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“As you've mentioned for the twentieth time now," he chuckled, "I do.  That’s partly why I didn’t want to tell you the truth about me to begin with.”

“And the other part?”

“I despise being an angel under the law of The Angel Vaad.  Hence the reason I rebelled and I’m now here.”

“If you say you've been punished for being…obsessed with me, your punishment doesn’t seem too bad though.  I mean, you're here right now talking to me.  The world hasn't come crashing down.”

“They sent me down here with a place to live, money, a car and a job so I could blend in with the humans the best I could…living right by you, to watch you every day from afar…never being allowed to communicate with you.  But…they told me if I went to see you they’d send a Shadow Angel after me to capture me…so The Angel Vaad could kill me.   They planted me right here by you to torture me.”

"The day you came to my room with the lip-gloss from Tory…"

"That was all me.  She had nothing to do with me giving it to you."

Involuntarily my stomach sank.  “So…these Shadow Angels.  I take it they are the bad guys?”

“You got it.”

“And you’re a…?”

“I’m a *Light Angel.  We seek to do good and only good.  *Shadow Angels enjoy wreaking havoc wherever they can.”

“They sound miserable,” I noted.

“Oh trust me, they are.”  He chuckled to himself, as if recalling his interaction with a Shadow Angel in the past.

“So that means a Shadow Angel is after you right now?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.  However, I’ve barely used my abilities since I arrived here.  The more power I use the easier it’ll be for the Shadow Angel they sent after me to find me.”

“But you said they gave you your apartment, job and car.  So they obviously know where they put you.”

“Ha!” he chuckled.  “The Angel Vaad are a bunch of ignorant, irresponsible, arrogant beings.  Trust me, they’ve forgotten where they put me.  But when it comes to punishment, they send the Shadow Angels to do their dirty work and to find the culprits.”

“You’re in love with me," I blurted out.

His eyes popped open.  “I shouldn’t be.”

“But you are."

“Yes, I am.  Very much so.  I have been for a very long time.”

I froze in place.  My stomach sank then bounced back up - trillions of little butterflies flapped their wings inside my stomach, filling my heart with so much joy I thought it might burst.  I controlled my breathing after a couple seconds and said, “Are you serious?”

I felt his index finger nudge my chin so I would look up into his dazzling ocean blue eyes.  His lips lightly hovered over mine, pondering as to what he should do next.  I shut my eyes and waited for him to kiss me.  Instead, he gently - with a shaky hand - placed my hand over his heart.  At first I didn’t feel anything.  And then the steady rhythm began.

Thump-thump, thump-thump
.

“When an angel finds his soulmate his heart beats…for the first time since his human life.  Do you feel that?” Jensen whispered.  He held the palm of my hand steady on his chest so I could feel the rhythm of thuds beneath my fingertips more clearly, more precise.

“It’s beating,” I said.

     It’s beating because of me.

At that moment I realized I wasn’t ready for Jensen’s so called
truth
.

_____________________

** Reference
Angelic Key

“Would you please explain to me why you’re not speaking to me?” Jensen prompted the next morning as we were awkwardly seated at the kitchen table.

I didn’t answer as I adjusted the bandage on my head - the bandage in which Jensen had applied to my head the night before.  He’d told me he’d taken me to the hospital but that was a lie.

“Avalon, this is ridiculous.  Please speak to me.”

I did nothing but stare at the wall; ignoring my growling stomach and the food in front of me.  I didn’t know what to say to him.

“You haven’t spoken to me since last night.”

Again, I didn’t say a word.

“I love you, Avalon.”  He got up and effortlessly walked away.

I just sat there, thinking about everything Jensen had confessed to me.  I also questioned my sanity.  Were there really such things as angels?  Did they truly exist in the universe?

I came to the conclusion that this was not a joke.  I knew Jensen wouldn’t carry it on this long.  And next, maybe he was the crazy one.  Maybe he thought he was an angel but he really wasn’t.  Then again, how in the world would that explain how he saved me from the almost-car crash or how he was by my side on the couch one second, and in another, tapping my shoulder?  Everything was messed up around me and nothing made sense anymore.

I definitely didn’t see this one coming . . . .

For hours after he told me he loved me he explained little details about being an angel - how he didn’t have to eat, drink or bathe, use the bathroom, didn’t crave sex or even need to stay in shape.  His body was perfect, no flaws whatsoever.  But unlike him I
was
human and needed a shower.  So I went into the bathroom to take care of the responsibility I had to my body - noticing Jensen was looking out of a window in his bedroom.

After drying off once I got out of the shower, I rang out my unruly hair.  I used my toiletries, taking off the minimal makeup I had on from the night before.  Before departing I wrapped a towel around my now shivering-from-the-cold-body and headed out the door.  And there he was, perched on my bed with a pair of sweatpants and t-shirt he picked out.  He held a steaming cup of herbal tea in his left hand and a plain bagel with cream cheese in the other - my breakfast.  He got up to greet me with a smile on his young face.  It was as if he and I were restarting the day over.  He was persistent, I had to give him that.

