The Bad Ones (6 page)

Dulcie felt uneasy from the moment she got out of the car. Not because of the dark, or the woods in front of them, or the thought of being in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of drunk teenagers. No, it was something else.

Something bad was going to happen that night.

“Do we have to do this?” she asked as they trekked up a hillside. Jared laughed and grabbed her hand, linking their fingers together.

“It'll be fun, I promise,” he said, then leaned down and kissed the side of her head.

She frowned.

It was actually a decent hike, taking them almost twenty minutes. Dulcie wondered how anyone made it back out after they were drunk or high. She was sober and she was pretty sure she couldn't find her way back to the car if she needed to get to it.

There was a huge bonfire raging in front of the mine shaft, with a couple kegs just inside the entrance. People were scattered about and someone had set up a bunch of wireless speakers. The woods were filled with the sounds of the top hits.

Dulcie wasn't a big drinker, she'd seen what substance abuse did to the people in her family. She'd never met her real dad, but she'd heard some pretty awful stories about him, and of course her mother and Matt were daily reminders of why she shouldn't drink. So when Jared got her a beer, she took it and smiled, but she barely sipped at it.

“Could you imagine being here this time last year?” Anna squealed. Dulcie glanced at her.

“No, I honestly can't,” she agreed. November of last year, she would've been sitting at home, pining away for Constantine.

Now she was in the middle of a party, and she was still pining.

“Can I ask you something?” Anna asked in a soft voice the moment the boys wandered off.

“Sure.”

“So that picture ...”

Good god, the picture of her and Con kissing was going to haunt Dulcie for the rest of her life.

“What about it?”

“Well, you never told me the story behind it, and now he's back, and you just seem ...” Anna stopped speaking as she searched for the right word. Dulcie felt her pulse quicken.

“I seem like what?” she demanded. She thought she'd been doing a damn fine job of seeming like nothing was different.

“I don't know, distracted. I haven't seen you sketching anything, you haven't taken any pictures. I just thought maybe … maybe there was more than just that kiss. Thought maybe you'd like to talk about it,” Anna offered.

Dulcie knew she took the other girl for granted. Anna had been there before Dulcie's “stock had risen”, as it were. She deserved a better friend, really, someone who could handle sleepovers and giggle about boys. Someone with some warmth.

“No,” Dulcie said, then she looked around to make sure they were alone before stepping closer to her friend. “We only ever kissed. But it was … intense. Remember how my camera got broken? Cause he bumped into me? When we were in detention, he looked through my sketchbook, and it was like … he just understood, you know? He didn't think it was weird, he didn't question anything. He saw everything exactly how I saw it. That's why I dressed up for the dance, because of a picture I'd drawn of the two of us. He did the same thing. That's why we wound up under those bleachers.”

“Oh my god,” Anna gasped. It wasn't the whole story, but it was juicy enough for the other girl. “Oh my god! So like, it
was
a thing! Oh my god, he got in trouble that night, didn't he? Oh my god, what if he hadn't? What if you two had gone out? What if you were like meant to be together and have a hundred babies and that night ruined it?
Oh my god does Jared know!?
”

“No! No, he does not, and I don't want him to,” Dulcie replied quickly.

“Do you still like him?” Anna asked. Dulcie glanced around again.

“I'm not sure I ever liked him. We were just … something weird. We barely ever talked, before that and after that, even now. He graduated and left without even saying goodbye,” she explained. Anna winced.

“Harsh.”

“But then two weeks later, he sent me a new camera and told me to make sketches of the pictures I took.”

“
Oh my god he's totally in love with you you should go have all the babies with him.
”

When Anna got excited, her speech would approach light speed. Spaces between words and breathing became optional.

“He is
not
in love with me. I never heard from him again after that, not once, not till he came back to town. Like I said, it was just a weird thing, and it happened a long time ago. It's done, it's over with, and now you know, so now we don't ever have to talk about it again,” Dulcie said, her voice growing hard.

“But what if -”

“I'm serious, Anna.”

Anna tried to glare, but being upset wasn't in her nature. She pouted her lips and sighed dramatically, then finally laughed.

“Okay, fine. So he doesn't like you.”

“Yes.”

“And you don't like him.”

“Correct.”

“So you won't care that he's hitting on Frannie McKey right now.”

Dulcie froze for a second. Of course when they'd first gotten to the party, she'd scanned the area, looking for him. She hadn't seen him in the crowd, though she supposed he could've been in the mine, or off in the woods. She'd halfway hoped he hadn't come.

But mostly really hoped he'd be there.

She glanced over her shoulder, trying to be nonchalant. Probably failing. He was standing maybe fifteen feet directly behind her. A girl was next to him, her back against a tree, and he was leaning over her. Smiling his evil little smile, his arm braced against the trunk over her head. Frannie beamed back at him, laughing and flirting. Dulcie remembered they'd dated briefly, when Con had been a junior. There'd been wild stories about the two of them getting caught in some interesting “situations” in the boys' locker room.

He's only ever kissed me, and he's seen what she looks like naked. Why did I come here?

“No. No, I don't care. I have a boyfriend, remember? Why should I care who or what Constantine Masters is hitting on?” Dulcie responded, but her voice was so quiet she wondered if anyone heard it.

Then she chugged down her entire beer before walking off to grab another.

She was in the middle of guzzling her third straight cup when Jared found her again. He laughed and pulled the red plastic away from her lips, causing foam to dribble down her chin.

“I've never seen you drink like this before, someone's in a crazy mood,” he teased, reaching out to wipe off the foam. She slapped his hand away and took care of it herself.

“I'm crazy, alright,” she agreed, then followed him as he led her away from the kegs.

