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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on Apr 16, 2012 1:44:09 GMT -5
April could still be cold as hell when you least expected it. Mari shivered as she looked about. She could feel her body chilling down and it sucked hard core. Being on the para-transit bus meant you had to wait for it to arrive and it could be a 20 minute wait. Her basket of groceries sat there in their little plastic brown bags, there was no chance of things going bad while she waited because it was too damn cold for anything to go bad.
She tugged her black jacket closer to her and shivered. She pulled her hood over her head and smirked. She looked like a Jawa from Star Wars but at least she was warm. She didn't have enough cash to get another jacket. As it was she was living off food stamps and only the fact that she was in school again helped keep the student loan sharks at bay.
She spent 3 years in court fighting to ride the normal bus. The school system had insisted she was too handicapped to ride the normal bus with the other kids and it sucked being so isolated from everyone. The day she got on the normal bus she felt empowered and strong...at least till the spit wads came out of nowhere to stick in her hair and she got wet willied and had a sign put on her that said "kick me." Yeah, bein' the dork and riding with the other kids was epic in how much it sucked.
Now, she was riding the "special bus" because it was all they offered folks who were "physically challenged." God she hated that phrase almost as much as "differently-abled" She felt that it didn't matter what they called you so long as the intent was the same, to single you out as different or freakish.
She knew she was different. She didn't need to have someone point at her to make it true. How many folks did you know who read tarot cards based on an empathic gift and symbology? She couldn't see into the future but she could tell when someones subconscious was letting things be known through a tarot deck. No magic there, just a little gentle reading and letting the symbology speak to you. Hey, it got her into Science Fiction conventions for free. She made money for all the charities she donated to when she used her epic tarot skills.
She blew on her hands and felt her fingers tingle as she looked at the setting sun and checked her phone. She put her phone back and felt a hole forming in her coat. 'Great just what I need.'
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Post by mooshi on Apr 20, 2012 0:52:10 GMT -5
”Thanks, you too,” Rodney replied to the cashier as she told him to have a wonderful night. He wouldn’t have said it back to her if she hadn’t been making so much freaking eye contact with him. He didn’t believe in being ‘fake’ to people, and that is definitely what people did when they said those stupid comments. But people just kept on going with it. He replayed a conversation that he heard all the time when in stores. ‘Hello, how are you today?’ ‘I’m good thanks, and you?’ ‘Good.’ And then there was always an awkward silence that followed because nobody really gave a shit if the person really had a good day or not. And what would happen if someone actually said that their day had truly been the worst day of their lives? Then what? The cashier would probably be speechless because all it was, was routine to them. Pointless conversing. Hence the reason being a social hermit was the best way to go.
Rodney hadn’t even wanted to go out to the grocery store in the first place. But his normal day to go food shopping for he and Axel was on Friday mornings before his 11:00am class, and fortunately he’d be gone the whole day preparing the boys for their first football game of the season. So, he was out on a Wednesday night at the grocery store where everyone seemed to be tonight. He honestly had no clue how he was going to get out of the parking lot. That was definitely a concern of his once he actually walked out into the sunset. There was absolutely no spaces left for cars. He kinda wished he had decided to walk instead of drive.
With a bunch of white plastic bags on his arms, he turned in the direction of where he parked his car. But as he did so, he noticed someone sitting on the bus bench to the left of him. He wouldn’t have stopped, but she looked very familiar and very cold. Once she lifted her hands to her lips to blow on them to keep herself warm, he knew right away who she was. He was good with matching a face to a name, and he had definitely remembered seeing this woman in the library working with a nametag on her chest. “Hey, Marina, right?” Rodney wouldn’t normally be so social with someone, but she had helped him look for a few non web version periodicals in the stacks a few weeks back. They hadn’t discussed much, but she was quite the character that was for sure. “What are you doing out here?” It was a stupid question, and he wanted to take it back once he said it. Why else would she be sitting on a bus bench if she wasn’t waiting for a bus of some kind.
