Hey guys! I haven't updated in a long time, I know. Because I've been stuck rewriting this chapter because it's full of couple fights and drama. And it probably sucks. I mean, I rewrote this chapter a LOT of times. Don't even ask how many. And I need feedback on this. Tell me how it went! If you like ArielXAdrian and JimXWendy drama, this is the chapter for you!
Thanks to Avril Lambert, Flying By Wire, Kieran, DisneyChick2012, The Golden Apple, and Holli Would Jk for commenting.
Holli Would Jk: FlynnXDani is over! For this story, anyway! I ended it with "All Of Me" by John Legend. If you have another scene to suggest, you can suggest it.
Enjoy the chapter! Please read and review!
Heartbroken. The defenition can't be found in any damn dictionary—you have to experience it to know the word.
-Adrian
Adrian spread his Chinese takeout from Moon Star Kitchen out on his granite countertop, taking out the cartons of moo shu pork and chow mein noodles. He was trying to find the small countainer of broccoli stir fry to put away for later when the doorbell rang.
"What the hell...?" Adrian moved out of the kitchen and to the front door. He undid the front latch and opened it.
Ariel Triton stood there, her red hair flared out in static. It had begun to rain, and it looked like she had made it here right before the downpour.
She had a purple cast with various Sharpie names written on it clothing her left foot, and she was leaning on crutches.
Adrian blinked. Had she hopped all the way down here from her house? Nah. Not likely. Not likely she'd go through that trouble for me, Adrian thought—one of her sisters must've drove her.
Ariel cleared her throat and batted her eyelashes quickly against the wind. "Um. Hi, Adrian."
Adrian raised his gaze to her face. "Hey."
"Er, can I come in?" Ariel looked embarrassed and awkward as she shuffled on his porch unsteadily with the crutches.
Adrian opened the door wider as an invitation, but didn't say anything else.
Ariel took her own sweet time getting in, and hobbling into his den, sitting down delicately on the edge of an overstuffed green armchair.
Adrian leaned against the side wall, waiting for her to state the reason she had come over.
"So..." Ariel scratched the back of her neck. "So—I just wanted to...um..." She trailed off, looking lost. She stared at Adrian, and he saw her big bottomless ocean blue eyes. They could suck you right in. Like a siren.
He looked away.
"I heard from Arista," Ariel continued slowly, as if she were choosing her words from a word bank to form a perfect statement that would draw words from Adrian's mouth. "that you had a bit of a fight with Andrina at the hospital."
Ah. So she was here to blame him.
Adrian crossed his arms over his chest. "Well. She said a few things, I said a few things back. It wasn't a fight, we were just discussing some things."
Ariel looked awkward. "Oh. Right. Okay."
Once again, Adrian looke away. He was afraid that if he looked straight into her eyes, he might get trapped in that ocean blue prison for the rest of his life, doomed to spend his eternity in love with a girl hopelessly out of his reach.
Ariel's words were all sugar and honey next. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."
"As you can see," Adrian said sarcastically. "I am fine. I was about to have dinner. So if you have nothing else to say, then—" He gave her the slight indication that she should probably leave.
Ariel just sat there, gazing at the floor. Her face was burning from the humiliation of it all, and yet she could not stoop down and find herself apologizing to Adrian Trent. Ever.
"So your sisters," Adrian said, finding his voice and the courage to speak to her. "They apparently didn't know that we were together. Isn't that funny?"
Ariel looked up. "Adrian, please." She looked a bit annoyed, but also tense. "It was humiliating enough—"
"That's not humiliating." Adrian's voice was matter of fact and blank. He wanted to make this clear. "Humiliating is coming to the hospital to see your girlfriend who got hit by a truck, and then her sisters try to get you to leave because they didn't know you were actually together." Adrian pressed his lips together. "Why didn't they know? Did you forget to tell them? Didn't check your To-Do list that day?" He knew he was being a dick, but he needed Ariel to know how upset he was at her.
