All is Fair in Love & War

Chapter 5: The Tears and the Dollar

Luv’s POV:

I didn’t mean to seriously bother her this much. I thought she’d just be pissed at me for not stopping her, but even after I let her know that I’d been toying with her, she ran from the room.

She left.

I’d expected a punch to the gut, maybe the head, but this hurt way more than that. Closing my eyes, I wished that I could hide from the world. I laid on the couch, knowing that every time we fought, each took their own way for a little while, and time healed the matter. But as I laid there, a little voice in my head was bothering me,

She’s probably crying.

I’d seen people cry before, it didn’t bother me.

But this isn’t just anyone, this is Shell.

Shell was tough, she’d get over it.

Have you ever seen her this upset?

...

Damn it.

Opening my eyes, I cursed whoever gave me a conscience. It’d been laying dormant until Shell showed up! Why now? Regardless of the thoughts, I pushed myself off of the couch, and jogged into the hall, tracking her until I came across my partner.

It took most of the day, holy she’d ran all over the freaking town! In the end she was in a park, knees up, arms around them. Her head was down, red hair sprawled making it clear that she didn’t care about her appearance.

She never did, and that fact alone only made her more beautiful.

“Sorry.” My voice was more sincere than I’d ever heard it. It kind of scared me.

Shuffling without changing her stance, she managed to turn so that she was backwards and a whimper escaped the hunched form, “Not now.” Was what I thought I heard, but who could be sure when it was hidden under all the hair, knees, arms, probably blubbery lips, and tears?

Tears.

Damn it. Why did I feel so much when it came to Shell?

I felt dirty.

And no matter what I did, I couldn’t find myself clean.

Shell. She was the only one who made me forget about all that. I couldn’t think about how awful I was when she was around. Whether that was because she would distract me, or because she seemed to sense it when I did begin to think that way, I wasn’t sure.

Yesterday. That was the day that I’d had such an earnest thought. That was when this had crossed my mind, and already I was making her cry.

Was she crying?

Mentally swearing, I approached her, sitting down on the bench despite the fact that I knew she’d rather I just leave. 

Shuffling farther away from me, to the edge, she still was hunched like a child who’d dropped her ice cream...

I suppose now wasn’t the time for food similes.

I pushed myself closer, wrapping my arms around her balled up body to trap her and actually to attempt to comfort her. I felt stiff. I guess we’d never really hugged before...

Stiffening just as I had, there was an uncomfortable moment, and then she relaxed into my body, leaving me with only one echoing thought, Great... but now what?

“You’re a jerk.” She spoke without any force, and she even lifted her head a little as she said it. Progress! With a slight smile playing upon my lips at the glee from her reaction, I relaxed a little, “I always have been right? Isn’t that one of the long list of names that you called me when we first met?”