To Be A Warrior

Chapter 24: Everybody Loves Me

"What on earth is on your head?"

I look up, although I really don't see anything. I do know what Tom is referring to though, which is the half-up half-down bun thing I tried this morning.

"I don't think it looks that bad," I reply, and his scoff borderlines mockery.

"It looks like a five-year-old did it. Did your mother not teach you how to do any proper hairstyle?"

I roll my eyes, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. "She did, but I can only do it well on other people. I could give you a killer waterfall braid... probably. Just can't do it myself."

I see Tom glance at his own hair that he surprisingly wore down today. It reaches his shoulders, and I'd have thought Janine would have offered to cut it for him by now. Maybe she has and he said no. Either way, he almost looks like he's considering it for a moment, letting me braid it, but then he shakes his head.

Understandable. With my hair looking the way it is it's probably hard to trust anything I say.

"Do you want me to fix yours?" He offers, and a surprised smile spreads across my lips as I quirk a brow.

"Really?"

"Jody has taught me a few things. I don't think she'd be very happy with me if she found out I saw you and still let you decide to walk around the township with your hair like that."

I let out a choked sound of shock from his bluntness. "You are so mean. It's not that bad."

"It is that bad," He replies as he leads me over to one of the tables at the back of the library. "And friendship is based on honesty, is it not?"

"Uh..." I trail off, unsure how to respond. He pulls out a table chair to sit down, and I sit on my knees with my back turned to him. "Well, you still don't have to be so rude about it. You don't see me talking shit about your hair."

"That's because my hair looks nice." He pulls out the pins in my hair, being sure not to pull too hard at the strands that get stuck around the pins.

"That's true, but still. You have to let me down easy. I'm sensitive."

That gets a laugh out of him, and the tremors extend all the way down to his fingers that are raking through my hair with surprising gentleness.

"Don't laugh. You'll hurt my feelings," I tease, which keeps him laughing.

"So that's how it is? Your high pain tolerance weighs out your low emotional tolerance?" He asks, and I grin.

"You could say that," I reply, and we both know it's a total lie. I mean, I'm sure Tom could slice me to ribbons simply with his words, and Tom probably knows it too, but after everything I've been through, a few insulting or teasing words barely make a dent.

"Speaking of pain tolerance, how's your arm?"

I look down at the bandages wrapped around my arm, covering perfectly healthy skin. I'm lucky Maxine and Paula were busy with other patients at the hospital and Tom said he knew how dress and stitch a wound.

Of course, Janine was a little hesitant to let Tom help patch me up. She still worries about him and his state of mind. But I told her I trusted him, because I do... Which is surprising considering how at one point I literally tried to choke him and he nearly blew me up.

It's usually the ones that try to kill me that end up being my closest friends.

But my actions last week were dumb and reckless, even if I really was only trying to help. I still remember the terrible cuts that adorned Peter's face from falling onto that tricky spot, rock and rubble tearing into skin... I spent the majority of the way home apologizing.