Human

44.

            I grabbed a hold of Garrett's hand and held tight to his arm as we walked to our room.

I clung to him like my lifeline because that's exactly what he was. Had it not been for Garrett I would be dead already. I would have never found out about myself, and The Order would have had an easy time disposing of me. Without Garrett's help I would've never been able to talk to Steven again, or meet my mom.

Despite the fact that the last few months have been mangled with confusion and fear, they have also been the best months of my whole life. I learned more about myself than I ever dreamed. I owe so much of that to him.

"I love you." I told Garrett while he swiped his card in the door.

He turned his perfect face to me. I watched carefully as his smile stretched across his face, touching his eyes and making them shine brightly. That was what I'm going to remember. When the time comes, and I'm face to face with The Order, I'm going to play that smile over and over in my mind. He tilted his head, studying my expression, probably my emotion too.

I quickly grabbed him by the back of the neck and brought his face down to meet me. I crushed my lips against his and he didn't hesitate for a second. He held the back of my head with one hand and the small of my waist with the other. He pulled my body closer to his and I knew I didn't need to worry about my emotion showing through anymore. All I am feeling now is love. Burning, white hot love.

I didn't even realize we were still in the hallway until he spun me around quickly, pushing my back against the door, never breaking the kiss, and swiped his key again to shove the door open. We stumbled backwards laughing into the room.

My back was against the wall and he pulled away, holding my face in both hands, and stared into my eyes. We were both panting and all I wanted to do was put my mouth back on his. "I love you Cadence James." He whispered breathily. "I don't know what I would have done had you never fell into my life." He kissed my nose.

I couldn't hold back my smile. "I was just thinking the same thing." I told him.

He leaned down and trailed a line of kisses down my neck, his hands moving to hold my hips firmly. "You know what else I was just thinking?" He asked against my skin. I was having too much trouble breathing to answer him, it came out more like a sigh. He let go of me with one hand and reached over to grab the Do Not Disturb sign off of the back of our door and he winked at me as he hung it on the front, then pushed the door shut slowly.

***

Hours later I laid on my back, in our disaster of a bed, with Garrett's sleeping head resting on my chest. I watched his back as it rose and fell with each of his easy breaths. I ran my hand through his hair, over and over, trying to convince myself that I could do this. I looked over to the clock and saw it was already 3 in the morning. I need to get out of here if I have any chance of getting this finished before everyone wakes up and notices that I'm gone.

I feel tears well up in my eyes while I watch him and I have to lean my head back against the headboard, staring up at the ceiling to keep the tears from falling. I keep telling myself over and over that I'm doing the right thing. It's the only way I can know I'm not causing them to all die for me.

I bite my lips to keep from crying and I slowly slide his head away from me and situate it on the pillow. I leaned down and kissed his sweet face one more time before I silently slid out of the bed and across the room to where our bags are.

I dress quickly in a pair of black leggings, throw on my converse, then grab one of Garrett's sweatshirts and pull it over my head. I wrapped my arms around myself and left the room without looking back. If I did, I know I wouldn't go. I'd climb back into that bed with that perfect boy.