[Faithful encounter]

[What do you get with drunken stalkers and a weird yet oddly seductive guardian?]

    Shifting my legs so they felt comfortable, I let out a nervous mumble. I am at a friend’s party(Joann’s to be exact). Some of us are playing a game; Spin the Bottle. All the couples who were already made were either making out, or left to do naughty things(stuff that I would never do.) There was still a lot of players left in this game, considering we just started a couple minutes ago. Standing up, I leaned over to tell Joann, “Hey, I’m going to go get a drink. I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
    She nods and replies, “You better hurry back! Or all the good-looking guys will be gone.” She winks as I turn away, and head into the pink-plastered kitchen. It was decorated in pears and oranges, with pink accents. It was real cute. Reaching into the fridge, I start to pull out a soda can, but leave it, when I feel something freezing my spine. Flipping around, I notice Jeremy pull back a tall bottle of what seemed to be fruit punch. Most likely, it’s alcohol.
    “Hey, Gwen,” he says, pointing it towards me. I push it back his way.
    “Thanks, but I don’t drink. I’m a minor. We all are. Well, I think we all are. Not sure about some of these guys.” I look around at the older looking guys. There was someone near the corner in the living room who caught my attention--a (kind of short) man(boy/guy). He was leaning against the wall, with his arms crossed and his head slightly down, so I couldn’t see his face clearly. But, why would he come to a party and not do anything? I notice his hands clenched into balls, as if something terrible happened, and he was seriously ticked off. Kind of nervous, I look away, and avert my attention back to Jeremy.
    “It’s not alcohol; I promise.” I don’t think I want to trust him. Jeremy always creeps me out. Always following me around…”If you don’t trust me, look at the label.”
    So, I did. It said that it was 100% alcohol free. It looked pretty real to me, so I take it from him, and thank him. After taking a huge gulp of it, I set it down, wave him bye, and get back to Spin the Bottle. There was still about twenty people playing. No joke. This circle was huge.
    The bottle spun and landed on Tori. Her and Gabriel exchange a smile and blush, then head up into one of the upstairs bedrooms. They always had a crush on each other, of course they were going to end up together. How cute.
    After some couples come and go, I eventually started to become increasingly dizzy, and my vision started to blur a bit. Why, though? Looking at all of the other players, I notice that Jeremy has joined the game. But…when? I didn’t see him at all.
    “Oh my God, it’s finally your turn, Gwen!” Joann shouts excitingly. I look down to see that the bottle landed on…Jeremy. Oh Jesus.
    Jeremy walks over, and takes my hand, pulling me up to stand. I try to pull back, but I am too weak--where’s all my usual strength…?
    “Ha-ha. Don’t be too rough!” some of them told us, as Jeremy dragged me outside, and into his shiny blue corvette, shoving me on the back seat covers, making me hit my head one of the side doors. Side effect; major headache.
    “What…are you doing?” I ask weakly, though I knew the answer. He simply shrugged, and gave a dirty smile. I frown and attempt to cover my chest. “Lay off. I meant it, Jeremy.”
    “Lay off?” he snickers towards me, thus turning into a series of high pitches chuckles. “Do you know that I love you Gwendolyn?”
    “Don’t even call me by my name, you psychopath!” I don’t know what game he’s playing at, but he sure is pissing me the hell off.
    “Gwen…I love you.”
    I looked away. “No you don’t. It’s just an attraction; that’s all!”
