“What the fuck, dude?” Simon cries, his hands cupping his bleeding nose.
“What are the magic words, douchebag? Before I get really angry.”
“S-she, s-she…”
I cup one ear as I hold him in place with my other hand. “She what?”
“S-she won’t go to homecoming with me.”
I frown. Homecoming? Willow’s pretty and all, but I had no idea Simon had his sights set on her. He usually goes for the dumb chicks who don’t know any better. Willow is none of those things. Then I realize what’s going on here, and narrow my gaze even more.
I lean down to his ear, whispering so Willow can’t hear me. “What did you do?”
“Nothing! I swear!”
“You want me to rearrange the rest of your face?”
He shakes his head. “N-no.”
I tighten my grip on the back of his shirt. “Tell me!”
He turns his head, his eyes looking anywhere but at me. “W-we had a bet, the first one to sleep with her?—”
Willow gasps, along with one of her friends. “You asshole!” She grabs her soda and throws it in his face.
I grin. That’s my girl. “Now that just isn’t very nice behavior, Simon. Surely, in that big ol’ head of yours filled with sawdust, you know that isn’t how you treat a lady, right?”
“N-no.” He’s sputtering, trying to wipe soda off his face. He’s fucking pathetic.
I take a long, noisy breath, contemplating how I’m going to deal with this.
“Then why did you do it?”
“B-because… it was a bet.”
“Right, so if someone said, hey fuckface Simon, here’s the side of a ledge, why don’t you jump off it, you just would?”
“I-uh…”
I grip his shirt harder. “You would, wouldn’t you? Because you really are that thick.”
“Let me go!” he cries. “For fuck’s sake, Austin, you’re gonna ruin my yearbook photo.”
Oh, now there’s a challenge.
Meeting Willow’s still shocked face again, I contemplate. “I didn’t hear the magic words, Simon.”
“W-what?” he stops babbling for half a second.
“Say fucking sorry, asswipe!”
“S-sorry!” God, he’s so pathetic. I practically lift him off the ground. “Not to me, turd, to her!”
He looks up at my girl and she gives him a ‘well, I’m waiting’ look that I chuckle at.
“I’m s-sorry, Wills, I really meant nothing by it. It was just guy talk, ya know?”
Wills?