She was ashamed to be seen with him.
He dropped the bomb. "You're embarrassed of me. I know."
Ariel's eyes bugged out of her head. "Adrian, no! I just—" She stopped abruptly and lowered her gaze slowly until she was staring at the floor. Adrian knew that was a yes.
"Why is that?" he stepped closer. "Hmmm? Is it because I'm not rich? Because I'm absolutely dirt poor? Because I've never eaten caviar and rich-ass stuff, I eat Chinese takeout and other ordinary meals? Because I've never had lots of money, and I live in a tiny apartment? Because I'm a gardener and I work shoveling manure everyday? Huh? Is that it?" He stopped at last, because he felt he had crossed some sort of imaginary Triton Girl-honor line.
Ariel was still staring at the floor. He had shocked her into silence. She couldn't even speak. Her ears were turning pink, her face was burning. She had been embarrassed, he had guessed it perfectly right. But she didn't know where to turn from here.
"No comments?" Adrian demanded. "No bitchy sidebars? Nothing? No, 'it's true, Adrian?' You got nothing?"
Ariel looked up at him quickly, then back at the carpeting.
"Okay then!" Adrian whirled away and stampeded down the hallway, past his greasy Chinese takeout cartons out the back doors and onto his patio. He stopped there, because it was raining. Thunder cracked across the dark heavens, and lightning burst through gray clouds. Rain beat the dark expanse of grass, pounding on the roof and on the metal trash cans.
He left the door open, and let the warm wind push against his shirt and hair. He just needed a break from the Chanel No. 19 perfume that was at the moment, pulsating through his house. His house smelled like essence of Ariel Triton, and he couldn't bear the thought of her right now.
He heard a slight noise behind him. She had hobbled all the way to the glass doors.
Adrian turned back around, facing his backyard. A black trash bag rolled across the uncut lawn and into the neighbor's yard. A dog barked somewhere in the city. Lightning flashed, raising the hair on the back of Adrian's neck.
Ariel tediously pulled herself out of the house onto the patio, resting her crutches against the door and balancing on one foot behind him.
They were silent, listening to the storm raging on outside. Adrian shifted, leaning back against the door and closing his eyes. Tears settled on his eyelashes in an uncharacteristic way.
He opened his mouth to speak. Ariel was still quiet, just standing there behind him as if the words were thick on her tongue, but just wouldn't come out.
"Ariel," he said finally, his words followed by a hollow, sarcastic laugh, "I think that I may have temporarily been...batshit insane—to have fallen in love with you. I don't even understand it anymore." He ran his hands through his hair, the hands that had tended gardens for years, those tan, strong, weathered hands. Those working man hands. "I thought you were nice. And pretty. And I thought you were sweet and knew what it takes to hold onto a relationship. I wanted—" His voice cracked with sorrow and regret. "I wanted to grow old with you. But now I think all that garden work must've temporarily ruined the logical, rational part of my brain."
Ariel bit her lip hard behind him, so hard she tasted the metallic tang of blood in her mouth. Ouch. That comment from Adrian hurt her.
She decided to speak. She wanted him to know what she was going through, and how she felt about this. They needed to talk it out.
But before she could say a word, he exploded.
"DON'T YOU THINK I CARED? ABOUT YOU?" he yelled. "Didn't you think I felt..." He raked his hands roughly through his hair, searching for a proper word, "I dunno—hurt? when none of your sisters knew about my relationship with you? They mocked me, they—" Adrian stopped, looking at Ariel's expression. She seemed shocked.
Adrian turned away. "I can't. I can't do this with you. You haven't—you haven't proved to me that I can trust you."
