by Rue Volley
“Hello Rue,” he said, half yawning.
I started to roll over and let out a low grunt when I twisted my leg.
“Still hurting, huh?” he asked.
“Yea, I guess I'm like an old lady with arthritis now… sweet.”
“You will never be old Rue.”
“Ohhh… that's right… I stop aging at twenty one, right?”
“Yep… no more, no less.”
“How old are you anyway, Josh?”
“Oh… I'm, let’s see, around 150. It took me awhile to reach twenty one, so if you add that time, I'm more like 160.”
“A hundred and sixty…? Well you don't look a day over a hundred, I swear.” I gave him my sarcasm full throttle.
“Oh… really?” he grinned at me and I didn't know what was coming.
“Well,” he added. “I think I've changed my mind about what you owe me Rue.”
“What do you want Josh? It better not be nasty,” I said laughing.
“I am not ‘nasty’ by nature Rue. You hurt my feelings.”
“Hurt your feelings? Come on, well what is it?”
He leaned up on his elbow, facing me. “Well... I want one kiss.”
I started to sit up, struggling not to show any emotion about my leg.
“You want one, what?” I asked, with a look of ‘you gotta be kidding me’, painted all over my face.
“Yes… one kiss, and then I want you to tell me that I kiss better than Johnathan does, because I know I do, no doubt.”
I sat against the headboard.
“I will not and you do not... period.” I crossed my arms across my stomach.
“I see that you want to avoid it, because you know I will prove you wrong.” He grinned up at me… pissing me off in the worst way.
“No… I am not wrong.”
“How can you be so sure?” he sat up and leaned next to me, nudging my arm.
“You said all you wanted was for me to sleep in here with you, just for the night. It was so sincere that I felt compelled to do it, because you asked and you did save my life…”
“You’re scared, it's fine, I understand.” He had looked away from me and I could feel the blood rushing into my face, as I got aggravated.
“Listen to me Josh Barrington, I do not get scared.”
“Oh… we are using whole names? Are you getting mad at me?” He smiled.
“You drive me crazy Josh, I have never had anyone piss me off as much as you...”
I was interrupted by his hand touching my face.
I looked at him… “What are you doing?”
He grinned, leaning toward me.
“I will kick your butt right off this…”
He took his finger and traced it across my lower lip, looking at it. I blinked a couple of times, slightly turning my head downward... lowering my eyes to avoid looking into his.
“What are you doing Josh?” I whispered.
“I'm watching you get flustered. It's cute.”
“I... I am NOT flustered,” I protested.
He rolled out of bed. “How is your leg doing?” he asked.
I shook off his annoying come on. “Yea, well… it hurts, but today I'm walking down the stairs.”
He grabbed a shirt off of the floor and smelled it, he lifted his arms and pulled it over his head, I looked as every muscle in his stomach flexed. I don't think that I had noticed, until this very moment, how toned he was. Of course he noticed I was looking at his stomach and he slowed down as he pulled it to his waist. My eyes lifted and he had a grin on his face.
“Jealous?” he asked.
“Ha… oh yea, sure,” I said… really trying to get away from the subject fast. “I'm just disgusted that you recycle your clothes, instead of washing them.”
He lifted his arm and smelled his pity (term borrowed from Sara… She used it, instead of “arm pit”… Don't blame her really… just gross anyway.) I “yucked” out loud.
“What...? Doesn't smell Rue!”
“Uh huh… anyway. I'm hungry, I'm going downstairs.”
I pulled my legs over the side of the bed and put my feet to the cold wood floor. I looked down, just hoping that I would be able to put my weight on it without hissing or doing anything that would give him the impression that I needed his help. I pushed off and I stood up, no problems. I could feel a slight pulling in my muscle, but other than that, no sharp pain... awesome.
“Huh…” I said, as I looked down.
Josh came over and looked down at my leg. He knelt down and leaned in, to get a closer look.
“Wow… Rue, this is healing really fast.”
