When Holly finally came to pick up Paul, the relief that surrounded Chris was nearly palpable. He’d handed him over to her so fast you’d think Paul was some type of time bomb.

            “Thank you again for taking care of him today,” Holly thanked us for the twentieth time, pausing in front of the door. “I hope he wasn’t too much trouble.”

            “Holly was good with him,” Chris told her, putting a hand around my waist. “If she wasn’t here, your son might not have lived.”

            I gave him a reproachful look. “Chris.”

            Holly laughed, obviously not offended. “I had a feeling you’d call someone to help you, so seeing Holly already here was a nice surprise. I didn’t feel as bad.”

            “Paul is really cute,” I told her, my eyes drifting to giggling child in her arms.

            “Isn’t he?” she responded happily. “He’s going to grow up to be very easy on the eyes.”

            Chris frowned the tiniest bit. I furrowed my eyes in confusion at his action. Why would he frown at that? At the moment, I would have given anything to know what he was thinking. My first guess was that he was jealous— maybe he was thinking Holly thought Andy was better looking than him. However, I highly doubted that was the case…

            “Maybe when you guys have children they’ll be friends!” Holly added excitedly. “That would be so cute! You guys have to have babies quickly!”

            “Holly,” Chris started in a flat tone as my face flamed.

            She giggled. “Oh, come on, Chris. I’m just teasing. Look at Holly! She’s blushing so hard!”

            I dropped my head, slapping my hands to my cheeks to try to hide my blush. Of course I was blushing! She just basically told me to have sex with him! How could she say that so calmly?

            “Don’t tease her,” Chris ordered, crossing his arms. “That’s my job.”

            “I’ll let you in on a secret,” Holly announced, ignoring his words. I looked up in time to see her grinning widely at us. “I’m pregnant. One month to be exact.”

            My eyes immediately dropped to her stomach. It was still completely flat. “Y-you’re pregnant?”

            “Uh-huh!”

            “Congratulations,” I said slowly, looking at Chris from the corner of my eyes. How did he feel about it?

            To my surprise, he was grinning at her. “Yeah, congratulations,” he echoed. “I remember how excited you used to get when you talked about having children.”

            “And I remember that spaced out look that would appear on your face when I did,” she responded, laughing.

            I awkwardly turned my attention to the random penny lying on the ground a few feet away from my feet. As much as I loved Chris, I didn’t want to hear him talking about Holly about his past relationship with her. We tended to shy away from the subject.

            “Enough reminiscing,” Chris stated. “Tell Andy I said congratulations.”

            I looked up now, watching as Holly nodded. “Sure! We’re actually going to go out to dinner tonight. I should probably get going. Say bye, Paul.”

            “Bye!” Paul cried, closing and opening his fist.

            “He’s so cute!” I gushed, grinning like an idiot and waving back to him. “Bye-bye Paul!

            “Good riddance,” Chris added wearily. Both Holly and I pursed our lips at him. He cocked an eyebrow back at us. “You guys even have the same facial expression.”

            “Don’t compare us,” we snapped together. When I realized what I’d said, I turned to Holly, who looked just as regretful as I felt. “No offense!” we said simultaneously, causing Chris to laugh.

            “You better leave, Holly, before you two form into the same person.”

            She nodded her agreement. “I’ll see you guys later.”

            “Bye!” I called as she opened the apartment door. “Have a nice night!”

            “You too!” she responded before shutting the door and leaving Chris and I in a calm silence.

            Chris sighed heavily. “Finally, some peace and quiet.”

            “Are you going to bring me home now?” I questioned, turning my head toward him.

            He frowned at me. “You want to leave right now?”

            “Well, not at this exact moment, but—”

            “Why don’t you just stay over again?” he urged, lowering his voice so it came out more suave and sexy than usual.

            I shook my head, trying to ignore the butterflies that appeared in my stomach. “I have a lot of homework to do, Chris.”

            “Do it tomorrow.”

            “I don’t want to wait until the last minute.”

            “I’ll keep you here by force,” he warned me, gripping my wrists with his hands and pulling them far behind him so I was pulled to his chest.

            With my face pressed to his shoulder, I couldn’t speak coherently, so I struggled to liberate my wrists. After a second he brought them closer to me so I could move my head back. “That would be kidnap, wouldn’t it?”

            “True. I could also persuade you to stay.”

            “How so?”

            His hands moved from my wrists to my waist, where he held me in place. I watched as he gradually began moving his head closer to mine. Closing my eyes, I stood still, waiting for the feel of his lips against mine. When they didn’t come, I opened them again to see him smirking. I flushed, realizing how much of an idiot I probably looked like.

