Page 20 of Broken

“Bye Mother.” I take Katherine's hand and we walk around her exiting the house together.

“I'm sorry, West, I hate when people assume shit.”

“Well, you are taking me to a party where we know there will be drugs and alcohol. Maybe I should listen to her.” I say jokingly as she leads me to her house.

I find myself in her bedroom again, only this time, I'm in her closet. There's a particular outfit she wore once, that I've been dying to see her in again. If only I could just find it. I flip through her hanging clothes until I see the shirt. It's completely see through, yet it's still black. I snatch it off the hanger and start looking for something to go under it. I pull a drawer open and find her underwear and bras. I spit a matching black set and take them out. Then I move into the next drawer, finding the little tube top that she wore with it.

Next is the shorts, there's one specifically that I like, it looks like a pleated skirt in the front with tight as fuck shorts in the back. I find it in seconds and move on to looking at her shoes.

The boots are all stacked nicely in the shoe shelves on the back wall. I take the heeled spiked books that go halfway up her calf and step out of the closet.

“This.” I say laying it all out on the bed.

“A pink undershirt?” She asks. “Matching outfits is a couples thing.” She almost looks disgusted at the idea of being a couple.

“Not matching. I just loved this outfit on you when you wore it to the BBQ at the beginning of spring.” I reply, “Besides, would it be so bad to be my girlfriend?” I question, now curious about why she said it like that.

“I'd be a terrible girlfriend.” She replies, stripping her shirts off.

I drop the subject and just sit on the edge of her bed, watching her get naked. She steps into the underwear, and clasps the bra on. When she's fully dressed, I lean back admiring the outfit. “Beautiful,” I tell her. Her cheeks turn pink as she bends over to buckle the last one on her boots. She takes a seat next to me and puts her hand on my knee, letting out a sigh.

“Thank you.” She whispers, barely even audible.

“For what?” I ask, not sure why she’s thanking me. We did just have a whole ass date day, but I’m almost certain it’s been the worst date of all history.

“For today, for last weekend.” She offers me a half smile, not bothering to actually look at me. I reach over, grabbing her chin softly and turn her to face me. There’s tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry for earlier,” she says quietly, trying to pull away.

“For the highway stunt?” I cock an eyebrow. She just nods, not really saying anything about it. “That was the most terrifying thing I have ever been through.”

“Then you haven’t lived, Westley. Life should terrify you, you should be frightened of what's to come.”

“No, you have it wrong Kitty. Life should excite you, bring you the feeling of curiosity of what’s to come.” I let my thumb pass over her lips until I reach the lip ring. I play with it as I watch her face. Her blue eyes have darkened to an unnatural color. Or at least unnatural for her. She’s usually got icy blue eyes, one that looks right through a person even when all they want is for her to look at them. I’ve waited years for her to see me, to understand that even though I’ve fucked up time and time again, bullying her in ways I shouldn’t have. I am irrevocably in love with her.

She shakes her head, knocking my hand away as she takes a deep breath in, flipping that emotional switch back off. When she wipes away the unfallen tears, she blinks at me and pops up off the bed, “Let’s go party. I can show you the world.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me, holding a hand out.

Cautiously I take her hand and she leads me down through her house and we walk together hand in hand down the street to the party. It’s the same house I ran to last weekend, in my pink socks and white slides, bare chested, and in basketball shorts.

Taking in a deep breath I watch her, she just opens the door, high fiving people as she walks through. This crowd is filled with the popular kids, the jocks, the cheerleaders, the punks who have made my life a hell since fourth grade. When they all realized that I was smarter than them. To say that I’m uncomfortable is an understatement. I watch the crowd part like the Red Sea as she moves through, “Maximillion!” She shouts as she approaches the couch in the back corner.

“Kitty Kat!” Max jumps up off the couch and embraces her, she doesn’t let go of my hand, when he steps back he looks at me and then down at our hands, “Whatchu got here?” He asks her.

“My date for the night.”

“Knox is here.” He replies, looking around the room.

“Fuck him dude, he fucked me over one too many times.”

“He’s not going to take this lightly, Kitty. Be careful.”

“I’m ready for him this time.” Katherine replies, whipping a knife out of her boot. When the hell did she put that there.

“I’m more worried about your arm candy, not sure Westley here can fight back.”

“Ask him how he got his black eye.” I reply to him, rolling my eyes as my attention flitters through the room trying to spot Knox. When my eyes land in the doorway to what looks like the kitchen, I see him standing there. “I’m gonna get us some drinks.” I tell Katherine, kissing her on the temple. She nods and moves with Max to the couch as they talk. They’ve been friends since eighth grade, and even though he’s friends with Knox, he doesn’t seem to like him very much.

Making my way into the kitchen, I push past the crowd surrounding Knox and grab two empty red cups, dumping some ice into them, then just as I watched her last time, I put some Jack Daniels in and then top it off with Coke. All of which I crack open myself. I’m not risking her getting drugged.

When I turn around to take the drinks back to her, Knox’s smug face is right in front of mine. He’s still rocking two black eyes, the one I gave him, and the darker parts from Katherine’s knee to his nose. “Why are you with my girl?” He asks.

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