Love X Protect

Prologue

He remembered the day he decided to always protect her, his best friend, his partner in crime, the eventual love of his life. He had been about seven or eight, pushing his little sister on the swing when he heard the shout.

"She's slipinggggggg!" cried one of the many child spectators, pointing to the girl gradually losing her grip on the monkey bars.

His younger self didn't think, he sprang into action and quickly ran over to the monkey bars, trying to stand directly under her. "Let go, I'll catch you!" he yelled bravely. Looking back at that moment, it was pure stupidity, but it was the moment that cemented them.

One moment she was dangling from the metal bars, the next she had landed right on top of him, knocking the wind right out of him. He didn't remember much after that. In breaking her fall, he had somehow twisted his ankle, and his older brother and some other older kids had shown up then and next thing he knew he was at home in his living room, his dad icing my ankle.

The next day, the same little girl had shown up at his house with her mom. They had come to thank him properly and brought him a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream they had heard he loved through the neighborhood grapevine when finding out who he was and where he lived. After thanking him profusely, her mom retreated to the kitchen with his dad having discovered that both of their oldest children were in the same high school.

She plopped down on the couch beside him and said, "Let's be friends" and proceeded to help herself to his "thank you" ice cream. Even then he understood that in her own way she was saying thanks and that sharing that ice cream symbolized the start of their friendship.

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The day he fell in love with her was also one of the worst days of his middle school years. It was his first game as starting goalie of his hockey team, and they had lost, miserably.

He had waited till everyone had left and old Mick, the caretaker, had come to tell him he was going to lock up before venturing out of the arena. It was pitch black outside save for a stray streetlight that illuminated the far corner of the rink's car park.

He made his way to his bike, and unlocked the chain when she said, "Took you long enough, your highness." He dropped the bike, startled, and watched as she stood up from the pavement.

He sighed, "What are you doing here Mckenna?"

"Oh, it's like that now Tobias?" she taunted, "Can't remember the last time we were on full name basis, Tobias."

He released a frustrated sigh as he picked up his bike and started walking it home. "I'm not in the mood, ok?"

"OK." She walked beside him keeping pace.

"You shouldn't have waited for me. It's cold." She slipped her hand into the free one by his side and gave it a squeeze, he squeezed back. They walked on in silence, both lost in thought but never letting go.

They made it to her house, the lights on the porch were still on. She removed her hand from his grasp and pulled him into a hug. He heard his bike fall onto her front lawn as he wrapped his hands around her waist, burying his nose in her hair. It always smelt of some fruit, tonight it was coconut.

She drew back, stood on her tiptoes and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye, "Don't beat yourself up about this for too long. Or else how will you come back swinging hard?" She gave him a peck on the cheek and went inside with a wave goodbye over her shoulder.

It was at that moment that he realized he was in love with her and that he would do anything to make her happy, even be her first time.

Author's note:

Thanks for taking a chance on me and my book. I hope you like it!