Collide
The small but visible gab between reality and fiction had just sunk right in.
And that feeling wasn't going anywhere.
She touched the golden bristled pages so lightly she wasn't sure if her fingers made any real contact at all.
Her apple green orbs gazed around the dusty room, feeding her brain all of the necessary information she would most likely need for later.
Two small windows opposite of where she was standing let in thick rays of sunlight, it beamed through all the dust particles that drifted in the air. Making it seem like the room held a frosty new snow instead of a warm sunrise beginning to peak into the awakening city.
The lengthy wall she was facing supported a tall rusty bookcase containing hundreds of ancient but well kept looking books, differing tremendously in size, color, and thickness.
The room wasn't very wide, only extremely long, like an oversized hallway.
She sat tiredly into a green chair next to the bookcase.
Kevin wouldn't like that she was in here.
But she simply looked around the room, and felt a wave of sereneness corrupt her senses.
Pictures of her and Kevin were strewn all over the floor, like someone had been reminiscing before she had come here the day before.
A silver picture frame was placed in the far left corner of the bookcase, the only slot where books weren't pilling all over each other.
The picture was taken at least two months ago, outside of Benny's Pizza Chain.
The trio was at a small round table outside of the restaurant, Ben was holding up the camera making sure everyone was in the shot.
He held a toothy smile on his excited clear face, Kevin sat slouched back leaning against the thick white pillar behind him, glaring at the camera with a mouth full of vegetable pizza. Gwen, almost totally unaware of the camera being shoved in front of all there faces until the last second. Held a small closed lips smile on her cherry mouth, and slightly pushed her head up from leaning on her hand to looking at the camera with her right pointer finger still touching her face.
She couldn't leave, not just yet.
When she came into the room she felt like everything that had happened between her and Kevin just yesterday could be as real as she felt right now.
She smiled tiredly while picking up the picture frame and holding closer to her face, memorizing every fine detail about that day.
The door behind her opened without any warning at all.
She turned around.
His face was contorted with confusion and absolute shock, and his mouth dropped open in a perfect 'O' while his eyes bulged almost all the way out of their sockets.
"Wh…. what are you doing in here?" he seemed more flabbergasted then she had thought he would be.
She shrugged calmly, replacing the picture where it had been minutes ago.
"I wanted to see what was in here."
He closed his mouth, and stood a little straighter. Trying his best to look like he had everything under control from the beginning.
"I labeled it 'secret room' for a reason you know," he hissed while striding up closer to her, making sure his chest was grazing the top of hers.
"Which I don't get what so ever, that's like holding up a sign that says Gwen. Enter. Now," she smirked up at him.
He frowned.
"How did you even get in? I hade a security lock put on there and everything."
She giggled moderately while lacing her arms around his neck.
His hands perched themselves on her waist in response.
"Kevin rules isn't really a mind bender sweetie," she smiled while rocking them back and forth slightly.
He chuckled.
"Why do you have a secret room anyway? It's pretty in here you shouldn't hide it," Gwen asked him.
He leaned forward, touching their noses together softly.
"It was my grandfathers study when he lived here a long time ago. He was the only one in my family that was nice to me; he gave me everything my parents couldn't. So when he gave me his home in the will after he passes away I wanted to keep this room locked up because it reminded me to much of him, and I hate to dwell on things for too long," he explained.
She sunk into his hold, placing her smooth lips on his neck, sending him butterfly pecks every other second.
"Oh," she muttered.
"Come on, I'll make you breakfast," she took his hand and led him away from the room that seemed to be hurting him, even now.
"Toast?"
"Wh-no, I said…come over here."
He paused.
"You want me to come over for toast at Kevin's apartment? Well okay Gwen but if Kevin yells at me for taking too much peanut butter this time I'm out of there."
"What? Oh No I wasn't talking to you, I meant I'm at Kevin's apartment that's why I'm not home."
"Oh…Why are you at Kevin's apartment…with him?"
"Uh…uh that's a really long story Ben I'll tell you all about it when I get home though."
She hung up the white cordless pone quickly before her cousin could voice the thought that they both knew was on his mind.
And she knew she had to get home, but everything with her and Kevin felt so real right now that she had a hard time putting it into such a revolting pause.
"Gwen," Kevin called from the dinning table.
Said person poked her head out of the kitchen door and stared directly at the owner of the voice that had summoned her.
"Kevin."
"Were going to the park today."
Her face creased the slightest in the warmest smile she had given him all day.
"Sounds good."
Ben placed a colored blue daisy on top of the thick bold tree stump in the middle of the grassy area.
He looked up at the tree connected to it.
Max + Verdona it read.
He let a small-infelt sob escape his troubled lips.
"I miss you grandpa Max…I miss you so much," he let one more tear run down his cheeks before wiping the wetness completely from his face.
He breathed in deeply, nearly shaking inside.
"I'm loosing her grandpa, Gwen has Kevin now. I feel like…I feel like I didn't do things right somehow. I fell like I should be taking care of Gwen just the way you did with her. I want her to be happy, to move on from all this alien drama once it's all over. To have her life back, but I still fell the urge to care for her and to hold her when she's crying like I always did before Kevin showed up."
He paused, tilting his head towards the achingly sunny sky.
