Moon Cry Ch. 2

She entered the forest silently. She had left her schoolbags at the bench, that way she wouldn’t be lugging them through the underbrush.
The forest was filled with the normal sounds of animal life. Not at all like in her ‘dream’ . She took a couple steps forward her feet crunching the dead leaves.
Some trees still held onto their leaves, though for the most part they looked pretty scraggly. The coniferous trees still bore their sharp spiny needles, which poked her as she walked by.
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She passed through and under many spider webs. But it didn’t phase her a bit and she continued on. As she went deeper into the forest the animals voices grew fainter, as if something were warding them off.
The sun was beginning to go down, but she didn’t notice. Her thoughts were on whatever it could be that was keeping the animals away. Because as she traveled even farther their sounds disappeared altogether.
Suddenly she burst through the dense woods and found herself in a small meadow. Located at its center was a large log cabin. It looked to be in good shape, but seemed abandoned. Unsure of what to do, she cautiously set off towards it.
Many wildflowers grew in the meadow, and she found herself bending down to smell them several times. There were bluebells, marigolds, foxgloves, and, her favorite, snapdragons. They carpeted the ground with a marvelous sprawling beauty.
She approached the cabin with an unsure foot. She calmly went up the steps and knocked on the big wooden door. She waited a few moments. No reply. She knocked again. Still no reply. She sighed and turned to leave. Her nose bumped into someone’s chest. “Sorry!”
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She took a staggering step back, and took a clearer look at who she had collided into. It was a boy somewhere around her age, if not a little older. He was tall, very tall. She peered up at his face.
He had well-tanned skin, shiny blackish-brown hair, and startling vivid yellow eyes. He stared down at her in equal wonderment. She knew he had easily taken in her pale skin, and raven hair, but it was her eyes that he was obviously having trouble with.
He stared into them with a perplexed look upon his face. And she stared back, although none perplexed, just trying to figure out where the heck he’d come from. She hadn’t heard him come up behind her, and she hadn’t seen him anywhere nearby. He certainly couldn’t have just appeared! So where’d he come from?
She noticed he was still staring at her eyes. “I know, I know. You’ve never seen anyone with red eyes. Trust me, I get it a lot, But will you please stop staring?” She asked giving him an inquisitive look.
He blinked a couple of times and then smiled apologetically. “Um, yeah. Sorry.” His voice was loud and somewhat rugged.
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She smiled. “It’s alright. I’m sure you get stared at a lot too. Considering the fact that you have yellow eyes and all. Which leads me to ask, are they naturally that color?” She asked trying to make some social progress.
He gave an amused smile. “Of course they’re naturally this color. Are yours naturally red?”
She blushed slightly. “Yeah. I was born this way. Freaked the doctor so much, he dropped me.” She attempted at making him laugh.
It worked. He laughed, but just a little. He smiled down at her, and then offered his hand. “The name’s Derik. I live here with a bunch of my friends.” She shook his hand.
It was amazingly warm. She smiled at him politely. “My name is Sylfi. I live through the forest on Soull St. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at school. Are you home taught?”
He shook his head. “No, we just don’t go. You have a pretty name. Just don’t ask me to spell it.” He turned and looked over the meadow. “The guys will be back soon. And it’s getting pretty dark. Maybe you should go home?” He seemed worried about something; she could hear it in his voice.
She frowned. He turned back and noticed her pouting. “I’ll give you a flower.” He offered.
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He had a slight smile on his face. “Snapdragon?” She asked innocently.
He smiled brightly. “If that’s what you want.” He motioned for her to follow him as he hopped briskly down the steps.
He led her to a small patch filled with bright blooms of snapdragons. “Which one? Or could I pick one out for you?” He gestured to the many flowers.
she smiled at his eagerness. “You can pick one out, and I’ll tell you if I like it or not.” She grinned.
He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. He bent down and paused with his hand over a patch of brightly colored orange ones. Then he reached for a couple of red ones instead. He scooped them up and added a couple orange, yellow, and white ones to the mix.
