ctwenty

Chloe watched, horrified, as the headlights illuminated his face. She heard the brakes lock on the wheels of the car and the wheels squealed in protest. With a horrifying thud, Philip's body connected with the hood of the car, his only reaction was to throw his hands protectively over his face. As the car slowed, he rolled up the hood, coming close to the windshield before the force of the car's sudden stop caused him to roll to the ground again.
"Philip!" she screamed, dropping her phone and running over. She collided with the driver, who had jumped out of the car as soon as it had happened.
"Jesus Christ, kid, you came out of nowhere!" the man bellowed, as Chloe pushed past him.
"Philip, are you alright?" she begged, tears rolling down her cheeks as she knelt next to him.
"Fuck" he mumbled, his eyes fluttering.
"I'm going to call an ambulance" the man said, hurrying to the passenger door to grab his cell phone.
"No, no" Philip said, shaking his head slightly to clear his head.
"Philip, you should go to the hospital, you could be hurt" Chloe protested.
"I'm fine, really" he said, struggling to sit up.
"Are you sure he's ok?" the man called out.
"I'm still taking him to the hospital" Chloe called back.
"Chloe, I'm not going anywhere" Philip said, drawing his knees to his chest before struggling to stand up. Chloe rose beside him and held onto him while he stretched his legs and arms. "I've taken harder hits than that in football and kept going"
"Alright" she said, as she eyed him up and down for any visible injuries.
"I'm fine" he insisted. The man got in his car and carefully drove off, still shaken up by what had just occurred.
"God, Philip, you scared the shit out of me!" Chloe finally blurted out, shoving him hard on the shoulder.
"Damn, girl..." he said, rotating his arm slightly.
"Oh, God, I'm sorry!" she said, putting her hands over her mouth as she realized what she had just done.
"I'm fine" he said, flashing his dimpled smile. "Don't worry about me"
"Of course I'm going to worry about you" she said, slipping into his open arms. She ran her hand through his thick blonde hair, pushing it off of his forehead. "It's my job"
"So you forgive me?" he asked, pulling her closer.
"Yeah, I do" she mumbled into his shoulder. She lifted her head after a minute and rose on her toes to reach his lips.
"Shit" he suddenly said, sidestepping her.
"What's wrong?" she asked, regaining her balance.
"Where did it go?" he asked, patting his pockets and scanning the ground frantically.
"Where did what go?" she asked, her brow furrowed.
"Oh, shit, my dad's gonna HANG ME" he said, emphasizing the end of the statement as brushed the hair off his face frantically.
* * * * * * * * *
"Meems" Jason repeated, bringing her back to reality.
"Hmm?" she murmured, staring into his intense green eyes.
"We have to talk" he said.
"Alright...what about?" she said, lowering her face from his and slipping out of his grasp.
"Well...about us" he said.
"There is no us"
"I know that" he said, frustrated.
"Then what are you saying?" she asked.
"Shit Mimi, just chill out and let me talk" he said. "I'm trying here, it's just hard to get out the words that I'm thinking"
"Sorry" she mumbled.
"I don't even know how to start with this" he said. "I'm just...I've never done this before"
"Just go ahead" she urged him, gently.
"I mean, with Jan it just happened" he said. "I went to a party one day with Philip and them and got pretty wasted. Sad thing is I don't remember most of it. I just woke up the next morning with a pounding head and a girlfriend. Things just went from there" Mimi watched him patiently as he struggled to continue. She opened her mouth to say something but he interrupted her before a noise escaped from her.
"But...Jan and I broke up" he finished quietly.
"What?" she asked. "When?" He smirked at her.
"How'd you manage to miss the drama?" he asked. "The whole school witnessed our break-up first hand"
"I had a soap opera of my own going on" she said.
"Yeah, I meant to ask you, what happened?" he asked.
"My date was an ass, I was just too dumb to notice" she said.
"I could have told you that" he muttered.
"What are you talking about?" she demanded. "Are you saying I'm stupid"
"No, no" he said. "I could have told you that he was an asshole"
"Oh" she said, pondering it for a minute. "How?"
"Uhh, well, I could just tell, you know?" he said, turning his head away from her but not quickly enough for her to see his cheeks rapidly turn pink.
"Alright" she said, giving him the benefit of the doubt. "But back to you, what happened?"
"Jan was with someone else behind my back" he said, his jaw visibly tightening with anger.
"Jason, I'm so sorry" she said, quietly as she gently touched his forearm.
"Don't be sorry, it's partially my fault" he said.
"How can it be your fault too?" she asked. He grew silent and she feared that maybe she had asked too much, tried to push a relationship...well, friendship kinda...into more than it actually. She was about to apologize and rush into the bathroom before she further humiliated herself when he turned to her suddenly, taking her by surprise as he took one of her tiny hands in his.
"Cause I had someone too" he said, his eyes staring deeply into hers, causing her to draw in her breath quickly.