4

What’s he really up to? When he told her all that she had believed it. For a guy to say that? It had to take some balls, and thus, it had to be true, because it surely was hard to say. But thinking about it later, what if it was all acting? People could do that, otherwise Hollywood wouldn’t be doing swell as it did, right? Maybe he planned to show her a “sensitive” side so she started to like him, or something…

It wasn’t too farfetched, he was evil. His little brother was the proof of that.

He had been staring at her during class again, too. It was becoming a favourite habit of his, as did to chuckle whenever she did something that enticed such a gesture from him –what, she had no idea-, like she was so interesting he just couldn’t get his eyes away from her. It was really uncomfortable, and she didn’t know how to make it stop.

Lucy and Charlie found it really cute, in their word, but it seemed like the rest of the class didn’t, taking into account that the amount of glares directed at her increased with every passing day of that awful week.

At the moment the two of them –Roy and Agatha- were walking side by side towards his home. It seemed Roy couldn’t care less about the pairs of eyes that followed their every step; he was calmly adjusting his tie and fixing up his uniform white collar shirt. She was trying her best not to fidget with the rim of her skirt; what if he was taking her to his house –and no one was there- so he could try something? Whatever terms of the bet she believed he made were?

She’d kick his balls, that’s what she’d do. The pair she refused to see in the bathroom incident. She did see his perfectly round buttocks, though, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that for once it was a good thing to be fat; she had more strength than the average skinny blonde. She also had more morals.

As they passed the school gate Charlie and Lucy waved at her enthusiastically, as though the sight of her walking with a boy was so rare it had to be cherished. It actually was rare enough. She didn’t notice, though, how Roy’s friends gave him strange looks.

The walk was entirely silent, and the closer they got to the innocent looking house the more Agatha couldn’t stop thinking about the horrors that awaited her there, either by one McGregor or the other. When they made it to the door she was tight like a wound up spring.

“Good luck with the little devil.” He whispered against her ear and disappeared upstairs with the wink of a mischievous cerulean eye, leaving her behind with a nervous laugh.

Like in a horror movie, her eyes scanned the perimeter. It seemed like she was ready to be pounced at, any moment. The little brat is a torturer, she thought, because as minutes passed her fear grew more and more. It was no wonder he had fame around the county’s babysitters, he was pure mischief.

It wasn’t until about five minutes later that she found him, sitting quietly on a kitchen stool, making a drawing of what she hoped was his family. That or he was just drawing potatoes.

“Hey there Rob, your favourite babysitter is back.” The icebreaker didn’t work, the kid kept drawing as if nothing but a fly had zoomed by his ear. It was making her even more anxious, she couldn’t help but think he had something up his sleeve. What was it with the McGregor boys? They were never straight forward, always hiding their true intentions, always suspicious and… And he really was just drawing, wasn’t he? “Err, what are you drawing?”

“My brother’s exes.” Said his little boy’s voice with surprising seriousness.

Her eyes were widened, “Right.” Why would he draw them? And just four potatoes? Shouldn’t there be sacks and sacks of potatoes? Oh well, so long as he had fun –without hurting someone- it should be alright. She sat on the stool in front of him and set to watch, having nothing better to do and unwilling to start homework in that hostile environment. What if suddenly something icky flew out at her from nowhere and destroyed her homework? Better avoid accidents.

Abruptly the boy stopped and threw the colour pencil atop the paper, glancing up at her with an ominous expression. “You haven’t gone out with him yet. You haven’t kept your part of the deal.”

Startled, to the point of wincing as if guilty, she could only let out a senseless stream of words. “I, uh… What? But-”

“I told you,” Rob said easily, “If you went out with him I’d behave. What makes you think I’ll behave today when you didn’t stick to your promise?”

Oh goodness, that couldn’t mean well. “But, I didn’t think I had to.”

“Why not?” He frowned, looking angry. “Is it an adult thing, to promise something and then forget about it?”

Idly she wondered if it wasn’t the first time he was let down. Maybe Roy had done it too. “I just…” What to say; in the end it was her fault the promise hadn’t been kept. Roy did ask her out a couple of times, she just refused in self preservation. How to explain that to an eight years old? Agatha sighed, “Look, it’s not that simple.”

It was funny, how looking mad Rob seemed more like his predator, exhibitionist big brother, “How can it not be? You promised; I behaved. It is simple.”

“He doesn’t want to go out with me.” And she in honesty believed so. Maybe it wasn’t because of a “bet”, like she had thought; maybe he was asking her out just because his little bro told him to. It wouldn’t surprise her; if not, how the hell would he start liking her all of a sudden? Her, for God’s sake.

