Love is Unexceptional - Chapters 9 and 10

Chapter 9 - Secrets

I hurriedly kicked off my skates, and changed into my normal shoes. I wanted to catch Steven before he got too far away. This time he would not escape. After I got my shoes on, I ran outside the ice rink. Steven was next to a trashcan in front of the building. What the hell was he doing? I swiftly walked over to him. His expression looked agonizing. It seemed as if any second now he would turn around and attack me. Out of fear, I stepped back about 3 feet.

"St-st-Steven?" I said measly.

"Yea...um s-sorry about that." He said. But I wanted more than just 'sorry'. I wanted a full explanation.

"Why are you ALWAYS doing this?" I asked angrily. He sighed and looked down at the ground.

"I believe my face is UP here!" I exclaimed.

"Yea, I know. I'm sorry, but I just can't tell you..." He said. I was bewildered. I wanted an answer and I wanted it now.

"What do you mean you CAN'T tell me?!" I hissed at him. "I want an explanation now."

"I'm sorry Kisa. But I can't tell you... it's too dangerous of a secret to let out." He replied. Oh, so after all the time we spent together, he didn't trust me!? I was hurt.

"So you don't t-trust me?" I asked, sounding hurt. Steven nodded. I suddenly felt my eyes water.

"Well, no, I do, it's just that -" started Steven, but I already turned my back to walk away. I didn't want to hear any excuses. He already ruined my night, now he just admitted that he didn't trust me? Wow.

"Kisa wait." Said Steven, jogging up to me and grabbing my arm. I stopped and turned around to face him. I felt a tear leak from my eye down to my cheek.

"I-I-want to tell you, but I just can't." Said Steven sympathetically.

"But w-w-why?" I said shakily, trying not to let more tears leak out. It was sort of embarrassing.

"I can't trust anyone with this secret, not even you..." he said.

"But you CAN trust me Steven, I promise." I pleaded to him. He shook his head.

"No... I'm sorry Kisa." He said. "This secret shouldn't even exist." It's something terrible... I'M something terrible." "Trust me, you're much better of not knowing..." I nodded and Steven hugged me. I suddenly felt safe wrapped in his arms***

I woke up on Saturday morning completely exhausted. My mind was still racing through what happened last night. I couldn't make sense of it. Why could Steven not tell me why he was always leaving me? What was his so-called 'horrible secret'? I'm sure whatever it was, it couldn't be THAT bad. Could it? I suddenly shook the thought out of my mind, it was stressing me out. On the bright side, at least I was pretty sure, me and Steven were getting closer, which was just what I needed to make Erick even more jealous. I sighed. I didn't even know what day it was. I checked the calendar on my phone. Crap. It was December 21st. Just a few days before Christmas, and I haven't even done any shopping yet! I decided to call Marissa, so we both could go shopping at the mall together. Besides, I needed something to take my mind off Steven anyway.

About an hour later, Marissa, Emily, and I were walking around the mall. I kind of regretted inviting them, because they were still acting a bit sour about me ditching them for Steven (which was untrue, I wasn't exactly ditching them).

"Yea, so NOW you hang out with us Kisa?" Said Emily sourly.

"Umm yea, don't I always?" I said.

"No, apparently Steven is worth more of your time then we are," said Emily.

"Yea." Marissa added.

"Guys, look I'm sorry. It's okay to have more than one friend right?" I said. They nodded, and giggled.
"Unless you guys are more than friends..." They pursued. I rolled my eyes.

"Ugh, we're just friends and only friends okay?" I said impatiently. They nodded.

Trying to change the subject, I questioned them about things that Zayleigh and Maritsa would want (I had already secretly picked out their gifts already. I got Maritsa a new necklace set, and Emily this bag she's been wanting for a long time.) We decided to get her a silver guitar pick chain bracelet (since she loved to play the guitar.)

"So what're you getting Erick?" Asked Marissa. I sighed. I had forgotten all about him, until now.

"Probably nothing, it's not like I like him anyway." I said sharply.

"Well that's rude, what if he gets you something?" Asked Emily.

"Then that sucks for him." I said. They both laughed.

"Why haven't you broken up with him yet?!" They both urged.

