I Live by the Woods [On Hold]

Chapter 17: Worthless

"Shh, I've got you," Enoch softly spoke as he cradled me against him.

"Nobody's got me," I mumbled tiredly into his chest. He squished me tighter against him before resituating us to lay on the leather seat in the theatre. I removed my face from his chest to take a breath of fresh air then returned it to its spot. "I'm a worthless pile of trash. You should just throw me in the bin and free me from my responsibilities already."

His soft chuckles were barely heard over the movie playing on the screen. Carl had just declared that he was Dug's master, and Enoch barely dragged his attention from the Disney film.

"You just said you were worthless, yet you say free you from responsibilities? How does that work?" His voice was distracted, but I could tell he was still half-listening.

I rolled from my stomach to my side, snuggling into the space between Enoch and the chair's arm. I looked up at him.

"Being worthless is very hard work, Enoch."

"Is that so? Ooh! Watch! This is my favorite part!"

I turned to see three dogs piloting planes and firing tranquilizer darts at Russell on a water hose. "What am I–"

"Shh! Just watch," Enoch whispered. I rolled my eyes at his childishness but looked back to the screen in time to hear Russell yell.

"Hey, look! A squirrel!" His squeaky voice called out. All three dogs turned their attention to nothing and repeated the animal.

As one crashed and floated down in his parachute, I turned to Enoch with a questioning look. He made eye contact and mouthed the next words perfectly.

"I hate squirrels."

I burst out laughing alongside Enoch and pressed my nose into his side to try and contain it. It was a good feeling to laugh. I hadn't noticed how nice it felt to have your stomach muscles curling in on themselves while your breathing goes sporadic.

What a weird concept.

When I had calmed enough to speak, I looked up to find Enoch grinning widely at me, an undecipherable emotion floating in the emerald pools of his. It seemed as if I accidentally fell into them because my senses tuned out everything but him.

He pulled me up so my head was closer to his and I gave a slight smile, still uninformed of what emotion took hold of his eyes. Trying to decipher it seemed useless at this moment, so I settled to continuously make eye contact.

It wasn't a bad choice, either. Enoch's eyes were beautiful.

Well, I'm not saying like, unmanly beautiful, I'm meaning that his eyes are a coveted item for many. Myself included.

What can I say? They're gorgeous.

Enoch's fingers trailed long my sleeved arm and I shuddered with the sensation. My father did that when I was young, but Enoch makes it seem much more of a comforting gesture than Father ever did. That sounds ungrateful, but it's true. Father never really knew what he was doing, raising a child at the ripe old age of twenty.

That's right, folks! Mum was seventeen years of age when she birthed me. If I were her, I would've had a child by now.

Thank goodness I don't. After what happened with Stephanie this morning, I'm positive I'm not ready yet.

I must've been frowning because Enoch assured me the incident today was over and done.

"She's fine. She's a Pendleton! Pendleton's are strong."

He flexed his bare bicep to prove his point.

"Was that your attempt to woo me? How pathetic," I commented, reaching into the bowl of Skittles resting beside the chair. I plopped a few in my mouth before grabbing a handful. As I did so, I felt Enoch shift beneath me and a presence just to the right of my face.