Chapter 4

Sides drove fast… Really fast.

I don't think you comprehend what I'm saying… I mean, we were going really fast. Right now, we were cruising by so many cars I was sure we had passed at least one police car, and yet, there was no sirens blaring for us to stop. I shifted my eyes over to nervously glance at Sides. He was sitting there lazily as if going 165 km per hour was normal. I saw his gaze draw towards me and quickly looked away.

He chuckled. "You don't have to be nervous you know. If you're dream was to ride in a Stingray, it's only worthwhile if you go fast." He flashed his teeth at me.

Sides and Sunny's twin trademark may be their piercing blue eyes, but Sides trademark alone is his beaming smile. He uses it all the time! For example, we just got kicked out of the grocery store because Sides had insisted on running around, fast, pushing a shopping cart… with me inside. I had obviously declined at first, but he had resumed picking me up and tossing me into the metal basket (the big one, mind you).

At first I was strongly embarrassed, I mean, how often do you see a seventeen year old riding in a shopping cart? But then again, you don't see the twenty-two year old pushing a seventeen year old in a shopping cart either. It was 6:00pm at the time, but that didn't mean the store was empty. But Sides was strong. He pushed the shopping cart along the isles, letting me pick out whatever I needed. We went fast.

How fast? Well let's just say that we hit more than one other shopping cart/(blind/normal)person/children/dog along the way. With the wind rushing through my hair, and playing bumper cars being a favourite of mine, I must admit, it was fun, regardless of how many times we had to say sorry to our purely accidental victims. That was until the store manager forced us to pay for our things immediately and kicked us out. But at least I got my things! And throughout the whole thing, Sides smile never seemed to falter. He was a really happy sort of guy… not my type I don't think, but I had a feeling that the day when that smile falters, it will make me sad.

"What makes you think I'm nervous?" I asked, my tone sounding unconvincing even to myself. I suddenly wished he would keep his eyes on the road instead of me, but I couldn't say that outloud.

"Well, you are gripping the safety handle awfully tight." He snorted, obviously amused. "And who are you kidding, your jaw is definitely clenching."

I immediately relaxed my jaw, only to find myself uncomfortable and then resumed clenching. Wow. "Okay, maybe I'm a little nervous. I've never gone this fast though."

"You really don't need to worry." His eyes continued to focus on me. "You're safe in here." He said softly. Dumbfounded, I stared back at him with probably the stupidest look on my face as my hearbeat raced again. Oh god, not this again! What was he doing to me? "There's a first time for everything." He smiled. Always the charmer. I looked away and sighed. I suppose that's just the way he always is. To every girl no doubt. But despite his unconvincing argument of the safety in the confines of his vehicle, I found myself relaxing, sinking into the seat anyways. I let a small smile form on my face.

There was a moment of comfortable silence before I decided to speak again. "Your voice sounds better." I said, more as a question than a statement.

Sides formed a wry grin. His stare made me a little nervous again because no matter how good you are at driving, you can't possibly know where you're going without look through the windshield! It didn't help that he was speeding well over the limit! "Let's just say, someone gave me a quick uh... fix." He smiled as if there was a joke I wasn't aware of.

Uh… okay.

Another silence ensued, this time a little more awkward… but that just might be from my doing. And I could tell Sides had noticed too. "Are you okay?" He said, his face looking more worried than I had expected it to.

"Yeah." I gave him a small smile, but sometimes I was just not a talker. I hope he figured that out, and I think he did because he finally looked away, but had a small smile on his face, which seemed to have magically lightened the awkwardness.

I had told Sides my address previously and before I knew it (and no wonder since he was driving so fast), the Stingray had pulled up in my driveway, but he kept the engine running. For a moment, I paused before clicking open the seatbelt, which seemed to be suspiciously hard to press open, but I waved the thought away because somehow I could feel an awkward moment coming up. "Thanks for driving me all around town today." I said quickly, trying to avoid another silence. I began to twist my torso to get my things from the back seat when I felt a strong force of impact crash on my head. Sides' 'strong force of impact' from his head. "Ow!" I yelped. You know that pain in your head where it starts at the top of your skin, but then begins to burn deeper into your body? Well that's what I was feeling... but in my head.

