I Have To Protect Them - Cleofis Drisen

Chapter Four: My First Kiss Part Two

I could feel tears running down my cheeks and I heard footsteps running up to me. "Just leave me alone" I said over my shoulder. He chuckled as he said "not going to happen until I know you're okay." I smiled at his laugh, but it rapidly disappeared when I remembered our situation. I picked up my pace to try and get him to leave me alone, but his long legs kept up with me easily. We walked in silence and we were halfway to my aunt's house when he asked "do you want to talk about it?" His voice was quiet, so quiet that I almost couldn't hear him. I sighed and said "not even a little bit." I could tell he was trying to reconnect with me and a part of me wanted to let him, but the other part was slapping itself. I couldn't just let all the torture that I've gone through go to waste. "You know you can always-" he began but I cut him off and stopped dead in my tracks. "What do you want Grizz?" I asked while sighing again and he turned to face me with confusion written all over his face. "What do you mean?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows and I began walking again. "I mean...why are you here? Why did you protect me in the church, on the bus? Why do you care?" I blurted out my questions as I started to cry again. He looked at me while gently touching my shoulder, and he pulled me to stop and face him. I felt a surge of electricity go through me that started where he touched me. He went to wipe my tears with his thumb, but I stopped him an inch from my face. "Answer my questions" my voice cracked and I stared intently into his blue eyes. The eyes that I could always get lost in. He broke the eye contact by glancing down at my lips. 'Was he going to kiss me?' I asked myself in my thoughts. I stepped away from him and his arm fell to his side. "Because you're my best friend" he quietly answered. I scoffed at his answer and started walking again. "Because I love you." His words made me freeze and I slowly turned to face him. "You don't love me. You can't love me." I felt my tears run down my cheeks more as I spoke "I hate you and I want nothing to do with you. Stop protecting me. I'm not yours to protect. Now for the last time, stay away from me!" I turned on my heels and quickly walked away. This time he didn't follow me and I hoped he got the message. I got inside the house and quickly slammed the door behind me.

My tears streamed down my face and I leaned back onto the door. I fell down to the floor and pulled my legs to my chest. I cried into my knees for awhile and I could hear Grizz's voice repeatedly saying 'I love you' in my head. 'What did he mean? Did he mean that he loved me as a friend or more? Did he want to be more than friends?' I hazily made my way to bed. I didn't get much sleep that night because my thoughts kept swarming my head and I had an awful nightmare that replayed all of tonight's events. I woke up screaming and Greg ran into my room with a worried look. "I'm okay" I mumbled as I sat up. He came over and sat on my bed in front of me. "Are you really? What happened?" he asked, making me look him in the eyes. "I don't know. Everything happened so fast" I sighed, and I really didn't want to tell him because I knew he'd be pissed at Nick. Then he'd also feel guilty about not being there, and then he'd be happy that Grizz beat Nick up. Then he'd probably pester me for being mean to Grizz and not thanking him for saving me. He crawled over to me and lied down beside me while wrapping his arms around me. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. But I am always here to listen, when you're ready to talk" he soothingly said, making me smile against his chest and let out a long sigh. "Is it about the fight Grizz had with Nick?" he asked gently. I thought my eyes were all cried out, but at the mention of Grizz I broke down and told him about Nick.

"Was Nick going to rape me? What if Grizz didn't save me? I should have been nicer to him-" I trailed off, his grip tightened around me and he spoke through gritted teeth "I'm going to kill him." I shook my head against the soft fabric of his shirt and mumbled "no. I think Grizz did enough to him." I was startled by his laughter. "Good. Like was right, asshole deserved it" Greg said between chuckles. It was silent for a few seconds, then he laughed again. "What?" I asked as my tears stopped . "You'll never guess what I saw tonight" he paused before continuing, "I saw Allie kiss Will. The shock on his face was priceless, then he walked away and I feel bad for her." I shook my head again saying "well I know a little more about that", and I told him about my short conversation with Allie. He laughed again and told me that he wasn't surprised by Allie's feelings. He said he knew because of the way she'd look at him and how she'd smile at him. It went silent again.