Chapter 6
I drive through different types of neighborhoods—high-class neighborhoods, middle-class, even the low-class ones. I look at the rear-view mirror and see that Creek's eyes are attached to the window. He doesn't look too bored, but I know that I should make things interesting.
"Want to go get some ice cream?" I happily ask him.
"Can I get chocolate?" he quickly and excitedly responds.
"Sure, sure," I smile and steer to the right, heading to the closest ice cream shop.
This town has greenery written all over it. I haven't seen any leafless trees or any burnt trees. Every single tree that we've passed, it has leaves on it. Every single bush is bushy as it should be; green as well. The grass is green; the sidewalks and the roads aren't littered up. Everything is perfect about this city. I'm glad I didn't choose to keep going further. I'm extremely glad.
The ice cream shop isn't full; there are only four cars parked and some of them are, I assume, the workers'. I pull over and quickly get Creek out of the car. He seems super excited about getting ice cream—I understand why. Back at home, the only times we would get ice cream was when Gloss wanted some. As you can see, Gloss hardly ever ate ice cream, which meant if he didn't want any, we didn't eat any.
We quickly order each of our ice cream; of course, he gets chocolate and I get vanilla. We decide to stay and take a seat by the window.
"How do you like it?" I ask him, meaning how he likes his ice cream. I can tell he loves it by the way he's quickly eating it. So I have no idea why I'm even asking.
"Never mind," I smile and keep eating mine. Creek's face is filled with chocolate ice cream; the sticky brown substance is all over, around his mouth. But I don't mind—as long as he's enjoying it.
When we're done, I take Creek everywhere he wants to go—I take him to the park for a while first, the toy store, another park, and even go to the movies! I forget about everything but Creek; I even manage to forget about Gloss… until now. Before we head back to the motel, it's already dark and I stop at the nearest gas station to pump more gas—I'm finally almost empty, but I guess it's alright. I still have enough money to support Creek and myself; however, I still need to get a job real soon. Perhaps I can work at another sandwich shop here—maybe they pay high enough, but I can start at minimum-wage; it's something, at least. I wait until the tank is full but just as I'm getting in the car, someone touches my shoulder. Nobody was even parked here.
"Excuse me, ma'am," a man's voice says. He doesn't sound old or young; in between. I look at the tan-colored muscular arm and it leads to me to the most handsome and beautiful face I've ever seen in a man. He has sea-green eyes and bronze hair. What attracts me the most, of course, are his beautiful sea-green eyes… I've never seen anything like them. I haven't been this blinded by anything else since I first met Gloss—I know, I was incredibly stupid back then.
"Hi…" I shyly say.
He smiles a little, showing off his incredibly white teeth.
"Hi," he says, he smiles even more. "What's your name?"
"Well…" I start to say. I just can't tell him my real name. I can't tell anyone what my name is. What if they report me? I straighten up; clear my throat, and say, "Ann."
He nods and I notice that he keeps looking at me; looking down from my feet, to my legs, to my stomach, hopefully not to my breasts, and then to my face again. I don't know why he keeps looking at me anyway; my body isn't even worth a guy's attraction. My face isn't even pretty enough. Why does this handsome man keep looking at me?
"Why, hello Ann," he offers me his hand, "I'm Finnick Odair."
I shake it two times before I say, "Nice name."
My goodness, Annie! "Nice name."? Is that all you know what to say? Wow, you're such a complete boring brat!
I bite my lip and look down at the ground—the cement, the dark gray of it is somehow worth the watch. But Finnick gently touches my chin and lifts my head up nicely. That's when I melt and he says, "Don't look down. Pick your head up; your delightful face should be revealing to the world. You are an angel sent from the heavens; don't look down. Look up and show that wonderful face to everyone."
I melt once again. Why is a handsome man like this guy, Finnick, saying all these lies to me? Is he playing me?
"Stop," I gently remove his hand away from my chin. "Stop it."
He raises one of his perfectly shaped eyebrows, those perfect eyebrows… those perfect eyes… his perfect face…
"My apologies," he says and licks his upper lip. Oh, my. "So are you new here?"
