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Dedication: YouHadMeAt_Believe for the amazing cover on the side. Thank you so much. :)

Song: You Are So Beautiful by Escape The Fate, which was suggested by Ilinangie, thanks!

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So far, my time at Colin's house had been surprisingly good. I got along really well with his mother Miranda and exceptionally well with Clarissa, his younger sister. Even Colin was relaxed and calm, expressing a side of him that I hadn't known existed.

Miranda was currently on the phone, when she rounded the kitchen island and pressed the phone into her shoulder. "Hayley, sweetie?"

I paused playing with Clarissa and looked up, meeting her eyes, not answering her verbally. She gave me a soft smile.

"Do you like pizza?"

"Yeah." I said, hoping my voice didn't come out too blunt. Even if I was enjoying myself, sometimes it was still hard to be polite. When I looked at adults, disrespect spread and filtered through my veins like poison.

"Who doesn't?" Colin asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes.

The corners of my mouth twitched slightly, but I didn't reply. I continued to play dolls with Clarissa, or rather sit there, cross legged, slightly twitching the doll every now and then. We'd just put on a movie and settled on the lounge, when I heard the front door open and close. My ears perked up and stomach growled. I was dearly hoping it was the Pizza Delivery guy, because I was famished.

"Mum!" I heard a voice call out. "Is Colin home?"

"In here, honey," she replied back.

Loud footsteps could be heard ascending down the hallway and soon, a pink-faced young boy rounded the corner and skidded to a breathless halt. His pupils were slightly dilated as his eyes rested on whom I'm guessing is his older brother.

"Sup, Matt." Colin casually replied.

As if those mere words triggered something inside his body, Matt propelled himself forward with a surge of speed. He flew onto the couch, his arms wrapped around Colin's neck, constricting him. I heard him let out a laugh.

"I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too," he laughed, prying himself away from the boy.

I couldn't help bit smile slightly as the scene unfolded in front of me. The boy soon froze, his blue eyes revolving around and landing on me. I stared back at him blankly, awaiting some sort of response. Colin shifted him on his lap and inched his face close to his.

"This is Hayley." he explained.

"Hi Hayley," he grinned.

"Hi."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Matt asked, never taking his eyes from me.

"No."

"Friend?"

"No."

I narrowed my eyes at him and he smirked at me playfully. I rolled my eyes and looked away, back to Clarissa, who was still fondling with her new dolls. Suddenly, new footsteps could be heard and my nostrils were filled with the pleasant smell of deliciousness.

"Hey honey," a man said, his voice deep and throaty. "Met the Delivery guy on the doorstep."

"Oh good," she smiled.

"Who's this?" he asked, raising his eyebrows whilst he gently lowered the precious food. I dragged my eyes from the multiple boxes with reluctance. He was a tall man, slim build and an almost arrogant gleam to his eye. He stood proudly, as if that would show off his masculinity.

"Hayley, Colin's friend."

I gave him a tight-lipped smile and glanced over at Colin who was beside me. I did a double take and blinked at him in surprise. His whole form had become rigid and his face stony. Cold was just pulsating from him and Matt grew quiet. In fact, everyone grew quiet. The silence put me on edge as I could feel the accumulating tension around us.

Matt climbed from his lap and crawled towards Clarissa, where they both huddled, their eyes switching back and forth from the two males, as if watching a tennis match. I gulped at the nervous tension.

"Well..." Miranda started awkwardly, rubbing her hands together. "Let's dig in!"

Oh, thank the Lord.

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A groan escaped my lips as I tossed and turned for what felt like the upteenth time tonight. With one last defeated sigh, I rolled from the bed and rose to my full height. I swayed slightly and began to blink rapidly. I bent down and changed shirts, as that one was sweat soaked, as disgusting as that sounds. I maneuvered around the spare room and to the bathroom. I lent over the sink and splashed some cold water on my face, satisfied with the soothing sensation it brought.

