the president's daughter || a chris kendall/crabstickz fanfiction

and so it begins || chris kendall

PJ and I both broke out in a fit of laughter at how ridiculous my fake crying had been. We couldn't help it, it seemed. "Alright," he said as soon as he turned off the camera. "I believe that's all we need."

I grinned at the boy as I stood. "Great! I'll get it all edited in the next few days," I answered, folding up the tripod and such. I noticed PJ glancing around the room; he had noticed it as well. It had been nearly an hour and the girl, Dezzi, had yet to come back. "She's probably just in the kitchen," I reassured him, but mostly myself . I felt that I had a responsibility to take care of this poor girl: I was sort of responsible for injuring her after all.

PJ sighed. "Well good luck," he grimaced, shoving his hands into the pockets of his skinny jeans and sauntering towards the door. "Promise you won't take advantage of her..?" he teased with a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Don't be such a dick, Peej," I retorted with a light shove of his arm as we both made our way down the hallway towards the front door. Our large feet clonked across the wood floors and soon, Peej opened the door that stood in front of us both. It creaked as he took a step out. Before he went any farther, he turned back to face me.

"What's up with her?" he questioned in a vaguely hushed voice, referencing toward the girl that was hopefully still somewhere inside my flat. He asked it and I knew immediately that he'd meant a million different things by it.

"I'm not really sure actually," I answered in the same style, closing the door to where only my head could peak through the crack. "After I hit her with my car, it all went by so fast. I followed them to the hospital to make sure she was alright; thank god she only broke a couple fingers... but I honestly feel terrible about it, Peej. I think something more might be wrong, like she lost some of her memory or something."

PJ gave me a puzzled look. "Why would you think that?"

I hesitated, the words catching in my throat. My brain told me to tell him all of the things she seemingly didn't know about. But for some reason, the rest of me decided against it. "I dunno; she's just acting a little strange I guess," I told him instead.

"Yeah, I can see that," he said, glancing past me into my flat where she was somewhere. "She's probably just still in shock... plus she's not from here, Chris. It could just be the way she was raised."

I sighed, shifting on my feet. PJ always was the level-headed one. "Yeah, I guess you're right." That had to be it. Maybe her parents just raised her that way -- maybe she was homeschooled... or Amish...

"So does she have anywhere else to go?" he chimed in again, breaking me from my thoughts.

"I'm not sure," I said, shaking my head and biting my lip. "She's small, and she seems pretty harmless... and I did this to her after all." I cleared my throat. "If she has no where else to go, I guess she can stay here."

PJ sighed. "Well if you need any help, you know where to find me."

"Thanks, Peej." And with that, he turned on his heel and went on his way back down the sidewalk. I closed the door with a deep breath, resting my back against it as I exhaled. This was bound to be interesting.

"Dezzi!" I called through the house, pausing to wait for some kind of response. Silence ensued. I paced farther into the lounge. "Oh, Desdemona! Come out, come out wherever you are!" I glanced around the room searching for her, but she was no where to be seen. So she wasn't in the lounge. I turned to walk into the kitchen, preparing to call for her once again, but cut myself short when I finally spotted her.

There she lay on top of one of my kitchen cabinets next to a wide window that framed the world outside. It was nearing five o'clock in the evening as the sun began its slow downfall into the distant horizon. The soft, warm light illuminated the girl laying there on the white laminate countertop. Her long chestnut hair fell in waves around her shoulders and across her face and down the side of the cabinet. Her knees were pulled up to her chest with her legs crossed at the ankles, and her hands rested under her cheek, acting as a mock pillow. And a plastic cup lay in the floor, a puddle of water beside it as the sink continued to run slowly, steadily.

I turned the sink off and hastily grabbed a towel from one of the drawers, getting down on the floor to clean up the spill. How on earth had she ended up like this? I scrubbed the grout a little harder. She must have been exhausted in order to end up in a situation like this. I threw the towel into the hamper and sat the cup in the sink before walking over to stand beside her.

My hand slowly reached out to brush the chestnut hair from her face. I only allowed one finger to come in contact with her skin -- she felt freezing cold. For the first time, I noticed a line of freckles dotting across her slender nose: a single imperfection on an otherwise flawless complexion.

I shook the thought out of my head.

As I studied her for only a moment longer, I noticed one final thing that I hadn't before. She wore a locket around her neck. It was a golden colour but was worn to where the edges were darkened and it was dim instead of reflective. The design carved onto the front was so intricate, it seemed as though the thing had to have been ancient. I reached out to brush the locket with my fingertips. It was even colder than Dezzi herself. A small button was visible on the side of it. I couldn't help but wonder what it could have contained...

My hand instinctively jerked backwards as the girl shuffled where she lay. She turned onto her back, her face becoming more visible in the direct sunlight. The sun kissed her skin and she took on a sort of ethereal glow. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, so at ease -- as if nothing in the world mattered except for this moment in time, right here, right now.

I sighed, glancing at the cast encasing her middle and ring finger on her left hand draped across her chest. She truly must have been exhausted from the days activities to have fallen asleep so peacefully where she did. I carefully slid my hands beneath her, hoisting her into my arms; I was not very strong, but she was quite small, so I would manage just fine it seemed. My shoes clunked across the wooden floors once again until I reached the carpet of my bedroom, the girl still quietly snoozing in my arms.

I laid her down on my bed, which was massive in comparison to her mousy figure, and took off her black high-heeled boots before pulling the duvet up to her chin. Her face looked tranquil still as I carefully tucked her in, trying my best to not wake the poor girl. I willed with all of my being that this situation would somehow turn out okay for the both of us.

One more glance at her face and I willed myself away, flipping off the light as I closed the door in my wake. "Sir?" a frail, tired voice called from behind me.

I froze and turned in the doorway, noticing her half-open emerald eyes in the dim, curtain-filtered sunlight. She looked up at me from her spot on my bed, obviously fighting to stay awake for only a moment more. "Yes, Dezzi?"

"Does this entail that you're allowing me to reside her for the time being?" she questioned softly, her voice muddled as she was obviously still half asleep.

I leaned against the door frame, my face softening at the lingering innocence in her tone. "Well do you have anywhere else to go?" I asked in response, my voice lowering to the same hushed volume. "Are you with someone? Is there somewhere else you should be?"

"No, sir--" she answered, even softer than before. I could hear a strain in her voice. "There's no place else for me to go."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a deep breath in, the silence nearly deafening to me. "Then yes, Dezzi... you can stay here for as long as you need."

"Thank you kindly, sir." I couldn't help but quietly scoff at the third use of the name. "Chris." She said it in a whisper as she shuffled in her spot on the bed, her knees coming up to her chest while she rolled onto her side, her back facing me. The smile inevitably emerged on my face. I began backing out of the room when I heard one last phrase escape from her lips before she fell into unconsciousness once again.

"You truly are the kindest man I've ever met."