            “Do you want me to kiss you?” he inquired.

            “Yes,” I mumbled.

            “What? I can’t hear you?”

            I glowered at him. “I said yes!”

            He gave me a swift peck on my lips before pushing me away gently. “There you go. Ready to go home?”

            “What?”

            “You said you wanted to go home,” he notified me.

            I shook my head, grabbing his arm. “First I want to kiss you.”

            He dodged my lips, turning his head to the side so I kissed his cheek. “Nope, you said you wanted to go home.”

            “Chris!”

            “Holly,” he retorted teasingly.

            My mind raced, trying to think of an excuse to get him to kiss me again. “Um, don’t you want to get the rest of those Jeremy germs off?”

            He shrugged. “I think we’re good.”

            “What about…” I trailed off, thinking hard.

            “If you want me to kiss you, tell me you’ll stay.”

            Crossing my arms, I stared at him disapprovingly. “That’s not fair, Chris.”

            He mimicked my stance. “Will it get you to stay?”

            “Nope,” I responded, turning my back on him and starting for the door. “Let’s go—”

            Suddenly his arm encased my upper arm, yanking me back. As I turned to face him, he captured my face in his hands, pressing his lips to mine roughly. After my initial shock faded I responded to it, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. Our kiss became deeper and he surprised me by abruptly sweeping my legs out from under me. I cried out in surprise, pulling away from him, and clinging to his shoulders for dear life. He chuckled at my expression as he carried me back into the living room. “Calm down. I’m not going to drop you,” he told me.

I glowered at him. “I didn’t think you would…”

            “Well, I lied.”

            He removed his arms from me and I gasped as I felt my body rush through the hair for a split second before landing on the soft couch. When I tried to sit up, he pushed me back down, pressing his a palm to my collarbone to keep me down.

            “What are you doing?” I questioned warily.

            “Getting more comfortable,” he responded simply, climbing onto the couch so he was hovering over me.

            I put my hands to his chest, trying to push him away. “No, Chris. I’m going home—”

            He cut me off by pressing his lips to mine again. After a few seconds of trying to fight it, I succumbed to his expert style, our lips moving together perfectly. My arms went around his waist, pulling him down so that his chest was pressed against mine. I was starting to feel lightheaded when he finally pulled away. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

            “That’s not fair,” I protested again, yearning for him to kiss me again, but wanting to go home and do work.

            “I’ll make you a deal,” he told me, placing another soft kiss on my lips. “Want to hear it?”

            I put a hand over my mouth so he couldn’t kiss me again. If he kept kissing me, I knew I wouldn’t want to go home. “What is it?”

            He rolled his eyes at my action. “There are other places I can kiss, you know,” he informed me, opting for my neck instead of my hand-covered lips.

            I squirmed underneath him. “D-don’t do that.”

            “If you stay,” he started, pulling away from me, “I’ll let you have a free pass from your biology homework.”

            “That’s not fair to the other students.”

            He made a face. “I don’t care.”

            “I’m going home, Chris.”

            He frowned. “What if I take you out to dinner?”

            That got me. I peered at him hesitantly. “How would you do that?”

            “We can drive to one of those fancy restaurants in West Springfield or something,” he told me, using one of his hands to peel mine off my mouth. “I’ll buy you whatever you want to eat.”

            “We could really go out to eat?” I inquired dubiously.

            “That’s what I just said, isn’t it?”

            I bit my lip, debating. I really had to do my homework, but we never got to go out to eat…

            “You have all day tomorrow to do your work,” he coaxed, brushing his lips against my collarbone.

            I sighed as tingles shot through my body. “What about my mom?”

            “I’m sure she’s more willing to have you stay over than you are.”

            A grimace passed across my face. “Sadly, I think that’s true.”

            “So are you going to stay?” he asked again, pulling his head away from me. A cocky expression was on the face, showing he already knew my answer.

            “Yes,” I submitted meekly.

            He gave me a quick peck the lips before rolling off of me and onto his feet in a very ninja-like way. “Grab your coat then.”

            I blinked up at him, pushing myself into a sitting position. “We’re leaving already?”

            “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. I don’t know how long we’ll have to wait for.”

            “Oh, okay,” I mumbled, trying to roll off the couch like he did, but only succeeding in tumbling to the floor.

            Chris laughed as he grabbed the front of my shirt, pulling me to my feet— not unlike the way he did the first time he ever helped me off the ground. “Careful, Bambi.”

