The Way You Make Me Feel

Tom's P.O.V.

I would expect Austin to do something like that, but not you, Tom. I thought that you were better than that...

Those words had cut through me, making me feel miserable since Halloween. It had been a week since I got into that fight with Austin. And it had been a week since I heard from Lila. I was more scared than I had ever been before in my life. Because, this time, one of the most important things to me was on the line. What if I had lost Lila again?

I was so upset that one mistake could have cost me my friendship with Lila, that I just didn't feel like doing anything anymore. I barely hung out with the guys anymore. But, they always managed to stop by and try to cheer me up. Sometimes it would work, but only momentarily. After Danny's idiotic comments wore off, I was back to feeling misersable. That's why I groaned when I heard a knock at my door at 1:30 in the morning. I figured that it would be one of the guys coming to try and cheer me up. So, I just stayed where I was, not bothering to answer the door.

"T-tom? Are y-you there? Pl-lease answer the door," I heard Lila's voice say with another knock on the door. I immediately got up and ran to the door to answer it. As the door swung open, I saw Lila standing in front of me, crying her eyes out. I didn't bother to ask her what was wrong. I knew that it had something to do with him. So, I just hugged her until she calmed down.

"What happened, Li?" I asked as I pushed her bangs out of her eyes and led her inside.

"W-we got into a fight a-and then...," Lila said as she collapsed into my arms again. I had never felt so much hatred towards someone before in my life. Especially someone who I barely knew. But, this asshole was the reason that Lila was crying. Of course I hated him.

"What?" I asked as I stroked Lila's hair. "What did he do?"

"I-I can't s-say," she whimpered as I took a step back from her and placed my hands on her shoulders, looking straight into her watery blue eyes. I knew what he did, I just wanted to hear Lila say it, because part of me didn't believe it.

"Did he hit you?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

She nodded.

I felt my body stiffen as a rush of anger spread through me. I had never been so angry before in my life. At that moment, I wanted Austin dead. I didn't want someone who hurt Lila to still be walking on this planet. He deserved to be in Hell, and no place better. I know that it's horrible to think that someone should go to Hell, but I was just so upset at the time, it was the only thing swimming through my head. Well, that and to make all of Lila's pain go away.

"I'm gonna kill him," I said darkly as I made my way towards the door, ready to hunt Austin down.

"Tom, no!" Lila said as she grabbed onto my wrist and pulled me away from the door and towards her. When I looked into her pleading eyes, I figured that I would listen to her before I went on my witch hunt.

"He hit you, Lila! He hurt you! I'm not just going to stand around and watch it happen again!" I exclaimed as I pushed past her and made my way towards the door again.

"W-will you at least l-let me exp-plain?" she begged before I stopped and turned around to look at her. She was soaking wet (thanks to the lovely English weather) and just looked so vulnerable. She was shivering and hugging her arms close to her body as she cried softly.

"Fine," I said reluctantly. "But, then I'm killing him."

"Thank y-you," she said as she wiped some tears away.

"Do you want to borrow some dry clothes?" I asked as she nodded. "Wait here."

I walked into my bedroom and quickly grabbed a sweatshirt and sweatpants for Lila to borrow. As she was getting changed, I paced in the living room, wondering how someone could possibly do something like that to her. She was... perfect. How could someone possibly hurt her? What kind of person could ever lay a finger on her?

"Do you want to talk now?" I asked once she came back into the living room. She nodded, sat down on the couch and hug her knees close to her chest as I sat next to her, ready to hear the story.

"It all started because Jazzie asked me to go out with her tonight," she said simply. "Well, Austin wasn't home at the time, so I left him a note saying that I'd be with Jazzie and not to expect me home 'till late. I thought that'd be alright. Well, when I got home at midnight, Austin started yelling at me, because I didn't ask if it was alright with him. So, I started to get a bit defensive and asked why I needed to ask his permission to go out. You understand where I'm coming from, right, Tom? I mean, I don't need to ask his permission to go out with Jazzie."

"Or anyone else," I interjected as she nodded and continued.

"Well, he got mad at me. And so we were fighting, just like how we always fight. And then... he h-hit me," Lila said as her voice began to quaver. "He knocked m-me down and started k-kicking me. I-I didn't know what t-to do. And then he s-started hitting me h-harder. I-I ran here a-as soon as I-I could g-get away from h-him.

