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Post by Monday on Nov 15, 2010 21:37:24 GMT -5
Alex looked around himself in shock, completely oblivious to what he was doing. I hadn’t really realized the extent of his anger, and apparently neither had he. It was subtle but there was definitely a hint of smoke wafting in the air nearby him. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed but apparently no one had yet and I tried to discretely wave my notebook back in forth to fan some of it away. He pulled back his hands that had been tightly griping the desk and there were a couple of scorch marks left on the wood. I looked up at him wide-eyed but he just shrugged like it was no big deal. “Like I said, we have a tendency to lose some of our control when we get angry.” For once I was grateful to just be an empath. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to not be able to control something so dangerous, something that could hurt people. Completely forgetting about our argument for the time being I ask, “How did you do it? Handle all of that power in the beginning, I mean?” “Not well,” he replies shortly and with a grimace. I wonder if he’ll ever be able to give me a straight answer without me having to practically drag it out of him. But before I can question him further he asks, “Is there no way that I can convince you not to go to this stupid party?” “Not unless you can come up with a good enough reason for me not to go,” I say definitely. Just because he lost his temper doesn’t mean I’m going to give up our argument even though that probably went against good reason. I didn’t care. “How about that it’s stupid, juvenile, dangerous, and risky?” I’m pretty much prepared for all of this, though. “It’s only stupid because you don’t like the idea yourself, and maybe it is juvenile but I am only sixteen and I want to do some normal sixteen year old stuff for once, thank you very much. How dangerous can it be, it’s not like I’m going to get drunk and then decide to drive like a moron. I probably won’t drink at all and it’s not like I have a car. And what do you mean risky?” “What if your parents find out?” I shrug. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take. It’s not like they could ground me too long, the worst thing I’ve ever done is make a B in a class instead of an A. Which is exactly my point in wanting to do this, you’re the one that pointed out to me that I’ve never done anything dangerous, remember. And don’t even say what if they party gets busted by cops or something because I’d probably just see it coming anyway,” I say with a smirk. “Who’s going to drive you there, smart ass?” he’s says with a glare. I’m right and he knows it, but that doesn’t stop him from disliking it. “Hmmm that’s a good point,” I concede. “I don’t really think I should ask Macy or Angela, they might have a freaking heart attack or something. Obviously you’re not going to be up to giving me a ride,” I say giving him a glare. “I guess if I had to, I could just ask Tommy to pick me up. He probably wouldn’t mind.” I knew it was a low blow to make. Judging by the spark of anger in Alex’s eyes, it probably wasn’t too bright a thing to say either, not unless I wanted him to send the whole class room up in flames. But I was trying to get a point across that I didn’t need his approval to do what I wanted, or his help for that matter. If threatening to ask Tommy for a ride was stupid, however, what I said next was probably downright suicidal. “Why don’t you just admit the real reason you don’t want me to go?” “Oh and what would that be, Gatsby?” he says, and I can tell that he’s do his upmost to keep his temper in check. “You don’t like the idea of me being anywhere near Tommy.” I hold my breath, waiting for him to deny it and get even angrier at me, but he takes me by surprise. “Damn straight I don’t want him near you!” he says and I can’t believe that he’d actually admit to being jealous. “I don’t trust him any further then I could throw him.” Well, almost admits it… “And he’s a big guy too, almost as tall as me but probably a bit beefier around the middle,” he says with a smirk. Damn him, but I can’t help but smile back. “He is not fat,” I say rolling my eyes, though I can’t really pretend that I’m offended or anything on Tommy’s behalf. It’s not like he’s ever shown any kindness toward Alex, either. “Really?” ask Alex, doing a good job at feigning shock. “I guess he just must be big boned, then.” I try to hide my laugh but the look on Alex’s face tells me I’m not fooling anyone. His satisfied grin quickly fades however and he says “So you really are going? Even though it’s a bad idea?” “I still maintain that it’ a good idea. And yes, I’m going.” I wait for him to challenge me again, but he just says, “Fine. I’m going with you. And don’t even think that you can argue your way out of this one. I’m going whether you like it or not.” I think about saying that Tommy didn’t exactly give him an invitation and probably didn’t want Alex there but I decided that compromise would probably be best in this scenario. “Fine. But you’re in charge of the BYOB, whatever that is.” He laughs so loud the whole class looks at him.
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Post by Monday on Nov 16, 2010 1:53:14 GMT -5
((Quick side note, i forgot to mention Angela and her boyfriend's reconciliation and i fixed it on microsoft but not on here. it wasn't much just said a little bit about how they were back together and looking happy and how evelyne was glad that she could help her friend. just wanted y'all to know. lol))
It’s fifteen minutes before the party and I’ll be honest, I’m freaking out a little bit. Not about the fact that we might be late because that’s something I never have to worry about when Alex is involved. I’m more concerned with the fact that he might set Tommy ablaze sometime tonight. Then there’s also the little matter that I’ll be getting glares from pretty much every girl that’s there tonight because I’ll be showing up with Alex and people will just assume we’re together. Which we’re not. I’m pretty sure. And of course there’s Tommy girlfriend to contend with, who I had completely forgotten about up until this point. She probably hated my guts just for getting invited much less having the nerve to actually show up. Oh yah. I had nothing to worry about. I had told my parents that I was going out to the movies with Angela, Macy, and friends, which were my usual Friday night plans, and that Alex was going to pick me up. My Dad grumbled a bit at the part where Alex was driving me but my Mom just smiled and told me to have a good time. I was starting to wonder if that part was actually going to happen. In the end, I decided it would be best to let Angela and Macy know what was going on, in the very least to keep them from coming over here and asking where I was when I was supposed to be at the movies with them. Angela seemed fine with it, if a little worried, but I think Macy was a little hurt that I was taking Alex instead of them. “Getting rides to school all the time, always hanging out, going to parties together,” Macy’s voice rang accusingly in the receiver. “Are you sure y’all aren’t going out?” “Macy, how many times do have to tell you, we’re just friends,” I said trying not to sound too annoyed. Well, we were just friends who kissed once. And where probably going to kiss again sometime in the future, though I had no idea when… But I thought it’d be best to leave that part out since I still hadn’t figured out what that meant yet. This empath plus thing could really be a pain in the ass sometimes. “And it’s not like I asked him to come to the party. He practically demanded too.” “Oh and why is that, you think?” she asked now, like I had any clue. Luckily she answered her own question for me. “He is completely in like with you!” “Macy, please,” I say rolling my eyes out of habit, even though she obviously can’t see me. “That has nothing to do with it. Alex can just be a bit… paranoid and overprotective sometimes. And the only reason I wanted to go was because I never do anything exciting and I just want to see what it’d