The Rules of the Red - 2nd Edition |✓|

Chapter Five, Part Four - Fool Me Once

The soothing, mellow tones of Weezer's Say It Ain't So masked the silence that hung between the Vampire and the Wolf. Tidus drove with his hands at ten and two, his posture rigid and his face blank as he nodded casually to the beat. Looking at him, it was difficult to even guess what it was that he was feeling, which made this all the more unsettling.

Finally I reached a point where I could endure the silence no longer. I turned down the music and forced myself to speak. "Where are we going?"

He looked at me from those big blue eyes, and the vertigo returned. He could've said she lived at the edge of the world, and it wouldn't have made any difference - he was that wonderful to look at.

In that one moment I forgot I was almost his killer. Because despite the misgivings we held for one another, there was no denying that I loved the way his black t-shirt had a picture of Space Ghost splashed across the front. Or the fact that he was wearing the same, sexy checkered Vans.

"It's not much further," Tidus replied. "She lives on the edge of town. But if you're feeling impatient, I could save myself the trouble and the gas and kill you now..."

"You wouldn't," I challenged. In response, Tidus slammed on the breaks. With a startled oh, I steadied myself against the dashboard as the car came to a screeching halt in the middle of the empty road. I blew a few wisps of stray hair from my face, glowering at Tidus.

He met my gaze with no hesitations. "Try me," he dared.

"You know what I think, Tidus? I think that if you were really gonna kill me, you would've done it last night. Otherwise, you and I wouldn't be sitting here right now."

"I admit, you distracted me last night." I could tell by his tone and the look in his eyes that he was mocking me. "But in my defense - when a pretty girl is begging me to open her knees, it becomes a little more difficult to concentrate on killing her -"

I slapped him, hard. A thin line of ichor trickled from the corner of his mouth. With shallow breathing I stared at him. "You're an asshole."

Unblinking, he wiped the blood away. "So I've heard." I moved to slap him again, but he caught me firmly by the wrist. "I let you do it the first time because I deserved it," he said, quietly. "But let's not get carried away."

I yanked my hand free, hating him for being so cruel. "Whatever," I said icily. "You kissed me back, remember?"

Tidus caught me off guard by leaning close enough to repeat last night. I held my breath but at the last second he reached out a hand and simply pressed down on the lock, clicking it manually into place. He paused afterwards, allowing the tension to build between a pair of lips only centimeters apart. Then, with a final, sobering look, he turned away.

"Look," I said. "I could give a shit if you like me, but can you at least be impartial? Because I really didn't have to come with you tonight just to prove that your friend is a crazy person. And considering the fact that I'm still willing to come with you what you did, I think, at the very least, I deserve a fair chance to prove my innocence."