by Rue Volley
“We have to find a room,” he said as he grinned. I did too.
We walked to a door and Josh leaned against it. He looked down at me and smiled.
“Come on,” he whispered.
He waved his hand over the handle and it unlocked. He slipped in and I followed him. I looked around and the bed was small. I stood there shaking my head at it. He lunged at me and grabbed the back of my head. He pressed his lips against mine and I grabbed his hair. My heart started to thud really hard in my chest. He stopped kissing me and pulled his shirt up over his head. I looked at his chest and touched it. He grabbed me around the waist and he started to tear his shoes off as he continued to kiss me. I pulled on my shirt and pulled it over my head. He backed up from me and looked at my chest. I grinned as he shook his head at me and started to kiss me again.
We fumbled around in the room, knocking into stuff. We hit the wall and the clock fell and rolled on the floor. I watched it as he kissed my neck then spun me around and we fell onto the small bed. We both lay there for a second, trying to adjust ourselves to the size of it. His feet hung over the end and I looked down at them and smiled.
“This bed is tiny,” I said as I grinned at him. He laughed.
“It’ll have to do,” he said, half out of breath.
He adjusted himself on top of me and lunged his face forward as I did. We smacked our teeth together and we both “oww’d” at the same time. He raised his head as he grabbed his mouth and hit his head on a small overhang above us. He grabbed the back of his head, after the thud.
“Oh god,” he muttered.
I held my mouth and tried not to laugh. He sighed and looked at me.
“Okay… let’s just settle down and take a breath here,” he said.
I shook my head as I started to try to control my breathing and took a breath. He did too. He touched my face and smiled. He kissed me gently and I grabbed his shoulders. I got a little excited and dug my nails into his skin. He sucked his breath in my mouth and I continued to kiss him, hoping that we could just try to avoid the fact that we were on a tiny bed, with absolutely no room. The train started to move and it jerked us to one side. We scooted towards the side of the bed and he slammed his hand against the floor to stop us from rolling onto the floor.
I started to laugh. He shook his head and rolled us over on our sides. I brushed his hair out of his face and he closed his eyes. The train jerked again and I banged my forehead against his. I rolled away from him and fell on the floor as I grabbed my head. He lay on the bed holding his forehead too. I pulled myself up and grinned at him from the side of the bed.
“This isn’t working,” I said as I pushed myself up. Josh sat up and looked at me.
“Oh god, don’t say that,” he said.
The train jerked again and I almost lost my balance. I stumbled towards my shirt and grabbed it. He watched me. I pulled the shirt over my head and he fell back on the bed and hit his head on the overhead compartment. He started to laugh as he grabbed the back of his head.
“You are right,” he muttered through his laughing.
I looked down at him and tilted my head.
“My bed would be better,” I said to him. He smiled and sat up looking at me.
“Okay… we need to get home then,” he said as he grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the door.
“Josh,” I said.
He turned back to me with a look of determination on his face.
“Your shirt?” I asked him.
He looked down and grinned.
“Oh yea,” he said as he reached down and scooped it up.
He started to pull it over his head and I bit my lip as I watched his chest muscles move as he pulled on it. He got it over his head and looked at me. He slowed down and pulled it over his chest and stomach. I looked up at his face and he was grinning.
“Don’t,” I said to him.
I knew that he would come up with some crap comment that would annoy me to death.
He shook his head and kept his mouth shut. He held out his hand to me and I took it. We stepped out into the hallway and looked down it. No one was walking around. The train was moving and I guess Josh was focused on one thing… getting to my room. Me too, really.
We moved down the hallway and he looked back at me.
“We have to jump. Are you cool with that?” he asked me.
I shrugged my shoulders at him.
I guess I have to be cool, how else are we going to get off?
We started to move quickly down the hallway and Josh opened a door and we stepped into the dining area. A large man sat there trying to shove food into his mouth. I smiled at him and he grinned as we walked past him. He had food in his teeth and it grossed me out. I felt a slight vibration and looked back at him. He had turned in his chair to stare me down. I looked back at Josh and kept moving.
I can’t believe that I’d agreed to do… you know. Maybe I was just still completely enthralled with his fighting ability. I had to admit that he kicked all ass, he really did. I had no idea that he was so good at it. Well, maybe I should have all along. I just never saw him full throttle I guess. My mind flashed to him jumping into the air and tearing that rogue into two. I would have been grossed out beyond repair a year ago, but now… no. It made my heart flutter and a vibration well up in me that made me want to grab him and throw him to the ground. I don’t even know what I was doing… I had sex ed like everyone else, but I’ve never, well.
I let him pull me along as I thought about everything and finally we stopped by a door. I looked out and saw the ground moving really fast. He grinned at me and grabbed my waist. I looked at him and grabbed his hands.
“You wouldn’t throw me right?” I asked him.
He threw the door open and jerked me up over his shoulder.
I grunted as my stomach banged against his shoulder. I hit him in the back.
