Chapter Seven

Barely twenty minutes later I finished cleaning and decided I might as well head out. No sense staying here and whipping myself into a frenzy. I kept trying to think logically, but it was hard to do.

I took a deep, ragged breath. "Just focus on Zelda," I muttered to myself, kicking a pebble. "Get to Zelda first, you can figure the rest out after."

Talking to myself probably wasn't a good sign. I looked around the abandoned street, and wondered, not for the first time that night, if he had changed.

Don't be stupid.

A man like him doesn't change overnight or even over years. A chill ran down my spine as I considered this, but then how had Zelda managed? How long had she been living with him?

Footsteps echoed on the vacant pavement, and my head snapped up, heart pounding. A shadowy figure approached slowly. I shook my head, and walked towards whoever it was. I'm no coward. He won't make me afraid of some stupid clichéd shadowy figure. I mean really, what the hell?

"Hey," I called out, stepping cautiously. My luck it would be some crackhead looking for cash.

"Link?" she asked, stepping under a streetlight.

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Zelda." I jogged the rest of the way to her, and to both of our surprise, wrapped my arms around her in a tight hug. "I'm so glad you're here."

I felt her squirm uncertainly. "Uh, I'm flattered and all, but what's this about? You seemed really worried on the phone."

I released her and took a step back. "Well I—," I started to explain, but then had a last minute second thought. How did I go about explaining what had happened? I mean she might be mad at me for breaking the table, but I'm sure she's realized that I did it by now and would have already said something. The real question was how was she going to take the news? I wasn't even a hundred percent sure if it was him; it could be someone else completely, and then what? I get worked up over nothing and what does she think of me after that?

"Link?" she prompted worriedly. "What's this all about?"

I swallowed uncertainly. I wasn't thinking straight, and I had to do something now. She would think even less of me if I called her out here in the middle of the night for nothing, but I needed more time to come up with a way to explain. "Uh, let's go back to my place," I responded at last. "It might take a while to explain."

She looked at me uncertainly and chewed her bottom lip a bit.

"I won't try anything funny," I promised, ears turning red.

She looked at me in surprise. "Oh no, it's not that I was just…" she trailed off, but didn't really need to say anymore as her own face lit up. "Let's go."

The walk back was fairly uneventful if not awkward. I was busy trying to figure out how to approach the situation, and she…

"What are you thinking about?" I asked suddenly, breaking the awkward silence.

For a while she didn't say anything, and I thought she might not respond at all. We continued walking in silence for a while before she finally answered, "It's nothing. I'm just worried. I mean you're not usually this weird, you know?"

I had to chuckle a bit at that, despite the tension. "Weird on a whole new level, yeah, that sounds about right."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she clarified.

I shook my head, although I don't think she was looking in my direction. Hell, I knew I couldn't look at her. "No, I know what you mean. Sorry again about all of this."

"So long as you have a good reason," she answered easily. My heart throbbed in my chest. Certain aspects of her brought out a weird feeling inside of me, like this: her ability to stay calm. Hopefully, when I put it to the test, it would prove a strong trait.

I stomped up the stairs to my apartment self-consciously. This really wasn't the time to be wondering what she thinks of my place—we had bigger problems—but that didn't stop me from wondering anyways. I shook my head; I had to stay cool. Not to mention I still had a rep to keep up, and I'm far from some easily embarrassed punk.

I popped the door open and made my way to the coach, plopping down without once looking back at Zelda. She followed suit, if not a bit hesitantly.

Sitting in a chair across from me she asked, "Is this really where you live?"

I glanced around the run-down excuse for a home and nodded. "Yeah, have for a while."

Blinking uncertainly, she shifted in her seat, still observing her surroundings. I cleared my throat and she flinched. "Sorry, it's nice," she said easily.

Chuckling a bit I shook my head. "I know it's no where near as nice as your place, but I make do."

