LoveLocked

The Painting

The handcuffs are digging so hard into my wrists that I almost don't notice my necklace heating up. Almost. I know it can't be the officer at the desk or the one who's pushing the already uncomfortable handcuffs hard into my back, so the one remaining option is a boy sitting on a bench in a holding cell. From the way his head jerks up as his eyes scour the room I know I'm right. I try to play it cool, but as the cop shoves me towards him my necklace becomes painfully hot. It's wood and I'm really hoping that it doesn't burst into flames right here. My mom used to tell Danny and I horror stories about things like that happening.

The worried voice in my head is wondering if he committed some awful crime, but the sensible one reminds me that he wouldn't be in a holding cell of he killed someone. He's probably just like me, he stole something and is waiting for his mom- or in my case aunt- to pick him up.

The rude cop opens the gate and gives me another shove before closing and locking it again. I sit down on the bench in the holding cell next to the boy with the brown hair and he looks up at me with the warmest hazel eyes I've ever seen. I falter for a moment before reminding myself that I am a hardened criminal and cannot show any signs of weakness.

" Hello, hello?" Shit, how long has he been talking to me? I think for a moment about greeting his eyes with a glare before replying.

" Hi, sorry I missed it the first time, what were you saying?" I go with a friendly approach deciding to ignore both my burning hot necklace and the fact we're sitting in a holding cell.

" I asked what you're here for. It can't be that bad, you're obviously waiting for your parents to pick you up, same as me."

" Who knows? Maybe I killed somebody." I reply, I want to scare him a little before getting comfortable. From the look of fear in his eyes I can tell I've succeeded. I laugh and he realizes I'm kidding.

" You never answered my question," he says regaining his cool. I let out another laugh before responding.

" What did you do?" Playing the same I'm-too-cool-for-this game he was.

" You still haven't answered my question, but I'll go first because I'm such a good sport. I stole one of those little ten-dollar paintings from Gino's Bazar, your turn." I burst out laughing.

" Guess what? Me too!" Now he's laughing too.

"I guess we're drawn to similar things." He says, I'm tempted to add and to each other.

"Soo... Are we going to address the fact that our necklaces are both burning us or not?" I had really been hoping to avoid that question, but he brought it up anyway. I feel his eyes boring holes in me as I turn to him to answer.

" Fine. Necklaces. They indicate that we're soulmates. Is that what you wanted?" I finish angry and out of breath, not realizing that was raising my voice until I'm done. The longer I deny it, the longer I can deny that I'm falling in love with the idea of spending the rest of my life with this guy. I don't even know his name!

" No. I wanted you to say that you want to spend time with me. I wanted you to say that you're looking forward to talking to me when you're not locked in a holding cell with me." He holds his head down but I can tell from his voice that he's upset. I take a deep breath and creep my hand towards his. When our fingers touch he looks up, clearly surprised. But he doesn't pull his hand away.

" Sorry, I didn't mean it. I didn't want to admit anything. In case you didn't like me, in case you didn't want to be linked to me."

" It's fine." He says, twisting his fingers around mine. He reaches towards my throat and presses my pendant to his. When they're out together they make a frame, our eyes meet and we burst out laughing.

We're lurched out of the moment by the idiot officer who brought me in banging his nightstick against the bars.

" You, Cedar, you're parents are here to pick you up. Naito, your aunt just called, she's on her way." He opens the gate and " Cedar" gets up.

" Wait! I don't know your name or where to reach you!" I shout after him as my voice takes on a note of desperation.

" I live a couple blocks from here. We can meet here tomorrow in the lobby. My name's Jacob." The police officer gives us a disapproving look and begins tapping his foot against the ground, but says nothing. Jacob starts walking towards the door, but a few feet away, he turns, runs back towards me and places a quick kiss in my cheek before dashing away with a grin.

----------------------------------------------Author's Note:
For my lovely friends Jacob and Ayane.