Falling in love with the bully * Awsten Knight

17)

He walks out of the door with me then. I can't believe he's doing this. I was bad enough when he took me home the other night. I suppose that was different though. Back then, I would have been left on the floor. Right now, I can walk, I certainly don't need him to 'escort' me back home! How very dare he!
"Um, excuse me, but why are you walking me home? I'm more than capable of walking, you know. And besides, you hate me!" I point out to him. Maybe he'll remember that any time soon, (preferably this second), and walk back inside. Immediately.
" I know that. But it's a long walk. And I have a couple of questions to ask you." He says to me.
"You do? Like what?" I ask, suddenly curious of what he has to say. What possible interest could he have in plain, ordinary me? The one minute he hates me, the next he wants to ask me questions! Jes, I can't keep up with him!
"This... boy. What's his name? Ah, yes, Kai, how is he bothering with Lauren all of a sudden?" He inquires.
"Well, um... actually, Awsten, I believe it is none of your business. If I went questioning you about your life you'd have enough to say!" I tell him.
" I don't care. You should understand by now that my circumstances in our little relationship are different to your's," he mocks, "now answer me"
"Well, me and him are no longer together...." I say sadly.
"Why?" He demand.
"Because I caught him kissing Lauren. Well, snogging Lauren. Happy now?" I say flippantly.
"I'm not finished yet. Why Lauren? I thought he was your girlfriend," says he.
"I thought that too. I thought I could trust him, and that he actually cared about me but he obviously doesn't. He was cheating on me for crying out loud!" I say in rage.
"I bet I care about you more than he does," he says thoughtfully.
"And that says hell of a lot"
"You'd be surprised, Lilly"
"With what?"
"How much I care about you"
"As if!" I scoff. My goodness, does lying come naturally to him or something?
"Yes. I didn't leave you when you couldn't walk, did I? I carried you all the way home, and you still threw it back in my face"
"You sort of deserved it. You called me a pig, and you wouldn't put me down when I asked you, and I was scared when -"
"When what?"
"Well if you'd let me finish I could tell you! When i slapped you, because then I thought you were going to do something. And you did. You dumped me on the gate and now there's a huge graze on my back!"
"How do you survive?" He asks sarcastically, "and what did you want me to do, leave you when you could barely walk? I'm not that horrible, you know"
"You only did it so you could insult me, that's why you're walking me home now, isn't it?"
"No, I'm walking you home now because it's late and dark and cold and there's .... Funny people around at this hour sometimes"
"Oh yes," I smirk, "like who?"
"You know the types, Lilly, so don't try and get me to explain things to you"
"And what would you do about all of this?"
"Well, if they saw a strong, tall, protective man with toy, they wouldn't attempt anything, would they?"
"Don't flatter yourself. And anyway, you're hardly protective over me. Half the time, you're the one I need protecting from!"
"Ha," he says, about to laugh but then stops himself, "I would never let anything happen to you, Lilly" and at that moment, he is staring down at me, looking for my reaction.
"Um, but you are the one who bullies me," I say.
"I know that. But I never hurt you too badly. Do I?"
"Y - yes, actually, you do"
"Oh. So why was this Kai boy cheating on you for? I thought he was in love with you," says Awsten. I notice how he calls himself a man and Kai a boy even though there's not even a year's difference between them - Kai is one of the oldest in our class.
"I thought that too. I don't know, maybe he couldn't handle all the bullying I go through, and he wanted to be popular rather than a loner like me. Clearly, he's just a player"
"Yes, he is. You don't want somebody like that, Lilly. You want somebody who can put up with your bullying, and who can even possibly sort it out for you"
"Yeah, then they'd be sorting you out, wouldn't they?"
"I doubt whether they could sort me out," he says, a slight smirk on his face, "the only person that can sort me out is me. Nobody can influence me. But I can highly influence other people"
"Like your little sidekicks. Otto and Geoff are particularly influenced"
"That's a good thing. I'm the leader. I think I'm a good leader"
"No you're not, you tell them to do bad things - like Bully me"
"Oh, I don't tell them to do that. They enjoy it, so they just tag along. I could easily bully you alone, you know"
"How impressive, that the older, stronger, faster man can bully the weaker, slower, younger girl. I must say, you fascinate me Awsten," I say sarcastically.
"I should fascinate you," he says, grinning slightly. Why does he have to be so infuriating and annoying for? He's so frustrating! I decide to ignore his last comment in the hood he won't continue this conversation. Maybe he'd even get bored and walk back home!
"Um, the other thing was what did Otto do to you exactly?"
"Oh, you know, just the usual," I shrug.
"I want details"
I sigh and tell him. "You know, I didn't him them up to that"
"Whatever, it doesn't matter. It's a frequent occurrence, isn't it? If it isn't you dishing it out to me then it's somebody else"
He brushes what I just said. We turn up the long lane which is the home stretch for me. "You shouldn't have walked me home," I tell him.
"Why? Because you hate my guys?" He suggests.
"No. Because now you're going to have to walk back all the way in your own"
"So? What does that matter?"
"Well it's pointless, walking somebody home who you hate to walk all the way back in the cold and the dark on your own for around 20 whole minutes, when you could be doing something much better either yourself on such and evening"
"Oh, please. I don't feel the cold. And the dark doesn't bother me either. And I have me homework left to do: and I walk much faster than you do, or will only take me 10 minutes to walk back," he says.
"You're so full of yourself!" I blurt out.
"Excuse me?"
"You must think you're some kind of god, "ooh, I don't feel the cold, and I'm such a fast walker, I'm like Usain Bolt' ! And I'm not a slow walker!"
"Yes you are. And I don't think I'm godlike, and I certainly don't see myself as fast as usain Boltzmann, either"
"Whatever. Anybody would swear you do. You should stop being so big headed and over confident. And I'm not a slow walker, you are just unnaturally fast!"
"Right, ok. You have to be argumentative, don't you? Always have to have the last word"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"There we go again, chirp chirp chirp in the background"
"Awsten... I have a question. Why are you only nice to me when we're alone?"
"Because although you are annoying me right now - well, you always are - I cannot exactly bully you at this late hour whilst we're walking up a dark lane, can I? I would look extremely dodgy"
"Nobody is going to see us"
"You're so annoying. It's infuriating"
"Likewise. Then why didn't you bully me in your house?"
"Christ, do you want me to bully you or something?"
"No!"
"Then why do you keep asking?"
"Because I'm just curious, that's all"
"Well, if I bullied you in my house, it would be unfair, because it's my territory. It's not on neutral ground. You'd be confined"
"Oh"
Finally after what seems live several years, I arrive at my gate. "Well, thank you for walking me home," I thank him. He hasn't insulted me so much this time, so I think he deserved a thank you. Plus he admitted he actually cares about me. Whether that is a big huge lie or not is another thing, but oh well, he still said it.
"You're welcome. And goodbye, Lilly," he says, giving a little wave with his hand as he strides off back down the lane.
"Goodbye!" I call after him then I scurry back inside.