A/N: Lyrics from the song above are in the text; centered and italicized. Btw, the song is we Unbreakable by Madison Beer, which personally, is my favorite song in the whole world. 😍😍 P.s. I did change out some of the lyrics of this version of the song with the regular lyrics.
~Kaden's POV~
I could feel her arm tighten a bit around mine, as we entered the building. She seems tense. Out of it.
Entering the ball, you could hear the various chatters of those who were already there. Music was playing in the background, but not many people were dancing. Though there were many high schoolers here, I'd have to say there are probably more adults. Why do they even make this a town event anyway, it's just stupid.
Looking down and over at Faith, I take in her full appearance; tight-waisted dress that fit perfectly. Curled hair thrown to the side. A diamond necklace clinging to her chest. Dark eyeliner that made her blue eyes stand out. And those plump, red lips that practically mesmerized you, as she spoke.
She's beautiful. There's no denying it.
Anyone with eyes could see that.
Though, I should know by now how much a simple smile can hide.
I don't think I could ever give the emotional support a person like that needs when I have enough of my own demons to deal with. Fighting my own battles is one thing, helping someone else fight their battle is a complete other. And it's not something I can do. I just can't.
Fuck. Tonight is going to be a long night if I can't focus on just the dance and this meeting.
***
The girls ran off to dance a while ago and it's just the guys now. Glancing down at my watch, I quickly realize it's almost nine.
"Hey guys, I gotta go do something, I'll be right back." Before I turn around to leave, I make sure to give them a look, as to tell them what I'm up to. They already know, anyways.
A few people stopped me on the way to say hi, but I merely smiled in response and kept walking. They're so impatient. Silently, and with both hands in my pockets, I walked to the other side of the street and reached the fountain as a chime from the clocktower rang throughout the city. It's nine.
Their shadows appeared, then they did.
Alec had no problem getting straight to the point. "What happened last weekend?"
Christian was the first to speak, "One of Blackwood's men showed up at a clearing in the woods behind our houses."
"Was she there?"
I grinned at the memory of our make out session in the woods. Rubbing my jaw with one hand, I replied, "Oh yeah, she was there."
Alec seemed intrigued, "Why was she in the woods, alone?"
"She wasn't, she was with me."
"What were you doing?"
"Do you really want to know, Alec? I mean, with your history together and all..." I inwardly smirked, knowing that what I said would strike a nerve with him. Though the lighting was quite dim, you could just make out his hands balling up into fists and jaw clenching. Alec's stance went rigid and he puffed his chest out. The others' actions became similar as I stood there. "Oh, sorry. Did I hit a soft spot there? Whoops." Imposing sarcastically, I antagonized him.
He was livid. You could almost hear his teeth grinding and see smoke come out of his ears. It's fun watching him squirm, but now wasn't the time for games. Now is business. I've had my fun.
Now speaking slow and firm, Alec asked again, "What were you doing?"
"We were making out in the woods." I didn't really need to say it. He knew. He just wanted confirmation. Neither of their expressions changed as I continued to retell the memory of last weekend at the bonfire.
"Then Cornelius came into sight on the other side of the clearing. He wanted to clean up Blackwood's 'loose ends'. As in finish what he started. He wants me gone. I'm too much of a threat to his career. He knew he wouldn't be able to take me, so he targeted her. He wanted to take her back to Blackwood as an exchange. The guys came to check on Faith and I just in time, and I had Shane take her back to the house while the rest of us took care of Cornelius. He's gone for now, but Blackwood is persistent, and never does his own dirty work."
"How could you let her anywhere near this?"
"Are you fucking serious? He just showed up, it's not like I fucking handed her to him. I don't want her near any of this just as much as you two, but it wasn't a choice I got to make."
"She can't know."
"Well she already knows something is up. She's suspicious and suspects we know something she doesn't."
"What did you tell her?" Christian interjected.
"I told her to drop it, but none of us are going to get her to stop asking questions. She's too smart for her own good, and I bet you that she'll find a way to figure out."
"Well we can't let her."
"I agree with Alec, she shouldn't know, and all of us have to make sure she doesn't." Christian stated.
"Guys, she's bound to find out. Cornelius will come back, and for all we know, he could go straight for her just to piss all of us off. Someone could show up anytime one of us is with her, and the only way we can protect her is by telling her. If we tell her, then she can be more aware and cautious. She can-" I was suddenly interrupted and waited quietly while he spoke.
