7 Chapter 7

Alex stands behind me looking pitifully confused as we walk through the Hobby Lobby store. I stay in the drawing and painting area, fighting the temptation to grab everything.

"Why are there so many different pencils?"

I see him looking at all the artist pencils, "they each give a different look while drawing, some are for sketching, others for shading, that kind of thing."

"Do you have this many pencils?" he looks a little horrified.

I smile, "Yeah, my mom saved up all year to get me a full set for Christmas last year, if you looked in my backpack during a school day, it's mostly drawing pencils, my pad, and like a handful of really nice pens. My art goes everywhere."

"How can you even tell the pencils apart?" He questions, picking up a set, "They look exactly alike."

I step over to him and look at the box, "See down here at the bottom, near where the eraser would be on a normal pencil. It says 8B, each pencil has something different, depending on how it looks when you used."

He puts it back, "So, is there anything you want? I'll pay."

"I have some cash, I can--"

"No please, I want to, I actually really like when you draw," he smiles, "It's the only time I see you focused but relaxed."

I look at my shoes, "I kind of want some charcoal and a new sketch pad, mines almost out of pages."

I go over to the many different pads on the shelf, my instinct is to grab the cheapest one, even though there aren't many pages and they tend to rip. I keep looking, determined to find another one that isn't expensive, when I see someone walk up out of the corner of my eye.

I try to take only a quick glance, hoping that they'll walk away. When I look, I'm in awe, because above me is a guy around Alex's and my age. He stands a little shorter than Alex, with paler skin and intense grey eyes, almost silver. His hair sits in a Justin Bieber like mohawk, and has almost reddish brown hair. His physique is much like that of Alex, but his style is totally different. He stands before me in a loose air force blue shirt and dark jeans, he looks over from the sketch pads to me.

"Do you paint or draw?" he inquires leaning down to me.

"I do both, but mostly I draw," I look at the pads again and back to him, "There's a lot of choices, I normally just get that one," I point to my norm.

He smiles at me, and it's sweet, he doesn't have any cockiness in his grin. It's true amusement and interest. He grabs one of the really nice multi-media ones that's almost three times the cost of my cheap one.

"I do both too, I recommend this one," He holds up the sketch pad, "It handles paint and pencil really well, and while there's only like a hundred pages, it's the best in my opinion. What type of paint do you usually use, I'm an oil paint guy myself."

"I usually just use acrylic and sometimes watercolor, I'm... I'm Jules," I hold out my hand and he takes it.

"I'm Robert, it's nice to meet you," His eyes meet mine and I can't break away, his hand keeps a gentle hold on me.

I feel an arm go around my shoulder, "Hey, you alright?" Alex stands against me and looks at Robert with suspicion, "Did you find one you like?"

I look at him and break from my trance, "Oh yeah, um, I think I'm going to get this one," I reach for the cheap one.

"Jules come on, isn't that your exact same pad? You can get a better one, I insist," Alex begs me with his pouty face, so I reach for the one Robert recommended.

"Excellent choice," Robert praises, "Hopefully I'll see you around Jules, maybe next time I can see your work."

"Maybe," I smile shyly and he walks away.

Alex breaks away from me, "Ok who was he?"

"Just a guy, he's nice, we were only talking."

"I don't trust him, no guy ever just wants to talk," He looks back and where Robert walked to.

"Maybe he liked me, you said yourself guys at school like me like that," I start seething, "And just because you can't have just a conversation with a girl unless you have to doesn't mean other guys can't!"

I shove the pad at him and storm off, I walk out the door and sit on a nearby bench. About fifteen minutes pass before Alex comes back out.

He hands me a bag, I take it and look inside, it's the pad and some charcoal pencils, "I didn't know which coal to get so I went with the one the sales lady suggested, she says they're really good quality."

"Thanks," I still sit there, not looking at him.

"I'm sorry," he sits beside me, "I didn't mean for that to come out the way it did. I just worry about keeping you safe right now and I guess I'm becoming a little paranoid."