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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on Apr 20, 2012 3:53:02 GMT -5
Rodney approached her and asked the most obvious question in the world. She heard the Bill Engball quote of "Here's your stupid sign." pop through her head but resisted it. "Nah, I figured I'd sit here and limp for folks for a dollar. Figure its a good way to pay off my student loans. The food here is so they can throw stuff at me if I don't fulfill their idea of a stereotype by stuttering and holding my body in ackward angles like Quasimodo." she smirked and patted the bench next to her.
As far as hot football Jocks went Rodney was in the top ten. He was definately a drool magnet and sure as heck beat the wherewolf she had dated briefly in the looks department. Philip had grey hair and it had been when she was stupid and 22.
"You know if you sit here and flex your muscles I bet you I could pay off my tuition for the year inside of 2 hours." Oh yeah she was on fire tonight ladies and gentlemen. Folks don't pay to see this kind of a standup act. "Seriously, I'm just waiting for the short bus to take me to hell aka my crap apartment." she made a face and grinned, "So, you gonna feed the football team with those groceries or is this how you work out now?" she tilted her head and regarded the handsome football player with a genuine smile. Her hair was blowing in her eyes and she sighed, "At this rate I think I'm going to freeze before this bus gets here." she muttered and was tempted to go back in and get a hot cocoa.
The irony was that her dad would probably love Rodney. The only one he'd like more was Wes Hunter and that was because Wes could be a cutthroat SoB when he wanted to be. Hell she half expected the reason he hadn't married her off was there were absolutely no filthy rich guys that would look the other way at the things he did. She sighed inwardly and dug her beat up black shoe into the cement crack that was under the bench. Her ass was freezing. At this rate she'd have waffle prints emblazoned on her asscheeks for the rest of eternity.
She stretched and her back popped. She debated getting her hair cut short but right now it was just too damn cold. She looked over at Rodney and resisted the urge to ask him some stupid question like "How many of me can you bench press?" or some other stupid crap.
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Post by mooshi on Apr 21, 2012 14:47:55 GMT -5
Rodney laughed at her comment as he sat down on the bench next to him. She was funny even when she was using herself as the target for her own joke. Even though he had only really talked to her once at the library, he could see that this was something she did quite often. He knew she had cerebral palsy. He wasn’t a big jokester, but he did have a few ideas as to how to respond; however, he wasn’t sure how she would take things that he said. He would consider them more as acquaintances than friends at this point, and he really wanted to make sure he didn’t overstep his bounds.
And there she was joking again. This time about him which was completely fine because she was complimenting him…or flirting. He wasn’t quite sure which one. He smirked. “I’m sure you just sitting here can pay off all of your tuition. People all over would come just to see your smile.” Boy, spending time with Merry was starting to break open his shell a bit. He was starting to actually be able to talk to women without freaking out. “Nah, this is just for Axel and I. Believe it or not, most of it is for him. I swear, he sucks things up like a vacuum cleaner.”
He could barely hear what she had said about being cold, but he kind of figured she was sick of waiting for the bus. And it wasn’t like he was doing anything. “Hey, I’d be more than happy to give ya a ride home to your crap apartment. Heck, I’ll even flex for you if you want.” He chuckled hoping that she would laugh. It was funny for him to say that. He sounded like he was all about himself, and he really wasn’t at all. When Axel mentioned that girls were lining up to date him, he didn’t understand that. He must have been just oblivious to all attempts or he just screwed them all up by talking.
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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on Apr 22, 2012 2:41:42 GMT -5
Mari smiled widely and chuckled, "I'd believe it. You're a football player. You need to eat enough so you don't pass out but having a roomate usually makes the food bill triple." she pushed her purple wire rimmed glasses up on her nose. She looked over at him, "Axel is a unique name." she added for lack of anything to say and blushed, "Nah I'm not pretty, Rodney. I've seen pretty people and I'm not one of them." she stuck her hands in her pockets and looked up at him, her black coat shifting slightly as she moved, "Its nice for you to say that though."
She debated going home with him, "Well, if its not out of your way and it won't make your groceries go bad to take me home I guess I could, I don't want to be a bother." she added as she tooked Rodney in the eyes, she didn't sense anything creepy or off with him. His offer was genuine and she figured she'd be safe. Sides her dad paged her all the time and if anything went weird he'd have a swat team kicking in Rodney's door stat.
