It's here, my dedicated readers! A totally single-themed chapter. I'm shocked, and I just felt the need to say this, but I've never had a favorite/alert for story/author ever, and this one story got me ten favorite/alert for story/author. It astounds me. And pleases me. Enjoy :)
I woke up late the day after. Later than usual, anyway. My mom was still in good spirits, reasonably. The idea that this life could be a relatively comfortable life cheered me up some, too. My dad wasn't there – he was at work.
I didn't want to go to school, believe me. But my mom said that I was starting next Monday. She said she was giving me the first week off. For reasons I'll never know, but I was certainly happy about it.
Three o'clock finally rolled around and I was standing outside with the smooth picture in my hand, running my fingers over it again.
"Hey," Shell said as she walked up to me.
"Hey," I said, smiling at her. "Is this yours?" I handed her the picture. "I think you dropped it yesterday."
She took it from me and didn't say anything for a minute. "Um…" she nervously said and I raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was her in the picture. "Yeah, it's mine," she said quickly.
"Is that you in the picture?" I asked flatly.
She hesitated. It probably was. "No," she answered. Liar.
I sighed. Whatever. If she wanted me to think that, that was fine.
There was an awkward silence. Apparently those silences really were coming back into style. Oh joy.
"You ever had a girlfriend, Iggy?" Shell asked out of the blue.
"What?" I asked, completely lost.
"Ever had a girlfriend?" she repeated.
Where did that come from? I wished I were Angel. She'd have known.
"…No," I answered.
"Hmm," she muttered. "Just wondering."
What kind of a question was that? My heart leaped, then dropped again. I could only wish that she wanted to be my girlfriend, and that was why she asked. But the chances of that were slim.
"So if you've never had a girlfriend, what've you been doing for the last fourteen years?" she asked incredulously.
Where were all these random questions coming from?
"Places," I mumbled quietly. "Where, uh, I wouldn't have a girlfriend."
"Huh," she said almost matter-of-factly. "Places where you couldn't have a girlfriend? That must suck."
I snorted. "You don't know the half of it."
She paused. More awkward silence. What's new about that?
"I'm sorry," she said, putting her hand on my arm. "Sorry that you never could've had your own girl."
The arm thing again. It sent a shock through up my arm. "Never bothered me," I said. I didn't have time to be bothered about things like that. Busy worrying about dying, running from Erasers, and the other kinds of things that happen in my daily life.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You've been missing out on something great," she cooed, putting her other hand on my other arm. The close proximity was getting to me, and her smell permeated my nose. It was great.
"Been getting a lot of that lately," I mumbled under my breath.
She ran her hands a little bit over me. "Where the hell have you been? Seriously, what kind of place was this, that you don't know anything about anything?"
I turned my head downward. "Hell," I answered.
She laughed a little. "Couldn't have really been hell," she replied giddily.
"Yeah, it was. What's hell sound like to you?"
"Um…" she said. "Fire, and evil demons, and Satan, and pain." She chuckled evilly. "Lots of pain."
I nodded slowly, putting my hand over hers.
"Yeah, that's about right. Especially the last part."
I felt her shudder. "Sorry," I said, pulling my hand away from hers, dropping it by my side.
"No, no," she said, "It's not that." She slowly put my hand back on hers. "You don't have to stop."
We just stood there like that. Just…stood there. It felt different. Different than anything I'd ever felt.
She leaned in to me, until I felt her soft breath on my lips. I leaned in a little, letting my body think for me, letting it control what I did. We slowly leaned in to one another, and the anticipation gave me goose bumps. My heartbeat quickened. Our lips brushed. My skin grew hot and my lips working their way closer. With all of this, I barely noticed the heavy footsteps coming down the sidewalk.
Shell suddenly pulled away and ran, leaving me lost and confused.
"Later!" she called, all the way back from what sounded to be as far as her porch. I was still standing in the same position, my arms still out, my head still a little bent over.
What on earth was that?
I hated girls.
-
I listened to the crickets out on my porch that night, after a late dinner, and my dad's description of what sounded like a very boring day to me, although I feigned interest.
There were sounds coming from Shell's house that I was trying vainly to ignore.
There would be shouting, then a hard, smacking sound, then more indecipherable shouting, then more hitting. I could tell that one of the voices was Shell's, and it sounded pleading. It had all already been going on when I walked outside. I had been weighing my options for a minute, and finally decided to get up and help. She was a nice girl, and she didn't deserve to be hit, as I assumed she was being right now.
I made it to the window when the sounds stopped. There was the slamming of a door. Then I heard only a soft crying.
I listened. It was definitely Shell. I knocked on the window, to catch her attention. I didn't pay attention to the cold air around me, only the thing I'd heard.
The sounds went silent. I knocked again. I knew she could see me, I knew she could hear me. Why wasn't she answering?
I kept knocking, but there was no sound. None at all. After a while, when I grew annoyed of this silence, I left, walking back to the house.
What was going on? I knew she was in there. What was with her?
