Princess On the Run

Chapter 13

Ares's POV

"Hey... you seemed pretty out of it yesterday after detention. Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?" I asked Thea as she entered my car. I don't know why I was even bothering to see if she was okay. 'It's all just part of the act'  is what I wanted to believe. Deep down I knew this wasn't true. 

"I'm fine now. Lina and I just had something important to do yesterday that was sort of stressing me out. I'm completely better now though, thanks for asking," she said as she intertwined her hand with mine. As I drove my mind wandered; what important thing did she do yesterday? 

"Well I'm glad you worked everything out. You know you can talk to me if you need right?" I was hoping she would just spill the beans so I could do a u-turn and bring her to my dad. Ever since this stupid job started, I've had to miss every business meeting. I was beginning to feel left out. Thea was slowly ruining my life, that's for sure. 

"Yeah, I know. Trust me, I will when I'm ready." I turned my head to look at her quickly and saw her staring ahead. The little frown on her face showed how deep in thought she was, and if I wasn't mistaken, her eyes were beginning to tear up. She blinked away her pain so fast that I began thinking I'd only imagined it, and replaced her frown with a smile. Thank god. I don't like tears, and don't know how to respond to them. I'm not cuddly and have no clue how to comfort someone. I didn't want to either, so I ignored the pit in my chest and pretended not to notice her sadness. 

She looked at me with a completely different expression than the one I saw a few seconds ago, "so, when's our next... outing." She raised her eyebrows and looked at me curiously, silently hoping I would understand what she was getting at. I knew exactly what she meant by 'outing', but I decided to play around with her a little bit for fun. 

"What do you mean outing?" I gave her a confused look, and earned a sigh in return. 

"Ya know.. like last weekend. When we went... out." I shook my head and pretended to be deep in thought. 

"Last weekend... I can't seem to remember. I hung out with Clay and got piss drunk but what else did I do... let's see, I saw my-" 

"Ares! A date. Why am I the one that always has to ask you out." She gave me a frustrated and annoyed look. 

I laughed, "oh a date? Why didn't you say so. We can go out again on Saturday or Sunday. Or both?" 

She gave me an annoyed look and hopped out of the car without another word. 

I ran to catch up to her as she walked into the school and pulled her arm, causing her to spin into my chest. 

"Why did you just leave like that? Do you not want to go out with me now?" I gave her a confused look. Girls are so confusing.

"You just did it again! You're unbelievable, you were joking that whole time!" She looked down at the floor with an embarrassed look and shook her head. 

"What did I do again princess?" Now I was actually confused.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, "You said 'we can go out '. You were just messing with me that whole time to see me get embarrassed." 

I laughed along with her, which surprised her and myself as well. "What can I say, you're gullible." 

"And to think I trusted you," she replied back sarcastically with a smile and pushed my chest slightly. 

I stopped laughing and looked away from her, "you trust me?" Her hand reached for my face and turned it towards her. 

"I trust you just as much as Lina. You, her and Cora are really all I've got." She said genuinely. I wished she didn't trust me. I wished she didn't know me. I wished I never met her. I wished my family wasn't so fucked up. Wishes don't always come true though. 

"I'm not a good person Thea. You shouldn't trust someone like me." That was the first time in a long time that I'd called her Thea. It didn't feel right. I frowned slightly and looked into her eyes. They say the eyes are the key to the soul, and I was praying she couldn't see mine. Mine was dark and cold. Lonely, empty, broken. I hoped she couldn't see the guilt in my eyes. And as I looked into hers, I could see something I had never seen before. Admiration, and maybe more... maybe lo-... No I refused to think that. That didn't exist. 

"Ares, I trust you with my life. I'm just not ready to tell you what's on my mind because... I don't want you to look at me different. It haunts me, and it shouldn't be your problem too. That wouldn't be fair." How ironic. She trusted me with her life. 

I tucked a loose piece of hair behind her ear and kissed her forehead. "Any problem of yours is a problem of mine princess. Never forget that." 

We stood there for god knows how long and just held onto each other. She made me feel so at peace and safe. She made me feel like I was good. But then I remembered why I was doing all of this, and it made me feel like the exact opposite. I truly was evil.

I opened my eyes after what felt like forever and looked around. The late bell had just rang and I realized all of a sudden that we were the only ones in the hallway. 

"Shit. We have to get to class before Mrs. Simms gives us another detention." I released her from my embrace, but made sure to still hold her hand as I began walking with her down the hall. As I walked, a question entered my mind. 

"Oh... I forgot to ask before, but...why do you call your mom Lina?"