He embraced me in a warm hug - heating my shivering body with his, the tea and bagel surrounding me as well.  “How was your shower?” he asked.  Whenever I heard his voice pure elation filled my soul, no matter how ridiculous I was beginning to think he was.  I didn’t know if I should answer or not.  This whole situation was still creeping me out.  “Avalon?”

“Mmm,” I said into his firm chest, “nice.”  I guess I finally caved into talking to him.  Or maybe I was just hungry and wanted the bagel.

“Planning to talk to me now?”

“This is all
way
too much,” I said.  “You can’t be an…angel.  You just can’t be.”

“Although every piece of evidence proves that I am.”  He walked across the room to the window where he glanced up at the sunny sky.

“It seems more like one big magic trick to me,” I whispered.

“It’s not.”

“You heard that?”  I barely even heard what I’d said.

“Of course I did. Angel’s have fantastic hearing.”  He walked back over to me, almost like he was floating.  He was so graceful. “I also heard your stomach growling at the table and from inside the shower.  Here, you must be famished.”

Jensen happily gave me the tea and bagel in his hands. I took a bite, then a sip.  The tea burned my tongue.

“Thank you.”  Silence filled the air.  “So you expect me to believe that you’re this fantasy-like creature?”

“Technically, I’m not a part of a fantasy at all.  I’m apart of reality, Ava.”  His words sunk in.

“I didn’t know angels existed.”

“That’s understandable.  Many people don’t believe we exist.  That includes religious folk.”  He smirked.

“So, because I believe angels exist, you exist?”

“No,” he chuckled.  “We’re here whether humans like it or not.  It’s merely a point of believing or not believing is all.”

“Oh,” I muttered.  Noticing I was still in just a towel I quickly grabbed my clothes to change into them.  Jensen turned around wordlessly, facing the doorway.  I pulled the cotton blend t-shirt over my head.  “I don’t know about this, Jensen.  It seems a little far-fetched, even though I’ve seen some pretty remarkable things.”  I slipped on my warm socks, recalling what I’d witnessed the previous evening.

“Well that’s just it, Avalon.”  I heard his weight shift.  “Humans have the choice to believe in something or otherwise.  However, the ignorance comes into play when one sees something right in front of them and they still choose not to believe it.”

Again, I thought about what he said.  He made some pretty valid points.

“I don’t wish to push any of this on you,” he added.  “I’m merely explaining to you that it is perfectly okay to not believe in what I’m telling you or what you’ve witnessed yourself.  I am certain this has changed your perspective about everything you ever believed to know but…some people just aren’t strong enough to come to terms with something they don’t understand fully.”  That caught my attention.

“You don’t think I’m strong enough,” I told him - hearing the true meaning behind his words, putting on the sweatpants.  I peeked over my shoulder to see him running a hand through his dark hair.

“No, I thoroughly believe you’re stronger than you’d like to believe you are.”

I sat down on my bed and Jensen turned around.  His eyes were soft, glancing at my tangled, damp hair.

“How do you honestly expect me to believe in something so ludicrous?” I asked.

“I thought that telling you my secret, at first,
would be
ludicrous.  But I was wrong about that.  I know deep in my beating heart that it was the right thing to do.  You had a right to know so I told you,” he explained.  His breathing was even.  He appeared to be extremely calm.

“It’s one thing to share a secret like this, it’s another to actually convince the other person to believe it’s true.”

“Avalon, sweetheart...you told me something so horrific about your past.  For you to tell me such a thing took a lot of strength and courage.  You’d never told a living soul what happened to you.  But you chose to tell me.  Now that’s a little ludicrous, don’t you think?”

I glanced at the ground, then back up at his face.  His lips were parted, his brow furrowed.  He looked relaxed though.  I stood up, placing the bagel and tea on a nightstand.

“If I chose to believe you...then that would mean I’m crazy.  I can’t be crazy, Jensen.”

“How could someone be considered crazy when all the facts are spread out in front of them?” He stood directly in front of me, giving me eye contact.  “Avalon,” he whispered, nudging my chin upward with his long index finger, “trust me.  Believe in who I am.  I know your heart does.  Just allow the common sense factor in your brain to do the same.”

He moved in to kiss me.  I was ready for it.  Ready for the familiar tingles to begin, the recognizable warmth in the pit of my stomach to ignite into a forest fire, the many butterflies to fly this way and that until I couldn’t breathe on my own.  But I couldn’t allow myself to believe in something so obscure.  I’d been hurt once before by a man who promised me things, asked me to trust him, and most importantly, told me he loved me.  Add a supernatural angel to the equation and you’ve got a whole new, yet equally similar situation as the last relationship I’d gotten myself into.

