All I could see was the blood. I knew I had to do something. I had already tried screaming stop. So, I jumped on Austin's back. He turned around with a murderous look in his eyes, and then his shoulders slumped and he wrapped his warm arms around me, and closed his eyes, resting his head on the top of mine. He had no idea how many happy tingles and hot shivers this was sending through me. A small crowd had gathered around the fight, and I tried to push Austin's arms off me, blushing. He refused to let go. Eventually he did, holding onto my shoulders sending sparks of fire through my body.

"I will always protect you."

I stared into his melty soft amber brown eyes. He turned to Dallas, whose face was a bloody mess, his eyes turning glinting and lethal.

"Never touch her again. I swear I will kill you." His voice was rough and I knew he was telling the truth. I placed my hand on Austin's bicep. I think I was thinking of an excuse to touch his warm, tan skin again.

"Stop."

He wrapped his arm around my waist protectively and pulled me against his side still scowling , sending lustful tingles down my back.

"Do you need a ride home?"

"Thanks, but no."

I couldn't let him know where my house was. Then he could always leave and always knew where to come back to. I knew he would leave again and the visits would eventually get sparser and sparser until he forgot me like he had for the past year. It would hurt too much.

"How about my house? We can catch up."

"Okay."

The drive to his house was an two hours or so. I forgot how easy it was to talk to him. How easy it was to tell him things I had never told anyone before. How easy it was to watch him while he talked. How easy it was for me to make him smile. I knew this was the last night I would ever see him. I was allowing myself this one night. We pulled up to a glass skyscraper that reflected the night sky like a mirror.

"During the day its blue. I like to think I live in a little chunk of sky."

"It's not very little." I laughed.

He smiled at me.

"C'mon lets go inside."

We walked into the lobby. The carpet was the color of a glossy, dark red apple and black leather seats were scattered around the room. A woman with hair the color of copper pennies was standing behind a black counter.

"Leather? Really? Do you know how many animals were killed for this?"

"I knew you would say that. I had all the chairs replaced with fake leather."

We walked into the elevator and he pressed the button for the penthouse.

"Hey, do you remember that time you saved the abandoned pigeon eggs for me?"

"Yeah." Austin said, laughing.

"We were getting out of the subway and there were those two pigeon eggs. I told you that if we didn't keep them warm they might die so you put them in your armpits and we had to go to that fancy music museum. You were talking to that agent and then you sneezed and the yolk started dripping down your shirt and they turned out to not be fertilized at all."

We started laughing and then began recalling all of the embarrasing situations we got ourselves into. We were laughing so much just thinking of a story that sometimes we couldn't even tell it, but it didn't matter because we both knew what it was. I laughed so much my stomach hurt and I felt like I was going to pee my pants. Attractive, right?

"Man, we were stupid." Austin gasped out while chuckling.

I hadn't even noticed that the elevator door had opened and that there was a butler outside, staring at us like we were freaks. Which we were. Austin quickly composed his face, trying to look serious.

"Hello, Frank."

"Hello, Mr. Moon. Is this the famous Ally Dawson?"

"Yes.''

Famous? Did he talk about me?

I scanned the apartment. It was absolutely huge. Austin took my hand.

"Lets watch a movie."

I looked at my watch, gasping. It was 3:56 in the morning. I needed to go home.

"Austin, its like 4:00 in the morning. I need to go home."

"No, don't leave. You can sleepover. You can have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch.

"Well, okay. Let me just text my dad."

"Will he be okay with it?"

"I'll just tell him I'm at Trish's."

I quickly called my dad and texted Trish to back up my story. Then I moved to sit on the couch. Austin pulled me back.

"Don't sit on there. We can sit on the bed."

"Why?"

He put his hand on the back of his neck, not looking into my eyes.

"Thats where I, uh, have my...one night stands."

"Eww. Gross."

I couldn't help but imagine his tan arms on either side of me on that couch. I looked up at him, blushing.

I followed him to his bedroom. The rest of the night we spent laughing at movies. He sat next to me, his tan face illuminated in the chemical blue light from the T.V. I didn't ask him why he left. There were parts where we both sat in that kind of warm, comfortable silence and I thought. In all the stories we had told in the elevator I had held him back in some way. In the one with the pigeon eggs, he could have been taken by a huge agent if it weren't for me wanting him to carry the eggs. He was constantly sacrificing things for me. Thats when I knew that there was no other option. Austin's eyes slowly closed, his long eyelashes brushing his rosy cheeks. His pink lips were open, like a fish gasping for air. I slowly removed the crimson blanket from my lap and got up. I stared at him, the rain softly pounding the glass window behind me, the yellow lights below smudged and distant. It was in that moment, with the doughy gray light illuminating his dark blonde hair and pink lips that I admitted to myself that I was in love with him. And thats why I had to leave him.