In a situation like this one—hiding in your boyfriend of, say, 30 minute’s room, accidentally destroying a lamp (thanks to his cat) and knowing fully well being discovered would lead to trouble—the Fight or Flight response was expected to kick in.

From the looks of it, the cat had already decided its best chance was sticking to the Flight aspect. It backed away from the door, fleeing to its newfound sanctuary; me.

A horrible decision really, because I just sat there, on Adrián’s bed, in the line of sight of whoever would enter. I couldn’t run—not with a bad leg—or hide, either. Again, bad leg.

So I froze.

Heart pounding at the same pace as the footsteps moved, hoping the sheen of sweat plastering my hair to my forehead made me look more dumbstruck than guilty. Which was a long shot, considering the cluster of shards and broken wood on the floor.

The doorknob turned painstakingly slow. As if expecting what it is behind Lucky Door Number 1.

Something tugged at my hand, and I turned to see the cat nestling against me, trying to seem inconspicuous as possible. I couldn’t even dwell on its fickle attempt at hiding, because the door creaked open, and a head of curls appeared behind it.

A brown eye assessed me, and the door gave way to reveal a wide nose with a bulbous tip, a feature I recognised from the photo I’d been looking at.

My heart dropped into my stomach, and I fumbled with my words as I struggled to form words to apologise. But it turned out to be unnecessary, because it was only Adrián, just as shocked to see me as I was with him. He looked so much like his mother.

“Parker, oh my God.” He locked the door behind him and started towards me, stopping short when he caught sight of the mess.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Your mom heard?”

“Yeah. I told her it was probably just her.” He gestured at the cat, who still hid behind me. If only he knew how close he was to the truth.

“And she bought it?”

“I think so.” Adrián crouched next to the broken pieces, picking them up with care. “I said I’d been napping with Jellybean here, and that I must have shut the door when I left. She gets cranky when she’s trapped, so it made sense.”

“Your cat is called... Jellybean?”

He stilled, fingers pausing an inch away from the last piece of broken glass. “Um.. yeah. It’s just a stupid name that got stuck. Her toe beans are bright red, like jellybeans, so I called her that since she never seemed to enjoy being called ‘cat’ or ‘kitty’”

“Explains the spontaneous attack she launched at me,” I commented, scooting to the edge of the bed to pick up the photo. As expected, Adrián’s evil cat met me with an accusatory gaze. “Jellybean doesn’t seem to like me much.”

“Are you kidding? She hasn’t left your side since I came in here.”

“Only to use me as a human shield.”

He laughed at that, standing at his full height. He dumped the remnants of the lamp in a trashcan. Next, he picked up his shirts from the bed, speaking as he hund them up in a small closet. “You know, Jellybean is one reason you and I ever got together. She’s kind of my wing-cat.”

“Hard to believe. Still, we can’t let her think her efforts were for nothing.” I shrugged, catching myself with a smile as I watched the realisation in Adrián’s eyes heat his face.

I stretched out a hand for him to grab onto, and once his fingers slipped between mine, I pulled him forward. His lips were mere inches away from mine, but the spark of the moment died when his leg brushed my foot.

I spasmed back, rolling away from him and biting down into his pillow to keep my scream controlled. I felt Adrián’s hands go around me to keep me still, move to rub my back when I calmed.

But his whisper of concern had me scrambling up again. “Oh, no, that looks bad. I think we should go to a hospital. “

“It’s fine, Adrián,” I told him, but I doubted my words, looking at how I’d began bruising. To defuse the severity, I told him my sister would come pick me up. That seemed to ease him up a bit.

I texted Sam, giving her directions to the bus stop a street away from Adrián’s house. She sent a row of question marks, followed by a very expected ‘what the hell??’ I could already picture her storming out of the house and into her car, bringing my demise along with her.

“I should get going.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”

Adrián’s mother was in the kitchen en route to our escape. Lucky for us, we could steer clear of her on our way through the back door. Finally, outside the confines of the house, I inhaled deeply, relief spreading through my body in waves. But the moment of Zen was too good to be true, because I realized my grounded foot was in a patch of grass.

