He's Going to Kill Me/ Dissection

III. Cookies Can Solve Everything

After the incident in the park the night before, I didn't know what to make of Iain. I sat on the edge of my bed all day, wondering how he knew Sasha and I were hiding in that bush and what the color spots were on his hands.

I didn't like to prove Sasha right but... Iain was starting to frighten me.

Once I was at school, I planned to avoid him, sway his questions if he asked anything, distract him with saying I had places to be. Yet, when the time came to do it, I couldn't find the words to speak. Every time I looked at him I didn't see a vicious killer, I saw a young man who was bullied every day. He was vulnerable and fragile. I had to handle him gently.

Ergo, why I couldn't bring up the subject of last night.

I was walking with Anton to my locker, agreeing to a sleepover with him and Sasha on Saturday. It was only two days away and it wasn't like my dad would mind. He liked Anton and trusted him more than he trusted me.

I mean, if he even looked at me.

Anton draped an arm around my shoulder and grinned at me, making me remember just how handsome he was. He had soft lips and defined cheekbones with only little color to them. If a random person saw him they might think 'junkie' but what they didn't know was that the bags under his eyes were from a lack of sleep and malnurishment. Not drugs. I could never stand for someone who did drugs, thus why I cut off all contact from my cousin Alistair. I remembered he'd called me up one night to ask if he could 'borrow' fifty bucks. I told him not to call again.

"Did you tell me you liked Harry Potter? I'm sure you did." My friend murmured to himself as he mocked thought.

I laughed.

We were coming to my locker when he approached us, an unfriendly look on his face. It was directed right at Anton.

"Who the fuck are you?"

My mouth dropped open. That voice... it sounded nothing like him. It was filled with such deep hatred of emotion. I never once thought Iain could sound that way.

"Iain! This is Anton, we're friends."

Beside me my friend smiled at him warily, noticing this didn't seem like the boy I'd described. At all. He outdrew a hand anyway, because he's that nice.

Iain didn't take it. The fury in his eyes was unmistakable.

Anton reached into his backpack and brought out a tub of caramel crunch cookies, his favorite. He offered them to Iain in a way that told him 'peace offering'. No one could resist his baking, everything he made was so good I always begged him to tell me his secret ingredient. He usually said something corney and cliché like 'love and passion is all it takes' or 'it's called a secret ingredient for a reason, because it's secret'. Then I would get all childish and stuff two or three in my mouth at one time.

Iain, however, scowled at the tub as if expecting something repulsive to come jumping out of it.

"Friends." He echoed.

"Yes, friends. Iain, what has gotten into you?" I knew I sounded accusing but I couldn't help it, he had insulted one of the most important people in my life.

"Nothing. I-I..."

"You what?"

Okay, I was being a little mean, I knew that. Even Anton had grabbed hold of my elbow and was trying to calm me down. I wasn't having any of it. Iain had a lot of explaining to do, whether it was now or later, it didn't matter but he still had to tell me what the HELL was going on. I was not going to stand by and play Dumb Blonde for the rest of my life.

He relaxed when he looked at me, obviously I had some kind of soothing affect on him or something.

"Sorry. Nothing. I'll see you later." He smiled at me, as if nothing had just happened between us, but then he narrowed his eyes at Anton and then walked away, without so much as a proper goodbye. I mean, because who truly knew what 'see you later' meant?

Until then I hadn't realized how hard my heart was beating inside my chest. For those brief moments, had I been scared of him?

It seemed stupid but it didn't seem right.

Oh how I wish I could rewind the clock and tell myself to run from him as far away as I could. I should've done something earlier, before the storm struck.

Anton frowned at his bakery.

"He didn't want a cookie. I was told they solved everything." He pouted.

I laughed, shakily. I hit him lightly with my hand as I reached inside my locker and got all the stuff I needed for my next class. Great, English with Mr Thorne, how exciting.

"But Ash," Anton looked at me with soft eyes that looked oddly concerned. I wondered why. "Something about him is disconcerting and not just because he passed up my delicious cookies."

I grabbed one and bit into it.

"Very delicious."

"I hate to prove Sasha right," That makes two of us, buddy. "But I don't feel right around the guy. He makes me want to curl up into a black hole and never come back out."

I swallowed, somehow recognizing it with the way I'd begun to feel recently. Iain was making it very hard to want to be around him. Ever since last night even the mention of his name has my bones tingling. I didn't know what was up with him but I was suddenly very eager to find out what and put a stop to it. I didn't like this side to him.

"I'm scared, Ash."

I shut my locker door, turning to my friend and examining his face. His black eyes were dark with worry and compassion. He ran a hand through his midnight black hair and, for some reason reason, I ached to touch the silky strands too.

"Why?" It came croaky. Did I have an inclination as to what he was going to say next.

"Because he looks at you like he's in love."