AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"No. I’m not going anywhere with you."
"Allie. Get in my car."
"Only if you let him go."
"Now."
"No."
James glared at me, mulling it over. Then turned back to Dennis. "If I ever see you trying to push yourself on my sister again, she won’t be able to save your ass."
Dennis nodded. "Fine. Nothing even happened man."
James let him go and turned towards me. "Let’s go."
***
We drove home in silence. James seemed to have let his rage go as soon as we pulled out of the Statesman parking lot, but not me. I was too drunk and startled and scared for Dennis to make sense of things in the parking lot. But now, in the silence of the car ride home, I had plenty of time to sort my feelings and to let what just happened sink in.
James had just invaded and ruined my life again. I couldn’t even have one night, one night to maybe get the world of Bloomfield to change its opinion of me, to move myself out from under all the wreckage James started heaping on my social life four years ago.
He must have saw my face because he said, "How can you possibly be mad at me?"
I didn’t answer him. Maybe he would figure it out himself.
But he just laughed, that deep, gravely laugh. "Incredible. She tries to get herself raped, I save her ass, and I’m the bad guy."
I stared out my window, trying not to take his bait.
"You should be thanking me. If I hadn’t thought to check on you tonight who knows what that creep would have done. Dennis-fucking-Kamp," he shook his head. "Fucking prick."
Finally, I couldn’t shut up any longer.
"You didn’t save me from anything I couldn’t handle," I snapped. "And even if you did, you’ve managed to humiliate me again in the process, which is worse than anything Dennis Kamp was going to do to me in that car."
James mouth fell open. He looked literally shocked. "How did I humiliate you?"
I shook my head. "Don’t act so thick. What do you think Dennis is going to say about what happened? That he was being grabby and my big brother came in and stopped him from date raping me?" I rolled my eyes and grunted. "No. I’ll just be a slut or a tease or whatever terrible thing he can think to say about me to make himself look better now that you humiliated him."
"He won’t say anything," James said. "Not if he likes walking, anyway."
"Would you just stop? I mean, who do you think you are? I didn’t ask you to do me any favors. God knows I’ve learned not to do that over the years."
James glanced at me as he drove.
"Ok, now you’ve lost me. What are you talking about?" he asked.
I laughed, a crazy, shrill, hysterical laugh. "Please tell me you’re kidding? Tell me you’re just trying to make me angry by pretending you don’t even realize how you totally ruined my high school life by being a total jack ass?"
James braked, the car slowing rapidly as he pulled over to the side of the road. I tensed, afraid that I may have woken the beast from the parking lot. But once he put the Land Rover into park, he turned towards me with serious eyes and said, "I’m not trying to piss you off, Allie. I know I wasn’t always the nicest guy with you, but I hardly think you could accuse me of ruining your life."
I shook my head. "Do you remember my first day as a freshman? When I asked you for a ride."
He paused before answering. "Yes," he said carefully.
"Well, after you basically treated me like garbage every senior girl decided I was fair game for torture, and after they graduated the junior girls picked up where they left off. If I told you some of the things they did to me..."
"I was just a stupid kid trying to look cool. I wasn't trying to ruin your life, Allie."
