[Author's Note: Ok, so this chapter is really long, but I wrote maybe, four whole chapters today? I had a lot of free time between laundry. :P But I wasn't really sure how to break it up? So I hope it's not pointless long. You can tell me if it is.
Also, this is where the whole M for Mature rating comes in. There is talk of violence and sexual abuse. If you disapprove, then you might want to just skip over that part. But it's kind of essential to the whole plot line in later chapters. In addition, there's mild cussing. Ok, it's mild to me. I cuss a moderate amount.
Anywho, I just wanted to give a little bit of a warning there. Please enjoy!]
Chapter Five
"So, Jade. Will says you work at the Maxville Shopping Center." Mr. Stronghold said.
"Yeah. I just stock shelves." I said, wondering how this could possibly be made into a conversation.
"Any good sales lately?" Josie joked.
"There was a sale on Brussels sprouts if you're interested." I said, honestly and Will's face fell. "That's just cruel." He told me. "Well, she asked." I laughed. It was a reliving sound.
"Ok, well. Movie time." Layla said, picking up My Bloody Valentine and hopping off Will's lap to run into the living room. I looked at Warren with concern. "Is she always this hyper?"
Warren nodded. "Sadly. And she's only had a cup of hot chocolate." He said, standing up and leading me into the living room. I bit my bottom lip as his hand slid to the small of my back.
His touch left me as we entered the living room. Zach and Ethan flopped on the floor and Will and Layla took up the couch so that left… the love seat. But, of course it did. Layla must hate me. She is draining every ounce of self-control I have in my entire body. Warren carelessly flopped on the love seat and I sat next to him as the movie rolled.
Five minutes in there was a shrill ringing to be heard. Everyone looked at me and I then remembered I had a cell phone in my possession. "Oh, uh, sorry." I said, digging out the device. "Help?"
Warren pushed a green button and a counter came up on the screen. "Sweet, thanks." I said, putting it to my ear and walking out of the room to an empty one and closing the door. "Hello?" I asked.
"Where are you?" Said an angry man on the other end.
"Um, I'm at Will's. We're having a movie night." I said, watching the door carefully.
"Why?" He asked.
"You wanted recon. This is recon. Stop calling me when I'm busy." I said, pulling the phone away to look at the screen. If the green button answered the call, then maybe the red button stopped it.
I pushed this button and the counter stopped moving, then blinked, then the screen saver came up. I nodded to myself, leaving the room to rejoin Warren on the love seat.
"Who was that?" Layla asked.
"Oh, uh, my uncle." I said with a smile.
"The one who bought you the phone?" Warren asked.
"Warren, I told you. I bought the phone. He mailed it to me." I smiled at him. I knew he was trying to trip me up, but I was more careful than that.
He nodded, turning his attention back to the screen. I was forcefully aware of Warren's arm draped across the back of the love seat, behind my shoulders. I laughed inwardly at myself. His arm wasn't actually around my shoulders; it was simply draped behind the back of the couch. Yeah, of course it was.
And then there was a pick axe and lots of blood.
Instinctively, I moved towards Warren. He didn't take his eyes off the screen as his arm really did move to sit against my shoulders. I covered my eyes as blood sprayed over the main characters face.
I didn't scream, though, through the whole movie. I cringed: a lot. And covered my eyes. And moved ever closer to the guy next to me. Warren wasn't bothered by any of my actions.
"I'm going to have nightmares tonight, I guarantee you." I said as the credits rolled.
Will laughed. "Well, the only time Warren moved all night was to get closer to you."
"Ah. You're mean." I laughed, trying to cover up my blush.
"Hey, if you have nightmares, you can just run to Warren." Zach said, making kissing noises like a junior high nerd would.
"Yeah, since you live in the same building." Ethan said.
"Nice." Will said, holding his hand out for a fist bump.
But Warren was having none of it. "You want ice cream?" Warren asked, looking at me.
I noticed that everyone else was looking at us. How did he just ignore them? "Uh, sure." I said, standing up. Well, ok, it was more of a question then anything.
"We'll come with." Layla said, smiling. Will shook his head. "That's the fourth date this week."
