Simple

Ch 17

James' POV

*Flashback*

The room was deafeningly quite. Complete silence, but for Elena's meek sips of her hot chocolate. She is huddled up on my bed with layers of blankets surrounding her while dressed in my sweats and shirt. It is really frightening what had happened to this young girl, though, she doesn't talk much about it if at all.

The first night was really bad, neither Luke nor I knew what to do and we were stuck with a young girl. We tried calling the police, but every-time we tried, she would shriek and beg us not to. She kept saying she would just leave and it would be as if nothing happened, but there's something inside me that's keeping me from making her leave. Out of nowhere came this huge protectiveness for this young girl and anger at whoever may and have hurt her. What little I've seen and known of her is enough proof that this little girl deserves the world on a platter. She's innocent and kind beyond belief.

I rub my hand on my face and look at Luke who is leaning on my kitchen counter. He looks as confused as I do. It's been three months since we found her and she has opened up more, but not enough. Not to mention I was running low on funds. I could barely feed one mouth, but now I had two. And what about clothes? Sooner or later she is going to need something else besides my shirts and sweats. And school?

I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but I can't let her go. I've been through the system and it messes you up. And part of the little information she divulged was that she was an orphan. She must've ran away from her foster parents and started living in the streets. If I call child services, they would probably just put her right back. God, she doesn't deserve that, she has been through enough.

I cough to get her attention and it works. She beams at me. The first time she did that was when I gave her a bowl of fruit loops. She's never had them before and she fell in love with them. Now she has it whenever I let her. Which is often considering my financial state. A good thing though is that she smiles more and is becoming quite affectionate with me. It still knocks the air out of me, no one has ever looked at me with as much trust as she does. She smiles as if I am the only person that matters to her. The only person she could depend on. I've never mattered before her neither had any one truly depended on me. Luke was the only one who ever gave a damn about me, but now there's also her.

I grin back at her, telling her that her bath is ready. My apartment might be really shitty, but it at least has a functioning bathtub that could fit a petite woman let alone someone her size. She skips along to it while I close the curtain that separates the bathroom from the rest of the place, to give her some privacy. I make sure that I hear her jump into the water before I turn my head to the door to signal Luke to go outside with me.

He obliges and closes the door behind him, I take a cigarette out and light it while offering him one to which he refuses.

"What's wrong?" He asks me with a crinkle on his eyebrows.

I breathe a generous amount of smoke out,"I'm broke. I need to access some of my rainy day stash" I state.

He looks shock. I don't know why, he knows that I don't live frugally as a choice. And I can't support a child, but somehow, I know I need to.

Luke drops his head, seemingly aware of my predicament. "Damn!" He swears before punching the repulsive brown wall to his left. "You know I have some cash saved up. I'll give it you."

I look baffled at him, in fact, I almost drop my cigarette. "No" I refuse vehemently. "That money is for you Luke, it's for your dream"

"So is yours, Jay!"

"I know that, but I have a little girl in there that needs me and I don't know about you Luke, but the in last few months, she's become family and sooner or later people might start looking for her. And she needs to start school too. I need cash. My dreams can wait."