Ironic that the only person she really worried about with her safety was her father. He'd sent her to the hospital on more than one occassion. She had more sprains and fractures than she cared to think about.
"So where's your car?" she asked him as she rose and put her hands on the cart, her jacket situated so that it and not her bare hands touched the cold metal. She turned her cart around and prepared to follow him. "And flexing would be good. You'd burn so much energy doing it they could fuel the city." she smirked and followed behind him as her cart squeaked along. She knew Rodney wasn't stuck on himself. He seemed like a really nice guy. She needed to know more folks like him. "So how are classes going?" she asked him as they walked to his car.
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Post by mooshi on Apr 22, 2012 10:05:32 GMT -5
”Yeah, I know. It sort of makes me think of Axel Rose from Guns and Roses. Except he’s not a complete dick,” Rodney laughed. She was right. His name was very interesting. He’d actually never heard the name before meeting Axel Evans. Now, every single time he said Axel’s name, that is the first thing he thought of.
When Marina mentioned that she had seen pretty people, and she was not one of them, he couldn’t believe she was saying this. Maybe how he was thinking was exactly what Axel had to go through when Rodney would say things like that. Marina just couldn’t see how gorgeous she was, just like Rodney couldn’t see what an awesome person he was and how much other people wanted to be around him. “Well, Marina, maybe you need to re-evaluate your definition of a pretty person.”
After saying this, Rodney stood up lifting his plastic bags of groceries. “No way are you a bother! I’d love to drive you home. There isn’t a boyfriend or anything that is going to try and beat me up though, right?” Rodney asked jokingly. He sighed glancing out at the parking lot. “Well, I can’t really remember exactly where it is, but I’m pretty sure it is over in that lane.” Rodney nodded towards the left hand side of the parking lot. He glanced at Marina. “Guaranteed my car will be warmer than that bus,” he said as he began stepped off the side walk and headed towards where he told her it would be. He was glad that he kept his car clean. He didn’t want her to think he was a slob, which he actually was in a way. When it came to his room, he seriously had no time to clean it, and it wasn’t an excuse for laziness either. Classes, working, and homework were all that he seemed to have time for lately. And the occasional grocery shopping.
“There she is,” Rodney smiled as he nodded towards a yellow 1990 stingray corvette with a black line around the body. When it came to cars, Rodney was definitely a fan of older ones. His parents had bought him this one for his birthday when he was 16, and he’d had it ever since.
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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on Apr 22, 2012 16:35:02 GMT -5
Marina nodded, "Well one day I'll have to meet your roomate with the interesting name." she said simply as she looked over at him, when he said she needed to redefine her concept of pretty she shrugged. "Maybe." she murmured as she stretched and moved into the parking lot with him. She felt her phone go off. 'You'd think the only thing my dad did all day was text me.' she sighed inwardly.
"I don't have a boyfriend. Just an over protective father whose very paranoid about me living on my own." she murmured as she heard her phone chirp to answer her message, "That's him now. He's mad cause he doesn't like me taking public transportation. He's convinced I'm gonna get dumped off in a bad part of town or something." she grimaced and shook her head. Her back still hurt like crazy. At the rate dad was going she was going to walk like one of those seamstresses in the early 19th century before the industrial revolution. Those poor woman had perminantly stooped shoulders from leaning over to sew shirts.
"Dad doesn't like it when I date. He about flipped out when I joined this band." she smirked briefly for the thrill that it gave her. "Went to celebrate and ran into Wes and Kyra." her face got somber, "Oh if one of the football players walks into practice looking like someone worked him over that was my fault. I was trying to leave the club and he groped me. I tried to be nice but when he didn't let go I broke his nose and punched him in the sack." she admitted with a flush to her cheeks.
That was gonna go over well she was sure. She saw his car and whistled, "Nice ride, Rodney." she murmured as she looked over at him and stretched lightly. She made sure her cart wasn't too close to the car and started tying the handles of her shopping bags together so they could differentiate them if needed. "I appreciate this, Rodney. I didn't want to have to call my dad. He's wanting me to move back home." she smiled softly at the footbal player and looked wistful, "So, what have you been up to?"
