Chapter 2

. . .

That's So Cliché

. . .

She hesitated to look behind herself, what if it was a drug dealer? Or a sexual harasser? A million possibilities ran through her head and she quickly tried to remember the short judo lessons she took when she was ten. Soon realizing standing here with her back turned to them wasn't the best idea so, with much courage, she turned around and prepared for any kind of surprised attack.

None came.

She did a quick scan of the area before realizing the groan had come from a bundle of black on the ground, it shivered before uncurling and giving a long stretch. It was a boy, around her age, and he was quite handsome even though his face was littered with bruises and cuts. There was an unnatural pink hue on his cheeks that led her to the assumption that he was buzzed. He looked around dazed before sitting up and taking as much shelter as he could under the slight overhang of a garage.

She debated if she should just leave him there or continue on, but the compassion in her, damn it to hell, made her turn around and offer a corner of her umbrella.

"You know hyperthermia is a thing, right?"

"…..what?"

"Hyperthermia? You will catch it if you stay out here in the rain" there was a long pause before he made any move to answer her.

"Personal space is also a thing, and I would appreciate it if you left mine" He sneered the words at her, a slight mocking edge to them as she huffed, offended.

She stood ready to leave the rude jerk before she watched him double over in a nasty coughing fit that made her pause; again.

Damn it.

She couldn't just leave him here, he was drunk and hurt laying on the ground coughing out his lungs. She bit her lip in thought, his clothes look expensive though, which most likely meant that he didn't live around this area and in his state he probably couldn't drag himself home. She thought of a different way to approach him before speaking.

"You're… not a thug, right? Or a drug dealer that's plans went bad?" She blurted out the question without second thought her plan to approach him gently flying out the window. An embarrassed blush arose up her neck, despite the dropping temperature, as he rose an eyebrow at her question.

"A drug dealer? That's so cliché" he gave a short dry laugh at the thought "as for the thug…. Ahh who knows?" He clicked his tongue at the end of the statement mischievously as he glanced back up at her. She stared down at him holding his tired gaze there before kneeling down once again.

"I don't believe that" she looked thoughtful as she stared at him "You just look… uh, intimidating? It's probably because of the eyebrows, you were also rather rude earlier even though you look pretty messed up" She paused as he slowly blinked at her, probably processing what she just said " And if you're a thug, you're not a good one at that. Aren't they supposed to beat people up? Not the other way around?" She may have realized somewhere in the middle of that sentence that she was provoking a dangerous person, probably around the moment his face took on a dangerous edge, but the words continued to stumble out of her mouth defiantly.

He looked positively pissed off.

"Ya, what does a little girl have any right to talk about things she doesn't understand?" the words were hissed at her as he tried to sit up "Why don't you just run home to your parents and leave stuff that should be left alone, alone" For as offended as she was the first time he snapped at her, this time she remained surprisingly calm. Maybe it was the fact that he flinched at the word parents, or how he looked more and more lost the longer he spoke, but she felt it somewhere in her gut, probably that compassion that she had tried to damn, that he was no more than a lost kid hurt and alone.

She tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear as she tried for that new approach once again "I never said it was a bad, I happen to quite like horror movie villains" she sent a look his way and they glared at each other for a good minute before he looked down and let out a raspy cough. She laughed in her triumph.

"Has anyone told you you're strange?" He looked up at her curiously but a sly grin was growing on his face as she realized he was trying to tease her. She felt the mood significantly lighten at the joke.

"Can you get home on your own? Because judging from your expensive choice in clothes I would say that you don't live in this" She gestured to the shabby looking apartment building he was leaning against "neighborhood" She glanced at her watch to check the time, damn, it had been an hour since she left.

Her mother was probably worried, and with the accident that happened on the street she was supposed to take, she was sure she would come home to another hit on the arm. She did a quick head snap between her groceries and the curious boy in front of her before she mad a fast decision that she might, most likely will, regret. She looked back at him and sucked in a quick breath hoping this would go smoothly.

"Since you haven't answered I'll take that as a yes, and because you look like you're having trouble barely even sitting up right now" She paused as he looked to be making a move to say something back, probably something rude, but it was cut off by a sudden coughing fit. When it passed she eyed him in a way that made him shut up before she continued.

"As I was saying you're in no condition to stay here or walk home alone. So as the good Samaritan I am, I'll invite you just for hour to sober up and treat your cut at my house" She rushed most of the words out in one breath but kept eye contact the whole time. She adjusted the groceries bag on her forearm as she held out her hand to him. He stared at it as if he was about to refuse but she cut him off, again.

"Everyone deserves second chances, even villains" She said the words firmly and waited for him to decide. He looked confused and slightly surprised before he let out a sigh and gripped her hand, she was sure she was looking oh so smug as she helped him to his feet.