With no idea where I was going to find any breakfast, I wandered a bit away
from the dock, my first time really leaving it since Spot had taken me to
get that disgusting stuff for dinner a few days before. There were several
pubs and restaurants along the streets nearby, but I wouldn't have been
welcome in any of them with no money in my pocket. I was growing hungrier,
with no means in sight to fix the problem. So after about an hour, I gave
up and headed back towards the docks. But I soon realized that going off
by myself wasn't such a good idea, I found that I wasn't exactly sure how
to get back.
Walking towards the direction I thought the docks might be in, I felt someone grab my arm and turn me around. The first thing I thought of was my first night in Brooklyn, when Kerry had surprised me in the same way. But I was sure that no one would do something like that in the middle of the street in the broad daylight. Turning around, suddenly I wasn't so nervous anymore.
"Spot Conlon, what are you doin' sneakin' up on me like that?" I pulled my arm away from his grasp, trying to walk off.
"Hold it," he chased after me and jumped in my way. "I'm not letting you run off and get lost again."
"And what makes you think I'm lost?" I tried to stare him down, but he gave me a knowing look. "All right, so I don't know how to get back, but I would've found it eventually."
"I'm sure, probably about the same time some guy like Kerry would be hangin' around waitin' to take ya off the streets."
His sarcastic tone was aggravating. "Tell me, Spot, why do you keep bringin' up Kerry?"
Spot didn't say anything, he just looked around awkwardly. I saw his hand twitch in that annoying way and he changed the subject. "I oughta just call off this deal, don't know why I even agreed to this. What does Mush think I am, some kinda babysittin' service?" He looked straight at me hatefully, "I gots better things to do than look after ya."
"Oh, but you don't complain at ALL about havin' to keep an eye on Ruth? When are you gonna open your eyes, Spot?"
"Look," he pointed a finger at me, shaking it in my face, "you better shut up, cause you don't know what you're talking about."
"Mainly because there's nothing to talk about. She don't love you, Spot. She loves Jack, and there ain't nothin' you can do about it."
"You think you know all about me and my problems? You don't even know what's going on with your own brother," he swore under his breath.
What kind of trick was he playing? "What are you talkin' about?"
"I'm talkin' about the REAL reason Mush don't want his 'baby sister' around right now. He's not lookin' for somewhere for ya to go, he's gettin' his kicks with a girl back in his neighborhood. Daisy or somethin' like that."
I glared at him, refusing to believe what he said. Patrick wouldn't send me away and lie about it. He would've told me the truth if he was seeing someone, and even if he was he would've kept me around anyway. He would have, wouldn't he? I was his baby sister, his twin.
Gulping, I choked out, "You're lying."
"Keep dreaming."
"Patrick... wouldn't send me away just so he could be with some girl. He - he wants to find somewhere for me to go, so I won't be so far away from him anymore. Why would he think he had to do somethin' like that? I'd understand..." I trailed off, on the verge of crying.
"In case you haven't noticed, you ain't the easiest person to reason with."
I stumbled over to the side of the nearest building and collapsed beside it, sinking to the sidewalk. Spot sat down next to me, undoubtedly to get a better look at my tears, knowing they were his fault, and I'm sure he took a great pride in that. All I did was sit there and cry for a few minutes, and he sat there and watched me, or looked around to see who else was watching. But I didn't care.
Not even sure what exactly I was crying about, I let several tears flow gently down my cheeks. Had my brother really sent me away just to have time with a girl, or was this just something cruel Spot Conlon had thought up? What right did he have to be cruel to me, anyway? He had hurt me in the first place, and he should have been sorry for it, not gloating the way he was. After I had no tears left, I sighed and leaned back against the wall.
I needed to see Patrick, and Spot was the only person who could help me at the moment. "Spot?" I didn't look at him, but I saw him turn to me out of the corner of my eye. "Can you take me to see Patrick?" Looking over at him, I could see uncertainty in those eyes. "Please?"
About a half hour later, he and I were crossing the bridge over the river on our way to Manhattan. Neither of us had spoken since we had started out, and it had been a thoughtful and uncomfortable silence.
"I..." he began, and I glanced at him, "I'm sorry for what I said. It - it really wasn't my place to tell you about... your brother." I started to speak, but he wasn't finished. "I mean, I'm not even sure if that's the real reason Mush asked me to look after ya, I could just be... talkin' and assumin'." He certainly sounded apologetic, but he had fooled me with that before.
