Dark Magic

12. Chapter Ten

SOPHIA'S POV

'I swear, sometimes its like you want me to hate you.'

After I told Dylan what I thought, he couldn't stop looking at me, and it felt kind of good.
It felt really good.
I glanced up at him, my hands still on his chest until I tightly wrapped my arms around his torso and replaced my hands with my head against his chest, closing my eyes.
He stopped moving and put his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer then I already was.
I could feel his heart beat against my ear.
It was slow. He was calm.
He rested his chin on top of my head, and I was hoping he was enjoying the hug as much as I was.
I just felt so safe being in his arms.
He held me a little longer in silence, before whispering,
"Do you want to go get a drink?"
I pulled away, still holding his shirt in my balled fists and smiling, nodding my head. He grinned in return, putting an arm around my shoulders. I left one arm around his waist, gripping his shirt.
He led me over to like a shrine of blue eskies, where Brodie, Kyle and a few others were hanging around.
Dylan pulled back his arm, doing that same hi-five thing to Brodie.
"Whats up, Brodie?" Dylan said happily.
"Hey, Soph!" Kyle said, his voice overpowering Brodie's, so I didn't hear what he replied with. Kyle threw his arm around me and grinned, pushing his shaggy hair out of his eyes.
"Hello, Kyle." I replied with, smiling at him.
"How are you?"
"I'm fantastic, how are you?"
"Fucking fabulous, Soph." He pulled his arm back and laughed lightly, just as Dylan turned to us, glancing at Kyle weirdly for a split second, and then clapping his hands together.
"Right, Soph, what do you want? I take it you've never had alcohol, so I can find like a col-" I cut him off.
"No, I want to try alcohol. Give me whatever." I said numbly. Dylan and Brodie exchanged looks, before laughing.
"Alright, kiddo. Any idea what you want?" Dylan said.
"Not really. What's he drinking?" I asked, pointing to Brodie.
"Beer, you can try mine if you like." Brodie offered, extending his arm. I smiled at him and took the bottle from his hands. All boys, (There were five of them. Two, I didn't know) had their eyes on me. I took a deep breath before taking a sip, closing my eyes and sort of processing the flavour.
Immediately, I passed it back and forced myself to swallow the vile drink, letting out a weird sound.
"Ew!" I said loudly. The boys laughed in unison, and Kyle petted my back.
"Alright, beer is a no go," Dylan said. "Um, Charlie, what have you got?" He ushered to a boy with curly, dirty blonde hair, wearing black skinny jeans and a white and blue long sleeved shirt.
He was sort of cute.
"Vodka and coke." He said, handing over a glass to me. I smiled at him and took it, taking a sip quickly and passing it back. I had the same reaction as before.
"Yeah, no! Way too strong." They laughed again.
"Well, this little pussy, Jarryd, has a fucking Cruiser, and I'm convinced you'll like that. It's a lolly drink, I suppose. Do you like raspberry?" Dylan said.
Jarryd had short, dirty blonde hair pushed to the side slightly and was tanned and tall.
I think I'd had a few classes with him in ninth grade.
"Yeah." I said breathily, furrowing my brows at the aftertaste of the two drinks mixed together. Dylan wandered over to an esky, leaving me momentarily with the boys.
"He seems to really like you." Brodie stated, flicking his head to usher to Dylan.
"We're friends, so I'd be offended if he didn't like me." I murmured. He laughed,
"I mean he likes you, as in, he's probably into you."
"Dylan doesn't do relationships, Brodie. Remember that." Jarryd murmured.
"Hey, someone could easily change that, Jarryd." Kyle snapped.
"Maybe. But think about how many times he's been into a girl, had sex with her and never spoken of her again..." Jarryd said quietly. I looked down and furrowed my brows,
"He wouldn't do that to Sophia." Kyle muttered.
"Pretty sure you said that about Vicky too."
"Shut up!" Charlie whisper-yelled, obviously not enjoying the fact Jarryd was being rude about Dylan - although, that was probably unintentional.
Dylan returned, smiling at the group and handing me the drink. The cap was already off. I slowly took a sip, and this time, the drink didn't taste bloody horrible. It was really nice.
"That's good." I said, smiling.
"It won't get you drunk, but I don't think you want that anyway. Want to walk?" Dylan asked. I nodded and we said bye to his mates, walking away from them.
"Does Jarryd have something against you?" I asked really quietly, looking around at all the kids laughing and drinking and dancing.
"Ha, probably. Why?"
"He just said some weird things. Its nothing, really."
"I don't really care anyway." He mumbled.
We walked until we were pretty far into the bush, and we took a seat against a rock. I took another sip of my drink, before setting it down and closing my eyes.
"So, you're enjoying yourself?" Dylan asked, moving a bit closer to me. I nodded, but because I was unsure if he was looking, I replied,
"Yeah. I am."
"Good. Sorry about Lily. She's bloody relentless."
I felt so relaxed. So safe, too. Despite being out in the bush - but I was with Dylan and thats all I needed.
I opened my eyes, turning to him. He was staring ahead blankly.
"I used to bring Milo and Carly down here. It was really good."
"Why'd you stop?"
"Milo ran off at one point. I was stupid enough to tell Carly to wait right where I'm sitting. Milo hadn't gotten too far and he was small, so I picked him up and walked back. Carly was gone. I looked around for about five minutes, before I heard her scream. Some stupid fucking teenagers had found her. Four of them... All a bit older then me... Uh- they hadn't hurt her or done anything, but they were all stoned. I was nice about it at first, then they wouldn't give her back, so I punched one of them in the face. And when another tried to get at me, I hit him. I hit all of them, and then took Carly and Milo and ran. I was fifteen, and haven't been back here 'till now."
I looked to him and sighed, rubbing his thigh so he finally looked at me. He managed to smile and we just looked at each other for a long time, before he really quickly leaned in, and legitimately smashed his lips to mine, but it didn't hurt. Although I had no idea how to kiss, I tried to do it anyway. He pulled back, and I opened my eyes that I'd subconsciously closed. Then he laughed it off, rubbing the back of his neck and turning away.
"Um, so yeah. That was a really interesting time in my life for both me and Carly." He said. I slowly nodded and looked away.
What the hell was that?
Was I a bad kisser?
Did he not mean to kiss me?
Was he embarrassed?
My tongue glided across my bottom lip and I sunk a little bit, pulling my knees to my chest and picking up my drink, taking a large gulp of it.
"So, how'd you get that scar on your stomach?" He asked. I glanced at him, pulling the bottle away and sighing.
How did he notice that?
"Um..." I didn't know whether to tell him or not. Was I even comfortable telling him? Maybe I was.
"After my grandfather died, I sort of... Lost it. I was throwing things around and screaming and I broke a glass table... I guess I didn't know what I was doing. My mother was yelling at me to stop and tried to grab me but instead I picked up some glass, held it to my stomach and told her... 'If you come any closer, I'll stab myself right here and now'. She didn't believe me and tried to grab me... So... I did that." He was completely quiet. I frowned, folding my arms.
I shouldn't have told him.
God, I'm so stupid.
Nobody wants to hear that - especially him.
I should have made up something.
Dammit.
"Were you... Suicidal at the time?" He said quietly. I looked at him and shrugged,
"Maybe. I don't know." He gulped.
"Well, I hope you know that I'm always... Uh, here to talk to you if you ever get like that again. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." I smiled and nodded,
"Yeah. Thanks, Dylan. But I think I'm going to be okay."
Maybe it was okay that I'd told him.
Maybe he really was a trust worthy guy.
Maybe he really was my friend.