I know I talk about sandworms a lot. I know that…
P.S. Anyone wanna beta…?
I shut the door with the smile still on my face. Rikku's turning out to be not half bad. Once you get to know her, she can actually hold an all right conversation.
"So…?" Mom says.
"What?" I ask, locking the door for the night. I pace over to the kitchen table and lean against it for a second.
"Did you say goodbye properly?" she asked in a high voice, waggling her eyebrows. I thought about it for a second, then shrugged. I'm having a hard time deciding what 'properly' might be in Mom's books. How did Dad used to say goodnight to her?
"Uh, I guess so," I say. Mom gave me a hard look. I feel like she's in her own loop and I'm in mine. And our loops are very far away from each other. I give her a confused look, tilting my head.
"All right, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to tell me," she said in an aloof way, putting her hands on the back of her head and leaning back on the couch.
"Tell you what?" I ask, coming towards the couch a bit more.
"Oh, Gippy, you know what I'm talking about!" she says impatiently. I cross my arms and look at the floor.
"Well, I didn't shake her hand or anything…"
"Gippy!"
"What?"
"Did you kiss her goodnight or not?" She finally came out with it. My face becomes completely red between the time she says 'kiss' and 'goodnight'. I can't even remind myself that I'm not supposed to blush at things like that. But when it's coming from my mom…
"No! Mom! It's not like that!" I say loudly, probably loud enough so the people next door can hear.
"What's it like then? I assumed, since she came over for dinner-."
"I didn't ask her to come!" I yelp, enunciating my words so I get the point across. Sheesh… Mom's really got her hopes up for me. I don't see the point in starting any kind of relationship, since I'm leaving soon anyway. And I wouldn't see the point in starting a relationship with Rikku even if I wasn't leaving. Rikku's just… Rikku. Nobody would get it. I wouldn't even get it. Rikku's kind of like… that cute kid that I used to babysit across the hall. You know, they're funny, but… she's such a kid sometimes. Anyway, what kind of mom wants her kid dating? I've done enough dating in the past couple of months to curb the need while I'm away.
"Well, you were awfully nice to her," Mom says, batting her eyes. She's one of those people who, once she gets an idea in her head, she doesn't let go of it. Ever.
"Would you like me to be rude to our guests?" I ask, sitting on the couch with her.
"Our guests? Hm," she says. I roll my eyes with a small smile.
"Hey," I say. She turns and drops the piece of metal she's holding.
"Ouch!" she yelps as it lands on her foot. I laugh a bit.
"Need some help?" This is weird. I've never seen Oci tinker with machina before. She nods a little and I pick up the piece of metal and hold it sturdily to the machina. She puts her mask down and flicks the torch on, welding the metal together. She flips the mask back, but I shake my head.
"Not enough," I say.
"What? But the book says-."
"I'm telling you – you need to go over it one more time," I say with a smile. She tucks her hair behind her ear and pulls the mask down again, going across the seams again. Usually it's hot to see a girl working with machina. But Oci makes it seem… forced. Like she's trying to look hot while working on the machina. I pull my hands away and the plate holds.
"Phew!" she says, taking the mask off completely. She looks at me with her smile and looks away. I wait to start talking until she's put the torch down. You never know how a crazy ex is going to react to some things… Not that she's proven to be a crazy ex, but… most of my exes end up crazy.
"Um, listen, Oci?" She turns to me with wide eyes. Girls have a sort of radar for this thing. Or a super power. They can hear it in your voice when you're about to apologize. When you're going to say something they don't want to hear, they have a separate radar for that, and when that red light goes off, they start interrupting you until you forget what you were going to say in the first place. Anyway… "I just wanted to say… sorry, for the way I handled things." She stares expectantly at me, and I realize I'm supposed to keep going. Thing is, it took me about a half hour to figure out how to word that one, so, I'm a little stuck now. "If I hurt you, I didn't mean to. Unless you're, well, not hurt, then… um…"
"I forgive you," she says simply. I glance up at her.
"Really?" I ask. Wow, that was easier than I thought it was going to be…
"Sure," she says, shrugging her shoulders. She goes over to the work bench. "So, when are you not busy? I'm free on Friday. We can go to that junk yard that Riks likes, and pick through what's there. Doesn't that sound fun?" Sounds like a lot of fun. With someone other than Oci.
"Oh, um, well-."