"I don't want her to have to be cautious! I don't want my little sister looking over her shoulder every five seconds because all she can think about is the chance of someone coming after her. I want her to enjoy her life, not continuing to live in fear. She's had enough. Don't you think?" Christian was angry. I know he just wants his baby sis out of this as much as I would want my own out of it, but he's letting that fog his head. The fact is that she needs to know. She could be hurt just as bad if she doesn't know so we might as well lower the odds. I'd let her out of the bet if she wanted nothing to do with me after found out, but it should all be her choice.
"Yes, but she's already asking questions. She knows something is up with us. And you said it yourself that she probably saw the message Alec sent you earlier. She's going to wonder why you're even talking to him after what he did to her. We should tell her. Let her make her own decisions for once."
"No. We're not telling her. That's final and this conversation is over. They're about to announce homecoming royal court, let's go."
Then he walked away.
I took one glance at Alec and Sterling before following Christian back inside.
Sterling had said nothing throughout the whole exchange, but it wasn't hard to tell that he doesn't want her to know either. I don't know why they can't see it my way. Though, you never really know what's going on in Sterling's head, because he never says it aloud.
Rejoining the boys along with Christian, we chatted aimlessly. I couldn't take my mind off everything that had just happened, but I needed to try.
Soon the voice of our mayor sounded throughout the speakers in the room. "May I please have your attention. It is now time to announce this year's Homecoming King and Queen!" Applause rumbled from the whole population of the dance.
"Your new king is.... Kaden Amante!" Reluctant, I walked up on stage and accepted the crown. God I hope I have a decent queen. "Now, can I have all my princesses on stage, Danielle Walters, Summer Davis, Faith Johnson, and Evelin Sanders! Let's give these ladies a hand!"
I watched as Faith made her way up the stage, so gracefully. A smile stretched across her her face as she held her dress up to keep from tripping. Beautiful.
She silently stood next to the other nominees, on the other side of the stage, with a cute little smile stuck on her face.
"And your homecoming queen is..." For a second he fumbled with the paper before finally reading the name I was hoping I wouldn't hear. "Faith Johnson!" Applause roared in front of me and a confused look crossed her face before she started walking towards my side of the stage. The mayor lightly positioned the tiara in her hair before he stepped away and everyone in the town hall continued clapping. Once everyone had silenced, he announced our dance as King and Queen. A simple slow dance. Just, with HER.
What's wrong with me? I should be trying to get closer to her. To make her fall in love. I shouldn't be avoiding her just because this whole ordeal is messing with my head. The worst problem is that I have no idea why I feel all... Confused and flustered. Fuck. No, I'm not. I'm probably just not feeling well.
Yeah. That's it.
I'm just playing a little 'hard to get'. She's bound to fall for me so I can just get this game, bet, or whatever I originally planned our arrangement to be, over with. This committed relationship thing isn't helping my reputation. It's not even real. I should just be fucking and dumping random girls, but instead I had to go and do something stupid that took three months of my life.
Neither of us are giving in, the stakes are just too high. I'm not going to risk being that little girl's slave. And if I did cheat or call it all off, she's too nice anyway. It's not like she's going to abuse any given power.
My head just needs to shut the fuck up so I can get this dance over with.
"May I?"
Her delicate arm wrapped around my own as I lead her down the small set of stairs. We stood right below the stage and Spotlight was pointed directly on us. Everything and everyone, was dead silent. Yet, it felt like everything was amplified. Then the music started.
My hands went to her waist as hers slid up to my neck/ shoulders. Everything seemed to calm down. I was oddly more relaxed than I just was. It was probably just the music, it has that effect on me. I'm sure it was nothing.
Do you feel, like you just can't take no more.
Broken heart, all your pieces in the floor.
Like your running out of breath trying to find yourself, before you blow away in the night.
It's definitely a girly song, but the lyrics just seem to hit me.
Every word you ever said,
Every way you ever felt,
I know it's hard but baby tonight...
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see other couples, young and old, starting to dance. Soon. I heard a faint voice echoing the words of the song. After that, I only could see one thing.
We're gonna run through fire,
like we've never been burned.
We're gonna laugh out,
Never been hurt.
