Chapter 11

"Well, looky what we have here." Ahmity's voice sounds far off into the distance. "They're sleeping, at least mess with them when they wake up so they have a chance to defend themselves." Adrian says. His voice sounds closer. Ahmity laughs. I open my eyes and find them standing in the doorway, looking at me and Brendan. "Good night's sleep?" she asks, her eyes gleaming. I sit up and look at Brendan. He's knocked out, hugging the pillow. I smirk. I rub my eyes and get out of bed. My face, I can feel, is red. "Nothing happened Ahm.." I tell her. "I didn't say anything did" she says, with that sly smile of hers. Adrian throws a shoe at Brendan. He pops up, his eyes wide and looks around, scared. Adrian laughs. "Get up! It's past noon." Is it really? He closes his eyes and lets his head fall back onto the pillow. Adrian goes to the edge of the bed and pulls his legs. Brendan lands on the floor with a clunk. He groans and stands up. I know the feeling. That was Bruno's favorite when I wouldn't wake up. The memory pulls at my heart strings. I shake it off. I'm not going to think about him. Brendan rubs the back of his head as he walks towards me. I try to hide my smile. His curls are a mess and stick up everywhere. He looks at me and shakes his head. "Shut up" He says. I laugh. "I didn't even say anything!" He waves his finger at me. "You were about to..." and walks to the bathroom. Adrian shakes his head. "I don't know about that one." Me and Ahmity laugh. She looks at me with expecting eyes. "What?" I say. She raises her eyebrow. "What?!" "Babe, leave her alone..." Adrian says, with a loving smile. She pouts and tells him "Fine, but I'll get it out of her sooner or later." "There's nothing to get out, cause nothing happened." I say. She walks out. "Alright, if you say so." she says, clearly not believing me. Brendan comes out of the bathroom. I walk up to him and smooth down his hair. He catches my hand and holds it against his cheek. Butterflies flutter in my stomach. He kisses all of my fingers than grabs my neck and kisses my lips. I push him. "I haven't brushed my teeth yet." "I don't care" He says and kisses me again. I laugh. "Eww, you sicko." He grins and rubs his thumb across my cheek. I can feel myself glowing. He leans forward to kiss me again but I stop him. "I could do this all day, but I need to take a shower." I say. He raises an eyebrow and smiles. "Oh really? If that doesn't sound like an invitation..." I push him again and laugh. "Yeah right, in your dreams 'stud muffin' " He laughs and walks towards his bedroom. I take an extra long shower. For the first time, I think ever, I look in the mirror and actually look. I stare at my eyes, nose, lips, chin, forehead. I see Papi so strong in me, it hurts my heart. Somebody knocks on the door. "Mama's?" "Uh huh?" "Um, can you come out, I need to talk to you." Oh no. I open the door. I'm dressed, but my hair is still wet. Her eyes are bloodshot, like she's been crying. "What's the matter?" I ask. "Mami called." My world stopped. I didn't have to ask if she answered. I knew she did. "Please Ahmity, tell me you didn't let her know I was here. Please." She takes a shaky breath in and big tears roll down her cheeks. "No!" I yell. "What did you want me to do?! She hasn't talked to me in over 5 years! I wasn't going to lie to her!" My head starts to pound. I look at her, my eyes blurry from the tears. "I trusted you." I say. She narrows her eyes and curls her lip. "I was perfectly happy until you came! I'm not going to hide a runaway in my house! I know the cops are looking for you." My chest gets tight and I feel pins and needles all over my body. I stare at her in disbelief. How could she say that to me. I'm her sister. She's talking like I'm a stranger off the street. "Don't stand there and look all hurt. Poor Lena, everybody always worries about poor little Lena. Nobody ever thought about me. Mami didn't send the cops to look for me. She could care less that I left!