“He does!” The boy screeched, slamming his hands against the counter, “He told me he asked you out, and you refused!” And then he pointed his little index at her, and Agatha felt cornered again like she had in the library with Roy, but by a little evil kitten like Rob, none the less.

“Look,” Impulsively she grabbed his index and put it down, “It’s not like that. I just did him a favour. He probably felt pressured to go out with me because you asked him to, and maybe he didn’t want to. So I said no to spare us both.”

“That’s not true,” The little boy snapped, “He told me he asked you again and again and you rejected him again and-”

She held up a hand, “Alright, alright. I get the point now,” They both glared at each other, and she got reminded of the big McGregor. Was it true? Had she really rejected him? Wasn’t it… a game?

“You’re a liar,” For some reason the betrayed expression on the boy’s face made her heart clench, “You lied to me and you hurt my brother. Now I’m going to make your life hell.” But the tears threatening to spill from the corners of his blue-green eyes stopped her from feeling scared.

The babysitter stood up and walked around the counter to stand in front of the boy, then with a sombre expression she started, “It wasn’t my intention. I actually thought the two of you were playing with me or something. I just never considered the possibility that what you said was true, alright? I thought you two were having fun at my expenses,” She felt horrible telling that to his big, watery eyes, “I just thought, hey, why would a guy like Roy McGregor go out with me? Look at me, Rob. I’m fat, I’m boring, I’m mean. I’m not like the girls he hangs out with. It had to be a joke, right? He had to be making fun of me…”

She bit her lip, not really knowing what to do with herself. The little boy’s face was changing rapidly, unable to keep up with the speed of whatever his thoughts were; but it was unnerving, how he seemed to understand.

“But you hurt my brother…” Rob sniffed and wiped his eyes, looking angrier at himself for crying than at her.

“That’s enough Rob,” The deep, husky whisper startled them. Roy stood behind Agatha, eyes fixed only on his little brother and more than a hint of rage behind his narrowed orbs. Rob yelped and ran up to hug the older boy’s waist before dashing upstairs at breakneck speed. Agatha was confused, torn between feeling shame for herself, pity for Rob possibly facing death later by the hand of his brother, or fear at having been caught by Roy after saying all of what she did. Because surely, with her luck he probably had heard every god damned word.

“You heard everything, right?” She asked tentatively, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

“Every word,” He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, “Just so you know I wasn’t-”

“Err, I’m sorry. That caught me-”

“-Hurt.”

“-By surprise.”

They blinked at each other, and spoke at the same time, again, “You speak first.”

“Well, I was just gonna say-”

“He was lying just now-”

Roy grunted and averted his eyes, she just stared at him wide eyed. When she was sure he wouldn’t speak she talked, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

The boy stood straight, letting out a half growl half grunt, and ran a hand through his messy hair, “I told you. He was lying, I wasn’t hurt.”

But if he wasn’t, then why would he be so persistent? Why wouldn’t he look at her, then?

“I wasn’t fooling around with you,” Face looking down, shoulders slumped, making him seem a rather big little boy, “I just thought that… for once, I could be with a girl who didn’t see me for my appearance,” He let out an embarrassed laugh, “You didn’t even glance at my dick, you know?”

That brought a flush of blood to her face. “You noticed that?”

His eyes sparkled, “You were facing the wall the whole time.”

It was kind of painful for her to keep the eye contact, so she broke it. “I’m sorry, I-”

“That’s okay,” He turned around, tone bitter, “That’s what I get for being a womanizer, anyway.”

She gasped, not believing he had spoken so cruelly, ignoring she talked about herself the same way. So he was hurt! And it was her fault. Had Rob set them up? Did Roy like her, or something? Her? The girl ran out of the kitchen to find him halfway up the stairs.

“I didn’t think you were serious,” Her frantic voice rooted him to a step, “I thought it was a bet you had going on with your friends, because… No guy’s ever looked at me that way. And I thought, why would you? You’re the most popular guy in school; the girls adore you and the guys envy you, there’s no way a fat whale like me could catch that guy’s attention, least of all after being so easily fooled by his little brother,” She laughed, “Don’t you think it’s ridiculous?”

But he didn’t answer; he didn’t look back at her either. Her hand went in her messenger bag and searched around blindly until her fingers grasped a soft item she later threw at the back of his head.

