Getting pretty romantic :) chapter eight here! --Mandy

Clouds spread over the dark skies of Bluestone, thick as milk and covering every star above. A quiet breeze made the trees rustle their leaves softly while crickets sang a lively melody among the grass.

Andromeda traveled down the now-familiar empty road. She'd prepared a small batch of fluffy white cupcakes which she laced with homemade frosting and garnished with multicolored candy sprinkles.

At the trailer door she knocked, Ezekiel gave her his typical "go away", she mentioned who it was, and he then allowed her to enter.

"I brought you a treat today," she said cheerfully.

"Oh, goodie," he replied with a dull, dry humor.

When she opened the box and presented a cupcake before his face, he frowned. "What the hell is it?"

"A cupcake. It's food. Try it."

As if he were taking a beaker containing a highly toxic substance from a less-than-reliable lab assistant, he cautiously grabbed the pastry. He sniffed it, looked thoughtful, and simply stared at it.

"Go on," she coaxed, "take a bite."

Reproachfully Ezekiel's thin rosy lips neared the sweet food. His tongue flicked out to test the frosting, and when he appeared to approve of it, he bit into the muffin top.

Andromeda was filled with satisfaction at the sight of him taking a second bite, then a third, then four. Soon he had what was left of the cupcake smeared all over his chin. Licking his fingers, he met her surprised gaze.

His pupils were dilated. "Got more of those?"

She gave him the box, which he practically attacked. He took such a huge chunk out of one cupcake that half of it was already gone. She watched him with a growing intrigue; he ate them like some kind of… animal. Even the way his teeth impaled the soft dough reminded her of a predator shredding its prey.

It didn't take more than twenty seconds for all three other cupcakes to be devoured. By the time they vanished, he was running his tongue across his sticky moist fingers and over his frosting-coated lips. It was an innocent gesture, but the sight of his tongue made Andromeda want to lick her own lips.

"Ohhh, dude," he swooned, smiling wide. "Those were awesome. How'd you make them?"

"Um… in the oven."

"Really? Hmm… I should try that." He sucked on his fingers happily. "Yummm…"

"So, Ezekiel," she began carefully, "no one's ever come in here for you, right?" She slipped her sweatshirt off her arms.

He raised a dark eyebrow at her motion, "What, you stripping for me?"

She stopped as her sweatshirt fell to the floor. "Ew, no, it's just hot in here."

"Because of me."

"Sure." Heat blazed in her cheeks as she subconsciously agreed with his statement. "But no one's ever come in here for you, right?"

He thought for a moment, his index finger pensively prodded between those hauntingly perfect lips. "I've been bothered a few times by that gang, or some stupid little boys halfway between their video-game-to-porn stages, and some other assholes, but I just sit here and ignore them."

"You didn't ignore Perseus," she pointed out.

"The dude was gonna die, I couldn't let that happen." His tongue wriggled between his fingers again, over his petite lips, and along the sides of his mouth. "But I'm no hero, so don't call me one."

"I won't call you one, but I'll always consider you a hero."

He snorted. "Whatever."

Andromeda moved to a boarded window and peeked through a crack. "It's so nice out right now. Do you think we could go for a walk?"

"Hmm…?" He took the rainwater pitched from the fridge and sprinkled some over his sticky hands. "That sounds cool. Okay."

She was filled by that giddy warm feeling that made her heart speed up drastically. The instant liking she had for this boy had taken mach-4 velocity to an immeasurable affection. She barely remembered anything from earlier that day—Carson's denial, Gabriel's big mouth, Brittney and Amanda's obnoxious voices. All her mind could fathom at the moment was Ezekiel, his peculiar beauty, and his natural elegance.

The door was opened to the warm night and Andromeda stepped out among its serenity. Somewhere in the grass chirped an orchestra of crickets. An owl cooed mournfully high upon the tree canopies. Off to the west, the sounds of the town echoed about the stillness.

Andromeda waited for him as he tightly shut the trailer door, then he fell into pace beside her.

"It is nice out," he said in a low, husky, almost relaxing voice, as he looked up at the clearing of leaves above the road.

"I love nights like this." She took a deep whiff of the warm air. "They're so calm and peaceful."

"I don't really see these nights too often."

"Why not?"

"Because I never leave. I sleep most of the d-- night, sometimes I lift a few weights, but I never really go places anymore."

"And why's that?"

He frowned, "I don't quite know if I can trust you."

"You can," she said, "but you don't have to tell me anything you don't want to." Truthfully she was dying to know what he was hiding, but she respected him too much to pry.

"Maybe someday."

She glanced at him beside her. In the night's cloudy darkness Ezekiel looked majestic. Every angle of his handsome face was softly lit by a distant streetlight down the road; his eyes were deep blue like an ocean, indescribably gorgeous. She noticed he held his head up when he walked, a style that may define a proud nature in his mind. The dim evening made his skin appear perfectly smooth. Her sapphire gaze was locked upon him while she wondered… Does he even know how attractive he is?

"So what's life like in the city?" he asked, awakening her from her thoughts.

"What? Oh! Well, it's not really a city, but town life isn't all too glamorous. I just go to school in the fall, take trips to the library during the summer, and hang out with my brother for the rest of the time." She sighed quietly. "I'm such a nerd. My life revolves mostly around reading."

He scoffed. "You are a nerd."

"Thanks…" She pushed her long blond hair behind her ear. "There isn't really anything better to do, though. We have to be careful with money because I don't work, and we're living off my rich uncle's cash."

