The Fallen

Chapter 12

I wake up, still laying next to Newt. 'He looks so peaceful when he sleeps.' I think to myself. I notice that our hands are still intertwined. I slowly make circles with my thumb on his hand. His eyes slowly open.

"Hey." He must've been up all night; he looks horrible.

"Hi."

"You okay?" He asks. I nod. "Good. So... John..."

"Yeah... Why do you think he did that? I had only met him like forty-five minutes ago." I say quietly.

"I don't know," Newt says. "Maybe because you're the only girl here."

"But you haven't done anything like that and I've mostly been hanging out with you."

"You expected me to do that?"

"Well, no," I say, sitting up. "I'm just making a comparison."

"Yeah, a pretty shitty comparison." Newt lets go of my hand and gets out of bed. He walks over to what I assume to be his dresser. "You want a clean shirt?" He doesn't wait for me to answer; he pulls out a light blue shirt and tosses it to me. "Here." I lift it up to my nose; it smells good; it smells like Newt.

"What are we doing today?" I ask, slipping my old shirt off and sliding on Newt's.

"Not much. I don't want you to be around John or Gally today, so you'll be hanging out with me." He takes off his shirt and I see his bare back. I turn around, not wanting to invade his privacy.

"Lucky me." I say, throwing as much sarcasm into my voice as I can.

I hear Newt walk over to me. He grabs my shoulder and turns me around. His hands are on my shoulders, bending down to look me in the face.

"I don't want you getting hurt again. Or, you know..." He says, trailing off. I know what he's talking about: what happened with John.

"Fine."

"You know, you didn't have to turn around when I was changing my shirt. It was just my back you would see." He laughs.

"I know," I say. "I just didn't want to invade your privacy."

"My privacy?" He laughs again. "You mean you didn't want me finding out you were checking out my back?" He laughs a third time.

"I wasn't checking out your back!" I say, shrugging his hands off my shoulder.

"You were too!"

"I was not!" I walk out of the room and out of the Homestead. I go to the forest and climb up my tree. I know that Newt will find me here eventually.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I'm in the tree for an hour before Newt finds me; or rather like decided to go after me.

He climbs up the tree and finds me on the same branch we sat on the first day I was here; just a day ago.

"Hey," he says. I don't look at him. "You okay?" I don't answer him. "Marina, come on. Are you seriously mad at me because I said that you were checking out my back?"

I finally look at him. "No."

"So you're not mad at me?"

I don't answer.

"Marina," he takes my hand. "Marina. Hey. Come on. Talk to me. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I lie.

"Seriously?" He says. "Now you're lying to me?"

"I'm lying." I lie again.

"I can tell that you are." His British accent is so cute. "Your not looking at me when you're talking."

I finally look up at him. He smiles a little. "That's better. Now why are you lying?"

I look him right in the eye. "I'm not."

"Man, shank, you're a good lier."

"So now you're insulting me just 'cause you think I'm lying? Thanks a lot." I let go of his hand and climb down the tree. I hear Newt climb down after me; but I don't care.

I head to the Homestead.