Ariel's jaw dropped, horrified. Never had a guy dumped her like this before taking advantage of her. Before kissing her. Not even that jackass Eric. In all the mess and frenzy going on in Ariel's mind, she realized one thing. Adrian was real. He was true. He wasn't like Eric or any of the other guys she had dated. Adrian wasn't in it to prove that he had dated a Triton Girl. He wasn't in it to be a perv and feel her up, or make out with her in public, or even to have sex with her. He was in it because he liked her for who she was, not just because she was a Triton Girl. And he wanted to be able to trust her and hold onto a relationship, and Ariel had just broken that bond. She almost cried.
But she knew crying and sobbing and begging for forgiveness was not the answer. The answer was to apologize—something Triton Girls stood against. They waited for the sorries they deserved. They didn't say sorry. But Ariel was sorry. Truly sorry. So she spoke to the two words that had never been spoken by a Triton Girl. Ever.
"I'm sorry."
Adrian shifted his gaze down and ran his arm quickly across his eyes. Guilt coursed through Ariel's veins like bad blood. "Adrian." She touched his back. "Oh, Adrian. Please don't be upset. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Adrian." Once the sorries came out, she kept speaking. Straight from her heart. None of these words were fake or plastic. They were as real as she could keep them.
"Adrian, this is all my fault. I didn't tell them because it was true—I was embarrassed. My sisters have preferences about boys: they have to be rich, they have to be socially popular, they have to be high-class, they have to be extremely good-looking, and all that crap. So I broke that rule when I fell in love with you that night at Sebastian Pond."
Adrian glanced back at her when he heard the words "fell in love."
"No lie," Ariel told him. "I fell head over heels for you, and a Triton Girl never falls in love. They only like somebody, and then use them for a while until the next guy comes along. I was like that too, but then I loved you. You were none of those preferences, perhaps maybe besides extremely good-looking, but I still loved you. A hell of a lot. This is my fault, I take 100% of the blame, Adrian. I should've told my sisters. But I was afraid they might shun me, or make fun of me because of the choice I made. But I shouldn't be afraid. I shouldn't have been afraid to tell them that I was damn lucky getting you. I couldn't have dreamed of a better guy to be with. You're my dream love, Adrian."
Adrian was staring at her like she had two heads. Ariel stopped the waterfall of words by gnawing on her bottom lip. "Sorry." She couldn't stop saying the word.
Adrian turned around and faced her full on. He gave her a hard look, but didn't speak a word. He looked away at last. He couldn't even look at this girl.
Ariel's face fell. "Oh, no. Please, Adrian. Please. Look at me, baby. I'm sorry."
Adrian finally turned to face her, and Ariel stared at him, head on, challenging him. "Adrian," Ariel said seriously. "If you don't want to continue this relationship, I agree with you. You can break up with me right now. I'm used to it. I'll walk out of your house, and we will be strictly friends. Or, you can tell me what you feel about me, and we can figure it out. Okay? We're still having problems, but we'll solve them." Ariel stared up at him. "Adrian?"
Adrian couldn't speak. There was a lump in his throat. Her confidence made him want to love her, to kiss her full lips, to pull off her clothing, to run his hands along her face and say, "You're my dream love, too."
He stared at her. "I know you're sorry."
Ariel gave him a hopeful smile. "...and?"
"I love you."
Adrian didn't know where it came from. It slipped out. Like foam from water. It just randomly drove out of his mouth without his permission. Adrian silently cursed himself for letting himself off guard so easily, getting lost in Ariel's ocean eyes. He looked down at Ariel, trying to gauge the level of excitement her emotions held.
Her eyes had filled with tears and she smiled. None of the tears dripped, so it didn't appear she was crying. But she just seemed relieved as she reached up and locked her arms around his neck.
He gently wrapped his arms around her middle, squeezing the slender girl to his chest.
She looked at him. Adrian inhaled sharply. Those eyes held secrets and darkness and all the mystery and beauty that came with being a Triton Girl. But they held a light, charming innocence that didn't come with the other girls either. She was unique, not just one of a package. Her eyes sent lilting shivers throughout Adrian's body as he ran his hands through her bright red hair.
"Are you okay?" Ariel whispered.