Turning off the tap and wiping the excess water from my face, I turned and wandered back down the hall and to the kitchen. I let my eyes flicker outside, glad it was a full moon. I didn't want to turn on the lights and wake everyone up. I began going through the cupboards, attempting to find a glass or a cup of some sort,  to ease my parched throat. After failing miserably, I reached up and enclosed my fingers around one of the last cupboard handles.

That's when, I felt it.

Someone.

A body, pressed itself against my back and with a gasp, I froze. I swallowed nervously and tried to fight off the memories that began to bombard my brain. Hands, rested on my hips and without even realising, I began trembling. One of the hands, on the right side, ran up my side. I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to calm my racing heart down. My Uncle wasn't here. He couldn't hurt me. The fingers continued to walk up my arm and open the cupboard.

With our fingers interlaced, we both grabbed the cup, bringing it out and shutting the door. They let go of my hand and I placed the cup down. Afterwards, I cleared my throat, feeling as though I needed to say something.

"Er- please tell me this is Colin and not his Dad." I joked lightly.

"I don't have a Dad." he murmured behind me, his words making goosebumps erupt across my skin. My eyes were still closed. "That would be my step-as*hole."

Licking my lips, I pivoted, facing him. It was dark in the kitchen, but I could still make out his defined jaw, high cheek bones and alluring eyes. I let my eyes dip to his red, slightly chapped lips, before I gained control again.

"Oh." was the genius response I came up with.

He remained silent. The only movement he performed was unfolding his arms either side of me, as though trapping me in his embrace. I ignored the fact and leaned back onto the counter casually, running my tongue across my teeth.

"Did I wake you?"

"Yes."

"Sorry."

"Do you often have nightmares?"

"How did you know I got them?" I asked in surprise, quirking an eyebrow.

"Because I get them too."

"To answer your earlier question - yes. I do. Often."

"Triggered by a traumatic event?" he asked, his voice soft and low.

"Yes. Yours?"

"Yes." he whispered.

I lowered my eyes and folded my arms across my chest, as though that was some form of protection for myself. I wasn't going to tell him what happened, no way, but it was almost... comforting, to know that I wasn't the only one who went through issues and problems like this. It made my weird feelings toward Colin grow even more.

Silence lapsed once more and we both stood there, mere inches away. His eyes felt as though they burned me. I eventually, after literally minutes, raised my eyes to his, which were piercing through me. He inched closer and I closed my eyes again. It only took a second for his lips to meet mine. As soon as they touched, my skin flared. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I suddenly felt overwhelmed.

Our lips moved in sychronisation and he tasted like peppermint toothpaste, which was refreshing. Nothing worse then swapping saliva with someone who has bad breath. Nibbling at his lip and gaining further access into his mouth, I pressed my body against his. He moved so that his strong, muscular arms wrapped around me and an odd sense of safety rushed through me. In one fluid movement, I was lifted onto the bench. He wedged himself in between my knees and cupped my face, tilting my head back. I felt myself go light-headed as the kiss grew stronger and more intimate.

Just when I thought I was about to die from the explosion of feelings inside me, he stepped back. Cold washed over me instantly. I sat there, out of breath, for a few moments. We both stood there for a second, before he turned his back on me and strode away.

I felt rejection slap me raw across the face with every step he took from me. Did he not feel the igniting fire inside his veins, like I had? I had never felt like this before. I swallowed, raising my hand and allowing my fingers to run over my throbbing lips. I closed my eyes and rested my head back on the cupboard door.

It was going to be hell facing him tomorrow.

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The next morning, almost disturbingly, I was smiling. Which was weird. And scary.

I slowly sat up and rubbed at my eyes, glancing at my phone which was placed beside me on the table. It read that it was eight am. With a slight sigh, I dragged myself off the bed and fumbled around my bag for my toothbrush. After finding it, I padded down the hall and gave myself a good scrubbing. On my return, I noticed Colin's door slightly open. Stopping in my tracks, I edged over and creepily peered inside. I frowned, noticing the bad was unmade and vacant.

