𝑶𝒄𝒆𝒂𝒏 𝑬𝒚𝒆𝒔

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐄𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 |𝟏𝟖|

"𝐈'𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
• • •

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟖

I squeeze my fingers tightly, tap my foot against the floor, wreck my brain for a way to bring up the conversation.

From the time I saw Remo's face, I've been thinking of a way to ask - no tell him to stop fighting. Is that selfish of me? To ask him to stop fighting? I don't want him getting hurt. And I like his face so it would be amazing if he doesn't mess it up.

I glance down at my fingers which are turning white from the grip I have on them. Releasing a soft breath, I turn my attention to the scenery passing by as we drive to school.

Suddenly, a warm hand covers mine, untangles my fingers, and slips between. I look down at my hands again. Remo's larger hand is sandwiched between my own, his fingers tangled with mine. Remo continues driving, completely unaffected by that simple act unlike me. I'm a fluttery mess of butterflies.

I let out a small breath and squeeze his fingers like I did mine, my nerves getting the better of me. He doesn't seem to mind that I'm practically digging my nails into his skin, or that I'm probably cutting off his blood circulation. In fact, he squeezes my hand right back - I think.

The car rolls to a stop and Remo turns to me.

"Derya?"

I don't look at him.

"Derya, look at me," he almost demands and I can't deny him. He doesn't look too bad now. The wounds have begun to heal but he still wears a pair of Ray-bans over his eyes.

Hesitantly, I remove one hand from his and reach out to push his glasses up myself, so I can see his face properly and remind myself why I want him to stop in the first place.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong? I can tell something has been bugging you since Friday," he asks, softly.

I drag out my phone -

"How did you get hurt?."

Remo meets my gaze, then glances down, squeezes my hand. His throat bobs as he swallows before finally answering me.

"I, uh, I - I got into an accident," he says but it comes out more like a question.

Anger bubbles up inside me at the lie. I knew he was going to lie. I could tell from the way he wouldn't look me in the eye or the way his hand tightened around my own.

"Don't lie to me."

"Derya, I'm not–"

I shake my head, cutting him off. If he's going to insist he's not lying I will hit him.

"I saw you, Remo. I know how you hurt your face and it wasn't an accident."

Remo looks alarmed for a second, eyes widening a fraction. He rubs his thumb across his jaw before biting down on his bottom lip. He's nervous about something but not showing it.

"What'd you mean you saw me? Where did you see me?"

"Remo, you were on TV. Of course, I saw you."

He looks so adorable when he's confused. His eyebrows dip in the middle and his lips tilt up in one corner.

"On TV? I wasn't on TV?"

"But you were!"  I insist.

He swallows thickly, glancing up at me with those brown eyes that I melt for. "Okay. Okay, Derya I won't lie to you. It was a fight but I'm fine. I've done this before against guys way worse than this one." Remo strokes his thumb across my knuckles gently, sending shivers up my arm at the feel of his rough fingers against my skin.

"Why did you lie?"

He looks down again. "You weren't supposed to find out. What – what can I do to make you feel better?"

I know he completely avoided my question but I'm not going to push him on the subject. He'll tell me when he's ready to.

"I want you to stop. Please stop fighting. I hate seeing you get hurt."

"Okay," Remo says without a moment of hesitation. "I'll stop fighting." He rubs his thumb against his bottom lip, chewing on it as if deep in thought.

"Really?"

"Yes really, sweetheart. I'll stop."

I honestly did not think he would agree so easily but I'm not complaining. Remo's hand leaves mine as he exits the car but as soon as I stepped out from my side, he grips onto it again.

"Diavolo! No sunglasses in school. And no sweets either. Spit it out!" A teacher yells from the doorway of her class.

Remo rolls the lollipop around in his mouth, tilting his head down slightly to look at the teacher over the rim of his glasses. He raises an eyebrow before pushing the glasses back up his nose and blatantly ignoring the teacher as he walks down the hall.

Before I could escape into my first class, Remo pulls me closer my the strings of my hoodie. "When your classes are over, wait for Gabriel or Luke. Or even Levi. Or me. Okay?"

I nod, smiling to myself, and disappear through the door.

Gabriel is there waiting for me, leaning against the wall with a foot propped up against it when I get out of class.

The moment he sees me he wraps an arm over my shoulder and squeezes.

"The big brute isn't here so I can finally hug you without getting a smack on the head. Hi, my princess." Gabriel squeezes me tightly. I pat his back even though the position I'm in is so awkward.

Gabriel keeps his arm over my shoulder as he begins to drag me down the hall.

"So here's the plan, princess. Levi's got a huge pack of sour worms and refuses to give it to me. So you get it for me. Sound good?" Gabriel whispers in my ear as if telling me about a secret mission.

I frown and shoot him an odd look.

"Oh don't look at me like. Please princess help a brother out. I'll give you 25% of the bag," he whines.

I ponder that for a moment. A quarter of the packet of worms.

"Okay fine how about 50%," he bargains again.

Half the bag sounds good to me. I nod my head, grinning up at him. "Looks like we have a deal, missy," Gabriel laughs, giving me his hand to shake as if we are closing a deal.

There's a particular boy missing from the table when we enter the cafeteria.

I pull out my phone to ask Gabriel where he is, but he stops me. "Come on, Ocean. Why don't you try using what you taught me yesterday? You'd be surprised by how much I know." He gives me a sly smirk.

I raise an eyebrow at him.

"Where is Remo?" I sign.

Gabriel stares at my hands for a few seconds completely lost.

"Okay, I got the where. I don't know the rest but I assume you're asking about your boy toy."

I nod.

"Ah he was called into the office earlier. Something about a Peter Crawford," he says off-handedly.

I turn around immediately and head back the way we came.

Something definitely isn't right.

❦︎

Sucky chapter again but oh well. Completely logging off again on all socials. I had a break this weekend which is why I popped in to update 🥰

Enjoy my loves. Let me know what you think.
(And if you have theories, DM me ;) I don't want spoilers in the comments)