Runaway Love

Nineteen: Not Much To Tell.

~~
Jett
~~

I run my thumb over the scar on Tambre's waist. Her eyes are closed and her breathing is unsteady.

"Tambre are you alright?" I ask.

"Yes." She breaths out. I slide my hand cautiously under her shirt and rest it on her stomach.

"So you grew up in an orphanage?" I ask. I take her hand and lace our fingers.

"No." She swallows.

"Tambre I want to know everything about you. Please." I say quietly. She sighs.

"I used to live in California, when I was little. The road trip my parents and brother died on was a moving trip. To New York. We were on the outer limits of New York so they stuck me in some stupid orphanage. They could have sent me back to California, to my cousins and aunt and uncle. They chose not to. They chose to stick me in some god forsaken place where children cried themselves to sleep every single night,"She sounds bitter. "Then the shooting happened. They thought I died but I just ran. I got out and ran as far as I could as fast as I could. I slept in alleys for eight months before Walter found me. He took me in. Turns out he knew my father so he took me to the apartment and gave me keys and money. I bought food and clothes and made my living. Then I got fired from my job and met Tyler. Tyler showed me drag racing. Tricking out cars and racing them for money. It's illegal so all my money was earned out of racing. Then I inherited a car. I drove just for the hell of it. I had some way to get away so I did. Wherever I could go, whenever I could go there. I would." She explains it like she tells it to herself every night.

"Tyler showed me the garage. Those people became my family. And since I got a family. I had no reason to run, so I never did. I just stayed in my apartment and read books, drawing the city landscape from time to time. Watching movies and tv shows. Lived normally. Then you showed up. And you know the rest." She says.

"Alright. That seems easy." I mention.

"It wasn't." She adds. Thunder rubble a outside the room and Tambre tenses slightly.

"It can't hurt you." I whisper.

"No, but it sounds like a gunshot sometimes and those hurt me." Tambre replies. I release her hand and stand up. I walk to the window and shove open the curtains. It's gotten significantly darker outside for only being One in the Afternoon. Lightning strikes and the light fills Tambre's eyes. Then thunder drops and she turns away. I walk back to the bed and lay infront of her. Her hand reaches out and begins to toy with the fabric of my blue shirt.

"You'd figure you would be more scared of the bright sudden flash, not the thunder." I mention.

"I didn't see anything. I just heard it and felt it." She explains.

"Alright." I nod. My hand tangles into her hair and as the storm continues to bite outside, we've created our own little universe here. After a while of toying with my shirt, Tambre takes a fistful of it and inches herself closer to me. Before long she falls asleep, still holding onto my shirt. I stare out the window at the ongoing storm. Sirens blare outside going past the hotel. Airplane lights flash in the dark grey clouds, not threatened by the storm.

The world is a dark, scary place.

Maybe I shouldn't have taken Tambre here...

Maybe I should tell her about her brother. That he is alive.

Or maybe I should just.. Let her enjoy the trip...

She'll find it out eventually.
I should just tell her.

She'd be mad at me if I didn't tell her and she found out.

...I have to tell her...

Or they'll get her first.