He turned back to her, flowers in hand. There was such a large grin on his face that it practically touched both ears. “Will these work?” He handed them to her.
She laughed. “Yes, and thank you very much. I love these things. They’re my favorites.” She said as she took them.
His grin grew even wider, and his mouth opened to reveal a sharp set of teeth.
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She stared at his teeth in amazement. They were all pointed, like that of a dog, or a wolf. She shook her head to snap herself out of it. She looked back into his gleaming yellow eyes. “Well, I suppose I have to go now, huh?” She smiled sadly. “Thanks for the flowers. It was nice talking to you.”
He smiled. “No problem. You can probably come back tomorrow if you want. It’s getting dark. You should get going.”
She nodded and sighed.
She started off in the direction she had come. “Bye!” she called back to him.
* * * *
She laid her bags on her bed and headed downstairs to eat. After she had finished her dinner, and was ready for bed, she headed back upstairs. She closed her bedroom door and turned off her light. her eyes rapidly adjusted to the darkness of her room.
She walked to her bed, moved the covers back, and quietly laid down. She closed her eyes. Within minutes she was asleep.
* * * *
The next morning she once again woke up late.
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She was in good spirits. She wore a red snapdragon in her hair, along with a red sweater and blue-jeans. She was sitting on the rusty bench, when out of nowhere Derik walked up to her.
She gazed up at him in surprise. He was wearing the same thing as yesterday, a pair of black sweatpants, and a grey T-shirt. “Hey. I see you’re wearing one of the flowers. So how was you’re night?” He asked in a cheery voice.
She smiled at him. “Good. Yours?”
“Pretty normal for the most part.” He paused and frowned a little. “If you want to come over you can, but the guys will be there, so, you know. They really want to meet you. We don’t get out much so they might be a little rude. But there fun to be around.” He was smiling again.
She laughed. She caught the sound of the bus, and turned to look for it. “My bus will be here in a minute so..” She turned to look at him, but he had disappeared.
The bus pulled up, and she stepped onto it with a heavy sigh. ‘How does he do that?’ She asked herself as she sat down in her usual window seat. ‘I’ll be sure to ask him tonight.’
She peered out the window as the bus lurched into motion. And there he was waving to her.
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* * * *
She stepped off the bus, and onto the dirt road. Just as she had yesterday, she left her bags on the bench. She walked across the road and started into the forest. Her ears picked up all the many sounds of the animals, and her question came back to her of why she didn’t hear them at the cabin. She would ask when she arrived.
It didn’t take long. Now that she knew the way, she sprinted instead of walked. As she approached the meadow she heard many male voices. Someone was arguing with someone else about cheese toast, and another person was antagonizing someone whose name she couldn’t pick out over the roars from the two people arguing about cheese toast.
Suddenly she heard Derik’s voice shout over them: “Will you all just shut up?! I can’t even hear myself think! So how am I supposed to tell you when she’s here?”
The voices abruptly ceased. She cautiously stepped out from the safety of the thick forest. She looked around her. There were at least seven other boys besides Derik.  They studied her, like she was a deer standing in front of  a pack of wolves.
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Four of them stood in a group in front of the cabin. The other three were sitting by the patch of snapdragons. All of them had their eyes on her. Even Derik. He seemed to be confused, but happy at the same time.
She was paralyzed by fear. She couldn’t move. Her muscles had tightened, and her feet were stone. her lungs began to constrict, and her head felt like it was about to burst. Her heart raced, beating so loud it hurt her ears.
Suddenly Derik was beside her. “Breathe Sylfi. Come on, breathe.” He whispered softly in her ear.
She realized why she had been feeling so dreadful as she took in a much needed breath of air. She had forgotten to breathe! ‘Me and my stupid social anxieties!’ She thought as she felt the sharp pains of what had just occurred.
“Jeez. I didn’t realize you were so easily immobilized.” Derik commented, laying a hand on her shoulder.
“Sorry,” She said getting her voice back, “I have some really bad socialization issues.”