I had to smile. I don't want to hobble around... it was annoying.
“Yea…” I bent over and ran my hand along the fading black bruise on my leg. “Looks like I suddenly heal, really fast.”
Josh was still on one knee and he looked up at me. “You didn't heal fast before?”
“Well, I have always bruised really bad, and it doesn't help that I seem to trip on dirt.”
Light started to glow in his palm and he placed it to my leg. I could feel a warm sensation to close to other parts of me off limits to all boys. “Oh…” I said kinda excited and I backed away from him, bumping into the bed.
“Did that hurt?” he asked me.
“No… it was fine really. I… I'm gonna get dressed and go downstairs.”
He stayed on his knee looking at me like he really wanted to know what the hell just happened.
I walked out, a little bit slower than I would normally move, but quicker than I could of the day before. Cool… just be cool Rue, this is ridiculous. Where the hell is Johnathan anyway? I started to get annoyed that he would leave me, after all the crazy. I shut my bedroom door and locked it. I'm not playing the tub or the shower game today. I'm not in the mood. I took a shower… very hot water poured over me and I thought about things for the first time. Seemed I rarely got a moment to anymore.
I decided that today was the day that I was going to the library. I hadn't even considered it before now, but the thought of smelling the books and snuggling in my chair. Wait, my favorite chair on the first floor was gone wasn’t it? Crap. No matter, I was going anyway. They say that when you get into a car crash that the sooner you get back in a car, the better. I had to go there, before I never step foot in it again. I had to. I got out and dried off, still wondering if there was any possibility that I would be able to go alone. I doubt it, with the thought of Mikah heavy on my mind. I still didn't know how she had broken through the protection spell Theodore and Sam had placed over this town and I don't want any more surprises. I just wanted to have one day of kinda normal, just one. I guess being flanked by a bodyguard isn't so bad anyway… not now.
I picked out clothes that fit my mood. I threw on a gray cotton t-shirt that said ‘this is me, not caring about you’ printed in black on the front, and my favorite jeans. Today my red chucks seemed to look the most appealing to me. I also grabbed my black hoodie with a white, evil looking teddy bear painted on my back. I zipped it up half way and popped my hood onto my head. I loved my hoodie, because it has two cute evil teddy ears on the hood. I felt and looked normal. Good start. My chucks are high tops so I bent over and rolled my jeans at the bottom.
When I opened my door, I could hear the conversation had started downstairs, and I headed towards the kitchen. When I took the first step on the stairs I told myself, no matter what, I wasn't going to make a sound, even if my leg gave me crap, but I quickly realized that I could walk with just a slight pulling of my muscle. It wasn't a pain, as much as a dull ache so no biggie. I made it to the kitchen table and sat down in my designated spot. Seemed we all had our places we’d claimed… that was mine, facing Josh, how ironic. I grabbed my glass and chugged some orange juice down. When lowered my glass and noticed that Josh was staring at me.
“What?” I said to him.
He grinned. “You look cute… the ahh, ears.” He pointed his fork at my head.
&nbs
p; “Yea… evil teddy, he's my favorite.”
“Mmm,” he muttered and went back to shoveling food in his mouth.
“So... Theodore, I thought maybe we could go to the library today.”
Chewing stopped at the table.
Theodore grinned. “Well… I would love to take you on a tour Rue. I think you will just adore what I did. My taste level is impeccable.”
“Okay… yeah, after breakfast then?” I asked.
“Oh… I am so excited. I'm changing my clothes. You just finish breakfast… I'll be back!”
Theodore jumped up and went towards his room. The one he had claimed here.
“Well, get ready Rue, you just asked for it,” Josh said to me, with food in his mouth.
“I think Theodore will be fun,” I replied with some irritation in my voice.
“Oh... if you call an explanation for every little thing fun, then have at it Rue.”
“Why do you even care Josh?”
He stood up and took his plate to the sink. “Well, because I will be with you, and so I get to experience it too.”
