“J-Jen...” He croaked
“I’m here…I whispered in his ear
“Did you…” I felt fire rise to my cheeks again, he knew… I felt him faintly kiss me back
“Did I what?” Playing the dumb card
“You…You kissed me…why?”
“Urmm… it… urmm” I stuttered, as I started to move back I felt a weakened grip grab my wrist
“Don’t… stay…”
“You’re weak and delusional… you need rest...”
“I’ll feel better… with you next to me” He tried to smile, but he winced in pain instead… seeing him struggle… seeing him have to hide for me… it tore and shred me up inside, but I shook my head and decided to get up anyway I even had to explain to him that there was barely enough room for me to lie down but still he insisted I lie down, even if it was on top of him…
“I can’t Leo… your still healing…”
“I’ll be ok…” He weakly smiled
“Is there anyone I can call… to come help us… you know… drive you or me home”
“No. I don’t trust them.” His voice was stern; I couldn’t help but flinch “I’m sorry, I just don’t trust them to be near you”
“Why?”
“Because, you’re a hybrid… now… help me up” I opened the car door, slid out and grabbed his hands and yanked him up “Whoa... easy” He winced, looping his arm over my shoulder I began to lead him back to the driver’s seat, opened the door once more before slotting him into his seat… it was exhausting all of this, ‘Maybe I’ll pull a sicky tomorrow’ I pondered, it was so tempting.
“Thank you… you’ve done so much for me”
“It’s nothing” I replied, shutting the door before getting into the passenger side myself “Really… you needed help… so I provided it” Fire scorched my face
“I’m sorry you had to see me like that…”
“It’s ok” I lied, to be honest, it genuinely terrified me to see that… that he had to practically… snap his wings in order to have the appearance of a human, it made me shiver all over
“I know when you’re Lying Jen… I can tell it disgusted you...” He turned away from me
“It didn’t disgust me, I felt terrified because… because you had to... snap them…” he just smirked as if he was about to explain something to a child
“oh my sweet, that’s the only way I can ever fit in… or put on a charade I should say… in order to seem human” he reached out and brushed a hair from my eyes, such a sweet sentiment.
“You shouldn’t have to ‘fit in’ as you put it… you should be allowed to be yourself…” he let out a soft sigh as if he were about to talk to a child
“Jen, that’s not possible… you know why don’t you?”
“I think so… but go on”
“Because, we would be idolized… it may seem nice to you… but I assure you it is not, in fact it is the exact opposite… you do not have an inch of privacy… it’s like…” he pondered for a moment, possibly thinking of a comparison “… it’s like your celebrities, but soooo much worse” I nodded, I faintly understood what he meant, having my own brush with fame after the accident… getting bugged by those damn paparazzi… I stared at him and only then did I realise his eyes had changed back to that unearthly blue sapphire… “What?” he asked, plain curiosity stuck to his face along with a cheeky slanted grin.
“Oh…urmm…” I felt the rush of heat flow to my cheeks; they were burning like crazy “It’s… your eyes…”
“What about them?” his eyes searched my expression, trying to read me ever so carefully
“They change colour… well changed colour I should say…”
“Oh”
“Yeah” I stared at the ground, this was totally embarrassing… “Earlier, when you showed me your wings… and became yourself, it changed from the normal sapphire colour… to the same colour of your wings… icey blue” once more I felt a fresh wave of heat hit my cheeks, he clearly enjoyed making me embarrassed I was sure of it
“That’s one thing I didn’t know about myself…in all the centuries I have lived… not once was I informed of the change” He burst out laughing, amused at this revelation but his expression quickly hardened as he looked at the time on his phone “Jesus Jen… we gotta go… your dads going to yell if your late, this time though… don’t give me a false address ok?” he smirked, but I was frozen in place at what he said
“How did you know?”
“You think really loud in your dreams Jen… I just… went for a stroll you could say” I scowled at him, that was an invasion of privacy and I did not appreciate it at all! ‘Bloody wonderful, I would have thought angels at least had the courtesy to stay out of my bloody head!’ I screamed in my head, however hearing me scowl under my breathe he just held his hands up in a defensive manner, cringed as he turned… obviously he was still in pain but he shoved the keys in the ignition and started her up.
“Are you sure you’re ok to drive? I can catch a bus home?” but he held his hand up to silence me and shook his head
“I’ll be fine my sweet” and with that we were off.
The journey home began quiet then shifted to asking questions about one another, our favourite colours, hobbies, where in the world he had been/had not been to… then it went silent once more, so instead of waiting for more conversation I decided to stare out of the window and gaze at the whirling colours and people that whizzed by…
“Jen?” Leo’s voice broke me out of my train of thought, I turned to him but his gaze shifting between looking at me and darting to the road
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re awfully quiet?” his brow raised
“I was…thinking”
“About what?”
“No offence but I’m not going to share that with you…” I didn’t want to tell him that thoughts of him were frantically spinning around in my head, but more prominent of them was the memory of how soft his lips felt against mine, how nicely they fit together ‘like a lock to a key..’ I waited for a reply that never came, instead he shrugged and so once more… the eerie silence fell between us. We were fast approaching my house now, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach I swallowed hard and pushed them away… why was I nervous? I had nothing to be nervous about...
I got out of the car and slammed the door behind me; I didn’t even look back. I felt a mixture of embarrassment about the kiss, shocked to find out that he was an angel and disgusted that I allowed myself to fall for him, when all he did was prolong my suffering in this world. I yanked the front door open, not caring what time it was or even if my dad was asleep, closed the door and slumped up the stairs to my room, turning my light off and shutting the door I chucked my top and bottoms off then slid under my bed covers, I was in such a bad mood… and didn’t want to sleep. For the life of me I could not get over what Leo had told me… that I was a hybrid… and the fact that I didn’t have my own soul… it tore me apart inside… I mean it had to be my soul, didn’t it?? I stirred and turned as I tried to let things sink in… but they wouldn’t it was all too weird and unreal, well of course it was going to be unreal… I had just seen an angel for pities sake… or had I? Was I just hallucinating, there must have been something wrong with the food I ate…
“Jen…” an eerie voice whispered, it startled me but I did not move… worst thing you can ever do… but maybe I was hearing things “Jen..” There it was again; this time I pulled the cover up over my head and squeezed my eyes close “Jen… do not be afraid…”
‘Yeah right!’ I thought, like hell I wasn’t going to be afraid of an eerie unknown voice.
“Jennifer, look outside” I breathed in shakily, but slowly opened my eyes, turned towards the direction of the window and slowly but surely pulled the covers down… my heart and breathe accelerating at every movement, but when I looked… I saw nothing.