I hit the side of his face with the heel of my hand. “Quit it!” Instead of cringing or shouting like anyone else, he grabbed my wrist – his hand twice the size of my own – and with the other hand pressed on my elbow. He had me in an arm-lock. Again. My face was pressed against the gray back of the bus seat, his elbow pressing against my side.
He put pressure on my elbow, and I bit back a yelp. I refused to let him know I was feeling pain. I refused to let him win. “Learned yet?”
I hissed in response, glaring at him through the curtain my hair made. “You can’t train me like you did to everyone else.” He put a little more pressure on my elbow, smirking a little, and I winced slightly. “You wouldn’t really hurt me,” I growled, trying to block the pain from my thoughts.
“Oh really?” He pressed hard one last time before letting me go. “One of these days, Dani.”
I laughed, sitting back. “Only in your dreams, Vaughn.”
He leaned real close to me, and I leaned away, my back now pressed against my violin case. “You sure about that?”
“Don’t forget to say surprise!” Someone shouted. It was our own little ‘bus joke’, where – and I quote – it isn’t rape unless you say surprise.
He grinned, leaning in closer. “Surprise,” he whispered, and I squeaked. Normally he’d back off, having had his fun. But this time he stayed, face an inch from mine, grinning like a rapist.
As calm as I tried being, when I get cornered by him, I don’t think. I act. So I hit the side of his face again, and this time, instead of grabbing my wrist, he pulled away, one hand over his eye.
“Way to go, Dani!” A different someone congratulated me. But I didn’t feel right. Though every day I hit him, I knew he didn’t feel the pain. I didn’t want to cause him pain.
I leaned over to him, to get a closer look at the damage I hadn’t meant to do. “Vaughn…? You okay?”
We may do this every day, where I hit him and he attacks me back in his own way, but we’re friends. Though I really like him, he has a girlfriend. So we’re only close friends. Nothing more, nothing less.
He didn’t do anything for a moment, then shook his head. “That hit messed up my eye…” He replied, not moving his hand.
“Eh?! I’m sorry! I hadn’t meant to do that!” Whenever I feel bad, I tend to get touchy-touchy. I hugged the arm of the hand covering the eye. “I’m sorry…” And I truly was.
In a second, he had his arm around my waist and his other holding my hands together. My back was against his chest, his head at my neck, completely blocking me from the view of the bus. “Gotcha,” he whispered, breath on my ear. “Surprise,” he added, a slight growl to his voice.
With that, the hand around my waist pressed my side, making me squeal and my legs thrash. “Vaughn!” I gasped, hands squirming in his grip. “Lemme go!”
“Not a chance.” He chuckled and stopped his assualt, but didn’t let me go. “Promise not to do it again?”
I hissed in response, still squirming to get out of his grasp. This wasn’t a good position for me... When I couldn’t get my hands free, I settled on hitting him with my own head. I realized a bit too late that was a stupid thing to do. He squeezed my side tightly, then flipped me so that I was face to face with him, my chest pressed to his and face turning red.
He pushed me to my case, still practically swallowing me in his size, forehead now against mine. “Wrong answer, Dani.” I hissed again, kicking him in the shin with a leg. He responded by pinning my legs between his, my knees pressing against each other. “Don’t make me kiss you.”
The jerk knew my values. First kisses were precious, to be shared with your love. Virginity for honeymoons. Etc. And he was using it against me. Though he doesn’t know how much I like him… how much I wouldn’t mind if he really did kiss me. Since another thing I believe in – no matter how naïve – is that you’ll always be with your first kiss.
I smirked, pretending to not care. “You wouldn’t. You have Lily, remember?”
“She doesn’t have to know,” He replied, smirking back at me. It was his normal reply; I was used to it. But something felt off about what he was doing this time…
But I wouldn’t let him know I was feeling uncomfortable. I won’t let him win. Instead I replied with, “Dare ya.” ‘As if you would really –‘
My thoughts stopped. His mouth was only a centimeter from mine, his moist breath hitting my lips. I probably wasn’t breathing. “Accepted,” He replied, staring straight into my eyes. With his perfect hazel pair. I definitely wasn’t breathing.
Swiftly, he pulled me so close I was feeling crushed and gently placed his lips to mine. Instantly, I felt everything else melt away into nothingness. It was just Vaughn and me. With one strong arm holding me to him, another holding my hands together, his legs pinning mine, mouth capturing mine. I was completely caught. I had lost.