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Post by mooshi on Apr 25, 2012 15:35:48 GMT -5
When Marina started discussing her dad, Rodney’s first impression of her father was that he was a dictator. She went from him not wanting her to live on her own, to him not wanting her to ride public transportation, and then to him being paranoid about her dating people. Rodney knew that sometimes parents got overprotective over their children especially when it was a daughter and a father relationship, but there was something different about this situation. Maybe it was how Marina was talking about it or the expression she gave him, but he knew there was something fishy about her dad. It wasn’t hard to believe that Rodney could see things that other people couldn’t. He just had a way of knowing things and all of his friends knew it. He wasn’t a psychic or anything weird like that, but he was very empathetic. When someone was uneasy or upset about something, he could tell right away. And right now, he could definitely tell that talking about her father did something to Marina’s persona.
When she went on talking about celebrating with Kyra and Wes, Rodney decided to pocket the notion that there was definitely something wrong with her father and her relationship. Rodney couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the mention of Wes. He really had nothing against Kyra except for the fact that she was a bit annoying. His problem was more with Wes. He and Wes didn’t get along at all. Rodney wasn’t sure if it was because of the competetiveness on the football field or the idea that their personalities were completely different. Either way, the feeling was mutual. “Wait a second. You hang with Wes and Kyra?”
Rodney smirked at her comment about his car. He loved when people said things about how amazing it was. It really was gorgeous, and he’d made sure to always take good care of it. He quickly headed to the trunk and unlocked it pulling it open so they can both start loading. “You aren’t going to are you? Something tells me all this protectiveness he has over you isn’t the worst thing that goes on between you two.” He said as he dropped all of his groceries into the trunk completely disregarding her last question. He probably shouldn’t have said anything, but he couldn’t help it. If there was something that was going on, he wanted her to feel like she could talk to him about it. They didn’t know eachother very well, but Rodney was always the person to go to for problems and good advice. He just wanted to make sure she knew that.
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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on Apr 25, 2012 17:06:40 GMT -5
Mari realized she'd been babbling when she picked up on Rodney reading her body language, "No, I'm not friends with Kyra or Wes. I just don't want them kicking my ass. I get enough of that as it is--." 'SHIT!' She exhaled, "Kyra's the type of girl that made my life hell in school and Wes would feed me to the wolves if it benefited him. I'm not stupid I mean holy fuck he was mad he'd have to step in when his buddy was playing drunken Octapus." she said it with disgust and packed away a few groceries. She was kind of miffed that Rodney would even think she'd be friends with social climbers like that. "Sometimes its just easier if you don't piss folks off, Rodney." she bit her lip and ducked her head. She focused on her groceries and began putting them in the trunk. She focused on the task and bit her lip as she felt tears prickle at the edge of her eyes. 'Dammit don't you dare cry like a baby. He's not going to believe you anyway. And if he did what good would it do?' she thought angrily at herself.
When he mentioned moving back with her dad she shrugged her shoulders, "My dad has been known to cancel my leases on the places I live in. Its not that easy, Rodney. He's got a lot of folks in his pockets and it makes life really hard." she slid into the car and stared at nothing in particular.
When he mentioned more going on than most folks realized she winced as if he'd slapped her. Her eyes began to well up and she bit her lip to keep from losing it. She made herself take a deep breath and exhale slowly before she closed her eyes. She felt a few hot tears dot her glasses and snatched them off her face before pinching the bridge of her nose. The last person she'd told had been a therapist that was helping her be her own person. She'd helped her learn about how to live in the real world and she'd said Mari was making great progress...
Till Mari's dad killed her. Ever since then she'd locked herself away from everyone and put up a false front to keep them from seeing just how pathetic she was. She let her hand drop and it hit her wrist, touching a scar there from childhood that she barely recalled. "We all have to face our mistakes, Rodney. Mine are no better than anyone elses." she managed to get that out without it sounding too ragged.
She'd figure out how to make it all work. She rubbed her temple and exhaled softly.
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Post by mooshi on Apr 29, 2012 17:19:50 GMT -5
Rodney watched her talk about Wes and Kyra, but what he really got from the conversation was the idea that she was already getting beat up elsewhere. It didn’t take Rodney too long to see the connection. Her father was doing a lot more than being protective. He was hurting her. He could see it as a few tears slid down her cheeks. He sighed grabbing a few of her groceries and putting them into his trunk as well. He really didn’t know Marina well enough to be telling her how to live her life, but if she was in trouble, Rodney wanted to help her.
