Sexy Love (3 page)

She tells me
she’s fine, but she starts asking why they were after me and how
they knew who I was, since we’re supposed to keep our identities a
secret for work.

I tell her
that unfortunately they found out who I am and now I’m put down as
a wanted criminal, with a reward ransom for anyone who hunts me
down. I warn her that she has to be careful because I don’t want
the same thing to happen for her.

I sigh, “I’m
so stupid, I shouldn’t have been anywhere near you in front of the
cops. I had no idea they’d followed me to the bar.”

“
It’s okay,”
she reassures me. “I was wearing a helmet for most of the time so
they won’t know who I am.”

“
Still, I
should have known it would be too dangerous. I’m sorry Star, I
didn’t mean to drag you into that; I just wanted to get you away
from them. I don’t want you to get arrested.”

“
It’s okay,
thanks for helping me.”

I smile and
suggest going to a club, where we’ll be safe from the corrupt
police, and begin to drive there.

Chapter
5

We spend the
rest of our night at a secret bar. Luckily our second date is back
on track and we’re relaxed and enjoying spending time alone
together. I buy us some Pepsi and we head out into the outdoor
gardens to talk under the stars, with the loud music inside faded
into the background.

“
I always love
looking up at the stars,” she tells me while I’m standing close to
her. “They’re so beautiful.”

“
Yeah, but not
as amazin’ as you,” I say in her ear.

She looks up
at me and blushes at the compliment.

“
I’ve had an
awesome night. I can forget all about the trouble in Twilight City
when I’m with you and just be happy.”

“
Yeah, me
too,” I stare into her eyes. “Y’know, now I’ve met you things
doesn’t feel so bad.”

“
I know, if
only things could stay as good as this.”

She stares
back into my eyes too, so I finally lean closer and kiss her, the
way I’ve wanted to ever since I first met her. I love feeling her
lips against mine and she’s an amazing kisser. The chemistry is
electric and I can feel shocks running through my body as I slip my
hands around her waist. I could stay holding and kissing her
forever, but after five minutes it’s over and we part.

I really need
to ask her out now, so I know if we have a chance of a
relationship. I don’t want the moment to pass.

“
So does this
mean I’m lucky enough to be your boyfriend?” I ask her and grin,
still feeling so happy that we kissed.

“
Yeah, it
does,” she smiles and cuddles up to me.

I feel so mega
happy. Starlet’s finally my girlfriend and I can hardly believe it.
I hold her close and we stay in each other’s arms for a
while.

“
I’m so happy
I met you, Star. It’s hard having relationships with all the
freedom fighter stuff goin’ on, but I really think it’ll be
different with me and you ‘cause we’re both freedom
fighters.”

“
Yeah, it’s
going to be fun when I’m fully trained and we can work
together.”

“
My bro
doesn’t think so,” I admit, thinking back to how Carl reacted and
wondering what he’s going to say once he finds out me and Starlet
are an item now. “He wasn’t really happy about it when we started
going on dates…”

I know I’m
lying again, but I can’t tell her that I’ve been sneaking around,
taking her on dates behind Carls’ back and hoping he won’t find
out. She’ll get the wrong impression and I don’t think she’ll
understand my reasons yet.

“
Doesn’t he
like me?” she asks, looking a little hurt.

“’
Course he
likes you, who wouldn’t? He was just annoyed with me, thinkin’ I’d
distract you while you were trainin’. He just wants you to do well
so I guess he wanted me to stay out of the picture.”

“
But that
doesn’t mean I won’t work hard. Being a freedom fighter is really
important to me.”

“
I know, but
he just thinks if we start workin’ together things might get
awkward and we really need to concentrate if we’re on a mission. I
don’t think it’ll affect you, I think you’ll be a great freedom
fighter when you’ve finished trainin’.”

“
I hope so.
Maybe we can go on some of your missions together soon?”

I grin,
“Definitely, it’ll make it way more fun,” and then I kiss her
again.

“
I really hope
things work out for us, Star,” I say afterwards. “I really like you
and I can’t let anythin’ stop us from being together.”

“
Me
neither.”

I feel curious
and ask her where she’s from, since I’ve never seen her around the
city before and I would have obviously remembered if I had. She
tells me she’s lived at the sanctuary since she was a baby, after
the evil dictator, who we are currently fighting against, killed
both her parents.

Her eyes water
as she tells me about them and my heart aches at seeing her
upset.

“
I’m really
sorry,” I say sympathetically and hug her, wishing I could fix it
somehow.

She rests her
head on my chest and cries for a while, so I hold her close and
look after her.

“
I know it must
be hard loosin’ both your parents, especially knowin’ what
happened,” I say gently, “but you can get through it, I know you
can.”

She tells me
that she only found out when she was thirteen years old and how
hard it was growing up without a family.

“
I feel so
alone, Rickie,” she says tearfully.

“
It’s okay,” I
reassure her. “I know you might not have your parents, but all the
other freedom fighters are a sort of family to you now; and I’ll
always be here to look after you.”

She snuggles
into my chest and I just want to look after her all night and make
sure she’s okay.

“
Thanks Rickie,
that means a lot to me.”

“
It’s no
probs,” I stroke her hair affectionately.

She asks me
what my story is and how I became a freedom fighter. I don’t
usually like telling people about my past, but Starlet has already
shared a lot with me and I feel close enough to talk to her about
it.

I tell her that
Carl and I ran away from home when I was fourteen, deciding to
become freedom fighters and live at the secret base instead. She’s
surprised at that and looks upset, asking if my family miss
me.

