and I jumped into the truck.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern. I started to nod, then shook my head and slumped onto the dashboard.

"It was so sudden!" I said, my voice choked. "We were kissing and it was nice and the next thing I knew his paws were on my boobs. And I told him to stop and he did, for a while, but then... then..." I couldn't finish. Tears were spilling over again. Seb started the truck and we drove away from Winton Road.

He took me to Zach's house, then told Zach that we were leaving. We walked down Point Chase's well-lit Main Street and stopped at Starbucks. I got a hot apple tea. Seb got a mocha. We paid, then went back outside. I sipped my drink and walked aimlessly with my best friend. We didn't say anything, just walked. It was comforting, calming. When we finally stopped walking, we were in front of my house. I tossed my empty cup into the trash can on the curb, then looked at Seb.

"Thank you," I whispered. "For picking me up." He didn't respond, just held out his skinny arms and pulled me into a hug. We stood there for a few minutes. I breathed in his familiar smell and let myself relax. I wasn't with Marcus anymore. I was safe. I was with Seb. I was okay. Marcus was just being a boy, he wasn't trying to be creepy or predatory. Everything was okay.