Between Two Fires

^.^ Chapter 13 ^.^

"Are you serious right now?" He interrupts me before I can finish my sentence. I open my mouth to speak up again but he continues talking before I can get a word in, "First of all - don't lie to me. It is rather obvious you are not fine. And second - he forcefully does something inappropriate to you and you try to defend him?!" Although he isn't shouting, his voice gets tighter towards the end, indicating his rising level of frustration. "I honestly don't know what to think anymore. Either you are stupidly nice or you liked the attention he was giving you."

That's it for me. Being shouted at and intimidated was one thing, but being wrongly accused and judged was completely different. Even alcohol couldn't numb the rage that coursed through my body at his words.

"Who are you to judge, anyway, Luca?!" I place my feet firmly on the ground and look directly into his eyes, the anger I am feeling surpassing any other emotions that surface as I look into them, "You act nice at first and then – after jumping off a cliff – you get mad at me?! I mean, I am pretty sure dumping a sandwich on your head doesn't call for you getting as mad as you did. Then – after you get mad at me and say what you want to say – you leave and ignore me, acting as if you don't even know me the next time we meet." I take a deep breath and continue, it felt good to finally let this all out. "You then proceed to punch the guy who is handling me inappropriately, but instead of letting me stay with my friends or taking me home – somewhere I can feel better – you take me to some strange room and start accusing me! You accuse me of liking the fact that I was -was –ugh," The disbelief in my voice is evident and my voice rises slightly as i refuse to finish that thought. Finally, I gain the strength to push his chest, managing to make him stumble back a little. "I mean, not that its any of your business, but I can definitely assure you that it was not enjoyable!!"

Tears are now threatening to overflow once more but the anger has sobered me up enough to hold them back. He opens his mouth to speak but this time it's my turn to cut him off. "You stand here, criticizing Josh. Yet, are you any better? You barely know me, but you stand there, accusing me of things which you don't even know are true. You haven't known me long enough to judge so why do it?" I can see the hurt flash in his eyes but I don't stop. From the moment I had seen him, I had known staying away from him would be best. This just proved me right. I had not come all the way to Australia to cry or have a hard time – I had come here to have fun. I had always claimed that boys only ever complicated things – and this proved that theory right. Seth was the first example and I was not about to let Luca, Josh or anybody be the second.

But, the attraction you feel towards Luca is completely different- I shut out my own thoughts before they go any further. I turn around and walk towards the door, ready to leave. I pull the door open but a firm hold on my wrist stops me from going any further.

"Look, don't leave again. I-i'm sorry, its just seeing him hurt someone again - " He cuts off and takes a deep breath. "I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you." His hold on my arm makes my attention falter but I hear his words clearly. Curiosity gets the better of me and I turn back to him. He isn't looking at me, his head is bowed down, looking down at the floor. 

"What do you mean by 'seeing him hurt someone again?' " I cut straight to the point. Ever since I had met Luca, I had felt like there was a secret which was being hidden from me. Maybe this was the chance to finally gain answers, after all Lea had told me to ask Luca directly. 

His eyes come up to meet mine again. I meet his gaze evenly, wondering what he is looking for. After a couple of seconds he sighs and lets go of my wrist. Although I would hate to admit it, as soon as his fingers are no longer in contact with my wrist I feel a huge sense of disappointment rush through me. He walks over to what looks like a table in the center of the room. I knew that in order to stay away from him, I would have to find out the answers to the questions which had been bouncing around my brain for the past week.