The Moon's Criminal

Lies

"What the hell happened to your face?"

Her face was honestly hilarious. It was a mix of confusion and rage. Like she was ready to beat up the person that did this to me. Too bad he's dead, I would've loved to see this petite girl try to take down that stupid man.

"I got jumped in the alley down the street," I told her while walking through the door, a slight quiver in my voice "I tried to fight back, but they ran off without taking anything. I guess they realized that they couldn't get anything off of me."

"Aw baby I'm so sorry," she told me, putting an arm around my waist, leading me to the couch and making me sit down. She sat down next to me and took my face in her hands and moved my head around, examining my face. "Did you do these stitches yourself or did you go to the hospital? Did you call the police? What did they-"

"I'm okay I promise. Just shaken up a little. I had to do the stitches myself because I can't really afford a hospital bill right now. The diner isn't paying me very well," Oh yeah, I told her that I've been working at a diner and I live in a small apartment like twenty minutes away from her place, "I didn't call the police because I feel like they have better things to worry about than a petty thief." I grabbed her hand, feeling a little electric spark when we made contact, which made my heart beat just a little faster. "And who said you could call me baby? If I recall, we've only been on a couple dates and you haven't asked me to be your girlfriend yet. I'm not really used to being called anything other than 'asshole' so." I said with a smirk, making her laugh.

Her laugh is one of the best things about her. Since we've been hanging out more and more, I've been noticing a lot of the small things about her. Like sometimes she scrunches up her nose and sticks out her tongue when she's interrupted, or she'll laugh really loud and then cover her mouth, becoming embarrassed because of how loud her laugh is. As much as I don't want it to be true, I feel like I'm starting to like her a little more than I did a couple weeks ago.

Suddenly, her face became serious and her grip on my hand became slightly tighter. "Well, that was a great transition to what I wanted to ask you today." Holy shit this is not happening right now. "Follow me."

She stood up, her hand still in mine, and guided me towards her bedroom. When we got to the door, she dropped my hand and took a deep breath before opening the door. This isn't the first time I've been in her room, but something was different. The grey walls that were usually covered in pictures of her family and friends, one of them was completely bare, all of the pictures that used to be on that wall moved to her dresser. She had a projector hooked up and facing that wall with the loading screen of The Notebook already on. Her bed was pushed so that she could make a little fort with pillows and blankets in front of the wall posing as a movie screen.

"I wanna have a movie marathon with you tonight, well, that is after you say yes to being my girlfriend." Woah okay she just went for it. A smile grew on my face without even trying.

"So you're asking me what exactly, Cabello?"

And with a tentative look, she replied, "I'm asking, will you be my girlfriend?"

Wow. The words that I never wanted to come out of her mouth now somehow felt like an escape. If I say yes, I'll never be able to completely open up to her and she'll eventually find out about everything and how this is a plan to torture her. But if I say no, I'll be missing out on the girl of the century, and well I'd kill her either way.

"Of course I'll be your girlfriend, I thought you'd never ask." Her face broke out into a smile, and she grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me into a searing kiss. There was something different about this one, it just felt right somehow. I wrapped my arms around her waist while her hands went to my hair, running her fingers through it while we kissed. I pulled her impossibly closer, making her break the kiss by smiling.

"You're so perfect." I heard her whisper onto my lips, making them tingle like the rest of my body.

"I'm far from perfect Camz, trust me."

"Well, you're perfect to me, my love."

If only she knew.

"Alright, let's watch this movie and cuddle." She said cutely, pulling me over to the makeshift tent made out of a white sheet. I laid down on the blankets, my head propped up on a pillow while she started the movie. A few seconds later, she crawled in next to me, laying her head on my chest and her hand under my shirt, resting it on my stomach. I lean down and kiss her head, wrapping the arm that's not behind my head around her.

I'm not a fan of romance movies, so while she watched, I started to think. Think about everything that's happened to bring me to this moment.

My family was never the best to me. It's not like we were one big happy family, because, well, we weren't even a family. At least it didn't feel like it. My father was never around, and when he was, he was never sober. He was the meanest person when he was drunk, throwing empty bottles at me and my sibling's heads, hitting us, everything you can imagine. My mother was an angel. She was absolutely perfect in every single way. I don't understand how she could marry someone like Michael, but she did. I wasn't planned. I remember Mike walking into my room one night, drunk and screaming about how I was a mistake and how my mother should've aborted me. He told me that he's never loved me and that I'm a freak because I have a penis. That was pretty traumatizing for nine year old me to comprehend, so I asked my mom about it the next morning, and she just broke down in tears. You see, my little nine year old brain didn't understand what an abortion was, so when she told me that she was planning on "killing me because she wasn't ready for a child", it was kind of heart breaking.

My siblings Taylor and Chris were, fortunately, planned. They were the best things that had ever happened to me. Chris came first and then Taylor after. They're still at that hell house, and I feel like shit every single day for not taking them with me, but I had to get out of there as fast as I could. I will never forget how they would cower to my room when Mike went on one of his drunken tangents. I would hold them and usually read "To Kill a Mockingbird" until they fell asleep. I had to grow up so fast because of my siblings, because if I wasn't there who would take care of them?

I've mentioned this before, the incident. The straw that finally broke the camel's back. I was 16 when my dad walked into my room, the most drunk I've ever seen him. He could barely stand. He stumbled over to my bed and laid down next to me. I didn't think anything of it, because this is not the first time he's come into my room unannounced. However, this time something felt off. When I looked up from "To Kill a Mockingbird", I saw him staring at my breasts. Before I could say anything, he pinned me down and started to take off my shirt. I fought and fought, but nothing was working.

I was raped by my father that night.

When he left, I couldn't move. Tears were running down my cheeks, falling onto my bed. I don't know how long I laid there until I finally got up, bruises covering my body. When I looked in the mirror, I was infuriated, feeling the most anger I've ever felt. I felt anger because I couldn't believe someone, especially my own father, could do something like this to another human being. I couldn't believe that someone could feel like they could take something so precious and just shit all over it. I got dressed, packed everything I could into a small duffel bag I used for basketball, took all of the cash from my parent's safe, and left. I didn't leave a note or anything, I just left, taking Mike's RV with me.

I'm broken out of my daydream when Camila shifts, moving her head up to kiss my neck softly.

"You okay baby? You haven't said anything the entire movie." She asked me, moving so that she could look into my eyes. She had a look of worry. Wow she really cares for me.

I kept eye contact with her, "Yeah I'm okay, I was just really into the movie."

She could tell I was lying, but didn't want to push it. "Okay Laur." When she laid back down, it wasn't long before I heard her breathing even out, and she started to lightly snore. I chuckle softly, knowing that we can never get through one movie without her falling asleep.

What is this girl doing to me? I have never been this vulnerable with someone ever. Not even anyone from the gang either. She's changing me, but I have to remember that I have a whole side of me that she's never seen, and if she does see, could get me killed.

Or maybe it wouldn't.