I had nothing to say, so I just nodded my head and he continued rattling. "I'm just mad, I wanna hit something or... hurt somebody." He looked straight at me. "It's easier to take everything out on somebody like you. 'Cause you're right, I don't wanna admit that Ruth is... completely out of reach. I know that she's with Jack, I know that she loves him. But it's just - this thing practically eats me from the inside, for some reason... I just can't help how I feel." All I could do was look down at my feet.
The lodging house was almost empty when we arrived; I was sure all the Manhattan boys had gone out to sell their papers. All was empty except for Racetrack Higgins and a girl I didn't recognize laying together on one of the top bunks, apparently talking together. We glanced around for a moment before Race sat up.
"Hey, Spot," He said, taking his cigar out of his mouth, "What're ya doin' here?"
Spot smirked, as if trying not to crack up from seeing Racetrack lying around with a girl, "Just escorting Shortstack to see her brother. seen Mush lately Race?"
Race grinned, "Yeah, I seen him. He went out to sell some papes and go see Daisy though." Immediately he looked as if he'd regretted that last bit of his sentence. I shook my head in disbelief, then walked out of the room.
It wasn't but thirty seconds before all three of the people who had just been in the previous room came after me. I didn't know the girl, and frankly I didn't care to. She looked pretty, but what had I expected from Racetrack? I didn't think he would run around with some hag, did I? No, none of these boys ever did.
"Come on Shorts," Race said, "Mushy's been lookin' for a place for you two, really, no matter what this idiot told yas."
Spot looked at him and smacked his arm, a bit insulted but a bit playfully as well, I could tell that Spot and Racetrack had been friends for awhile.
My eyes darted back and forth between Racetrack and the girl standing beside him. She had long brown hair, almost as long as Fishface's, but hers was straight. She also had pretty sea green eyes. I tried my best to smile at her. Racetrack's words were comforting after what Spot had told me before, and I was starting to feel a little better.
The girl smiled back at me, flipping a bit of hair out of her face, "I'm Kelly," She said, she had a pleasant accent, not so hard to understand as most of the boys', "It's nice to meet you."
I gave her a better smile than I had offered before, "Anabeth Meyers." I said, shaking her hand softly.
"Mush talks about you a lot," I was getting pseudo-used to the fact that everyone called Patrick "Mush", but I for one, wasn't going to pick up on the habit, it didn't make much sense to me anyways.
Racetrack smiled and put his arm around Kelly's waist, "She's mine Spot, so keep your eyes off," Kelly blushed and whispered something in Race's ear. I rolled my eyes, what was it with these people and couples? Was everyone but me paired off? Race continued, "So how's Fishface been doin', I saw 'er before she left, and she seemed pretty upset 'bout the Cowboy leavin'."
Spot nodded, "Yeah, well Jack-y Boy did the right thing leavin' 'er with me. Ain't no life for a lady anyways, goin' out west and not havin' no where to sleep."
I looked at Racetrack, who was nodding thoughtfully, "No it ain't," He said, "But he'll send for her soon. Somehow I don't think Cowboy's gonna be that long till he finds a ranch. He had a lot of money saved up from over the years." I think I noticed a part of Spot's smile vanish. Go figure.
I heard the door open, and in walked Patrick, what perfect timing. He looked at me, almost as if he didn't recognize me. I could tell he hadn't been expecting me to ever come see him. He just stood there in the doorway, looking at me strangely. Patrick, I thought, just come hug me and tell me you always wanted to take care of me, that this wasn't a matter of choice. But my brother continued to stand there, as if he knew why I had come to Manhattan, that whatever he had been keeping from me had been uncovered.
Gulping, all that he seemed able to say was, "Shortstack.." and then he trailed off. As if on cue, Racetrack pulled Kelly out of the room with him, and when Patrick stepped out of their way, they closed to door behind them. I glanced at Spot, he hadn't moved or made any attempt to try and leave. He looked quickly back at me, and then said, "Hey Mush, it's uh, my fault that we're here," he looked at me again. I didn't want to admit it, but he looked almost gallant somehow. "I um.. I kinda let it slip about Daisy, only on purpose." Patrick's face fell, and he stared at me guiltily. The only thing I could do was look right back at him, wanting to cry on someone's shoulder. But as I glanced from Patrick to Spot and back to Patrick, I realized that I couldn't choose whose shoulder I wanted.
