safe in my arms | solangelo au | under editing

Chapter Nine

Will

"I'm not going to hurt you. I promise." I look into Nico's eyes, silently begging him to believe me. He looks at me warily.
"I just... Don't know if I can trust you. I barely know you." He hangs his head again. "I don't want to get hurt again."

I want to kill Luke. Nico might have trust issues for the rest of his life, and it's all his fault!

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask gently. Nico shakes his head. "Alright." I nod. "You don't have to." Nico looks up at me with surprise.
"I don't?"
"Of course not." I shake my head. "I understand that it must be hard for you."

"How would you understand?" He mutters. "You've had a perfect life."
"What do you mean?" I frown.
"Loving parents, a nice house, a stable job, good health, a girlfriend, a-"
"Wait." I interrupt. "Did you just say a girlfriend?"
"Yes." He blushes slightly. "I mean, look at you!"
"Did you just call me attractive?" I tease. Nico goes bright red.
"No!" He's the colour of a ripe tomato. I smirk, and he somehow goes even redder.

"I don't like you." He says. "I-I mean I don't love you. Well obviously not. I mean I don't like-like you, like in a boyfriend way. I'm saying 'like' too much. Oh man, what am I doing? I don't like you. I don't love you. I don't..." He lets out a frustrated sigh. "perché devi essere così distratto?" He shouts.

"Uh... What did you just say?" I ask. He blushes even more and covers his face.
"Nothing."
"Go on tell me." I urge.
"It was nothing."
"It must has been something." I say. I have an idea. "It sounded Spanish." I say.
"It was Italian, actually." He mutters.

I grin and whip out my phone.
"I'll just translate it into English." I smile. Nico grabs my phone and shakes his head violently.
"Fine, I'll tell you." He sighs.
"Go ahead then." I smile.
"I said "you're incredibly annoying but endearing." He says, his eyes darting to the away from my face.

I'm not fooled, but I decide to play along.
"Okay then. Can I have my phone back now, please?"
"Fine." He hands it to me and our fingers brush for a moment. He pulls his hand away like I gave him an electric shock.
"I-I have to g-go..." He all but runs out of the room.

Now that he's gone, I look at my phone, using my translate app. I type in what he said and translate it: 'Why must you be so distracting?'

Does... Does he mean that in a good way?