Mysterious Boy

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE
Mon
When I woke up, I was in a bed I didn't know. Immediately, I panicked and clutched the blankets in my fists until memory of last night came crashing back to me like a tidal wave. My heart beat began to slow and I breathed slowly even. "Instant coffee?" I jumped at Niall's voice and placed a hand over my heart to make sure it steadied. He furrowed his brows, "Alright?"
I nodded, "Yeah, yeah," I replied. "No thanks, I think I just need to, um, need to go."
Niall was silent for a few moments with his index finger tapping against the rim of his styrofoam cup. "I can walk you to the light rail," he finally said.
I shook my head and began to pull on my boots, "No; that's okay-"
"It wasn't a suggestion, Monique. Tell me when you're ready." He left and I breathed out shakily.
***
"Baby, I have called Mommy. She's still asleep probably."
"Why isn't she here with us? Why did we leave?" The small voice inquired.
Niall sighed, "Mommy was busy-"
"Stop lying!" She demanded.
"I'm-"
"NO! I WANT MOMMY!"
"Well, she isn't here right now, Lilly," he said desperately.
"Why not?"
I came into the kitchen and they both paused for a minute. "I'm, uh, I'm, um, ready."
"Come on, baby; we gotta drop Monique off."
She had tears brimming her bright, blue eyes. They widened in despair and she tried to hold it in. Niall looked defeated. "I was wondering if you guys wanted to go to the park with me." I suddenly said.
He stopped for a second until Lilly was by his side. She reached his hip at her tallest and her blonde hair was in a pixie cut. Her tiny, pale fingers reached for his larger hand and he gave a weak smile as she wrapped her hand around his finger and he held her wrist with the rest of his fingers. "What do you say, Lilly pad?" He asked gently. She glanced at me nervously, quietly, and then with her wide eyes going a bit bigger, nodded slowly.
***
The park was small, but there was a playground just the right size for Lilly and she absolutely loved it. Niall pushed her on the swings a few times before she did it herself and he sat on the bench I was at, watching her. I looked at him as he kept a watchful eye on her with adoration and pity filling him. "You love her a lot, don't you?" I said more as a statement than a question.
He nodded and suddenly I saw this side of Niall I never had heard of from Katey or Brianna or even Rain. I wonder if Aiea would believe me if I told her. Then I forgot all about the rumours about him and I forgot all about what they had said and I looked at him as he tried to cover his tears by swiftly wiping the corners of his eyes. It didn't work. A few tears fell down his cheek which he promptly wiped off with his sleeve and then smiled looking at Lilly. The love and adoration was evident and I wondered how he got such a horrible reputation for violence and womanising when he treated Lilly so well.
"Why do they say you're violent?" It took a minute before I realised I had said it out loud and then panicked. He didn't stiffen his posture or grit his jaw tighter; no, he looked down and stared at his pale hand sitting atop his lap. He was quiet. And I wanted to question further, I wanted him to answer it, I wanted this honesty from him that I knew would be impossible to receive. So, like the bitch I was, I said, "I mean, you treat your sister like a daughter and you tried to stop those guys last night," I shrugged, "I don't get it."
He was still quiet. He looked to be pondering the question, which perplexed me. He shouldn't care that I was asking this. But, this wasn't the Niall I had been wondering about; this was the one who took care of Lilly and saved me last night and confessed to loving instant coffee and came from Sligo and had seen his brother break down because of his parents break up. Then he finally breathed out of his nose slowly and a small frown crept upon his lips. "See, it's basically like this," he cleared his throat, "if you're a quiet kid and you show up to school with a few bruises, it doesn't look normal. People like drama, so they start making stuff up about you. When you don't do anything wrong and something happens to you that everybody can see, they all start to take advantage of that. They get this mind set that they have power over you because of it. Then they want you to lose your mind just so they can be right." He shook his head and his lips turned up in the slightest at the sides, "They don't realise that they're giving you the power. If people are afraid of you, then they listen to you; they pay attention. I was this tough guy who everyone seemed to be so frightened by in the blink of an eye. I didn't even have to do a single thing either." He started to chew on his bottom lip a little before letting out another breath. "And people eat it up. They're handing me the power they wanted. I move them now, not the other way around. I don't even know why." We were both silent as he stared at the playground.
"People said you were tough, so you acted like you were?" I asked. He nodded absent minded. "That doesn't make sense."
He furrowed his brows and then looked at me for a moment while asking, "That doesn't make sense?"
I shrugged carefully, "They made you into something you aren't. They put that over you. That's the power."
He licked his chapped lips and shook his head. "I didn't expect you to get it."
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?"
He scoffed, "Monique, look at you. For God's sake, wake up, sweetie, but you aren't this bad arse that you want me to believe you are. God, I see right through you," he said irritated.