be like to go to an actual party. It’s not like this is going to be a regular thing for me, it’ll probably be really lame anyways!” “Yah like that hasn’t been said before!” she says dramatically and then actually hangs up on me. I sigh as I shut my phone. I know I’ll have to do some major groveling the next day, but I also know how Macy’s temper works. She’s all piss and vinegar now, but give her an hour and she’s ready to forgive and forget. Confrontation really isn’t her thing. Finally I see headlights through the window and get up before he comes inside and has to talk to my parents. Who knows what kind of stunt he might try to pull to get me to stay. As I head to the door, I shout out a quick good bye and hear my mom yell “No sex, no drugs!” from the living room right before the door closes behind me. I’m bemusedly wondering why she decided to shout out that missive tonight of all nights and why she didn’t include no alcohol to the list of things not to do but I shake the thought away as I climb into Alex’s car. I knew I should be prepared for anything tonight. “Wow,” he says as I buckle my seat belt. “I hope you don’t look this great because of Larson. He doesn’t deserve it.” I am dressed a little nicer than usual, though I don’t exactly appreciate the negative connotations behind his words. My hair hung down prettily on my bare shoulders and I had actually bothered to use a little mascara and lip gloss for once. I was wearing a simple yet flattering spaghetti-strapped top with my best pair of jeans and some sparkly flats. I scowl at him in the dark and say impetuously, “Girls do not dress up for boys. We dress for ourselves or for each other. If we dressed for boys we’d just walk around naked all the time.” The minute the words are out of my mouth, I am blushing furiously and I’m grateful for the dim lighting. Somehow that sounded less promiscuous in my head… “Wow,” he just says again, stunned. I can’t tell if he sounds more embarrassed or pleased. “Um I read that in a magazine somewhere or something,” I add hastily. “Some fashion designer that Macy loves said it.” “Uh huh,” says Alex and now I know he’s grinning. “Can we just go already?” I say with a sigh, since we’re still in my drive way. “We’re going to be late.” He laughs and says, “You really worry too much, you know that. Besides you’re not supposed to be right on time to a party like this, it’s good to be a little late.” “Well technically we already are late,” I say pointing at his clock which reads 8:01. “And all this coming from the guy who’s never late and who won’t even let me go to a high school party alone because he thinks it might be too dangerous.” I can just make out his smile when he says, “Good point.”
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Post by Monday on Nov 17, 2010 1:12:25 GMT -5
About ten minutes and a few snide comments later, we finally pulled onto Tommy’s street. We parked a few houses down from his, like Tommy told me to do in Chemistry to ‘avoid suspicion’ he said, but I could still hear the music when I stepped out of the car. There were butterflies in my stomach again and I supposed that I was thankful that Alex was here after all. It would be terrifying to go in there alone, not that I’d ever admit that out loud. “Let’s get this over with,” Alex grumbled beside me. “You know, you might actually have fun for once,” I said, making my way to the house. “If you’d quit it with that pessimist view point you always carry around with you. Have you ever thought about that?” I knock on the door, hoping that it’s the right one, and a few moments later Tommy swings the door open, a beer in hand and a huge grin on his face. “Evelyne you made it!” he says too loudly. And then he sees Alex standing about a foot behind me. His smile fades a bit and he says, “And you brought the new kid. Great.” “This is already a blast,” I hear Alex comment sarcastically behind me. He doesn’t make any effort to keep his voice down and I know Tommy heard him. He gives Alex a smirk and then leans over to try to wrap his arm around me in move designed purely to him off. It would have worked too but luckily for me it seemed that Tommy had started the night a little early and was a bit unsteady on his feat. He wobbled a bit to the side and I saw my chance to squeeze past him and into the rest of the house before Tommy could do something to get himself caught on fire. I didn’t bother looking behind me to see if Alex and Tommy were stilling glaring at each other idiotically over the door step and just continued into the house, following the noise. There were people everywhere, some I recognized but most of them I didn’t and I figured that they were probably seniors. Finally in the corner of the huge living room I found a couple of people I had actually talked to before and they waved me over when they spotted me. Trent and Ashley tended to hang out with the jock crowd but they were both in choir and were pretty cool people. I had only talked to them once or twice outside in the arts department hallway but they remembered my name and who I hung out with so I decided to stay and chat with them for a while. There were a bunch of little groups like this interspersed around the house and most everyone seemed to be having a good time. Some people were even having too good a time and I averted my eyes away from the couples that decided that right here and now really was the perfect time to make out. PDA really wasn’t my thing. Someone had handed me a beer at some point and I had taken one sip of it and decided it tasted horrible, so it just sat in my hand useless in my hand. I looked around for Alex and saw him talking to a few people and that he looked more relaxed then he had earlier. He glanced up and must have seen I told you so written on my fore head because I could see him roll his eyes at me before a hint of a smile played across his lips. Before long a guy with shaggy blonde hair walked up to our little group and asked if we wanted to join in the game of beer pong he was setting up. When I asked what that was he smiled and replied simply, “You’re gonna love it,” and draped his arm around my shoulders, directing me toward the kitchen and to the game I was apparently going to love. Obviously the rules of personal space went out the window during these types of social functions… I had to work hard to get out from under his arm without seeming rude. On the table in the largest and shiniest kitchen I had ever seen were too separate pyramids of cups each filled with a couple of inches of beer. The rules of the game seemed simple enough with the main object being too through your ping pong ball into all of your opponents’ cups before they got all of yours and with every cup you hit they’d have to drink the beer in it, theoretically making it more difficult. But I already knew my ability of playing this game well, even sober, was going to be miniscule seeing as how I had very little hand-eye coordination. There was a reason I had never played sports. Luckily for me though, I was teamed up with shaggy haired guy whose name I couldn’t remember but who was actually a pretty nice guy if a little touchy. While I just concentrated on trying to toss the stupid ball into the cups, he performed these intricate bounces and moves that all had specific rules to them but that I had forgotten about a minute after being told because I knew I was never going to be able to perform said moves. Trent and Ashley were about as horrible at this as me but when they did manage to get a couple in, shaggy haired guy gallantly agreed to drink them when I made a face after my first disgusting sip. “I don’t blame you,” he says, downing the contents of the cup in one gulp. “Keystone is the worst.”
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Post by Monday on Nov 17, 2010 3:53:13 GMT -5
((so after struggling all day to write, i finally hit my stride and now it's almost three in the morning, and i wrote way more then i had too... but i think it would have been a mistake to stop, and i really enjoyed writing this part. this is a bit of a long post but i didn't want to end it at an awkward place.))
