Fourteen by C.M. Smith (short story to read .txt) 📕

“Yes, it is. No one deserves it. Least of all you.” He stepped in front of me and placed his hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently, almost reassuringly. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

I stared after him as he walked down the steps and got into his car. He waved at me as he pulled onto the street and drove away. I was completely flabbergasted. The Evan Drake that had just left my driveway didn’t seem like the Evan Drake I’d gotten so used to seeing. He appeared to be caring and apologetic and completely unlike the guy he was in school.

I crossed my arms over my chest and smiled.

Maybe he did have some of that little boy I’d known all those years ago still inside of him.

“Anna? Are you going to just stand in front of the open door all night?” Dad called from the living room.

“Waiting for the pizza guy, Dad,” I said absently, my eyes still glued to the same spot.

“Oh. Well. Okay then.”

I rolled my eyes, closed the door behind me, and sat down on the first step. I rested my elbows on my knees and my chin in my hands while I wondered what in the hell tomorrow morning would actually be like.

“Good morning, Anna.”

I shrieked and nearly dropped everything as I leaned heavily against my car and rested my forehead on the roof.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I turned around when it felt like my legs no longer consisted of jelly and looked up at him.

It was wholly unnatural for someone to look that damn good in a casual outfit like jeans and a long-sleeved, red and blue striped shirt. It was wholly unnatural for someone that good-looking to be talking to me of his own free will.

“Good morning.” He smiled and hooked his thumbs around the straps of his book bag. “Did you sleep well?”

I reached up, and he eyed my hand as much as he could before I placed it on his forehead. He shook my hand off, his eyebrow raised, as I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest.

“Just making sure.”

“I feel fine,” he snapped.

“I was only joking around with you.”

His nostrils flared for a moment, and he closed his eyes briefly.

“This isn’t easy, you know.”

“Yes, I’m very much aware of how easy it isn’t, Evan.” I rolled my eyes and walked by him, wondering how everyone in this school was a total moron. I made it through the front door of the school before I felt his hand in the crook of my elbow, pulling me into a random classroom.

Wow. He was quick. Then again, he was on the baseball team, so that kind of made sense.

He slammed the door behind us, and I shook myself free of him and looked down at my feet.

Here it comes, Anna. I hope you weren’t really banking on having anything to do with Evan Drake for very long.

“I’ve never had to work for friends, Anna, because it never mattered to me before.”

“Why does it matter now?”

“How the fuck should I know?”

I rolled my eyes.

“If this is too hard for you, no one’s making you do anything with me or for me. I’m not a charity case, and I don’t need someone like you, parading me around for I don’t know what reason.”

“You can’t really be this dense!”

“I don’t have time for this,” I said and started to walk by him.

“You have just as much time as I do.” He grabbed my arm again and stopped me. “Come on, just cut me a little slack, and meet me halfway here.”

I looked up at him and found that his eyes were actually a very dark shade of blue. In the past, I’d only been close enough to see the basics—the slope of his nose, the curve of his mouth, the sharp angles of his jaw. I’d never gotten a chance to see the deep color of his eyes because he’d never been this close to me before, voluntarily.

The one time he was, I was too focused on the way he was crushing my wrist to register the color of his eyes.

“Sorry.” I exhaled loudly, embarrassed to find that I was having a hard time doing much of anything.

“Don’t apologize,” he whispered, and I could’ve sworn he looked down at my lips before meeting my eyes again. That didn’t make any sense. “Just . . . don’t get so pissed off at me right away, all right? I’m really trying.”

“Okay.”

“We should uh . . . what do you say to hanging out later? Today, I mean. After school.”

“Are we going to work on the project?”

“No. I mean . . . just hang out for a while. Get to . . .” He licked his lips, and my mouth went dry. “Get to know each other . . . without schoolwork and other people to worry about?”

I stared at him, doing my best not to look at his lips as he licked them again.

He had to stop doing that, or I was going to forget how to form complete sentences.

“Arianna?”

“Anna.”

“Right. Anna.” He shook his head sharply once. “What do you say?”

“To what?”

He gave me the most heartbreakingly beautiful smile, and I cleared my throat.

This is not good. Abort, Anna, abort!

“Yeah, sure, that’s fine.” I closed my eyes. “Where did you want to go?”

“Could we hang out at your place? My family is nosy, and bringing you home would only present questions neither of us really wants to answer.”

My heart sank, and I nodded, taking a step back from him and opening my eyes to look down at my feet again.

Of course they would. They’d want to know why Evan—as close to high school royalty as anyone else in this place could get—was bringing home someone like me without the excuse of homework.

“Yeah, that’s fine. I can meet you at the house, okay?”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be there right after you.”

“We should . . . go to our lockers before the bell rings.