Keeping Her Afloat (Book 1)

~¶Sixty Two¶~

~Worst Yet Lasting Decision~

"You're crying?"

Dolores whipped her head sharply to reproachfully rebuke the intruder only to find Simeon peering at her with a sad longing on his face. She harshly wiped away her tears.

"None of your business. What do you want?" She wasn't in any mood to be friendly with him. All she craved for at the moment was silence and a whole lot of privacy. "Can you please shut my door? I really want to be alone with my thoughts."

"Your thoughts would drown you. Move." He replied, pretending not to have heard her the first time.

She glared at him in annoyance. "Didn't you hear what I said? I asked--"

"I heard what you said but I want to ignore it. Now will you scoot over or will you have me move you myself?" He demanded with a foot tapping the ground in impatience.

Left with no other choice, Dolores crawled from the driver's side into the passenger's where she lowered the car seat. Simeon hopped in after her, discarding his school bag in the back seat as he did so.

"Keys."

She threw it onto his thighs and went back to seal herself against every intrusion into her privacy. If he wanted to drive her home, then he was at liberty provided he wouldn't try to poke his nose in her business.

He slammed the door shut then turned to her. "What happened? And before you speak, I do not want to hear that nothing happened. Nothing won't make you shed tears on the grounds of the school parking lot right under the glare of every student present there."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Dolores!" He snapped, suddenly losing his calm. "I am not like the rest of your friends. If I see something is wrong with someone I'm close to, it'd be best they let me know about it as quietly as possible else whoever put them in that position would be on the receiving end of my baseball bat."

She tossed him a fleeting look of surprise before leaning back into her seat with a long sigh. After a few seconds of silence, she relayed her experience with Nicolas at the parking lot.

"That motherfucking idiot. I wish I could bash his head in over and over." Simeon swore aloud when she was through.

The tears she swallowed in, crept to the surface again while she recalled the void look in Nicolas' eyes as he stared back at her. Like she meant completely nothing to him in the first place. "I'm trying hard not to think he is actually going out with that girl but the evidences are just so glaring. I've been such a fool."

"No, you're not. He is the fool for thinking to play you by doing what he did. Any guy like him doesn't deserve good people like you." His fingers reached out to wipe the tears away from her mascara stained cheek. He lingered for a bit before forcing his hands to break the contact with her wet, cold skin.

"Thank you, Simeon. You're the least person I expected to be friends with. It used to be Adelina but it seems she has more pressing matters at hand now. Namely, Grayson." She stated sarcastically.

Simeon laughed at that, then turned serious. "You are bad at choices when it comes to making friends. How did you end up with Adelina? She barely pays you any attention and deems her boyfriend more important than you are."