"Crap, Noa. That stings urgh," Rhett grumbles as I lather the ointment on his back. It was weird to straddle him while he was shirtless. Plus, it didn't help I was in a dress.
I continue to put it on his back even as he hisses at the pain.

I have never seen such bad whippings on one's back before. Well, on tv I have, but not in real life.

Once I finish, I carefully climb off him - that was awkward to say - and go to wash my hands and get him some ibuprofen. He's lucky my mom has a bunch extra from the accident. The accident that scraped every fibre of hope, love and trust for another human being. Besides for my sister and mother.

    Washing my hands, I can still hear him sighing, and I know the ointment is working. It's some strong shit. Stronger than the weed the school's druggies smoke, and I know for a fact that stuff is pretty strong.

    Not from experience or anything.

    Okay maybe I smoked a blunt a few times after the accident, but I'm sure I'm not the only person that would've done it. It calmed me for that darker time in my life. It let me escape the realm of my storm-infested mind for bit.

    I grab the bottle of medication and walk back into the living room where the handsome angel is sprawled out on my couch. Right now, he has his arms laying under his head, and he has his eyes shut. His face looks much more relaxed than twenty minutes ago.

    To be honest, I still can't believe I got him to ditch school and come to my shitty apartment. He didn't even say a word when he walked with me. He was silent and good per usual.

    "Here. Take these. It will help. You can keep the bottle too. We have a bunch." I lay out the pills in my hand for him to grab, but he decides to be a butt and licks them out of my hand. I scrunch my face in disgust at the reaction to which he innocently smiles back.

I give him some water from his glass, setting it down once he's done. I put the bottle in his backpack, making sure to tell them where they are since I didn't want people freaking out when they saw the ginormous bottle.

    "Thank you, Noa. Do you not want to know why?" His voice is but a whisper as he speaks. I shrug, wanting to know, but I know some things you just want to keep to yourself. I am sure he wants to keep this between him and his father.

    "I don't know. That's up to you. I just know that it had something to do with me." He let out a deep sigh in response. I figure I should tell him about my encounter with his creepy ass dad. "I met him, you know. Your father. Last night. He caught me cleaning up your kitchen and was irritated that I was even in the house. Parents usually don't like me anyways. People don't like me, so I guess it didn't really bother me." With this, his eyes open widely, a frown on his face takes place across his lips.

    "What did he say?"

    "Nothing important. He just asked why I was there, and I told him you and I just got done decapitating all the bitches in school. He smiled at my explanation and yeah. That was it." I smirk a bit as he gives me a playful flat look. Amused but not at the same time.

    "Seriously though. What happened?" His voice holds a serious tone, and I brush it off. I turn on the tv, not wanting to talk anymore. He got the hint and stays silent. Right now, I have my back against the couch while sitting on the ground since Rhett is hogging the whole thing up. I mean, it's a smaller couch, and he is in pain, but it kind of sucks.

    "Want to sit here? I think I'm fine to sit up." He begins to sit up slowly, making some room for me. I nod, plopping my ass next to him. He subtly but not so subtly scoots over so our thighs are touching. I glance over and feel my cheeks burn since he's still shirtless.

    Hot fucking damn. His six pack is so defined. I mean, he is still pale as shit, but like it's not too bad. He's still ho-hold the fuck up.

No. No. Bad Noa. Bad girl.

    "I know I'm considerably one of the best looking guys you have encountered, but could you not gawk at me? Thank you, doll." Shit. He caught me staring.

    "Don't flatter yourself, babe. I was thinking that you were probably the palest dude I've seen in awhile." With this he turns to look at me with a frown. Pouting his lips, he shoved me lightly, clearly feeling better.

    I told you those pills work wonders.

    "Take it back."

    I cross my arm, getting up in his face. "Make me."

    He smirks much like when he did with his brother awhile ago. He then, leans down, so our lips are very close to each other.

Too close.

    "If you say so, Noa." He leans in even more, but before our lips can touch he moves his head to the side so his lips hit my cheek instead of where I want them to be.

    OH MY GOD. What is wrong with me?

    He pulls back as I'm mentally scolding myself for the umpteenth time today and chuckles before lounging further back into the couch. He puts his arms behind his head, watching the show on tv again. A smile is present on his lips.

    I touch my cheek briefly, still feeling his lips there. He's such a tease.

    Well, if he wants to tease, then some damn good teasing he is going to get. I take this opportunity to get up and go change in my room. I am still in my dress and would much rather be in my shorts and t-shirt.

    As I rummage through my dresser, I find my shortest and tightest pair while grabbing my tighter t-shirt that I generally let Rue wear since she's tinier than me. As I slip it on, you can easily see my curves which exist, surprisingly. Even my smaller B-cup breasts look pretty nice.

    Let's see how he takes this.

    I walk back into the living room, swaying my hips a bit as I plop down next to him again. His eyes scan over my bare legs and chest. He quickly turns away once he notices me looking at him. His cheeks form a slight blush.

    "Why did you change?" he asks, his voice a bit huskier, much like yesterday outside of school. I was getting him all flustered.

    "Um would you like to lounge in a dress all day? No. You wouldn't." I say, giving him a smirk before sitting up more while crossing my legs. After two seconds of being in the position, I just slip my legs underneath me and lounge back like I normally do. Screw trying to sit proper and ladylike. I ain't no lady.

    "Noa." I look over at Rhett as he speaks my name. I give him a look as if saying 'yeah'. "Thank you...again. It really means a lot to me."

    "Anything for a friend." The words slip easily off my tongue, and as if I let out a huge secret, I slap my hands to my mouth. I haven't declared anyone a friend since the accident. Since before my darker times.

Since her.

    Rhett only smiles back at me, before pulling me into a hug. His bare chest is hard since he is in decent shape, yet it's so warm and cuddly that I find myself snuggling more into the hug. He keeps his arms around me as we continue to watch the rerun of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. It's an older one too since Will is very young looking and Carlton looks like a baby. Oh wait...he always looks like a baby.

    "I haven't seen this show in years. What channel is this?" He asks, causing his chest to move slightly.

    Without moving, I reply, "I think this is channel five...Usually Nick comes through on five." We don't have cable television, so whatever broadcasts onto the tv is what we get. I think we have a total of ten channels, give or take.

    "We have hulu and netflix. I think we have cable, but I usually don't go on it..." he trails off. I don't know why this irritates me. I think this is why I didn't want to be his friend or any of the rich popular kids for that matter. Some like to brag intentionally while others just do it without truly knowing. The lifestyle seems to raise them more so than their parents.

    "Sorry. Not everyone can be rich."

    "I'd rather only have channel five than live in that house, to be honest. I hate it. I hate having to fit in this perfect image. I hate being my father's puppet." He snaps, but not at me. He just seemed to finally let his frustrations out. I pull away and see hot tears forming in his eyes.

    I didn't think calling him rich would cause this reaction.

    "Dad's suck." My statement causes him to stop and look at me. Confusion clearly written on his face.

    "They do. Wha-what did yours do?" I felt my heart clench at the sudden rush of memories hitting me. It was too much, so I shut down. I need to isolate my heart back. I can't let it ruin me again.

    "Let's see how your back is doing." I say monotonously. I can't let my heart ruin me again. Not again.

    He nods, knowing I didn't want to talk about my dad. He turns around to showcase the markings. The swelling had gone down tremendously and the cuts were practically healed.

    As I keep inspecting by lightly touching and seeing if I get a reaction, his body turns towards me and out of nowhere he cups my face lightly. He draws my closer to his lips until they finally touch.

       It's like the moon finally felt the rays of the sun.