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c l o s e r

The silence was unsettling, Declan's presence unnerving. His grin was positively wicked, eyes slanted mischievously as he watched me fumble for a decent reply.

As for me, I was at a complete lost for words. "Um, what?" I blurted, at last.

He rolled his eyes. "Do I need to spell it out for you, El? A kiss. Come on, lay one on me."

"No!" The thought of kissing Declan sent a wave of indescribable emotions rushing through me. "I'm not going to kiss you just because you want me to."

"Why?"

I got up quickly and headed back into his room, my hair falling into my face to shield it like a protective curtain. To my greatest dismay, Declan followed closely behind.

"Because it's weird," I said, at last, sitting down on his bed.

He sat down next to me. Our knees brushed, his skin flush against mine. The contact was fleeting, barely there, but I flinched and drew away quickly.

"Why's it weird?" Declan looked genuinely curious, his eyebrows knitted together in a confused frown.

I was completely flummoxed. Did he not see how ridiculous this all was? Did he not realise how a kiss could lead to feelings? And how any sort of feelings always led to hurt? "Because no one does that," I explained, desperation seeping into my voice. "You don't just go up to a girl and get her to kiss you! I mean, what about her feelings and - "

"Eloise," He shook his head, his eyes filled with mirth and an amused smile playing on his lips. "I'm just kidding. You don't have to get all worked up."

Embarrassment washed over me when I realised how worked up I was getting when Declan was just taking the piss. Huffing in annoyance, I grabbed the pillow closest to me and swung it at him. Although his hands came up at the last minute to shield himself, the force from the pillow collided heavily onto him and he fell back slightly onto the bed, the wind rather knocked out of him.

And he lay there, groaning, his hands clutching in stomach as if in dreadful pain.

A surge of panic gripped me, and I leaned over him. "Did it hurt? Shit, I'm so sorry," I apologised, the worry I felt unconsciously seeping into my voice. "Declan?" Not a single sound escaped him, and the panic I felt rose into desperation as I gripped his shoulders and shook him briefly. "Declan? You're scaring me."

Suddenly, a familiar pair of hands gripped my waist, and I yelped in surprise. He was far too quick for me, however, and in the next instant, I found myself flipped over, trapped beneath him, mere inches separating us. His curls framed his face perfectly, his eyes crinkled at the corners as he smirked, and I knew, with a sinking feeling of dread, that I had been well and truly played.

Again.

"Was that worry I sensed there, El?" he teased. "You were worried for a second there, weren't you?"

"You are so immature," I informed him, brusquely, rolling my eyes at him. "Now let me go."

He grinned wickedly. "Not until you say 'I'm sexy' first."

I let a brief smile touch my lips. "I'm sexy."

He blinked in confusion for a brief second, before realising that I had fooled him, and when he did, his eyes narrowed. "Very funny, you have such a brilliant sense of humour."

"Thanks, I'm glad you appreciate it. Now will you let me go?"

"Why?" As if he had just realised our compromising position himself, his eyes travelled down for a fleeting moment to my lips. His voice was unexpectedly husky, far rougher than his usual, as he continued, "I quite like it up here."

An involuntary shiver ran down my spine. Breathlessly, as if afraid to ruin the moment, he let his forehead graze mine. There was no knowing whether he had leaned in first, or maybe it was me. But I could almost taste him, almost -

"Declan?"

My eyes flew open, my head snapping to the direction where the voice had come from. To my surprise, it was a young boy who looked no more than a day over thirteen. His eyes were the same alluring blue that Declan's was and he had the same mop of unruly brown curls. But that was not what caught my eye first. What stunned me was that he had only one hand. His right arm ended at the elbow, and he had shielded this defect by placing his arm slightly behind his body.

Declan pulled himself off me. "What is it?"

The boy swallowed visibly, his nervous eyes darting to me, then Declan, and then back to me again. "Mum says we could order Chinese tonight, since she and Dad are getting home late."

Declan nodded, but there was something odd about his reaction. His jaw was clenched and I realised, after a while, that he could hardly look at the boy. "Well, get it, then."

"Isn't your friend going to stay for dinner?"

Completely caught off-guard, I began to stammer. "Um, I - "

"It's fine, El," Declan cut in, "You can stay. Chinese okay with you?"

I heaved a sigh of relief, and smiled weakly. "Yes, thanks," I replied, before realising it was probably time to introduce myself after the little compromising position the boy had caught Declan and me in earlier. "I'm Eloise, by the way," I said, crossing the room and heading towards the boy. Instead of lifting my right hand to shake like I normally would've, I lifted my left instead. "What's your name?"

Looking truly confused, the boy shook my hand, a small smile gracing his lips. "Matt."

"Nice to meet you, Matt," I replied, with a grin.

"Nice to meet you too," He murmured, red creeping onto his cheeks. After a brief nod and smile in my direction, he left the room, his footsteps echoing softly down the hallway.

"Why were you so nice to him?" Declan asked, abruptly, the harshness of his voice startling me.

I turned round to face him, but he was emotionless. "Why not?"

Declan's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Do you pity him because of his handicap or something?"

"Pity him?" I echoed, in disbelief. "How could you even think of something like that?"

"I was just asking," He snapped, but just as quickly, the fire seemed to go out of his eyes and he sank back down onto his bed, his shoulders slumped in a curious pose of defeat. "It's just - I've never had any of my friends treat my brother like he was normal before. Half the time when they come over they'll just stare blatantly, or act excessively nice to him."

I sneaked a cautious glance at him. "I mean no offense, Declan," I started, carefully. "But it's kind of hard not to stare. You have to understand that maybe it's difficult for your friends."

His head tilted to the side, his eyes met mine for a split second before he glanced away again. "Right," He laughed bitterly. "Like it's so damn bloody difficult to refrain from making fun of him."

"Who even does that?"

He shrugged. "Bunch of kids from Matt's school. He's had it rough growing up. Gets better these days but - you know, these things don't ever go away. Actually," he continued, before I could even say anything. His eyes were bright now, a small smile playing on his lips. "You've seen Matt before. It was how I first noticed you, to be honest."

I stared at him in surprise. "Really? When?"

"Awhile back, I think. I was on the opposite street getting something - I can't quite remember - and Matt was waiting for me with a huge bag of groceries," He told me, "Then it started raining, but I was still in the queue so I couldn't get to him. And you saw him and helped him bring the groceries into the café nearby so he wouldn't get caught in the rain."

"I seriously can't remember anything about that," I told him.

Declan grinned at my blank expression. "I remember wondering if I was ever going to see you again. And then when I got to school, I saw you in the hallway and that's when I realised we'd been going to the same school for years."

"And then you decided to plague my life by making me teach you how to kiss?"

"Yeah, pretty much," He chuckled, "I also remember thinking that was exactly when - " He stopped abruptly, a sudden flush of red tinging his cheeks.

"Exactly when what?" I prompted, surprised at him having cut off his sentence so suddenly.

His eyes flickered to mine. "Forget it," He said, at last, glancing away and standing up. "Come on, dinner's probably already here."

He walked out of the room before I could even scramble up, and as I stared at his departing figure, I couldn't help but wonder what it was that he was going to say.