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face. "Mami didn't care about anything when you left!! YOU weren't there to see her letting herself die in her bed! YOU didn't have to learn to survive at 13 years old! YOU didn't have to manage money and pay bills and buy groceries and not know what the hell you were doing! I had nobody but you and you left me!! So don't give me that bullshit!!" I screamed back. My face is beat red and my ears ring. The tears won't stop flowing. I turn and run to the bedroom before she has a chance to scream something back. I grab my shoes and the duffel bag with my clothes in it. Still not unpacked from last night. I run past her and down the stairs. "Lena..." I hear Brendan't voice. I don't turn around and run out of the front door. I have $54 and nowhere to go. I don't know anybody and I don't know my way around. I run in one direction. I feel like I've been running forever until I collapse at a bus stop. I lean against the bench, shaking and crying. How could I be so stupid? I've learned not to trust anybody but family so I don't get hurt. But what good does that do when they hurt me too? I pull my knees up to my chest. I want to go to a place where nobody can find me. I lay there, pathetically crying my brains out. I start talking in Spanish out loud. "Papi, te necesito, por que me dejaste, nadie me entiende como tu, te extrano te quiero," I close my eyes and lean my head against the bench. What was I gonna do now? I look at my surroundings. I haven't gone far cause the beach is still in view. I know I'm running the opposite way of the airport cause Ahmity came from the other side. But, she made so many turns. I put my hand on my forehead. I cry all over again. "Lena." I look up. Green eyes. Brendan picks me up and I've never hugged anybody so hard in my life. He's like my life raft when I'm drowning. He's my hero. He hugs me back. "Where are you going?" he says, sounding so worried. I cry in his shirt. "I don't know. I don't know." He holds me and lets me cry all over again. He grabs me by my shoulders and shakes me. "Breathe! Lena you gotta calm down, your scaring me." I take deep breaths in and out. He moves the hair out of my face. He looks at me, so scared and worried, it makes me feel bad. "Come on, you need some food in you." "I'm not hungry." "I don't care." He says and pulls me by the arm.

He orders me a Pepsi. How did he know it was my favorite. "Drink it, the sugar will help you." I look at him. "I know, it sounds crazy. But it works." I chug as much as I can, which isn't a lot. He smirks as he looks at my glass. "All that for a sip?" I squint my eyes. "All that for a sip?" I say in a mocking voice. He laughs. "See, I told you it works." I sigh and look at the table. "I heard what your sister said to you." I don't respond. "She had no right, it's not her house. It's my brother's. You don't have to leave." I shake my head. "I don't want to see her." He stays quiet. "You don't have anywhere else to go Lena." Thank you Mr. Obvious. "I'm not going back there." "Fine, than I'll get a hotel room and we can stay there." "I don't have that kind of money." "Did I ask you for money?" he says. I smile a little. He lifts my chin. His green eyes are piercing in the sunlight. "I would spend all the money to my name and live on the streets, dirty, with no food, just to make you happy." he says. I push his arm. "Shut up! I'm not worth that." His smile vanishes and his eyes almost turn red. "Lena, don't ever say that again. Do you hear me?" I stare at him, a little startled. "Why?" He shakes his head and I see his hand is balled in a fist. His knuckles are white. "I hate to hear you downgrade yourself. I can't listen to that." I keep looking at him. "How can you not see what I see?" There it goes again. That line. I don't see anything but Papi when I look at myself. That's the only good. Everything else is just a waste. I don't dare speak the words outloud. I shrug. He sighs and opens his hand. He rubs his thumb against my lips. He looks my face up and down. Are those...No it can't be. He's not crying. Oh my gosh. Yes he is. "I don't know how to explain these feeling I have for you. I've never felt this way about anybody in my life. Everything's better when you're around. You make me smile nonstop. I can't stop looking at you. I love everything about you. Your hair, your eyes, your lips, your voice..When I think about not being around you I feel like I'm suffocating. It's only been 2 days, but I feel addicted to you." Oh god. My heart is beating fast. That sounds like...No. He can't love me. He doesn't really know that much about me. No. It's not possible. We just met. Love at first sight doesn't exist. No way. He leans forward and kisses me. It's like I'm drugged. There's no way possible I can fight it. When he pulls away, he has this goofy smile on his face. I don't know what to tell him. I don't exactly feel the same. My heart already belongs to somebody else. It's belonged to him for too long, I just can't hand it over to somebody else, no matter how much Bruno hurt me. He holds my hand in his. I stare at our intertwined fingers. "Well, what do we have here." I look up. Brown eyes...