“My shoes...” I looked down at my bare feet; right one suspended a few inches in the air, blueish bruises peeking through haphazardly wound bandages, and the slowly sinking into the ground under the weight of my body.

“Oh, they must be at the front door.” Adrián pressed a hand to his forehead, groaning silently.

“Do you think your mom saw--“

“No, else she’d have mentioned it. Wait here, I’ll get them.”

I waited. A moment later, he was back with my Vans slip-ons concealed under his shirt. I’d have laughed, if not for the genuinely stunned look on his face.

I leaned against the door as he put one shoe on, hesitating about whether to put on the other.

“I’ll hold on to it,” I said, reaching for the right shoe. “Bye, Adrián.” I leaned forward to kiss him, but his mother called out his name at the same instance. My lips ended up pressed against the corner of his as he craned his neck. His gaze met mine before I set off, and he held me back.

“Wait, I’ll walk you to the bus stop.” His grip on my hand was firm, but it went slack once her voice called out to him again. This time, followed by a string of sentences asking God for mercy on her poor soul.

I couldn’t help but smile. “Stay, mijo. I’ll be okay.”

“O-okay.” He waved slowly. “Text me when you get home.”

“Jesus, Parker! Seriously?” Sam yelled, slumping against the wheel. The horn blared, and she groaned out in frustration, arms flailing. Her long blonde hair framed her face like a curtain, sparing me from the piercing glare I knew she’d give me any moment from now.

I slid into the passenger’s seat, sighing at the relief that came with the heat under my foot replaced with the blast of air from the AC. “What? I called you to come pick me up, like you wanted.” Reaching across for the seatbelt, I leaned back after hearing the satisfying click sound as it slipped into place.

“Yes. Right after you slept with him! What in God’s name were you thinking?” She rubbed a hand over her face, a strangled noise erupting from her throat. “You’re fucking limping. I know he’s cute from the photos you sent but damn, I never thought I needed to tell you not to fuck him.”

“Well... this is awkward.” I was at a loss for words. Probably because I’d fall into a fit of laughter if I said anything more.

“Damn right it is.” The glare, right on cue. With a complimentary flare of her nostrils, Sam pointed an accusing finger at my face. “This isn’t even where I dropped you off! I can’t believe he had the audacity to leave you at a stupid bus stop after wrecking you. And you let him!”

The more she spoke, the more reason I had to laugh at her ridiculous assumptions. I’d been trying to keep it together, but hearing my sister yell at me for something so uncanny (because I don’t think I’d ever do it on the first date) made me lose it.

“You think this is funny?”

“I think it’s hilarious, actually.” Her unflinching gaze only made me laugh harder. In a matter of seconds, I was clutching my sides.

“Are you—are you serious?”

“Yes. Because I didn’t sleep with him, Sam! I fell and twisted my ankle, so he brought me to his house, because it’s closer, and took care of me.”

“Where’s his house? And this was never planned, dammit.” Exactly why I shuffled all the way here instead of giving you his address.

“I’m not telling you.” I looked out the window. “This is all your fault, by the way. If you didn’t keep insisting he was a faceless serial killer, I wouldn’t have had to take any photos, and get myself hurt.”

“We will not talk about this again. Ever.”

Ever only lasted for one hour. The hour it took my parents to get back from the meet-and-greet they’d been at.

Once they noticed I was creeping around the house at a suspiciously slow pace, they carted me off to the hospital. Sam didn’t come along, as she was furious that I confessed she was behind the wheel when I had left. As if it wasn’t bad enough that she swore off ever helping me, I returned with my leg in a cast and a doctor’s note putting me off school for at least two weeks.

The only upside was that Jamie, our little brother, was ecstatic about being the first to sign my cast.

Sooooooo... that happened👀
I died a little inside with Jellybean being so mean to Parker. Such a traitor :,(

Anyway, thoughts on this chapter go here =>