We’re about to set up for a second round when Alex walks in looking none too pleased. He walks up to me and says, with a frown on his face, “You shouldn’t wander off like that.” “Alex,” I say staring at him deadpan, “I’m a big girl; I can take care of myself. It’s not like I really have that much to worry about here,” I say with a laugh, gesturing around the room of happy, slightly buzzed teenagers. I catch the look of doubt on his face before he’s able to hide it. “Or do I?” I ask, my smile fading. I take his silence for a yes and start putting together a lot of things that I hadn’t bothered too before now. How Alex is always around and acting far too overprotective, especially since yesterday. And even his promise that he made to my dad, to protect me, seems far from normal even considering the circumstances. “What aren’t you telling me?” I ask narrowing my eyes at him. He shifts he weight to his other leg almost anxiously and says, “We don’t need to talk about this now.” “Oh I think we do,” I say perhaps a bit too loudly. Shaggy-haired guys looks up from arranging the cups on the table and looks at me. “You OK?” he says, glancing from me to Alex. I nod at him in reassurance but he still walks over to where I’m standing next to Alex. “I’m Travis,” he says, sticking out his hand and I’m instantly relieved that I don’t have to keep referring to him as shaggy-haired guy in my head. “And you are?” Alex completely ignores the proffered hand and the glare he gives could scare off braver men then Travis. “I’m with her,” he replies coldly, nodding at me. I sigh in exasperation, fed up with male pride issues, and quickly say to Travis, “Will you just excuse us for just a minute?” I take Alex’s arm and direct him to the door in the kitchen that leads to the back patio so we can talk in privacy. As soon as my hand touches his skin a wave of feelings or whatever you’d like to call them assail me and I try my best to block them out. It’s hard to stay mad at him like I want to be when my new senses are telling me that he means well, that I’m safe with him, and most annoying of all, that I’ll eventually be in his embrace again and that I’ll want to be there. Stupid empath power. How was I supposed to keep anything straight? I snatch my hand away as if I’ve been burned and Alex gives me a curious look. When we walk outside, I’m relieved to see that the patio is empty. The cool night air is enough to keep most away except for the occasional smoker. I turn on Alex as soon as the door is shut, more irritated then I was before I had touched him. “What did you feel?” he asks giving me that same inquiring look. And also hoping that it might distract me would be my guess, but he has no such luck. “None of your business,” I snap and he puts his hands up in mock surrender. “Now would you please tell me whatever it is that I’m missing here? I’m getting tired of all the secrets.” He sighs and says, “I know. To be honest I wasn’t sure how you would take it and I didn’t want you to worry unnecessarily. But now that you’re officially marked,” he says gesturing to my wrist, “it’s important that you know everything.” “Fine,” I say crossing my arms over my chest. “Start talking then.” “Alright,” he says taking a seat on one of the patio chairs and patting the one beside him for me to sit down in. “you know that there are other people out there with power besides us, lots of them.” I nod my head and he continues. “Well most of them try to stay off the radar as much as possible, try to lead a normal life with no one the wiser except for those of us who can tell,” he says running his fingers over the marking on my wrist that only he and I can see. “If they don’t want others to know who they are, why do they get the evidence on their skin at all? Why would they bother be inundated into the group, so to speak?” He shakes his head and says, “It’s not exactly a choice you can make. It’s a part of who you are. If I hadn’t brought you in yesterday, eventually you would have come looking for it yourself, you would be compelled too.” “So who initiated you?” I ask curiously, knowing that I’m getting off topic but not being able to help myself. Now that I thought of it, I really wanted to know. But he just smiled and says, “One thing at a time. So like I said, there are the people who want to be left alone, but there are also ones that wish to do harm to others. This could range anywhere from using the ‘talents’ to rob a bank or even use them to kill people.” I can tell that now we’re getting to the heart of things, Alex is looking at me even more intensely then he had before as if he expects me to lose it at any second. “There’s one guy right now in particular that is extremely dangerous and we’re doing everything in our power at the moment, but he’s very hard to track down and he’s going to be even harder to stop when we do eventually find him.” He says the word stop but what I hear is ‘kill’. I get up and start pacing and Alex looks up at me anxiously. “What does he do?” I ask through numb lips. There are a number of things that I could mean from this question he knows what I’m asking.
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Post by Monday on Nov 17, 2010 3:54:07 GMT -5
“His abilities are unique, but in his way, far more dangerous than what any one of us can do. He can steal other peoples’ powers from them but only in a very particular way. That’s how we’ve been tracking him, though he’s always been just one step ahead of us. He leaves a very distinctive trail.” “So what does he have to do to steal a power?” I can already guess the answer to this question, but I still feel it’s best to hear it out loud and know for sure. “He has to kill them. And he can’t use the abilities he’s already stolen to do it; he has to stab them through the heart with a dagger or a knife.” I flinch at the words and try to hold back the queasiness I start to fell. It’s one thing to know there are murders and villains out there but a whole different thing completely to know that they’re probably nearby and could even be targeting you. “He has to be stopped,” he proclaims, getting up and standing in front of me. And then it hits me. “So that’s it, isn’t it?” My voice sounds hollow, even to my own ears. Alex’s brow furrows as he looks at me anxiously. “What?” “You need me to help you catch this guy, don’t you? That’s the whole reason you came here, why you’re still around. Why you have to follow me around constantly. You’re like some kind of supernatural body guard to keep the precious psychic from getting herself killed before she can be of use.” I sound disgusted and I feel that way too. Alex pulls his hand through his hair. “It’s not that simple.” “Oh I think it is,” I say harshly. “The choice to help us or not is still entirely up to you,” he says trying to reassure me. But it’s not working. “I don’t want to take that away from you.” I’m relieved when he drops the ‘we’ pretense. He may have had help but as far as I’m concerned, he’s entirely to blame for all of this. And besides, it makes it easier for me to direct my anger at one particular person instead of a whole group. “How is that a choice? Help us catch a murder and risk your own life or let him go kill other innocent people? You made that decision for me the minute you started to bring me into all of this,” I say shaking my head. I feel betrayed and alone, having discovered that a person I thought was my friend was only around to do his job. I’m mad at him, I’m mad at this supposed “gift” that had been thrust upon me without my consent, but most of all, I’m mad myself for being so easily fooled. That’s when I know that I’ve hit my limit, that I can’t stand to here another word from him. I start to turn away from him to go back inside but he grabs my arm. “Evelyne, wait,” he says desperately. “Don’t touch me!” I shout as I yank my arm out of his grasp and slam the door behind me. I lean against the wall beside the door and rest my elbows on my knees and cover my face with my hands. I’m trying to think of what to do next. All I know is that I need to get away from here, away from him as fast as possible. My sudden outburst might have stunned him enough to keep him away for a few minutes, but soon he’d recover and be after me again. I look around me but all I see is strangers, blissfully ignorant of a world that has been so unceremoniously thrust upon me, a world that I want no part of. I wander toward the front door, just visible at the edge of the kitchen where I had been leaning, and I had resolved to either walk home and call and beg Angela to come pick me up when I spot Tommy leaning against the front door, chatting amiably with some red head that I’ve never seen before. When he sees me starring at him, though, he turns to give the girl some excuse and makes a bee line for me. I can’t decide what makes me do it, probably the big chunk of me that’s still reeling over what Alex did, but I meet him half way. “How much have you had to drink tonight?” I ask in a no nonsense kind of voice. My method of asking a direct blunt questions seems to have worked because he promptly replies, “Only two beers but I drank them right before the party started so I don’t even have buzz now. I can’t get wasted tonight; I have to go train early tomorrow morning. Why?” “Are you safe to drive?” I ask, ignoring his question. He seems fine, no slurring words or stumbling and he has a clear attentive look on his face, not the same blurry gaze that he had when I first arrived several hours ago. I glance over at the back door but I don’t see Alex yet. He smiles at my question and says, “Sure. Why, you need a ride, sweetheart?” “I do. Is it OK if you leave real quick to drive me home? I don’t live very far from here,” I say smiling back at him and hoping I sound convincing. It seems to work because he turns to tell a friend that he’ll be right back and then nods for me to follow him to the front door. There are a million things that I should have thought of right then, a million things I should have done. Like letting Alex or anyone, for that matter, know that I was leaving and who with, or ask Tommy where his girlfriend was and why he didn’t seem to care to tell her that he was disappearing from a party with another girl. In the very least I could have touched him to and find the answer to a question I would never have known too ask. But I was acting foolishly, impulsively, and to be honest none of this occurred to me as I was making my way to the exit, not once. All I could think about was getting out, getting away from him, away from the troubles and confusion. As I followed Tommy out of the house, I spared one last glance to the back door, and I could just make out Alex coming in through the crowd. I could see his face; see that he was staring at me, like he knew somehow that that’s where I’d be. I can’t see shock or annoyance, or anger in his eyes. There is only intensity, and I can still feel those unrelenting eyes on me as I close the door and follow Tommy to his car.