We're gonna shout it out,
to the edge of the world.
Her.
We're unbreakable!
We're unbreakable!
It was as though the whole world had frozen. Gone away. Vanished. Whatever it is was, it was like we were the only two in the room. I don't know why, but it felt right. Unbelievably so. Gripping her waist a little tighter, I pulled her body in closer to mine, as far as her dress would allow me too.
This felt right. Something about being with her made me feel some kind of way.
We're gonna scream on rooftops,
Dance in the rain.
We'll open up our hearts,
Forget the pain.
And they can call us crazy,
Like... She and I are just... I don't know.
But we're unbreakable!
We're unbreakable!
You're unbreakable!
You're unbreakable...
Nothing has changed. Nothing is different. She's not different. I'm not different. So why do I feel weird? There's a unsettling feeling in my stomach and I don't fucking know why!
Empty streets,
Filled with faces you don't know.
In a crowd,
Tryna' stand out, tryna glow.
My eyes were inevitably locked to her. What is she's so innocently thinking about in that little head of hers.
But no matter where you are,
It's like you're in the dark,
And you just can't find the fuse to the light.
Every word you ever said,
Every way you ever felt,
I know it's hard but baby tonight...
Does this song know every fucking aspect of my life? Why this song? I've never even heard this before. So why play it now?
We're gonna run through fire live we've,
Never been burnt.
We're gonna laugh out loud,
Never been hurt.
We're gonna shout it out,
to the edge of the world.
We're unbreakable!
We're unbreakable!
You're unbreakable!
You're unbreakable...
Goddamn it! Why can't I get her out of my fucking head?!? Why do I feel so content when I'm around her? Why do I want to be around her twenty four- seven? All I can think about is having her with me. Kissing her. Touching her. Anything involving her.
I am me,
There's nothing that can break me,
Nothin' that can break me.
I'm telling you, I am free,
There's nothing that can hold me,
Nothing that can hold me.
I'm telling you, I am me,
There's nothing that break me,
nothing that can break me...
I am free..
Can't hold me down!
Ive got it! It's simple, all I'm feeling is lust. Pure lust. It's normal in our circumstances; hormonal teenager, around each other a lot, trying to seduce each other, and not to mention the fact that I haven't had sex in three months. I'm just... Frustrated, sexually.
We're gonna run through fire,
Like we've, never been burned.
We're gonna laugh out loud,
Never been hurt.
We're gonna shout it out,
to the edge of the world;
We spun round, and round, dancing. She and I were so focused on each other that nothing else existed. Light sparkled and danced of her glowing skin. A small bead of sweat formed on my brow because of how hard I was try to concentrate on something else. Every time though, she dominated my mind. The way her lip slightly sang the words had me mesmerized. Her blue eyes were the cause of a trance in their own. And don't even get me started on the rest of her body.
We're unbreakable!
We're unbreakable!
You're unbreakable...
She's unbreakable.
***
The night went by slowly after that dance. My mind was racing and I found it hard to focus on anything.
One dance. That's all we had.
The rest of the night we were bombarded by people wanting to talk to us and give us their congratulations. At one point we had to go take pictures together, for the second time tonight. If I ever have to take one more picture I'm going to go fucking insane.
Although, tonight wasn't completely miserable. At one point an elderly woman had pulled us aside and wanted to speak to us, as everyone else did. She first offered her congratulations to us for homecoming king and queen. She then went into a story about how her, and her husband had won when they were in high school. Apparently she was quite a scandal in her age because she mentioned exactly what she and her, future husband at the time, did right after homecoming. That old lady gave off a little more info than I wanted, but there was one thing she had said that caught my attention.
"You know, when I first met Rick, I hated him. He was nothing but trouble. Then we won homecoming court and it was like we were meeting for the first time. He wasn't just that boy, he was the boy. Something about him drew me in, and since then, he and I were inseparable. He changed in so many ways, all because we fell in love. He was my bad boy. It's so nice to see a young couple as in love as we were then and still were until the day he died." She took a moment to relive the memories before giving me a piece of advice. "Love her always as much as you do now, and show her that. Then she will be yours forever. I can tell by the way you look at each other, how much you mean to each other." She lightly put both of her hands on top of Faith and I's intertwined arms and looked me directly in they eyes. "Don't lose this. It will last a lifetime. Love, has no limitations, children."