"Anabeth," Patrick walked over to me, but he didn't hug me. His eyes were apologetic as he shrugged his shoulders and said slowly, "I'm really sorry. But look, what's going on between me and Daisy has NOTHING to do with my takin' care of you, all right? I swear, if there was a way you could stay here, I wouldn't give it a second thought." He finally took me in his arms and held me for a moment. "I just.. didn't wanna tell ya about Daisy yet, cause I was so glad to have you back," I felt tears beginning to escape my eyes as I laid my head on his arm, "that I didn't want you to think you had to share me or somethin'." I looked over my brother's shoulder, and saw Spot standing about two feet away, staring right back at me. I wondered what he could be thinking about. "You're always my number one girl," Patrick stepped back to look at me, "right?" Still crying, I nodded, trying my best to smile. I wasn't sure if I could entirely believe him about this Daisy, whoever she was.
When we were on our way back from Manhattan, half way across the Brooklyn Bridge, Spot stopped and looked over the side. I raised an eyebrow at him, "What're you doing?" I asked him.
"Watching the sunset," he said. I tried to figure out if he was mocking me or what. I couldn't tell from the look in his eyes. I just rolled my eyes and joined him, looking out over the bridge.
It was a few minutes before the sun had completely set, and I was, once again, in awe of the majesty of it, and also, in awe of the beauty of sharing it with Spot. I glanced over at him questioningly, the last time we'd watched a sunset together, he sat there impatiently and mumbled about getting back the entire time. This time he had been the one who had stopped me and made me watch it.
"What? I'm not a sensitive guy?" He said defensively, when he saw my look, "I'm allowed to look at sunsets, ain't I?"
I nodded quickly and we started walking again. It wasn't long before he started up an idle conversation, "So, you lived at a convent? They feed ya right there?" he asked me. No one had asked me about my life at the convent since I left.
"Yeah, they fed me right, never got me sick," I said stiffly, but not coldly.
Spot nodded, "Y'see, Anabeth," (why'd he keep using my name?), "That stuff gets everyone sick the first time they eat it. ain't too good for ya for one thing, but once ya got it in your system a few times, ya start ta stay healthy."
I nodded, and he continued, "You have any friends back at the convent? I mean like, a best friend or a. boyfriend or anythin'?"
I couldn't keep from laughing, "A boyfriend? Living in a convent, those are mighty hard to come by." He looked at the ground, obviously a bit embarrassed, and then smiled at me. My heart nearly stopped. He hadn't smiled at me like that before, and it was almost as wonderful as a sunset. I tried to start talking again, afraid of stuttering like a fool. "I had a couple of friends, not really any best friends. I preferred to keep to myself, read or something like that." I smiled again, "You know, a few days ago, you reminded me of a book I'd read, just the way you were actin'."
"What's the book about?" he seemed genuinely interested.
I didn't think twice about telling him. "It's about this king, and he's young and cruel and incredibly selfish," apparently it hadn't crossed my mind that I was most likely insulting him a bit. "And his enemies, they rescue his identical twin brother from prison and replace the mean king with him. The brother is really nice, and becomes one of the greatest rulers in the nation's history." I looked at him, and he was raising that eyebrow questioningly.
"I remind you of that?"
"Well, yeah, in a way..." I trailed off and just stayed quiet for a minute.
"Um," he sounded unsure of himself, "do you still... hate me?" Before I could say anything, he kept going. "Cause if you did, I'd understand, I mean, I'd hate me too. But, I'd really rather you didn't hate me, it would probably make this whole thing easier."
I hated that he still thought of me as something he had to deal with. "Honestly, I'm not really sure..." He looked disappointed. "Do you still hate me?" We were almost back to the docks, and the streetlights were the only thing helping me to see his face in the dark.
Spot stopped walking and looked me directly in the eyes. "Anabeth," my name sounded so good when he said it softly like that... "I never hated you... I'll admit you WERE a little difficult," we both smiled, "but I never hated you." He paused, and his green eyes looked almost hesitant, as if he wanted to say something more but wasn't sure if he should.
Before he could say anything else, I quickly reached up and kissed him gently. I ran my lips across his, and it felt even better than I remembered. Maybe this time it was only my grief over what had happened with my brother that made me kiss him, but it still felt amazing. Our kiss was shorter this time, I pulled back only a few seconds later, hoping the darkness would hide my blushing. I couldn't even look up at him, I stared down at the sidewalk.
