- 16 - 

Rocky and his habit of licking my hand when he wants food wakes me up.

The sunlight is strong and it comes in through my window, warming my room. Its heat on my face. It takes me a few seconds to remember everything that happened last night.

Ares...

I sit up, checking the side of my bed: It's empty. My heart falls. Did he leave?

What did you expect, Rachel?

Scratching my hair, I go to the bathroom to brush my teeth. When I look in the mirror, I shriek, "Holy mother of bruises!"

My face looks horrible, the whole right side is swollen and a bruises stretches from the middle of my cheek to the corner of my right eye. The corner of my mouth has a small cut. I had no idea that the man hit me so hard. As I inspect my face, I notice bruises on my wrists and arms, I suppose from when they pulled me around. A chill runs through me as I remember what happened.

After my shower shower, I come out of the bathroom in my underwear and bra, drying my hair with the towel.

"Pokemon panties?"

A high pitch scream leaves my mouth when I see Ares sitting on my bed, a bag of food and two coffees on the bedside table.

I quickly cover myself with the towel, "I thought you were gone."

He smiles, that smile that melts my heart in seconds, "I just went out to get some breakfast, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine and thank you, that's very kind of you."

And kindness is not your thing.

"Get dressed so we can eat. Unless you want to stay like that. I won't mind."

"Very funny, I'll be right back."

Fully dressed and devouring my breakfast, I try to ignore the handsome boy in front of my eyes because otherwise there is no way I can eat in peace.

Ares takes a sip of his coffee, "I have to get this off my chest. I have to."

"What?"

"Pokemon? Really? I didn't even know Pokemon underwear existed."

I roll my eyes, "It's my underwear, nobody's supposed to see it."

"I've seen it," his eyes meet mine, "I've touched it too."

I choke and cough a little, "Ares..."

"What?" his playful expression is on, "Oh, you remember that very well, don't you?"

"Of course not."

"Then are you blushing?"

"It's hot."

He smirks but says nothing. I finish eating and take a sip of my coffee, keeping my eyes on everything but him. I can feel his gaze on me though. I become very conscious of how I am dressed and every detail of me that he can see and disapprove, like my rowdy, wet hair.

Ares sighs, "What happened last night?"

I look up, those deep blue of his disarm me, and I feel I can tell him everything.

I run my fingers through my hair, "I left work and decided to take a shortcut." Ares gives me a disapproving look. "I was tired and I thought nothing would happen."

"Walking alone at night, under that bridge is not something you should consider."

"Now I know," I pause, "well, I went under the bridge and found three men."

Do you want something, pretty girl?

I squeeze my hands on my lap, "They took my phone and one of them ..."

You are very beautiful, don't cry.

The man's words haunt me.

Ares puts his hand on mine, "You're safe now."

"Two of them left but one stayed with me. He dragged me into the dark and told me not to scream and I did and that's why he hit me. Fortunately, that guy heard me and the man ran out."

"Did he do something to you?" Ares' eyes flash with an anger that surprises me, "Did he touch you?"

I shake my head, "No, thank God."

He squeezes my hand and I notice how soft his palms are, "It's over, you are okay."

And he smiles at me, and for the first time it's not a smug smile or mischievous one, it's a genuine smile, a real smile, one that he has not shown me before and it takes a toll on my heart.

Ares Hidalgo looks so honestly grateful that I'm okay, that I feel the stupid urge to kiss him.

And it is at this moment that I realize that he and I have never kissed in spite of having done such intimate things together. Why have you never kissed me? I want to ask him but I don't have the courage to do it, not now. Besides, what purpose would that question serve? If being with him is out of the equation.

He has been sweet and kind. He has behaved like a actual good person but that doesn't mean that his way of seeing things have changed, nor mine.

Ares uses his index finger to caress the back of my hand and draw circles on it. I feel the need to thank him. "Thank you, you didn't have to do all this so... thank you, Ares."

"I am here for you, always, witch."

Always...

That makes my stomach flutter and my heart beat races. He leans forward, his hand getting a hold of my chin, "What are you doing?"

He assesses the beaten side of my face, "It doesn't look like anything it's broken. You should get check it out at the hospital just in case and if it hurts a lot, you could take a painkiller for the pain, you'll be fine."

"Are you a doctor now?"

Ares laughs a little, "Not yet."

I frown, "Not yet?

"I want to go to Medical school when I finish high school."

"Really?

"Why so surprised?"

"I thought you'd study management or laws like your father or brother."

"To work in my father's company?"

I nodded, "The thought of you being a doctor never crossed my mind."

Although you would be a very handsome doctor.

"That's what everyone thinks," he twists his lips, "I'm sure my parents and Artemis don't have a clue."

"They don't know what you want to go to Medical school?"

"No, you're the first person I've told."

"Why?"

The question leaves my lips before I can stop it, Ares looks away, "I don't know."