And thus the advice that I will never forget.
***
We had made it home with minimal interruption and we had gone our separate ways. I went to my house as she went to her and we said our goodbyes. As simple as that.
Yet when I made it up to my room, I could see her through the window. She was already dressed in her pajamas and was dancing around the room singing a random song. A smile had crept onto my face without my knowing as, I undressed and hopped into my night clothes, which only happened to be a pair of basketball shorts.
Once I had finished though, I looked back out the window to see her talking on her phone quietly.
Faintly, I could make out what she was saying. "Yes Lexi, I was there... Yes I saw him. He was my date you dumbo... No he wasn't looking at me differently... Lexi, slow down... Yes I... I don't know... Lex!... All I know is that tonight felt weird. Good weird.... It felt, comfortable... I don't know how I feel about him, or even how he feels about me. It doesn't matter though... Why? Because even if I did end up having feelings for him, there's still so much I don't know about him, that I can't get involved with. He won't let me. Plus, he wouldn't ever fall for me. He made that clear when we started this. God, why did I start this? This is going to be a never ending game because we are both too stubborn to just call it off."
I decided to use the tree outside of our two bedrooms to jump through the window into hers. Landing with a small thud, I caught her attention, and she immediately spun around ready to scream. I chuckled at the sight and she quickly told Lexi that she'd talk to her tomorrow, before hanging up.
"What are you doing here?!?" She whisper yelled.
"Your window was open," I stated nonchalantly before continuing my sentence, "plus I could hear those little, short shorts calling out to me."
She then realized what she was wearing before noticing what I was wearing and crossing her arms over her breasts.
Her eyes fixated on my chest as they went lower and lower. Smirking, I commented a clichè, "take a picture it'll last longer."
"Could I?" I gave her a questioning look before she realized how weird that sounded.
"I mean, a picture of us together, after homecoming and everything."
"Not just one of my abs?" I questioned with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone off the bed. "If I take one more picture after tonight, I'm going to murder myself."
"Come on, please. Just one more?"
"Fine, but you have one chance, I am taking ONE photo."
"Thank you!!" She wrapped her arm tightly around my neck and kissed my cheek, hard.
I don't know what her other hand was doing but it wasn't anywhere near me, and for some reason that made me sad. She let go of my neck and positioned her phone camera in front of our faces. She smiled and waited for me to get ready. Placing my hand on her waist I lifted my chin up to look at the camera and slightly smiled. Just before she took the picture though, my hand slid underneath her short t-shirt and gripped her waist. She sharply took in a breath of air before snapping the picture. I looked down at her and as she didn't move from the position she was in. My eyes just stayed stationary on her temple until she decided to look at me. It was that same look she had when we were dancing.
She was frozen, so I decided to take action.
My left hand glided down her arm, pushing her arm with the phone in it, to her side. With that same hand, I lifted her chin up towards me before leaning in to kiss her. It wasn't long before she pulled away, but it is what it is.
"Just so you know, I'm not going to kick you out, like I should."
"How thoughtful of you."
"Hey! You're the one who jumped into my room through the darn window!" She stated exasperatedly.
"Touché."
"Well... I'm going to bed, and you should too. We have school tomorrow and it's already midnight." I silently watched as she made her way over to her bed and lifted the covers up, allowing herself to jump inside. "Turn the light out when you leave, please."
Walking to the light switch, I thought about what I was going to do. Once the lights were out, I made sure to be quiet as I walked over to her bed. Lifting up the covers, I joined her underneath and wrapped my arms around her petite waist. Snuggling my face into to her neck, I mumbled against the sensitive skin, "May I?"
With only the nod of her head, I had my answer, and I didn't move an inch.
After a long time of just laying with her, she had fallen asleep as I listened to her steady and shallow breaths. My mind is racing and I haven't been able to sleep. Though, holding someone- holding her- calms me.
My arms started falling asleep a while ago, and if I don't move I'm going to have to get them amputated. I tried shifting my arms, but when I did, I completely misjudged. As I moved my hand from where they were, one of them had accidentally brushed very heavily across her boob. Shit. She began stirring around, and I feared she would wake up, but she never did. As I settled back into her, a small moan escapes her lips. Why?
Then, I heard the most surprising part of my night,
"Kaden."