A/N: sorry this took me so long to post, but I reestablished some semblance of a social life over the weekend, then went into total otaku mode when the new G-SEED DVDs came out on Tuesday, so you can imagine how hyper and in non-working mode I was. I'm sorry about the wait, and I hope it was worth it! Thanks again!
Chapter Nine: The Date, Part 1
"What did you do to your hair!" I exclaim. Kira stands in the doorway to my room, a small smile on his lips.
"You like it?" he asks.
"You look adorable," I reply. He fingers one of the shaggy locks, now tipped with the same deep violet as his impossibly big eyes.
"My parents are gonna kill me," he says, not sounding the least bit worried.
"Your mom will think it's cute and your dad will like it, too. He's not a stiff like some people," I say, referring to my dad just in case he's within earshot.
"Cagalli's waiting outside so I should go," he says quietly, turning away from me.
"She can leave by herself. Tell her you're staying here," I say, taking his crutches form him as I yank him into my room.
"But Athrun, she'll be so pissed off . . ."
"So? She can be if she wants, and she usually is. You're staying with me," I say sternly.
"But it's a school night . . ." he begins.
"Since when has that ever stopped me? You sound like you don't wanna stay."
"No! I do, I'm just worried." His eyes dart away from mine, then when he finally looks at me again, I ask, "about what we'll do?"
He nods, blushing, "I know I said I want to go all the way but I'm kind of . . . Scared," he admits, the nervousness evident in his face.
"Gods, you're so . . ." I whisper, burying my face in his hair.
"Stupid?" he asks.
"No, unbelievably kawaii," I answer.
I tilt his chin upwards, staring into his eyes that flutter closed, telling me that it's okay to kiss him. I gladly take the opportunity and press my lips to his, the caress gentle and somewhat apprehensive.
"You are nervous," I whisper, pulling away from him.
"Just a little, he says, hesitance in his voice.
"A little? You're shaking," I say suspiciously, taking his trembling hand in mine.
"What is it? You can tell me, Kira."
"I told you my crappy reason already," he says bitterly, snatching his hand from mine.
"It's not crappy, it's just your natural reaction," I say, trying to make him feel better.
"But it's not like there's anything to react to. We're not doing anything," he says; I wonder if he's trying to be difficult.
"Do you want to be doing something?" He's silent, his lips curved into a small frown, his gaze averted from mine.
"Yes, I want us to be doing something! All that stuff we did before felt so right! Athrun, I want you to take me now!" he cries, wrapping his arms around me and clings to me, his tears sliding over my skin.
"Kira, I thought you were scared?" I whisper.
"I am, but . . . I want you to make love to me." He lifts his head and looks up at me with his teary eyes, begging.
"Why'd you call it that?" I ask.
"Because there's a difference. Sex is what you had with Cagalli, because you didn't love her," he answers. I become uneasy at the mention of her, thinking about what happened earlier today. I wipe the tears from his eyes, trying to ignore the churning feeling in my stomach, but I can't.
"Sit, I'll be right back," I say. He limps over to the bed and waits as I yell down to my mom to tell Cagalli to leave, in choice words of course.
"I couldn't stand it, knowing she's out there waiting for you to leave when you're not," I explain, sitting down next to him.
"I'm not," he mutters, as if reassuring himself of it.
"But I don't have my uniform," he says.
"Don't worry about it. What we were discussing . . . What you said is true. I won't call it sex anymore, and if I do, you'll know it's just from habit."
He smiles and rests his head on my shoulder, "I knew you would understand," he whispers, his eyes closing again.
"You can't sleep yet!" I whine.
"I'm not sleeping," he says, then yawns and stretches.
"Why are you so tired?" I ask, puzzled, as he slumps against me.
"I was up reading stuff online," he says.
"About what?"
"How to do it if you're both guys," he replies quietly.
"There's no need for you to study, I'm the one on top, remember?" I point out.
"I still wanted to know. I felt like I had to."
"Wouldn't a surprise have been more fun?" I say, grinning.
"Not when it comes to this, no."
"Tell me how to do it then," I say deviously.
"W-well you're on top of me and you have to . . . Have to . . . I can't say it," he says, burying his face in his hands. I laugh for a moment at how embarrassed he is, then pat him on the head and tell him not to worry about explaining.
"I know very well how to do it," I whisper.
