Her Past, His Innocence

8. Broken Noses And Bruised Knuckles

Dedicated to Tofu166
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The project has been going on well and the presentation is in two weeks.

I'm on my way to Joel's house and I've gotten close to his family, except his dad since I've not seen him since that incident. I've met Jace and he's cool too.

I ring the bell and I hear Joseph squealing from the other side.

"Joel, Jacob, Jasmine, mom! Amanda's here!"

And I see his little head pop out and he jumps on me and I almost lose my balance.

"Hey, bud." I laughed as I ruffle his hair.

"I'm good. We've been waiting for you and Joel has been grumpy for a while now." He giggles and whispered the last part as soon as he saw Joel heading to us.

"Hello, partner. And you," he said narrowing his eyes and pointing to Joseph, "that's not true."

"But you kept on whining about how much you miss her." Joseph defended.

"You little shit," Joel growled as he made his way to Joseph.

Joseph went between Joel's legs and ran into the house.

"Soo. Is it true?"

"What exactly?"

"Stop playing dumb. I'm talking about what Joseph said. That stuff about you missing me."

"Oh, that. He's lying."

"Yeah sure. But I won't be surprised if it was true, I mean, who can resist me?" I said as I flipped my hair.

"I know for a fact that I can't."

"Yup. You can't. Now let's go inside." I whined as I dragged him towards the living room.

We make us to the living room and I spot Mrs Reed talking to Jace. They both turn to me and start grinning from ear to ear. And I have to say, that creeps me out.

"Hey, Amanda." Jace greets me while waving his hand. I greet him back and turn to Mrs Reed's direction.

"Hi, Mrs Reed." I smile shyly as she lets out a small laugh.

"I've told you a lot of times, call me Laura."

"Sorry, Mrs --I mean Laura." I quickly corrected myself.

I feel someone's hand grip my wrist and it's Joel. "Now if you don't mind, we have a project to complete. Let's go."

" Awh Joel, you don't have to be grumpy. After all, you were whining some time ago about how you miss Amanda." Jace teases Joel.

"That's true. Now run along and do whatever teenagers do." Laura pushes us to the couch. She's on her way to the kitchen when she stops then turns towards us.

"Hey, Joel. Why don't you bring something for your friend here?" She asks him emphasizing the word 'friend'.

"But mom, she's fine an --" she cuts him off.

"Is that how I trained you?! Now get up from that couch or I'll come over there and give you an ass-whooping!"

Joel mumbles some incoherent words then makes his way to the kitchen.

"Don't worry about him. He can acts like a douchebag sometimes."

"No worries. I've experienced it firsthand."

She makes her way to the kitchen making me the only person in the room. Then I heard someone coming down the stairs and it turns to be Mr Reed. He's a wack dad and also a dilweed according to Joel.

He makes his way towards me, his lips twitch up and I'm getting really uncomfortable. He makes himself comfortable on the couch and he's abnormally close to me.

Get away from him now.

Like I don't know that Oma.

Then do it.... now.

But how? I can't just push him away and talk shit to him. For God's sake, he's my friend's dad. Even though he's an asshole in many ways.

Oh Lord, help my human 'cause I'm out. Bye.

So it's just him and I. Where the hell is Joel?!

Mr Reed interrupts my train of thoughts.

"And what is a beautiful girl like you doing here?"

"I'm Joel's partner for a project." I stutter.

"I see. I've been watching you for a while and you seem like the type I'm looking for. Do you mind if I give you a job or something like that?"

"Job?" I ask, unsure about what is about to come. To say that I'm confused is an understatement

"Yes, a job. A very lucrative one."

"I'll think about it." He gives me the creeps. I move away from him but he grabs my thigh. Just as I'm about to take his hands off me, I hear glass shatter. I quickly snap my head to the sound and I see Joel wearing an expression between shock and confusion. Then anger is written all over his face.

His jaw and hands are clenched. He makes large strides towards Mr Reed and me.

This is probably gonna end with broken noses and bruised knuckles.