5: The Teenage Dirtbag
2621 Words
TAYA’s POV :
Please, don’t tell me Judah saw Blake and me kissing behind the bleachers! Oh god, what if he tells other people? We live in a small town. Ryder’s gonna find out in no time and I’m gonna die!
"Hey, how long have you been here?" I said nervously.
"Long enough," he raised an eyebrow at me playfully.
Of course, he’s sneering.
Pretending to be unfazed, I strode over and took the seat next to him. He leaned back and threw his gaze up to the sky. He was huffing and puffing smoke like a freaking chimney.
"Those things will kill you, you know," I commented.
"We all die in the end,” he replied. “This is just helping to smooth out the process,"
I didn't expect that answer at all. What a crazy ass, depressing dude!
"What are you doing here, Judah? Were you eavesdropping?" I straightforwardly asked, pointing a finger at him.
"Like hell I was," he scoffed. "I have no interests in high school drama, Blondie. This here just happens to be my favorite smoking spot,"
"Well, fine... You didn't hear anything and you didn't see anything. Capisce?"
"Sure," he said, taking a long drag of that cigarette in his mouth. Somehow that got me to notice his Adam's apple slight movements, his lean neck, his sharp jawline, his lips—
"You likin' what you see?" he said suddenly, catching me off guard.
Oh crap. Quick! Think of something witty to say!
"Uh, I read somewhere that one cigarette on average shortens a person's life by seven to eight minutes,"
Not my best.
I mentally smacked myself in the head as soon as I said it. Meanwhile, he just stared at me with that blank expression on his face, as if I was really stupid.
"Well this conversation just shortened my life by seven to eight minutes," he smirked.
"Okay, well great talking to you, see ya around," I slapped my knee awkwardly and I got up. A girl could only handle so much embarrassment in her lifetime.
I took about three steps away from him when I suddenly heard him spoke again.
"Never wouldda took you for a surfer groupie,"
"Excuse me?" I turned around immediately.
He flicked the used cigarette butt off his finger and it landed on the ground.
"I just thought you were better than that, that's all,"
I blinked a few times, making sure I had heard him right.
"You don't know me," I narrowed my eyes at him.
"And apparently, you don't know guys," his tone was playful, somewhat mocking.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"The dude just gave you a shitload of lame excuses and all you got out of that was; you like me?" he said it mimicking my tone.
My mouth fell open instantly. I had never been more offended in my life.
Judah then sat up straighter, he looked directly at me and said, "When a guy really likes you, he won't be afraid to tell the whole world about you. Hell, he'd want to tell the whole world about you,"
His words struck a chord. But I refused to let him faze me.
"Listen, Judah. You're new here, you don't know anything about this place. You don't know me and you don't know Blake. And the situation with us is kind of complicated, alright? So I suggest you just butt out and keep your opinions to yourself," I was fuming, crossing my arms in clear distaste.
"Sure," he sneered. "Whatever helps you sleep at night, Blondie," he took out a fresh new cigarette from the box and put it in his mouth.
He was about to light it up too when my hand just swept up, grabbed the cigarette, and pulled it out of his mouth in an instant. In a rage, I scrunched up the little white thing before throwing it on the ground. All the while he looked at me with his mouth wide open.
I was pissed. This guy didn't know anything about Blake and me, and yet here he was, being a smug, stinky know-it-all.
"You... are annoying as f**k!" I spat and turned to my heels.
I could hear him laughing in the background as I walked away.
"Hey," he called out suddenly. My tracks stopped instinctively but I didn't turn around.
"Just so you know. If you were my girl, I'd never keep it a secret," he said, and I heard the sound of his lighter clicking a few times.
"I hope you enjoy lung cancer!" I shouted back, throwing him the middle finger as I walked on.
Pssh, what he said sounded a lot like something Ry would say.
Sure, maybe there were a lot of terrible guys out there. But Blake Harrison was not one of them. He wasn't cocky or annoying like Ry's other friends. Blake was kind, smart, and charming.
Keeping things a secret was a wise decision on our part. Blake only did it because he had my best interest at heart. Judah didn't know anything about the situation, at all.
I really hate that Judah guy. That stupid, chain-smoking, judgmental, sexy, a-hole. Wait, what? Sexy?
No, that can't be right.
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BLAKE’s POV :
“f**k, that wave was lit!”
My friends and I were out in the water, watching Ryder dominating this crazy wave he got. It had been a little tradition of mine to go surfing on days when I didn’t have football practice. Hanging out with the boys in the ocean was always relaxing and fun. After catching some waves, we’d also hit the town afterward. That’s about the best thing you can do living in Hawaii.
“Yeah, and speaking of lit,” Cameron, one of my boys, said as sat atop his board. “Dude, the party at your house last night was insane,”
“Yeah, man, did you hear? There was a threesome going on in your parent’s Jacuzzi,” Adam replied.
“Guilty as charged,” Cameron laughed and played with his eyebrows.
“s**t,” I muttered. “Hope you didn’t break nothing,”
“Yo, where’d you go, though? You kinda disappeared for a while there,” he said.
“Oh yeah, I was hiding from Viv,”
“The girl’s still all over you, huh?”
“Must be hard being so handsome and so f*****g rich, all the girls want me,” Cam retorted sarcastically. “Help, I’m drowning in a sea of chicks!”
“Shut up,” I shoved him and he fell from his board, splashing into the water.
“You not into her anymore?” Adam asked.
“Nah, no,” I shook my head quikly. “I’m not into anyone right now. I’m just keeping my options open, you know what I mean?”
“Damn straight!” he nodded in agreement.