Derik merely nodded. “It’s okay. I used to have the same problem. That’s how I recognized what was wrong. Are you okay now, or do I need to get you inside to rest?” He looked at her concerned.
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She looked at him and gave a small smile. “I’m fine. It’s just you know, the, oh, I don’t know. How did you overcome it?” She looked at him questioningly.
A corner of his mouth twitched. “One day I woke up and just didn’t have any problems with it anymore. But I would suggest slowly socializing more and more. And please remember to breathe. There won’t always be someone there to remind you.” His voice was serious.
She nodded. “I know.”
He nodded. “Well, I guess I’d best introduce you, huh?” He grinned.
She smiled, but her face paled a little. “Yeah, before they start arguing about cheese toast again.”
Derik burst out laughing. “You must have good hearing to of heard that. Poor Chris was being tortured by Max.”
“How so?” She asked.
“He was tearing Chris’s cheese toast to shreds in the kitchen.” Derik laughed again.
Her eyebrows disappeared into her black hair. “So all that fuss really was over a piece of cheese toast?” She asked in disbelief.
Derik nodded, she barely contained her laughter.
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“Ok,” He sighed, “Let’s get this over with.”
He whistled in a high pitch tone that Sylfi could barely hear.
Instantly all the boys lined up in a row behind Derik. All of them had different hair colors.
Some of them had blond hair others had black. Their eye colors also varied. Some had blue, brown, blue-green, and one had misty grey eyes. The one with mist colored eyes was staring at her, but she had the feeling he couldn’t actually see her, that he was blind. “Derik?” She whispered, “Is he blind?”
The misty eyed boy smiled. “That I am ma’am. Sorry if my staring is unnerving, but I like to know where people are. You sound very pretty. What color are your eyes?” He asked politely.
Sylfi gave an embarrassed smile. “My eyes are red.” She said.           
Confusion flickered across his face. “An interesting color for eyes to be. Kind of like when Derik’s turn purple.” He paused, a thoughtful expression on his face. “Derik you don’t think it’s possible she. . .?”
Derik grimaced. “Not right now Markus.”
The boy-Markus-nodded his black hair dancing. Another boy piped up, “Derik it is possible.”
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Derik made a low sound that closely resembled a growl. “You don’t think I know this, Blane?! Why don’t we deal with these issues when our company has left? Okay? Okay.”
The boy who had spoken-Blane-rolled his eyes and blew a strand of his red hair out from in front of his eyes. “Whatever.” He muttered.
His green eyes glared at her. ‘No not green, light blue? No, brown?!’ She looked at them in confusion.
Derik noticed her looking at Blane and whirled around to face him. “Stop it right now!” He growled at Blane.
Blane ignored him and continued to stare at her. His eyes turned crimson, and a corner of his mouth twitched into a smile. Sylfi heard herself growl, but didn’t acknowledge it until Blane growled back. She was startled that she was capable of making such a noise, and that she had done it without realizing it.
Once again the sound rippled through the air, and once again she was shocked that she continued to growl. Blane raised himself up to his full height, and towered over her. Sylfi found herself rocking back onto her heels and growling in a dangerously low tone.
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Derik was staring at her in shock. “Told you, Derik. She isn’t normal. This bitch is different.” Blane said growling just as low as her.
Derik growled at him. “Back down Blane. I’ll take care of it.” He turned back to Sylfi, who was still glaring at Blane. “Calm down. There’s no one here who’s going to hurt you.” He whispered to her in a soft tone.
Sylfi looked into his commanding yellow eyes. Her growling dissipated and her face became riddled with confusion. “Why was I growling?” She demanded franticly as she looked at the ground.
Derik frowned. “Sylfi calm down. It was nothing. Trust me, okay? You probably just got carried away.” He gently put his finger under her chin and forced her to look at him.
She smiled faintly. “I do get carried away sometimes. I’m sorry.”
Derik shook his head. “Don’t be, Blane was the one out of line, not you.” He looked up at the setting sun. “You better go. We’ll get everyone acquainted tomorrow, okay?”