"That's fine. But you and Lover Boy need another booth." Warren said, walking into the kitchen. Josie and Steve sat in the two chairs that didn't occupy Warren's and my coats. "Enjoy the movie?" Josie asked Layla.
"Yes, Josie." Layla said, winking at Josie.
I waited until we were outside to ask Warren if we had been set up again. "Yeah, but it was a good movie." He said, smiling for the second time that night. I shrugged it off, getting behind Warren on his motorcycle.
He revved the engine and took off. Even with a couple red lights in the way, Warren and I still got to the ice cream parlor before Will and Layla did flying. It must be cool to have a boyfriend that could fly. Wait, no. Scratch that. It must be cool having a boyfriend.
Yeah, I set the bar low.
But Will and Layla arrived by the time we had ordered and sat in the booth. Despite Warren's only rule, Will and Layla sat with us. Layla sat next to me while Will sat next to Warren.
Immediately, Will and Layla launched into a conversation, like they hadn't talked in weeks. After a few minutes, I couldn't keep up with their conversation so I just looked at Warren, who had glanced at me at the same time.
"It's really no use trying to listen to them. They both talk like their lives depend on it." Warren informed me.
I nodded. "I've noticed."
And at the same time that Will elbowed Warren, Layla elbowed me. But Warren cringed where I just look annoyed. "Ah man." Will said, looking guilty.
"Are you ok?" I asked, suddenly worried for Warren.
"Yeah." He said, glaring at Will. Will smiled guiltily. "Let's get out of here." Warren said, pushing Will out of the booth. Layla stood and let me out. We threw away our trash and I followed Warren outside.
"So where to?" I asked, hoping he wasn't going to take me home. I wanted to be out as long as possible tonight.
"Hmm…" He said, thinking about it. "How about the park?" He asked.
"That'd be nice." I said with a smile. He smiled back at me. I heard once, that if you want a guy to hold your hand, you brush his hand with yours. I wondered if that worked. I walked along side Warren and gently brushed his hand. I couldn't even tell if he could feel it with his fingerless gloves on.
Before I could try again, he gently took my hand in his. He glanced at me and smiled. "Smart." He commented.
"What was?" I asked, playing dumb.
"The hand move. But I was about to hold your hand anyway." He said, as we walked hand in hand. I blushed and he let out a chuckle. "There you go again. You do that a lot."
"I can't help it. I haven't felt like this in a while." I said as we reached the park.
"Felt like what?" He asked.
I thought about it for a moment as we sat on the swings and I gazed at the stars. "Happy." I said, looking back over at him.
He regarded me carefully. "What do you mean?"
"Well, when my parents got divorced, my world kind of became a living hell." I said, looking down at the gravel between my feet. I was scared to look at him. "I stayed with my mom, but her boyfriend was abusive. And all the money she got from the divorce went into their joint account. So if they broke up, he could still have the money."
I glanced at him, wondering if he was still there. Something in the back of my head said he'd just walk away at some point during my rant. He watched me intently.
"After that, I stayed with my dad for a while. But his girlfriend got drunk and stoned a lot. Most of the time she'd bring druggie friends over and they'd have a coke or meth party. I hated that the most."
"Why?" He asked quietly.
A lump formed in my throat; there was no way I could look at him. But the little voice in the back of my head, just said tell him. "My dad was never really there for me, ya know? So when he brought these 'friends' over," I used my fingers as quotation marks.
"They were mostly guys. And he'd just leave me with them. He, uh," I paused, pushing my hand through my hair. "He even put sound proof pads up in one of the downstairs rooms so he wouldn't hear me screaming."
I stopped there. I couldn't tell him anymore. I couldn't reveal any more of myself. It hurt so much even now to just talk about it and it was years ago. His hand gently touched mine and I looked up at him. He was there for me. That's what his gesture was telling me, that his words couldn't get through.
"After that, it took a year for the judge to grant my emancipation. And I've been traveling ever since."
I looked over at him and he was just… staring at me. I couldn't tell what the look in his eyes was. Pity? Sorrow? Regret? But something else. "Will you go somewhere with me?"
This question took me off guard. "Somewhere, like your place…?" I asked carefully.