I look around and take a quick glance at Creek. He's just looking at the both of us with not one expression on his face. He looks completely fine. I can't tell Finnick that I'm new here or anything possibly factual about my life, except that Creek is my son, but that's it. I may even have to make up another name for Creek; I just don't know what.
"No," I say, "I've been living here for two years."
"This is a nice place," he responds, "Perfect for a family, perhaps even a mother and a son."
That's when I look at Creek again. He's not looking at me but at Finnick.
"Who is that little fella?" Finnick smiles, waving at Creek.
Creek. Creek. What's another name for my little Creek? Another name that'll suit him… I have no idea what to tell him; maybe I just have to wing it. What am I talking about? Of course I have to wing it! Come on, Annie. Come on, you can come up with the name that will disguise Creek. Come on. A light suddenly flicks on in my brain—I got it.
"This is Hammil," I finally say. Hammil was what I wanted to name him. But like I said before, Gloss decided Creek. However, I do love Creek. It's probably the only thing that I love that Gloss came up with. Not only that, but Creek is also something I love so much that Gloss created. Well, I created him too, but you get the picture.
"Hammil, sweetie," I say, trying not to sound sarcastic or anything, smiling at Creek but he looks more discombobulated than ever.
"Mommy, who—" I interrupt him and nicely get him out of the car.
"Excuse me, Finnick, um…" I try to come up with an excuse to talk to Creek alone for a second. Ugh, I lie way too much. "Um… he gets shy around new people and I always have to talk to him before he meets anyone. It's a little issue he has but he's getting better at it, so just excuse us for a little bit."
I nicely pull Creek behind the car and as quietly as possible, try to explain him to pretend that his name is Hammil. He questions me at first but then, I tell him that we're playing a little game and that's when he agrees and we walk back over to Finnick.
"Hello little dude," Finnick smiles and offers Creek his hand.
"Hi… big dude," Creek says, fragilely shaking Finnick's hand, Finnick's hand is huge compared to his.
"I'm Finnick," he says, "Your mom told me that your name is Hammil. Here," he reaches into his pocket and takes out a small bouncy ball. "This has been my bouncy ball since I was your size. I want you to have it."
Creek's face turns into a huge smile that I feel like the sides of his mouth are going to rip, due to the dilation.
"Cool!" he says as he takes the ball, still smiling.
"Now Cree—Hammil," I smile and laugh awkwardly. God, Annie! You're so stupid! "What are you supposed to say now?"
"Oh uh…" he scratches the back of his little head, "Uh… you're awesome, man!"
"Thanks, little man," Finnick smiles and pets Creek's head.
"Oh yeah!" Creek says, "Thanks!"
I smile as well as Finnick and that's when Creek gets back in the car. It's the two of us alone again, kind of.
"So," I say, "What about you? Are you new here?"
Finnick looks up at the dark sky, the stars above. I haven't seen them in a while—at Gloss's, I couldn't even step outside for a second or stare out the window. I look up at the sky as well and stare at the beautiful and heavenly stars. There are so many of them, so many stars out there. It's like heaven in the sky, like the stars are small angels looking down at us, protecting us and when there are no stars in the sky, it's like the demons are unleashed. It's like no angels are out there and danger travels all among us. But tonight, we're safe.
At San Bernardino, right above Gloss's house, there were probably never stars in the sky.
"I barely moved here a couple of months ago," Finnick says when we both look at each other again. I get to look at his beautiful eyes again.
"How do you like it?" I ask.
"It's peaceful and just nice. There are also many, many beautiful and gorgeous women here. But none of them are near as beautiful as your lovely face."
Crap. What do I do? What should I say? How do I react? Wait, I am reacting right now. Ugh, this is how Gloss was!
"Look," I look down, "If this is some of your tricks, please stop. I don't want to be your girl for the night."
He laughs and gives me a seductive smile. I shiver but try to control myself.
"In case you're wondering, I've only had one girlfriend," he says.