“Don’t.”  I softly pushed him away from me.

He sighed, “I make you uncomfortable.”

That’s an understatement.

“This is just…new to me.”  I was sugarcoating it for his sake.  In all honestly, I was freaked out beyond comprehension.

How in the hell did he really think I was going to take this?

“I’ll answer any questions you have.  Anything at all.  I swear I won’t lie to you.  I’ll be one hundred percent honest.”

I took a few deep breaths and glanced at my watch.  The time read: 10:34 AM.  It was way too early to have to deal with all this angel gibberish.

“I should get some exercise in before the weather gets bad,” I told him, changing the topic.  I needed some normalcy.  “I heard on the news earlier that there’s going to be a thunderstorm.”

Jensen shifted his weight and sighed lightly.  “Will you be running?”

“Yeah.”

“May I come with you?” he raised an eyebrow.  “I’ll run beside you and not say a word.”  I turned away from him and bit my bottom lip.  “Or I could run a few paces behind you and still remain silent.”

“No thank you,” I spoke up.  “I’d like to run alone.”

“Where will you be running?” he asked.

“Lake Michigan Beach,” I replied quickly, putting on my sneakers and grabbing my iPod.

“It’s a fifteen minute walk there,” he noted.

“Great,” I mused.  “Then I’ll get a little more exercise than I planned.”  With that, I took two more bites of my bagel, a sip of the tea Jensen had brewed for me and one final glance at his side profile before heading out the front door of our apartment.

*      *      *

Every so often I could feel his presence behind me.

Yet, I refused to turn around; to look at Jensen.  I knew he was there.  I blasted the music on my iPod, running to the thrumming beat of the song.  Since I’d started running with Jensen a few weeks back my legs had gotten stronger again.  I’d always loved the way running made me feel - powerful and free.  In a strange way, knowing Jensen was behind me this whole time comforted me.  After all, I had been running with him and only him since I’d stopped running in high school.  Once the song ended I slowed to a stop and took a sip of water from a nearby water fountain.

I looked up at the sky.  It was blue; white puffy clouds scattered about right over my head.  A little ways east, however, dark, menacing clouds roamed.  Any time now those clouds would soon hover over my head.  I took this as a sign to head back home.

Home.  Where was my home?  I didn’t feel comfortable enough to stay at home with my worry-prone mother in her house back in New York.  I couldn’t force myself to stay with Tory in the beach house - as much as I adored her - to constantly be reminded of the one incident that ruled my very existence.  And now I barely felt sane shacking up with a complete, handsome stranger in his darling apartment who expressed he was an angel who just so happened to be in love with me.

I had nowhere to go; no place to call my home.  So I decided to sit on a bench and rest as I mentally calculated my options.  I stared out at the blue waves; the water was calm.  A few joggers passed, along with a slow-moving couple in their seventies with a cooler and beach towels.  It was warm out, but I couldn’t imagine the water to be as well.

I stared up at the sky once more before laying down on the bench.  I shut my eyes and listened to the things around me - the seagulls, the people.  For the first time in the last thirty-two hours, I felt okay.

*      *      *

“You can sleep out here if you’d like, but I wouldn’t recommend it.  The tide’s coming in,” spoke a deep, soft, beautifully familiar voice.  “Plus, it’s beginning to rain.”

My eyes slowly opened to see Jensen peering down at me.  The sky had gotten darker since I shut my eyes.  I sat up and stretched, feeling the satisfying ache in my muscles.  I had a good run earlier; that made me happy.

“Have you been here the whole time watching me?” I asked, yawning.

“Not the whole time,” he confessed.  “I went back to the apartment to pick up a sweater and umbrella for you.”  He handed them both to me.

“Thank you,” I muttered, taking them from him without giving him eye contact.  A water droplet landed on my forehead, a few landed on my hand, then hundreds more followed everywhere else.  It was pouring.

“We should get back home before it worsens.”

“No thanks.”

“I’ll drive you there.  I fixed up my car.  You won’t have to walk back.”

I didn’t even want to know how he’d managed to fix his car.  That thing was wrecked.

“Thanks, but still, no thanks.”

“I don’t understand,” he said, his hair soaked from the rain.  “You’d rather stay out here than come home with me?”

“I guess so.”  I glanced at my watch.  It was 6:51 PM.  I’d been out here for a while.  I slipped on the sweater and opened up the umbrella.  “I’ll find a place to stay tonight.”

“Ava, sweetheart, I cannot allow you to stay some place unprotected all night.”

“Well it looks like you’re going to have to because I’m not going back to the apartment with you.”  I stood up and began walking in the opposite direction.

“The storm’s going to get really bad, Avalon,” he told me.  “Please come with me.  You’ll have a roof over your head and a place to sleep in dry sheets.  You have your own room.  Stay there.”  He was pleading.  “Please.  Come with me, Avalon.  Don’t do this.”