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Post by Monday on Nov 20, 2010 2:39:46 GMT -5
The momentary relief I had felt at just getting away was fleeting fast and all I could discern in its place was just a feeling of cowardice. It took me about five minutes of staring out of the car window without actually seeing anything to make up my mind. I had to go back and face Alex, if not fix things to at least make them better than they were now. I glanced over at the person in the seat beside me. Tommy had been chatting about something, although I couldn’t really say what, since we had gotten in the car. I had sort of been murmuring vague replies when his voice had stopped, but he said something just then caught my attention. “What?” I ask, trying to shake the fog of self doubt from my brain and to pay attention to what he’s saying. “I need to make a pit stop real quick at a gas station before I take you home,” he says glancing over at me. “There’s only one gas station around here that doesn’t card and we were getting kind of low on beer when we left.” “Um, sure, I guess that’s fine,” I say as he takes a turn on an unfamiliar road. It sounds like a reasonable excuse, really, but that’s the part about it that I have a problem with. It sounds like an excuse. But I don’t really have a good reason to disbelieve him though and I was the one that asked him for a ride. Besides I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him if he got annoyed at me for objecting especially when I’m about to ask him to just take me right back to his house. Luckily though, he doesn’t seem to mind though when I tell him this. He just chuckles and says, “Don’t worry about it.” We drive a little bit further but when I look out my window I no longer recognize my surroundings at all. We seem to be on some winding, poorly lit back country road and there are a bunch of bushes and trees to my right and Tommy’s left instead of stores and houses like there were a few minutes ago. That’s when the fear finally starts to hit me. “Where are we?” I ask quietly, nervously. This is just some back way to the gas station he talked about, I keep repeating to myself, trying to calm down. I was just over reacting. He just ignores me though, and keeps driving. I repeat myself, this time a little louder. “Tommy, didn’t you hear me? I asked you where we are.” I snap my mouth closed, annoyed at myself for the hint of panic in my voice. The car starts to slow down and pull over to the side of the road and I’m thinking of a million different things at once. The fact that no one knows where I am, not even me, the fact that I left my cell phone in Alex’s car, the fact that even if I tried to open my door and make a run for it, he could probably still catch me without much of an effort if he felt like it. But what I’m thinking about more then all of these other things is how incredibly stupid I am. The car finally stops moving and as he cuts the engine off he sighs flips the inside light on in the car. He turns in his seat and gives me a knowing smile like I should have guessed that this is where we were headed the whole time and maybe I should have. “I’ve liked you for a while now Evelyne,” he says matter-of-factly. I don’t really know how he expects me to react to this statement but it’s probably not with me saying, “What are you talking about? You’re going out with Samantha, remember?” He frowns for a second but quickly recovers. “Samantha and I have had problems for a long time now.” With one hand he unbuckles his seatbelt and with the other he runs his fingers up and down my arm. I go stock still and just stare at him, a dear frozen in the head lights. “Your skin feels nice,” he whispers huskily. “I think you need to take us back Tommy,” I say, my voice sounding eerily calm. “Right now.” “Ah, don’t be like that babe,” he replies actually going so far as to pout a little bit. He moves his hand from my arm and onto my upper thigh and squeezes. I automatically reach my hand down to remove it, the blood beginning to boil in my veins with rage. But when I touch him that rage turns to panic and I let out a piercing scream as I claw at my seat belt and try to reach for the door handle. Because when I touch him I know exactly what he’s going to do and there’s nothing that I can do to stop him except to try and run. “What the fuck is your problem!” Tommy bellows at me. I’m so terrified and I’m in such a rush to get away that I’m having a hard time getting my seat belt to come off. Finally I snap it off and I’m just reaching for the door handle when Tommy grabs my arm and jerks me sharply back toward him. “You’re not going anywhere,” he says menacingly. He starts moving from his seat and over to mine pressing my shoulders painfully into the seat, and my panic starts afresh. “Let go of me!” I shout back in his face and try to knee him in the groin. He moves aside before it can land though, and turns on me with a rage, slapping me hard across the face. I’m so shocked from not only the pain but from the act itself. No one has ever struck me with the intent to purposefully hurt me. The left side of my face was throbbing painfully and I could taste a hint of blood in my mouth but after the initial shock, I fought back even harder. But he was just too strong. Every blow that I tried to make he either deflected or seemed not to even notice. He was breathing heavily, obviously enjoying himself and I knew it was hopeless to even attempt to fight him off, but I just couldn’t give up. I was mixed up with what was actually happening and what I knew was coming and I could feel the hot tears tracking down my face as I used all the strength I had in me to try to push his hands away from the top of my jeans.