"You probably read up on this weeks ago." I fake an innocent smile and lie back on the bed, pulling the blankets over me. Kira takes off his jeans and sweatshirt, then crawls into bed with me, being cautious of his leg.
"Feh," I mutter, realizing the light is still on.
The moment before I flip the switch, I notice a shadow slinking down the staircase and into the dark entry hall. It's too small to be my mom or dad - Cagalli. I close and lock the door before curling up under the covers again, pulling Kira close to me. I scowl into the blackness, the silence unbroken except for our quiet breathing. I clench my fists in the sheets and try to relax, but I can't get over the fact that Cagalli is now aware of exactly what we're planning on doing.
"My gods, she heard. I'm gonna kill her," I mumble. Unknown to me, Kira is awake to hear me say this.
"Athrun! Wake up!" my mom yells, banging on the door to my room. I poke my head out from under the covers, grunting in disappointment; she doesn't know I haven't exactly been sleeping for the past ten minutes. Kira throws the blankets off and sits up, the flush on his face slowly fading and his breaths evening out. I smirk at how flustered he got by just a little kissing and licking, wondering how my mom didn't hear his lusty groans.
"Guess we have to go, huh?" I ask quietly.
"Whatever you say," he says, still in a bit of a daze. I get out of bed and open the door to see my very miffed mother standing there, fist poised in the air to continue knocking.
"That took you long enough! You better hurry up or you're gonna be late," she snaps. Her glare turns into a smile when she sees Kira sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Good morning, Kira. I hope Athrun treated you well last night," she says.
"W-well! What do you mean by that!" I shout, the heat rising to my face.
She merely winks at me and goes down the stairs, leaving me to figure out what to do about school. We need two uniforms, I have one, and unless he wants his parents to find he spent the night with me, it's gonna stay that way. No uniform get you detention, and it'll be my fault if Kira has to go to that hell hole. My ideas always get us into some kind of trouble.
I start searching my closet, then my drawers in a desperate attempt to find something for him to wear.
"Kira, would you mind wearing . . . This?" I ask, pulling three pieces of clothing out of one of the drawers.
"Is that . . . The girls uniform?" he says, staring at the plaid skirt, sweater vest and short-sleeved blouse.
"Yeah, must be your sister's. Will you wear it?"
"If I have to," he grumbles. Not only did I get to share my bed with him, but I have him in a skirt! Well, I will after . . .
"Wait, you can't take a shower, right?" I ask, gathering the clothes in my arms.
"I can stand up, but it hurts really badly after a few minutes," he answers.
"You can lean on me then," I pull on his arm, but he doesn't get up.
"You're not gonna try anything, are you?" he asks. Anticipation and slight fear shine in his eyes as he gazes up at me.
"Not unless you want me to," I whisper in response.
"If we didn't have school . . ." he sighs.
"Screw school. Let's stay in bed all day, Kira-chan," I say mischievously.
"Athrun!" he yells, tugging on my hair.
"Ow! Ow, okay, I'm sorry, I'll go to school! Owwww!" I cry as he drags me down the hallway by a lock of hair.
"Shit, you didn't have to pull so hard," I mutter, rubbing my head.
"You wouldn't have cooperated otherwise," he says with a shrug. Still sulking, I turn on the water in the shower and get some towels while it warms. I look over at him as I take off my shirt, watching his cheeks color.
"Kira, c'mon," I plead. He limps over to me and shifts his weight onto his good leg while he quickly pulls his shirt over his head. I kick aside my underwear and watch as he fidgets in front of me.
"Your turn," I say.
"Nothing more than what we've already done, okay?" he asks nervously, his fingers hooked in the waistband of his boxers.
"Yeah, don't worry," I say. His face reddens, his eyes squeezed shut, as the article of clothing falls around his ankles.
"You're so damn cute, Kira. There's no need to blush like that," I laugh softly. My smile fades when my eyes settle upon the bandage around his thigh, spots of fresh blood on the fabric.
"Are you supposed to take that off?" I ask. He nods and starts unraveling it, slowly revealing the wound to me. The red liquid dribbles from the crooked gash, staining his pale skin and our eyes meet when we both look up from it.
"I'm sorry," I whisper.
"For what? It's my fault for being so stupid as to trust her," he says.
