Thε Spαrklε Tooƒus (ACT I: Fall Term) ✓

twenty-one

Fake Truth

He was too fast for me to even attempt at stopping him. Stepping forward till he was towering over me so closely, he clamped his hand over my mouth, stopping the words that had formed at the tip of my tongue from being uttered. The force with which he had done it had my back pressed up against the wall, and I was too surprised to get out of his grip.

"Shut. Up."

My eyes widened. I stared into his dark green orbs as they pierced mine. My heart pumped loudly, too loudly, and I was a little scared that he was able to hear it. Yet, Damien didn't let go of me. The ferocity in his eyes washed away by a heat that wasn't at all aggressive.

Thump.

The emotions of anger were replaced by guilt. Searching my eyes in a way that made me want to hide away from him, he whispered, "I never meant to hurt you."

Thump-thump.

"I know I did. And I'm so sorry."

Thumpthumpthump.

His breath was cool against my face, unlike the very position we were in right now. It took me a while to realize that I wasn't breathing normally. One of my hands lightly rested on the one that Damien had trapped my mouth with, softly prying it away. But that wasn't reason enough to make either of us to create a distance between us, as we probably should have.

Instead, I ended up smiling at him and saying, "I know."

Damien was the first to pull away. Taking a step back, he broke his gaze from mine and looked back at my desk. "We should...probably get started."

"Yeah." I still felt a little dazed by what had happened but sprung into action. Crossing the room quickly, I sorted through the mess of homework, papers and books on my desk to find the files that Damien had given me.

"You know, being disorganized works out as a disadvantage for you, especially in senior year." He sounded critical as he watched me dig through with a frown on his face. Quick change of subject, but handy.

"Mhm," I hummed sarcastically, glancing over at my shoulder at him. "And this is the nerdy side of you speaking, right?"

Damien didn't smile. But he didn't seem to mind my light teasing and shrugged. "I'm only being practical." He paused as he watched me move the files to the bed, where I preferred to work. "And besides, Katie Collins isn't really my girlfriend."

Eyebrows rising, I stared at him. "Really, is that why everyone says she is then?"

"She told the others that I'm her boyfriend, and I decided to go with it since she'd told practically everyone we both knew. And she's one of my fans. I don't like to disappoint." He winked at me, that cheesy grin returning to his face.

Relief flooded through me, knowing the Damien I'd first met had returned.

"So why did you even-"

"I tutor her," he stated simply, something else that caused the shock in me to rise. "And, I only have one more week to go before I finish. Which means, I'll be single once again in a week."

I smiled, shaking my head to myself.

"But don't you get your hopes up sweetie, I still have a lot of my other fans to tend to." He nudged me on the hip, scooting closer to me on the bed.

The Real Makayla Summers would have snapped at him but I was soaking myself in this fun side of Damien. I liked him more this way...even though a part of me was dying to know the boy behind the mask.