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Post by Monday on Nov 20, 2010 2:40:39 GMT -5
However he manages to pin my hands with one of his beefy arms and I know that he has won and I lose all hope. Suddenly, though, I felt a rush of cold hair hit me and all at once Tommy’s weight was completely off of me. I choke in a gulp of air and realize for the first time that I had barely been able to breathe with Tommy on top of me. I glance to my left and although my eye is slightly swollen now from Tommy’s blow, I’m still able to see out of it. The door is wide open and there’s someone on the ground a few yards away from the car with somebody else, a tall shadowy figure that I can’t quite make out, hovering over them. But it doesn’t take me very long to realize who it is. I hear Tommy groaning on the ground and part of my mind wonders in an indifferent sort of way what Alex has done to him. He steps back from the boy lying pathetically on the ground and makes his way back to me. By now I’ve managed to crawl my way to the drivers half of the car though my hands are so jittery and unsure and I feel like I might pass out or throw up at any moment. Without touching me Alex looks me over quickly and as he takes in my appearance, my half swollen face and my bleeding lip. I also realize that part of my shirt is torn at the top and my hair is in a snarling mess. I look up at his face wearily, too exhausted mentally and physically to be embarrassed for him to see me this way, so scared and vulnerable. But not broken. Not that. As I watch him take it all in his eyes that where already burning heat up even more. “Did he…?” His voice trails off before completing his sentence but I know all too well what he’s asking. I hastily shake my head in denial, too afraid of what my voice might sound like right now, and I see a little of the tension in his shoulders ease but not much. He brushes part of my hair gently away from my face, looking at my cheek furiously. “I’ll kill him for this.” His voice is quiet yet unrelenting in a way that tells me just how serious he is. I grab his arm in a vice, the panic resurfacing in me once again. I know now that this is the type of thing he’s always struggled with since he’s had his power; that it can be so hard to fight back the fire when he’s in a rage like this when it feels so damn good to let it go. I know this from touching him but I also think I knew it subconsciously before. I could see it in his eyes whenever he spoke of it before, that part of him was still afraid of the thing that was inside him, the same fear that I had been feeling lately. And I knew more than anything else that he would regret doing harm to anyone this night, no matter how justified he might be, and I didn’t want anyone else damaged because of Tommy. “No, you can’t,” I say, making sure that he’s looking into my eyes as I speak, “He’s not worth it. Please.” He stares back into my gaze unwaveringly for a few moments before nodding his head in acquiescence. He begins to stand up and says, “Don’t move, I’ll be right back.” I don’t even bother with a reply as I watch him make his way back to Tommy who has now managed to make it too his knees, one of his hands pressed on the pavement and the other clutched around his stomach in pain. I wonder vaguely how I missed the ass beating that Alex must have already given him. Alex picks him up off his feet roughly, his hands menacingly grabbing his face so that he doesn’t miss a word of what he’s about to say to him. I can just make out his words from where I’m standing but I’m not quite sure if I want to hear them or not. “If you ever so much as look at her again, I will kill you.” His voice is the same dark menacing one as before and Tommy would be a fool if he didn’t realize just how true Alex’s words were. “If you ever touch another woman without her consent, I will know and I will kill you.” Tommy is basically sniveling at this point and Alex makes a sound of repugnance. “You disgust me.” He throws him back on the ground and Tommy doesn’t get up but I can still see that he’s quivering, probably in fear. Good, I think venomously. Alex walks back over to me and a part of me thinks that maybe I should be afraid of him too but it’s impossible for me to feel that way. All I feel is safe when I’m with him and apparently for good reason. I’m beginning to see my rescuer for what he really is and whether it’s to my detriment or not I can’t help but be glad that I know more of the real Alex then the front that he puts up for the rest of the world. “I’m going to carry you,” he says to me quietly, not really asking a question but letting me decide if I’m alright with it nonetheless. “I can walk.” My answer isn’t an objection necessarily but a statement of fact. It doesn’t matter though because he understands what I’m saying. “I know. But I’d still rather carry you myself.” I nod my head and he lifts me up like I weigh less than nothing. As we walk past where Tommy is still lying on the ground, Alex says harshly to him, “I wouldn’t get back in your car if I were you.” I glance back over his shoulder and see that a flame has started to grow in the inside of Tommy’s very expensive car and that it’s only getting bigger as the seconds pass. By the time Alex gently places me in the passenger seat of his car, I can see a dark plume of smoke billowing from the soon to be destroyed vehicle. As we drive away I can just make out Tommy figure, now standing up, watching as his car literally goes up in flames.
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Post by Monday on Nov 20, 2010 3:42:46 GMT -5
We haven’t driven very far before I say something. “Where are we going?” I don’t like the question because it reminds me of what I asked Tommy not too long ago, but the words now are almost detached as if it doesn’t really matter this time around. But when he gives me an answer, I find that I do care. “The hospital,” he replies shortly. My head turns to look at him sharply. “No,” I say shaking my head. “I told you, I’m fine. The worst he did was hit my face and then only the one time. There’s not much that they could do about that at the hospital.” He hesitates and I add quickly, “I can’t… talk about what happened to anyone. It’s just too much.” “You could be hurt worse then you are and not even know it,” he says stubbornly. “I’m not. Trust me.” I see his shoulders stiffen when he hears the pain in my voice and I quickly add, “I’ll be fine.” But he turns his car in the direction of my house so I know he believes me, at least for now. My stomach begins to knot up in anxiety as I imagine what going home means. I try to think over and over again for a reasonable excuse as to what happened to me to tell my parents. As soon as I see either one of them or even here their voices I know I’ll burst into tears and have no choice but to confess all tonight, when the wounds are still so fresh and tender. I just want to feel safe and go to sleep without having to make any explanations. That didn’t seem like too unreasonable of a request to me. Far too quickly we’re turning onto my street and I urge Alex to stop before the headlights of his car sweep across the front of my house and give me away. He looks at me and asks softly, “Have you changed your mind about the hospital?” “No,” I say, my voice sounding distinctly on edge. “I just don’t have time right now to think of what to tell them when they ask why half my face is puffy and red. I don’t want to acquaint them with anything that happened tonight, maybe not ever. Nothing really did happen, just only that it could have. If you hadn’t of been there, if you had found us a few minutes later…” My eyes start brimming with tears and then fall down my cheeks, steady and fast. “I knew when I touched him, what he was going to do! I couldn’t stop him; I tried so hard but it didn’t matter.” I don’t know if I moved or if he pulled me to him but he held me as I sobbed into his shoulder, and when he held me, I finally felt safe for the first time that night. He didn’t say much, only whispering that I was alright and that he wouldn’t let anyone hurt me but it was enough; it was perfect.