"No, it wasn't stupid. You're a kind person, Kira, and that's one of the reasons why I love you." He smiles slightly and wipes his tears with the back of his hand.
"No time for crying, we're gonna be late," I say, lightly tugging at his wrist. Once I close the glass door behind me, he quickly starts scrubbing his hair, trying not to look over at me while I do the same.
"Stare all you want," I say, ringing the shampoo out of my hair.
"Huh?" he asks, blinking in a confused manner.
"I've done my fair share of ogling, if you didn't know already," I explain.
"You're more obvious than you think, Athrun," he says with a laugh.
"Your leg starting to hurt?" I ask as he leans against the tile wall.
"Yeah, a lot," he replies, wincing in pain as I carefully wrap my arms around him. He sighs with relief as he rests his weight against me, the feeling of his wet skin on mine sending a jolt of pleasure through my body. He shudders as he moves slightly, something brushing my thigh.
"Glad I'm not the only one who likes this," I whisper with a smirk. He sighs at the presence of my lips so near to his weakness, but I let go of him, remembering we have to go to school. I hurriedly wash, then turn to Kira, who notices as I look him up and down.
"I can do it myself, just grab a washcloth for my cut," he says, taking the soap from me. I open the door so I can lean out and snatch a cloth off the side of the bath tub, then hand it to him.
"Thanks," he says, patting away the blood.
"You can go get dressed if you want," he glances at me suspiciously as the suds rinse off his body.
"I think I like watching you," I say, tilting my head to one side as he bends over to pick up the cloth from the floor.
"Go get dressed, you perv!" he yells, pushing me out onto the bath mat. Sulking, I do as he told me to, brushing my hair before pulling it back into a ponytail. The water shuts off and Kira comes to stand beside me, a towel wrapped around his slim waist.
"Want me to get the bandages?" I ask.
"That'd be great," he answers.
I rummage through the cabinets while he dresses and when I look up again with the roll of bandage in my hand, he's pulling the sweater vest over his head, the trim of the skirt falling just to his knees.
"Excuse me, miss, I believe these are for you," I snicker.
"Shut up! This was your idea," he snaps, folding his arms and glaring at me.
"Yeah, and a brilliant one at that," I say proudly. He sits down on the edge of the tub and pulls up his skirt so I can wrap his wound.
"Do you think it's getting any better?" I ask as I wind the fabric around and around.
"It hasn't even been a week yet, so I can't really say." We're both silent until we go downstairs and, (after I make sure my dad has already left), into the kitchen.
"K-kira! Are you planning on having a gender change surgery done!" my mom exclaims. Leave it to her to take everything to it's extreme.
"No, mom, he just doesn't have any other uniform to wear," I reply, grabbing a muffin off the counter; we're going to be late anyway, even with all that rushing.
"Don't let the other boys pick on you, Kira," my mom calls as we go into the entryway.
"I won't," I say, leaning on his crutches while he ties his sneakers.
"I can't believe you're wearing Chucks with a skirt," I sigh, giving him his crutches before going outside.
"When I put them on I wasn't expecting to be wearing this skimpy thing," he says angrily.
"Skimpy? It could be worse. Plus, your ass looks good in plaid." He yelps when I smack him on the ass before darting around to the other side of the car, avoiding his payback, but it'd be worth it.
"You're gonna pay for this, Athrun!" Kira snarls as the year book committee (all girls) takes their last picture of him. Something tells me they're not for any year book though.
"Please tell me how you got him to wear that so I can do the same to Yzak," Dearka whispers.
"Nope, gotta figure it out for yourself. Not that he even likes you back," I say mockingly.
"Shut it, bastard! He does too!" he yells.
"Who does what? Athrun looks guilty for Kira's humiliation?" Yzak asks, joining us on the grass of the quad.
"Am not!" I retort.
"Never knew you had a cross dressing fetish, Athrun," Dearka says.
"I do not!" I yell, blushing, partially from the fact that some of my classmates heard his comment.
This has been going on for a while now, sitting around and doing nothing; our French class got cancelled because our teacher quit today and they didn't have time to find a replacement. Damn, slacking off is so much fun. Kira hops over to us, dropping his crutches in my lap and scowling at me.
"Do you know how horrible all those girls are?" he whines, collapsing next to me.
"From personal experience, no," Yzak replies. Dearka glances at me, a mischievous grin on his lips, probably thinking, "with your help, he'll know soon."
