The Day We Hailed The Heavens

Chapter 2

She could hardly remember how they had got off to such a bad start as family, but she knew that the contempt had been immediate and mutual between the two of them. They kept it quiet, fearing for the happiness of their parents, but when Jasmine Paxton and Robert Connelly were out on one-to-one dates, the arguments between the reluctant sisters shook the walls of their small house. Now, both of their parents were in, so this quarrel was conducted under their breaths.

Tossing her reddish brown hair – a product of faded hair dye, Alexis guessed – Rose gave her one last derisive stare before she turned around and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her and leaving a heavy atmosphere of antipathy and antagonism in her wake.

Alexis threw the pillow after her before she put her head in her hands and sighed deeply.

It was true that her previously orderly standards of room keeping had slipped over the past few years. Her relationship with Starscream and her close friendships with the other Autobots and their allies were distracting, and she knew she would be lucky if any college course could hold her attention for more than a day.

Her large, bottle green eyes rested on the clock above the door. Starscream would be here in two minutes – he was never late.

She still became giddy at the very thought of seeing her secret lover. It was one of those forbidden romances that you read about in storybooks, she mused to herself; the kind of fanatical adoration that needed to be kept behind closed doors, but was all the more passionate for the pain of keeping it quiet. Keeping their trysts a secret from her mother was hard, she admitted, and would only become harder now that there were to more family members to spy on her, but they were worth it.

And whoever would have thought that she, Alexis Paxton, would be caught up in such a deliciously ardent romance?

With half a minute left to go before he arrived, she stood up and pulled her hair down from its loose ponytail. Really, it was still too short to be tied back, but it got on her nerves when it fell into her eyes. Her eyes welded to the ticking hand of the clock, she began to count down from thirty, breathing out the numbers that were the countdown to his arrival. “Three… two…” she counted softly, her heart pumping.

“One,” a voice whispered in her ear and she shivered as a familiar pair of muscular arms came around her waist. “Surprise.”

She chuckled softly. “Hardly,” she smiled impishly, lifting an arm and draping it around his neck. “Surprises aren’t planned, Starscream… hence the surprise.” She felt his cold lips trailing down her long neck and briefly kissing her shoulder before she turned around and raised her fingers to caress his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here… I’ve had a horrible day.”

Starscream’s scarlet eyes immediately narrowed in his ashen, chiselledface. “The girl was offensivetowards you again,” he stated, quiet odium and fury in his scratchy voice as he glanced at the door, looking quite murderous. “I swear by Primus, I will crush that female like an ant if she ever comes near me.”

“Shh,” she hushed worriedly, pressing a finger to his lips and looking anxiously at the door. “Someone might hear.”

Yet despite the risk, she could not help but be thrilled by his overbearing protectiveness over her. It sent shivers down her spine and across the skin of her abdomen, especially when he took the hand against his lips and entwined his fingers with hers, gently running his thumb across the soft palm of her hand.

“That is true,” he smirked, and she wondered whether she could remain upright under his intense gaze, “But you are worth the risk, my beauty.”