It was my turn to scoff, "Excuse me, but I don't try to act like somebody I am not. You don't know the shit I've been through."
He snorted antagonistically, "Bloody Hell, you really buy into yourself, don't you? Look, babe," he said and pointed to Lilly playing in the sand box slowly. The morning seemed to be taking over her wit as her nimble fingers worked slowly. "That little lady over there is my life; she's the one I look after to make sure she is safe because of my own personal reasons. If I wanted the same attention you do, I would tell you what they were or I would've left you alone at the club the other night." I narrowed my eyes at him as he spoke venomously. "That's the thing, Mon; you're going to give into me because that's who you are and you're going to think I love you back because you are the same type of people that want the power. The only reason you fight it now is not because you're afraid of falling for me or my 'reputation' or looking bad because you know all of that already. The reason you fight me off now is so you can come up with the cliché story and make a mental check mark in your head once I leave you in the dust; and that one line is going to pop up a lot more after I am gone: I've been hurt so many times, so now I am cold before it can happen again." Niall smiled bitterly and shook his head once again. "Really, I am helping you. Once I'm gone, you get to play into your little fantasies of being this mysterious, broken hearted, hurt, depressed teenage girl that is too deep for anyone to actually understand."
"You bloody prick; you bloody arsehole."
"Wait until I kiss you," was all he replied with, "and I will be the one to initiate, so don't get your hopes up."
***
How does one respond to someone after they tell you the exact person they think you are? I was pondering this question over and over again in my head and it just made me hate myself for questioning it because Niall was sitting on the light rail, across the seat from Lilly, and listening to her ramble on about something. I wanted to hate Niall for being this ignorant bastard, but the fact of matter was that he was dead on.
Everything he had said made complete sense and I knew that was exactly why I was hanging around him. I was around him now just so I could see if I would get some sort of thrill; a rush of excitement; dangerous adventures. Then I saw him with Lilly and it made matters worse because then it turned everything around and now I was there because he was this sweet guy and I had an excuse as to why it was okay. He wasn't, though. He was still the boy who ran into me at the club, touched me in order for him to stay in my mind, and spoke his mind when he felt it needed to be said. He did have the power that I wanted to have. Once he "broke my heart" I would get it. And I knew it wasn't going to change. He wasn't going to change miraculously because I was going to prove to him that I was not like the others. Because the truth happened to be that I was.
***
When it came to my stop, Niall held onto Lilly's hand and they walked with me. It was cold and she shivered until Niall picked her up. He held her snuggly in his arms and surprisingly, she fell asleep. I guess since it was a thirty minute walk from the light rail to my house it made sense for such a little thing to just get worn out. When we got to my house, I looked at the door like it might have been foreign. I wanted to stay with Niall; I wanted to get to know Lilly; and I really did want to prove him wrong even though we both knew I wasn't going to.
We stood there on the sidewalk, right by the empty, quiet street, and I looked up at him indifferently. He was right. He did have power over me and everybody else and I saw it so well now and then blocked it all out. I looked at Lilly's tired face and listened to all of our breathing. She had her arms wrapped around his neck and he had his hands under and around her little frame. "Why do you let people call you Mon?" He asked. I furrowed my brows and he raised his. "You have a beautiful name. I don't think it's right that every syllable isn't used regularly." I stared at him and he had an eyebrow cocked up before shrugging.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked quietly. He didn't speak. "I mean, I already know that you're going to leave, so why don't I just say I did fall?"
He licked his lips letting out a breath. "Because you need to actually feel the pain to make yourself feel alive."
It was a strange sensation to feel my eyes burn. I felt a small whimper in my throat. My body was shaking in the slightest. I didn't hold it back either. I fell to the sidewalk and sat there. I cried. He stood with Lilly, watching and waiting. "Don't get so worked up over it, my little flower."
"No; don't call me that. I am not yours," I shakily cried out. He then sat next to me, shifting to make sure the little one didn't stir.
"Look at me, Monique," he breathed out. And I did. His skin was pale, his eyes were blue, his hair was a fade of blonde-brown, and his lips were pink.
Then he leant closer to where I could feel his breath against my skin. He gently reached out with the hand that had been holding the small of Lilly's back. His thumb rested under my chin whilst the others were helping his index hold the bottom of my jaw. Then I felt cold, tender, chapped, pouty lips press against my shaky, warm ones. And so, I fell into that light kiss. Neither of our lips moved and it only lasted less than twenty seconds as my eyes fell closed, wet eyelashes sweeping my cheekbones, and his shut languidly in a beautiful flutter. A tear fell down my cheek and he wiped it away as he pulled out of the kiss and stared into my eyes. He was chewing on his bottom lip a bit. "I'm not saying I'm not like everyone else too, flower. But I'll help you to hurry your own trial and errors because I think if you were legit you'd actually be sweet. And maybe you could get something out of this besides a fantasy that isn't real."