"Doesn't your brother work?"

"Yeah, for minimum wage at a shoe store," she told him.

"Hey, it could be worse, you know. You could be fucking broker than a hobo and drink rainwater because you don't have money to pay for your own city water or electricity."

She stared at him. "You're referring to yourself, right?"

"No shit." He seemed to study her from head to toe, her soft refined face and its bonny features—depthless cobalt eyes, flawless skin free of blemishes, lush pink lips—to her thin dainty body, the subtle curve of her waist and the slender shape of her legs.

She caught his gaze on her but he didn't bother to look away.

"I used to go to school," he said randomly.

"You did? Here?"

"Only for a few weeks, but then I quit because of my parents. They pulled me out so I could clean the trailer and stuff with my sister, and… yeah. Plus I just didn't wanna stay in school."

Andromeda thought for a few seconds. So he was a truant orphan who lived alone in an old dingy trailer, but what had happened to his parents?

She didn't need to know. It was his business, not hers.

Something unexpectedly popped into her thoughts. Her tongue pressed against her teeth to repress her wanting to speak, though she couldn't help asking, "What about your dog?"

Ezekiel nearly tripped but caught himself and quickly regained his loping gait. "What about him?"

"Why'd he run away?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I couldn't read his mind. He trashed the place and left, that's all I know."

"What kind of dog was he?"

A Ssss… German shepherd." He sounded unsure, but she assumed it was his memory escaping him and she decided she ought to change the subject.

"I can't wait for our trip next month," she said happily. "Have you ever been to Madison?"

"Nope." He stared ahead down the lurid highway. "I've lived here for maybe a year now. The reason I'm still here is because… I'm on my own without a dime to my name."

A wave of immense sympathy washed over her. This poor man didn't deserve to be in such a state of despair. "You know, you could come live with my brother and me." She could feel her cheeks flush timidly.

"That'd be pretty weird," he said, appearing meditative. "But it's nice of you, thanks."

"Do you want us to send you some money for food?"

"No, I trap rabbits and stuff, or I just don't eat until I get an animal. It's simple."

"It's horrible!"

He smirked sideways at her. "Hey, I'll bet there's hundreds of people out there who have it a lot worse than I do."

"That's not the point. You could get a job, you could have money. You don't have to sit in that trailer all day hiding from the world."

His glance toward her was a glare. "No, I can't get a job." He sounded offended.

"Why? Were you fired from one before?"

"No, I just can't. Let's drop it there, leave it alone, it's done." He continued walking even after she stopped.

"I think you're lazy," she said firmly. "You don't want money. You like being all alone in a trailer because it makes people wonder about you and fear you. It makes you feel special."

He whirled upon her so abruptly that the only reason she didn't scream was because she swallowed it down. The expression on his normally-serene face was angry, somewhat feral. She was worried he would hit her.

"You think I hide in that damn metal box all my life on purpose, you're dead wrong. And I don't need little annoying freaks coming by and telling me that what I do is stupid. I don't have a choice, and if you actually knew me, you'd have figured out why." He started walking back the way they'd come.

Seeing him react that way made her feel awful for saying such rude things. "But I want to know you."

He faltered. His head turned toward her slightly, watching her from his peripheral vision. He appeared distraught, maybe even conflicted, because he didn't charge onward. "Why?"

"I want to be your friend, Ezekiel."

This made him turn to face her, his expression blank. His mouth creased like he was having trouble with whatever it was he wanted to say. He shuffled his feet on the pavement, choosing his words carefully.

"Friends are dangerous things," he murmured.

"I can take risks, and you can, too."

"Why are you so fucking determined to be my friend?"

Her stomach swirled with a mixture of anxiety and affection. She wanted to hug him, go tell him that he wasn't alone anymore. He wouldn't be, for as long as they lived. "Because I care," she finally said. "And I'm sorry I said those things to you. It wasn't right to judge you."

"Yeah, no kidding."

She ignored the comment. "I would like the opportunity to know you better, if you'd give me a chance. Please, Ezekiel?"

He blew a heavy sigh out his nose. Standing there in the dark, he looked like a model's shadow, his body shape even more bewitching in the absence of a light source.

"All right." His arms folded across his chest. "Remember, though, you know nothing about me. Actually, there's no one living in the trailer. I do not exist, okay?"

"I got it," she agreed. "I've already denied your existence to a couple of preps from my school."

"Then we're getting off to a good start." He gestured for her. "Come on, let's head back. It's getting pretty late."

"Okay." She trotted to his side and they began walking.

On the way they spoke of the way people were, how annoying and intrusive some were, how they weren't kind anymore, there was always some stupid reason for them to be rude. She assured him she'd never met anyone like him before, and he confirmed her thoughts with a brief, "Sure as hell, you haven't."

He climbed the short three steps to his trailer door and turned. "Well, that was cool," he said.

"Yeah, I liked tonight." She shuffled in place; her hands weaved together, her cheeks flushing to an unseen shade of pink. "You're a really good person."

"Ha!" He sounded very amused. "Wow, you really don't know me."

"You're a bad person?"

"You'd be surprised."

She thought he was being modest, but she wasn't sure. With a smile she faced the direction of her path home. "Is tomorrow night okay for you?"

"Why not? I have nothing to do, anyway."

"Cool, maybe I'll bring another treat."

"If it's anything like those whatever-they-were tonight, then make a thousand."

She smiled and started away. "Goodbye, Ezekiel."

"Bye, Andromeda."

And she was thrilled by the way her name sounded in his voice.