Temporary

Chapter 3

Felix's mouth opened, but I grasped his wrist and pulled him out the door with me before he could say anything. The shock in his expression, the way his pupils had grown into the size of golf balls had been enough to tell me that he thought I was crazy. And I probably was. I strode quickly down the street, hands in the pockets of my black peacoat and short, dark brown hair blowing wildly in the evening chill. Thoughts running rapidly through my brain, I bit down on my lower lip and occasionally looked back at the strange boy. He walked a few feet behind me, shivering with his arms crossed over his chest. It had stopped snowing, but he was still looked on the verge of becoming an icicle.

You've officially lost your mind, Lydia. You should tell Professor Adams that you brought home your own human experiment to psychoanalyze. You deserve a freaking gold star for effort, idiot.

"You're either crazy," Felix spoke up over the roar of the city, reading my mind and catching up to my side. He spoke through chattering teeth. "or desperately lonely, or both. Which is it?"

I shook my head, averting my gaze from him. "I'm not leaving you on the street for the night."

He snorted and blew warm breath into his cupped hands. "Okay, so you're crazy."

"No," I protested, unsure of where my own logical thoughts had run off. "I'm not-"

"Lydia!" He shouted over the roar of traffic and Friday nightlife as we stopped at a light, putting a hand up to stop me. His eyes were sympathetic and calm, but his jaw was clenched. He put a hand on his bag and sighed, running the other one through his hair. "You seem like a nice girl, but I don't know anything about you besides your name. What ever happened to 'don't talk to strangers', huh?"

The light flashed red, signaling for us to follow the horde to the next block. We dashed across quickly before slowing our pace and picking up on the arguement. "I'm not an axe-murderer, Felix. I'm trying to do a nice thing."

He bit his lip and muttered something to himself, eyes fixated on his worn, work boots. "I can take care of myself," He said sharply.

"No!" I retorted in a hiss, blood boiling in my veins. It wasn't the time for denial. "You're alone, for starters. And when you walked into that soup kitchen, you looked like hell and were about to double over from hunger. You're freezing; I can hear your teeth chattering from here."

I was about to continue until I saw Felix's face illuminated under a lamp post. It was hard, emotionless, clenched. Fists balled at his sides, part of him looked like he wanted to sock me in the jaw. There was fury in his fists, but understanding shone in his eyes. They gave away everything when he couldn't voluntary do so.

"Fine," He finally responded, giving me a crooked smile. His expression softened, but his tone was sour.

I nodded, a pang of guilt hitting my chest as we continued on, weaving our way past the nightlife bathers. I kicked at the sidewalk snow while Felix rubbed at his fairly developed layer of light brown stubble. He didn't speak, just breathed heavily and producing visible clouds of breath in the air. As annoyed as I was with him, part of me wanted to wrap my arms around his stomach for warmth. I didn't though, keeping my focus on the road ahead.

"Don't worry," I finally broke tension between us minutes later as we neared my neck of the woods. "If it makes you feel better, it's only temporary."

Felix snorted again and gave a dry chuckle. "I've heard that before," He mumbled.

I breathed a long sigh, letting the icy chill into my mouth, which made my entire body shiver. I took my gloved, right hand from my coat pocket and extended my pinkie to my companion, chuckling a little when he raised an eyebrow at me. "Pinkie swear, dumbass," I told him with a laugh.