He quickly shook his head. "I want to show you something. Out in the woods."
I thought about it. He seemed sincere. I nodded. I thought about it on our walk back to his motorcycle. If he asked me to do something, anything, I probably would. Getting on the motorcycle was hard for me. Not physically, as in climbing on. But being so close to him, when I just opened up half of what I had; half of my whole being.
Damn. I'm going to blow this before I'm even going to be questioned next. Think of the agency, think of the agency, I repeated to myself. I swallowed and he drove us away from the ice cream shop, heading for the forest.
We had been in the forest for about five minutes when he slowed down and pulled off onto a side road to the left. When the road ended, he parked and shut off the bike. He helped me climb off and we set our helmets on the seat.
He took my hand and lead my away from the machine. Every once in a while, I'd look back to see if I could see the black metal; but soon it was gone. And I realized the longer we walked, the darker it got. "How can you see anything?" I asked him.
"I've been coming here since I was a little kid. We'll be there in just a couple minutes." He said and he continued leading me. Our pace slowed as he had to help me climb over rocks and fallen trees.
Finally, he stopped. "What's wrong?" I asked.
"We're here." He informed me.
"Alright, but where is here?" I asked.
"Here, sit here." He told me, guiding me to a flat rock. How did he know that was there? I couldn't see anything, at all. "Alright. I'm going to show you something, but you have to swear you won't scream."
"You've watched horror movies with me. I don't scream; I jump."
"Everybody screams. You just have to promise you won't." He said. I swallowed a lump in my throat. He was starting to scare me. I couldn't even see him anymore. He could be leaving me, for all I knew.
"I promise." I told him, but to me it sounded like a choked whisper.
Suddenly, a light blazed in front of me and it was so sudden in the darkness, I had to cover my eyes. Why didn't he tell me he had a flashlight? Wait, he didn't take anything from his bike with us.
Slowly, I lowered my hand to be able to see where the light was coming from. My mouth fell open and I moved back instinctively, falling off the rock and onto the marshy ground. Warren just stood there, both of his arms on… fire? I gapped. "You… b-but… fire." I said, acting like I had never seen it before.
"Are you scared?" He asked, turning down the intensity.
All I could do was gaze at the fire coming from his arms. I barely even heard him talk. "No." I said quietly, admiring the flame. Then it clicked. "That's why you changed the subject at the restaurant."
"Yeah. I usually run at a good 104.2" He told me.
"Oh yeah, point two really adds a lot." I smiled at him.
His arms distinguished themselves and he smiled back, taking my hand, pulling me closer. My eyes had adjusted to the darkness and I could see his outline. I stopped smiling, looking deep into his eyes. I didn't know what to feel, standing here in the middle of the woods with him, inches from me.
He stared at me, almost as if he was seeing into my soul. And I couldn't help but feel attracted to him, but I couldn't do it. As he leaned closer to me, barely parting his lips, I knew I couldn't. I turned away, screaming at myself inside. How could I not? How could I just turn away?
But The Agency was on my mind and I was completely aware of what they thought about me on this mission. I couldn't screw it up; regardless of how I thought I felt for him. "I'm sorry." I whispered to him.
It was almost as if he deflated. "I understand." He said quietly, turning away from me.
"What? No. Warren!" I said, yanking on his arm. He looked back at me, hurt. "It's not like that." I said, begging, pleading him to understand. "Did you even hear me earlier, at the park?"
Warren just stood there, watching me, probably not sure how to answer.
But Damnit, I wanted to blow up. "I got thrown in a windowless, sound proof basement to be raped and beaten half to death." I said louder then I needed to. I couldn't stop myself; I took a swing at him.
He looked at me in surprise after my fist collided with his chest. I was mad as hell. "Raped. Over and over. And when I finally quit screaming, they laughed at me. Do you know what it feels like to cry yourself into unconsciousness while you can't even stop the bleeding?"
He just stood there, letting me punch him in the chest until I collapsed crying. My knees buckled and I just sat there, sobbing. He stood there for a moment and I almost forgot he was even there. "I'm so sorry." He said, kneeling in front of me.
I could barely lift my head to look at him. Here I was, exposing myself. And he looked like he could cry. "Can you just take me home please?"