            “Sure, Mufasa.”

            He rolled his eyes. “That’s not even the same movie, Holly.”

            I ignored him, trudging over to my backpack to pull out my coat. “Chris? Is it okay to go in such casual clothing?”

            “Yeah,” he called, sounding far away.

            Turning around, I noticed he wasn’t in the living room anymore. After shrugging on my coat I wandered to the front door, noticing Chris’s keys hanging from the key hanger. I glanced over my shoulder to see if he was in the living room yet and seeing he wasn’t, I snatched up the keys, putting them in my pocket.

            “Ready Holly?”

            I jumped in surprise, twirling to see him emerging into the living room, an expensive looking peacoat over his body. My eyes dropped down to my knockoff brand, grey one. He definitely made them look better. “Yeah.”

            “Then hand over the keys.”

            I gawked at him. “How did you know I had them?”

            He smirked. “Well for one we’re the only two here, so you’re the only one who could have taken them, for two you have your hand in your pocket, and for three, you can’t trick me.”

            “Can I drive?” I pleaded, clenching my hand over the keys tighter.

            “No.”

            “Why not? I’m a good driver!”

            He shook his head, putting out a hand, palm up, for the keys.  “Give them.”

            I straightened my back stubbornly, trying to look more intimidating. “No. I’m driving.”

            “Don’t make me take them from you by force,” he startled, slowly advancing toward me.

            Holding my ground, I lifted my chin. “No…”

            Suddenly he lunged toward me, shoving one of his hands into my pocket. I cried out in protest, trying to push him away from me. My efforts were useless though; he was much stronger than me. In a matter of seconds he’d yanked the keys from my hand. I scowled at him while he smiled smugly at me.

            Time for a different approach.

            Swallowing nervously, I moved myself closer to him, standing on my tiptoes. He moved forward to kiss me, but I turned my head so he couldn’t. Moving my lips to his ear, I whispered in the most seductive voice I could muster. “Please?”

            He froze up, inhaling a sharp breath of air. I smiled at his reaction, pleased my plan actually worked. Seductive generally wasn’t in my description… at all.

            “No,” he finally breathed, trying to push me away.

            I wrapped my arms around his waist, clinging to him tightly. He tried to pull his head away from me, but I just stretched my neck further, placing a gentle kiss on the hollow part beneath his ear. Once again he tensed. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I was positive he could hear it. “Please?” I tried again, letting out my breath on his ear again.

            He groaned. “Stop that.”

            “Say I can drive,” I demanded, trying to bite back the smirk that was slipping onto my face. He was giving in.

            “I…” He trailed off when I trailed my lips down his neck. “Okay, okay!” he gave in, now using all his force to shove me away. He looked flushed as I grinned in victory. Narrowing his eyes, he gave me back the keys. “Next time you do that, be prepared.”

            “Prepared for what?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

            Amusement flashed in his eyes. “Well you’ll find out when that time happens. Now let’s go. And don’t kill us.”

            “I won’t,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “I really am a good driver.”

            “Whatever,” he grunted.

            Driving with Chris was something I instantly regretted. He was the worse backseat (or should I say passenger seat?) driver I’ve ever met. Every five seconds he’d reach over to take the wheel because I was driving “too close to the yellow line” or “too close to the curb”. What made things worse was the fact I didn’t know where I was going, so he had to tell me when to make a turn, which was making me even more nervous. Luckily for us, the roads were mostly empty which meant no danger hazards. By the time we reached the restaurant— we’d ended up just going to Uno’s— my nerves were shot. I staggered out of the car, letting out a breath of relief.

            “And this is why I don’t let you drive,” Chris stated.

            I glowered at him. “Maybe if you didn’t snap at me all the time!”

            He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t snap at you. I just wanted you to be careful.”

            “It’s not like I was going to crash,” I huffed, crossing my arms.

            Smiling, he forced me to uncross my arms, taking one of my hands into his. “But I didn’t want to take the chance. Imagine if you had crashed. I would feel terrible.”

            “How would you feel terrible?” I questioned, cocking an eyebrow. “You’re not the one who would have caused it… Well actually, with the way you were snapping at me…”

            He ignored my jeer, dragging me toward the restaurant. “It’d be my fault for letting you drive. If something happened to either one of us, you would feel like it was your fault though, which would also make me feel bad.”

            “I am a good driver though,” I murmured, looking up at him.

            He ruffled my hair. “But not as good as me.”