"Don't you have homework to be doing?" I ask Dearka in response, holding up my physics text book as an example.
"Hmm . . . No," he answers, undoing the first few buttons of his shirt before lying down on his back. I make note that Yzak stares at the area of exposed skin for a moment before looking away. How interesting. Maybe I'll help Dearka with his request after all, just to amuse myself with the result.
"Dearka," I whisper, lying down on my stomach next to him.
"Hm? What? I was gonna take a map," he complains.
"I'll help you get together with Yzak, but only if you do something for me in return," I answer.
"What now?"
"Make sure Cagalli doesn't tail us on our date the day after tomorrow."
"That's it? Too easy," he scoffs.
"You wanna deal with her if she catches you? Have fun," I say. He thinks for a moment, imagining the scenario, probably involving getting chased by the demon spawn blonde, then says, "the pain will be worth it if it means you'll really help."
"You like him a lot, huh?" I ask.
"You could put it that way, yeah," he replies, looking away from me.
"Whatcha talkin' about?" Yzak asks, lying on his side next to Dearka. I notice him blush at this sudden closeness and sits up, his gaze averted to me so Yzak doesn't see him blushing.
"N-nothing, we weren't talking about anything," he lies.
"Sure, like I'm gonna believe that for a minute. If you were saying bad things about me I'll rip your head off!" A violent one, that Joule kid.
"I was just complimenting you and now you threaten me! Sometimes I wonder why . . ." he starts grumbling to himself, arms folded across his chest.
"Why what?"
"None of your business! You're so nosy!" With that, he gets to his feet and storms off, leaving Yzak staring after him, utterly confused.
"Is there something going on that I should know about?" he asks me.
"Maybe, maybe not. Why should it matter what Dearka thinks of you if you hate him this much?" I answer, rolling over onto my back to look up at the sky.
"I don't hate him! He's just so difficult sometimes," he sighs.
"Then what do you feel towards him?" I'm so sneaky.
"If you have to know . . . I'm in love with him," he mutters, "but it doesn't matter because it's unrequited."
"How do you know that?"
"Because he's always talking about girls and thinking about girls and looking at magazines full of them! Why would he have any interest in me! I'm a guy, if you haven't noticed!"
"What if I told you he liked you just as much?"
"Then I'd kill you for lying to me about something so important! I'm not that stupid!" he yells. I glance over at Kira, who is watching this whole scene with great interest.
"What if Kira told you then?" I ask.
"What? Wait, I have no idea what's going on!" Kira exclaims as Yzak turns to him, his glare murderous.
"Then I'll kill you both!"
"But it's true," I say calmly.
"Is not! Then why hasn't he told me himself?"
"He doesn't want to be rejected. But I'll help you get together with him if you do something for my," I say slyly, scheming in my head.
"Sure, what?"
"Keep Cagalli from following us on our date," I say, grinning.
"I'll do it! If it means Dearka will . . . I'm ready for that bitch! She won't get within a mile of you!" he shouts, determination glinting in his eyes.
"Good. Just be in Portsmouth at seven-thirty Friday," I say.
"Where exactly?"
"Market Square," I reply. I'll tell Dearka to be in the same place, at the same time. I could be Cupid any day if it's this easy to get people together.
When I arrive at school Friday morning and glance at the clock on the wall of Murrue's classroom, one thing runs through my mind: twelve hours from now, I'll be picking up Kira for our date. No fucking way am I this lucky. I must be dreaming. Not only that, but I've got Dearka and Yzak stalking Cagalli, making sure she doesn't screw everything up.
So we're going to dinner, then the beach then, (hopefully), back to my house. But if my dad's home, then I can forget trying to have any fun, unless I can get my walls sound proofed in less than a day. Maybe if I call now, they can get it done. Doubt it. If I hire a crew, all they'd do is wreck my room, like a certain someone, take nine coffee breaks, get nothing done, and play Ranchero music really loud.
All morning I'm hyper and excited, but by the beginning of afternoon period, I start to get nervous, asking myself all kinds of useless "what if" questions ad nauseam. Lacus notices my anomalous behavior and asks if I'm okay, and of course I lie and tell her yes. She'd laugh her pink-haired head off if she knew I was worrying about something I planned.
