Demons or Heroes

Chapter 7

         Before I had a chance to respond, she was already making her way to the front door to get a table. By the time our food got to us, Toga wasted no time tearing into her food and my goodness was she a messy eater. I'm going to assume that only certain foods bring this out of her because she hadn't eaten like this at my house.

         As we ate, I couldn't help but notice the constant glances at my neck and wrist. At first, I didn't mind but they kept happening so much to the point where she'd look every time she took a bite of her food.

"Hey, why do you keep looking at my neck and wrist?"

         Toga didn't verbally respond as her mouth was full of medium rare steak, steak sauce and mashed potatoes. Instead she responded with quiet grunts that she assumed I understood. When she quickly realized that I didn't understand, she put her hand where the bandage on my neck was. It took me a second to finally realize what she was getting at but when I did, I couldn't come up with a decent response.

         "Oh. Shit, you trying to tell me you were experiencing cravings. I can't just let you bite me in public like this. I don't even think the regulars would ignore that and they are extremely easy-going people." I said in a dumbfounded manner.

         "I just... I'm curious as to how you got those scars on your neck." Toga said as she took another large bite out of her steak.

         "Ah, these.. Well, I got the one on my wrist in a fight trying to defend myself from people who wanted to take my life. The one on my neck is a similar but much worse story that I nearly died from. I've never spoken about it with anyone nor did I ever think I'd have the chance to." I averted my gaze towards the window at the end of my response.

         Toga response to that was her quietly trying to fight off crying and the more she sniffled, the more heartbroken she looked. Instead of asking, I went on to reach over to wipe the tears off her face that she was failing to hold back. She didn't resist to any degree and just let it happen. Is she always this emotional when she lets her guard down? I don't have a problem with it, if anything it's surprising to see her like this.

         "I'm sorry for crying so much. It's just that it's both amazing yet heartbreaking to see that you have the capacity to be so kind to someone you barely know. Especially given what so many people have done to you in the past. I also feel horrible for being so un-willing to trust you." Toga said as she took the napkin from my hand and wiped the rest of her tears.

        "I get it. You don't have to remind me how bad you feel for not being willing to trust me. Trust is something that's built up overtime and the last time you were with someone close to your age, they mistreated you and broke that trust alongside your parents breaking not only your trust but your heart too. You're scared of a repeat of the past and you're trying your best to keep that from happening again, yet somewhere deep down, you want to trust me, but your instincts keeps you from doing that." I retracted back to my side of the table as I was talking and cleaned up my side.

Toga POV

         For someone who's been continuously falsely judged by so many people, he sure knows how to comfort people whilst hiding his own hurt. Vincent may think he's hiding it well but every time I look at those dark yellow eyes of his, the scars on his face and neck that ruin his skin, I can see that he's still hurting over everything that's happened to him. I can still see the anger in his eyes. I don't think he'd be willing to admit that to me. He may not ever admit it to me because even though he's shown that he trusts me, how much does he truly trust me? I'm sure he doesn't like looking at me crying so I should stop staring at my hands, so I don't look so pitiful. I should clean up my side of the table so that we can leave.