"Right. Of course," she answered a little too quickly. "So why'd you call me all the way out here again?"

Sitting up straight I frowned down at the floor. I had to protect her from him. "Zelda, the thing is…"

But was it him?

"Yes?"

What if it wasn't?

"I was just wondering if, uh…"

But I needed an excuse to protect her.

"If?"

Be around her.

"If you'll go out with me," I finished quickly.

For a moment there was an absolute, perfect silence. I watched as her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Then she closed it again, slowly, and finally said, "What?"

"Will you go out with me? I mean you know, dates and stuff, boyfriend, girlfriend," I answered gesturing. This was my solution. The perfect solution. This way I had a reason to be close to her, and if I played all of my cards right, I would even have the excuse to meet her parents. Then I could know for sure if the man in the photo was really my father.

If it was, I would get her the hell away from him.

And if it wasn't, then, well I hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

It would come to me, so no need to sweat it.

Finally Zelda managed to make a coherent sentence. "You called me this late at night, to invite me here, and ask me to go out with you?"

I cleared my throat. Okay, this entire situation was a little abnormal. Hell's bells she was going to start thinking I had some kind of psychosis. "Yes," I deadpanned. "I couldn't wait."

She laughed nervously. "So you just suddenly had the urge to go out with me or what?"

Okay, time to start pulling out the lies. Well, more. "I know it was kind of sudden, and I'm sorry about it being so late," I apologized, warming her up. "But I was just sitting around here thinking, and I realized how I feel about you."

A light blush spread over her cheeks. "Is this for real?"

I nodded. "Totally."

"I-I don't know," she muttered nervously. "It really is kind of sudden."

"It's not like I'm asking you to marry me," I said, forcing a smile. "Just give it a try, what do you have to lose?"

Sighing, she nodded. "Yeah."

"Yeah like yeah?" I asked to be clear.

"Yeah like yeah," she answered, smiling now, a real, legitimate smile. My heart picked up speed again, but I ignored it. I had my ticket in, now I just needed to reach the station before it took off.

"Uh, so," I said awkwardly. "Do you want me to walk you home or would you rather stay here?"

She blushed and stood up uncertainly. "I should probably go home, I mean my parents are going to wonder where I'm at in the morning," she stammered out, not heading towards the door, but leaning towards it.

"You could just call them in the morning and tell them you left early to go hang out," I suggested.

"You want me to lie to my parents?" she asked incredulously.

"Or you could tell them you snuck out of the house to meet a boy in the dead of night," I countered, grinning. Time to put on a good show.

"Do you want me to stay over?" she asked quietly.

I stood up and started walking towards my bedroom. "Yeah, I do."

"Uh, Link, I don't know—," she started, but I cut her off quickly, blushing at where her thoughts were headed.

"Not stay with me, just over for tonight," I explained. "I may be a punk, but I'm not a total bastard."

"Oh right, of course," she said, head turned away. "So where can I sleep?"

I nearly tripped. I kind of forgot about that. "Uh, you can have my bed; I'll crash on the couch." I glanced in the room, thankful I had cleaned it earlier.

"Okay," she mumbled, walking over to me. She paused a step away and looked up at me, not pathetically, but hopefully.

Oh crap! She wanted me to kiss her. The blood started rushing to my head as my heart picked up speed. Calm down, calm down, holy shit calm down!

"Link," she whispered, and suddenly everything stopped. My heart stopped pounding, time stopped, and I stopped thinking. I leaned towards her and gently pressed my lips against hers.

"Good night," I whispered, breaking away and moving towards the couch. I didn't turn around until I heard the door click shut.

I could stay close to her and protect her for a while, but I needed to find out who the man in the picture was. No need to worry about it for tonight though, because Zelda was safe in my room, and I could rest easy knowing that.


A/N: This turned out a little shorter and little more of a transition than I had originally planned, but now I have a better plot scope. Many tricks still left up my sleeve, look forward to it!