"Oh my gosh Jules, I'm so sorry." Sides reacted, with a pained look on his face. "I'm really, really, really sorry." He said yet again. "I'm so stupid, I should've known… I—"

"Sides!" I exclaimed, still clenching my forehead, which seemed to shut him up. "Really, it's fine." The dreaded silence came, but it wasn't awkward at all. I started to laugh, which eased his hard worry lines. "But you have a really hard head." I grinned. "It's like made out of metal!"

Sides laughed extra hard at that, but maybe he was just trying to ease the mood more. "I've been told that many times." He said, in between laughs.

I continued to giggle, turning around to grab my stuff. I couldn't grab it all at once from the back, so Sides helped me grab the rest… this time, after I did my round. "Thanks." I smiled at him, taking the rest of my things from his hands.

"No problem. I had fun driving you around today anyways. We should do it some more. You do after all love my Stingray." He smirked.

"Yes, it's my fav." I said with a little sarcasm.

"Ahh…" he furthered his smirk. "But all things unfortunately, come with a fee… including today's little drive."

I gave him a mock outraged look. "Well, I didn't know about that! If I knew, I would have hitched a ride with Sunny. And I think embarrassing me at the store is enough to pay off today's fee, AND the next."

He shrugged playfully. "Nope, doesn't count. Sorry, now I have to collect the fee." He whipped out his hand as if asking for cash, his fingers moving up and down.

"And what is this fee then?" I smiled curiously.

"Hmm…" he said, giving a look of ponder, but I knew by the way his eyes gleamed that he already knew what the fee was. Knowing him, he had this planned out all along! Jerk. "I am feeling quite hungry…" he said, wiggling his eyebrows in a comical manner. I rolled my eyes, smiling. "And you did just buy so much food."

I gave him a look of surprise. He did not. "Did you just invite yourself in?"

It was his turn to mock a look. "I suppose I did." He laughed. "That, and I also insinuated that you eat a lot."

I slapped his arm a bit harder than I had intended, but he seemed unaffected. I calculated for a bit as I glanced at the clock. It was 6:42pm. Hmm… Jack does usually come home around twelve and one… It wouldn't hurt if Sides came in for just a second would it? Even if it's a little stupid, considering that I had just met him today. Is it weird if I say yes? Hmm… "I don't eat that much." I smiled. "Just an occasional dinosaur or two." I shrugged playfully.

"Well," he said with a little finality. "Dinosaur eater, a.k.a Monster," he addressed, grinning. "Are you going to make me a sandwich?"

I laughed. "How does canned Campbell's Soup sound?"

"Fair enough. And as a guest then, I will carry your bags." He said, reaching out towards me.

My gripped tightened on them before he tore the bags out of my hands. "Is there a fee?" I joked.

"Probably not." He said, as I released my hold on them. We both got out of the car, heading towards the front door. "Can't make any promises though."

"Hey!" I giggled. "No fair!"

"Well, I just don't play fair!" Suddenly, I felt a wave of nostalgia hit me.

I giggled again. "Wrong!" Irritated, I felt him lift the entire sheet up to expose the pillows. "Hey!" I exclaimed. "You're not playing fair!"

"I'm a Decepticon. I do not play fair."

I shook my head. That's not real Julie. Get your head out of there. I gritted my teeth in frustration. "Jules?" Sides said, giving me a worried look.

I forced myself to beam at him. "That's a load of hooey. There're rules you know!" I mentally cringed after saying that. Not only was that the most ridiculous thing a seventeen year old can say to a twenty-two year old, but it was also what I had replied to 'Barricade the robot' when he said he didn't play fair.

He laughed. "We haven't established any rules yet, my dear."

I smiled, but said nothing as I concentrated on unlocking the door. When I swung it open, I swear my heart stopped for a second out of shock.