In front of the boys, I couldn’t really talk about girls. For them, girls were just some fun activities you could do in your spare time. They’d brag about how many girls they’d been with, but never about feelings and s**t like that.
And with Ryder around, obviously, I couldn’t talk about Taya. I’ve noticed her ever since we were freshman in high school. I thought she was cute. Also, she seemed really nice. But since she was Ryder’s cousin, she was totally off-limits to all of us.
Somehow, that only made me want her more.
So when I randomly ran into her at my party, I was ecstatic. I was hiding in the bathroom for some peace and quiet, and she came barging right in. We talked for a bit, and I couldn’t stop looking at her lips. She had the most exquisite lips I’d ever seen. I couldn’t help myself, I just had to taste it.
So I did.
She wasn’t the most experienced kisser, but I liked the way her lips felt against mine. I was totally in the zone when we suddenly heard Ryder’s voice and she literally jumped out the window like some kind of Wonder Woman. That was the craziest thing that happened at my party, and I couldn’t tell anyone about it.
Anyway, since that night, I couldn’t keep her off my mind. I kept going back to that kiss again and again. For some reason, I just kept wanting more. So earlier today, I asked her to meet me behind the bleachers. I waited for two hours for her. I didn’t normally do this for a girl. But I was willing to do it for her.
The moment I saw her again, I didn’t waste no time and I kissed her. She freaked out a little bit, but luckily, she knew where I was coming from. It wasn’t like I wanted to sneak around behind the bleachers to kiss a girl, I’d rather do it in front of the whole school. But with everything being so new with us, I couldn’t risk damaging my friendship with my best bro over this.
Where was I going with this? I honestly don’t know.
I never felt this way about a girl before. It felt kind of foreign. I wasn’t sure how to make of it, so I wanted to give it some time. I believed that life is like the ocean. We just had to let the wave takes us where they may.
And I’m willing to let this one take me away.
By this time, the sky was getting dark and the waves were not as big anymore. The guys were tired and hungry, so we decided to head back to the shore. My friends and I were at the parking lot near the beach, loading the surfboards into the back of our trucks, when suddenly I heard the sound of loud motorcycles roaring. I whipped my head around and saw s couple of biker guys riding through the streets. I didn’t think too much of it, so I just turned my gaze back to my car.
“Yo, yo,” Cam said suddenly, nudging me on the elbow.
“What?” I asked him.
“Why is that dude keep looking at you? You know the guy?”
I followed his gaze and saw one of the biker guys looking straight at me. It was dark outside, so I couldn’t see his face that well. He was wearing a ragged denim jacket and smoking a cigarette.
“Don’t think so,” I shrugged and turned away, uninterested.
“Is he looking for trouble or something?” Cam narrowed his eyes at them.
Cameron wasn’t always the friendliest of guys. He’d pick a fight with anyone if he could. It was better not to entertain him. I didn’t feel like going to ER tonight.
“Forget them, bro,” I said simply.
“Isn’t that Max’s crew?” Adam said, following our conversation. “Have you heard about the underground fighting ring that he’s running? Man, they’re a bunch of crazy motherfuckers,”
Max was a small-time conman that was known for running the streets. He owned some bar downtown called Castro’s, and a bunch of shady s**t usually went down over there. I thought it was funny that a guy like him thought that he ‘run’ the streets, when in fact, my family owned this island.
My dad owned everything here, from hotels to restaurants to bars, he’d get his hand into every business in the island if he could. Just ask anyone in town about the Harrison name and they’d tell you. We f*****g owned this town.
“Whatever man,” I rolled my eyes at the pathetic bunch of guys. “Let’s get outta here,”
Breaking off the pointless staring contest, I made my way into my cars. But as I was walking, my phone vibrated in my pocket.
* DING! *
I checked the screen and the notification read: Taya Williams liked your picture. 1m ago.
I had just posted a picture to i********: back at the beach earlier. Normally, I wouldn’t care who liked my picture or not. But this notification hit me differently.
Damn. Just one little notification and it got me smiling from ear to ear.
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TAYA’s POV :
Later that night, I was supposed to be doing my homework, but like always, I was drowning in t****k videos and Twitter memes. And I wasn’t proud to admit it, but curiosity got the best of me while I was scrolling through i********:. I just double tapped on Blake’s latest photo when I was reminded again of what happened earlier.
"When a guy really likes you, he won't be afraid to tell the whole world about you. Hell, he'd want to tell the whole world about you,"
Hearing those words again got me all riled up. That Judah guy must be the most annoying person on the planet, and I didn’t know why his words were affecting me so much.
Who is this Judah Hudson anyway?
Before I could stop myself, I had typed in his name with an intent to stalk. I just wanted to know what this guy was about. Maybe see things about his previous school or the kind of people he hangs out with, just some good old fashioned i********: stalking, you know? Weirdly enough, nothing came up when I typed his name. I didn’t know anyone in my school who didn’t have social media in this generation.
Who is this guy and what is his deal?
Somehow, that made me even more curious. I went as far as typing his name up on Google and f*******:, but nothing came up.
* DING! *
The sudden chime on my phone pulled my attention to new text message I just got. The biggest smile appeared on my face as soon as I saw it.
Blake Harrison: Knock Knock
My heart leaped at the screen when I saw it was a text from Blake. Quickly, I typed a text back.
Me: Who’s there?
Blake Harrison: Miss
Me: Miss who?
Blake Harrison: Miss you.
Oh, hot damn. He’s so freaking smooth!
I couldn’t stop giggling like a love-struck schoolgirl as I stared at the screen. My fingers quickly typed a response as my feet were doing the happy kicks high up in the air.
Sweet baby Jesus, I can die now and I’ll die happy!
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- - - To Be Continued - - -
- Writer
