𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 || baxter radic

36.

"Be happy you have Ari and keep your hands off of Baxter." I stand with my head held high. Summer wasn't going to touch Baxter, if she did, there is no doubt the crazy would creep in. The lingering effects of my mother would leak out, the only difference being I'd leave no trace, I'm not as dumb as her.

"And if I don't?" Summer crosses her arms, don't challenge me if you can't handle what war you're declaring. That's something Summer knew all too well. We had many wars, many points of declaration. Her biggest one was kissing my brother just a few days before he passed. Mine was going to be this.

"Everyone's worries about me will become a reality." I smile, the insane part of me taking over. "Do you really want to chance me ruining every single thing I touch?" The maniacal side is slipping, if I don't zipper myself back up too much might slip and I'll become a loose cannon.

"There's only one person you wouldn't ruin." Summer's comment digs deep, because it's the truth. There was only one thing in this whole world that I wouldn't ruin. His hair was pink, his smile wiped my mania away. He was the center of this argument, this warzone. "But if he found out about your destruction he'd run. So you wouldn't dare ruin a thing."

"And that's where you think you know Bax, but you don't." I nod my head, taking the first win of many battles to come. "So touch him and watch all of this crumble." I motion in circles around us. "I've already done it once. I don't fear doing it again."

I leave the bathroom, declaring my place in this world. Baxter Radic would never be anyone's but mine. My fingers would always be locked up in his. My mouth would always be latched to his. His heart would always beat for mine the way mine did for him. I would make sure if it.

When I open the door, Baxter is standing there. His eyes widen at the sight of me. There is a burning desire to run off with me and hide away from the comedy that is peace. Our worlds would never be peaceful. We are two weapons of mass destruction, ready to deploy at any moment.

His eyes stare through me, burning a hole right through the center of Summer's chest. If his fuse were to light she'd be a goner. But my touch succumbs him to me instead. His focus drifting back toward me.

"All is good." I confirm, pulling him toward my room, ignoring our acquaintances in the other room. The two of us would only become targets, all guns pointing at is. They didn't know if they pulled the trigger they'd all become goners too. It was better to stay away.

"We're a mess." Bax mumbles against my lips as he closes my bedroom door.

"We've always been a mess." I pull my lips from him and slide my shirt off, only to take his off him to replace the one I had just removed.

My senses were too high. The influx of new feelings bouncing around in my head like a metal ball in a pinball machine. The dinging noise sorting them into their right corners, eventually filing them away to bring up at a later time. Normally that time being when my eyes are closed and a warzone breaks out behind my eyes.

"You are beautiful." Bax reaches out and pulls the twisted hair on top of my head out of its pony tail. It drops down my back, cascading in tied knots.

"You are strong." The back of his fingers trail down my cheek until he tucks them under my chin.

"You are free." His palm presses against my throat, his fingers wrapping around the sides. I was not free. He was trapping me.

"I only want you." His grip tightens quickly, cutting off any airflow. I dig my fingers into his wrist, causing his hand dropping immediately. All of this was to show he was just as dangerous as I was. I wasn't crazy alone. He was right there with me. Walking the same road at my side.

"If we had anyone else..." I cough from the tight squeeze, "I don't think anyone would make it out alive. We'd find a way to destroy everything around us until we were the only two left."

"We are the worst combo." Bax's words bite. They take a chunk from my heart and spit it to the ground. We were the worst combo.

"The worst." I confirm. "But alone, the damage we cause lingers. We are slow burns. Together, it's one big fire, easily put out by some water, or easily fueled by gasoline."

"How did we become so fucked up?" Bax pulls my head into his chest as he lets out a chuckle. Like any sane person would actually laugh at a moment like this. We are totally off our rockers.

"Trauma." I laugh.

"But we are good too." Bax confirms.

We were good people. To our cores we were good. Just sections of our brain were infiltrated with infection, slowly melting the good away. We burnt the infection alive when were together. We stopped it from spreading. We were each other's fever when sick. Without each other, we'd be as good as gone. We may fuel the insane, but we also stop it.