I stopped chewing and swallowed. “You don't have to go… I can go on my own.”
He laughed and looked at Sam. “Really? That sounds great… yeah.”
Sam looked at me, and bit her lip, then she shared the reality. “Okay... remember Mikah? Well, we don't want to have a repeat so one of us will be with you, wherever you go from now on Rue.” I opened my mouth, ready to protest the idea, and she kept going. “You are not in on the vote here. You just need to accept it as fact.”
“Wow... okay,” I muttered. I pushed my chair out and headed for the door. I looked back, when I reached for the knob. “I'm waiting for Theodore on the porch. If I see the boogie man, I'll scream out k?”
I opened the door and slammed it behind me. I didn't care that I just acted my age. Not one bit. I sat down on the porch swing, my feet dangling over the side… not touching the floor. I looked out at the sunny day and pulled my black rock star shades out and put them on. I sighed, I should not have been so crappy about that. This was what my family consisted of now, this is all I have. I should be happy that I have anyone other than Kai who cares… I should, but I have my moments of suck, just like everyone.
I had my head lowered, and I heard a car pull up. I looked to see that black BMW that I was so fond of. I got this huge grin on my face. It was Johnathan, thank god. He opened his door and stepped out looking amazing, to me anyway. His hair the right kind of messy, sunglasses, white shirt, torn jeans, pretty, and mine, right? He grinned as he walked toward me, I guess I had a smile on my face too. He came up and sat on the swing next to me.
“Nice ears Rue,” he said.
“Thanks… evil teddy.”
“Mmmm… sounds like a bad movie,” he said, as he pushed his sunglasses up into his hair.
“Oh, I would say that an ‘evil teddy’ movie would be the best ever,” I said.
He put his hands out in front of him, to add to the theatrics. “Yea… okay let’s see… ‘Evil Teddy’ has been eating children and seducing teenage girls for years and when he became the town’s ice cream man he knew he finally had the vehicle, to lure them all.”
I laughed, interrupting his train of thought. “Of course he would be a pervert… yeah.”
“Well, of course.” He leaned over and got close to my face. I was still looking straight ahead. He whispered in my ear, “Do I need to dress up for you? I don't mind fetishes, I mean… that's a little out there for me, but we could…”
I elbowed him and laughed. I looked at his face and he slid my sunglasses down to the tip of my nose, so he could see my eyes. My eyes told him to kiss me and he did.
“So Rue Volley, what’s the plan today? Flashing through the woods, scaring all the woodland creatures, or maybe some, ya know, blade training, just normal stuff.” He had put his arm around me, I guess to reassure me that he was joking.
“Yeah… no, I'm going to the library ,nothing too exciting.”
He nodded. “Oh, Okay… sounds good.”
I looked over to him. “Really? You’re cool with just hanging out at the library?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, why not?”
I had to think before I spoke. “Well the library is just not a place I thought you'd want to go. Tell you the truth, I didn't know if I wanted to really go but it's like riding a bike and wrecking. The longer I stay out of there, the more chance there will be, that I won't ever go.” I tried to muster up a convincing smile, but I know it was half assed, at best. “See the library was my first true love. We go way back.”
He took his arm off of me. “Oh, I see that I have some competition,” He said grinning.
I crossed my arms. “Maybe. There are a lot of romantic books stored there, or were. I guess Theodore has probably stocked it full, considering the other ones burned.” I stopped and thought about that. Burned, in a fire... after my parents. I had to shake it off.
“Rue?”
I looked at him and he had a look of concern on his face. “Are you sure you’re ready to go there?”
“Yea… I am sure, I really am, it's like I have to. Truth is, I don't have the luxury of a cemetery.”
He cleared his throat, “Wow, Okay.”
I stood up and walked to the railing. “I know it sounds morbid Johnathan. No one has talked to me about it at all, but it lives here.” I pointed to my stomach. “I feel it every day. I don't want to, but I do, and the only way I can even start to deal with it, is to go there, and stop acting like it doesn't exist.”