The house was a wreck, which was definitely not the condition I had left it in this morning. The carpet looked like some hairy black dog had been meticulously rolling in it so that every inch of the floor had at least some black form of dust or molecules on it. Jack's broken beer bottle pile near the wall seemed to have multiplied twenty-fold compared to this morning, and there was this weird gooey stuff sliding down the hand rail of the stairs. Now I wasn't totally caught up on cleaning and hygiene, not at all, but this…, this was horrid. The house had been turned into a wreck in a single afternoon, and by the looks of it, Jack and his friends, who he must've had over, had been the cause of it. Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed about it.

"Wow." Sides breathed. "I had thought you as a neat-freak type of person." he joked.

"I'm not…" I said, still shocked myself. "But this is definitely not how I left it this morning."

"Does it seem like someone broke in?" He asked, his eyes seemed to be scanning the sitting room.

"No… I think Jack had friends over."

"Your dad?"

"Uhh..." Yeah, only by flesh and blood. "Sure." I said. "Come on, let's go into the kitchen for now. I'll clean this up later." Sides followed me through the doors to the kitchen, and the sight of the condition that was in made me gasp. There was err… spaghetti sauce? Ketchup? Red paint? Well whatever it was, it was all over the walls, cabinets, counter and ceiling. There were some streak marks on the floor, signalling that someone must've slipped on it. I hope it was Jack. If I was lucky, maybe he had split his head open… but that was only wishful thinking. Oh my God, how am I ever going to clean this up? It will take me days.

"Now are you sure someone didn't break in?"

I sucked in some air to calm myself before replying. "I'm sure. Let me just put some stuff away so I can clean and make that soup for—"

Sides grabbed my busy arm, giving me a serious look. "It's okay." He said. "I'm actually not that hungry." He confessed. "How about I stay and help you clean?"

I felt really embarrassed now. Not only did he have to put up with this wreck of a house, but he had to help clean it too? That just didn't make any sense.

"It's okay Sides. I can clean it up later. I have nothing to do."

He looked around the house some more as I continued putting away groceries. At least the fridge was kept in good condition. I saw him grab some food cans out of the bag to put them away when I tore them out of his hands. "Sides." I whined. "Stop, I can do it myself." I realised that I sounded quite upset and frustrated, but I think he realised that I wasn't upset at him in particular. Just at my predicament.

"You're stressed." He stated. Well no duh. I placed the cans in the pantry across the room where they were supposed to go. "I just want to help Jules." He said sadly.

I sighed. There goes his trademark smile. It was gone and that made me feel a guilty. "I'm sorry." I said, looking downcast. "If you really want to help, can you at least wipe up the counter for me?"

Sides gave me two thumbs up before reaching for some paper towels by the sink when we heard the front door slam open. I felt the dread fill me up from head to toe. Jack was home. Crap.

"Brat!" he called for me across the house. Oh God, oh God... why was he home so early? It's not even ten yet! I exchanged a nervous glance at Sides as he gave me a confused one. My eyes snapped up when Jack stumbled into the kitchen. He had a common whore latched onto his arm, and stood a little hunched, tipsy. "W-what? Who's that guy?" He asked, straightening up a little.

"Jack, this is Sides-, uh... Sean." I said quietly, defeated. I had wanted everyone I knew to avoid a meeting with Jack, but now, I just wish I had never invited Sides in here in the first place. I would've saved him a lot of time, energy, and perhaps a bit of my dignity. I turned to Sides. "Sides, this is my… dad."

Sides seemed to straightened up a little after the introduction and gave Jack a disapproving glance. A hard disapproving glance. "It's nice to meet you sir." He went up and exchanged handshakes with him.

Jack sneered. I can already see him performing a mock parody of Sides to his whore girlfriend. I found myself utterly disgusted at the thought. "Well, what are you still doing here boy?" I almost groaned. I felt like burying my face in my hands, never taking my head out of them from pure embarrassment. Normally when your friends meet your parents, you're embarrassed by them anyways because they talk about how cute you were when you were a little kid, and talk about your old embarrassing habits. This was different though. I'm embarrassed because Jack is making fun of himself. Oh God, please stop talking Jack.

Sides looked shocked at his words, and it was then that I decided to put an end to his misery. I began pulling on his arm. "I think you should leave now." I said quietly, cringing as his eyes widened, disbelieving my words. "I'm sorry. I can show you out…"

"He's a big boy, bra—Julia." Jack interrupted. "He can find his own way out."

