Charlee hadn’t even noticed that Drew had driven up until she honked. Coming out of her daze, she turned to Drew, stepping away from Ross’s body and lifted her hand at Drew to give her a second. “Are you okay, Walter?”

Walter nodded but looked away. He seemed upset or maybe just embarrassed. “Are you sure? I can ask my friend to take you to the emergency room if you want. We can also call the cops.” She turned to Ross who was still lying on the floor but appeared to be coming to. “We can try and keep him here until the cops come.”

“He ain’t going anywhere.” The guy assured her with a lift of an eyebrow.

Her eyes met with the guy’s intensely serious eyes for a moment. She’d never seen such heavy lashes on a guy in her life, and she was having an awfully hard time keeping her eyes off his big arms. Looking at his face now, she could see he was probably her age, but he had the body of a man—a full-grown amazingly built man. With his toned arms and shoulders and his more than confident demeanor, he was a complete contrast to Walter, who stood there still spitting out blood.

“I’m good.” Walter said after wiping the blood away from his nose again.

Drew honked again. Charlee knew Drew was in a hurry, but she felt terrible about just leaving Walter there.

“Go ahead.” Walter said, already starting to walk away. “I’m fine, really.”

She hurried to him before he could get too far and gave him a quick hug. “Thank you. I’m so sorry this happened.”

Walter nodded and gave her a small smile. “It wasn’t your fault. Don’t worry about it.”

Of course, Charlee felt entirely to blame, but she wouldn’t argue with him. She glanced at the guy who’d really saved the day, suddenly incredibly grateful that he’d showed up when he did, but dared not attempt to even ask his name much less hug him. Instead, she smiled softly. “Thank you too.”

He winked at her, the intensity suddenly gone, then flashed one of the most breathtaking smiles she’d ever seen. In an effort to not become completely mesmerized again and make a fool of herself, she glanced away from his lips and his nearly perfect teeth. Instead, she focused on the skin on his big arms. Being so pasty white her entire life, she’d envied people with skin like his: so perfectly tanned. She felt almost ashamed that any thoughts about Walter’s well-being had been completely snuffed by visions of touching this incredible guy’s skin.

Another honk from Drew yanked her out of said visions, and she turned to Drew then waved back at Walter one last time. “I’ll see you next week.”

She noticed Ross was attempting to sit up now, holding the side of his face in pain. Walter and his hero were already walking in the opposite direction.

“I’m sorry I had to pull you away from that delicious guy, but my dad’s waiting, and I’m already running really late.” Drew stared at her as she sat down and started putting on her seatbelt, the delicious guy still in her head. “So what happened? Why is that guy on the ground?”

Charlee glanced one last time at Ross who was now being helped up by his coward friends. They’d finally come back after they saw Walter and the other guy walk away, but they kept looking nervously in their direction. Then her eyes turned to where they really wanted to be. Even from behind and from this distance, the guy’s body was unbelievable. She took a deep breath, looking back at Drew as they started out of the parking lot, not even sure where to begin.

~*~

“Is she gone?” Walter asked, staring straight ahead.

Hector turned to look back just as the car that picked up the redhead he assumed Walter was talking about drove out of the school’s parking lot. “Yeah.”

These were the first words they’d exchanged since they’d walked away from the scene silently. Other than that, Hector had asked him if he was sure he was okay to which Walter simply nodded.

Suddenly, Walter flung his backpack against the fence next to him with a loud grunt. “Gadamn it! For weeks, I’ve been trying to make a connection with Charlee and then this,” he pointed forcefully in the direction they’d just come from. “That happens? Fuck!” He hunched over for a second, holding his side in obvious pain.

Hector was still stuck on what Walter had just said. Charlie? At a loss for words, he turned back to the direction they’d come from as Walter continued to pace, cussing and grunting under his breath, Hector tried to figure it out. He’d heard of stuff like this. Gay guys coming out to the guys they were into, and it turned out the guy they were into was not only not g*y but homophobic. Was that really what had happened? Did that guy lose it because Walter tried making a connection with him?

Turning back to Walter, who was kicking his own backpack now, he stared at him for a moment, still not sure what to say. He had no idea Walter was g*y. But it did explain a lot of stuff. Like why he’d been such a loner all those years.

“So he got mad?” Obviously the guy had been mad, but that’s all Hector could think of to ask. This was so damn awkward.

Walter slowed his pacing to look at Hector, a little confused. “Well, yeah, that kind of jerk doesn’t like being told what to do.”

Almost afraid to ask, Hector had to. “What did you tell him to do?”

“To leave her alone,” Walter said, wincing in pain as he bent over to pick up his backpack. He unzipped it, pulled out a t-shirt, wiped his bloody face with it, and started walking again.

“I’m not following, man,” Hector admitted, walking alongside of Walter.