"I don't e-even know why I-I came h-here. You probably h-hate me for being such a b-bitch on Halloween. I'd understand i-if you want me to l-leave. I could always stay a-at a hotel or something. I j-just... I knew I-I'd be safe h-here."

I didn't even say anything. There weren't any words to say. I just hugged Lila tightly, letting her know that I could never hate her. It was impossible for me. How could I hate someone as special as Lila? She'd been one of the most important people in my life since I was born and here she was thinking that I could hate her. Sometimes I wondered how she could be so blind.

"I could never hate you," I whispered into her ear as she buried her face in my chest. "And I'll always protect you, Li. He won't touch you again."

"Thanks, Tom," she said as I got up from my seat on the couch.

"It's not a problem," I said as I went into the kitchen and grabbed a tub of ice cream from the freezer. I brought it over to Lila with a spoon and she smiled weakly at me before digging in.

"You realize that now I'm not only going to be lonely, but I'm going to be fat and lonely," Lila said, but began eating the ice cream nonetheless.

"Yeah, I'm just out to ruin your life," I said sarcastically as she ate another spoonful of ice cream. She looked down at the tub of ice cream as she bit her lip and pushed some of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear. And when she looked back up at me, her bright blue eyes showed nothing but regret.

"I'm so sorry, Tom," she said as her eyes filled with tears again. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. You were just sticking up for me."

"That's alright. The past is in the past," I said as I put an arm around her before we entered a comfortable silence.

"Go ahead. Say it," she said as she shoveled some more ice cream into her mouth.

"Say what?"

"I told you so," she said as she lied down on the couch and rested her head in my lap, her eyes gazing up at me.

"I wouldn't say that right after Austin hit you. I'd have to be an asshole to sink that low. Maybe in a few weeks, though," I said jokingly as Lila faux-glared at me. "You'll be fine, Li. You'll never be alone."

"Thanks, Tommy," she said with the first real smile of the night.

"So, are you two officially over?" I asked curiously as I stared down into her bright blue eyes. I felt anxious in the few seconds that I waited for a reply. I wanted her to be done with him. I really did. Because, that meant that maybe she'd give me a shot. But, I knew that would never happen. She was too good for me.

"I don't think so," she said with a sigh. "I kind of just ran as soon as I was able to avoid his fists, so I didn't really have time to end things. But I know that things will definitely be over tomorrow."

"So, than where are you gonna go? You won't go back to America, will you?" I asked, fearing that she'd say "yes". I wasn't ready to lose her. Not again.

"I don't know," she said, suddenly realizing that she wouldn't have a place to stay and beginning to hyperventilate. "I don't want to go back to America, but I might need to. Crap, I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You can stay with me," I suggested, hoping that she'd accept. Lila bit her lip as she sat up and scratched her head. The more I thought about what I'd just said, the more I realized how amazing it would be. I mean, how awesome would it be to live with your best friend? Not to mention, I'd be able to spend more time with Lila.

"I don't know, Tom. I wouldn't want to invade on your privacy or anything. Plus, I'm only an intern, it's not like I'm bringing in any money," Lila said quietly as she looked down at her hands. I knew that she would feel bad about not paying rent or anything. That was just the type of person that Lila was. But, I was doing fine financially and it's not like I could ever take her money!

"Lila, that doesn't matter. Come on, think about it. How awesome would it be for us to be roomies?" I said as Lila bit her lip and smiled.

"Fine," she said in defeat. "But, I'll be getting a part-time job!"

"Lila," I said.

"Tom," she said back as I sighed in defeat and raised my hands in the air.

"Fine," I said. "Do what you want."

"I don't want to go back there tomorrow," Lila whined as she buried her head in my chest. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly, taking in the moment. I don't even know what was so special about it. But, it was one of those moments that you don't want to ever forget, because it means so much to you. I wanted to remember everything; the way she smelled, the way that her soft hair felt against my skin, being so close that I could hear her heartbeat. I didn't want to forget any of it, because I knew that it'd never happen again.

"What do you mean?" I whispered, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"Well, I have to go get my stuff, don't I?" she asked as I nodded.

"I'm going with you," I stated as she looked at me and bit her lip, fear radiating from her bright blue eyes.

"Tom, I don't th-" Lila began sadly.

"I'm not going to leave you alone with him," I interjected as I took her hand in mine. "Not after what happened."

"But-" she began again, only to be cut off by me.

"I don't want to see you hurt," I said honestly. "I care about you too much to see this happen again."