            “You’re being such a worry wart!”

            “Seeing as how my parents and your father died in a car crash, I think I’m justified.”

            My heart skipped a beat. As his words sunk in, realization also set in, making me feel bad. “Oh… Right. I’m sorry—”

            “Don’t apologize,” he said lightheartedly. “Forget I said anything. That was kind of a low blow.”

            “No, you’re right,” I admitted. “You have a right to be worried, but I can drive well.”

            “How long have you had your license for?”

            I hesitated for a moment. “Umm… I’m not sure actually.”

            He frowned at me. “Pull it out and let me see.”

            “Okay.” My hand went automatically to my pocket, where I usually kept my license, cash, and ATM card. To my surprise, it was empty. A hollow feeling spread through my chest. “Oh no…”

            “What?” Chris asked in an alarmed tone, looking around the parking lot.

            I stared at him in horror. “I just drove without my license. It’s back at your house!”

            He returned my look with a blank one. Shaking his head, he let out a sigh. “You scared me for a second.”

            “I can’t believe I drove illegally!” I whispered in a panicked voice. “What if we’d gotten pulled over?”

            “Calm down,” Chris ordered, holding the door to the restaurant open for me. “I use to drive without a license all the time.”

            “You were in a gang!”

            He nodded. “True.”

            “Don’t be so calm about this!”

            A quiet chuckle escaped his lips as he threw an arm around my waist, dragging me closer to him. “Don’t get so worked up. We’re going to have a nice dinner, so be happy.”

            For a second I grumbled under my breath about his nonchalant attitude, but decided to drop it. I didn’t get caught. There wasn’t a problem.

            Both of us did an automatic scan of the place to see if there was anyone we knew. Fortunately the coast was clear. An aged old woman waitress led us to a table in the back, completely out of sight from the front of the place. She smiled warmly at Chris and I as we took our seats. I smiled back awkwardly.

            “You look nervous,” she commented. “First date?” Her eyes shot to Chris and then back to me, her eyebrows wagging suggestively.

            A warm blush spread across my face. “No, actually…” I trailed off. Technically, this was our first date. Trips to the grocery store certainly didn’t count. The wedding could have, but we were with other people then, and my birthday was a birthday dinner.

            “Actually, it is,” Chris announced, seemingly coming to the same realization I did.

            The old woman beamed. “How lovely! What would you two like to drink?”

            “Coke,” we responded at the same time.

            “Just so you guys know, we have a menu right next to the salt shaker with our alcoholic drinks.”

            “Soda is fine,” Chris responded smoothly.

            She nodded her head. “Okay, I’ll be back with your drinks and to take your order in a second.”

            As she hobbled off, I peered at Chris curiously. He noticed me staring and frowned. “What?”

            “Why don’t you drink alcohol?”

            “I don’t like it,” he responded simply. “Nor do I enjoy getting drunk.”

            I nodded my head in understanding. “You do realize you can drink without getting drunk, right?”

            “I said I don’t like it.”

            My next words died in my mouth at his tone. Obviously he didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Did he have bad experiences with alcohol? I imagined he could. He was in a gang after all.

            “What are you planning to get?” he asked, picking up one of the menus in front of us.

            “Er…” I hesitated, grabbing the other menu. There was no way I was going to get something too messy to eat in front of him. “Probably a salad…”

            He gave me a flat look. “If you’re dieting, you don’t need to—”

            “No, I just like the chicken they serve with it,” I half-lied. I did like the chicken. “What are you going to have?”

            He smiled. “Steak, of course.”

            My stomach rumbled at the thought. Maybe I could get… I shook my head. Steak was expensive. I didn’t want to make him pay too much.

            Our waitress appeared moments later, our soda in her hand. After placing them down in front of us, she pulled out a notepad. “What can I get you two?”

            Chris ordered for both of us, smiling in amusement when the waitress gave me a pitying look when I ordered a salad. I grit my teeth together in annoyance. What was the big deal? A lot of people ordered salads!

            “You kind of remind me of my mom,” Chris commented suddenly, leaning back in my seat. “She didn’t like to eat in front of my dad when they were dating either. Or that’s what my dad told me at least.”

            My eyes widened snapped to his. He never talked about his parents. “Really? What was she like?” I asked, taking advantage of the moment.

            “She was pretty clumsy. She was a veterinarian too,” he told me. “She came home crying a lot since she felt bad for the animals.” A grin spread across his face. “She was really smart too. Cleaned all the time. A horrible cook.”

            “What about your dad?” I pressed.