He touched my cheek with his hand, bringing back that wonderful memory of him sleeping next to me when I was sick, and when I had awakened to the same gentle touch. I glanced up at him, smiling shyly, feeling like some ridiculous schoolgirl. His eyes had that same look as they had when we'd woken up next to each other on the floor, and I could feel my heart pounding, the sound almost deafening me. As he leaned down and kissed me, the softest and most wonderful touch I'd ever felt, I knew in my heart that I no longer hated Spot Conlon, and that I never could again.
Walking towards the direction I thought the docks might be in, I felt someone grab my arm and turn me around. The first thing I thought of was my first night in Brooklyn, when Kerry had surprised me in the same way. But I was sure that no one would do something like that in the middle of the street in the broad daylight. Turning around, suddenly I wasn't so nervous anymore.
"Spot Conlon, what are you doin' sneakin' up on me like that?" I pulled my arm away from his grasp, trying to walk off.
"Hold it," he chased after me and jumped in my way. "I'm not letting you run off and get lost again."
"And what makes you think I'm lost?" I tried to stare him down, but he gave me a knowing look. "All right, so I don't know how to get back, but I would've found it eventually."
"I'm sure, probably about the same time some guy like Kerry would be hangin' around waitin' to take ya off the streets."
His sarcastic tone was aggravating. "Tell me, Spot, why do you keep bringin' up Kerry?"
Spot didn't say anything, he just looked around awkwardly. I saw his hand twitch in that annoying way and he changed the subject. "I oughta just call off this deal, don't know why I even agreed to this. What does Mush think I am, some kinda babysittin' service?" He looked straight at me hatefully, "I gots better things to do than look after ya."
"Oh, but you don't complain at ALL about havin' to keep an eye on Ruth? When are you gonna open your eyes, Spot?"
"Look," he pointed a finger at me, shaking it in my face, "you better shut up, cause you don't know what you're talking about."
"Mainly because there's nothing to talk about. She don't love you, Spot. She loves Jack, and there ain't nothin' you can do about it."
"You think you know all about me and my problems? You don't even know what's going on with your own brother," he swore under his breath.
What kind of trick was he playing? "What are you talkin' about?"
"I'm talkin' about the REAL reason Mush don't want his 'baby sister' around right now. He's not lookin' for somewhere for ya to go, he's gettin' his kicks with a girl back in his neighborhood. Daisy or somethin' like that."
I glared at him, refusing to believe what he said. Patrick wouldn't send me away and lie about it. He would've told me the truth if he was seeing someone, and even if he was he would've kept me around anyway. He would have, wouldn't he? I was his baby sister, his twin.
Gulping, I choked out, "You're lying."
"Keep dreaming."
"Patrick... wouldn't send me away just so he could be with some girl. He - he wants to find somewhere for me to go, so I won't be so far away from him anymore. Why would he think he had to do somethin' like that? I'd understand..." I trailed off, on the verge of crying.
"In case you haven't noticed, you ain't the easiest person to reason with."
I stumbled over to the side of the nearest building and collapsed beside it, sinking to the sidewalk. Spot sat down next to me, undoubtedly to get a better look at my tears, knowing they were his fault, and I'm sure he took a great pride in that. All I did was sit there and cry for a few minutes, and he sat there and watched me, or looked around to see who else was watching. But I didn't care.
Not even sure what exactly I was crying about, I let several tears flow gently down my cheeks. Had my brother really sent me away just to have time with a girl, or was this just something cruel Spot Conlon had thought up? What right did he have to be cruel to me, anyway? He had hurt me in the first place, and he should have been sorry for it, not gloating the way he was. After I had no tears left, I sighed and leaned back against the wall.
I needed to see Patrick, and Spot was the only person who could help me at the moment. "Spot?" I didn't look at him, but I saw him turn to me out of the corner of my eye. "Can you take me to see Patrick?" Looking over at him, I could see uncertainty in those eyes. "Please?"
About a half hour later, he and I were crossing the bridge over the river on our way to Manhattan. Neither of us had spoken since we had started out, and it had been a thoughtful and uncomfortable silence.
"I..." he began, and I glanced at him, "I'm sorry for what I said. It - it really wasn't my place to tell you about... your brother." I started to speak, but he wasn't finished. "I mean, I'm not even sure if that's the real reason Mush asked me to look after ya, I could just be... talkin' and assumin'." He certainly sounded apologetic, but he had fooled me with that before.
I had nothing to say, so I just nodded my head and he continued rattling. "I'm just mad, I wanna hit something or... hurt somebody." He looked straight at me. "It's easier to take everything out on somebody like you. 'Cause you're right, I don't wanna admit that Ruth is... completely out of reach. I know that she's with Jack, I know that she loves him. But it's just - this thing practically eats me from the inside, for some reason... I just can't help how I feel." All I could do was look down at my feet.
