Personal Goals

Chapter 18
*Vic’s POV*
I tried not to show it, but it really fucking got to me that Kellin bought all that stuff for Jess. I mean, it was a nice gesture, but it made me feel lousy that I couldn’t shower her with nice things like that myself. It made me start worrying about what would happen when she got older- what if she liked Kellin more than me because he could afford to buy her things? I shook the thought from my head. I was thinking into this way too much.
Either way, I wouldn’t even be able to spend much if anything on a birthday gift for him. He was apparently turning eighteen soon and I still hadn’t even gotten him a card. We hadn’t been together very long, but I still wanted to get him something.
I was lying in bed on a Sunday morning, waiting for Jess to wake up so that I would have something to do. I mean, I had my session with Mrs. Smith, but that wasn’t going to be for another few hours. Once she was up, though, it was like my entire day just got better. I mean, sure, it stressed me out when she cried and I couldn’t figure out what she wanted. At the same time, I loved every second I had with her and I didn’t want to miss anything.
Once she was up, I got her out of her room and started on our morning routine. After I changed her and fed her and all that, I brought her out to the living room and put her on the blanket on the floor. I sat with her, smiling as she rolled over and tried to move. She kept making movements and small efforts to push herself up, getting me thinking that she was going to crawl. It never happened though, she’d always just topple over. She’d get it soon. I knew any day now I’d really have to start keeping an eye on her if she started crawling around.
*Kellin’s POV*
“Happy Birthday!” Justin shouted at me as he got into my car that day.
“Thanks, man,” I said, shrugging it off. I liked to pretend that I didn’t want it to be a big deal, but in reality I fucking loved all of the attention I got on my birthday. I always had people wishing me well and giving me presents. Hell, my parents even gave me presents despite the fact that they still weren’t talking to me much. I woke up to find a pile of wrapped gifts on the kitchen table, and unwrapped them while my mom made me waffles. It was the best.
What was going to make this day better was that my mom called Vic and told him and called him to cancel our session. Little did she know I’d be seeing him anyway because I was going to spend the night with him in his apartment. She thought I was going to spend the night with Justin and Jaime- not that she’d check on me anyway. She never cared what I did . . . unless it was sleeping with boys. Whatever.
When I walked into school I was showered with lots of ‘Happy Birthday’s and a couple of my girlfriends gave me cupcakes and balloons. I had to admit, I felt like the shit walking around with those balloons because they were obnoxious as fuck, letting everyone in the world know it was my birthday. Maybe I was a little spoiled, but I loved it.
The day was going pretty smoothly, too. Well, right up until the very end.
I was standing at my locker while Justin held my cupcakes so I could get all of my stuff together.
“Can I eat one?” he asked me, ogling the baked goods.
“No, they’re mine,” I snapped, playfully. “I’m going to eat them all.”
“You’re gonna be fat,” he teased.
“Nah, I have a personal trainer, remember?” I said, with a wink. Justin chuckled.
“Yeah, one that you fuck.”
“Kellin’s fucking his personal trainer?”
We both jumped at the sound of another voice joining in the conversation. It was probably one of the last voices I wanted hearing that, too.
“Matty, just leave him alone, it’s his birthday,” Justin begged.
“So? Why should I give a fuck?” he shrugged, leaning against the row of lockers as I avoided eye contact.
“Let’s go,” I said to Justin. He nodded and I attempted to follow him out, but Matty grabbed me by the arm. “Fuck, let go of me!”
“How about no?” he suggested, sarcastically, twisting my arm. It was probably then that I wished I tried harder when it came to working out with Vic. Maybe I’d be at least a little stronger. “I want you to tell me who you’re fucking.”
“No!” I shouted, struggling against his grip as he cornered me against the lockers. I started thinking about how he wanted to make me hook up with him again, and I was suddenly really afraid. What was he doing? Why?
“Fuck, Kellin, you’re such a little bitch,” he spat.
“Matty, stop, this is ridiculous,” Justin said again, putting the cupcakes down and letting go of the balloons so that he could try and push Matty away. I mean, Justin wasn’t exactly the biggest guy around either, so it didn’t help much.
“I said fuck off, Hills,” he said, viciously, shrugging Justin away. Matty gripped the fabric of my shirt tighter, almost choking me. “Now tell me who you’re fucking so I can tell his ass to back off.”
“No,” I said again, continuing to struggle. “I’m not fucking anyone.”
“You’re a lying little shit, I heard what Justin said,” he said. “What don’t you understand? I told you we were going to get back together, and you’re already fucking someone else. You’re a slut.”
“I’m not a slut,” I said, defensively. “We were never together in the first place-“
I was cut off as he crashed his fist against my face, knocking me over. I put my hands out to catch my fall as I found myself on the ground. My face stung and I tried to fight back the involuntary tears that were welling in my eyes. Fuck, that hurt. I thought he was going to hit me again, but the next thing I knew, he was getting pulled away by some teacher.
“Get off of me,” he grumbled.
“We have zero tolerance for fights at this school, you know that, Mullins,” the teacher growled, leading him away. I moaned as another teacher that witnessed motioned for me to follow her. I had to fill out one of those stupid incident reports before I could finally leave. I lied on half of it, saying that Matty just hit me because we don’t get along. They didn’t need to know any of our back stories.
“Finally,” Justin said when I was done in the front office. I didn’t feel like talking much as I drove home. I dropped him off at his house, and he tried to issue some sort of comforting words to me, but I ignored him. I needed to get to Vic. He was the only one I wanted to see.
I sped to his house and luckily didn’t get pulled over. I ran up the stairs and knocked on his door as loud as I could. I don’t know why, but I was so distraught over what happened with Matty that I just felt like I needed to vent something. I guess I took it out on his door.
“Whoa, whoa, hey no need to bang like that- are you okay?” he said, when he answered the door, leading me inside. He grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me towards him as his eyes fell to the still developing bruise on my cheek bone. “What happened to you?”
“Matty punched me in the face,” I mumbled, trying not to cry. I didn’t want to cry about it, I really didn’t. It was supposed to be my birthday. I was supposed to be happy.
“He what? What the fuck? I swear to god, I’ll-“
“Don’t do anything!” I begged. I knew Vic could hold his own against Matty, but I still didn’t like the idea. I knew that if Matty found out who Vic was, he’d do everything he could to fuck with things between us. He was a meddling asshole like that. Vic frowned and I told him again to not do anything about it. He finally sighed and lightly kissed the sore skin on my face.
“I hate the thought of anyone hurting you,” he said, softly. I just shrugged.
“Can I put my stuff away?” I asked quietly. He kissed me again and took my backpack from me so that he could put it in his room. When he returned, he wrapped his hands around my waist and connected his lips with mine. Kissing him felt so good after such a shitty end to my school day. His lips lingered for a while as I moved mine against his. It wasn’t exactly making out though, we were just kissing and it was nice.
“Happy Birthday Kellin,” he said, quietly. “Forget Matty, let’s just celebrate together.”