He nodded, taking my hand to help me stand up. When his motorcycle came into view, I let go of his hand to wipe my eyes. He just stood there. After I wiped my eyes, I looked up at him.
"Now we have to stay friends." I mumbled.
"Why's that?" He asked, curiosity dripping from the words.
"You know my secret and I know yours." I said, walking past him towards the bike.
He grabbed my hand, making me look back up at him. "I won't tell anyone." He said.
"I know. That's why I told you." I said, turning back to the bike. I knew he wouldn't tell anyone. I could see that in his eyes. I pulled on the helmet while he followed suit.
When we got back to the apartment building, I tried to walk away from him. He called after me, but he just let me leave. It's not that I didn't want to be around him. It's just that all I wanted to do was cry myself to sleep.
I got into my apartment and changed into pajama pants and a tank. I opened all the windows in my apartment, welcoming in the cold. I sat on my couch, wrapped in a blanket. I cried. No, I sobbed. I had done so well of repressing those horrid memories, and here they were, flooding over me. They were threatening to drown me in my own tears.
A knock at the door sounded itself. I ignored it, quieting my sobs. Another knock. "Jade. Please answer the door." Warren called from the opposite side of the wood.
I gave in after ten minutes of him calling for me. I'm sure I looked like a train wreck as I opened the door. "What do you want?" I hadn't meant it harshly; just wondering why the fuck he wouldn't leave me alone to flood my apartment.
"I'm not normally someone to help rescue people. I've ignored people in need most of my life. But. I want to help you. Please let me?" He was begging with me as he held up a tub of vanilla ice cream and three different kinds of chocolate. "I didn't know what you liked so I got dark, milk, and white."
This was a hundred times more than anybody had ever done for me. Except the Agency, but that was their job. I couldn't tell him no; that I wanted to be left alone. So I took the tub and the dark chocolate and headed into the kitchen.
He closed the door behind him and I heard his coat land on the chair at the dining table. I couldn't bring myself to say anything as he just stood there. I pulled out a plastic take-out spoon from the drawer and served Warren and myself ice cream.
I held his bowl out to him. He took it with the spoon I was also holding for him. I broke up the chocolate and covered my ice cream with it. I was actually surprised the ice cream and chocolate hadn't melted.
After throwing the tub and bars into the freezer, I continued back to the couch, wrapping back up in my blanket. Warren sat next to me. He'd already finished off his bowl. Even under the blanket, I was freezing. I had wanted to be cold; it helped with the pain somehow. But I could barely feel my fingers.
I put the bowl on the floor, too lazy to take it to the trash and Warren took my hand. It took a lot for me to look at him in the eye. He gently pulled me closer and I let him. He put both my hands between his. He slowly brought them up to his mouth and blew on them. His warm breath made the cold run away, freeing my fingers from its frosty grasp.
I just watched him while he did this. He blew once more and they were back to normal temperature. He looked up at me. I wanted to know what he saw. How he saw me. If I was to look in the mirror, I'd see ratty hair, tear tracks, and red, puffy eyes.
But by the way Warren was looking at me; I could tell he saw differently. I was lost in the coffee, almost gray, color of his eyes. I could see things he was hiding, things he hadn't even told Layla and Co.
Warren leaned closer to me, closing the gap between us. My eyes slipped close as his lips touched mine, taking in all the warmth that was Warren Peace. On instinct, I wrapped my arms around his neck, which made him wrap his arms around my waist, basically pulling me onto his lap.
He pulled away from the kiss and I realized I hadn't been breathing. He smiled as I took a deep breath. I leaned forward again, craving the warmth his lips gave me. But he stopped me. He looked at me and I was confused. Did he not want to be kissing me?
As if reading my mind, "I don't want to hurt you." His eyes were deep and his words tender. He was sincere.
Part of me wanted to be mad at him. But the other part, the bigger part, silently thanked him. I gave him a little smile and snuggled up next to him. His warmth fended off the cold until I drifted off to sleep.
[Author's Note: I hope that was enjoyable and not too painful to read through. Reviews fuel more chapters, so feel free to let me know what you think; good, bad, or indifferent. Thanks so much!]