I pulled my arm free from Jesse's grasp, forgetting that my nose still dripped crimson goo down my face.
"Excuse me!" I snapped, slinging droplets of blood across the waxed linoleum floors as I wretched my arm free. "I don't know who you think you are, or why you have this 'white knight' complex, but I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you." He opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't give him the chance. Instead continuing to yell like an idiot in the middle of the deserted school hallway. "And for that matter, I don't appreciate you just...SWOOPING in and acting like you know anything about me, or what questions I have! You've met me all of one time! I get that you helped me a few weeks ago, but that doesn't give you some special insight into who I am!" I spit the words at him with a huff. I suddenly regretted having been so curious about him, this guy was obviously nuts.
"Listen, Ainsley." Jesse ran a hand through his hair, pushing the brown locks out of his eyes. He seemed to do that a lot when he was stressed of uncomfortable. "I know that all of this sounds crazy-"
"You're damn right it does!" I shouted.
"I had the same reaction when I found out about all this. But this is not the place or the time for us to discuss any of this. Can we just get you to the nurse, please. And then I promise I will tell you anything you want to know. Just..." he paused, cracking a half smile and cocking one eye brow. "Trust me."
I laughed at this, crossing my arms over my chest. "I don't even know you, but you expect me to trust you?" The bleeding from my nose had slowed to a stop, but my appearance looked as though I'd been viciously attacked.
He stormed towards me placing a hand firmly in either shoulder. Jesse's emerald green eyes were brimming with intensity, burrowing through me and into the depths of my soul. "I expect you know me better then you think you do, Ainsley. I think you know you can trust me, and that scares the hell out of you." His voice was barely above a whisper, but the fervor of his words left my stomach churning. "I know you've seen things that chill you to your very core, things that hunt you in your sleep, horrors you won't even admit to the ones you love most. I know you better then you know yourself, Ainsley. And I am the ONLY one in your life right now that isn't too afraid to be honest with you."
I stood, shaken by his words. In the pit of my stomach I knew that he spoke the truth, even if I wasn't sure how. But some intuition buried deep within my bones insisted that I listen to him. "Now, if you would please?" He steps aside, extending his arm in a flourishing gesture that said 'let's go'. Reluctantly, I followed, though I was no long so keen on having him touch me, preferring to maintain a few feet of distance between us as we continued to cross the school to where the nurses office was located.
Since the bleeding had already stopped by the time we reached the nurse, she instead provided me with a few wet towelettes to clean the now crusted blood from my face, chest and hands. There wasn't much I could do to rescue my blouse, that was now less tan, and more of an abstract blend of rust colored splatters. Thankfully, I kept a spare sweatshirt in my locker for especially chilly days. Once we had finished up in the nurses office, I made my way to my locked with Jesse trailing close behind, grabbing the old purple sweatshirt and pulling it over my head, hiding any remaining evidence from view.
Immediately I turned on Jesse, spinning in my heels to face him. I hadn't realized how closely he had been lingering behind me, as when I turned around we stood nearly nose to nose, forcing me to take a step backward. "Dude? Ever heard of personal space?" I spat sarcastically. He too took a step back to widen the distance. I righted myself, tugging at the bottom of the sweatshirt nervously as if straightening the hem.
I pulled my shoulder back, chin up, ready to fling my accusations. "Alright, it's all taken care of. No muss to fuss" I wiped my palms together before thrusting them outward to further indicate my 'washing my hands' of the ordeal that occurred in first period. "You claim to know so much about me, Jesse. So let's start with his and what you think you know, so I can tell you how wrong you are." My arms crossed over my chest, daring him to challenge me.
"Not here," he whispered in a hushed tone. "You never know who is listening." I scoffed, taken aback by just how ridiculous he sounded.
"Do you even realize how crazy you sound? I mean seriously? Do you hear yourself, or is it just like a loud roaring in your ears?" He rolled his eyes in response to my obvious doubt.
"Regardless, this isn't the best place to have a conversation of this...circumstance. Too public. I am more then happy to give you the answers you're looking for, but we need to go somewhere more private, preferably without prying eyes or ears"
"Now I KNOW you've lost your mind!" I threw my hands in the air at the audacity of his request. "I know hardly anything about you, and you just expect me to go off with you somewhere...alone?" I had to work hard to stifle the startled giggle that I could feel bubbling anxiously up my throat. This was absolute lunacy...but still, something in my gut urged me to listen to what he had to say.
"Ainsley, please?" His eye were pleading, begging for me to hear him out despite my many reservations.
"Listen," I thought for a moment, choosing my words carefully. I can't exactly just up and go somewhere with you. I just got to a good place with my mom...and if I just leave school, she will flip." I watched as he considered this for a moment.
"I get it," he shrugged, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "I'm not trying to cause any problems for you, I have a feeling what I am going to tell you will cause plenty of those as it is." There was no doubt in his words. "I have a place we can go....after school I mean." His head hung almost like her we embarrassed. Green eyes peered at me shyly from under long, thick eyelashes.
"You can tell your friends or you'll mom that you'll be with me," he offered reassuringly. "The last thing I want to do is make you feel unsafe."
We strolled slowly in tandem down the corridors of the hall now. First period had ended and moved on to the second while I was being tended to by the nurse, so the halls we still empty with the exception of a few students bustling to restrooms or lockers in search of forgotten assignments. This allowed Jesse and I to speak without prying eyes.
After taking a moment to contemplate the pros and cons of going off with someone I barely knew, I decided it was unlikely he was going to murder me in a back ally after the trouble he went through to keep me from swallowing my own tongue a few weeks prior.
"Fine..." I finally agreed. "After school. I'll go with you to your little meeting place and we can talk. But just so you know, I WILL be telling my friends AND my mom who I'll be with and I carry mace, just in case you have any...nefarious intentions.
Jesse chuckled at my attempt at intimidation. "Works for me." It irritated me that despite his best efforts, I could see he was laughing at me. He was far too amused by this situation and I struggled to find anything funny about it. Frustrating and insane? Yes. Funny? Absolutely not. "Meet me after last period and we will head out, okay?"
"Sure, shouldn't be too difficult, since you'll be in the same class. See you in English?" I asked.
"Yeah," he agreed with a small grin, "see you in English."
As we parted ways to head towards our respective classes, I found myself mulling over something he had said as it play on a loop in my mind, a knot forming in the pit of my stomach.
" I know you better then you know yourself, Ainsley. And I am the ONLY one in your life right now that isn't too afraid to be honest with you."