AN: Finals are OVER! YAY!!!! However I do have work sometimes, but it's all good. Anyway, here's chapter twelve. Hope you like it.
eve brown: Ah, thank you for the enlightenment. I have a big family too, but everyone is just an aunt or uncle or something. I don't really like that first cousin once removed thing… so from here on out, we'll say that I know about it but don't want to change it 'cause I don't like it. =D Only because it's my story. I'll save the fact for future reference when I write another story. (when? If maybe… who knows.)
Shamira: I told you this already, but I don't think Luke's insane. However… he'll come up in the story later and it will be an interesting twist. =D
Disclaimer: You really should know by now. Not mine.
Enjoy! And remember to review!!!!
*
Golden Child
Chapter Twelve
I tried to scream, but it came out muffled because of the hand over my mouth. "Kristina, it's okay. I won't hurt you."
My mind began to panic even more. How did this person know my name? As I struggled to get free, I suddenly realized I knew the owner of that voice. I wrenched his hands off of me and proceeded to slap my "assailant"—hard.
"Loren! What the hell did you do that for?" I exclaimed, almost furious.
"Kristina, be quiet," he hissed as I tried to interrupt, but he beat me to it.
"Listen to me. Someone is following you. I'm trying to get you away from them, okay? But if you make any more noise, they will find you. So I'm gonna get you out of here, and once you're safe, then you can ask questions. All the questions you want."
How does he know me so well? I asked myself. Loren took my hand and whispered, "This way. Try not to make too much sound." We carefully strayed away from the path I had taken, as fast as we could without tripping. Finally, after what seemed like forever, we emerged in a clearing where the trailer park was visible. We started to distance ourselves from the grove of trees, and as soon as we were a good length away from them, I started my barrage of inquiries.
"Okay. First question—what were you doing in there?"
Loren smiled. "Does this imply there will be a lot more?"
I just shot him a look that said, "Duh."
"I went to Spoon Island again," he said, simply.
"Hmm. Two more questions—did you find anything, and, well, do you have a life?" I blurted out.
Loren's eyes furrowed. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you're either lurking in bushes wherever I am, or you're off on Spoon Island trying to find evidence against whomever killed your mother. That's all you do."
He shrugged. "What else is there to do? My mother's dead, my father's crazy, I live in a trailer park… I have to find some way of entertaining myself."
"By stalking people?"
"Hey, I don't follow you everywhere you go, do I? And besides, half the time I'm saving your butt, like just now."
I grinned. "You have a point. Thank you, by the way. Oh… and I'm sorry about slapping you. I was just really freaked out already by the time you grabbed me—I thought you were the person following me. How did you know it was me?"
"I figured, you'd struggle to get out, the other person would just attack me, overwhelm me and I'd be stuck there. I took my chances."
"Why?"
"I have nothing else to do."
I shook my head. "You're so weird."
"Well, you're still coming home with me, so I take it you didn't tell Sonny," Loren retorted.
"Actually, I did."
"And one of his thugs isn't your personal bodyguard? What did you do, brainwash him? Hypnotize him? Or even worse… turn on the irresistible Kristina charm?"
I looked at him strangely. "I have charm?"
"Um… well, you know, all women have some sort of it," Loren replied. I raised my eyebrows. That was weird. "So what did you do to convince him?"
"It's called reasoning, Loren. You try and justify what you want through facts. I told him that you'd be here to take care of me. I didn't want someone following me around at all times. I figured since you do that anyway, I might as well use it for something."
"So you volunteered me to be your bodyguard," Loren summarized.
"Pretty much."
He sighed heavily. I took that as a bad sign. "What, do you not want to be my bodyguard?"
"It's not that, it's just… I'm used to living on my own. I don't take care of anyone else but myself."
"But you let me live with you," I pointed out.
"That was because I didn't want to see you homeless," Loren shot back. "But I don't want to be watching you 24/7, watching you go shopping with your friends or whatever… I have other things to do."
"Like what? You said yourself you don't have a life."
"Yeah, but I'd rather not have a life than watch you all the time."
"You practically do!" I yelled.
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Do too."
"Not."
"Too."
"Not—oh goodness, I can't believe I'm getting into this argument."
I stuck my tongue out at him. "Haha."
Loren shook his head. "Whatever." We had finally made it to the entrance of the park. "Seriously, though, all I need help with is when I'm by myself. Come on, walking with me from here to town is not that bad, is it?"
"Not when I'm arguing with you like two year olds."
I smirked. "Come on, you have to admit it's fun sometimes."
Loren was silent for a moment, and then said, "Well, you're cute when you act like a kid." He winked at me.
I was speechless. One minute he's saving me, the next telling me he doesn't want to be around me all the time, and then he flirts with me. I shook my head.
"What?" Loren asked innocently, the expression in his eyes sincere. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No," I replied softly. "Don't… don't worry about it."
He sighed. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to make you sad… I just… I was just telling the truth."
I couldn't stop myself from smiling slightly. "I know."
We walked in awkward silence the rest of the way, until we got into our nice living quarters. "Kristina, for what it's worth, I want you to know something," Loren began.
I turned to look at him—for I was on the other side, in my bunk area. "Yeah?"
"I'm very proud of you for being able to do what you did. I don't know if I could do that if I were you."
I looked at him, and again, he was showing me that sincere side. "You know something?"
"Yes?"
"You are a hard person to figure out," I admitted. I figured, if he could admit something, then I should too.
He came closer to me. "And why is that?"
"Because you're a guy!" I threw my hands up in frustration.
Loren smirked. "It has been known that women are so much harder to figure out than men. See, all we need is food, sex, maybe a car or a TV or some electronic gadget, and we're fine. You women, you always have those emotional problems, shopping impulses, the 'I can't decide what blouse to wear' syndrome… stuff like that. And you're saying I'm hard to figure out."
"Well, you are! The first time I met you, I saved your life. And then you decided you didn't like me because I was a Cassadine. And then, you follow me around, invite me to live with you, and you continually flirt and want to avoid me all at the same time. Have you ever heard of mixed signals?"
"Of course. Now what's this about me avoiding you?" he asked, coming even closer, so that he was standing a few feet away from me. "I never said that."
"You said you didn't want to watch me all the time—"
"I don't. You said that yourself, you don't want someone watching you all the time. But that doesn't mean I want to avoid you."
Loren was standing really close to me now, but surprisingly, I didn't feel threatened. "Really." Looking up, I was about to raise an eyebrow at him, when suddenly, all I could think about was how close together we were, how his amazing blue eyes were staring into mine. I could feel his breath on my lips, my eyes slowly closing, and the distance between us growing smaller, and smaller…
Hehe, you guys were right on with the Loren thing. I knew I couldn't trick you. Hehe. But here it is… another cliffie. Sorry guys. I know I'm evil. =þ. Let me know what you think okay?