Losing Oliver

Chapter 6

That's Emmy in the picture! Casted as Barbara Palvin.

My instincts kept screaming at me to run, run as far as I could. My lungs screamed for air, crying out for me to stop.

"Lucy! Lucy!" I could hear them yelling for me, yet I never looked back.

My legs burned and my eyes stung, but even as the tears flew, I continued to run. Anything was better than staying in that hectic house.

In a seemingly short time, the drizzle of rain turned into a downpour and disoriented my line of vision. So finally, I collapsed. Strands of wet hair stuck to my cheeks while the clothes I was wearing continued to be soaked by the rain.

"Lucy?"

Oh no, they found me. I can't go back there.

I wrapped my arms around myself and hung my head just as a strong hand wrapped around my arm.
"Lucy, What the hell are you doing out here?" The voice was raspy and fierce, much unlike my dad's.

"Huh?" I looked up to see no other than Declan Pierce. His brooding but fiery eyes shone in front of me through the heavy rain. Like mine, his hair was plastered against his sharp features.

"C'mon!" He pulled me up from my fetile position on the drenched sidewalk, uncharacteristically careful.

Declan seemed in disbelief as he brought me to a house nearby. "What the hell are you doing out here in this weather?" He questioned me again after I walked up onto the porch.

I sniffled but tried to hide my face from him. "No reason."

"..Lucy, do you really think I'm that dumb?" I saw him raise an eyebrow at me from the corner of my eye.

I hoped. "No." I admitted and crossed my arms.

Surprisingly, he didn't press me for any details. He just opened the front door and gestured for me to come in.

I was hesitant, considering I barely knew the guy, but with one look down at my muddy apparel, I nodded.

The comforting heat of his house warmed my cold skin and bones instantly when I stepped through the door. "Wait here."

While waiting, I took off my shoes and set them off to the side. "This is all I have that'll fit you." Declan said as he reappeared into the room. He held a pair of basketball shorts and the t-shirt that I wore the night of the party. "Remember this?" He chuckled as he handed it to me.

I nodded in silence and took it with a crack of a smile. My cheeks burned with embrassment as I snuck a look at him. "Thanks."

"The bathroom is down the hall." He told me, and I went to change.

~

A storm howled outside, and thunder crashed in view from the window. I won't be able to get home until it was over, and my family won't find me either.

"Do you need anything?" Declan said awkwardly from the couch.

I shook my head.

"Are you not going to explain what happened?"

I whipped around angrily to face him, "I don't think that's any of your business!"

"Woah, chill. I was just asking." He said and put his hands up in defense. "You look like you need someone to talk to."

My shoulders slumped. He was right. "I'm sorry. There's just been some things said about you..."

"You say that like I haven't heard them before. I'm a player, I can't be trusted, I don't have a soul..." He rolls his eyes. "Bullshït."

"I'm sorry." I said. Again.

"Stop apologizing." He commanded easily.

"Sorry." Yet another apology.

He shot me a look but didn't say a word. I went and sat opposite of him on the couch.

"My dad and sister freaked out at me for going to a party." I admitted and pulled my legs to my chest. "I've never gone to one before, and suddenly they're acting like I just went rogue."

"That happened to me." Declan spoke. Really? I guess I never thought of him as anything but a bad boy. "Surprise, surprise, right?"

I bit my lip and blushed. "I've just thought you were always a bad boy."

"You and everybody else at our school.." His voice seemed loathsome and hateful, but it didn't seem to be aimed at me and our peers. After his words, he took out a cigarette and lit up the end.

"..and you all may just be right."