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Post by Monday on Nov 21, 2010 1:21:56 GMT -5
After he’s calmed me down enough for my words to be intelligible again he asks, “Are you still uncomfortable with going home tonight?” I nod my head but at the same time I’m wondering if there’s any way out of it besides trying to either sneak in the front door or scale the brick wall of my house to my bedroom window. But Alex has a better idea. “If you’d like, you could stay the night where I live. I’d sleep outside the room, of course,” he adds hastily, and I have to smile. “But no one would bother you because no one’s there tonight and they won’t be back until later tomorrow.” He doesn’t go into any further explanation as to why no one is there and for once, I’m grateful for the lack of information. I can’t handle anything but the bare minimum of information at this point. “Yes, thank you,” I say looking up at him. “That would be amazing.” I reluctantly crawl out of his lap and we start heading for his home. I can’t deny that I’m not at least a little curious, even in my disheveled state. We pull up to the house in question a few minutes later, however, I find that it’s nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, it’s rather plain looking, though quite large. We pull into the drive and I climb out of the car and walk toward him. The night air is cool and I wrap my arms around myself to keep the cold away and to hold myself together. I know that my time for breaking down has passed but when Alex wraps one of his arms around me and pulls me close to him I don’t push him away. We walk like this to the front of the house, me huddled to his side, my head just reaching the top of his shoulder. He has to releases me to unlock the door but takes my hand and leads me in when to the door swings open. “It’s not much,” he says flipping on the light switch, “but it’s my home now, and I’m thankful to have that.” I look around at the modest furnishings that encompass the room that seems to be a typical living space. A couch, maybe a little worse for wear and a television set in one corner. They even had a pool table in the middle of the room. I looked at Alex with my eyebrows raised and he smiles. “Not exactly what you expected?” “I guess I was just expecting to see something a bit more… out of the ordinary, I guess,” I admit. Still holding my hand, he leads me down a dimly lit hallway and up the stairs that are connected to it. “Wait until you get upstairs.” When we walk into a big open room that begins at the top of the stairs I begin to see what he means. There were several swords and various other weapons I had no name for hanging from the walls and I don’t think it was my imagination that they didn’t seem strictly decorative. On the adjacent wall there was a big white board with tons of writing that was too small for me to see with pieces of paper interspersed between the words. There was a long table on one side of the room with about a million things on it from maps to books to old coffee cups. There were several book shelves stacked high with large looking tombs that didn’t exactly seem like the type of books you would read simply for the fun of it. This is obviously where they did there planning and I might have been more curious to look at things more closely if I wasn’t so tired. On the side of the room near by the wall of weapons there was a punching bag, some weights and even a large mat that I could only assume was there to practice hand to hand combat. I think about how easy it was for Tommy to overpower me earlier and my hand not clasped in Alex’s curls up into a fist. All at once, I’m looking forward to learning more about the people who live in this house with Alex and I hope that they can teach me how to fight back harder and more successfully. The purpose of the space is so obvious that it leaves no explanation and Alex gives me a couple of minutes to take it all in and then he’s tugging me to another hallway on the other side of the room. If it’s possible, the house seems even larger inside then it did from the driveway. Without a word he opens the door to what I assume is his room and I’m not surprised to see that it’s kept neat and clean without a poster on his wall or a picture on the dresser that rests on the opposite side of the room from his bed. It reminds me of the inside of his car and I suddenly feel very sad that Alex has nothing in his life that he holds dear enough to keep in his bedroom. As I look around more however, is see that there is a picture frame on the night stand beside his bed. I finally let go of his hand and sit at the edge of his bed and carefully lift up the photograph. Alex walks over noiselessly and sits down beside me. It’s obviously not a professional picture, probably just something snapped with a disposable camera or one of the old wind-up ones that my mom used to have when I was very little. However, the simplicity of it only adds to its beauty. It’s of a younger woman, someone that can’t be much older than the two of us; she has long dark flowing hair and she is very beautiful. Her mouth is spread wide in a grin and her eyes are crinkled and sparkling. Somehow it’s like the picture has captured the moment right as she’s going from just smiling to laughter and the image seems to be emanating an air of whole hearted happiness.
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Post by Monday on Nov 21, 2010 2:29:11 GMT -5
I realize who she is before Alex says it. “That’s my mom, when she was about twenty,” he says softly. “I know.” I look up from the photograph and reach up to brush the ends of his hair away from his face and out of his eyes. It has a tendency of falling over them as it has now. “You have the same eyes,” I reply softly in explanation. I leave the tips of my fingers pressed against his cheek simply because I love the feel of it and because it feels completely right there even as I try to fight off the mixed emotions that I feel coming from him. He’s trying to make a decision between something he wants desperately and wanting to keep me safe as if he thinks I could somehow find him dangerous after all that we’ve been through. I don’t even need my ability as an empath to tell all this, I can see it all playing out in his eyes, so I decide to make the decision for him. We’re already so close that I don’t have to lean very far toward him for our lips to meet. This kiss is different from our first, though his hands do find their way to my face as they had the last time and I wonder vaguely if this is something I should expect every time I kiss Alex. I hope it is, just as I hope that this isn’t the last time we’ll kiss. I know it won’t be; I won’t let it. Our lips move slowly and gently together, not in a thrilling rush as before, but in a comforting way as if we’re both saying to each other, yes, I’m here and together we are safe. Where the last time was just raw passion, this is all tenderness. I know that whatever it is that we have between us now is far more serious than either one of us could have anticipated. My arms have wrapped around his neck again and when we finally come up for air sometime later I’m practically in his lap again. “I’m sorry,” he says quietly and I frown at him, annoyed that he would think that he needed to apologize for something I had desperately wanted him to do: kiss me back. “Don’t say that,” I whisper. “Not ever.” He leans his forehead against mine and we just look at each other in silence for a few minutes. Finally he says with a smile, “I think I’m in trouble.” I smile back because I know exactly what he means. We manage to disentangle ourselves from each other and when I stand up, I watch as he turns down the covers over his bed and gives me simple directions to where the bathroom is located and all of the usual house guest information. He walks out of the room briefly and when he reappears I see him making a pallet on the floor of blankets and a pillow just as he said he would before we came over here and it brings a smile to my face to see such chivalrous behavior even after we had been all over each other just a couple of minutes ago. When he walks back in the room to where I’m standing, it’s to say good night. “You can stay as long as you want in the morning, however much time you need before you have to face everyone,” he says giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. Our previous unspoken rule of noncontact has obviously dissipated completely now, not just when it comes to our lips, and I’m glad for it. For some reason his touch is a comfort to me like nothing else. As he turns to leave I grab his hand and say, “Alex wait.” I sigh in frustration not knowing exactly how to say this without embarrassing myself. “Will you…” I begin, than hesitate. “Could you just stay in here with me tonight? I know it’s not fair to ask you to but I can’t stand the thought of being alone right now.” Some might consider it cruel to ask a boy into your bed with no intention of doing anything other than sleeping but I had meant what I said. There was no way I was going to get any rest by being by myself tonight especially in this unfamiliar house. I’m liable to wake up still thinking I’m in that car with Tommy, and the thought of the nightmares that are to come tonight sends shivers up my spine. He searches my face for a few heartbeats but whatever he sees there convinces him to agree. “Alright,” he says, and I let out a breath I wasn’t aware I’d been holding. I crawl into the bed as he goes to switch off the lights and a part of me is dimly aware of the fact that perhaps I should be concerned about sharing a bed with a teenage boy, but I’m not at all. I’ve had sleepovers before and whoever’s spending the night usually just sleeps in my bed with me but it’s obviously never been a man before. A man I happen to be very attracted to and who knows it as well. I hear him slide of his shoes and then I feel his weight on the bed and realize that he’s sleeping on top of the covers while I’m under them. I’m glad to think that at least one of us is practical to keep us separated in this one small way at least. There’s no telling what might over come us in the dark with our bodies so close together, no matter what I originally intended. I reach in the dark for his hand just as he’s reaching for mine. Still holding my hand, he wraps his arm around me and my head fits comfortably into the curve of his shoulder. “Is this alright?” he whisper softly. “Yes,” I say softly back. “This is alright.”