"Don't worry I am, I actually caught him kissing up on Farrah the other day, so I'm not breaking up with him until I get my revenge first..." I said. They both raised their eyebrows.

"Well exactly how are you going to do that?" Asked Marissa.

"I dun no... flirt with... Steven... maybe?" I said, trying to hide my face in a rack of shirts so they wouldn't already know that I thought of the plan. They both snorted.

"So... you DO like him?" They asked.

"Well..." I trailed off.

"Ugh, just ADMIT it Kisa." Said Emily. "You so like him." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay! Fine! I like him, but I don't know that much about him..." I said. Emily then turned to Marissa and held her hand open.

"Okay, that'll be 5 bucks please." Said Emily smugly. Marissa rolled her eyes and handed Emily the money. Emily smiled, and put the money in her front pocket. What was this all about?

"Explain...?" I said confused.

"Oh, me and Marissa made a bet that whoever got you to admit that you like Steven first, would get 5 dollars. I rolled my eyes. Wow they actually made a bet over this? But then I realized why I came here in the first place. To get my mind off of Steven, and the words that he said last night. But they were only making it harder to forget about him...

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Chapter 10 - Nightmare

The next afternoon I decided to hang out with Steven at the park. I know I was supposed to be avoiding him to take my mind off of him, but I just couldn't get him out of my head. He was like my guilty pleasure. I sometimes wonder if he felt the same way. Probably not, though. We were walking along the bike trail having a good time, when he suddenly grabbed my hand, and stopped walking.

"I-I is there something wrong?" I asked panicky. Steven sighed.

"Yes Kisa... everything's wrong, I need to t-tell you s-s-something." Steven choked out.

"What is it?" I said sort of scared.

"Umm, it might be more helpful if I showed you..." Steven trailed off. I nodded.

And then the unspeakable happened. Steven's whole expression changed to that of a monster. His eyes changed to a bright-orangey red. It was absolutely horrifying. Then, 2 long horns began slowly exceeding from his head. They looked pointy enough to stab someone. I gasped in fear and stepped back. Steven smiled an evil smile, and then I faded out to blackness.

I woke up scared to death. I propped myself up on my pillow. "What just happened?" I thought. I looked around my room for any sign of Steven. All I spotted was my messy room, with clothes strewn everywhere, and my broken easel. Oh, thank goodness it was only a nightmare. Steven's words that he said a few days ago must have been haunting my brain.

What in the world did he mean? What was this deep, dark secret? There was no way he could be a d-demon, right?! I sighed and laid back down. I just didn't know what to make of this nightmare. I remember Steven telling me he was something terrible. Was fate telling me he was a monster? There was no way that could be true. How could a monster be THAT beautiful? "Kisa it was only a nightmare." I kept repeating to myself. But if Steven wasn't really a monster, then what was he then? And what was his secret? I couldn't bear waiting any longer. It was slowly eating my insides out. I'm going to get him to tell me some way....

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I finally decided to call Steven and ask him to meet me outside a coffee shop. He agreed, but wanted to know why I was inviting him in the first place. I told him it was something important. After all, it really was. About 12 minutes later, I was outside the coffee shop. It was a cool, windy day. The air surrounding the shop smelled like caramel. It was delicious. But, I pushed the smell of the coffee away and started looking around for Steven. Where was he? He was 10 minutes late. I sighed and sat down next to the wall of the shop, my legs were getting tired anyway. 5 minutes later I heard footsteps approaching around the corner. I got up to see Steven walking towards me. It seemed as if my whole world had lit up. When I saw him, I ran up to him and hugged him in a tight bear hug. He was taken by surprise, and stumbled back a few steps. I blushed.

"Uh, sorry..." I said awkwardly. Steven chuckled.

"No problem." Said Steven, smiling.

"Yea, no offense, but why'd you invite me here anyway?" Said Steven.

"Well I actually need to talk ab-," but then I stopped. I realized that Steven wouldn't tell me so easily. He was stubborn. I would have to do something to make him think, that his only purpose on this planet was to tell me his secret.

"Oh, umm I just wanted to talk..." I said while trying to look as innocent as possible. Steven nodded.

"Umm... okay... talk about what?" He asked. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm.
"Just walk with me." I said, while pulling him away from the coffee shop. Maybe he would feel comfortable telling me his secret if no one was really around. At his house maybe?
"Steven I...w-w-want to meet your family." I stammered. He looked at me like I was crazy (which was probably true).