The lodging house was almost empty when we arrived; I was sure all the Manhattan boys had gone out to sell their papers. All was empty except for Racetrack Higgins and a girl I didn't recognize laying together on one of the top bunks, apparently talking together. We glanced around for a moment before Race sat up.
"Hey, Spot," He said, taking his cigar out of his mouth, "What're ya doin' here?"
Spot smirked, as if trying not to crack up from seeing Racetrack lying around with a girl, "Just escorting Shortstack to see her brother. seen Mush lately Race?"
Race grinned, "Yeah, I seen him. He went out to sell some papes and go see Daisy though." Immediately he looked as if he'd regretted that last bit of his sentence. I shook my head in disbelief, then walked out of the room.
It wasn't but thirty seconds before all three of the people who had just been in the previous room came after me. I didn't know the girl, and frankly I didn't care to. She looked pretty, but what had I expected from Racetrack? I didn't think he would run around with some hag, did I? No, none of these boys ever did.
"Come on Shorts," Race said, "Mushy's been lookin' for a place for you two, really, no matter what this idiot told yas."
Spot looked at him and smacked his arm, a bit insulted but a bit playfully as well, I could tell that Spot and Racetrack had been friends for awhile.
My eyes darted back and forth between Racetrack and the girl standing beside him. She had long brown hair, almost as long as Fishface's, but hers was straight. She also had pretty sea green eyes. I tried my best to smile at her. Racetrack's words were comforting after what Spot had told me before, and I was starting to feel a little better.
The girl smiled back at me, flipping a bit of hair out of her face, "I'm Kelly," She said, she had a pleasant accent, not so hard to understand as most of the boys', "It's nice to meet you."
I gave her a better smile than I had offered before, "Anabeth Meyers." I said, shaking her hand softly.
"Mush talks about you a lot," I was getting pseudo-used to the fact that everyone called Patrick "Mush", but I for one, wasn't going to pick up on the habit, it didn't make much sense to me anyways.
Racetrack smiled and put his arm around Kelly's waist, "She's mine Spot, so keep your eyes off," Kelly blushed and whispered something in Race's ear. I rolled my eyes, what was it with these people and couples? Was everyone but me paired off? Race continued, "So how's Fishface been doin', I saw 'er before she left, and she seemed pretty upset 'bout the Cowboy leavin'."
Spot nodded, "Yeah, well Jack-y Boy did the right thing leavin' 'er with me. Ain't no life for a lady anyways, goin' out west and not havin' no where to sleep."
I looked at Racetrack, who was nodding thoughtfully, "No it ain't," He said, "But he'll send for her soon. Somehow I don't think Cowboy's gonna be that long till he finds a ranch. He had a lot of money saved up from over the years." I think I noticed a part of Spot's smile vanish. Go figure.
I heard the door open, and in walked Patrick, what perfect timing. He looked at me, almost as if he didn't recognize me. I could tell he hadn't been expecting me to ever come see him. He just stood there in the doorway, looking at me strangely. Patrick, I thought, just come hug me and tell me you always wanted to take care of me, that this wasn't a matter of choice. But my brother continued to stand there, as if he knew why I had come to Manhattan, that whatever he had been keeping from me had been uncovered.
Gulping, all that he seemed able to say was, "Shortstack.." and then he trailed off. As if on cue, Racetrack pulled Kelly out of the room with him, and when Patrick stepped out of their way, they closed to door behind them. I glanced at Spot, he hadn't moved or made any attempt to try and leave. He looked quickly back at me, and then said, "Hey Mush, it's uh, my fault that we're here," he looked at me again. I didn't want to admit it, but he looked almost gallant somehow. "I um.. I kinda let it slip about Daisy, only on purpose." Patrick's face fell, and he stared at me guiltily. The only thing I could do was look right back at him, wanting to cry on someone's shoulder. But as I glanced from Patrick to Spot and back to Patrick, I realized that I couldn't choose whose shoulder I wanted.