"You know why I started to learn about machina?" she asks. See? It's that damn radar. They just know. I sigh, my shoulders slumping. She doesn't seem so noticed kicking her feet back and forth so they make a scraping sound on the concrete floor every time they hit it.
"Why?" I say. Dating boring but hot girls gets you a new technique – you learn how to sound absolutely enthralled with what they're saying.
"Because you and Riks both love it, so I'm thinking, there must be something good about it, so I thought I'd try it out," she says, putting her hands on her hips and looking at the machina. "Truth is, it's just downright confusing."
"Well, I guess it does require a bit of talent," I say. She gives me a look.
"Are you saying I'm not talented?" she asks, sauntering over to me. Oh, shit…
"Oh, you're… very talented," I answer slowly. I'm not dumb. I know what she's getting at. But still… I think about it for a second when she puts her hand on my shoulder, but when she clamps down on it in a death grip, I clear my throat and turn towards the machina. "S-so, whatcha got here?" I ask.
"Mm, nothing special. It's supposed to shine gil," she says.
"'Supposed to'," I quote. She giggles.
"Yeah, but, like I said, I'm not doing too well with machina yet," she says.
"I could help you out," I say, glancing over at her. "It would probably be a good idea to keep working with machina until I leave. Don't want to forget everything," I say.
"So, we'd be helping each other," she says, running her hand from my elbow down to my hand. I can't remember if she's always been this forward, or if it's a new development.
Even after my careful resolve to not let things get out of hand, when she leans in to kiss me, I let her. Hey, what can I say? Oci's hot, and she wants me. Where's the harm in that? She's sliding her tongue smoothly over my bottom lip when the door screeches open on rusty hinges.
Lucky for us, Oci's always been good at leaping away from someone to a completely different part of the room when someone disturbs a make out session. Don't ask me how I know that. Because if you don't know how I know that by now, then…
"Spira, Oci, when you said you had a 'small list of things', I didn't expect it to be twenty," Cid's girl says as she struggles into the room a bit, kicking the door closed behind her. While Oci is busy fussing over her machina, I'm still leaning against the table, not as graceful at recovery as Oci. My eye is wide when Cid's girl looks at me with a mildly surprised look. She seemed mostly still peeved that she's carrying so much. "Oh. Hi, Gippal."
"Be nice," I hear Oci grumble to Rikku. Rikku dumps a pile of food on the table and looks at Oci. They're both silent, but Oci widens and narrows her eyes, every once in awhile twitching her mouth or tilting her head in a different direction. I'm not positive, but I think they're having one of those chick conversations.
"Anyway, I was just leaving," I say, propelling myself from the side of the table I was leaning against towards the door.
"No, stay! You promised you'd help me!" Oci says. I stop dead in my tracks. I don't remember promising that. Because I never did. But I guess when you tell a girl in a totally noncommittal way that you'll do something, they take it as a you'll do something. I sigh and turn back, leaning against the table again. Cid's girl comes right up next to me while Oci's tinkering with something with her back turned towards us.
"Did you apologize to her?" she whispers in a barely audible voice, her lips hardly moving.
"Uh… yeah?" I whisper back, rubbing the back of my neck.
"I see it went well," she replies.
"What do you mean?" I ask quickly. Or maybe I said it slowly. At any rate, it definitely wasn't nonchalant.
"Well, she's-." Her eyes widen, then narrow, then widen again. I swallow, and her eyes dart to my throat as it contracts from the movement. "You didn't."
"She kissed me!"
"Oci doesn't move very quickly! You could've dodged her!" Rikku hissed.
"What if she was holding the torch up to my face and gave me a life or death choice? Hm?" I ask.
"Please, burning your face is not life or death." I raise an eyebrow at her. She sighs. "Only you would think so," she adds.
"Mm hm," I reply with a smug grin.
"You can't do this to her!"
"Hey, guys, what're you talking about?" Oci chirps. Rikku spins, and I look up. Oci is staring at us with a smile plastered on her face that's not as friendly as she's trying to make it seem. Rikku takes a step back, but bumps right into me. She jumps forward again at the contact. I wrinkle my nose. After a few days of being away from each other, it feels like we're back to square one. Uncomfortable, unsure. A friendship like me and Rikku's is something that we would have to work at every day, or it just goes up in smoke. Like a glass of water you leave out in the sun. It's how I know that when we get back, things might be completely different. Again. We'll have nothing to say to each other.