    His smile lowers and he becomes a bit more serious, “You don’t understand…”
    Don’t understand…Well. Probably not. But, he doesn’t need to be so forceful.
    “Look, you’re just drunk--.” Wait…Since he gave me that ’juice’ I’ve been acting strangely. “What exactly was that juice…?”
    “Uhh…Compassion Fruit Deluxe?”
    My teeth snapped in place. “You b*****d. You forced liquor on me!”
    His eyes were empty. “I did no such thing. You openly took it.”
    “Pfft! Yeah--not knowing what it contained in it!”
    He went back to being smug, and all.
    “So what…”
    So what? He practically drugged me!
    Jeremy slid over me, and began taking off his shirt(God was he built good), then proceeded to me. “No!” He continued unbuttoning my purple and blue button-up.
    “No,” I shout as yell as I could. “Someone! Help! Anybody!…” Nobody answered, and it was silent as ever, besides Jeremy’s heavy breathing. “Get off of me! Jeremy!”
    “Oh come on, Gwen. I won’t leave you. I won’t.”
    It was futile to fight back. I bit my tongue as hard as I possibly could, and pierced my eyes closed, whilst Jeremy pulled at my shirt. I hated this, you know.
    Just when Jeremy was beginning to mess with my jeans, when we heard a knock on the window. “We’re busy!” Jeremy shouts, and gets back to…business. There was more knocks on the door. “Look--I said that we’re bus--!” The door literally was flung open, thus breaking off, as a short boy(a bit taller than me) grabbed Jeremy’s collar, and jerks him back off of me, and onto the ground. Hard.
    “Stay off of her!” he shouts; his voice was a bit childish, but strong, at the same time.
    Who…was this boy?
    Jeremy got pissed off. “Who the hell are you?” The boy turned to glare at Jeremy. If I were him(Jeremy), I’d probably pee my pants. That look was scary. And, I don’t get scared  by *glares* alone. “I was here first. She’s mine.”
    The small boy grabbed Jeremy by the collar of his shirt, telling him, “She wouldn’t EVER be yours. Not even if I, or God, died.” W-what? Jeremy blinked several times, then got up, and straight out left. The boy turned towards me, and extended an arm. I accepted it, and he helped me out of the Corvette, and up. “Are you OK? I’m sorry that I was late…” I glanced at his face; sort of dark(not black…More like Asian or Indian?), black wavy hair that stopped right above his eyes, and beautiful blue eyes. I felt like melting in them, awkwardly enough. What made me nervous was the tragic frown on his flawless baby face. I couldn’t leave it like that, since I(not Jeremy) caused this.
    “I-I’m OK! See?” I run around in circles, like I would in Gym. “Thanks for saving me…” I stammered for anymore words. Funny thing is…I bet that I’m older than him, too. “But, who are you, and why did you save me?”
    His expression slightly switched to a bit more serious tone. “I am Raphael Lovington,” he starts to say. Lovington! How cute. “Anyways, I am here to protect you from any and all types of harm.” Protect me? OK; I may just have almost got raped, but that was only the usual(at least, to me anyways). Sexual harassment is terrible to me.
    “Why? My life is fine the way it is! Like I said, thanks for saving me, but why go through the trouble of beating a guy up, for the likes of me? I mean, you‘re scaring the hell out of me with this ‘protection‘ crap!”
    His baby blue eyes stared straight through my green ones. “Gwendolyn…I’m sorry, if I made you nervous, or have any other terrible emotion. I didn’t mean to cause that--but, I’m guarding you beCAUSE you are you.” Ah! Don’t confuse me!
    “Well, whatever the case…” I glance over at his pretty face, and quickly look away, and press my hands against my cheeks which were on fire. “B-bye now…” He was about to say something, I think, but I sped away as if a ninja were chasing me.

