Chapter 12 - Common Sense

Yet another tutoring session was laced with awkward silence. Once our hands touched on accident, for example, when both of us tried to open the page, his lingered on mine for a moment before surprisingly, respectfully letting go. I smiled at that to myself and continued the lesson. It was actually amusing to watch him struggle with a problem, for he would cuss or clench his fists and glare at his paper as if it was his worst enemy. The way he scrunched his face in anger and pressed his pencil down with his strong looking fingers just made me giggle uncontrollably, which made him look up and question me.

"What?"

"Nothing," I replied and continued explaining, feeling his breath on my neck and shoulder as I did so and not really –something- all that much.

When he left he usually stood in my hallway and I watched dress, and he grabbed his backpack and waved to me with a smirk.

As the door closed behind him I ran my fingers through my hair, messing it up completely by combing it back and looking like a douche. I knew one thing though: I was definitely falling for him and doing so quicker than I really wanted to. It also made me feel pathetic, considering that I did my best not to act like a tweenage girl. Plus I was trying to test his affection for me. So we both liked each other but did nothing about it. As Xigbar put it, I liked to make things complicated for myself. With these thoughts and crossed arms I returned back to my kitchen and made myself tea. While the teapot was heating up I grabbed all of my pens and pencils and shoved them into my bag before sitting down and looking across of myself.

The text message still scared the shit out of me. I still hadn't talked to anyone but Marluxia about it and it worried me. Maybe I should have told the police after all.

But no, Marluxia agreed with me which gave me some base to not be so inquisitive about my decision.

But murder was murder, and now threats?

And then I realized something. We could use a tracker on Zexion's cell phone. I quickly took my own out and found the text, before writing down Zexion's number. Of course! I could just go to the police with some sob story about my brother or something and I bet I'd be able to find out and-…

But what could I do? I've never confronted a murder before and, well, what the hell was I supposed to say?

"That was a bad thing you did thar, Mr. Murderer." No. I needed someone with me.

I could ask Xigbar; he wields weapons well. But you tell Xigbar and consider the whole school in knowledge.

Xaldin would tell Xigbar, probably, considering we were a tight circle of friends and if it wasn't for the fact that I was a total wimp, I'd tell them about this too.

The teapot squeaked on its boiling point and I turned it off before pouring myself a full cup of hot, steaming tea.

Well the thoughts on my mind were definitely driving me insane. I sat there, writing notes for 10 minutes with the back of the pen before realizing there was nothing on the paper. I frowned at the ridiculousness of myself. And that's all because I was thinking of the two things that wouldn't leave me be: the murderer of Zexion Carper and Marluxia Michie. I leaned back in my seat with a small sigh, attempting to clear my head. Why did I have to be in the middle of this? Not only did I have schoolwork, but now this! I looked over at Marluxia with a sigh and briefly watched him take notes boredly. I admired his strong structure with a brief smile before clearing my throat and looking back to the side.

I'd confront him about my cell phone tonight. I promised myself so and wouldn't go back on it. Once the bell rang I'd approach him and tell him what my plan was. Why was I so nervous about this, anyway?

And so I confronted him about it and he actually accepted he do so, which made me grin; No questions asked, no chance of anyone finding out. I couldn't believe how utterly ridiculous it got that I actually wanted to hang around him.

I sat in his car that day with a smile, leaning back and inhaling its scent. He sat beside me and I silently took out my cell phone and stared at the message once more, chewing on my lip. I wonder if I should take my phone out or not? What if they looked through it?

Then I realized how stupid I was being. Why would the police look through my phone with no permission? I shook my head with a small smile.

"Do you have ANY suspicions yet?" Marluxia suddenly asked me, shooting a worried look at me.

"Well…no," I said honestly, scratching my head, "I don't really know anyone who would go that far."

He nodded in agreement before scratching his head with a free hand. "Maybe someone hired somebody."

"But it's gotta be someone we know."

"Unless the murderer's selection was random."

"I dunno, does he write the last name first?"

"Auburn, Vexen… I don't remember him doing so."

We both sat in silence for a few moments before I glanced over at him. "I don't understand though, why precisely me?"

"You said it yourself," he smirked slightly, "Dude doesn't have friends."

"Shit!" I groaned before hitting my head on my seat. "Why the fuck did he have my number in! I would have been over it by now and then we'd…!"

An awkward silence spread itself and Marluxia looked over at me, asking softly, "And then we'd what?"

And then he suddenly realized that there is a very nice looking light post in front of us.