A Bump in the Road (COMPLETE)

Chapter Three

The moment we left the bar, Yamato kept his promise that I wouldn’t be left alone. Not only were the two of us walking to our apartment, but Takao and Yuta had also walked with us. Each one of the guys had their eyes on a different section of road to make sure every square inch was covered.

            “Don’t you think this is a little much?” I looked up at Yamato.

            “Nothing is too much if it means keeping you safe,” he pulled me closer to him, the gates to the complex coming into view. I thought that once we got to the gates the other two would leave, but they followed us all the way up until we were both safely inside.

            “You call any of us if you need help, ok?” Takao looked me dead in the eye, “especially if Yamato is at work,”

            “But what about-” I began to say.

            “Don’t worry about us,” Yuta smiled, “we don’t want anything happening to our favorite bar tender!”

            “Thanks guys,” I smiled, a little bit of relief filling me up.

            “I’ll talk to you guys later,” Yamato said, closing the door behind them.

Once the door was shut and locked, I found myself being crushed in the middle of Yamato’s arms. At first I was stiff, but then I relaxed and laid my head against his chest.

            “I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you before,”

            “I wish you had or you wouldn’t have almost gotten hurt today,” it felt like he was shaking.

            “I just didn’t want you to worry, plus I figured it was just my imagination…”

            “Maybe I should call the school, tell them that I need some time off so I can be with you…”

            “Absolutely not!” I freed myself from him, “I will not allow you to put me before the futures of those girls! They have exams coming up soon and they need you!”

            “But I need to make sure you’re safe!” he raised his voice a little, “we don’t even know if this person knows you so finding him is going to be even more difficult!”

We stared at each other for a moment. There was no way that we were going to reach a happy medium with this fight. Though I understood that he wanted to keep me safe, I knew that he could never live with himself if those girls failed their exams.

            “What if we do this,” I began, sitting on the couch and patting the spot beside me, “Since would jobs are pretty much in the same direction, I’ll leave with you in the morning so I can get to work and you come pick me up after your get off? If you get off later I know one of the others will walk with me or I can stay in the room above the bar,”

He thought for a moment. In the long run this really didn’t seem like such a bad idea; we both could still go to work and we would know that there would always be someone with me.

            “We’ll start with that,” he nodded, “but if I feel like it’s not going to work then we’ll think of something better, ok?”

The morning sun hit me like a stack of bricks. Shooting up in bed, I instantly reached over for Yamato, but his side was icy cold. Looking over to the clock, I saw that I had slept two hours past my alarm.