She frowned. “My parents are out of town, and I’m home alone, so I won’t get in trouble if I stay out a little late.” She looked at him anxiously.
He sighed. This was just what he needed. Her to stay.
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That would cause some problems. ‘But tonight it should be okay.’ He thought to himself as he stared into her fiery eyes. “Fine. But you can’t stay too long. I wouldn’t want you to get lost on your way home.” He said looking at her again.
She beamed with joy. He laughed at this. “Okay. Let’s get this done. Chris, come here would you?”
A boy with blond hair and blue-green eyes stepped up to them timidly. He waved cautiously at Sylfi. “Hi. My name’s Chris. Nice to meet you.” He paused and then looked at his bare feet. “Do you like cheese toast?”
Sylfi was confused for a moment, but then she remembered what she had heard earlier. “It’s okay.” She said with an amused smile.
Chris nodded, and then stepped back to his place in the line.
Derik smiled at her. “Max.”
Max stepped up to her. “Hi. You’re cute.”
Sylfi smiled at the black haired, brown eyed boy before her. “Nice to meet you too.”
The boy grinned and stepped back.
Derik glared at Max before calling out the next name, “David.”
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A boy with brown hair and blue eyes stepped up. “Hey, babe.” He grinned at her with sharp white teeth.
She laughed. “Hi.”
He stepped back.
Derik sighed and shook his head. “Dalton.”
Another boy with black hair and blue eyes stepped up. “Hello. How are you?” He smiled as he held out his hand.
“Fine. Thank you.” She said as she shook hands with him.
He nodded politely and took a step back. Derik sighed. Next in line was Blane. Derik opened his mouth to call him up, but before he could say anything Blane was already standing in front of her, actually, there was only about three inches of space between them.
Sylfi looked up at him in astonishment. She hadn’t even seen him move. It was like he had just appeared in front of her. She felt his body heat radiating from him. His hot breath blew on her hair. He began sniffing the air around her, and then he bent down sniffed her hair.
She shuddered, and her back tingled with waves of heat. “You smell normal, but you don’t look or act it.” He growled.
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Sylfi shuddered again. He pulled back from her, and now there was about a foot between them. “I don’t understand this?” He sighed looking into her eyes.
Derik was glaring at him darkly. Blane noticed and laughed. “Someone has to make sure. Besides if she’s what I’m thinking she is, then you can’t keep her all to yourself.”
She looked between them in confusion. Derik growled at him. “I told you after she leaves.” His voice was dangerously low.
Blane raised a brow. “Don’t you wonder how she found us? You know the rules. It shouldn’t have been possible for her to cross the boundary, and yet here she is. Can you explain that?” He challenged.
Derik gave him an evil look. She was still confused as she watched them. “What are you two talking about?”
Derik looked at her sympathetically. “It would probably be best if you went back home now.”
Blane started laughing. “You think that will make the possibilities go away? Sending her home won’t do anything.”
Derik growled at him. Then he directed his attention to Sylfi. “Go home, I’ll go get you tomorrow.”
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Sylfi looked at him severely confused. “Why? Why do I have to go home?” She asked incredulously.
Blane looked back to her. “Because he doesn’t want you here if we get in a fight. Personally I don’t mind. Then you’d see what he doesn’t want you to.” Blane chuckled.
“Wha..?” Sylfi asked confused.
Derik growled at Blane again, even more threateningly this time. Blane growled back ferociously. “Go home, Sylfi.” Derik growled.
She looked around her and realized that the other boys were gone. The sun had set and night had fallen over the meadow. The stars twinkled at her from above. Blane laughed. “You’d better get out of here before he loses it girl.” He slapped her on the butt and she jumped. “Get girl.” She didn’t know why but she ran.
She ran through the dark forest and into her house. She hadn’t even bothered to get her books. She had just ran until she found herself in her room. She plopped down on her bed, and gasped for breath.
* * * *
She woke up in the middle of the night. Her room was pitch black. She couldn’t see a thing.
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She slowly sat up, and allowed her eyes to adjust. Her room was quieter than usual. She moved herself out of the bed, and flicked the light switch. Light flooded the room. Seeing nothing out of place she turned the light back off and laid  back down in her bed.