I shrug and
tell her my stepdad definitely won’t since we hate each other. He
was working for the evil dictator and trying to force me and Carl
to follow in his footsteps, but we knew it was wrong and refused
to.

I think of my
mum, feeling sad, and say that maybe she’ll miss me but it doesn’t
matter. I have to block out the awful thoughts of how much I need
her and miss her and somehow keep the sadness pushed down. I refuse
to let myself have those feelings because what’s the point? She
never fought for us like she should have done.

Starlet looks
troubled and insists that my mum will be worried and would I tell
her where I am just so she knows I’m okay.

I sigh and
explain that there’s no way I can tell her, because if I do it’s
giving away our location and risking our safety. I know if I ever
did she’d probably tell our stepdad, who would happily run to his
boss and grass us in.

“
Maybe your
mother won’t,” Starlet tries to reason. “She wouldn’t want to get
you and Carl arrested.”

“
Trust me,
there’s no way she’d stand up to my stepdad,” I answer, feeling
annoyance and anger at thinking about how things were back
then.

I explain to
her briefly how things were, that my stepdad was in charge and
would order my mum to do whatever he wanted. My mum always seemed
afraid of him and let him bully and push her around. There was no
way she would have stood up to him about us, so the only thing we
could do was run away and make our own choices.

“
That’s awful,”
she says sympathetically. “I bet you miss her though.”

“
Not really,” I
lie, hoping it’s true and ignoring the pain that’s saying it isn’t.
“If she won’t stand up for her own kids then what’s the point
missing her.”

“
I’m sorry, I
shouldn’t have asked,” she apologises.

“
It’s ‘kay,” I
tell her, feeling sort of relieved to talk to someone about it. “I
don’t mind.”

We spend a few
hours there, drinking and talking, mostly about work now that the
deep topics are over with.

Once I’ve
drove us back to the secret base, I walk with her to her flat,
smiling in amusement at seeing her so blissful. Her eyes have gone
dreamy, her happy smile is dazzling and her skin is glowing and
radiant. She looks so beautiful and I feel warm inside knowing that
I’ve made her this extremely happy.

I think about
what a cool personality she has and how close I feel to her. We can
talk about anything and chat for hours. I trust her, and tonight’s
proven that we can open up to each other. I’ve never had a
girlfriend who I’ve been able to tell about my past or what’s
really going on with me, but with her it’s so easy and I don’t have
to hide it. That’s pretty special.

I suddenly
have a weird feeling in my heart, like something has changed. I
know right away that I’ve fallen in love with her. I’ve never felt
such a strong feeling for any of my other girlfriends. I always
thought that being ‘in love’ was just having a girlfriend who you
had feelings for and cared about; but I was so wrong. I realise now
that I’ve never been madly in love with a girl before, even though
I thought I had.

The things I’m
feeling for Starlet right now is way more than that and it kind of
scares me at how intense it is. I can’t stop thinking about her and
I feel like I’m floating. The world magically seems brighter and
better, as if I’m high on drugs or something. It feels more amazing
than any words can describe.

I’m in such a
daze that it takes me awhile to realise that we’ve reached her
flat. Luckily she stops when we arrive or else I would have
probably carried on walking around the whole building without
noticing.

“
I’d better go
in, it’s getting late,” she says, giving me a hug.

We share a
goodnight kiss and a big rush of electricity runs through my body
as our lips touch again. Fireworks are going off in my head and I’m
feeling so high I’m surprised my feet are still on the
ground.

“
Good night,
Rickie,” she says, reluctantly parting from me so she can enter
inside her flat.

“
Good night,” I
reply, feeling misery wash through me at having to leave her. “See
you tomorrow.”

Chapter
6

It was so hard
to leave her last night. I had to somehow force myself away from
her flat and make it back down the corridor to mine, although I was
dying to go back. I hardly slept last night with wanting to go back
over there and kiss her so badly. This love stuff is already
driving me crazy. I can’t stop getting cravings for her, as if I
have an addiction and she’s my drug. No matter how hard I try I
can’t stop thinking of her.

I meet up with
Mick at the cafeteria before work, so I can fill him in on
everything while we eat breakfast.

“
So c’mon, how
did the second date go?” he asks excitedly, while we dig into our
bacon, egg and sausages.

I grin, “It was
awesome. I watched her dance show, we got chased and shot at by
police, and then we spent the rest of the night at the
club.”

“
Sounds
eventful,” he smiles approvingly. “Trust you to get into more
trouble.”

“
Dude, it
wasn’t my fault. The police must have seen me and followed me
there,” I say. “It was no probs, I easily lost them.”

“
So what
happened later at the club?” he asks.

“
We talked a
lot and I kissed her,” I tell him, feeling really happy thinking
about it. “I asked her out so she’s my official girlfriend
now.”

“
Cool. I’m
really happy for you,” he smiles. “Are you still gonna keep it a
secret from Carl? He’s not gonna be thrilled when he finds
out.”

“
I’ll have to
tell him,” I say, dreading it. “He’ll find out sooner or later and
there’s no way I can keep sneaking around with her, especially now
we’re together.”

“
Good luck with
that,” he smirks. “It is kinda funny though. He warned you to stay
away and tried to keep you apart, and then you two still ended up
getting together. She’s definitely your Juliette.”

I grin, amused
at her new nickname. He’ll probably call me ‘Romeo’ even more
now.

“
There’s
somethin’ else too,” I say, feeling weird and awkward. “Last
night…I fell for her.”

He almost
chokes on his orange juice, “What?! Dude, you’ve only just become
her boyfriend!”

“
I know, it’s a
shock for me too,” I reply. “I dunno why but…it just
happened.”