6

6

Finally.

Her day at work was finally over. Keevan had worked a full day at the library, from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon. Several elementary school field trips had passed through, and Keevan was chosen as one of the helpers to show them around while they looked for books to check out. She was fond of all of the kids, but they could really tire her out after so long. Most of them had cleared out before three, but Keevan’s shift didn’t end until five. She was exhausted by the time she locked up the library and started walking home. Gamzee was busy at practice and couldn’t come to give her a ride home. He had surprisingly managed to stay at his parents’ place without having to come back to Keevan’s house. But everyone knew that it wouldn’t last for long.

Keevan sighed as she walked along the sidewalk that led in the direction of her house. It wasn’t too far of a walk, but she was so tired that it felt like hours before she finally rounded a corner into her own neighborhood. Her feet ached and she could barely hold herself up. She made it to her house and fumbled with her keys to unlock the front door of her house. Her mother and stepfather had already told her that they would be gone most of the evening shopping, so she had to let herself in with her keys. But when she tried to unlock the door, she noticed it had already been unlocked. Keevan opened the door and walked inside, shutting the door behind her and locking it. Suddenly, she felt two arms wrap around her waist tightly, followed by a familiar voice.

“Surprise!”

Keevan giggled and turned around, giving Amantis a big hug. He was still in his school uniform but his hair was ruffled in messy curls, and he wore his jewelry that he usually only wore on the weekends. He had a wide grin on his face and his eyes practically shimmered behind his blue-rimmed glasses. He kept his arms tight around her.

“Happy birthday, Kee!” Amantis chimed happily. He released her and hopped back, smiling wider and turning to a bag on the floor. “I have your present!”

He dug around in the bag for a moment until he pulled out a little box made of black velvet. He handed it to Keevan. She smiled and walked over to her couch and sat down, Amantis plopping down next to her and leaning against her shoulder excitedly.

“Open it, open it!” he squealed.

“I am, calm down!” Keevan laughed, smiling at his enthusiasm. She looked down at the box and opened it up. She blushed and her eyes widened a bit when she pulled out a golden bracelet lined with diamonds.

“A-Amantis, are these real diamonds?” Keevan gasped, looking the bracelet over.

“Yep! All authentic,” Amantis said cheerfully. “It’s real gold, too!”

Keevan looked at him, still blushing immensely. Amantis took her hand and the bracelet, clipping it gently around her wrist. It fit perfectly. He grinned.

“It’s a friendship bracelet!” he said, holding her hand up so she could see how it looked on her wrist. “We became friends on your birthday ten years ago. I wanted to get you something really special!”

“But i-it’s so expensive,” Keevan said, flattered that he had gotten her something so fancy. “This must’ve cost you a fortune! How much was this?!”

“Hey, it doesn’t matter, Kee!” Amantis insisted. He circled her hand around and smiled as they both admired the diamond bracelet on her wrist. “It looks perfect on you.”

“It’s really beautiful,” Keevan said quietly. She turned to Amantis again and smiled, feeling close to tears. He had been one of her best friends for ten years now. “Thank you, Mantis. I love it so much.”

“You’re welcome!” Amantis replied with a happy nod. He gave her a tight hug as they sat on the couch. Keevan wiped her eyes and hugged him back as tight as she could.

“You’re too sweet to me,” Keevan said, pulling away and kissing his cheek. Amantis blushed a bit and smiled wide. He giggled.

“Happy birthday, Keevan,” he said again. Keevan gave him another hug until he pulled away and got a different expression on his face. He crossed his arms and sat back against the arm of the couch.

“So,” he said, his high voice sounding a bit more serious, “about this promise ring.”

Keevan groaned and rolled her eyes at him, crossing her arms as well.

“Come on, Mantis,” she sighed. “Do we have to talk about this?”

“Yes!” he persisted, beginning to turn his lips into a pout. “I’m not happy about this!”

“I already told you, I can change him,” Keevan said. “It’s just going to take some time. I’m not breaking up with Jack. He’s not hurting me. I can help him.”

“He’s using you!”

“He is not, Amantis!”

“How many times has he asked you to sleep with him?!”

“How many times has Van asked you?!”

Keevan cut herself short from saying any more. Amantis looked taken aback.

“He doesn’t ask me to do that,” Amantis said, his voice a bit quieter.