“I can jump on my own!” I yelled at him.
He jumped forward and I watched his feet start to flash before we hit the ground. He matched the speed and then started to slow down. He turned, with me still slung over his shoulder and watched the train barrel away from us. He smacked me on the butt and then swung me over, setting me down. I rubbed my ass. It was a pretty good smack.
“Why?” I said as I rubbed it. He smiled at me.
“I don’t know, I just felt like hitting it,” he said.
“No good,” I said as I started to walk.
He caught up with me and leaned over to me. I glanced up at him and shook my head.
“I could have jumped on my own. You do not have to do everything for me,” I said as I looked around. He laughed.
“You would have sprained your ankle or something,” he said.
I stopped and looked at him.
“You don’t know that,” I said.
“Oh but I do,” He said as he continued to walk.
“I am not weak and helpless,” I muttered to him. He glanced at me.
“Those are the same thing,” He said.
I raised my hands up and let them drop.
“No… they are not. Weakness is a lack of strength and helplessness is something else,” I said to him.
“What else is it? It’s the same thing,” he said, like I should just know.
“No… there are two distinct definitions of those words and I am not either one,” I said.
Josh stopped and looked at me.
“Do you want to just do it in the woods?” he said to me. I rolled my eyes at him.
“No,” I said.
I kept walking and he started to walk next to me again.
“I could throw some leaves around and it would kind of feel like a bed,” he said as he smiled.
“No… it wouldn’t. Once again you don’t know the difference in the meanings,” I said to him.
He grabbed my hand and turned me to him.
“I just want to get this on,” he said to me. I laughed.
“Get it on?” I asked him.
/>
“Yea… let’s just duck into the woods and do this,” he said. I shook my head.
“Josh… this is the first time that I will be, you know. I don’t want to lie on the ground with you grabbing my boobs,” I said.
“I promise that I will do more than that,” he said as he grinned at me.
“Oh yea, I forgot you have had all kinds of practice,” I said as I pulled my hand from him and started to walk again.
“Yea… I do,” he said.
I kept walking. I was starting to regret the fact that I said anything at all.
He caught up to me and leaned over.
“I know you want me,” he said.
I stopped and looked at him.
“Want and need are two different things,” I said to him.
“Oh... come on,” he said as he raised his hands up and looked at the sky.
I grinned as I kept walking; I knew that I was frustrating him to no end.
“Really?” I said as I stopped.
“Oh… come on? That’s your big romantic line?” I asked him.
He shook his head again; I think he realized that this was a battle that he could not win.
“You want romance?” he asked me.
“I don’t know. I just wanted it to be something special,” I said as I looked towards the woods.
“It will be special; I’m really good,” he said to me.
“Well, I am glad that you are so confident in your ability,” I said.
He swung me around to him and I refused to look at him.
He leaned down and tried to look at me, but I kept turning my head. He let my hands go.
“I don’t get you, Rue,” he muttered. I looked at him and squinted my eyes.
“No you don’t,” I said.
“Oh… does Johnathan get you then?” he asked me.
It felt like a jab and I knew that we were probably right on the edge of a substantial fight.
I shook my head and started to walk again.
“Yea… I guess that he did. Things were not really rushed and I never felt like I was being pushed,” I said with a little bitterness towards the fact that he threw Johnathan up in my face.
“Oh, Okay… well, I guess that I need to get all depressed and start writing down my feelings in a book so you will find me attractive,” Josh said as he started to walk faster than me.
I looked at the back of his head and then noticed that he shoved his hands into his pockets. Had I really upset him, the emotionless Josh Barrington? I scratched my head and continued to walk. I really had no response to it… he sounded like a girl. We walked for an hour before he stopped and looked back at me.
“Why do you hate me?” he said. I looked at him and shook my head.
“What?” I said.
“You act like you hate me,” he said.
“Oh my god… really Josh? What is wrong with you?” I said to him.
“You… I think,” He said.
“Me? What does that mean?” I asked him.
He looked up at the sky, mixed now in black and blue as the sun set.
“I am not good at this,” he said. I shook my head and rubbed my hands.
“Want to stop talking in riddles?” I asked him. He stepped towards me.
“We need a break,” he said to me.
I stared at him, shocked a little.
“A break?”
He shook his head.
“You make me weak. I have a line that I drew a long time ago to avoid this kind of crap and you make me dance around it every day.”
“What the hell are you saying Josh?” I asked him as I felt a heaviness setting into my chest.
“I am saying that I will protect you until the end of time, but I do not know if I can let you have my heart,” he said.
I blinked. I know that I was probably being an ass by picking a fight with him earlier, but I didn’t think that he had spent the last hour deciding forever for the both of us.
“Holy crap… you are breaking up with me,” I said as I looked around.
Of course, I am in the middle of freakin nowhere.
He stepped towards me.
“No… not a break up really, just a stopping point. I think that I have to be stronger than this. I don’t like the way you make me feel,” he said.
