Chapter 2

we see the stirrings of problems.

 

I poked Danny in the side, pouting. “Why didn’t you come save me?”

We were sprawled in various places in Brendan’s room, with Danny and I taking up most of the bed space. Danny chuckled and slid his hands around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder.

“Sorry, love,” he said, his breath moving the hair on my neck. “Brendan’s a fast runner.”

I laughed and leaned back into him, laying my hands on his. Eden, sitting on the floor with Brendan, awed loudly. I rolled my eyes, and she laughed.

“Eden,” I demanded suddenly, turning to look down at her, “You can run. Why didn’t you save me?”

Eden shrugged. “Because it was funner to watch,” she said. Brendan laughed at that, and I glared at him.

Brendan owned a dirk that he claimed he used to fight of intruders, and I grabbed it now, brandishing it as I twisted my face into a crazed grin.

“Go ahead, say that again! See what I do!” I cried, adding an evil laugh to the mix. Brendan feigned fright and backed away slowly, and I stabbed the air viciously.

“You’re lucky my lover is keeping me in place,” I said threateningly, now gesturing with the dirk. Danny deftly took it from my hands and laid it safely out of arms reach. I pouted at him.

“That was mean,” I whined, crossing my arms and glowering at the room in general. Danny laughed and kissed the top of my head.

“I was protecting you from yourself, love,” he told me.

I gasped, pretending to be offended. “You think I would hurt myself with a dirk?”

Danny’s response was to raise an eyebrow at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and hit his arm playfully. “That’s so cruel. I’m offended at your lack of confidence in my coordination.”

Danny laughed and squeezed my waist quickly. “I’m just making sure,” he told me, smiling.

I was about to open my mouth to retort, but just then Brendan’s sister, Robyn, walked through the door.

“Hey, someone’s mom’s here,” she said, turning around and leaving without an answer.

Brendan rolled his eyes and rose to follow her, and we all did the same. As I was about to exit the room, though, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“What?” I asked Danny curiously. He looked serious, and I felt a pit of dread form in my stomach. Was he going to break up with me? I frantically scanned my mind for things that I might have done to make him angry. Was it the time I accidentally broke one of his skates? Or maybe it was the time I cancelled plans with him to hang out with my out-of-state friends for the day?

When Danny spoke, though, it wasn’t about breaking up with me. “Do you remember the question Brendan asked you today, at the library?” he asked, his voice soft.

A jolt of fear ran through me, and I nodded slowly. “Yeah. What about it?” I asked, keeping my voice calm.

Danny looked slightly uncomfortable.

“W…would you die for me?” he asked.

I froze, my brain refusing to work for me. Finally, I stuttered out, “P-people who love each other would die for each other.”

It was the wrong thing to say. I saw the hurt look on his face, knew the words he was going to say before he said them, his voice softer than the summer breeze blowing past the eaves of the house.

“I would die for you.”

As he brushed past me, I stood frozen with shock for a moment, before turning quickly and grabbing his sleeve.

“Danny, wait,” I begged, desperate to make him understand. “Please, don’t leave. I do love you, it’s just-” I tried to search for the right words, “How would you really know if you would give your life for me? I mean, you’ve never been in that situation, have you?”

Danny paused a moment, considering. I begged with my eyes for him to understand.

At last, he sighed and shrugged. “Well, we’ll never be in that situation anyway, so I guess it doesn’t really matter, does it?” He smiled slightly, and I was so relieved I nearly flung myself into his arms.

We stood quietly for a moment, holding onto each other. I had my face buried in his shirt and was breathing deeply, trying to calm myself after the scare.

The sound of feet pounding back up the stairs separated us hurriedly, just in time as Brendan walked back into the room curiously.

“What are you guys doing in here? Eden’s gonna leave soon,” he said, sounding tentative.

The reason for the tentativeness suddenly struck me, and I laughed, poking Brendan in the side as I did so. Danny laughed as well, and Brendan shrugged, grinning.

“You never know,” he said, poking me back. I jumped and scrambled away from him, and Brendan grinned, turning and heading back down the stairs instead of chasing after me, for once.

Danny and I followed, and as we went to say our goodbyes to Eden, I pondered in the back of my mind the look I had seen on Danny’s face, right before he had given me that smile. He didn’t believe me, I knew. And so I knew this wasn’t over.

　

~*~

　

Eden looked quite gorgeous today, Brendan noted. Of course, to him she was always gorgeous, but something seemed to make her particularly beautiful today. There was a kind of happy hum about her, a sort of glow.

It was the eyes, he decided at last, looking at her. They were clear and bright, the mixed colors of hazel glittering like precious stones, more precious to him, though, than any diamond.

Suddenly realizing he was staring, Brendan dropped his gaze quickly, hoping he hadn’t been noticed. He’d been staring much more than usual, often catching himself tracing the lines of her hands and face, watching with a sort of fixed fascination as flyaway strands of her hair were irritably brushed aside, the way her gentle fingers moved to pick up a pencil, or just tap absentmindedly on a desk. He was a man possessed, and he knew it. But he didn’t fight it, because, really, what could he do?

Eden was giving him an odd look. Flushing slightly, Brendan dropped his gaze yet again, and instead focused his attention on her feet, one of which was tapping quietly to some mysterious beat that only she could hear. Of course, Brendan thought to himself, glancing up again, it could also be from the headphones she had plugged into her ears.

Eden’s foot suddenly snaked over and poked his shin. Looking up, Brendan tilted his head in a silent question.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working on that English assignment?” Eden asked him quietly, tapping the blank sheet of paper sitting on the table in front of him. It looked innocent enough, but Brendan had fiercely hated the thing for the past three days, when the teacher had given the assignment. They were supposed to choose an object, place, or person, and write a descriptive essay on them. Usually, Brendan would’ve taken one look at the assignment and tossed it off as unimportant until the day before it was due, but this time, he felt a strange urge to take that sheet of paper and write on it until you could hardly see the paper itself, would it be so covered with his scrawls.

Of course he knew exactly what he wanted to write about,- or, rather, who- but he danced around the idea, refusing to look it directly in the face for fear of what he would find there.

So instead, he just shrugged nonchalantly and leaned back in his chair, staring out the window. Brynn had guitar lessons today, and Danny, hockey practice, so it was just the two of them, alone in a quiet corner of the library. These were the moments when Brendan fantasized he would tell her; just come right out with it, or make some bold and romantic declaration and sweep her off her feet. The only problem with that, though, was that, in every fantasy, she always accepted his love and returned it, and they rode off into the sunset, a happy fairytale ending.

He didn’t dare burst that faint, shimmering dream, delicate as a Cinderella soap bubble, with the sharp point of reality, because he didn‘t know where that would leave him if he did.

No, he reflected, gathering his things as Eden’s mother pulled up outside the library. He wouldn’t tell her yet. But someday, maybe, when he knew he could handle the sharp blade of truth digging between his ribs.

However, he thought to himself, that day could wait just a little longer.

Author's Note

yeah, he's head over heels, i know. did i go too far? yeah, probably.

Reviews

[InsanityIsTheNewBlack]

whoopsies! :P tank joo!

[HermitsUnited]

...Why on earth do you think you're a bad writer! Go read Black Rose and then come back and read yours! You will think you're amazing!
Only problem I have and you really need to edit is this:
"and white a descriptive essay on them." Ha ha! You don't white descriptive essays...you write them! Ha!