"A little?"

"Ok a lot," he puts his hand on my shoulder, I turn to look at him, "I was a jerk, and I'm sorry."

"It's ok, but next time I'll sock you in the jaw," I stand up, he follows.

He laughs, "I'll let you next time, so do you still want to go to the book store?"

"Yeah, I do, is that alright?"

"Of course, it's only a block or two from here, maybe depending on when we leave we can find somewhere to eat."

We walk down the street until we reach the book store, I instantly go to the music section and find a jazz CD for my mom, after finding one I know she'll like I go to the fiction section and see if I can find the next book in my favorite series. Alex looks at the comic books and some adventure fiction. He takes the books I picked and goes to the checkout while I keep looking, at this point just to look.

"Hey," I turn around and see Robert looking down at me, "Funny seeing you here, twice in one day."

"What are the odds?"

"Clearly, the odds are in my favor," he glances to Alex for a brief second, "So is he like your boyfriend? I didn't get you in trouble did I?"

"Oh no, of course not," I can't help but laugh a little, "He's just a friend, sort of. He's not normally like that, he's very protective."

"So you're single?"

I twirl my hair in my finger, "Yeah, I am."

"That's good, because I'd really like to take you out," he reaches for my hand, "I know a little club at the end of town I think you'd like, good music, good people."

I look over at Alex, "One second, I'll be right back."

I dart over to Alex, "Hey, is it alright if I just wander around for a bit and meet you at the motel later tonight? You can pick the TV channel," I tried to sound cute but probably just sounded utterly ridiculous.

He looked uncomfortable with the idea, "I don't know, are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

My shoulders slump, "Alex, please? I can handle myself, and I'll meet you at the motel tonight. Please?"

"If you're sure," He still didn't look convinced, "hang on," he grabs a pen on the cashier station and writes a number on my arm, "That's our motel room phone number. If anything happens, you run until you can call me, ok?"

I squeal and hug him, "Thank you thank you thank you!"

"Just be careful please," I nod and run off.

Robert smiles at me and we walk out of the store together. He takes my hand and leads me to his car.

I hesitate, "Hey, it's ok, I won't do anything to you," he opens the door for me and I reluctantly slide in.

"Live a little, you're only going to be young once," I tell myself, I take a deep breath and close the door.

________

We pull up to a building with a big light up sign out front that reads The Hideout, Robert comes to my side of the car. He took my hand and helped me out, wrapping his arm around my waist.

I stand at his side as he slips the bouncer a fifty dollar bill and he opens the door for us.

"Did you just bribe him?" I look up at him slightly appalled that such a nice guy would do that.

"Yeah, a lot of kids do it, this is the only club where we can pull it off since most people here are no older than 25. Haven't you ever drank anything or snuck into a club?"

"No actually," I check to make sure the phone number is still on my arm, "I don't have much of a life."

He presses himself close to me, taking a hold of my hips on the dance floor, "I'll have to fix that, won't I?"

I shift my weight uncomfortably as he tries to dance with me. I try to go with it, to relax but it's all alien. Being with a guy, being in a club, breaking rules.

"Do you want a drink?"

I nod, I might as well try, if I don't like it I won't finish it. I watch him weave through the crowd as I find an empty seat on a bench near where the restrooms are. I keep checking to make sure the number is there in case of an emergency.

Robert appears next to me, holding a red drink and a clear one. I take the red one he hands to me.

"What is this?" I ask taking a very small sip, it tastes sweet. I actually sort of like it.

"It's sangria, I figured the hard stuff would be a bit much for you as a beginner. Don't feel like dancing?"

I shake my head, "Dancing was never really my thing, you know?"

"I get it," he downs most of his drink and hisses, "Man that is sharp."

"What is that?"

"Vodka, burns like hell going down but it is an amazing buzz," I can barely hear anything over the music but I try to stay engaged, occasionally drinking my drink, "Hey, you want to go somewhere quieter?"

I nod, "Desperately."