"Piranhas," Rikku says quickly. I narrow my eyes but nod slowly in agreement. What in Spira is…
"What's a piranha?" Oci asks, not entirely convinced. Silence.
"It's a type of… tree," I say. Rikku turns slowly to look at me. I pull my eyebrows down and jerk my chin down in a nod. Rikku looks like she's vibrating, but really is just shaking her head with eyes wide as dish plates.
"That's an interesting name for a tree," Oci says in a tight voice. All this work, and she doesn't even believe us. She's a harsh critic.
"Well, it lives in the water," Rikku says pointedly, staring into my eye. I tilt my head. "It's a type of tree that a fish might like to eat." Oh. It's a fish. I grin and nod, brushing my finger against the side of my nose. Rikku rolls her eyes.
"That's… cool," Oci says, thrown by Cid's girls' sporadic enunciations.
"Very cool," I agree.
"Super… cool…" Rikku says, leaning her elbows against the table and looking at me with such an undeniable twinkle in her eye that I look away like someone had just punched my cheek. "So, how about them Psyches?"
"Don't even get me started," I say angrily.
"I know, right? They can't even hold onto the ball long enough to get it remotely near the right goal!" Cid's girl says.
"At least our goalie's good, right?"
"Yeah, but if no one else is doing anything, then what's the point in having a great goalie? He can't go out and do everything himself!"
"If only we could clone him up, and just get rid of the rest of them," I say.
"Exactly," Cid's girl says with a giggle. "I mean, Jauho hasn't had a good play all season. At least every one of them have scored some kind of goal, but no, not him!" she says. I'm about to answer when Oci says in a quiet voice,
"I don't really follow blitzball. What are the rules?" Cid's girl and I fall silent, both trying to decide whether Oci's question was rhetorical or not. I know Cid's girl is going to get hell from her later from being able to talk to me about the Psyches and piranhas in the span of five minutes.
"You know… I don't really picture you as a military guy, Gip," Nesarru says, pointing at me. We're all just hanging out in the usual spot, finally realizing that I'm leaving in a week. Once everyone realized it, they invited me to go places more than usual. A lot more than usual. And I kind of know why.
It may sound dumb, but somehow, I just know I'm going to die out there. I'm just some teenage kid in the military, full of Spirans. Who probably hate me. Who probably will beat me to a pulp every day just for breathing in their air. And other people are thinking that too. Like Nesarru. Who is saying that I don't look like a military guy to get me to stay. Although he wouldn't say it to my face, he's worried about me. Like my mom.
Sure, we all know that Al Bhed have survived out in the rest of the world before. But now that we have Home and everything, and they can't find it and keep an eye on us, the Spirans are pissed off and are either shunning or harassing any Al Bhed seen crossing the street.
My palms start to sweat, and I take my gloves off to get some air. I decided that I wasn't going to think about it, really, because once I do, I start to get scared. And it's not cool to be scared. I have to act aloof. Keep up my reputation right until the very end. That way, they'll look back on me and say, "That Gippal, he was so cool. He's lucky he died young." Yeah…
"You have everything packed?" Mom asks me.
"Mom, I'm not leaving for about ten days," I answer her.
"I just want you to be ready," she says with a shrug. She's been frowning a lot since I told her, and I know it's my fault, but… what can I say? 'Sorry Mom, I'll stay home tonight'?
Maybe I'm being selfish going.
I haven't done a whole lot of soul searching lately, so what if I'm just doing this to get away from everyone else? After all, Mom really needs me. And if it's not absolutely necessary, I should really stay.
And then, Rikku brings up a very good point.
"So, how are you getting to the mainland?" she asks. I blink a few times, unsure of what she means.
"Uh… what?" I ask incredulously. We're on our balcony again. At least, that's what I'm calling it. Because we both agreed that no one else comes to the balcony with a view of the sandworms.
"Well, we are on an island-."
"I know that," I snap.
"Sorry… Mister Cranky," Rikku sniffs. Truth is I'm only upset because I hadn't even thought about that, and it would've sucked if I had gotten to the day I was supposed to leave and I realized that I had no way off this damn island. "Anyway… how are you leaving?"
"A… boat?" I suggest.
"Do we even have a boat?"
"We have one…"
"Well, that one's for the excavation. You can't take my boat," Rikku says, sounding a lot like a kid protecting their toy hover.