“So I was thinking,” he started, and she groaned inwardly. “Thanksgiving break is coming up. Wouldn't it be cool to take off? My parents have a cabin out on the lake. We could head there on Friday, stay till Sunday. Snuggle in front of the fire, take walks around the lake.”

Hmmm, a whole weekend alone in a cabin with him. She tried to picture what it would be like, did her best to conjure images of burning fireplaces and romantic evenings and sexier night times.

But all that came to mind was the unbearable desire to shove him away. To hold him down and scream at him and make him understand that she didn't want to “snuggle”. She wanted someone to take a bite out of her. She wanted someone to bleed for her. She wanted to make him understand that she would rather stab him in the eye with a hot poker than get naked with him.

Jesus, just break up with his poor kid before he realizes you're fucking psychotic.

“I don't know,” she sighed, then stumbled over a root. She wasn't a complete novice to alcohol, she wasn't drunk, but her head was spinning a little. He'd led her into the treeline, where it was dark and the bonfire's light didn't quite reach all the way. She couldn't see her feet in the blackness.

“C'mon, babe. We've been going out for a while now,” he reminded her as he pushed her up against a tree.

“Two months isn't so long,” she argued, then hiccuped. He laughed at her.

“You're cute when your drunk.”

“I am
not
drunk.”

His tongue was in her mouth and she almost gagged on it. She put her hands against his chest, intending to push him away, but he took it as an invitation and leaned all his weight on her. She could feel his erection against her hip and the urge to vomit intensified.

“God, you have no idea how much I want you,” he groaned, his hands sliding underneath her shirt.

“I have a very good idea of it right now. Get off me,” she instructed, grabbing at his wrists.

“C'mon, Dulcie. No one can see us,” he assured her while trailing sucking kisses down her neck. She shuddered and pulled hard at his arms.

“I don't care.”

“Please. It'll be so hot, I promise.”

“Not gonna happen, Jared.”

“How about like in the car? Just real fast, and I won't come in your mouth.”

Dulcie briefly wondered if boys actually thought that was a selling point. Was this something they regularly used as a bargaining chip? Did it work?

“I'm not blowing you in the woods while a group of people stand twenty feet away from us. Now get off me!” she snapped, and shoved at his shoulders. He stepped away and stumbled, almost falling over.

“What's your fucking problem?” he demanded, and she was a little shocked. Jared was always so calm and collected.

“A lot of things,” she sighed, rubbing her hand across her forehead. She'd known they wouldn't last. Con coming back to town had really driven it home. She knew she had to break up with Jared, but she hadn't wanted to do it at a party. Now it looked like it was going to happen anyway.

“No shit. I've tried with you, Dulcie, I really have,” he pointed out. She nodded.

“Yup, you sure have. I'm sorry. I'm just some fucked up chick. You picked the wrong girl to like, Jared. I'm really sorry,” she told him.

He looked sad for a brief second, as the fact that they were really breaking up sank in. Then anger washed back over his features.

“So this is all my fault, huh?” he asked. She shook her head.

“No. No, it's all me. I shouldn't have gone out with you,” she told him.

“Why not?”

“Because … it wasn't fair. I'm not normal.”

“No shit,” he growled. “Always in your stupid book, drawing. Won't let me touch you, won't touch me. What the fuck!?”

“Okay, just because we're breaking up and I won't blow you doesn't mean you get to be nasty. Just go back to the party,” she instructed.

“Screw you, Dulcie. Oh wait,
you don't do that.
”

What he was saying didn't hurt, because Dulcie was beyond hurting most of the time. But it did surprise her, and it did make her mad. Sure, she'd been dating Jared for the wrong reasons, and yes, that made her a bad person. But it didn't mean she was required to take his shit.

She went to open her mouth to make some sort of comeback, but there was a loud snapping noise. They both jerked their heads to her right and watched as Constantine came out of the shadows. Dulcie groaned and fell back against the tree.

This night just gets better and better. Why did I come here again? Oh yeah, cause Constantine fucking Masters dared me to.

“Sorry, guys, we got a little lost out here,” he chuckled. There was a giggling sound, and Dulcie watched with wide eyes as Frannie came out of the dark, as well. She was buttoning up her shirt and kept on giggling.

Oh. Of course. Yes. I see now. I'm fun enough as an appetizer, but not good enough to be the full meal.

“Lost, yeah, right. Thanks for interrupting. Sorry your girlfriend's a frigid bitch,” Frannie snickered and giggled, glaring at Dulcie. Frannie was the quintessential high school cheerleader who just loved to pick on the weird artsy chick. Jared swallowed thickly and glanced around the group. Con just smiled.

“Hey, don't talk about her -” Jared began putting up a token resistance.

But Dulcie was so very tired of pretending. Tired of being too young, and too confused, and too cold. Tired of
everything
.

“Don't be sorry, Frannie. I'm not. And I'm not his girlfriend anymore. He just dumped me,” she interrupted. Frannie laughed harder. Con kept staring, his stupid smile still in place.

“I didn't dump you, Dulcie,” Jared said in a low voice.

“You should. If you don't, I'll just do it to you. Either way, I'm walking out of here single,” she told him, then pushed away from the tree to emphasize her point.

“And a virgin,” Frannie called out. Dulcie stopped moving. Sighed and looked straight up.

“I love it. Because I didn't want to fuck some guy up against a tree in the woods,
I'm
the weirdo.
I'm
the loser. Good luck with your hopes and dreams, Frannie. I hope they're easy to accomplish while you're laying on your back.”

Jared's jaw dropped open. Frannie started hissing and yelling.