I stared at him; I still couldn't believe he gave me that nickname.
I continued to stare at him and wondered what the hell was happening. I was so confused that it actually made my head hurt.
"Are you Damien?" I asked curiously, my left eyebrow raised.
Dominic just looked at me for a long moment before he shook his head.
"Are you serious? Can you not tell the differences between us?"
"Sure I can; your hair colour is different, you have dimples when you smile, and he doesn't; he is right-handed, and you are left. He is nice, and you aren't. That's why I'm askin' if you're him because you've been awfully nice to me these last twenty minutes, got your face smashed in and all."
Dominic sort of smiled for a moment before he glared at me. "I handed that prick's ass to him, not the other way around, babe."
"Babe?" I spluttered. "You're sayin' I'm yours and callin' me babe now? I think Jason hit you too hard on the head there, buddy."
Dominic rolled his eyes and muttered, "Shut up."
I sighed, closed my eyes, and rubbed my temples.
Dominic stepped towards me again; I could feel how close he was to me.
"Come back to my house with me so I can help you, Damien will be there incase you're afraid."
I opened my eyes and studied his face; his eyebrow was cut, and some blood surrounded it, his jaw was swollen, and his chin looked like it was bruising also.
"I think you need the help more than I do. Your face is pretty messed up," I commented.
Dominic laughed.
I sighed then, shocked that I was actually agreeing to this.
"Okay, lead the way."
Dominic smiled and gestured for me to walk back the way I just ran. I did so, and he fell in step with me. We didn't speak, but it wasn't awkward or anything. We walked until we headed past our school, and I whistled when we entered Upton.
"You live in Upton? You must have a shitload of money," I muttered.
"And why is that?" Dominic's voice asked, amused.
I shrugged as we walked through the very clean housing estate. "Because it's not a council estate, you own the houses, and nobody rents them out because they are too nice not to live in."
Dominic played with his hands like he was nervous which caught my attention, but I didn't say anything about it.
"Where do you live?" he asked me after a moment.
"About a ten minute walk from here, down on Old Isle Green. It's practically a dump compared to this estate."
"Does that matter to you?"
I shook my head, kind of shocked that I was having a legit conversation with him. While that was mildly shocking, the extreme shock factor was that I was actually enjoying it. "No, I like where I live. I like me house and me road. I'm sort of intimidated by bein' here for some reason, and I don't know why. Wait, I do, it's probably because it's perfect and me bein' here messes that up," I laughed.
I stopped my laughter when Dominic was suddenly in front of me; his head lowered to mine.
"Don't do that!"
I swallowed as I looked up at him and asked, "Do what?"
"Put yourself down the way you just did."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "So I can't put meself down but you can? You said the same thing today to me. You said that I didn't fit in with the girls in our school when it came to looks. You said I was in a different league than them all!"
Dominic sighed. "I didn't mean it like that."
I shook my head. "Don't lie, it may hurt my feelin's like it did today when you said it, but don't lie just to make me feel better. If you think I'm ugly then that's fine-"
Dominic moved his head closer and pressed his forehead against mine, and it made me hold my breath which cut me off.
"I didn't mean it like that, I don't think you're ugly, you're far fucking from it. When I said you were in a different league than any girl here, I meant you're more beautiful than them. You're the best looking girl I've ever seen, period. I call you pretty girl for a reason other than to piss you off, Bronagh."
I felt my legs shake, and my breath released from me in a big puff making Dominic grin because he felt it on his face. I felt like I was going to do something seriously stupid like kiss him so I stepped back a little and looked down. My insides were swimming because while I still strongly didn't like him, I felt a little flushed now just looking at him.
"Are we near your house yet?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's just up here," he replied in a tone that made me think he was smiling.
I didn't look up at him though; I just gestured for him to walk, which he did, so I followed him. When he entered the garden of a big four story house, I stood at the gate and openly gaped at it.
"Fuck me sideways." I whistled.
"Is that an invitation?" I heard Dominic ask.
I snapped my head to him. "What?" I shouted.
He pointed to my foot; I looked down and saw a flyer under my foot. I picked it up and read it; it was an invite to a four-year-old's birthday party this weekend.
"Ugh, yeah, it is," I muttered and let the wind take the piece of paper away.
My face was burning bright red as Dominic looked at me, grinning.