When Marina got into the car, he shut his trunk and pushed her cart to the side. He then walked around to the driver’s side of the car. There had to be something he could do for Marina. He could see that she was upset. He opened his door and ducked into the car closing the door behind him. When he got into the car, he sighed staring out the windshield. She was silent in the seat next to him. “Listen, Marina,” Rodney said as he glanced at her, “I don’t know what is going on with you and your dad, but if he is hurting you in any way, you don’t deserve any of it.” He set his hand on top of hers and squeezed it gently. “You said he makes your life really hard. Is there any way you can just cut ties from him? I mean is there someone you can stay with?” This guy couldn’t be that hard to deal with. I mean he had met ass hole guys who beat on women before. Nothing a beat down couldn’t do. And if he was as rich as Marina was making him out to be, money wasn’t everything. It wasn’t like this guy would kill people who tried helping her right?
Rodney watched as Marina rubbed her temples. He could tell this was uneasy. Rodney sighed taking his hand off of hers and moving his eyes to focus on the family outside his windshield. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not my place, Marina.” He shook his head. “I barely know you. But I know that what you are going through isn’t fair.” He hesitated. “And you shouldn’t go through it alone.”
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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on Apr 29, 2012 18:05:28 GMT -5
Mari felt Rodney's hand on her own and shook her head, "I get him mad and he lashes out. He never means to if I just didn't get him angry he'd be better. Its my fault. And I tried to cut ties. He found me and drove off my last boyfriend. Its just hard to explain Rodney. He doesn't like me interacting with other people and when I do he gets angry. I don't have any place to go other than my apartment. I don't have friends. Didn't have any growing up." she exhaled, "Even when I did my first week of registration for my library degree he came with me. I've not had much time to myself. He's just kind of broken. I'm the only family he has left and he kind of freaks out at things. Its because the few times he did let me socialize I got hurt really bad."
She exhaled and looked at him with a rueful smile, "He got a key to my old place and redecorated it. Its very high end and he's probably sent a maid service in or something. I just wanted to go shopping for myself and cook and be normal."
Mari smiled at him, "Its okay, Rodney. I understand. I'm just trying to figure out how to get anything to stick. I mean the media just thinks I'm doing the rebellious disabled girl or that I'm clumsy or something but all I want is to be normal or as normal as I can be. I want to help people. I know it sounds stupid and corny but its true." She wiped at her face, "You're very sweet. You should let me make you dinner for crying all over you and stuff." She figured she owed it to him. He was a nice guy.
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Post by mooshi on May 1, 2012 21:55:13 GMT -5
”Your fault?” Rodney asked turning so that his body was facing hers. “Hey, don’t you think that for one second, Marina. None of this is your fault. You’re telling me that some guy who has a beautiful, intelligent, and very personable daughter can’t control his temper because of some of the things she does? What do you do that is so terribly bad? I mean what are you doing that you think you really deserve his way of punishing you?” Rodney voice was raising a bit, and it wasn’t intentional. He was normally very good in any type of situation. He was always the one to be calm and collective when times got rough. But it hurt him to see her hurting so much.
As Marina continued explaining her dad, Rodney couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He made sure to soften his voice. He didn’t want her to think that he was yelling at her. That was the last thing he wanted her to think. If she thought that, she’d probably never speak to him again. “So he disapproves of you socializing which is very important to any individual to become a stronger person. He chases off your boyfriends which makes it almost impossible for you to get close to anyone on a personal level. He has a key to your apartment which is an invasion of privacy and an invasion on you trying to live a life for yourself.” He shook his head. “Marina, he may be broken, but how is any of this rational? How does any of this help you grow as a person?” It was a lot that he was saying to her, but he just wanted her to know how he felt about the situation.
