An O'Solo Love Story

7.

Kelley's POV
Do I like her? I've never thought about it. She's pretty and sweet but I just met her a few days ago, I couldn't possibly like her yet, right? And besides, I can't admit that to her friends that I literally met this afternoon.
"Um no, why?"
"Are you sure about that?" Carli raises an eyebrow.
"No..."
"Look, she doesn't let many people in. She's been through so much shit you can't even imagine. She must like you if she's warmed up enough to cuddle with you. So just go slow with her, nothing too fast or demanding. Commitment scares her, she'll run. Trust me, I should know."
"Okay but um, how am I getting home tonight? Hope's the one that drove me here."
"You can just spend the night. Here, I'll carry hope to her room. You can just follow behind."
---
Hope's POV
In the middle of the night, I am woken by light crying. I sit up and find a shaking Kelley sitting up in my bed with the blanket hiding most of her face. What's wrong, is she finally getting scared of those damn horror movies?
"Kelley, what's wrong?"
She doesn't say anything, just continues shaking. A loud clap of thunder shakes the apartment building and causes Kelley to jump about five feet in the air. She's afraid of storms.
"Shh...it's okay. Come here." I open my arms for her and she wastes no time burrying her head in my chest and latching onto my body like her life depends on it.
What do I do now? If you haven't noticed, I'm not much of a caring person. Like my brother Marcus, I also inherited a short fuse and hot temper from our father. So caring for people is not exactly my speciality. It's definitely Terry's, but not for the rest of the Solo children.
I lay down, bringing Kelley down as well. She cuddles up to my side, continuing to hide her face in my chest. Her legs are all tangled with mine and she has a tight grip on my shirt. I gently comb through her hair with my fingers, feeling suprisingly calm. I never thought I'd be okay acting like this with a girl. I'm not gay. But something about Kelley is comforting. Being in her arms feels safe. My ex boyfriends didn't feel safe. It wasn't something I looked forward to, or something I wish I could do forever. So what does this even mean?