"Come on, it's not going to take me a month to get to Luca," I counter.
"Yes, but it may take a month to get the ship back. No!" We're not really considering the fact that we have no say in where the ship goes, but I guess we're having fun fighting over it anyway.
"Oh yeah?" I ask.
"Yeah!" Her height doesn't stand up to mine as I square my shoulders back. "Gippal… be gentle…" I lock my arm around her neck, causing her to bend over and start flailing around. "Let me go! Ah!"
"Let me take your boat!" I say. I've got her in the headlock of death. Oh yeah, there no way she's getting out of this one.
"Get real! Make your own canoe, there's only one of you!" She puts her hands on my arm and tries to wriggle her head out.
"I can't paddle all the way to Luca," I say, deciding to go for a stroll around the balcony. Cid's girl stumbles after me, scrabbling her nails on my (sleeved) arm in an attempt to get free.
"Hence why I'm not allowing you to take my boat, because you'll take forever," she says. I make my other hand into a fist, then give her the noogie of her life. She squeals and kicks me in the ankle. I yelp in a very undignified manner and let her go, and she jumps onto my back. I lurch back a bit and the wrap my arms around her legs to keep her from tumbling over the edge of the balcony. She seems unconcerned with how close she was to death just then. "That wasn't very nice. It's just a boat," she says. I don't answer, still wandering around the fairly small balcony. I feel her skin brush against the back of my neck, but I'm not sure which part of her. I quickly unloop my arms from her legs, and she slides down until she's just clenching my shoulders. She lets go and saunters over to the bars. "Are you mad at me for getting to go on the excavation?" she asks me.
"That? No." I'm only lying a little bit. I've spent a few nights convincing myself that it's going to be dull and awful and wet. It's worked pretty well. I've lured myself into a state of mind that Rikku's not going to have the time of her life, just like I'm not going to have the time of my life. We'll be equally miserable and equally happy to see each other when we get back. Because I've also told myself not to get my hopes up that they'll actually let me into the Crimson Squad, if they even let me go for the probation testing.
"Good. I wouldn't want you to be mad at me," she says.
"Good, because I'm not," I say. Wow. That was eloquent. I'm getting myself way too wired up lately.
"Good…"
"Remember, don't swat at a pyrefly if you see one," Mom says to me in one of her hourly trivia facts. "You always swat at them, they're not bugs."
"I know, Mom. But hopefully there won't be any pyreflies, because it probably means that there are dead people around if there are pyreflies." Oo. That was the wrong thing to say. Mom covers her eyes with the palms of her hands. I'm guessing she just imagined me dead and is trying to erase the picture. Or, she could be thinking of something completely different… I'm pretty sure it's me dying though.
"You remember what Dad used to call me?" she asks suddenly. I grin. How could I forget? Somehow, it was one of those characteristics. Because no one else called their wife that. "He used to call me 'pyrefly'. He said because they were beautiful, like me." She giggles when she says it, covering her mouth. Even now, it gets easier and easier to talk about Dad every day. It's been well over ten years, but it seems like we're still getting over it. Maybe because we haven't redecorated since it happened. It's like sometimes I can still see him sitting on the couch next to Mom, or sitting at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cereal before work, because he was in that exact place once. Maybe if we'd just moved things a foot or so out of place, he wouldn't have seemed to cling to the place so long.
"I love you, Pyrefly," is what he'd say when he kissed my mom's forehead before going to work. He'd rub my head and say, "Be a good boy, Gip!" and then leave. Mom's smile has become hollow, like she's reliving it too. I stare at her, trying to think of anything I could say.
"You're father never gave me any other nicknames," Mom says. I twist my mouth up and look around. This house has been too empty lately. We need… a dog or something.
"I don't need armor."
"What do you mean, you 'don't need armor?" Rikku asks, imitating my voice. But she sways her hips while she says it and it looks ridiculous. I would never do that. I shrug my shoulders.
"What's the point in it?" I ask.
"What does armor do, Gippal?" Rikku asks in a voice that says she's trying to imitate a second grade teacher.
"Protect you," I drawl like a second grader to humor her.
"Good!" She pats me on the head and leans her forearms against the bars. "You're gonna need it where you're going." She sighs heavily. "Have you ever wondered what would happen if you threw a grenade into a sandworm's mouth?" she asks suddenly. I feel the corner of my mouth twitch up into a mischievous smirk.
