A Kiss with a Fist

Chapter Nine

                                                                                                        A Kiss with a Fist  

                                                                            Chapter Nine

Aide was the first thing she noticed when she got back to the bunkers.  That, and the ridiculously silly grin he was wearing. Nisa sat on the other side of the bed, facing away from both Lotte and her older brother. 

She wasn’t particularly interested in knowing what Nisa and Aide were doing in here, with no one else. She was more interested in knowing why Aide was even there at all. 

“Aide?” She laughed, although there was no humor in it. She wanted to at least seem happy to see him. But, Lotte wasn’t happy with anything at the moment. “What’re you doing here?” She also wanted to ask Nisa why she was here, as well—why Jean had been the only one to go looking for her when she ran off. But, Lotte figured she probably didn’t want to know the answer. Nisa was a little more trouble than she was worth. 

“I hope you’re not too disappointed. You did run out on me during our last visit, after all.”Aide’s smile suggested he had only been joking. But Lotte knew him so much better than that. 

Lotte grinned, too. “You were practically violating Nisa from across the room. I couldn’t help but to feel as if I had been intruding.”  She had aimed to embarrass Aide, but as his grin grew wider, and Nisa’s face grew hotter, Lotte knew she had probably done the exact opposite. An unfamiliar dread set in her stomach. 

She tried to ignore it. “Aide?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. And, upon hearing how tormented she sounded, dropped his easy-going act. Aide opened his arms without a second thought, allowing his baby sister to crawl into his lap. They didn’t often sit like this, not anymore. And, as she drawled closer to him, a barricade of angry tears threatening to spill onto her already red, splotchy face, Aide felt himself forgetting about Lotte’s cute friend and the way she blushed. “Aide, why did you tell mom?”

His arms tightened around her. To comfort, or to keep her there, she wasn’t sure. “You cant keep things like this from her, Lotte. She’s your mom. She deserves to know.”

“You could have waited.”

Aide laughed. “Trust me—it would have been a lot more embarrassing after you graduated. Nadia still hasn’t lived that one down.”

“But, she joined the Military Police.”

“Yeah, but it was worse for her.” Aide’s voice was excited, as it often was when making fun of Nadia. When asked why he made fun of her so much, and simply told her ‘it’s because you’re so serious all the time. It’s nice to remember you’re human. Like the rest of us.’ Aide had been ready for a black eye, at minimum, something he rarely got these days. But, all she had done was walk away. “Mom didn’t even know she was training to be in the military.”

“Then, where—?”Lotte was stunned. It wasn’t plausible. Nadia wasn’t one for going behind their mother’s back. 

“She told her she was apprenticing off somewhere. To be a tailor of something. She snuck home a lot of times, like you do.” Lotte frowned. 

“All that doesn’t matter. Mom’s dead set on bringing me home.” Aide’s grin stretched across his face, bigger than it had been before. 

“Mom’s a lot of talk, you know? She can’t take you out of the military. She cant forbid you. Even if she tried, the supervisors would laugh at her. No reason to fret, kiddo. You’re safe.”

*

Lotte didn’t know why she did it. But she ran. Aide had went to speak again. But she didn’t care. She ran. 

She knew she probably should have stayed a bit longer. Lotte should have apologized to Aide for being so weird during their last visit. She should have asked Nisa what the hell was going on between her and Lotte’s brother. She probably should have thanked Aide and told him how much she missed him. 

But she didn’t. 

Lotte never did the things she ought to do. And, instead, opted to things she shouldn’t. 

Like this, for instance. 

Lotte wasn’t really thinking when she instinctively threw her arms around him. She giggled as she buried her face deep within his neck, an elated happy sound he wasn’t used to hearing from this girl. And, when he drew back to ask what in the hell was she doing, he found his mouth covered with another’s—softer lips probing at his rougher, chapped appendages.

She was gone before he could register her completely. 

“I’m staying! Jean! I get to stay!”

!~*~*~*!

Accidentally updating…a month….later. Basically, this is the first time in a LONG while I didn’t have an after school *yey* *not a bad kid I swear* and I was like oh hey yeah lotte. Also, ive had like a few chapters written for awhile, it just came down to, y’know, actually uploading them. Mid-terms are two weeks away, so don’t expect too much, but then it’s Christmas break! Yeye. More lotte x jean love/hate relationship then. (more hate probs) :*