4
Love to Fight, Fight to Love
By Anna Becker
"You need to learn how to fight." He said it with such conviction that she shook her head unsure if she had heard him correctly.
"I'm sorry? I have to what?" She asked him in confusion. He crossed his arms as he looked down at her with a proud smile on his face. She rolled her eyes and crossed her own arms giving him a stare down. This only resulted in him smiling even bigger at her small act of defiance. Something about her always seemed to amuse him greatly. That in turn annoyed her even more.
"I'm going to teach you to fight Boo. You need to learn to defend yourself."
"And what makes you believe that I don't know how to fight already?" She asked.
"Because hiding in a tree all the time and snarky come backs are not enough. Now let me show you."
"First, I am not snarky and second, hiding is not the word I would call it." She narrowed her eyes a bit as she glared at him.
"I don't know what you call it but I still call it hiding and we can't have that now can we." She sighed slightly and rolled her eyes once more.
"Why do you care so much anyway?" She really didn't understand Bellamy Blake. He had come down to protect his sister and somehow had found himself on her radar.
"Because I do, now no more stalling and let me help." She started him down for a few more seconds.
"Fine!" She stated dramatically. "But if it leads me to kicking your ass, I don't want to hear about it." He laughed again looking down at her with his brown eyes sparkling. He was never like this with anyone else. He almost always seemed gitty around her. It was unnerving. She wasn't sure what to do about all of the attention.
"I wouldn't expect anything less. Now let's get started."
"Wait? What? Now?" Her gaze darted nervously around. They were on the out skirts of camp. Everyone and anyone could walk by and see them. She didn't want that. She really didn't like calling attention to herself. He had turned away but when he heard her hesitation he turned back around.
"Can't think of a better time, can you?" He took in her uncomfortable stance and walked back over to her. "Look, we don't have to do this here but I think we need to do this now." She crossed her arms again.
"Why?" She asked. It was his turn to roll his eyes.
"Because Lil Boo, you're just agreeing so that I'll leave you alone and then you could go sulk in your tree. Then you'll avoid me until you think I've forgotten, which I won't, and then we would be back here doing this all over again. So stop stalling and get moving." She started at him slightly shocked that he had pegged her thought process so well. It must have shown on her face because he was back to smiling at her again. She recovered quickly.
"Okay, fine but this doesn't mean you won. Not by a long shot. And I don't sulk." She said as she walked pass him. "Try not to look so smug about it either." This caused him to smile even bigger causing her to be more annoyed but more so due to the reaction in the pit of her stomach. She felt her face flush slightly and she cursed her body's reaction to the man, the very good looking man, in front of her. She went to walk by him but he gently tugged on her upper arm and turned her around pointing in the opposite direction.
"This way pumpkin." He said as he marched her out of camp and stopped a little ways away from camp and out of sight of anyone else.
"So I'm pumpkin now?" She asked as they stopped and she turned to face him schooling her features.
"Just taking it for a test drive. You like?" He tilted his head in a teasing manner. She gave him a thoughtful look.
"Not sure if I like being compared to a rather large, round orange gourd."
"A rather cute gourd but whatever you say Boo." He chuckled. He then crouched down hands out in front of him. "All right come and get me." He looked really intense and serious which caused her to laugh out loud.
"Does that approach ever work for you Blake?" He strengthened up and looked at her in annoyance.
"Aww come on pumpkin. Give me a brea..." He never finished his sentence because within seconds she had slammed into him knocking him to the ground and was sitting on his chest with a small knife to his neck.
"I thought we agreed on the no pumpkin thing." She had leaned down so that they were almost nose to nose. "Just because I choose not to fight doesn't mean I can't. Maybe I love to fight." He had quickly recovered from the shock of a small tiny bit of a girl who had landed him on his ass and gave her a smile.
"Knew you had it in you." He used his hand to gently move her arm with the knife away.
"I don't know what kind of game you are playing here Blake but..." it was her turn to be shocked as he then flipped her on her back pinning her arms above her head. It was his turn to lean in close. He could hear her breath quicken.
"The very best kind." He said looking down at her with a look she couldn't identify and did something she didn't expect. He leaned down and kissed her. It was a sweet kiss, a quick kiss. What shocked her the most however, was that she found herself kissing him back. He pulled away looking into her startled green eyes. "You see Lil Boo, you may love to fight but I on the other hand fight to love." He gave her another quick kiss before he jumped up and walked way without looking back. "See you around Pumpkin Boo." He then started to whistle as he walked back toward camp leaving her in the dirt. She watched his retreating from where she sat left wondering what the hell had just happened.