❤ Innocent Rebel ❤

Chapter 13

°>°>°> "It's impossible," said pride.
"It's risky," said experience. "It's pointless," said reason. "Give it a try," whispered the heart. <°<°<°

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Mia
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"We're Italian. D'Amore in Italian means 'of love'."

I know the name. I have heard it on the news before. In the papers.

"Italian. I can see it, in your coloring," I say.

I realize now how very little I really know about him. We sit, each on either side of my bed, both facing each other. He has taken off his shoes. He sits with his back against the wall, knees bent like mine. He wears the same black jeans that I have seen before, the ones with ripped knees. He looks handsome as ever.

"And you, where does your people come from?" He asks.

I grin. "Does my last name not tell you enough? My father was Mexican and my mother was American. They loved each other dearly. Until the day they died."

I don't know why I have said so much. He didn't need to know they were gone.

"I've had the pleasure of meeting your father. But your mother?"

His face saddens. I regret having asked.

"She is gone. Dead."

His answer is clipped and short. I change the subject, quickly.

"How old are you?"

He then grins too. "Twenty-three. Too old for a girl of nineteenth?"

I feel butterflies flutter around in my stomach.

"Maybe. I would have thought you were younger."

I have struck his pride. But he soon grins widely.

"You have a smart mouth," he says. "I'd like to kiss that mouth."

He moves to sit up and do so. But before he can place his lips on mine, I place a finger over his lips.

"None of that," I say and push him back to where he was sitting.

"If you're here to try to finish what we started the other night, then you need to leave now," I surprise myself at how calmly I said this.

He just chuckles. Then he looks around my room. To my bookshelves.

"You like books," he says.

"Yes."

He turns back to me. "Romance."

I shrug. "Yes. Don't most girls my age read a good romance every once in a while?"

"You know, fairytales are fiction. They aren't real."

Without my intention, I bat my eyes at him.

"True but isn't it nice to believe in fairytales, even if they don't exist. It's nice to believe that magical things can happen."

His brows come together and then he laughs at me again.

"Sure, whatever you say princess."

After he is done picking on me, he gets up and picks a book from my shelf. Of course he would pick that one. It was dark and mysterious, just like him.

"Edgar Allen Poe? Not exactly what I would call a fairy tale."

I shrug again. "I have a little bit of a dark side too."

He rolls his eyes. "Don't we all."

He opens the book to the spot I have marked. Then he starts to read aloud. I listen closely as he reads the poem. His voice is warm and deep. Intoxicating. I listen closely.

"Of my darling-my darling- my life and bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea.
In her tomb by the sounding sea."

When he finishes, our eyes meet. He closes the book. Then relaxes against the wall again. We talk, about me mostly, which I find completely boring, but I tell him anyway. I tell how Jessy and I became so close. What it was like growing up with Mawmaw. He tells me how he likes my grandma, which surprises me.
We talk for hours. About movies, music, our likes and dislikes. We laugh. We tease. And then....
I don't remember when I laid down but before I close my eyes, I feel him lay next to me. I don't try to move away. Or tell him to leave.
Instead, I snuggle close to his side. My head resting on his shoulder. His arm wraps around me. And then I sleep.

When my eyes open again, Lex is gone. I feel cold without his heat. I yawn and stretch out my limbs. On the pillow where he had slept is a note.

'I had to leave before someone found out I was missing. Or I was found sleeping next to you. Your Mawmaw might have shot me, if she had found me. If you still want that job, then it's yours. Come by the shop, so you can fill out some paper work.
See ya,
L.'

I grin.
He didn't have to help me out. But then again, I hadn't had to help him when he was shot. I was still pretty ticked about what had happened at the party but I... I don't like to think that I have already forgiven him, even though I already know I have. But he doesn't need to know that.
I jump up and find that Mawmaw is already in the kitchen. Jess is still gone and I cover for her with Mawmaw, saying that she had stayed at a friends. I gulp down my breakfast and then jump in the shower. I dress nicely and then work on my hair and makeup.
And then a thought hits me. If I take this job I would be working for someone who is part of a gang and someone who has told me that being around him could get me hurt. If I take this job it will be against my better judgement. I finish my makeup and look at myself in my mirror.
Change was in the air. I can feel it. Like I am at the end of something and at the beginning of something bigger.

(Another short chapter but it's one of my favorites so far.)