Adrian nodded, swallowing. "Are you? I mean, I'm so stupid. I've been a jackass, Ariel. You just got out of the hospital after getting hit by a truck and I've been out here yelling my ass off at you. I'm sorry." He laughed. It sounded ridiculous to him.
Ariel shook her head. "Adrian, I'm fine. I'm alive. I'm fine."
He stared down at her. "Your sister. What do they feel about you and me—"
"Frankly, I don't care anymore." Ariel shook her head. "I mean, when I said all those things just now, I realized how true they were. What I want is you. I want them to know that I want you. And I don't really care about their bitchy inputs because I have who I need. And that's you, Adrian."
Adrian really didn't know how this had happened from the beginning of their fight to the end. "Ariel, you have to swear to me that you will stay true to this relationship. No lies." Adrian's forehead creased with concern. "Please."
Ariel cupped his face in her small hands. "I swear. I will not lie to you, ever. I will not keep anything from you. And you have to promise me too."
Adrian grinned. "I promise. I won't lie or conceal anything from you, Ariel."
The delicious smell of soy sauce and sweet n' sour chicken from Moon Star Kitchens hit Adrian like a wall. All that good Chinese takeout was going to waste just sitting there on his countertop. He gazed at Ariel. "I have Chinese. Would you like to watch a movie and have dinner with me?"
Ariel grinned. "I'd be delighted. What movie are we watching?"
"You can pick, actually," Adrian told her. "I'll get the plates and the food. Just put the DVD into the slot in the player and then fast forward the commercials and click play on the remote, okay?"
"Gotcha." Ariel knelt down next to his shelves and looked through his movies. "Aww, Adrian," She cooed. "These are such cute movies. I love '500 Days of Summer.' That's the one with Zoey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, right?"
"Right."
Ariel grinned. "I love that movie. I've watched it with my sisters, like, a million times." She gasped as she spotted another movie. " 'The Vow!' I love this movie so much! Would you like to watch this?"
Adrian nodded. "Why not?" He spooned chow mein noodles into a plate. "Would you like bits of everything? To sample?"
Ariel nodded. "Why not?"
They watched "The Vow," "500 Days of Summer," and to top it all off with a few laughs, "Wedding Crashers."
Ariel Triton had never enjoyed an evening so much, and neither had Adrian Trent.
At the end of the movie, when the "Wedding Crashers" credits rolled out against a black screen, Adrian and Ariel kissed against the light glow of the TV one hour past midnight.
"Do you want to stay over?" Adrian murmured between passionate kisses.
"Yes," Ariel whispered back. "But I can't. My sisters actually expected me home for dinner. I'm surprised Attina hasn't called the cops. Or broken down your door."
Adrian smiled as Ariel pressed her lips against the corner of his. Adrian broke away, and turned off the TV, leaving the den in silence, desire and longing pulsating through the room like a beat of music longing to be released into the dark quiet of the night.
"I'll get my keys," Adrian told Ariel.
Minutes later, Ariel was stashed in Adrian's car with him driving down Oceanview Avenue towards the Tritons' giant house.
There was a stone fountain of a siren brushing out her hair in the Tritons' front yard, and Adrian parked the car adjacent to it.
Ariel pulled Adrian out of the car when they arrived, carting him towards the front door.
Adrian pulled away. "Whoa. Ariel, what are you doing?"
"Come inside."
Adrian shook his head. "No. I can't. I have to—I need to go home and sleep."
Ariel looked longingly at him. "But—"
"Your sisters."
Ariel sparked. "I don't give a shit, Adrian! Come inside, I need you."
"No." Adrian looked both ways, then back at Ariel. "No. No you don't. Look, we spent a night together. I'll see you tomorrow. I promise. Okay? I'll come in, or you can come over or whatever you want."
Ariel held his hands, but finally let go. "Goodnight."
Adrian grinned. "Is that how you want to say goodnight?"