“Don’t lie to me,” Keevan said, looking at him sternly. “I know he does things and says things to you. He’s an abusive jerk, Amantis, and I hate seeing you hurt because of him. You can’t tell me to break up with Jack when you let yourself get pushed around by Van like this!”

“He is not abusive!” Amantis shouted. He immediately shrunk back on the couch and clapped a hand over his mouth. Keevan forced eye contact with him.

“You look me in the eye and tell me that he doesn’t hit you,” Keevan said in a low voice, holding his chin so he’d keep looking at her. “Tell me he doesn’t make you do things that you don’t want to do.”

Amantis got choked up. He tore his gaze from hers and held back the tears that had started welling in his eyes.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” he whispered, wiping his eyes behind his glasses. “I won’t talk about Jack anymore.”

“You can’t avoid it forever, Amantis,” Keevan said softly, taking her thumb and wiping away the remainder of his tears. “You know I’m always here for you, sweetie.”

Amantis looked up at her and gave her another tight hug. He whispered that he was sorry and Keevan shushed him, holding him close in her arms and kissing the top of his head.

“It’ll be okay,” Keevan assured him, patting his back. “You’ll be okay.”

Amantis sighed and pulled away from the hug, taking Keevan’s hands in his own. He stroked the ring on her left hand with his index finger and gave her a sad smile.

“You’d better hope that Jack starts treating you right,” he said to her. “Or you’re giving the ring back to him!”

“He’ll change,” Keevan said. “I know he will.”

 

Just walk. Just be calm. Stay back. Not too fast. Don’t look back. Just walk.

Motavo walked a ways back from her, just far enough so that she wouldn’t notice him even if she did turn around. He felt a bit uneasy about following Keevan, but he had taken a small interest in her. Mainly to find out why she had been so kind to him in the alleyway the day before. He didn’t know what he would do when she got to her house. He wasn’t sure if he was going to even speak with her. The only plan he had was to keep his eye on her. For some reason, he felt as if he owed her for being kind. It had made him think a bit differently ever since. It had happened only gradually after the hours of their first meeting. Every minute Motavo would think a little more about Keevan and wonder why she had treated him so mercifully when he had threatened her life. He wanted to make sure that she would stay around to help others like that. To protect her.

Keevan rounded the corner into a neighborhood, and Motavo followed behind, carefully working his way through a concealed pathway beside the sidewalk, behind the bushes. Keevan approached the house and fumbled around with the doorknob for a moment, then went inside. Motavo stood in the bushes and thought. He could break inside, but he preferred to stay away from anything like that. He didn’t want to scare anyone. Even if what he was doing was in some way a little odd.

Motavo slowly looked around for anyone that might’ve been watching. He saw nothing and nobody, so he took a breath and walked over to Keevan’s house. He sat beside the bottom of a window that looked into Keevan’s living room. Motavo reached up onto his toes and peered inside, hoping nobody was looking. He saw Keevan standing by the door inside, hugging someone a bit shorter than she was. The person turned around to face the couch and Motavo could catch a profile of what they looked like. Their skin was tanner than Keevan’s and they had curly, rich brown hair. It was a petite-looking boy, wearing the uniform of a private academy somewhere a few towns over. He was a bit strange, wearing golden hooped earrings and gold banded necklaces and bracelets. He had thick-rimmed blue glasses on the bridge of his nose, which accented the piercing blue of his eyes. He looked so small, fragile. Helpless. Gentle. Beautiful.

Motavo felt a chill come over him, rattling his spine as he looked over the boy, who smiled at Keevan. His smile lit up his entire face. He looked so happy, the way his brightened eyes shone a brilliant blue in contrast to the rich burnt colors of the rest of him. Motavo bit down hard on his lip and felt his ears burn a bit. He had a feeling that he knew what this was. He knew what he was feeling all of a sudden. He took in a breath and looked over the boy again. Suddenly, he looked as if he was about to turn to the window. Motavo ducked under the window and sat on the ground, looking up at the sky. He didn’t know exactly how to describe to himself what it was, but he had an idea of what he felt.

Standing up quickly, Motavo bolted from the window and down the street, around the corner and back down the road. He ran, his feet moving as fast as they could down the pavement. His heart was pounding like crazy inside of his chest. He felt a rush of some kind of adrenaline. Motavo closed his eyes as he ran even faster. He felt something that he hadn’t felt for a long time, creeping along the corners of his mouth as his heartbeat raced faster. He didn’t resist it. He smiled.

He was in love.