i like rainbows

1/30/19 (cont.)

"Um...hi?" Dustin's voice wavers a little at the sight of one of the biggest jocks in school. "I'm sorry, I-I think I got the wrong address."

"No," Marco says, voice just a little too calm. "This is Paxon's house. I'm her friend Marco. We're hanging out."

"Oh," Dustin says, his voice showing the disappointment he felt. Marco notices this and eyes him strangely. "We were just going to go over the pictures I took for our project. If this isn't a good time, I can come back later..." Pax's heart was beating out of her chest as she listened to Marco talk to Dustin. He had made his voice deeper and was no doubt puffing his chest out, trying to intimidate and scare Dustin. It was sweet how protective he was but proved to be so very embarassing and annoying in this moment.

Pax struggled in her friend's arms, the three of them silent as they each struggled around. Her two friends were considered letting her go and she saw that in their eyes so she stopped struggling. They slowly let her go and she quickly fixes her clothes and hairs before walking out.

"Marco," she growls out, her voice not sounding like her own. "You can leave now. Take Jessie and Dara with you. We have to work on our project." Pax shoves Marco out past Dustin making Dustin stumble a little. He looks a little scared of Pax, pushing his glasses up as he watches her go back inside and come back, dragging her friends out. "Just come back later and if I can't have you over, I'll just see you tomorrow morning." She grabs Dustin's wrist and drags him inside, his mind and body thrown out of its frozen state when the door slams shut.

Still holding his wrist, she pulls him into the living room. He stumbles behind her, trying to keep his camera safe as she pulls him onto the couch with her. They're both silent, Dustin staring at the other wall with wide eyes as Pax breathes heavily, trying to calm down.

"I'm sorry about them," she whispers, staring at her hands. "They're...protective of me. And I haven't really had new friends since I met them. Especially...guys." She mumbles the last part, hoping Dustin can't hear it. He does and he blushes as he looks at her, biting his lower lip. She chooses that moment to peek up through her eyelashes at him.

"It's fine," Dustin chokes out, still a little nervous from before. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he was a little scared of Marco. They both just look at each other, blush darkening both their faces.

"We, um, we should start looking through the pictures," Pax suggests, looking away and pushing some hair behind her ear. Dustin clears his throat and nods, taking out his camera and computer.