I ran over and grabbed Mike by his arm and tired pulling him. He just shrugged me off quickly. I grabbed his arm again and pulled him away. I stood in front of him to stop him from walking again.
"Stop, don't do that." I said pushing him back. "If you do that you are only proving to be just as bad as he is or even worse." I said patting his chest lightly.
He nodded his head slowly and turned around. He began to walk away.
"Come on, you need to relax about all of this." I said. We sat at the benches. "Its okay, don't worry about it anymore." I said grabbing his hand. "I'm not exactly a child."
He leaned over and kissed me, grabbing my face. He pulled away slowly still holding my face close to his. "I'm sorry about all of that but just after listening about David and then Charles it's too much." He said as he let go but still held onto my hand.
"Don't worry." I said trying to reassure him.
"I just don't want you to get any more hurt than you already have been." He said softly.
"Don't worry about it Mikey." I said. "I can handle anything this world can throw at me."
"I think that's what scares me." He said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You are so brave, after everything you've gone through and now you just deal with all of this." He said. "It's amazing, you're amazing really." He said smiling.
"I think you might be giving me too must credit there." I said shrugging lightly.
"And your modest…" He said shaking his head laughing.
"Well you're a bit amazing yourself Mike." I said smiling.
"Not compared to you." He said firmly.
"Why did you pick me?" I asked.
"What?" He looked at me confused.
"Me, from all the other girls like Melissa, why me?" I asked because I had been wondering about it for a while.
"Because you're the first girl who didn't try to sleep with me when you met me, you didn't fall in love me because I play football and you're not too bad on the eyes either." He said smiling at the last reason.
"I think you're not so bad to look at either." I said smirking.
"Winchell, change now." Coach Gaines yelled from the other side. We looked up and saw Charles gone and the rest of the team watching us, along with the cheerleaders. I turned red hoping they hadn't heard everything we said.
"Gosh that's slightly embarrassing." I said.
"Don't worry, it could be worse." He said and kissed my cheek. "You know that." He said walking away.
I watched the football practice in silence. I began to think about everything, David, Charles, Donnie, and Mike. I began to think about my father also.
I was grateful that I ended up in the middle of Odessa with Donnie because despite the things he did that I didn't agree with he was the closed thing I had to family. He was my only real family I had ever cared about.
I just didn't understand a lot of things in my life and when Mike was around none of that seemed to matter. It was like none of it even existed any more. I was at peace.
I cared about him so much. I had never really felt like that for anyone in my life and it scared me. If I didn't have Mike I wouldn't have anyone. I needed him more than he realized.
I felt the bend shift slightly and noticed Melissa sitting on the other end.
I just decided to ignore it. I was too deep in thought to worry about her now anyway.
After practice I was walking out the stadium to wait for Donnie and Mike. I noticed Melissa standing alone. I didn't want anything to do with her so I stood a couple feet away from her. "I am not going to bite you." She said looking at me annoyed.
"Yeah right." I said barely loud enough for her to hear.
"Look just because you have Mike doesn't mean anything, take him." She said snorting "He's a big momma's boy anyway." She said shrugging. "Too much for me to handle."
"That's convenient now." I said rolling my eyes.
"He is so weird about her; he never lets anyone go to his house." She stated.
"I don't care about any of that." I said.
"Yeah you don't now but what are you going to do a week from now, a month, a year, who knows?" She said looking at me now. "I actually feel sorry for you. You are too attached to him already."
"Don't worry, I don't really need your sympathy." I said annoyed.
"If I was you I would just try to not get so involved with him, he would never chose anyone over her." She said just as Donnie and Mike walked out.
"Hey there." Donnie said looking at Melissa. "Why are you here?" He asked smirking.
"Maria wanted me to tell you she was sick, from last night." She said smiling.
"Oh that sucks, let's go somewhere." He said to her. She shrugged and they began to walk away. He placed his arm around her shoulders. "Hey Tobe don't get home too late." He said looking at me. I nodded annoyed.
"So what do you want to do?" Mike asked looking at me as we started walking.
"Kill him." I said starring at Donnie as he walked away.
"What did he do?" Mike asked confused. I looked at him like it was obvious. "You mean Melissa?" I nodded. "That's Don's business." He said.
"Well its wrong, Maria likes him so much." I said.
"Yeah and she always has. She knows how he is." He said simply.
I got into the truck and didn't say anything. Mike began driving. "Are you really upset about that?" He asked when I hadn't said anything for 10 minutes.
"Just because she knows doesn't mean its okay." I said angrily.
"Hey I know what're you are saying but it-"
"It's not right to just sleep with people like that." I cut him off.
"Hey relax there killer." He said stopping the truck. "Everyone knows what Don does, Maria has known since she met him. I know its wrong but what can I do? Don does what he wants and Maria lets him." He said.
"What do you mean Maria lets him?" I asked confused.
"Maria and Don have been on and off again for like 5 years already. She lets him do it. If she honestly told him to stop I think he would." Mike said and began driving again. "Despite what he says he really cares about her, she is the only girl to ever put up with his dad."
"Yeah I noticed that." I said remembering the duct tape issue from the other night.
"I want to take you somewhere." He said as he turned off the dusty road.