“Thanks for the shirt. I didn’t give it back to you before lest we were seen by your fans and mistaken for a couple. I’d have been killed in cold blood, you know?” With that she turned around and headed straight for the door, pushing her way out of the house and abandoning her job for the first time in her life. Not even when Rob pranked her senseless that fateful night had she thought of running away, but this time all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and beat herself over being so bloody stupid.

A pair of hands appeared suddenly and spun her around, still in motion. She lost her balance, but a solid body prevented her from falling. Looking up she was pinned in place by a pair of stunningly blue eyes, the pair of which were glaring harshly at her.

“Don’t you run away from me again.”

And his lips came crashing down against hers.

True, it was her first “kiss”, if that could be called so, however forceful and messy it was, but even if she kind of liked the guy, and was surprised at being kissed by him in the first place, she couldn’t very well relax into it. So she pushed him away, their lips making a crude smacking sound when they parted.

“Err,” Both their faces were red like streetlights, but neither backed down. “I thought, uh, you were mad?”

“I am,” He said, blinking rapidly, a dumbfounded expression befalling his face. “I just… felt an impulse…”

“Ah,” Silence again, although she wagered he could hear her beating heart, and the clatter of her knees when they bumped against each other. “That was my first kiss.” Right after she said it she regretted it; his smirk was so bright it forced her eyes to shut. Which probably wasn’t the wisest move, considering he took that opportunity to lower his face to millimetres away from hers.

“I’m sorry it wasn’t Disney movie like,” Just why were his eyelids drooped like that? It reminded her strongly of that scene in the bathroom, where he was naked and she was handcuffed to the bathtub faucet.

She took a big gulp of saliva, “That’s okay, I’m not a Disney kind of girl.”

Roy chuckled, his nose tickling hers, “That’s why I like you. That’s why I want to get to know you. You’re not like the others.” His lips teased hers, mouth opening slightly and then shutting and making her back shiver.

“You don’t mind I resemble Willy, from Free Willy?” Was it too forward of her to want to bite his bloody soft and full lips? After she denied him even the pleasure of her much too joyful company?

“I don’t mind at all,” And without permission he took her lips in his again, and this time she managed to close her eyes and didn’t even consider about pulling away. In fact, she even forgot about the bathroom incident, and that he was the most coveted guy in school or that she was the bottom rung of social hierarchy. She didn’t even think about what Charlie and Lucy would say or how many glares she’d get when they went back to school. The gentle caress of his moist lips, the warmth of his arms around her not too small waist, the steady but accelerated beat of their hearts against each other’s chest, and the tease of his tongue against hers was enough to get her into a parallel dimension. That is, until Rob decided to get himself in the picture.

“Well, well,” They pulled apart and looked at the little boy with shocked, red faces, “I guess you can make good use of the handcuffs now, can you?” And he twirled the infamous instruments of torture in one hand with a smirk that made dimples appear in place of where a wild cat’s moustache is.

That little…

Roy smirked at her, "You know, I think it's not actually a bad idea."

AG’s Corner: Well, I would have posted this last chapter last weekend had it not been because my beloved computer moved on… to the next room. I got a new one (wepee!) and so I had to install everything and make myself at home (accomplished by now). Writing in the new one’s gonna be so much fun, teehee. Thank you all who have read this little story, reviewers, silent readers, those who favoured it and alerted it. Hopefully I’ll read you guys in the next story (and one last time here if you review this last piece).

To Acta Sanctorum: Cool; you know Latin? Yes, straight to the point as the twenty three pages one-shot it is xD Thank you!

To Annaface: For sure! Well, does one thing or the other put you off? I made it so that she’s bigger than the average and that is more than enough to give someone a complex, you know, mean as school kids tend to be and all. Thank you very much!

To pinkeclipse: Lol, more like he’s rather good at running away. Come to think, she is too. Oh no, I think you’ll find little Rob amusing in this last chap. Thanks!

To jlr: Oh no, she certainly isn’t the type to lie to anyone, little boy or not. It’s just that she was so fixed in thinking that there was no way Roy would want to date her that she didn’t even try; to spare herself the humiliation (that in itself is proof of a big complex), which is why she convinced herself that they must’ve been playing with her, because it simply was impossible in her mind. Hmm, yeah I think you have, but no matter, hopefully it’s good now. Glad you liked it though, and that you added it to your faves! It looks strangely out of place with the other stories you have as favourites, with hundreds and thousands of reviews, hehe. Thank you!

To .: Aww, well ‘tis good you read on time. He is, isn’t he? It’s very nice that you noticed he’s strange, past his sexy attitude and all xD Oh yes, last babysitting job! Thanks for your lovely comments!

Armith-Greenleaf (till the next one)