One girlfriend? I don't believe him; he's clearly handsome and can easily get a girl anytime he wants! How can he only have had one girlfriend in his whole lifetime? It would be like if I was Gloss's only girlfriend when we dated. I'm surprised he doesn't have any ex-wives, even though we both got married young.
"Ha," I say, "Join the club. I've only had one boyfriend."
I shouldn't have said that.
"Only one?" he asks, "Look at you…"
"I know," I roll my eyes, "I'm not pretty. I don't have the perfect body. I know; I understand."
"No," he says, "You're the opposite of that."
I laugh and that's when he gets close to me—his face is only centimeters away from mine, our noses are technically already touching, our lips are only millimeters apart. I suddenly feel his hand moving part of my dark hair back and he runs the back of his index finger down my forehead, down the side of my nose, and down my lips. This is when I shiver even more and our eyes connect—my ugly brown ones looking right into his beautiful sea-green ones. It's like we're somehow connecting, getting to know each other emotionally or spiritually. I don't know.
But I somehow don't want this moment to stop; even though I just met this man, I feel like I have known him my whole life.
"Call me sometime," he says, his lips nearly, just nearly almost touch mine when he speaks.
I nod and shortly afterwards, I'm back in the car while he disappears into the darkness. He didn't park his car in front of the gas station but by it. I still have no idea why he even stopped to talk to me—I just don't. I still don't even understand how Gloss even married me. He really didn't have to. Overall, I just don't see any guy with me. I don't see a guy marrying me in the future and stay. I don't see one who really loves me and cares for me. I just don't see anything like that and can't even think like that. Finnick Odair probably won't even talk to me ever again; next time I see him, if I do, he probably will not even recognize me. He'll say he doesn't know who I am and flee. Easy as that.
I wipe away the tear that's flowing down my cheek before I start the car and head straight to the motel. Everything Finnick said about me is false, but what he's correct about is this city. This city is nice and calm, at least where we're at. This place is mine and Creek's home. But in this place, we're not Annie and Creek. Annie and Creek belong to our old lives, our old home. In this place, in this new life, we're something new.
We're Ann and Hammil.
NOTES: It's so hot outside! Like if I'm not in the shade, for like 10 seconds, my skin's already on fire! I don't like exaggerating hot weather... But anyway, I just finished this chapter like 30 minutes ago and we finally got Finnick! He was being super flirty and stuff, but you guys want to know why? Because he fell in love with Annie. Annie doesn't believe him though, but Finnick really likes her at this moment, despite the fact that they just met! Ah... Gotta love Finnick and Annie. Oh and I had trouble coming up with another name for Creek. Annie was easy, of course and obviously, but Creek... I just had to think for like 5 hours! Not one single name fitted him right, so I just went ahead and came up with my own XD It's cheesy but it's all good. I love how he and Finnick interacted; I thought it was a nice moment. So thank you all and hope you guys enjoyed this pretty-decent chapter; please leave a review:) Oh, and one last thing! The next chapter will be a little different; by that, I mean that it won't be written by me. It'll be a bonus chapter written by my amazing and talented good friend Juliet's Shadow. In case you guys haven't checked her out, please do! Her stories are incredibly awesome and amazing! Y'all won't regret reading them:) So keep that in mind: next chapter will be a bonus chapter.
krikanalo: I'm glad your liking this story. Hope you liked this chapter:)
Juliet's Shadow: Your Finnick is here!;) now don't make out with him now...;)... not yet;D I hope you enjoyed this chapter and can't wait to see the bonus!
Raina4Ever: You understand Annie so well; she is a good mother but just doesn't see it. I hope you liked Finnick;) especially the last part and the part with Creek:D those parts were fun to write about and I hope you enjoyed this chapter overall! Thank you so much! And I'm also glad you understood Creek's reaction in the last chapter-we did have to see it soon.
MeaganOneDirection: Poor little Creek, but then again, it's for his own safety. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, where we finally got Finnick!;) I'm glad you're liking this and hope it's getting better for you:)
Draco lover: I'm glad you understand!:) it is a hard choice but she had to do it. And now, she found Finnick... ah... Finnick and Annie;) I hope you liked this chapter, and I'm super glad you're anxious for more of this story!:)