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Post by Monday on Nov 22, 2010 0:12:35 GMT -5
Chapter 6 The sun is bright on my face when I wake up the next morning and the serenity that helped me fall asleep the night before still surrounds me as my eyes blink open. I look down to see Alex’s hand still clutched in mine and a sleepy smile spreads wide on my face. When I feel him gently squeeze my hand I know that he’s awake as well and I turn over on my side to face him. His eyes are soft on mine when he smiles and says, “Good morning.” “Don’t,” I say with a grin of my own putting my free hand over my mouth. “Don’t what?” he asks to innocently. I shake my head at him and say between my fingers, “Don’t kiss me. Morning breath.” My explanation is stilted in embarrassment and I hope that my fingers also cover up my blush. He laughs. “That’s going to take some getting used to,” he says lifting up our hands that are still held together. “Tell me about it,” I say with my hand still I place. But then he quirks his eyebrow up at me and with a mischievous grin, he purposefully lets go of my hand. “I think I like it better when you’re surprised.” He reaches for my arm, making sure to not touch my hand, and gently tugs until my fingers drops away from my face. He doesn’t take his eyes off of mine as his face moves slowly closer to mine and our lips softly press together. My eyes stay open too and as I look into his I can see that he’s making a point. “And I think you’re worth the risk,” he says when he finally pulls away. I wonder if he’s still talking about the bad breath or maybe something else but I decide not to ask. It’s enough to just be here with him right now. It’s that thought that reminds me that I’m not exactly where I’m supposed to be, at least according to my parents. I glance at the clock over my shoulder that sits on his night stand next to the picture of his mother. It’s just now nine o’clock and my parents probably won’t be expecting me home for a couple more hours since I have a tendency to sleep late but I start to wiggle free from the covers that are tangled around me anyway. I need to asses any damage that still might show on my face and I won’t feel human until I wash my face and brush my teeth as best I can without a tooth brush. Alex sits up in bed and runs both of his hands through his hair in what I assume is a gesture to wake himself up since we haven’t exactly been arguing. I know exactly how he feels. As soon as I started to get up it felt as if I was awaking from a dream or something, though we must have been lying in bed awake for at least twenty minutes. I make my excuses and then retreat to the bathroom to fix myself up as best as I can under the circumstances. The first thing to do is to wash my face which has a slight track of mascara running down both sides of my face since. I catch myself wondering if Alex noticed when we woke up and realized he must with our faces so close together. Then I shake my head and give myself a rueful look in the mirror. Now more than ever it was going to be difficult to keep my thoughts off of Alex and I had to wonder if I even wanted to try to stop myself. After Alex had came to my rescue I hadn’t been thinking of the argument that we had earlier, for the obvious reasons. But the light of day brought with it the recollection of what had driven me to make such a near fatal mistake. Not that I blamed Alex for what happened, not at all. I highly believed in taking responsibility for my own actions, and I was the idiot who decided to get in that car with Tommy. And, after all, nothing said I’m sorry like saving someone’s life. But though I wasn’t angry in any way at Alex anymore, the problems we had talked about still were still relevant and had to be dealt with eventually. However, there were more pressing matters at hand than my transforming relationship with Alex and these powers that I was apparently being called upon to use for a greater good that I hadn’t even known existed a few days ago. Deciding it was best to focus on the most noticeable problem of mine first, I pushed Alex and the other residents of the house out of my mind. I decided I looked a lot less ghastly once all traces of the makeup were removed and I had straitened my hair as well as could be hoped with only my fingers and a pony tail holder at hand. I was a bit sore, especially around my rib cage and sternum where he had tried to hold me down. I winced a bit in pain as I lifted my hands to my face and hair but it wasn’t anything a couple of days of rest couldn’t fix. There was a slight bruise across my cheek were the bones were most prominent but I thought I could cover it up with a little makeup. The corner of my lips, which had bled a little the night before, where just slightly red this morning and I thought no one would probably discern the slight cut. There was also some slight bruising on my wrist but again I thought that this would probably go unnoticed. I thought overall that I was very lucky that I hadn’t been hurt worse. Very lucky indeed.
