Xavier had a criminal record as colourful as the bruises on his face. He had built a less-than impressive reputation for himself from fights and drug misuse to rape allegations. The townsfolk knew to stay clear of him and his family. Including kind...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Lia you up?" My eyes darted open. Xavier sat up on the floor like a frightened little mouse, his hair cutely disheveled and his cheeks just a little bit rosy. I put my finger over my lips signalling for him to be quiet.
"Yep." I croaked out in reply.
"You don't sound like you're up, you'll be late if you don't get up now." I rolled my eyes.
"I'm up dad." I yelled, clearer this time. I heard his footsteps move across the creaky floorboards in our hallway and I flopped back down on my bed.
The television was still on with Netflix asking if I was still watching. I clicked it off with the remote and rubbed my eyes. He got up, folded the blankets and sat in my hanging rope chair, procrastinating.
I was procrastinating too. Last night he made us watch Stranger Things. I didn't tell him I tried to watch it before and couldn't get into it. I didn't tell him mysteries annoy me because I'm too impatient to find out the answers. I didn't tell him that it was the perfect show to have running the background while we made out. Instead, I just lay next to him, engulfed in warmth and simple frustration.
I wanted to hold his hand, but I didn't. I wanted to cuddle into his chest and have him wrap his arms around me, but I didn't. He kept his hands resting on his legs. I kept my hands resting beside me on the bed. Our bodies didn't touch, not even shoulder to shoulder. His leg didn't so much as brush up against mine. We had the Netflix and chill without the 'chill' and the deeper we got into Stranger Things the more my mind fantasied about kissing him.
Fuck, Lia. This is a problem.
I pushed the comforter off me and moved towards my closet, deciding on something to wear today. It was chilly, fall was in the air so I got out jeans, a sweater and a scarf. Xavier sat ultra quietly, watching my every move but not saying anything.
"Lia I'm comin in!" Dad yelled from behind my door again, Xavier stiffened in his seat and widened his eyes. I've never darted so fast in my entire life.
I pulled my oversized night shirt above my head and bolted towards the door opening it just a crack and poking my upper body out. I did it without thinking, amidst my spare of the moment panic.
If it wasn't bad enough that Xavier turned up on my doorstep unexpectedly last night, seen me wearing my dads tatty old band T-shirt from the 80's with a slapped back messy bun and mid macaroni feast I was now standing in my mismatched underwear right in front of him. Fuck my life, at least they're both black.
"Dad, I'm changing. I'll be right out." My dad instantly blushed at the sight of my bra.
"I'm sorry chicken legs, I thought you were still in bed. I'll leave you alone." I closed the door, feeling the coldness hit my overexposed body. I didn't want to turn around, I could feel Xaviers eyes on me everywhere. I kept my hand gripping the door knob until my knuckles went white. He cleared his throat awkwardly and I closed my eyes, slowly braving the turn around.
"So... this is my body." I pointed out awkwardly, gesturing down myself like I was on a commercial trying to sell something. I have no idea why I just did that, I got nervous but now he was looking right at me and I think I made things worse.
"Yeah." He mumbled, making direct eye contact with my general torso area and wringing his hand against the nape of his neck. His cheeks were bright red.
"I needed a cover" I pointed my thumb back towards the door "for my dad." I further explained the obvious.
"Yeah." He replied again slowly, making eye contact with my breasts this time.
"I should go put clothes on now." I opened the drawer and got fresh underwear out and then grabbed my clothes into a ball.
"Yeah." He repeated, his eyes hooked onto my panties, I was wearing a thong and he just got an eye full of my ass. At least now he was looking at the front. Wait, I don't know if that's better or worse.
"Stay here, don't make a sound." I warned.
"Yeah." He repeated again, caught in a trance at my general nakedness.
I showered, changed and then returned back to my bedroom. Xavier was pacing over the rug backwards and forwards like the pendulum of a metronome. He stopped when I entered the room.
"Hey." I said, ignoring the last few minutes like they never happened. "I look cute in this outfit, right?"
"Uhh...what?" He uttered nervously.
"I'm gonna go eat breakfast with my dad and then he will drive me to school. When we leave you can come out and help yourself to some food but you gotta be outta here before he gets back."
"Okay... yeah... thanks... I will." I smiled at him and then headed towards the door. "Lilia?" I turned back to face him, my pinned half-up-half down hairstyle swishing weightlessly afterwards. Xavier smiled at me, a glowing, beaming, toothy grin. "I made it five days." I mirrored his expression.
"So you did, I'm super proud of you."
*•*•*•*•*•*•
My dad dropped me off in the parking lot like always. I stood and watched him leave, waving until he was out of sight. I breathed in the smell of car fumes, I loved that smell.
"Gigalo!" Violet shouted from across the parking lot. Waving her phone at me as if I was meant to read her screen all the way from my distance. I laughed at her.
"What?" I shouted back.
"Gigalo! Gigalo! He's a Gigalo!" Her voice got louder as she got closer and then she shoved her phone under my nose. There was an app filling the screen, some kind of transfer money app by the looks of things.
"What are you showing me? What is a Gigalo?" She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards her jeep, climbing onto the bonnet and laying with her feet resting against the windscreen. I copied her. She held her phone above our faces.
"My aunts friend is on this app, it's like Tinder but for escorts and male prostitutes. They came round to moms for a wine sesh last night and started giggling about this app. It scans your location and then matches you up with a number or you can search numbers yourself. It's totally anonymous."
"Okay."
"You use business-like words so the app doesn't get flagged as illegal. Lia, Xavier has the same app on his phone." I laughed off her insanity.
"No way, Xavier likes personal space. You can't even brush up against his arm without him backing away and muttering 'boundaries' a prostitute Violet, really?"
"So he might not be a full blown Julia Roberts but he's definitely an escort. Goes out, wines and dines these women, they pay him and he probably says goodbye before they have sex. Guy is probably loaded. Remember Mrs Robinson? She looked like she could buy a fair few pearls. I wonder what they pay him."
"This is crazy. What would he need money so desperately for anyway?" Violet gave me a pointed look and my brain answered my own question. Drugs.
"We need his number, you got it?" I shook my head. "Well, go get it." She gave my shoulder a little shove and I shoved her back.
"No, you go get it." She sighed.
"Fine, we'll search his location because he'll be around here somewhere." She sat up and tucked her feet beneath her bum looking around the parking lot at all the students arriving to school. I scratched behind my ear awkwardly.
"Actually Vi... I left him in my bedroom this morning."
