Page 17 of Bad Kind of Love

After shutting off the light, I double checked everything before locking the doors and walking to my car. The short walk was always eerily quiet at night, with nothing but a lamppost to light my way, I picked up my pace. Sliding into the car seat, I pull out my phone and send Josie a text.

Me: Can I come over?

Seconds later she responds.

J: Duh, what kind of pizza do you want?

Me: Doesn’t matter. Whatever you get is fine.

Sending over a quick text to Aunt Claire to let her know I’m staying the night at Josie’s, I toss my phone into my cup holder and speed off. Ten minutes later I’m pulling up to the neighborhood gate. Josie’s parents were high class rich folks, her mom was a model while her dad was a big shot lawyer downtown. They lived in a gated community with other affluent families, and apparently money wasn’t an issue to any of these people. To put it in perspective, their garages were bigger than the house I grew up in.

“Hello Miss O’Connor.” Tom, the guard tipped his hat.

“Hey Tom.” I smile as he presses the button to open the gate. Like heaven’s gate, it majestically swings open welcoming me in.

“Have a good night.”

“You too.” I roll up my window and continue driving. My eyes wander over the ritzy houses like it’s my first time seeing them. I’ve always wondered what my life would have been like if I grew up in a home like Josie’s. But the minute I pull into the extravagant driveway, I realize it’s pointless to imagine a life other than the one I’m living.

An hour later, I’m lying on her bed, stuffed to the point I can barely move. The pizza arrived about ten minutes after I did, and we both devoured it in one sitting.

“You should really make a facebook account.” Josie mutters from her computer.

“Social media’s for people who like to make it seem like they have it all going on but they really work at McDonalds and live in their parents’ basement. It’s an allusion.” I argue while trying my hardest to not get sick. “No offense.”

“None taken.” She says completely unaffected. “I agree with you. I just like to read everyone’s drama and see the occasional shirtless picture of Nate.”

Josie has had a crush on Nate Hawthorne since freshman year. Football player, head of student council and the star pupil of Westwood. He was the all-American boy. Smart and respectable when he needed to be but behind closed doors, he was anything but.

“Gross.” I pretend to gag as I sit up. “Can’t you crush on someone other than him? How about Jake who lives down the street from me? He’s nice.”

She swivels in her chair, shooting me a disgusted face. Like she couldn’t believe what I had just said. “Jake? Are you kidding me? Out of all the guys in school, you choose him? First of all, he smells like he hasn’t showered in weeks. Second, you don’t think Nate would be interested in a girl like me?”

Okay, she was right. Maybe choosing Jake wasn’t the right choice. I didn’t know who to say, so I just randomly thought of him and rattled his name off. Anyone, literally anyone was a better choice than Nate. “You could do so much better than Nate Hawthorne.”

“Like who?” She rolls her eyes, twirling in her chair again to face her computer. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but guys aren’t really lined outside my door to date me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. Guys our age are pigs.” The memory of Travis fucking the brunette in the classroom soon filtrates in, reminding me exactly why I don’t date.

“How about golden boy?”

My ears suddenly perked at the mention of Wes. “Huh?”

“I’m kidding.” She teases. “There’s no way I could compete with the way you two were eye fucking each other at school.”

“What?” I chuckle like it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. “I have no clue what you’re talking about. If you want golden boy, go ahead and have him.”

As soon as the words flew out of my mouth, I felt a strange sensation of regret. I wanted to take it back immediately, but if I did, Josie would think it meant something, when in reality it didn’t.

He was just really nice to look at.

“Uh huh… Well, I found him on facebook.” She points to her screen causing me to rise to my feet and scramble towards her. Peering over her shoulder, I watch as she scrolls through hundreds of pictures of him. Stopping at a shirtless picture of him at the beach which leaves us both speechless.

“Damn...” Josie mumbles under breath.

The air in the bedroom shifted, and my stomach ache was all forgotten about. Placing a hand on her desk, I steady myself as I take in the picture. His body was on full display, flawless tanned skin, a six-pack showing every dip and curve of chest and his pearly white teeth smiling through the screen, almost as if he’s looking at me. Luckily, his hypnotic eyes were covered with a pair of sunglasses or else I would have melted into a pile of goo on the floor.

“He might be better looking than Nate.” Josie sighed as we both drooled over him like a piece of meat. He was a billion times better looking than Nate, but I’d keep that tidbit to myself.

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