I resumed the walk to my room and dumped my stuff. I emerged into the kitchen, where Miranda was setting plates down for the two youngsters. She looked over her shoulder and gave me a small smile.

"Hi dear, did you want some breakfast?"

"Oh, no, I'm okay."

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Matt said to me in a disapproving tone.

A flicker of a smile danced across my lips at this. "I know, I'm naughty."

"At least have some toast." she said to me. "Do you like Vegemite?"

"Yeah." I replied. She jolted forward to get it ready and I waved her off. "I'll make it."

I grabbed the ingredients and began preparing my food. Colin had an amaIng food, amazing family, a mother who offers to make breakfast. I was indescribably jealous of him. I rested on the bench and let my eyes wander over to where Colin and I hooked up last night. I then remembered also, that he backed up and left me high and dry. I had never experienced the whirlwind of emotions that I did last night and he just left?

"Is Colin around?" I asked casually, gnawing at my lip. "We need to continue working on our assessment."

"Oh he went out for a run. He'll be back soon," Miranda assured me.

I nodded. After collapsing beside Clarissa and shoving the toast down my throat, I heard someone new enter. Eagerly, I looked up, hoping it was Colin, so we could at least discuss what happened last night. But unfortunately, it was his father. Or step, rather.

"Morning," he chirped, beaming at us.

"Morning!" the kids chorused back, as I sat there in silence.

He made his own breakfast, after planting a kiss on Miranda's lips. He sat heavily at the head of the table and smiled cheerily at me. At seeing that, I pushed the chair back from the table and walked toward the kitchen, where I began to clean up my mess, before evacuating back to my room. I locked myself away from them. It felt weird being here without Colin, since I hardly knew them.

Hours, literally, went by before Colin made an appearance at about four in the afternoon. I was on the lounge with Clarissa when he walked in, grunted and made a beeline for his room. I stared angrily after him for several moments, before I stood up and stormed after him. I barged open the door rudely. He sat there, shirtless, on his bed, his back to me. Sweat gleamed across his defined muscles and I felt myself lick my lips. I mentally slapped myself. No way was I having thoughts like that about him right now when I was this angry.

He didn't move upon my arrival and I waited impatiently, for some kind of response. When he didn't, I sighed through my nose and marched around the bed, so we were facing.

"Colin, I didn't come over to play dolls with your sister." I spat. "I came here, to do our assessment. You disappearing for the day really didn't help."

He shrugged. "Stuff the assessment."

"Stuff the assessment?" I echoed incredulously. "Did you not listen to the threat Mr. Johnston gave us?"

"Eh."

I blinked at him, anger accumulating in the pit of my stomach. "Can you quit being a jerk and just do it?"

"Nah."

That was it.

I took two strides before I socked him, hard, in the right shoulder. His whole body jerked in surprise and he let out a gasp. I punched him again, this time in the stomach. He sucked in a breath of pain, his eyes popping open in surprise. I raised my hand to go for his face, before his own snapped out. His fingers wrapped around my wrist and instantly, my skin began heating up. He stood, grabbing my other wrist. I began struggling against him, trying to pull myself from his capture.

"Stop trying to hit me."

"Let go!"

"If you stop."

"No."

"Then I won't."

"Don't. Touch. Me." I said bitterly, my voice dripping menace.

He froze, shocked for a moment, his tight grip turning slack. Which was my opportunity. I wrenched myself from his touch and backed up at least five steps. He gazed after me, not having moved a muscle.

"Don't touch me again. Got it?" I asked in a low voice, I hadn't heard myself speak before. I think it was the pent up frustration that had been accumulating ever since last night.

He didn't react in any way, so I turned and strode out of his room, extremely annoyed. Like he could go and kiss me like that... make me feel things I've never felt before, to leave me and be a jerk. Well, if he was going to do that, he wasn't going to touch me again.

I wouldn't let him.

This assessment will be fun to do by myself.

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Hmm, so what do we think about this change of events? :)

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