”Come stay with me,” Rodney blurted without even thinking. It was rather strange really. He didn’t intentionally mean to say that to her. I mean, if he did, it didn’t even register until after he said it. But even though he wasn’t planning on asking her to come and stay with him to get her away from her father, he still meant every word of it. He wanted her to be where he could keep an eye on her. He was never really a violent kind of person, but if it came down to it, he would have no problem knocking some old guy out to protect Marina. He sighed, “I mean it. Maybe being away from him for a while will help you see that what he is doing to you isn’t out of love.” He shook his head. “Not that I’m saying he doesn’t love you. But this?” Rodney gripped her wrist and pushed her sleeve up gently revealing a bruise he had noticed when they were sitting out by the grocery store at the bus stop. “This isn’t love.”
Rodney turned in his seat so that he was now facing back to his windshield. “How about we cook together instead?” Rodney really enjoyed cooking. It was one favorite hobby that would never go away. Cooking with Marina would really be a nice experience.
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Post by Marina Anne Sinclaire on May 1, 2012 22:21:38 GMT -5
Mari cringed when he raised his voice and ducked as if ready to ward off a blow, "I'm not like him and I wasn't like my brothers. I'm like my mom more than him and he never wanted a girl."she said softly as she peeked at him through her coat, which she'd pulled up as a shield to protect herself when his voice started to raise. "I didn't stop him from hurting other people. I tried and I couldn't stop him. He's dangerous Rodney you don't want to get him mad."
"I know its not rational. I know he's broken but he fired my last therapist and the police won't do any thing. I've tried! I have been over there and they don't listen to me." she bit her lip to keep from loosing it. "He pays people off Rodney. He has a lot of people in his pocket. Its not like I haven't tried to move on."
"He's not hitting me out of love, Rodney! He's hitting me so he doesn't do things to me that fathers shouldn't do to their daughters. I told you he's broken. Very broken. He has urges that a parent shouldn't have with their own kid." she cringed into herself and couldn't believe things were going this way. "If you're serious about wanting me to move in with you you have to understand that he is dangerous. He's got enough money to make people look the other way. I don't want to live with my dad. I've left and run away more times than I can count. I know he's a pervert but no one would listen.
Slowly uncurled from the defensive position she put herself in, "Cooking together would be really great." she said with a small but genuine smile as she tried to get back to herself. She felt her muscles relax slowly and she straightened her jacket.
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Post by mooshi on May 4, 2012 10:16:09 GMT -5
Rodney listened to her words. And as she continued on, the things that she mentioned just seemed to get worse and worse. Even with her making her father sound like such a horrible man, Rodney still couldn’t help but feel that she was still torn between staying with him and completely leaving him behind to let him wallow in his own loneliness. But she also seemed like a woman that was stuck and wasn’t sure how to get out of her situation. And when she began to talk about her father beating her just to handle his ‘other urges’, Rodney was lost in all of the urges he had at that moment to kill this man. Although even though he told himself that he wanted to, he wasn’t sure if he could. He was violent only when he was on the field. And even then, he was extra careful not to hurt someone real bad. But he thought of a scenario where he walked in on Marina’s father either physically or sexually abusing her, and he seriously believed that he would do whatever his mind was telling him to do at that moment. And at that moment, it would be to beat him down just as he had been doing to Marina.
”Marina, he isn’t the only one that is rich. My parents are pretty powerful too. I mean, I know that it’s a little strange to involve other people, but they have connections.” Rodney was desperate now to help her, to give her some sort of hope that there was a way out of her current situation. He listened as she warned him about her father. “I don’t care about that. I can take care of myself.” He wanted to tell her that he could take care of her too, but he wasn’t sure if he should. Saying something like that was pretty big even though that would be his intentions. “Your father doesn’t even know me or anything about me. This could be a good thing. How about I take you home, you can pack up your things, and then I can pick you up in about an hour or so. Axel won’t mind at all if you stay with us. Believe me, he’d just be happy that there is a girl for me in our dorm room. Not that you are for me.” He gave her a gentle smile. “I just meant that you are my friend. And friends take care of each other.” He turned now facing the windshield. He turned the key letting the engine turn over. “And what better way to start then move you in! And cook with you! Sounds like a good plan to me.” He glanced at her again. At this point, he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He had a plan, he told her his plan, and now he was working his plan. It was in mid process. There was no way it wouldn’t work.
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