Ariel made a face. "Hmm. How about this way?" She leaned over and kissed him hard, Adrian kissing back with equal force and flattening her out against the door. Ariel let out a moan of pleasure. "I love you."
"That's our goodnight. And our goodbye," Adrian told her.
"Goodnight." Ariel smiled, opening the door. "See you tomorrow, Adrian."
She turned to see all her sisters grouped by the door, gaping openmouthed at her. Attina stood in the back, flanking the girls, a glare on her bright green eyes.
Adrian looked shocked, standing in he doorway, hands in his pockets.
Ariel flushed, realizing the girls had heard their entire conversation. About goodbyes, goodnights, and Ariel's longing for Adrian's lips to cover hers.
Before they could get a word in edgewise, Ariel turned around and waved at Adrian.
"I love you," she said, making sure they heard every word.
After all, Adrian was her future.
Ariel turned and saw Attina stomping up the stairs, making sure each step rattled hard as she went upstairs.
Ariel closed the door, but couldn't block out the terrified pounding of her heart.
Attina Triton pissed off was not a very good thing.
What's my calling? Staying or moving about? True love or temporary romance? A dull life in the city? Or adventure?
-Jim
"I want you to come out on the Chimera with me."
Jim stared at his father. Sinbad Hawkins was back at the doorway of the Benbow. Sarah was out shopping, but Jim had opened the door and Sinbad had made his request, and now stood expectantly, awaiting an immediate answer.
"The Chimera?" Jim repeated.
"My ship." Sinbad nodded.
"Do you have a license?" Jim wanted to know.
Sinbad shrugged. "Who needs a license?"
Jim thought it was cool his dad was driving around a random ship pretending to be a real sailor and having a license, constantly dodging the heat, but he also felt worried. "Get a license, Dad. The cops could catch you anytime and mistake you for...I dunno. A pirate or something."
Sinbad laughed. "Me? A pirate? What about me says pirate to you?"
Jim rolled his eyes.
Sinbad slapped him on the shoulder. "You are my son. And I have a question for you." He stared at Jim squarely in the eye. "Jimmy, what's your calling?"
"My calling?" Jim asked, ignoring the fact that his dad called him Jimmy. His dad would never learn anyway.
"Your calling. Your future. Your entire next life. Mine is the sea. Moving about constantly. I can't stay in place for longer than a week. It kills me, boy." Sinbad looked about painfully. "I need to be sailing. Moving. Smelling the salt of the sea, feeling the waves on my face, staring out at open seawater and waiting for adventure to greet me." Sinbad cocked his head. "You seem truly like a younger version of me. You're not a homebody, Jim. You want to be out there, having adventures. This isn't the life for you."
Jim frowned. "That's not for you to decide. I choose my life, Dad."
"I didn't say you can't," Sinbad argued back. "I'm asking you, what is your calling? Is it staying in one place? A dull city life? Or adventure? Doesn't adventure call to you like a siren? Isn't it tempting?"
Jim shook his head. "I can't leave Mom. I have a girlfriend. Dad, come on. I'm not entirely like you. You have to understand that fact."
Sinbad looked confused. "You're exactly like me."
Jim leaned forward. "Dad, you left us. It was a cowardly move."
Sinbad seemed to take great offense to this. He glared at Jim. "At least I'm not afraid to leave my mommy. I took adventure."
"And left your family behind." Jim held a warning in his eyes. He didn't want to fight or argue with his dad, but it seemed Sinbad's visits always held a fight in store for them.
"I had to leave." Sinbad looked enraged. "I couldn't stand it! I couldn't—" He trailed off.
"Couldn't take the responsibility of a kid." Jim was shaking with anger. "But now you want that kid to join you on the Chimera. That right, Dad?"
Sinbad raised his hand as if he wanted to smack the crap out of Jim, then turned away. "I'll be staying in a hotel down the street while doing business with a few mates," he snapped. "If you want to reconsider my offer, come talk to me. I don't see any other time I'll be dropping in. The next time you think of me, I'll probably be dead!"
