The Boy Next Door

ｓｅｖｅｎ

Colton

Rachel was staring at someone in the crowd. I saw a guy that looked to be about our age walking toward us, looking in our direction.

"Rachel, are you staring at the guy walking towards us?" I asked. She nodded. She whispered to herself. I thought it was strange, the way she was acting. "Do you know him?"

"I'm honestly afraid of what could happen." She said, while nodding again.

I wanted to ask her why she was scared, but now didn't seem like a good time. I assumed it had to do with this guy that was approaching us.

"It's okay, you don't have to be. I'm here. I don't know what the problem is, but I will not let anything happen." I said.

The guy she was staring at stopped in front of us. "Hey Rachel. It's nice seeing you here." He said to Rachel. I tried my best to not be involved in the conversation.

"What do you want Luke?" She said in the same annoyed tone she talked to me in when I was at her doorstep a few days ago. She was nervous, I could tell.

"What do you mean, babe, I just came over because I want to talk to you? It is good to see you. It has been a while." He stated.

I wondered why he was calling her babe.

"Don't call me that!" She exclaimed.

"Fine then, Rachel, can we talk, alone?" Luke asked again.

"No, Luke, there is nothing to talk about. Leave me alone." She replied, turning her body away from him to face the other way.

"I just want to talk for a minute. Come on. You've been ignoring my calls and messages." He tried to take her hand, but she smacked it out of the way. Trying to touch her was the last straw for me.

"She said doesn't want to talk to you, leave her alone." I burst out.

"Who are you? Her boyfriend?" He scoffed.

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, but before any words came out, I interrupted. "Yes, I am. She asked you to leave her alone. She doesn't want to talk to you."

He was speechless. He had something to say but decided against saying it.

Rachel lifted her head and looked me in the eye. I gave her a look that indicated, "just go with it." I grabbed her hand and led her closer into me. I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her close to make her feel protected. It was mostly because I wanted an excuse to be touching her, but you could say it was all for her. It felt so good to have her in my touch, so close to me. I saw Wyatt walking towards us. He probably saw this guy talking to us. He probably knew who he was and why Rachel was upset. Rachel sighed. Luke was still standing in front of us, just staring, not saying a word.

"Luke, why are you bothering my sister?" Wyatt asked.

"I just wanted to talk to Rachel in private, but her boyfriend here won't let me." Luke pointed at me.

"She asked you to leave her alone." I reminded him.

Wyatt looked at me and shook his head. I still had Rachel in my grip. "I'm glad he didn't let you. You need to leave them alone. I don't trust you to be alone with her. I don't think anyone of us will ever trust you. If you want to talk to her, talk with all of us present." Wyatt demanded.

"Forget it. Nice seeing you, Rachel." He turned around and stormed away. I let go of Rachel.

Tears were welled in the corners of her eyes. "Rachel, why are you crying? Did he try to hurt you at all?" Wyatt asked.