Sides began to clench his hands into fists, his body shaking as his eyes narrowed onto Jack. Something told me that Sides could tear Jack apart into little pieces if he wanted to, despite their differences in physique. He was in the military after all, but I couldn't let him do that. He could get into serious trouble for doing that. "Sides, please." I whispered. "I'll talk to you later okay?" Though, I highly doubt that he would want to talk to me after this.

Sides did not say anything but instead gave me a hard look before exiting the house. The door slammed. Right then, I felt as if my heart had been shattered into a million bits and pieces, stamped on many times by a giant's foot, and then run over by an industrial truck, because of the glance he gave me. I didn't know why. It's not as if I liked him or anything. He was older than me! I heaved a sigh. Oh well… I didn't think I had a chance with such a great guy anyways. He'll find a better girl in no time. He's able to find a better girl in no time. He had options. I didn't. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get that look on his face out of my mind. He looked so… hurt… and disappointed.

"Pam," Jack finally announced. I didn't realise that there had been a silence after Sides left. "Meet me in my room. I'll be there in a second."

"But…"

"Go!" Jack snapped. He was still slurring a bit from his consuming of excessive alcohol, but 'Pam' went upstairs obediently as we waited to hear her slam the door shut, no doubt undressing herself to prepare to show off her 'sexy' fat and cellulite to Jack. I shuddered in disgust.

"You!" he barked, grabbing my arm, dragging me up the stairs for the second time of the day. I yelped at the strength of his grip once more. There's bruise number two.

"Ow!" I cried out, tears beginning to form in my eyes. I didn't want this to happen again. Not today at least. "Stop, please."

We got to the top of the stairs where he stopped and began to yell. I was surprised that the next door neighbours didn't hear and come to check out what was happening. "Who said you can bring anyone over to this house? This is my house, and without my permission, you're not allowed to bring ANYONE in this hou—"

"Ah! Please, dad." I cried out in pain. "It hurts."

"What the hell? Who said you could interrupt me? We went over it this morning! I want respect from you!" He raised his hand far back for extra momentum and winded it down to slap me in the face. It was very painful.

Unfortunately for me, the pain from his hand was not the only thing I had to worry about. The force of his slap had caused me to be pushed off the second floor and winding down the staircase. All the way down.

In all the commotion (I was very distracted by the pain and my lack of awareness between up and down), I didn't hear the front door open again when I was lying at the bottom of the stairs. I had the largest headache, my cheek burned, my neck landed a little uncomfortably, and my left wrist was in pain

"I forgot my…" There was a pause in a familiar voice. Sides. "…keys." I vaguely heard him shuffle quickly towards me. "Julie!" he cried in obvious panic. "Julie, can you hear me?" There was a lot of urgency in his voice. "Are you okay? Primus, Julie…" I felt numb as he positioned my body in what seemed to be the correct way up… I think. I winced as the blood rushed to my head, making me feel dizzy. My eyes didn't seem like they wanted to open. Tucked under his chin… I think…, I felt him look upwards towards the second floor.

"S-she fell backwards…. On her own." Came Jack's shaky reply. "She said she was feeling tired. Something about tutoring."

Since my eyes didn't seem to want to work, I could only assume that Sides narrowed his eyes, his voice dripping with venom. "I'll clean her up." He said shortly, carrying me into the living room.

"Good idea." I heard Jack said quietly, before hearing his door slam.

Sides gently placed me on the loveseat, careful not to traumatize my body any further. The absence of his warmth made me whimper a bit. I felt so weak… and shameful. As soon as the sound came out of my mouth, I felt him return. He let me lean against him. "Jules." He said softly. "Don't exert yourself." I heard the opening snap of a box, and managed to open my eyes to discover that it was a first aid kit.

"Where'd you find d'at?" I managed to mumble dizzily. "I was looking for it."

"Shh…" he shushed me. "In the freezer." He snorted. "I saw it when you were putting away the groceries." He dabbed my forehead with some cold liquid that stung. I didn't even realise I had a wound there.