"No."
"Just a bit closer," I say. She's giggling quietly behind me. The sandworm is either staring us down or asleep. It's kind of hard to find their eyes. If they even have them. I rip the pin out of the grenade and toss it into the sandworm's gaping mouth. Cid's girl squeals her delight and jumps up and down. I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down, although I'm smiling at her enthusiasm. The sandworm stirs, proving that it was, in fact, asleep. It takes in its surroundings for a moment, sleepily. I'm just waiting for that grenade to go off. We decided a delayed grenade would be best, in case we didn't get it into the mouth the first time, we would have time to get away before it exploded. Suddenly, the sandworm jolts about a foot off the ground, no mean feat considering its size. A plume of smoke comes from its mouth, but that's about it.
"Awww," Rikku says behind me, chuckling a bit at the height the sandworm bounced.
"Well, that was anticlimactic," I say disappointedly. Then, the sandworm roars in its new pissed off state. Rikku screams, but of course, it's more of an 'Oh no! –giggle- We're going to be eaten by a sandworm! –snicker snicker- RUN!- instead of my scream, which is more of just a…
"RUUUUUUUUN!" She took the words right out of my mouth. She grabs my hand, and I realize that I had been frozen in place. "Come on, Gippal!" she says, laughter still ringing in her voice. We both turn and run as the sandworm starts to charge. How did I let myself get into this? Sand is hard to run in. Not hard for a sandworm, but for people, yeah, it's kind of hard. The sandworm lunges, and I drag Rikku to the side before it gets us. She's got another grenade out and tosses it over her shoulder in the sandworms path. I hear it blow and the sandworm's angry roar, but the sand is still shifting around it. We finally make it to a door in Home and I shove her inside, looking over my shoulder. The sandworm had given up maybe a few yards ago and decided we morsels weren't worth it. Even if we did incinerate its stomach. It'll grow a new one. "Rikku and Gippal, The Sandworm Survivors!" Rikku says, holding her hands out like she can see it in neon lights. I'm still taking deep breaths from our mad dash.
"Interviewers will be coming from all over Spira," I say. Rikku stands in front of me, holding an imaginary microphone in her hand.
"Gippal, what exactly did you do to piss off the sandworm?" she asks in a weird voice.
"Well." I take on a safari accent. Rikku laughs for the shortest second, then goes back to her serious interviewer face. I'm not very good at impressions, but I guess it just makes her laugh harder when I tell a ridiculously untrue version of our adventure. I get a weird urge to hug her, so I just… do. It was a weird thing, one second we were standing on opposite ends of the hallway, and Rikku was nearly doubled over laughing, and then I was holding her. We just stand there for a few seconds, and she starts to shake. I almost let her go, but she lifts her arms up and hugs me back, and a peacefulness that I haven't felt in a solid week courses through me.
"Sometimes, I don't want you to go," she says quietly. I close my eyes.
"Me too," I say into her hair.
I angrily shove more clothes into the duffel bag.
She really doesn't care at all that I'm probably marching off to my death tomorrow.
'Oh, that's tomorrow? Oci and I are having movie night…'
'You can't just go a little bit late?'
'Well… she'd probably be mad…'
Honestly. Chicks.
Mom's been crying all day. Quietly, but I know she has. She started this morning, and I tried to comfort her, but she just got mad and told me to go somewhere else, go check to make sure everything's packed, go say goodbye to some people, go get more toothpaste, go brush my hair, blah blah blah. It's actually hurting a little bit that she doesn't want to be around me on my last night in Home. But I guess we both don't know how to deal with the fact that after tomorrow, we won't be seeing each other every day. And especially dealing with the fact that we might not see each other… ever.
But enough with that melodrama…
I don't get why Cid's girl is just ditching me… after all this crap we've done! She almost got me eaten by a sandworm, and all I get is a, 'Oh, sorry, can't make it, but hey, good luck out there!' Well, see if she gets a souvenir when I come back. I abruptly stop shoving the folded shirts into the bag and lean my hands on my bed.
Just as quickly as people had started hanging out with me as if it was the end of the world, they started avoiding me. Buddy was still pretty chill, but a lot of people who I thought were great friends just stopped talking all of a sudden. Does anyone really have that little faith in me? Maybe I'll start thinking of this backwards. They actually have a ton of faith in me, so much that they're sure I'll make it into the Crimson Squad, which is why they're afraid to still be so close to me.