Soon she was fast asleep. A dark figure loomed up from the shadows of the closet. He cast a weary eye about the room, and then hovered over her. She was sleeping deeply already. Her eyes tightly closed. He watched the way she moved in her sleep. Realizing that she was obviously having a dream that involved running. ‘A nightmare perhaps?’ He thought to himself.
He walked to the open window, and quietly vanished out of it.
* * * *
Sylfi woke up with a start when something pressed against her cheek. She flung herself up and looked around half-dazed for the culprit. What she found creeped her out severely. Derik was sitting on the end of her bed with a bowl of cereal on his lap, the spoon in his hand half raised to his open mouth. He had frozen in place when she jumped up.
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She looked at him disbelievingly. He shoved the spoonful of cereal into his mouth. She continued to stare at him in utter disbelief. “What? Do I have something on my face?” He asked with a mouth full of food.
“Wha..? What the hell are you doing here?!” She asked in a freaking out tone.
He finished chewing and then swallowed. “Your window is open.” He said matter-of-factly.
Her jaw dropped. “And that means you can just come in, sit on my bed and eat, what are those? Coco puffs?”
He shrugged, shoving another spoonful into his mouth. She covered her face with her hands and groaned. Her head fell back and thunked against the wall. “Ow.” She muttered.
He looked at her, milk dribbling on his chin. He wiped it off with his arm. “Someone was here last night. Someone other than you. Do you know who they were?” He asked looking concerned.
“No! I didn’t even know you were here! Let alone someone else!” She yelled at him.
He sighed. He looked at her. Her navel
was covered by blanket, but her top-half was in a black camisole. “Are you wearing anything other than that tank-top?” He asked eying her warily.
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She looked at him, dumbfounded. “That is none of your business!”
He sighed. “I wasn’t being perverted. I thought that may be why you’re getting so offended. You really mustn’t be so quick to judge.”
She felt a little guilty for snapping at him. “Sorry. I just can’t believe you would sneak in here like this.” Then she remembered what had awoken her. “Did you touch my cheek? That’s the reason I woke up in the first place. I felt something on my cheek.”
He was chewing more coco puffs. He waited till he had swallowed to give her an answer. “Sorry. You just looked so peaceful, and it felt like the right thing to do, so I just, you know stroked your cheek. I didn’t know you’d react the way you did.”
Now she felt even worse. After all, he hadn’t meant any harm. Suddenly what he had said early came crashing back to her. “Wait. You said someone was here last night. I woke up in the middle of the night, but there was no one here.” She paused and then looked at him. “How would you know if someone had been here anyway?”
He didn’t answer. He just continued to thoughtfully shove food into his mouth.
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“Aargh! Really? You aren’t going to answer? What was Blane talking about last night? Why won’t you answer any of my questions? How do you know if someone was here or not last night?” She asked angrily.
He sighed, and drained his blue bowl of milk. He set it down on her vanity, and looked at her. The expression on his face was hard. It was like his face had been carved from stone. “You really don’t want to get into this, Sylfi.” He said in a soft but commanding tone. “You probably wouldn’t handle it well.”
She steeled herself. “Try me.” She growled at him like she had growled at Blane.
Derik closed his eyes, and the muscles in his jaws stuck out. “You do not growl at me. I really don’t want anything to happen to you.” He said icily.
She was pissed. She didn’t like being told what to do. She never had. So she growled at him. It was a low, menacing growl that surprised even her.
There was a flurry of motion and suddenly she was laying on her back. He was over her, his hands pressing her shoulders into the bed, and his legs on top of her own. He had her pinned down. She realized this in amazement.
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He growled at her again. “I told you not to growl at me, and what do you do? You growl even louder!”
His body was shuttering as if trying to control something. He looked like he was trying to hold down an Irish Wolfhound.
His face was a mask of fury. His lips were curled back into an angry snarl. She shrank back in fear. Shivers ran down her spine, and the areas where his body touched felt like they were on fire.
