Chương 20: Study Date

Crimson screeches his bike to a stop, sending a cloud of dust swirling into the air. Willow emerges from her car in the driveway, her gaze fixed on him. He's panting hard, clearly having pedaled like a maniac to make it here.

"How did you... You arrived at the exact same moment I did. What's gotten into you today? You're being totally weird." She hollered,"Uh... I took a shortcut. A really short... shortcut. I know. I guess I'm just stressed about school. I'm not doing as well this year."

"Not doing as well. Maybe we should kick things off with English." A smile tells him it's a joke as she unlocks the front door. Crimson hesitates nervously at the doorstep.

"Don't worry. No one will be home for hours." He gives a nod and trails after her inside. The door to Willow's room clicks open. Crimson steps in, his eyes sweeping the space. The walls are bare, the shelves empty of books. Only furniture and moving boxes fill the room.

"I'm still unpacking. I'm taking my sweet time."

"Haven't you been living here for over a month?" Still jittery, Crimson settles on the bed, unzips his bag, and yanks out books.

"I know you wanted to start with History, so I brought the study sheets from..." He trails off, noticing Willow looming over him.

"Let's try something else first." Crimson nods. Her hands find his neck as she lowers herself, pressing her lips to his. The kiss starts off gentle. But then he pulls her closer. And closer... She sinks back onto the bed, letting him settle on top of her. Then he kisses her harder, his hands gripping her, fingers tugging at her shirt. When they surface again, his nails have sharpened into claws. Realizing it, he jerks away.

"What's wrong?" She asks. Crimson balls his hands into fists, hiding his fingers in the bedcovers.

"Nothing. I just don't want you to feel pressured into doing something you're not into."

"I'm not doing anything I don't want to do. Are you?"

"You're really asking me that?" As she smiles and leans in for another kiss, Crimson's phone rings. He stays put, fists clenched.

"Are you gonna answer that?"

"It's probably just Churro. It'll go to voicemail. Eventually." The phone keeps buzzing. Willow reaches over and snatches the phone from his jacket. Crimson instinctively raises his hand to block her.

"Wait..." But his fingers are back to normal. He breathes a sigh of relief as Willow hands him the phone. It beeps with a text:"Did you find it yet?" While driving, Churro glances at his phone as Crimson texts back: Need more time. In the passenger seat, Autzee slumps down, cradling his arm as he endures the pain.

"Try not to bleed all over my seats, okay? We're almost there."

"Almost where?" He asked him. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Your house. Can't I take you to your house?"

"Not when I can't defend myself." Churro slams the brakes, screeching to a halt. What happens if Crimson doesn't find your magic bullet? Are you dying?"

"Not yet. I've got a last resort." Autzee reveals his gunshot wound. It's stopped bleeding, but the veins around it crawl up his forearm like vines, inching toward his inner elbow.

"What is that? Is that contagious? Maybe you should just get out. I don't think you should be giving orders looking like that. In fact, I think if I wanted, I could probably drag your werewolf ass to the middle of the road and leave you for dead." Churro told him, clutching his t-shirt tighter.

"Start the car or I'll rip your throat out with my teeth." Autzee stares at him as Churro starts the car.

Crimson's phone screen flickers to black.

"There. It's off. Sorry about that." He hesitates, spotting something in one of the open boxes near the bed. He carefully pulls out a photo: Ash with Lily.

"That's my Dad's sister, Lily. Except she's more like my sister. She just got here last night. She had some car trouble." Willow told him but didn't notice Crimson's scared and shocked expression.

"She looks familiar. Did you take all of these?" he said as he pulls a few other photos from the box. All black and white attempts at artistic photography.

"Back when I thought I could be a photographer and About her looking familiar. She actually used to live in Lantern City. Maybe you saw her once."

"They're good."

"No, they're not. I stopped when I realized I was terrible at it. The framing's off, bad lighting. Believe me. Not good." Crimson peers into another box and finds WATER COLOR PAINTINGS.

"That's when I tried painting. Terrible at that too." Another box holds several Journals. Each one has a year number on each of them, probably to show which year each attempt was shown.

"That was the year of the attempt at poetry. Terrible doesn't even come close to describing that. I'll show what I am good at you if you promise not to laugh... The door to the garage opens. Willow flips the lights on and steps in with Crimson following past parked SUV's. His eyes fall over the various stacked boxes, searching for something that might help Autzee. From a shelf, Willow takes a wood case and clicks it open. When she turns around she's aiming a compound at him.

Crimson ducks to the floor, hands coming up to shield himself before saying, "What the hell is that?"

"It's a compound bow. And I'm pretty sure it requires an arrow to be harmful." This gave him a little sense of security, giving him a chance to breath further.

"That's what you're good at? Archery?

""I was nationally ranked when I was competing. And you said you wouldn't laugh." She slips the bow back into its case.

"I gave it up. My dad wanted me to keep going. He thought maybe I could go to the Olympics. But I just didn't like it enough." As she moves to put the case back, Crimson's eyes fall on something else, jaw dropping to the floor.

"Oh, I guess I should explain..." behind a cage wall hang shotguns, rifles, pistols, revolvers, firearms of all kinds as well as tactical knives. Crimson gazes at the veritable armoury, looking like he's going to throw up.

"Don't worry. We're not some kind of separatist gun nut family. My dad sells firearms to law enforcement."

"Oh. That's... That's good. Are you planning on joining the family business?" As in good cover. He glances at the shelves underneath the guns where bullet cases sit. Stacks and stacks of them, all sitting behind a cage.

"You tell me... Would I look hot with a gun?" She draws him toward her, backing him against the cage.

"Hotter without." He leans in to kiss her as the door clatters open. Willow yanks Crimson behind a parked SUV to hide. Ash walks in, carrying a large box while he and Willow crouch in the shadows. She pulls him close, both of them trying not to breathe as her father passes mere feet from them to set the box down.

"Chris, don't expect the women to do all the heavy lifting out here. Get your ass out of the fifties and come help with the groceries." Lily told him from inside the house.

"Be right there." Ash peers around the SUV to Crimson and Willow.

"You two mind helping?" They stare innocently out from behind the SUV.

"Sure."

"Great." Without another word, Ash heads back upstairs. Following, Crimson and Willow share a worried look. he retrieves the last grocery bag from the trunk of the car in the driveway and extends it to Ash. His cell phone vibrates in his pocket. He checks the text message: "Autzee not looking good." Turning to the house with the realization he has to find some way back in, Crimson looks to Willow.

"Do you want to keep studying?" Suddenly Ash cuts him off with a fatherly glare.

"I think she'll concentrate better on her own." He turns a fatherly glare on Willow.

"Okay. Guess I'll see you later? At school." Crimson said as he starts back down the driveway for his bike.

"You Crimson. On your bike. You Willow. Inside." Willow reluctantly turns to the door with her father. he looks on, desperate. There's no getting back in. No getting the bullet. No saving Autzee. Until Lily comes out from the garage.

"Chris, really? They were making out in the garage. Not shooting amateur porn. You, with the adorable brown eyes. Drop the bike. You're staying for dinner." Ash shoots Lily a look. But then relents.

"Do you like steak?" Crimson gives a quick nod. Ash holds the door open for him.

"This will give us a chance to get to know each other." And he smiles that exceptionally unnerving smile as he guides Crimson inside and shuts the door.