Kira, on the other hand, is as bouncy as he can be on crutches, eagerly answering when he's asked a question and humming randomly when we're not in class. Some people ask him if he's gone insane, and he just replies with a simple "no," then continues drawing hearts in his notebook. If I knew it'd make him this happy, I would've asked him a long time ago. If it was before last week, when we told each other how we felt, it'd be a joke, all casual, and we'd pretend to be a couple just to laugh at people's reactions. Now that I think about it, we actually did that a few times.
I take a deep breath, calming myself, and Kira looks over at me, smiling, as if saying, "everything will be fine. You're so sweet to worry about me." The warm breeze ruffles his already disheveled hair, pale pink cherry blossom petals blowing in the open window. Birdee swoops in and lands on his shoulder, chirping as it hops around like it has ADHD.
"My. Yamato, would you mind telling your pet to leave?" the Spanish teacher snaps. We have to sit in this class because they still haven't found a new French teacher.
"Go on, Birdee, I'm almost done," he whispers, setting the robot on the windowsill. It shifts on it's skinny metal legs before taking off on the next wind gust and disappearing around the side of the building.
When the teacher starts writing on the white board again, Kira flips his middle finger at her back, then winks at me in that adorable fashion of his. I lick my lips in response, then give him a lop-sided smirk, very pleased when his face turns the same shade of pink as the petals In his hair.
Gods, he's so cute. Why didn't I realize I loved him before? Was he always this alluring? I can't believe I hadn't pounced on him until just a few days ago. He's not even trying to be hot, but he is, making me stare like this in the middle of class. But no matter what I do I can't tear my eyes away from his face, focusing on him as he copies down what's written on the board. Almost unconsciously, I draw a heart, then write "AZ+KY" inside of it without looking away from him. I don't think I've ever been this fixated before.
Only when the teacher tells us we can leave do I finally shift my gaze, trying to act like I wasn't just staring at him for ten minutes straight. Once we're outside in the sunlight, Birdee lands on his shoulder again as he turns to me.
"I'll see you tonight," he whispers, pressing his lips to mine before disappearing into the crowds.
A few stare at me rudely, but I'm off in my own little world and don't take any notice. I smile to myself as I get into my newly-painted Z3, the clock by the radio informing me that it's three-thirty - four short hours. Two hundred forty minutes, that's it. I thank the gods for my unbelievably awesome luck, then start the car, every worry or doubt vanishing from my mind. Because I have the best friends in the world, everything's gonna turn out perfect. Just me and Kira, Kira and I, whatever. Grammar is definitely not what I'm fantasizing about right now.
"What's all this running around for?" my mom asks just as I'm about to make my last trip upstairs before I leave.
"Tonight has to be perfect," I reply.
"Why? What's going on?" she looks up at me as I stand on the staircase, puzzled.
"Me, Kira, date, don't mention it to dad," I whisper before dashing up to my room.
Wallet, gift, jacket, I think I have everything. I look at myself in the mirror on the wall of the hallway, making sure I look suitable for tonight. Sure, I'm wearing cargo pants and Chucks, but I forced myself to wear a button down outside of school, even though it's over a T-shirt.
"Mom? Do I look okay?" I ask while watching for my dad.
"Of course. But you should probably button and tuck in your shirt, it looks sloppy like this," she starts doing the button sup for me, and I quickly object to it, saying it'll look stupid.
"I'm not going for the formal, nice guy look, mom," I inform her, smoothing the wrinkles she made in the fabric.
"Then what are you going for?"
"Worthy of Kira, good enough to make him want to get in bed with me. What'd you expect?" I laugh.
"Have fun, but go easy on him, he's still injured," she says with a smile.
"I will," I call as I close the heavy front door behind me.
Yeah right I'll go easy. He's always tempting me, staring at me with those huge eyes of his, making me start day dreaming in the middle of class. Like hell I'm gonna go easy. But I do really care for him, it's just that he makes me want things I shouldn't, think things I know are wrong to most people. Close-minded people like our dads, Cagalli, and most of the kids at our school.
None of that matters, though! I tell myself, whipping my head back and forth as I sit at a red light. Remember: calm, cool, no public displays of affection . . . That's gonna be hard.
"Calm, calm, calm, no public displays of–" my muttering as I walk up to the house is cut short when the door opens. Kira stands there, his face lit by the setting sun behind me.
"Hey," I say quietly, my eyes fixed on him.