            A flicker of sadness crossed his face, making me regret asking. After a moment he put his elbow on the table, resting his head on his fist. “Well he was a teacher.”

            That surprised me. “Really?”

            Chris nodded. “That’s why I became a teacher. Another fact was my parole officer kind of said I had to do that or… Well, never mind.”

            “You can’t—” I started to protest, curiosity burning at me. He never talked about his time in jail or after it either. I frowned when I realized he never talked about himself.

            “The funny thing is my dad was a high school drop out,” he interjected, shaking his head. “He went back when he was twenty to finish it and then proceeded to college.           

“How old were your parents when… um, when the accident happened?” I mumbled, my chest constricting.

            He stayed quiet for a moment. “I think around forty five and fifty. I know there was a five-year difference between my dad and my mom. What about Greg?”

            “H-how do you know my dad’s name?” I gasped in surprise. My mind raced to a time where I might have told him. None came up.

            He cocked an eyebrow at my reaction. “I attended his funeral, Holly, remember?”

            “O-oh… He was forty-two.”

            “And what was he like?”

            I frowned at him. I didn’t like talking about my dad. “He was nice.”

            “And?” he prompted.

            “He was a carpenter,” I told him. “He owned his own business. But, well, I guess he was a teacher at one point too. That’s how he met my mom…”

            Chris furrowed his eyebrows. “She was a teacher?”

            “Er… No. He was her teacher.”

            It took a second for my words to set in, but when they did, Chris let out a sharp bark of laughter. “So that’s why your mom was so calm about our relationship.”

            “That’s what I thought,” I responded with a smile. “When she told me I was like, wow.”

            “Like mother like daughter,” Chris commented just like my mom had.

            After a few more minutes of idle chat, our food arrived. Chris’s steak looked and smelled absolutely terrific. I glowered at the salad in front of me. Why had I chosen it again? Sighing internally, I picked up a piece of chicken and popped it into my mouth. I made a face. It definitely wasn’t as good as I remembered.

            “Say ‘ah’.”

            I looked up to see Chris holding out his fork to me, a small piece if steak on the end of it. My face flushed when I realized what he wanted me to do and I shook my head. “N-no!”

            “Come on,” he urged, a smirk playing at his lips.

            I pressed my lips together tightly, shaking my head again. “Mm-mm.”

            He jabbed it against my lips. “I won’t stop until you take it.”

            I glared at him for a moment before resigning and opening my mouth. In a very childish manner, he made an airplane noise as he placed the end of the fork into my mouth. I used my teeth to scrape the meat off of it as he pulled it out.

            “That wasn’t so hard was it?” he teased.

            “It’s embarrassing,” I muttered, dropping my eyes.

            He chuckled. “No one was watching. But I saw the way you eyed my meal.”

            I ignored him, stabbing my fork into a piece of lettuce. “I’m perfectly happy.”

            “Sure,” he responded skeptically. “Whatever. More of this juicy steak for me.”

            I placed the lettuce into my mouth, giving him a dry look. He lifted his fork to his mouth, a new piece of steak on it. Slowly, he put it in, fake groaning in delight. I rolled my eyes at his antics. “If you keep groaning, someone will think something.”

            A wicked look flashed in his eyes. “Like what?”

            “Like… nothing,” I said quickly, looking away in embarrassment.

            “Get your mind out of the gutter, Holly,” he taunted lightly.

            I stared at my food, shoving a cherry tomato into my mouth, nearly choking as the juice from it flooded my mouth. My hand shot up to cover it, embarrassment keeping my eyes on the ground.

            “You’re so cute, Holly.”

            After wiping my mouth, I gave him a flat look. “How was that cute?”

            “Everything you do is cute to me.”

            “I…”

            He offered me another piece of his steak. This time he let me take the fork. “Thanks,” I muttered before putting it into my mouth.

            “Don’t thank me. I don’t mind sharing with you,” he told me, his piercing grey eyes never leaving mine.

            A flash of guilt suddenly went through me. He was being so nice…“Hey Chris?”

            “Yes?”

            I took a deep breath. “Aaron knows Shawn.”

________________________________________

Hey guys! Sorry it's late. I'm failing math class so I've been replacing my usual writing time with actually doing my math homework. I really don't want to retake the class. Right now I have to draw pictures for the myth I wrote for Spanish class. I'm making the animals sooo cute! I can't wait to show it off. Teehee.

Enjoy the chapter! Facebook in external link~

Today's song is Hear Me Now by Hollywood Undead.