"Anabeth," Patrick walked over to me, but he didn't hug me. His eyes were apologetic as he shrugged his shoulders and said slowly, "I'm really sorry. But look, what's going on between me and Daisy has NOTHING to do with my takin' care of you, all right? I swear, if there was a way you could stay here, I wouldn't give it a second thought." He finally took me in his arms and held me for a moment. "I just.. didn't wanna tell ya about Daisy yet, cause I was so glad to have you back," I felt tears beginning to escape my eyes as I laid my head on his arm, "that I didn't want you to think you had to share me or somethin'." I looked over my brother's shoulder, and saw Spot standing about two feet away, staring right back at me. I wondered what he could be thinking about. "You're always my number one girl," Patrick stepped back to look at me, "right?" Still crying, I nodded, trying my best to smile. I wasn't sure if I could entirely believe him about this Daisy, whoever she was.
When we were on our way back from Manhattan, half way across the Brooklyn Bridge, Spot stopped and looked over the side. I raised an eyebrow at him, "What're you doing?" I asked him.
"Watching the sunset," he said. I tried to figure out if he was mocking me or what. I couldn't tell from the look in his eyes. I just rolled my eyes and joined him, looking out over the bridge.
It was a few minutes before the sun had completely set, and I was, once again, in awe of the majesty of it, and also, in awe of the beauty of sharing it with Spot. I glanced over at him questioningly, the last time we'd watched a sunset together, he sat there impatiently and mumbled about getting back the entire time. This time he had been the one who had stopped me and made me watch it.
"What? I'm not a sensitive guy?" He said defensively, when he saw my look, "I'm allowed to look at sunsets, ain't I?"
I nodded quickly and we started walking again. It wasn't long before he started up an idle conversation, "So, you lived at a convent? They feed ya right there?" he asked me. No one had asked me about my life at the convent since I left.
"Yeah, they fed me right, never got me sick," I said stiffly, but not coldly.
Spot nodded, "Y'see, Anabeth," (why'd he keep using my name?), "That stuff gets everyone sick the first time they eat it. ain't too good for ya for one thing, but once ya got it in your system a few times, ya start ta stay healthy."
I nodded, and he continued, "You have any friends back at the convent? I mean like, a best friend or a. boyfriend or anythin'?"
I couldn't keep from laughing, "A boyfriend? Living in a convent, those are mighty hard to come by." He looked at the ground, obviously a bit embarrassed, and then smiled at me. My heart nearly stopped. He hadn't smiled at me like that before, and it was almost as wonderful as a sunset. I tried to start talking again, afraid of stuttering like a fool. "I had a couple of friends, not really any best friends. I preferred to keep to myself, read or something like that." I smiled again, "You know, a few days ago, you reminded me of a book I'd read, just the way you were actin'."
"What's the book about?" he seemed genuinely interested.
I didn't think twice about telling him. "It's about this king, and he's young and cruel and incredibly selfish," apparently it hadn't crossed my mind that I was most likely insulting him a bit. "And his enemies, they rescue his identical twin brother from prison and replace the mean king with him. The brother is really nice, and becomes one of the greatest rulers in the nation's history." I looked at him, and he was raising that eyebrow questioningly.
"I remind you of that?"
"Well, yeah, in a way..." I trailed off and just stayed quiet for a minute.
"Um," he sounded unsure of himself, "do you still... hate me?" Before I could say anything, he kept going. "Cause if you did, I'd understand, I mean, I'd hate me too. But, I'd really rather you didn't hate me, it would probably make this whole thing easier."
I hated that he still thought of me as something he had to deal with. "Honestly, I'm not really sure..." He looked disappointed. "Do you still hate me?" We were almost back to the docks, and the streetlights were the only thing helping me to see his face in the dark.
Spot stopped walking and looked me directly in the eyes. "Anabeth," my name sounded so good when he said it softly like that... "I never hated you... I'll admit you WERE a little difficult," we both smiled, "but I never hated you." He paused, and his green eyes looked almost hesitant, as if he wanted to say something more but wasn't sure if he should.
Before he could say anything else, I quickly reached up and kissed him gently. I ran my lips across his, and it felt even better than I remembered. Maybe this time it was only my grief over what had happened with my brother that made me kiss him, but it still felt amazing. Our kiss was shorter this time, I pulled back only a few seconds later, hoping the darkness would hide my blushing. I couldn't even look up at him, I stared down at the sidewalk.
He touched my cheek with his hand, bringing back that wonderful memory of him sleeping next to me when I was sick, and when I had awakened to the same gentle touch. I glanced up at him, smiling shyly, feeling like some ridiculous schoolgirl. His eyes had that same look as they had when we'd woken up next to each other on the floor, and I could feel my heart pounding, the sound almost deafening me. As he leaned down and kissed me, the softest and most wonderful touch I'd ever felt, I knew in my heart that I no longer hated Spot Conlon, and that I never could again.