"Hi, we can go now, he says, rubbing his eye.
He brushes a lock of hair from his face, the color at the tip matching the dragon on his tank top. There's something about the orange light hits his eyes that particularly enchants me, not to mention that he looks amazing in the first place.
"Hm? No crutches?" I ask, snapping out of my staring.
"Nah, I was just sitting around for four hours, I think I can handle walking," he says with a reassuring smile as he comes to stand beside me. Now that I get a closer look at him, I notice a slight difference about his face.
"Why are your eyes red?" I ask, brushing my finger over the bottom lid.
"N-no reason. I'm fine, it's nothing," he turns away from me, trying not to let me see his face.
"Tell me," I whisper, taking his hand gently and pulling him towards me.
"No! There's nothing to say!" he says defensively.
"Why were you crying?" he bites his lip, gnawing at it for a moment before answering me.
"Can't we talk about this later? Somewhere besides here?" he asks.
"In the car, but you have to tell me," I say, giving him a stern glare.
"I will, we just have to get away from here first," he pushes me towards the car, and no matter how confused I am, I don't say anything else. It's his turn to talk. For the first few minutes of the drive, I let him I let him avoid speaking, think of whatever he's going to say, before stabbing the "off" button on the CD player and glancing at him.
"Now?" he asks, gulping.
"Yes, now."
"Well, my parents . . . Have been fighting a lot lately. Yelling at each other until really late at night. I haven't slept well in days," he says, staring out at the dusky sky.
"What're the fights about?" I ask, tilting my head to one side.
"Money and . . . Us."
My eyes widen, "you're kidding, right?"
"Would I kid about this?" I shake my head, because I know he wouldn't.
"What do they say?"
"My dad thinks it's out of hand, that it shouldn't be so unrestricted. My mom is all for it, thinks it's wonderful. Until my dad started asking hypothetical questions. 'What about kids? Who will carry on the Yamato name?' and 'what if one of them gets an STD and dies?'"
"That second one is certainly pleasant," I say sarcastically.
"I know. Baka . . ." he mumbles.
"I'm sure the fighting is gonna start in the Zala household soon," I say.
"Yeah, but you're stronger than I am. I tried to make them stop but they wouldn't listen and then my dad . . . " he rubs his face where a faint mark is visible on his skin.
"He hit you!" I yell.
"Well, I–"
"No excuses! Did he!"
"Yes . . ."
"Has this happened before?" My mind flashes back to the two instances when he said things weren't going well at home.
"How long has he been hitting you!
"It was only twice! But you should know that . . . Cagalli has been picking on me lately. She wakes up early and makes noise in her room so I can't sleep, uses all the hot water in the shower, and takes my clean clothes and hides them."
"Anything else minorly important you'd like to tell me? Molestation, maybe!" I shout, slamming the car door.
"No, that's it," he says, staring at the ground. He wobbles a bit on his feet, his leg obviously bothering him.
"You don't have your crutches, do you?" I ask.
He shakes his head sadly, "she took them," he says quietly.
"Kira . . . Why the hell didn't you tell me this was going on? I want to know these things so I can stop them," I ask, my hands on his shoulders.
"I didn't want you to get involved, because she'll take it out on you, too," he replies.
"She's done enough to me already! If she lays her hand on my property, she's dead. My property includes you, Kira." He blushes a little as he looks up at me, a smile on his lips at last.
"I promise I'll kick her ass if she odes anything else to you. Now c'mon, we're gonna be late." I grab his hand and start pulling him down the sidewalk, then he yells at me for going to fast.
"I'm–"
"If you're apologizing, it's not your fault this happened, any of it. You just like to worry, don't you?" he says with a smirk.
"No, I like to protect you, unlike I had to do for a certain ex-girlfriend of mine."
I glance around, waiting to hear a growl from the growing shadows, but nothing comes. Guess Yzak and Dearka are doing they're job right, or they've tied her up so they can go on a date too. Knowing those two, it's probably the latter.
"Was Cagalli home when you left?" I ask.
"No," he answers; so she is here. I look over my shoulder suspiciously, then scan the people in front of me for her blonde head. How a blonde chick turned out to be so brilliantly evil is beyond me.
"Athrun, don't even think about her. She's not gonna do anything," he says, tugging at my arm. I only wish I could believe him.
TBC . . .