I grimaced at the level of volume his voice seemed to be in. The stinging in my forehead didn't help either, but I endured it anyways. "I don't remember opening the freezer…" I croaked. My throat felt dry.

"You did." He said quickly. "You hit your head pretty hard." He continued to softly treat to my cuts. My eyes lazily opened to see him concentrated on my forehead. He seemed to be in deep thought, but the look on his face made my heart flutter, and then with him in so close in proximity, I knew I could no longer deny it.

There was an attraction between us.

It was almost painfully obvious, but then I suddenly came to realise that I had been lying to myself this whole entire day. I don't know what sort of attraction this was. All I knew that there was this force that seemed to pull us together (well, I hope it's mutual), and as much as I had tried to deny it today... well, it couldn't be denied. Sides made my heartbeat go faster, he made me squirm under his gaze, and made me nervous and very aware of what he of all people thought of me. He made me self-conscious, but when he complimented me, I'd feel heavily flattered, and suddenly, I no longer felt so focussed on my flaws, and concentrated on what really mattered: him. He cared for me. My heart fluttered further as I thought about his gentle hands, giving my wounds all the attention in the world. I refused to give out my much needed contented sigh. Being so close to him, his eyes concentrated on me, his body heat caressing my skin... it made me forget about everything. Jack, Math, the wreck of the house, the pain...

Okay, maybe not the pain... well, this pain anyways.

My face contorted as I felt another awful sting as he tended to the bottom of my scalp and I reached out my hand to cling on his knee. It was so painful. Me, being completely stupid, didn't realise that my left hand was injured and cried out at the pain in my wrist as I tried to move my fingers. Sides quickly secured the wrist in his hands as he examined it. "It's a minor sprain." He analyzed. "But you shouldn't exert it too much anyways. I can wrap it in some bandages to give it support, but that's about the best I can do." He took some more things out of the box. "Good thing you're right handed." He mused.

"I didn't know you're a doctor." I said, absentmindedly, my eyes still in their sleeping position.

"I'm not." He said quietly. "I only know some basic stuff." He paused for a bit. "Things you can get off the internet."

I smiled but said nothing. Not wanting there to be an awkward silence, I reached for the remote beside me and turned on the TV. Hopefully the buzz of it will put me at more ease.

The next thing I knew, Sides had stuck band-aids on my cuts, my sweater was off, and I had Sides' arm wrapped around my shoulder, my head resting under the crook of his neck. I didn't even consider that my embarrassing bruises were out to play, revealing themselves to him. The only thing I could think of was how warm and hard he was. It was comforting and his body was very supporting.

"S-sides?" I mumbled out.

"Yeah?" he replied softly, his voice comforting, putting me at ease.

"Thanks." I said tiredly, before falling straight to sleep.

Woo! I'm actually quite happy with this chapter. The beginning, I'll admit, was quite hard for me to take off of, which explains how long this took, but I think I'm very content with the ending. I had loads of other ideas for this chapter, like the trip to the grocery store had a lot of things that could've happened, but when you have an author as lazy as me, all you get is two paragraphs explaining what took place. Yay!

And then there was supposed to be this whole entirely different scene in the middle of it all, but I think I will use that in the next few chapters.

Also, I had gotten the idea from liz1234 that I should make Barricade appear. Sadly, I couldn't fit it in in this chapter, but I'm sure he will make A SMALL appearance in Chapter 5. Sorry to everyone who was expecting him here.

WOWWZZAAASS! THANKS TO ALL THE FAVOURITE-RS AND ALERT-ERS! WOOO! I got great feedback this time around, and I am very happy with the support I received! So thank you ALL! I LOVE EVERYONE! REALLY I DO!

And a HUGE WONKA SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS! All of you make me SUPER happy, and just to let you know, I really do read all of them, and I reply to everyone that enables me to! So the HUGE WONKA SPECIAL THANKS goes to: liz1234, nightmare91, Angelixlight, sumigrl, ultimateanime12, KyuuDobe, totallycute5, 'me' (haha), EvilPurpleCookiePenkeyMonguin, and zeusgirl13!

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I'm hoping to hear from all o' you (: and as always…

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