"I just hope that Kevin can take good care of her, she's only ever thought of others and Kevin's only ever thought of himself…. I whish you were here, so we could do this together, save the world, save Gwen from boys…"
He chuckled.
"Goodbye grandpa Max."
And then he was gone.
The swing set blew causally against the long metal poles supporting it.
The freshly mowed vibrantly colored green grass stew silently against the light breeze.
And the bustling city people socialized loudly with each other at the bottom of the curvy path that led to the Bellwood national park.
Without question they made a beeline toward the stranded swing set on the far side of the blooming park.
"This has got to be one of the most romantic things you have ever done," Gwen commented while Kevin gently pushed her on the swings.
"I thought reading all those damn books was the most romantic thing I've ever done," he replied back with a grin.
"Well this comes in a close second."
He chuckled, reaching out for the black swing as it came toward his direction. He caught it, holding it completely still as he reached around towards the front of it and pressed his lips tenderly against Gwen's.
She grinned playfully against his mouth, angling her chin upwards, pursing her lips into his even more.
"You want some ice cream?" he whispered in her ear after several long seconds of slyly tasting each other's persistent lips.
She just nodded her head, too busy to speak as she whiffed in his alluring scent.
He smirked at her, giving her a quick peck before walking down the dusty trail to the weave of civilities with his hands stiffly in his pockets.
"Gwen."
She turned around.
Her mouth hung loosely enough for the person before her to smirk pictorially and reach over, using his pointer finger to close her gapping mouth.
"Chris," she finally replied softly.
Kevin Levin stood calmly in line.
Looking for some sort of distraction to occupy him as he wearingly edged forward every other moment barley scraping towards the front of the line.
Fucking shit heads, he cursed every person in the line that had gotten there before he had.
He glared lastingly at the group of teenage girls towards the front of the line that kept on turning around to stare and wink at him and giggling annoyingly with each other whispering and pointing between their staggered laughs.
He scoffed and looked away, shuttering as of them made a bitter sort of dieing noise, which he assumed was another obnoxious loud laugh to attempt to get his attention back on them.
But he hardly even heard.
He had found his distraction.
A little girl with very fine blond hair and a large bright red helmet on top of her head pedaled her plastic bicycle toward him. Directly staring right at him, smiling so big he was sure her face would crack under pressure.
But she wobbly kept her slow pace as she neared him, that big smile still painted on her thin red lips.
She giggled something to Kevin, as she was close enough to touch the tip of his shoes, it was a much cuter sound then those girls were making before.
"Heyy," he soothed as he bent down to flick the tip of her nose.
She laughed and clapped her hands in response.
He looked over the top of her helmet to see a blond haired woman watching the scene intently, a smile weaving its way to her face.
"Elizabeth!" The woman called out happily.
The mother.
The child twisted her body around towards her mother, waving enthusiastically.
Kevin slowly rose to his feet, knees cracking in all.
I'm getting old.
He picked the plastic bicycle up and turned it around so it was facing the older woman.
"Whoaaaaa!" Elizabeth giggled.
He grinned, and gave her a little push as she plopped her feet right back on her miniature black pedals and started focusing on her new adventure.
The idea of a family had just presented itself to Kevin's thoughts.
Extremely new and shiny, taken right out of its package.
And the more he thought this new ideal future, the more it had sunk in.
What are you doing here? She wanted to ask, but this was a park, everyone had the right to come here.
"I didn't expect to run into you here," he broke the thick musk of silence that had penetrated through Gwen's happy atmosphere.
"You never called me back," a confused look ran over his handsome features.
She grimaced; Gwen hated making people feel bad.
"Oh I'm sorry Chris but I'm kind of…in a relationship now."
An angry expression flickered across his face, but was gone just as fast at it had come.
"With that…Kevin guy you were with?" he asked.
She just nodded her head slowly.
But to her surprise he sighed deeply and took a few steps closer to her then he already was.
"I'm only going to say this once so listen up Gwen," he growled at her.
She stepped backwards in astonishment.
This was not the guy she had just met the other day.
"Dump him."
She narrowed his eyes down into angry slits, directing her immediate mood change directly to Chris.
"And why would I do that?" she questioned angrily.
But this unfortunately only made his smirk widen.
"Because I'm Chris Morningstar and I can make your life a living hell."
He anger faltered for a moment.
Morningstar?
"I didn't know Mike had a brother," she tried to remain calm.
He sneered.
"He doesn't mention me, I was a mistake," he emphasized. "But this isn't about me Gwen, this is about you."
Gwen hardened her look.
"I'm not breaking up with Kevin Chris."
He didn't flinch.
"Are you sure about that answer?"
"Did I stutter?"
In a fraction of a second he grabbed the base of her neck, lifting her off the ground.
But instead of tightening his grip to choke her he let his hand brighten to a bright golden color and merely just held his hand there.
Gwen on the other hand felt herself draining, felt her energy drop. Felt like she was loosing herself right before her eyes.
He dropped her.
She felt…tired.
"Every 7th day of the week I will drain a fraction of your energy just as I did today. I will continue doing this until you finally decide to break it off with Kevin. But since you are an energy being in about…say… three months time if you stay with Kevin, you will surely die a very painful death Gwen Tennyson."
And just like that, Gwen's life had taken a drastic turn that she had no idea how to put back on track.