“Wow… okay then,” I said as I started to walk.
He stepped up next to me and looked over at me.
“Don’t be…” he started to say.
I held up my hand to him and shook my head.
“I am so sorry that I didn’t just let you drag me into the woods and do whatever it is that you do,” I said to him. He shook his head.
“No… you misunderstand me.”
I stopped and looked at him. Here it comes, all the venom that I should swallow, but I know me… I will just let it fall out of me, no problem.
“You are an arrogant ass, Josh, from the first moment I met you I knew that you would just aggravate the hell out of me. You and your disregard for other people’s feelings and your sarcasm. You are not even funny, you know that...? Not one bit!”
I took a breath and he raised his finger like he was going to say something, but I didn’t let him.
“You and your stupid ideas and lack of showering,” I added. Don’t know where that came from. He lifted his arm and smelled his armpit. I nodded.
“Yea… you smell, you do. Not all the time, but you sweat like a pig and it’s disgusting.”
He shook his head and stared at me.
“You don’t even brush your hair!” I said to him.
He ran his hand through his hair and grinned. I leaned forward with my hands on his hips.
“What? Is that funny to you? You know I put up with your crap all this time even after you did awful things with Elin, in my bed no less!” I yelled at him. He held his hand out to me.
“I told you that I had to do that, Rue. You said that we were not going to talk about it anymore.”
“Well, I lied… yep, I did! I will never forgive you for it, ever, not in a million years.”
“What?” he said.
“Yea, Josh… how does it feel to be lied to? You know I wanted Blake to kiss me, I did… I wish he had laid me down on that bed and did all kinds of stuff and things to me!” I screamed at him.
He blinked as he took a step back from me.
“Yea…and I did bite Johnathan and his blood made me feel crazy, it did. It tasted so good in my mouth my whole body started to hum like an engine. If Sam had not come that day I would already know what you wanted to drag me into the woods to do. I needed him Josh. I only want you,” I said as I sucked in my breath.
I stood there realizing that I had probably just said the worst thing that I could have said to him. I suddenly felt like I needed a shower.
He turned from me and started to walk. I stood there watching him go.
“Come on,” he said in a different tone to me than I was used to. It sounded devoid of feeling.
I started to walk and caught up to him. I glanced over at him and he watched the ground as he walked. I reached out to him and he moved away from me. I knew that I had hurt him; I hurt myself by saying it to him. I need him, I do… but now he will never believe me.
***
Sam made it to the edge of the town and looked at the lights. Theodore flashed up next to her and looked out over the town too.
“I am surprised that the sight of this place makes me feel cozy,” Theodore said as Sara slid off of his back.
Jonah flashed up and so did Kai. Kai had kept his eye on Jonah the whole way home. Ever since Jonah had made it a point to tell him that he wanted to eat him, in so many words, Kai felt uneasy around him. He wasn’t going to let his guard down and have Jonah munch on him like a bag of chips. Jonah looked back at Kai and winked at him.
“Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye,” Jonah said as he looked down at the glowing symbol in the ground. Theodore turned to him.
“I would not
suggest that you return to the carnival, Jonah,” he said. Jonah tilted his head.
“You have your home. I have mine,” he replied as he bowed to Theodore.
Theodore sighed as Jonah flashed away from them. Sam touched his arm.
“Let him handle his own,” Sam said to him.
“It is a shame,” Theodore said as Kai stepped up next to him.
“He is a freak. I hope that he gets eaten,” Kai said as Sam looked at him. Theodore smiled.
“Yes… but very cute.”
Kai turned to him as they all stepped over the glowing symbols on the ground and walked towards the town.
“Holy shit… you like him?” Kai said. Theodore laughed.
“I am a slave to my bad taste.”
Kai shook his head and looked at Sam.
“Is he for real?” he asked her.
She smiled and looked back at Theodore.
“Well, Jonah would actually be a step up from his last boyfriend.”
Kai shot a look at Theodore and shook his head.
“How did you manage to find one worse than Jonah, Theodore?” Kai asked him.
“Well… I seemed to be attracted to boys who have issues. I simply love misery,” Theodore added as he held Sara’s hand and helped her step over some debris in the woods.
“So?” Kai asked him.
“What?” Theodore said.
“Who was it? You know your last boyfriend?” he asked him.
“Well… you may remember it from school. There was a boy who wanted all the power in Rome, he was quite promiscuous. I fear that I became smitten. He went by the name of Caligula.”
“Holy shit dude! He like did his sister and stuff, right?”
“Well, not until I left him,” Theodore said.
“Wow… so it’s been like forever, since you got laid,” Kai said.
Sam laughed and hit him on the arm.
“No… I have been ‘laid’ since then, Kai… It’s just, he was special,” Theodore said.
Sara looked over at him and shook her head at him.
“You will find someone, I am sure,” she whispered.
Theodore kissed her hand and they continued to walk towards Hideaway Dr., back towards their new sanctuary.