thief | peter kavinsky

nine

"You coming tonight, O'Connor?"

"I'm here, dumbass."

Peter looks up from his phone and looks around, squinting. He finally spots me and smiles, waving. We were currently at Charlie's house party, and I was definitely feeling buzzed. I would have to ask Summer for a ride.

Anyways, I've been talking to Peter on the phone for the last fifteen minutes to see if he notices that I'm here. It was cute, though, seeing his reactions to my words. He smiled a lot when he was on the phone with me. What can I say, I'm just that funny.

I giggle at literally nothing and that's when I know I've had too much to drink. Peter notices and his eyes go wide. He puts his drink down and begins to walk over towards me but someone beats him to it. Cody Rodriguez. Shit, Cody, I'm drunk. Don't do this to me.

"Hey. You look great." He says.

Cody speaks and the whole world twists upside down. How could one person make everything around me disappear? But this time someone else was in the picture; Peter. I could see him from afar, somewhat angry, and staring at Cody's back very aggressively.

"More like drunk." I giggle again.

I had to get away from Cody before I spill my guts and tell him my darkest secrets. One of them including that I was kind of in love with him. But we will ignore that for now.

I chuckle and slowly back away. He gets confused and walks towards me, this time putting an arm on the wall beside me. He has trapped me.

"Where you going?" He asks, and I could tell from his breath that he's been drinking as well.

"I have to go." I hiccup.

He shrugs, "It's boring here. Hanging out with you will be the only fun I have tonight."

"A little while longer." I gush over him again.

He smiles and we make small chit chat but Peter was still staring at us. I kept glancing back and forth between the two boys, unable to focus on just one. Finally Cody asks, "What are you looking at?"

"Peter Kavinsky." Fuck.

"Kavinsky? Why are you looking at him? Don't tell me you're into him. He's not good for you, Dyl." He shakes his head, turning around and sneering at Peter.

"He has a girlfriend, silly." I giggle.

Then Peter comes over and the real fun starts. Peter crosses his arms and leans against the wall on my left. "Hey, Rodriguez. You bothering her?"

"I'm her best friend, Kavinsky." Cody snaps.

Peter pulls a confused face, very dramatically might I add, and pulls something out of his adidas book bag. I look over to what it was, and much to my surprise, it was my sweatshirt.

"I'm the one who has the sweater, Rodriguez." Peter puts my sweater on and I gasp.

I scurry over to his back and try to cover up my last name. Before they attract too much attention I grab Peter's hand and run away from the crowd. I throw him in an empty room.

"What the fuck? I was ready to fight." He says.

"What is wrong with you?" I shake my head, "You have a girlfriend! You cant be fighting over me and wearing my sweatshirt in public."

He pauses in his tracks and sits down on a random bed in the room. He's going over the scene that he just caused a couple of seconds ago. Also, the fact that Lara Jean is present here and she was probably seeing everything.

"Fuck." He grunts, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah." He was so oblivious.

He was beginning to take the sweater off but I stopped him. I grabbed the cloth and pulled it back over his body, "Coach gave me a new one at practice. I don't need two. Keep it. Just don't wear it in public, please?"

He smiled as if he wanted to keep it this whole time. What would Peter want to do with my sweatshirt? Maybe he really likes the smell of flowers.

But something else was in his eyes; sadness. Like he wanted to stay in this moment forever, like something was going to screw it up.

❀

I sit in Peter's passenger seat. It was quiet, very quiet. Usually, we would be bickering and fighting. But he kept his eyes on the road and rarely glanced at me. I felt like a complete embarrassment, what will people think of me? What would Lara Jean think of me?

Summer was going to drive me home but Peter insisted. Cody had left already. What does it look like to everyone; Peter getting into a fight over me, having my sweatshirt on him, and driving me instead of Lara Jean. God, I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

Peter pulled up in front of my house and stopped the car. We sat there awkwardly, not daring to look at each other. I might have just died right there. I could cut the tension with a knife. Which was odd, we were just fine in the room at the party. But some part of me knew what it was. He and Lara Jean talked for two hours after we left the room. It was some serious shit.

"I can't see you anymore."

I snap my head towards him but he isn't looking at me. He's staring at his thumbs and they are twiddling away. I didn't want to answer. I wanted him to elaborate. I wanted to hear his voice, his smile. But he never did. He just sat there, playing with his thumbs.

Yet he didn't need to explain. I understood. I was bad for his reputation, I was bad for his relationship, I was bad for him. I screwed his whole life up. Hell, I ran him over with my fucking bike. I almost caused a fight at a house party. People were supposed to be having funny and I ruined it. Can't I do anything right?

Before I could cry in front of him I opened the door and hopped out. I grabbed my bag, stole a glance at him one last time and dashed inside. I shut the door and stood there, tears running down my face. Peter left ten minutes after, I counted each second.

I cried myself to sleep that night.