“Please don’t hurt me.” She gasped fearfully.
He chuckled darkly. “If I wanted to hurt you, you’d be in a hospital by now.”
She shuddered. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m sure you are. Is this what you wanted? Does this give you any clues to the answers you wanted? Because you’ve seen enough to figure just about all of it out. You’re just not educated enough. Otherwise you would have already been screaming.” He said gruffly.
She looked up into his gleaming yellow eyes. They were like two fiery suns glowing down at her. ‘What does he mean?’ She thought sadly. ‘I don’t understand any of this.’
Suddenly she felt him relax. He came off of her, and took up his seat at the foot of the bed again.
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“Sorry.” He said gruffly.
His face was somewhere between pain and anger. ‘Pained anger?’ She thought to herself with a forlorn sigh. “Please just tell me.” She spoke softly.
He shook his head. “No. Not yet.” He looked at her. “Please come back home with me.”
She felt like she should have told him no, and sent him home, but instead she nodded. A smile lit his face and the expression on his face changed to compassion.
She looked at the clock, and realized that it was 8:00 A.M.! She had missed her bus! “Oh, crap! I’ve got to go to school. I already missed my bus.” She cried franticly.
Derik looked at her in amusement. Sylfi jumped out of the bed and walked towards her dresser. Derik stared at her in amazement. She stopped halfway and her eyes became red saucers. Derik merely continued to stare at her barely covered bottom. “Um, Sylfi?” he said hesitantly.
“Shut up and turn your head.” She growled angrily.
He did as he had been instructed, and she quickly threw on a pair of blue jeans. “Alright. You can look now.” She half growled.
He faced her, a huge grin plastered on his face.
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She rolled her eyes. “That was the last thing I needed.” She muttered under her breath.
Derik chortled. “What? Me seeing your black lacy underwear?”
She snarled at him angrily as she brushed her hair. He rolled his eyes at her, and walked to the window. She quietly attempted to sneak up on him. She was directly behind him, completely quiet. He quickly whirled around and wrapped his arms around her.
“Squirm as much as you like, but I’m not going to let go until I get what I want.” He whispered coolly into her ear.
She breathed deeply, surprised by her failure. Her arms were pressed into his chest, and she had no ways of escape. “And that would be?” She replied cockily.
He bent down and looked into her eyes. She looked away, tilting her head down. She felt his hand move her hair, so she closed her eyes. Suddenly his lips were crushed against hers. She opened her eyes to find that his were closed. She shoved against his chest, but he only creased his brow, and kissed harder, pushing his tongue into her mouth. She was overwhelmed by the hot salty-sweet flavor that washed through her mouth as their-
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-tongues touched. She found herself embracing him by wrapping her arms about his neck, and moving her leg onto his hip.
Their kiss lasted a few more minutes before he pulled away and allowed her to breathe. She hyperventilated trying to restore oxygen to her burning lungs. He grinned at her happily. Once she had caught her breath she slapped him as  hard as she could square across the face. When her hand connected to his skin, it felt like he was made of some sort of stone.
She clutched her hand to her chest in moderate pain. He just stood there. She glared at him. He worked his jaw and pretended like it had actually  hurt. “What was that for?!” He asked more surprised than angry.
“You should know.” She growled haughtily.
He sighed. Reluctantly, he released her. She took a dizzy step back and rocked on her heels. “Was it at least a little pleasing?” He asked staring at her longingly.
She turned away from him and sat on her bed. “Humph.” She grunted.
“Ah, well. I thought it was amazing. You’re a very talented kisser. Was that your first kiss?” He asked.
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She nodded solemnly, as she pulled on her shoes. “That was definitely not how I imagined it.”
He snickered. “How did you imagine it?”
“I didn’t.” She said simply.
“Why?”
“I have my reasons.” She scowled.
He shrugged. “Ok, but you have to admit that felt pretty good.” He smiled at her deviously.
“Whatever.” She mumbled.
“Ready? Let’s go.” Derik nonchalantly hopped out the window.
* * * *