Parking lot C was stationed behind the school. I walked through rows of Student’s cars until I saw the fated boy standing by a used white Dodge Challenger. Of course, he couldn’t have a normal family hand-me-down. He had to have something a car nerd would drive. He leaned against the hood with his girlfriend’s tongue down his throat. 

Taking my time, I hoped by the time I got to them, they’d stop. They didn’t. Awkwardly, I stood near them and just sort of waited for their hands to stop touching each other. He let go of her hips. The girlfriend took a brief look at me, but I don’t think she was jealous since I was nowhere near as hot as she was. 

He opened the front door of his car. I opened his side door and got in. The smell of different assortments of body odor hit my face. I don’t know what sex smells like, but if it had a smell, this was it. Turning on his car, I noticed his black painted nails. Nothing hung off his mirror or scattered across the seats. Oddly clean, I thought. 

Pulling out of the driveway, I sat too terrified to say anything. He said nothing either, which made things worse. He turned on the music. Justin Timberlake came on. Turning the sound up, we sat the rest of the way listening to it. We pull up to my house. Dad already stood in the front lawn watering the lawn. He watched with a death glare as Jacob pulled up. 

“Is that your Dad?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Can I park here?” Jacob asked me.  

“It’s fine.”

I open the door. 

“Why didn’t you take the bus home?” my Dad said with a bitter tone.

“I told you my art project partner was taking me.”

“I didn’t say it was okay. Did your Mom say it was okay?” I shrugged. Mom was a lot calmer about this sort of thing than Dad. “Stay in the living room. Your bedroom is off-limits. Do you understand?” I nodded. He spoke louder. “Do you understand!?”

“Yeah, Dad. Thanks,” I said as we walked inside. 

“Is your Dad always like that?” Jacob asked.

“Yup,” I said uneasily, placing my backpack on the sofa. “I’ll be back. Do you want anything?”

“Soda is fine,” he said dropping onto the sofa and flipping a cushion. “Can we go into your room?” 

As he asked, my Dad slammed the door to the garage. All sweaty, wearing shorts, he walked in and pointed at Jacob.

“Put your feet off the table,” he said. 

Jacob lowered his feet. My dad entered his room and closed the door. Once my Dad disappeared, Jacob stood and stuffed his hands in his pockets. 

“Where is your bedroom?” 

“We can’t go in there,” I said.

“Do you listen to everything your Dad says?”

If we went to my bedroom, my Dad would find out and be furious. As much as I didn’t want to deal with Jacob, I didn’t want to deal with him. Jacob intimidated me, though. 

“Stay in here. I’ll be back” I said wiping my hair out of my face.

Walking to my room at the back of my house, I searched for my sketchbook on my nightstand. Considered blasphemy, I didn’t use sketchbooks. I just used loose sheets of paper, but since Jacob was here, I figured I’d whip one out. Then I walked to my bathroom mirror and started combing my hair. Instead of rolling out of bed, I should really try and look better. 

Next, I heard my door shut as Jacob came in. He looked around my room. 

“You can’t be in here,” I said.

Jacob shrugged. Grabbing all the things on the floor, I threw them into my closet. “Sorry, it’s messy in here.”

“I don’t really care,” Jacob said laying on my bed. He cupped his hands on his lap.

Not listening, I picked up the rest of the crap and grabbed my sketchbook. I pull my chair away from my draft table sitting against the wall and face him. 

“So, all we have to do is draw each other,” I said as I opened my sketchbook. His eyes locked on mine softly. 

“Amber!” My door explodes open. “Get in the living room!”

“We’re not doing anything,” I said.

Not liking my back talk, my Dad could have punched me across the face. “Living room. Now.”

‘ “Seriously, Dad, I’m asexual. Nothing is going to happen, even if you wanted it to,” I said.

His eyes flickered to Jacob. “Keep the door open.” He stomped off.

“Jesus Christ. Your Dad’s kind of a dick…”  I shook my head. I know he is. This assignment required a portrait, so Jacob should sit in front of me. But, I am too timid, and just draw him as he lay on the bed, focusing on his face. “Why is he so obsessed?”

“He’s not obsessed. He’s my Dad.”

“Yeah, but who cares? Don’t you want independence?” he asked. I made a rough sketch of Jacob’s head. Even though I didn’t like Jacob, a part of me wanted to impress him with my talent. Constantly, I flipped the paper to check it for mistakes. I wondered if Jacob would draw me or if it’d be any good. He asked, “Do you like me?”

I sighed. He was making fun of me again.

“Not really.”

“Why?” 

“Because you’re mean to me?”

“Because you deserve it.”

“Thanks,” I said. “You know, I could just take a photo of your face.”

“Why are you so freaked out by me? I am not going to do anything to you.”

“You just said I deserved your stupid shit”

“I’m sorry.”

I didn't respond at first. That’s actually very nice of him. I didn’t expect him to apologize. Maybe Alyxi was right and he wasn’t such a bad guy. 

“It’s okay. Thanks.”

“You’re hot like the girl from The Way,” Jacob said.

What? 

“I’ve never seen that movie.”

“You should look it up.”

I assumed the girl from that movie is super ugly. Taking out my phone, I looked it up. A couple of texts popped up on my screen.

“Are you okay? How is it going?” Alyxi texted.

“Do you want to go to the arcade?” Andrew asked. 

“I’m doing an art project with Jacob,” I texted Andrew.

“Say hi for me,” Andrew texted back.

“Andrew says hi,” I told Jacob. 

I went to google and looked up The Way. No hot girls showed up. The movie looked old, and it shocked me Jacob was into that kind of thing. I typed in “The Way hot girl”, but random screenshots of different movies showed up completely unrelated. How odd. 

“Do you want to make out?” he asked.

My face turned beet red. The question triggered a lot of anxiety. Again, I couldn’t figure out if he was being sarcastic or not. 

“Uhm…why?”

“Because I think you’re really nice and pretty.”

Jacob sat up and sat at the edge of the bed. His pretty blue eyes became clearer as he leaned forward. My hands started shaking.

“You think I’m nice?”

Yeah.”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

“I’m poly. She knows I sleep around.”

“I don’t want to sleep with you.”

“Why?” 

“I just don’t want to.”

He cocked his head to the side as though rejection wasn’t a concept he encountered. I have a feeling most, if not all, women have said yes to him. 

“Yeah, but I really like you,” he said. This scenario had come across my mind before. What do I do if I was put in a situation where I might be raped? When you imagine the situation beforehand, a solution seemed easy – like there were a lot of options. However, I found myself scrambling to react. Dumbly, I just sort of stared at him. I mean, I thought Jacob was cute, but kissing him felt like a really bad idea. I also didn’t believe he thought nice things about me. “What do you have to lose?”

“A lot,” I said and stood. Walking away from him, I wondered if I should just get out of the room. “Could you leave, please?”

Running his hand through his blonde hair, he sat for a moment, and I witnessed fury build. Throwing his beanie on the bed, he didn’t say another word. He just left. Stepping back, I made sure to get out of the way as he slammed the door.

Heart beating through my chest, I couldn’t believe I made it through that. Lightheaded, I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. I just waited until Jacob was certainly out of the house. 

“Are you okay?” my Dad said and he burst through my door again.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said.

“That boy do something to you?”

“No…” I said, holding back tears.