Who knows if I'll even come back, even if I don't get into the Crimson Squad. Who needs this old island anyway? Probably more exciting jobs out there anyway. Ones that will get me real money for mom. No one would miss me. Especially not Rikku.
Point is, I thought she at least would come to see me leave. She'd give me one of her hugs, the kind where she wraps her arms around me as tight as they go and pushes her head against my chest. She's gotten into hugging me this past week, and it's nice to just… feel someone, with no strings attached. And now, she's not even coming.
"You be careful out there… okay?" Cid says to me. I nod once. Mom's sitting in a wheelchair next to him, a solemn look on her face.
"And it's cold out on the sea, and on the mainland, wear your jacket," she says. She's already told me this twice, but I feel a shiver go through my bones as I think about it. I don't even like it when the air conditioning is on. Just wait until I see that snow thing…
"'Kay Mom," I say again. I shift the bag on my shoulder and glance back at the little boat that we're driving out to the coast. It's just big enough for two people, and it can still stay afloat in the deep water. I still don't know the other guy's name, the guy who just happens to inexplicably be a sailor. I turn my head and see the door closing, and a smile stretches across my face by accident. She's walking towards me slowly, slower than normal, so I know she's trying to keep calm. I let my bag slip to the floor gently and meet her halfway. She takes a deep breath and stares at my chest. She then reaches up and brushes her hand on my inner forearm and exhales quickly. My anger at her from the past day disappears. We take a step closer and she curls her arms around me just as I imagined she would the whole time I was standing in this dank garage. At least the way she would if she came. I rest my cheek on the top of her head and close my eyes. She whines a bit.
"It's seriously going against my genetic make up to be sorry to see you go," she states in a shaky voice. I grin again against my own will and chuckle a bit.
"It's going against some deeply rooted beliefs to tell you I'll miss you," I reply quietly enough so my mom and Cid won't hear. I almost feel her smile. I pull away so I can see her cheeks dimple with it.
"Be careful," she says seriously to me. "Did you get the armor like I told you to?"
"No, Cid's girl, I think they're gonna give some to me," I say, twirling her ponytail around my fingers. She sucks in a deep breath and nods. She squeezes her eyes shut and tugs on my waist for another hug. I gladly return it. After this one, we let go of each other and wordlessly walk back to Cid and my mom.
"They're all ready for you. Get goin', boy," Cid says, shaking my hand firmly. I turn to my mom and lean down to kiss her cheek. She smiles at me with tears in her eyes when I straighten up.
"I love you, Mom," I say with a smile.
"I love you too, Gippy," she says. "You're the best son I could have hoped for," she adds. I exhale in a sort of laugh and look at Rikku.
'Bye,' she mouths to me. I smile tightly at her and haul open the back seat of the truck, tossing my bag inside. I glance back and see Cid grumbling something at Rikku. I open the door to the truck.
I didn't think it was going to be this hard. To just pick up my life and leave, go somewhere where I don't know anyone. I've never gone somewhere where I have nobody to talk to or relate to or… anything. To see my mom watching me leave, Cid, Rikku… I just wish one of them would suddenly stop me. Ask me to stay. I finally changed my answer I had been telling people all month. People kept asking me, 'Gippal, aren't you scared?' I'd say, 'No, I'm just a little worried.' Well, that's bullshit. I'm scared out of my mind.
"Gippal." I turn. Rikku scurries over to me and tentatively reaches up to put her hand on my cheek. She's going to kiss me. She's got that look in her eyes. The same look that's in mine, I know it. She presses her lips together and stands up on her toes. I lean forward. This feels right. This feels like it will give me that little bit of courage. Just enough to get into the car.
And I feel her lips connect… with my cheek. I don't open my eye until she's settled back onto her heels. She gives me a quick smile and backs up. Within three seconds I go through the option of either getting in the car and letting it go, or grabbing the stupid brat by her waist and forcing her to give me a real kiss. But three seconds later, it's already too late. I sigh quickly and turn to the open door, getting in and shutting the door without even glancing out. We drive out of the garage and through the sand at a brisk pace.
"She your sweetheart?" the guy driving the car asks. I cringe slightly at the word. 'Sweethearts' sounds like a word that's reserved for people who are completely, unquestionably in love. Like my parents were. But… I guess she's my sweetheart.
"Yeah…" I say quietly.