The words hurt Jim more than his father knew it. His dad was his hero. He was the adventurer. But now he was abandoning him again, and Jim was angry. He slammed the door, trying to release the pain that was building up in his chest. He just wanted to unleash his rage into an outlet. Release electricity, energy. Punch something. Defy gravity. For once, he wanted nobody to care about him and just let him destroy.
"Jim?" A tiny voice sounded at the top of the stairs. Wendy.
Jim pressed against the deadbolt lock on the door. He watched his dad stomp away down the driveway, crushing a few of his mom's plants while he was at it. Every bit of him reverbrated anger and hostility. The angry set of his mouth, his narrowed eyes, his fists, his teeth grinding against each other, the cold shoulder, the wall of his back hunched against the Benbow Diner as he climbed into his car to drive away. Sinbad Hawkins showed Jim who he was, and who he would turn out to be. And Jim wished so bad it wasn't so.
He turned and walked up the stairs, his booted feet slapping each step as he climbed.
"Jim, wait." Wendy followed him towards his room, but Jim slammed the door, climbing out the window onto the roof. Wendy was quiet outside his door, and he crouched on the roof, waiting for Wendy's call.
"Jim, wait!" There it was.
Angrily, he spun and clawed his way up the shingled slope of the roof up to where the large chimney was.
He leaned against it, lying down and staring at the evening sky. The evening star had appeared at the center of the heavens, and the sky was turning a soft orange shade.
"Jim!" Wendy was leaning out his window, gripping the sides of the windowframe, staring up at his booted feet. "Jim, are you okay? What happened?"
What happened? "I don't want to talk about!" Jim barked.
"Did he hurt you?"
Talk about role reversal, Jim thought bitterly. "He did not hurt me," he said through gritted teeth.
"Well, then, are you alright?" Her voice chimed up again.
"Oh my God. Wendy!" Jim leaned down. "I'm up on the freaking roof. I think that means I want some time alone." He leaned his head back against the chimney again. "Please."
Wendy bit her lip. "Okay. I'll be inside." Before she left, she narrowed her cornflower blue eyes at him. "You need to talk," she told him, each word distinct and clear, left ringing in both his ears. "You can't just shut everything up inside a box and hope it will go away. You have to release it, let it go, and talk to someone about your problems. It will help, I promise!"
This made Jim even more angry. "Problems? What sort of problems, Wendy? You want me to see a frickin' therapist? And I don't know what the hell box you're talking about."
"Oh, Jim." Wendy exhaled loudly. "It's a metaphor. And no. I don't want you to see a therapist. I want you to talk to me. Tell me what's wrong and what I can do to help."
"Nothing." Jim closed his eyes. "You can do nothing to help me. I'm gonna sit up here and cool off, then I'll meet you inside. I don't want to talk about it. Why don't you leave me alone?" Jim raised his eyebrows, and then lay back down. He had put a stop sign between the two of them. Before a fight erupted, he wanted to stop this.
Wendy kept talking. "Jim, I want to help you," she begged. "I'm your girlfriend! I'm—"
Jim completely lost it. He wanted some alone time, and why the hell wouldn't anybody back off and give him what he needed? "OH, I'M SORRY!" He yelled, sarcasm and contempt positively dripping from his voice. "I FORGOT! YOU'RE MY GIRLFRIEND! YEAH, THANK YOU, FOR TELLING ME THAT, SINCE I'M SO STUPID AND MY LIFE IS JACKED UP THANKS TO MY ASSHOLE DAD AND HIS IDEA THAT HE SHOULD PROBABLY BE CONTROLLING MY LIFE!"
Wendy reeled back, shocked into a state of silence. For once, she didn't speak. She could just stare at Jim and try and process what he said.
He didn't break down and apologize. He just turned his face away and rubbed at his eyes, swiping his arm across his face hastily and roughly.
He wouldn't accept love. That was the whole problem, and where it began was the instant his dad ditched love and left the family.