He pushed himself up, and I really didn't know how this thing I just dropped on him was going to affect him, but he said the most amazing thing he could have, all Johnathan style.
“I will be by your side no matter what you do, or don't want to do, always.”
I took my sunglasses off to look him in the eye. “I think you’re amazing Johnathan.”
He smiled, the smile you get for no other reason, but for the real reason, the happy one.
Josh opened the door and stepped out.
He immediately put his hands in the pockets of his jeans, which was a new habit of his. He looked at me and at the back of Johnathan's head.
“Hey,” he said, with no real emotion in his voice.
Johnathan turned to him. “Hey, Josh.”
“Theodore will be down in a minute.… You guys doing this thing here, or what?” Josh said.
Johnathan turned away from me. “I don't know. Whatever he wants to do, I don't really care.”
I know I looked confused and I definitely had no freakin idea what it was.
“Umm, what are we doing?” I asked.
Johnathan turned back to me and looked a little irritated.
Josh grunted, “Oh… you didn't tell Rue yet? Sorry.” His words said “I'm sorry” but his tone said “I'm not sorry at all.”
Johnathan still had his eyes fixed on me. He had taken my hands in his.
Josh just had to keep going. “If you want me to explain it to her I'm down.”
Johnathan didn't move from his position. “No, thank you Josh, I am going to tell her myself, if you don't mind.”
Josh shrugged his shoulders and patted him on the back. “Good luck man,” he said as he opened the door and went back in.
I stood still for a moment, wondering what I was about to hear. I lasted about five seconds.
“Okay… so?” I asked him.
“Do you want to sit in the car?” he asked, very politely.
“I guess… here, the car… who cares?” I said, kind of concerned.
I am not used to seeing the nervous Johnathan, so the few steps I took to his car, seemed like they took forever. We both sat down and he started it up, so that classical music was playing quietly.
“Oh Okay now I'm getting kinda freaked. Anytime there is a soundtrack to news, it's bad.”
He grinned. “No… I just thought, well, I don't know what I thought.” He shut the
car off.
I looked up and Theodore, Kai, Sam, and Josh were staring out the window, they saw me and the curtain dropped.
I shifted my weight and turned to face him. “So?”
He shifted his weight and looked at me, with a weird expression on his face
“Rue… I know that... You know what...? Screw this. I asked Theodore to strip the memory of my family from my mind and to do the same to them, concerning me.”
I sat there for a moment, trying to absorb it.
“You are going to do what?” I asked, pausing between every word.
He turned the music back on and turned it up a little.
“You can shut that crap off anytime Johnathan,” I said.
“Listen, I know you might think it's drastic, maybe even crazy but I have given it a lot of thought and it's what I want to do.” He said it, not looking at me, so he couldn't see my expression of shock.
I sat there completely silent. A thousand things went through my mind in a flash. I opened the car door and slammed it and started walking, in a half sprint, towards the house. I heard him get out behind me and he hustled to catch up.
“I don't know how to explain this to you, in a way I think you could possibly understand,” he said a little breathless.
I opened the front door and everyone scrambled to their fake spots, obviously they had been spying on us from the window. He tried to touch me and I spun around.
“Please talk to me Rue!” he said with desperation in his voice.
“About what Johnathan? How you are just throwing away a perfectly normal family? For what exactly? Not to mention, that you are talking to someone who would give anything to have their parents back, a normal family, something that resembles anything freakin close to it!”
He stammered which is so unlike him to do. “I… I don't, you shouldn't feel…”
I cut him off, “You are an ass for wanting this Johnathan! And you…” I pointed to Theodore, “Are an evil witch for saying yes!”
Theodore laughed. “Well, at least you said ‘witch’ and not ‘warlock’.”
“Shut up!” I yelled at him, about two octaves higher than usual.
Josh was unusually silent.