Two of a Kind (Vance Hopper)

Chapter 18.

     Vance still had the same stupid grin the entire way back to her house. She had called him Vance. Hearing his name finally leave her mouth made him way happier than it should have. He shouldn't have been this affected by something like this, he never had been affected by things like this before, but when it came to her it was different. He glanced over to the injured girl beside him, wondering what about her made her so special to him. Why did it have to be her? He had never been like this for anyone before, and suddenly this girl just appeared in town and he seemed to have his whole life flipped upside down by her. 

     He seemed to have been so lost in thought that he didn't even notice the fact that they had made it to her house. The only reason he caught on is because Kitt had stopped short at the driveway, trying to see if she could find any signs of her father in her house. He looked through all of the windows that he could, trying to see any signs of movement within the house. He found nothing that really concerned him, and apparently she didn't see anything from the house either since she began to walk towards the door. He followed her up to the door, still a little on edge as he walked. 

     Kitt opened the door slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible incase her parents were home. She scanned the entry way, listening to see if she could hear any movement in the house. Confident that no one would find them, she motioned for Vance to follow her. She guided him up to her room and paused as the memories of what happened the last time she entered her room came back to her. She looked down at the floor in the hallway and grimaced as she noticed her blood was still on the floor. Vance noticed her gaze and followed it. He furrowed his brows, unsure exactly what he was looking at until it hit him. 

     That was her blood on the floor. The bastard hadn't even taken the time to clean up. He clenched his jaw at the sight. Just what the hell had she been through? And how long had she been dealing with this by herself? The thought of her bleeding on the floor enraged him, but he knew that keeping his mouth shut at the moment was the best thing he could do for her. He reached out and grabbed her hand gently, silently showing that he knew what had happened, and that he was there for her if she needed it. She looked up at him and gave a weak smile, thankful that she at least had him. She turned to her door and took a deep breath before she slowly opened the door, praying that her father wasn't waiting for her to return. The door swung open to reveal her room, empty.  

     She sighed in relief and rushed the taller male into the room. He looked around her room, realizing that he had never been in the room before. He noticed that she hadn't even finished unpacking, which made him chuckle slightly. He could just imagine her looking at the boxes in the corner of her room and saying no. He moved to go sit on her bed as she headed to her dresser to get a fresh pair of clothes that were actually hers. He noticed how tense she was and he wished that he could do something to help, but he wasn't exactly good in these situations. He didn't know what to say to her to make her feel better. He felt useless, and he fucking hated it. He was so lost in his thoughts about how to help that he hadn't even realized that she had already left the room to go take a shower. 

     He only noticed she was gone once he heard the shower turn on, and he took this time to explore her room, to try to learn more about her. She was always so reserved when it came to herself. He realized that he didn't know a single thing about her, and it shocked him. He had been spending a lot of time with her, and he had no clue what she liked other than cookies. He got up and moved to her dresser, looking at the few belongings that she had on there. A couple of perfumes, which he took the time to smell, and a single picture. He picked up the frame and studied the picture. He immediately recognized Kitt, even if she was extremely young in the photo, she couldn't have been older than five or six at most, and a young boy who was a little bit older. They were hugging each other for the picture, and grinning. He smiled slightly at the sight of a young version of Kitt, but the photo just made him more curious of what all this girl had been through. 

     He put the photo down gently before moving on. He noticed a couple of posters that were rolled up in the boxes and moved to unroll them. He smirked as he noticed a Rolling Stones poster but put it to the side pretty quickly. He knew it was selfish to go through her things without her knowing. He knew she wouldn't be happy with him, but he wanted to know more. He dug through the boxes, nothing of real interest in the first box. He noticed that she didn't have a lot of valuable stuff, nothing she seemed to treasure at least. 

     He shook his head, his curls bouncing as he realized what he was doing. He stood from the boxes and moved to sit on the bed.  He heard the sound of the shower shut off, shortly followed by the sounds of shuffling as she got dressed. His eyes scanned the room, trying not to be obvious about the fact he had been trying to pry into her personal life. He heard the bathroom door open and turned to look at the shorter redhead. 

     She smirked as she looked at the boy on her bed, amused at the innocent act he was putting on. It reminded her of a puppy getting into trash for the first time, guilty, but not willing to admit it. "You should probably be quieter when you're going through someone's stuff, dumbass," she spoke, her voice calm. She watched as he looked up at her, hesitant to answer, but it was amusing to watch him struggle to find the right way to respond. 

     "I'm sorry?" He offered, testing the waters. He watched her intently, not afraid, but waiting for her to explode.