"What!? W-w-why?" He asked astonished. Geez, I didn't know it was going to be such a big deal.

"Oh come on! Please?" I pleaded.

"No!" said Steven stubbornly.

"Ugh, why not?!" I asked.

"Because..." He said. Wow what a nice excuse 'because'.

"Please...?" I said while batting my eyelashes.

"Oh alright...fine." He said. "But it's going to be a LONG walk."

"I've got time." I said. He nodded, and started pulling me toward his house. Along the way, we talked about our favorite bands, foods, hobbies etc... It was amazing how many things I had in common with him. Maybe he was made specifically for me. I was really starting to like him...

Thirty minutes later, we arrived at his house. My jaw dropped when I saw it. It was absolutely gorgeous. The outside it was made out of white stone, and bricks. It had a 3 door garage, and it looked to be about 3 stories tall. The lawn was very neatly cut with a tiny fountain in the front. His house was right in front of a forest. It was a strange place to build a house, but it was still beautiful.

"Wow, y-you have a nice house!" I said astonished. Steven smiled.

"Thanks..." He said. "Now for the hard part meeting my brother and sister."

"I'm sure they're fine! Now I want to meet them already." I urged him.

He sighed and opened the front door. The inside of his house was just as beautiful as the front of it. His living room couches were all black leather, with white wood at the base of them. The ground was a shiny brown, wood. His walls were also made out of white stone. I realized that their kitchen table and curtains were also black. Wow. "They must have a thing for that color." I thought.

Everything looked so perfect; I was scared to touch anything because I thought I might break it. Suddenly I heard faint footsteps trotting down Steven's stairs. I turned around to see a girl with dirty blonde hair walking down them. She was just as beautiful as Steven. She had smooth pale-like skin, icy blue eyes, and long eyelashes. I was guessing this was Steven's sister. Steven turned around and sighed.

"Well Kisa, this is Marie, Marie this is Kisa." Said Steven awkwardly.

"Nice to meet you." She said, while smiling a perfect white smile. I nodded in agreement, and she walked next to Steven.

Just then I footsteps trot down the stairs again. This time they were much louder, obviously those of a boy. A few seconds later, a boy with Black hair (like Steven) appeared around the corner. But this time, instead of having icy blue eyes, they were a gorgeous shade of light brown. The boy also had pale skin.

"Oh um, this is Ryan." Said Steven while, gesturing to him. "And Ryan, this is Kisa." Ryan waved to me, and walked over to Steven as well. I heard him whisper, "Dude, your girlfriend's hot." to him. "That's not my girlfriend." Said Steven under clenched teeth. I could feel the tension in the air so I decided to break it.

"Um, can you show me the upstairs Steven?" I said.

"Oh, yea sure..." he said.

He led me up the huge spiraling staircase to the second floor. He slowly opened a door in the middle of the hallway. I looked inside the room. The room had a white carpet, cream-colored walls, and black window frames. There was a huge black bed in the middle of it, next to two small night stands. They each had a small lamp on them.

"Well, this is my room." Said Steven. I slowly walked into the room and looked around.

"It's beautiful." I said. Steven nodded, and sat down next to you. I think now was the time to ask him about his 'secret'.

"Not as beautiful as you." Steven joked. I blushed and slapped him in the arm.

"Can I ask you something?" I said.

"Sure, what is it?" He asked confused.

"Remember what you told me a few days ago... t-that you were something terrible, w-what did you mean by that?" I asked kind of scared. I didn't know how he would react to it. He sighed.

"Kisa I CAN'T tell you." He said sternly. I looked at him in the eye.

"Yes, you can, I won't tell I promise!" I pleaded. I slowly grabbed his hand.
"I'm sorry b-but I can't." He insisted.

"Yes, you can. I'm sure whatever it is, I can handle it. You're a great guy and I'm sure one little secret won't change anything." I said meaningfully.

"Ok, well just promise me you won't run if I tell you." He said.

"I promise." I said.

Just then Steven smiled, only to reveal two giant, sharp fangs where his canine's used to be. I jumped back in fear, and began to slowly back away from him...