Wendy reached up and grabbed the pole making up the lower part of the roof. She stepped off the windowsill, clinging to the pole for dear life. Now she was dangling, like a hanging doll, off the edge of the roof. She kicked upwards in the most un-ladylike way and got her elbows up onto the roof.
Jim didn't turn around, even hearing the scuffle at the edge. Wendy got her knees up, and at last, got the leverage she needed to hoist herself atop the house. She crawled on her hands and knees, struggling to balance against the steep slope of the roof, towards Jim.
"I try and I try," he whispered, facing away from her. "I can't do one damn thing right. No one understands."
"Please don't shut me out." Wendy sat next to him. "I want to hear what you have to say. I may understand, I may not understand. But I'm more than willing to listen to what you have to say."
Jim turned to her. Tears pricked on his eyelashes, and he blinked, filling his dark blue eyes again. He was so close to Wendy. Close enough to see her light sprinkling of freckles across her nose. They were pale gold, and you could barely see them, but they accentuated her cuteness. Her eyes were a steady crystal blue, framed by dark eyelashes. Her lips were strawberry pink and full. He saw the tears brimming her eyes, and he looked away.
He had hurt someone again.
Wendy touched his shoulder, so gently that he barely felt the touch. "Why do you shut people out?"
"It's easier," Jim said at last. He barely knew the answer himself, but when he heard the question, the answer zoomed into his mind like a shooting star. "When you're alone, you can't hurt anyone but yourself. When you have people you care about, they can get hurt too."
"Humans make mistakes." Wendy pressed her lips together. "You're not a god, Jim, you're a human. And you need to understand that humans hurt each other. Intentionally, by accident, for whatever reasons. But that's why humans also forgive and forget."
Jim stared at the roof, ashamed. "I'm so sorry, Wendy. I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"It's okay." Wendy reached out, then pulled back. She was afraid to touch him, like he was a ghost that might disappear if she did. He was like a wild animal that she had tamed enough to bring him close, but if she touched him, he might run away.
She touched his face gently, with one hand. Jim jerked back, as if she might hit him, but then let his eyes travel up to hers. She noticed how beautiful and dark they were. Dark blue, filled with guilt and sorrow. She stroked his hair quickly, then pulled away. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to touch him, to hold him, to break his silence.
"Are you scared?" she asked finally. "To love me?"
"I don't want to hurt you." His answer was quick, as if he'd been holding it in his heart for a while. He breathed out, as if the release of that sentence had removed a burden from his shoulders.
"Of course not," Wendy agreed. "But are you afraid to love me?"
Jim hesitated. "A little. I'm afraid that I'll end up like my dad and leave you alone. And you'll hate me forever. I mean, Wendy, come on. What are we? We're both seventeen years old, and we have a future and I feel like I'm becoming more and more like my dad every single—"
Wendy cut him off, leaned forward, and kissed him. She pressed her lips onto his, and he stiffened, then relaxed, leaning into her kiss, snaking her tongue around and tracing the outline of her lips. Their mouths weaved together for a short while longer until Wendy surfaced for air, accepting oxygen into her lungs.
"You won't leave your family." Wendy tilted her head and stared at him. "You've got your dad in you, yeah. But you also have a lot of your mom, which means you like the idea of a family. You like kids, I can tell. And is love important to you?"
"I guess. Yeah." Jim raised his eyebrows. "I mean, back in the beginning of high school, I honestly didn't believe in love. I thought it was stupid and unnecessary, and—I dunno."
"What do you feel about love now?"
Jim grinned. "If love comes in the form of an angel named Wendy, I love it."
Wendy blushed fire engine red, and couldn't say a word. Her throat was closed up. That was the nicest thing someone had said to her, ever.
Wendy leaned forward. "You are the best thing that's ever happened to me, Jim."
Jim cupped her face in his hands and closed the distance between them as the sky turned pink.
Hey guys!
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