    School the next couple of days was fine, I suppose, since Jeremy hasn’t shown up since Raphael appeared in our life for the first time. I thought about what he(Raphael, not Jeremy) could be doing as of now. Was he thinking about the incident? Did he really mean what he has said up until now? Hey--why am I thinking about him anyways! What I SHOULD be thinking of is my new route to take home. Weirdoes have been popping up lately.
    “Gwendolyn! Gwen! Ms. Silverthorne!” a loud sturdy voice says. I glance up to notice the teacher, smacking the ruler into his big old wrinkly hands. “I can’t believe this; my BEST student is slacking off. I’m very disappointed in you, Gwendolyn.”
    I look down at my desk, and frown. I’ve never heard, “I’m disappointed in you,” from anyone. It really hurt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get much sleep last night. Very sorry…”
    “Well, since this is your first time, I guess that I will let you off. BUT, remember to get some bed.”
    “I know.”

    As soon as I get home from the treacherous school, I head up to my bedroom, and crash on the queen-sized lilac-colored canopy bed. What a slow day. Plus, I couldn’t stop thinking of you-know-who. “Jesus!” I cry out as I turn over in my bed. Awkwardly, I notice a HUGE lump in my bed. Like two pillows, stacked next to each other. Slowly, pretty scared of what’s under it, I pull the blankets off of the bump. Lying there, much to my surprise, was…Raphael. Curled up in a ball, like a cub(I think that I’m going to have a nosebleed.)
    What…is he doing…in my bed? In my house? OK. I’m dreaming. Dreaming. Just…Go to sleep, Gwen. When you wake up, he’ll be gone. It’s that simple, right? So, I changed my clothes(in the bathroom of course), hopped into my bed, pulled the blankets over me, and got all snug. I slowly drifted off into sleep.
    
    My dream was one from a child. Simply, me and an even *shorter* boy, playing in a large field.
    Leaning up in bed, I rub my eyes, and shake my head vigorously, ending up with a temporary head ache. Looking to my side, I realize that, indeed, Raphael was not here at all. The bed, on that side, was perfectly made, as if a maid came in and fixed it.
    “Thank God,” I told myself, even though, for some reason, I felt a bit disappointed. I mean, for whatever reason, he did protect me…I should make it up to him.
    Getting up from my bed, I head downstairs, and check the TV box’s clock. It was 2:02 p.m. I had already missed the school day. Why did I sleep so long? I have an alarm clock, but, it just disappeared. Am I imagining things again?
    “What is happening to me…?” I ask myself, pressing my hand against my face.  These last couple days, I’ve been acting weird. Even my teachers think so. A ringing began all of a sudden. I look around, to find the home phone. I walk over to the counter, and answer it weakly, “Hello…?”
    No one replied back. Instead, there was this faint breathing, almost like panting, or grasping for air. “Who is this?” I ask, kind of scared, but also pissed off and non-caring all in one.
    “Gwen,” the person on the other party says, the voice raspy and dry. I instantly go wide-eyed, and my heart stops. “Gwen,” it repeats my name over and over.
    “I’m not joking; who is this!?”
    “Sorry, Gwen…” Then, I could here the phone click, followed by three beeps. What the hell!
    Am I, perhaps, going crazy?
    The phone rings again, so I answer, my voice loud this time, “Hello!?”
    “Huh? Oh, yes. This is St. Mary High’s secretary. We would like to know why you didn’t come to school today.”
    I frown. “Sorry…I just over slept.”
    “Well, Ms. Silverthorn, since this is your first time missing school, ever, I will be glad to think of it as a one-day break.”
    “Oh, really! Thank you. I haven’t been feeling myself lately.”
    “Sorry to hear that. Make sure to come to school when you feel better, alright dearie! Have a good evening.”
    “Alright, you too.”
    Then, we hung up. The staff at my high school goes easy on me because I’ve been number one in the Country’s finals--you know, the smart tests that smart people do to compete with each other, just to see whose smarter.
    Feeling bad as I was, I flopped down on the love sofa in the living room, and turned on the TV. The  News was on.
    “Breaking News. Unfortunately, there has been several spottings and cases of a burglar, and or sex offender around the Canton area. More precisely, in the North East. The criminal has been targeting young women’s homes, so, girls, beware, and don’t stay home alone.”
    Oh, Jesus. Everything is going terrible. And, now there is another sex-crazy guy on the move. When will my life go back to normal?
    “Don’t stay home alone, they say. But, I’ve got no one to go to. All my friends are busy, and Joann is up in Michigan to visit her aunt and uncle…” Oh God, now I’m even talking to myself.
    Hopping up, I strut over to the corner of the room, where my panda hamster sleepily sat in it’s cage. I open it’s castle door, and pull him out, rubbing him against my face. “You’ll protect me, right? Cause you’re just a big ol’ guy! Boras is just a big ol’ buddy,” I told him, laying back and placing him in my stomach.
     While Boras nibbled at the frilly parts of my pale blue tank top, I thought about all the possible ways Raphael was related to me. Not brother and sister-related, but you know, just related. Like, maybe my parents hired me a bodyguard before they died, and now he’s finally showing up. Or Raphael had a huge crush on my since 1st grade and finally took a chance to talk to me. Ok, not possible. I never seen the guy before, and I highly doubt that he likes me. So, I guess I’m back to the bodyguard business. Well, whatever.
    Bored, I reach for my mp3 player, and play “Rewrite” by Asian Kung Fu Generation. I TRY to sing to it, but fail in the process.
    
    
    

 

Author's Note

[:D Idk. <3]