I bite my tongue, no more questions, Rachel.

He gets up, "I should go, I promised Apollo I'd take him to the Dog rescue place."

"Dog rescue place?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Rachel." His tone is playful, "Apolo adopts puppies when mom is in a good mood and lets him."

I smile, "Apolo is a very sweet boy."

Ares' playful tone is gone, "I bet he is."

"Could you tell him I said hi?"

Ares raises an eyebrow, "You miss sharing a bed with him?"

And here we go with the quadripolar.

"Ares, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that."

Go, before you ruin the moment, Greek God.

Ares opens his mouth to say something but closes it and then speaks, "Well, I hope you get better soon. If you need anything let me know."

"I'll be fine."

I don't have a phone to let you know anything anyway.

I want to say it but I don't want to sound needy, and maybe he just says that to be kind and doesn't really expect me to reach out. Ares goes out of my window and I fall back on my bed.

-

Dani is perplexed.

She doesn't blink, she doesn't move, she doesn't speak.

I'm not even sure she's breathing.

Is it because they attacked me? No.

This is because I just told you everything that has happened with Ares.

I understand it's a lot of information to assimilate. For her, I went from stalking Ares from the shadows to argue with him over my Wi-Fi and then suddenly doing intimate stuff with him.

We are sitting on my bed with our legs crossed in our pajamas, we have a cup of popcorn in the middle of us. We decided to make one last pajamas night before school started.

"Breathe, Dani."

She breaths, letting out a great puff of air, and places her black hair behind her ears, "I must admit I'm impressed."

"Impressed?"

"Yes, you put him in his place when it was necessary, you were brave, I am very proud of you."

"It's not a big deal."

"Of course, it is. No offense but I never thought you'd have something going on with him, let alone put him in his place, Bravo!" she raises her hand and gives me five.

I give her five, "It wasn't easy, Dani, you know how much I like him."

"I know it wasn't easy, that's why I'm congratulating you, silly."

I grab a fistful of popcorn, "Sometimes, I can't believe I had a thing with him, he's always been so out of my reach." I stuff all the popcorn I can into my mouth.

"I can't believe it either, life is unpredictable." Dani eats her popcorn one by one.

"I think he's still out of my reach," I sigh, "He's not interested in me for something serious, he just wants to have fun. I'm not even sure he likes me."

Dani rolls her eyes, "He must like you to have a thing with you, at least physically, he's attracted to you. People don't fool around with people they don't find attractive. That wouldn't make any sense."

"But he told me, with his stupid, beautiful face, 'because you liked me, but I don't like you'" I repeat bitterly, trying to imitate his voice.

"If he didn't like you, he wouldn't have tried anything with you. Nada."

"Stop it, Dani."

"Stop what?"

"Don't say those things, you give me hope about him."

Dani puts her fingers together over her mouth shut. "Okay, I'll shut up."

I throw a little popcorn at her. "Don't bother," she doesn't speak to me, "Are you serious, Dani?"

I throw another popcorn and she grabs it and eats it but still doesn't speak to me.

"Dani, Dani, talk to me."

She crosses her arms over her chest, "I'm just telling the truth and that bothers you. Ares is smart, hot, wealthy, he can have many girls at his feet. And yet, you tell me that he would fool around with someone he doesn't like? Yes, maybe he doesn't want anything serious but he likes you, Rachel."

"All right! You're right."

Dani throw her hair over her shoulder with arrogance, "Always, now let's go to sleep. The last thing we want is to have bag under our eyes on the first day of school, it's our last year, we have to shock everyone."

"It's always the same people, Dani, this town is not that big."

"You love taking the fun out of life." Dani gets up and puts the popcorn cup on the floor.

We settle inside the sheets. Turning off the bedside lamp, we both sigh, staring at the darkness, moonlight giving a glimpse of dark blue to my surroundings. A period of silence goes by and Ares' beautiful genuine smile invades my mind.

"Stop thinking about him, Rachel."

"No one has ever made me feel this way."

"I know."

"And it hurts, it hurts that he doesn't want anything serious with me. It makes me feel like I'm not good enough."

"But you are, don't let him get to you. You did well to kick him out, Rachel."

I take a lock of my hair and start playing with it. Dani turns to me and we both lie on our sides, face to face, "Dani, I really like him."

"You don't have to say it, I know you."

"What I feel for him makes me want to cling to any glimmer of hope that appears."

"Stop overthinking, you're young. If he doesn't know how to treasure you, someone else will come that will."

"Do you really believe that? It sounds so impossible to find someone like Ares."

"Maybe not someone like him, but someone who makes you feel the way he does."

I doubt it so much, "Well, it's bedtime."

"Good night, dwarf."

She's always called me that because she's taller than me. "Good night, crazy."

xx

It's been months but I had surgery and a lot of stuff has been going on! I'll try to keep going with this story if that's something you guys are still interested in reading! <3