He leads me past the bathroom to the stairs that lead to the managers office, "It's much quieter down here, no one's every back here."

He presses me to the wall, I see his lips move but I don't hear anything. I start to feel sick, dizzy, I almost feel tired.

"What?"

He smiles, "I said you're really hot," he tries to bring his mouth down to my neck but I try to push him back.

My whole body feels numb, and I'm not strong enough to push him off, "Robert stop, I want to le..." I start to slur, and I feel like I can't find my words. My eyes try to shut, fighting to keep them open I feel a dull sting on my neck.

"You can't escape him you know, he'll get you. You and that cocky friend of yours can't run forever, you should give up. Maybe he'll let me have you," his voice is suddenly sinister as he tries to run his hands down the side of my dress.

I panic, and my body feels separated from me. It feels much like that of a dream. I gather as much force as I can, which arguably isn't much, and dig my knee into his groin.

"Ah! What the hell," he slaps me and I fall to the ground, I watch him lean to the wall clutching himself in pain.

I take the chance while I have it and try to quickly stumble down the hall, my vision gets fuzzy and I see three of every person. The music echos painfully in my head as I grab the shoulder of a random girl.

"Help me, please," my legs give out and the girl catches me, calling to her friends.

Another girl joins us and they lift me, together pulling me to the bathroom.

"Are you ok?" I can't keep my eyes open, and my head throbs as their voices bounce around in my head.

"I don't feel, something isn't," I slump against the wall, "Call..."

I lift my arm as best as I can before I black out completely.

"Alex... I'm sorry," I think to myself as everything vanishes.

I wake up back at the motel, feeling terribly sick. I slip out of the bed and rush to the bathroom, vomiting into the toilet. It doesn't stop until my stomach hurts from tensing.

I hear the motel door open, and suddenly I'm scared. I don't remember anything after getting in that bathroom, I don't know if those girls called the number Alex gave, I don't know if Robert found me.

"Jules?" I see Alex peek his head in the door and his face floods with relief, "God you scared me, what are you doing in here?"

He takes a step closer and my stomach flips again, I turn back to the toilet and vomit again.

"What the hell were you thinking Jules," he runs a washcloth under the faucet and puts in on the back of my neck, I relax a little against the cold, "You should have told me you were going with him! And getting in his car? Going to a club? Taking a drink? He could have killed you!"

"Alex--"

"No! Do you realize how afraid I was, those girls who helped you at the club called me and I rushed over there, only to find you completely unresponsive with a bruise forming on your cheek! You never take a drink you didn't watch get made, and right now you definitely don't go wandering off with random guys! I thought you were dead!"

I feel a lump form in my throat, my head still hurts and his yelling is causing me to feel like my brain is full of jackhammers. I start crying which only makes everything hurt worse, and makes me feel sicker.

Realization flashes across his face, "Oh my god, Jules," he gets down next to me and pulls me close, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be yelling at you. God you're sweating an ocean, and with how much you're puking your stomach must be empty. You need to eat something, I bought soup from the deli we passed on our way to the book store, they said the chicken noodle should help with any stomach pain or soars."

"No, no food," I groan, "Please. I don't think I can eat anything."

"Jules you have to at least try, please," he helps me up and back into bed.

"How long was I out?" moving makes me want to die, my stomach burns and my head throbs.

"Like a day and a half," he pulls out a pair of my yoga pants and an old shirt, "You should get into something comfortable."

He turns around and stares into the take out bag, not moving, giving me a little privacy.

"Do you think you could wait in the bathroom?"

He tenses, I see his muscles get stiff, "I don't think I can leave you alone right now. You really scared me, just getting you food put me in a panic."

I slump my shoulders, I feel awful for putting him through that. Carefully, but quickly I change out of the dress and into the clothes Alex handed me.

When I'm presentable, he brings me the soup and helps me get under the blankets, "Please try to eat. For now you should sleep, alright?"

I nod and shiver under the blankets, sweat already seeping through my clothes. I try to relax, the pain eventually numbing me and putting me into peaceful sleep.