The day I wrote a song about you

Chapter 17: Promise

"Scared?" I asked. "Of me?"

Cara glanced quickly at me just to gaze back down. "Yeah."

I shook my head incredulously. Is that the reason she wouldn't let me touch her? "Why?"

"It's not-" she frowned. "It's not just you." She spoke softly as she played with her fingers. "I'm afraid of... guys."  She spoke so softly I was afraid I hadn't heard her right.

Cara puckered her lips and glanced up at me. She looked so adorable I couldn't help but laugh. I swear I didn't want to, but I couldn't restrain myself. "Afraid of guys?"

She cocked her head, annoyance all over her expression. "It's not funny."

I kept on laughing. "That's so cute."

"I said it's not funny, Nico." She got up quickly and clenched her fists, eyes closed tightly.

I stopped abruptly and stood up too, bringing my hands forward, in an unconscious way to comfort her. "I'm- I'm sorry, Cara."

She stepped backwards towards the other side of the room.

"I'm sorry, I mean it. I didn't know you were serious." Somehow, she let me grab her forearm and I squeezed it. It was the first time she let me do it.

She glanced up at me. "It's okay. You didn't know."

"Can I ask why?" I slid my hand down her arm and brushed our fingers against one another, hooking our index fingers together.

Cara seemed to relax a little and licked her lips. "I don't want to talk about it."

"There are a lot of things you don't want to talk about." I pointed out. I wanted her to trust me and I didn't know how. I wanted her to know that she could rely on me, she didn't have to keep all those things to herself.

"I don't know lots of things about you either." She said softly. Our fingers were still entwined, but our faces weren't that close. I didn't wanna scare her away.

"You can ask." I cocked my head and offered her a tentative smile as I nudged her with my knee.

She rolled her eyes and tried to fight a smile of her own.

"Nico! Hands where I can see them!" That was definitely Brandon. I let go of Cara's hand and glanced up at the ceiling then at the window scared that he could be seeing me. They all laughed outside.

Cara laughed scrunching up her nose. "What are you doing? We don't have cameras in here."

"Then how-"

"Get back down! We're having cake!" Cara's mom yelled.

"I can't eat it anyway." Cara mumbled amused.

We got back down to the yard, they were all a little drunk now and it was funny seeing them so relaxed and laughing about nothing in particular. I gave Cara two thirds of my piece of cake and her mom didn't even notice. This time I spent more time with her than before we went inside. We laughed, she goofed off with me and the kids and it was nice seeing her without her 'mom' mask. I discovered she had the habit to smell her food before putting it in her mouth, I hadn't realized it before and I thought it was cute.

Ben's girlfriend left and I thought about leaving too but everyone persuaded me to stay a little longer. I don't know how, but Bogdasha ended up sitting down beside me. I was a little unease, I didn't know how could the man react. He kept asking me why I didn't drink and offering me beers, pushing them to my hands, pouring some gin on my cup.

"Just drink a little, he'll go away." Cara whispered beside me amused.

I was feeling anxious, I normally had a lot of self control but this man was pushing me to the limit. "I don't drink."