A War of Guns and Roses

Chapter 20

Xavier's POV

"Hey baby. How was your day?" She asked, smiling.

"Hey...good, but I missed you." I answered, moving a piece of her hair to the back of her ear.

She leaned in and pecked me on my cheek. "I missed you too."

"You want to do something today?" I wish I hadn't asked that. 

"Yah, sure! What did you have in mind?"

I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her to me. "Well, there is a race tonight. I'm driving."

"Really!?" She asked excitedly. "Then I would love to watch you, darling."

"Then it's settled. Let's go!"

If only I had known that bringing her to the race was a really bad idea. If only I had secured her in my arms and promised to never let go and just stayed back home. If...if...if....

"Xavier?" The soft voice was like a lull to my ears. I was brought back to reality as I watched Elaine getting comfortable on the couch,, where I had once held her.

I shook my head. I shouldn't be doing this.

So instead, I crossed my bedroom and joined her on the couch. She had already pulled open my books.

"Alright." She said, rolling up her sleeves. "I have made some question papers for you, but first let's go through everything we have learnt."

And she started. She went from the first of what she had taught me and surprisingly I could remember most of it. I could hear her telling me the answers in the back of my mind, the soft voice soothing my brain and letting me think about her question before answering it. For once, I didn't panic and I answered all the questions that she asked me and listened attentively to her explanations.

I could feel myself relaxing when I thought that I would never be able to be calm or even happy in this room. But she proved me wrong. She made me forget about her. She made herself the only thing in my mind whenever I was with her.

After an exhausting session, she handed me the papers that she had made. Her elegant handwriting was scrawled all over the paper with questions of different kinds. I let out a groan as I saw that she had gone all out. There were about a 100 questions in this paper alone.

"I'll give you time till tomorrow." She said, smiling when she heard my groan. "But I want this paper before going on the trip."

"You're still going on the trip?" I asked, an eyebrow raised. She had had an intense migraine just a few hours ago!

"Yah, of course I'm going. Why wouldn't I?" She asked, giving me a peculiar expression.

"Didn't you have a migraine just a few hours ago?" I demanded.

She waved her hand as if it was nothing. "Oh, I get that all the time. No big deal."

Now, I was angry. "No big deal?" I growled. "No. Fu€king. Big. Deal?"

"Xavier?" She asked as she moved away from me slightly.

"Who's going to take care of you when you get another one huh? Your cousins weren't there today, you really think they will be there for you next time?"

"I can take care of myself." She defended. "And why do you care anyway?"

I scowled. "How the heck will I get any marks for my exam if you are ill?"

Did I really just say that? Did I just utter that complete lie?

I knew I had when I watched Elaine's face crumble. Sadness and hurt flashed through her eyes as she tried to cover it up and I felt like beating myself up with a frying pan over and over again.