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Post by Monday on Nov 22, 2010 0:13:08 GMT -5
“Have you finished the examination yet then?” I jump, quite surprised to find that Alex is leaning against the open door to the bathroom without me having noticed. I had left the door wide open but I had been concentrating so hard on not thinking of him that I had blocked out everything else around me as I did an assessment of damage I had taken. With just a glance I can tell his guard is up and that he’s trying to hide his emotions from his face. However, I think I know him well enough by now to tell what his true emotions are like even when he doesn’t want me to know and I my extra abilities as an empath plus probably don’t hurt much either. Right now I can tell that he’s angry, though I can’t figure out what I could have said or done to make his mood turn sour so quickly. “How long have you been standing there?” I ask, trying to ease the tension by playing up the fact that he startled me by placing my hand over my still pounding heart. Alright, so maybe I didn’t have to play it up so much. But all he does is smile tightly and reply, “Long enough.” “Long enough for what?” I ask stepping closer to him. “Why are you mad?” I want to reach my hand out to his for the simple comfort it would bring me but I knew he would think that I would just be trying to get my answers through my abilities. Even though I had to admit it would be nice to skip all the formalities and get straight to the heart of the problem, I’d still prefer to hear it come from Alex himself. I’m glad, however, when he doesn’t step back from me when I’m standing right in front of him and his fingers even brush across my skin where I know the bruise must be. “It’s not you I’m angry with, Evelyne. Or at least not much,” he says with a smirk. “What do you mean?” I ask warily. I’m desperately hoping that he’s not referring to last night. I didn’t realize how much it had meant to me until I thought he might regret it himself. The only time we had physically touched each other was by our hands clasped together through the night but sleeping next to someone else had its own sort of intimacy unto itself beyond the physical, I was learning quickly. There was just something unique about being able to fall asleep in someone else’s arms, the trust that it required, and I had enjoyed sharing that with Alex. Luckily my fears, at least in that sense, are quickly assuaged. “What I mean is that he hurt you and I wasn’t there soon enough to stop him,” Alex replied gruffly and then I understood why he had put his finger tips against my face a second ago. He blamed himself for what happened. “It’s my fault that this happened. Why aren’t you furious with me?” “Don’t be an idiot, Alex,” I snap at him. I wasn’t about to have him berate himself for something that was out of his control. “You know just as well as I did that it was my decision to get in that car, not yours. So if you should be mad at anyone, it should be me.” I could see that smile that I had once found annoying but now loved start to appear across his face as he looked at me. “Alight then,” he says and I smile at my easy victory over him. I see a spark of actual anger in his eyes as he looks down at me and grasps the tops of both of my arms with his hands. “I am furious with you,” he begins and I believe him. “How could you be so reckless? How could you be so stupid? You’re basically a walking lie detector and you choose to forgo your talents because you’re too damn trusting of people.” At this point I’m pretty sure that I haven’t won after all. I’m not afraid that he’ll hurt me, despite the image of him glowering so imposingly in front of me, but that still doesn’t mean I like to be chewed out even if he’s right. Especially if he’s right. “Do you want your father to kill me? I meant what I said when I told him I’d keep you safe, but damn it, you’re not making it easy on me, Evelyne.” “If you recall correctly, I never asked you to protect me,” I say getting angry right back and wrenching my arms out of his grasp. I know I have no real right to be mad at him after all he’s done for me but I can’t help myself. Every time we’ve argued in the past I’ve risen to the occasion and fought him right back, and I don’t feel like that’s going to be changing any time soon. “And why does it even matter to you what happens to me? I’m sure you could figure out a way to stop your bad guy without me.” I turn away from him and stalk back to his bedroom. For some reason, it feels wrong to be having this serious of an argument in the bathroom. When I snap around I see that Alex’s anger has not abated one bit and seems to have only grown. He takes my arms again and this time actually shakes them a bit, though I don’t think he’s even conscious of it. “You sure as hell know that it’s because of more than that?” I stamp down furiously on the fluttering that these words cause in my chest and quirk my eyebrow at him and say viciously, “Do I?” In the next heartbeat his lips are once again pressed to mine this time angrily and as if he has something to prove. Just like I have something to prove to him. I match his movements and kiss him back furiously not quite able to control the desire or anger that I feel for him. Once again our bodies are wrapped up in each other and my hands are running hungrily up his chest and spreading through his hair, using it to pull him even closer to me if that’s possible at this point. His fingers are blazing a trail wherever they touch me and when his hands slide up the edge of my shirt and onto the bare skin of my back a deep shiver runs through me. This seems to only affect him even more and we’re practically on fire when he suddenly pulls me away from him and takes a few steps back, panting as hard as I am. We had almost lost control then, and I realized shakily that I wouldn’t have thought to stop. I don’t know whether to thank him or resent him. “If that’s how all of our arguments are going to end from now on,” I finally say, my hands still unsteady. “Remind me to piss you off more often.”
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Post by Thursday on Nov 22, 2010 15:42:23 GMT -5
((lol. I like it. ))
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Post by Monday on Nov 22, 2010 18:51:36 GMT -5
After we had both calmed down enough to talk like civilized human beings, we concluded that it would be best to keep control of ourselves, so to speak, until we could work past more pressing matters. I wasn’t about to forget that this whatever it was between us was still undefined but I had to admit, deciding my role as an empath was probably more important. We sat down on the edge of his bed, neither one of us touching the other, not willing to take that risk again. At least not yet. “So,” I begin, knowing that he won’t be the one to broach the subject of this powerful murderer that they’re after. That we’re after, I guess. I can’t really blame him for not wanting to bring it up after my reaction last night, but it’s something that has to be dealt with. “Does this villain of ours have a name?” His head jerks up to look at me, obviously surprised that I’d bring it up. “Aren’t you more concerned with what you’re going to tell your parents?” I shrug my shoulders and say, “They probably won’t even notice but I’ll put some concealer on my cheek, just in case.” I glance down at my phone which I had just plucked off the night stand to see that I have three missed calls, all from Macy. I rolled my eyes but really I’m relieved that there haven’t been any calls from Angela or my parents, and the saying no news was good news probably applied here. Macy was probably just digging for information about the party and I resolved to call her after I got home. “I think it’s best to keep this between you, me and Tommy, at least for now. You put the fear of God in him and I don’t think he’ll be bothering me or anyone else for that matter,” I say with a smirk. It would make me happy to never have to see him again but it helped some to know that he wouldn’t be inflicting the same pain on anyone else. Alex nodded in agreement with me. “By the way, I forgot to thank you for what you did last night,” he says, looking at me intensely but earnestly. “For what?” I say blankly. I can’t imagine what he could be talking about, I’m pretty sure he did all the rescuing back there and I say as much to him too. But he just shakes his head. “No, from stopping me from kil-” he cuts himself off, let’s out a breath and continues, “from hurting him anymore. Don’t get me wrong, he would have deserved it.” He’s barely able to keep the intensity out of his voice and I know that part of him wishes he still could have mortally harmed Tommy. I’m just glad the part of him that is thankful he didn’t go through with it is more prevalent. “But I haven’t lost control like that in… well in a long time. It would have been hard for me to come back.” His words are stilted as if he’s admitting a personal weakness and I guess in a way he is. But to me it means much more than that. It means that he’s strong enough to face his worst fears and face them with me. His words also frighten me a bit. Not that I fear for my own safety, I was sure that was never going to be a problem with Alex, but the part where he said that it would be hard for him to come back from something like that. It sounded to me that what I was going to be doing here wasn’t exactly going to be safe and he couldn’t go flying off the handle every time there was danger, especially not for me. “Call me crazy,” I say sardonically. “But I just assumed that this whole catching a murder thing was going to be inherently dangerous. You can’t almost ‘lose control’ every time someone tries to hurt me. It’s going to happen.” There’s a touch of anger in my voice but I can’t help myself, I mean every word. He’s looking straight at me and I can practically see the sparks flying in his eyes. “I don’t want to have that much affect on anyone,” I whisper. “Much less you.”
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Post by Thursday on Nov 22, 2010 19:01:53 GMT -5
((does that mean he's killed someone before?))
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