How Cliche to Have My Heart Stolen

Face down in a mass of pillows, I wept, crying for several reasons. First, my wrist which was cut open by an ego-bruised criminal. Second, it was being disinfected with the most painful antibacterial I've ever felt in my entire life. Third, I'd probably never get to go home. Fourth, one of the first guys I've ever felt anything for, in a romantic way, was now pissed at me. Fifth, the reason said guy is mad at me, I kissed his disgusting, ego-bruised, crime-spree uncle. So, please, forgive me if I dehydrate myself from crying.

After constricting my wrist with bandages, Lalean said, "There! All done," all too happy with her handiwork.

I chose not to reply. I kept crying as quietly as I could into the pillows that smelled like Luke. I inhaled his scent. It smelled like sweat, but not in a gross way. It wasn't like B.O. or anything. It just genuinely smelled like a guy. I wanted to roll in it. I wanted to snuggle it so much that I could pretend he was here and he wasn't mad at me.

Lalean patted my head. "Now, now," she said in a low, calming voice. "It'll be okay."

"No it won't," I mumbled into the pillow.

Beginning to stroke my back, she said, "Sure it will. Luke is really forgiving. He just wanted to talk to Matt for a bit. Though it's probably not best that Carl went..."

"It's not fair!"

"I know, I know. Carl is sensitive."

"He's an ass hole," I said making a pouty face.

"Well... Yeah. But he likes you." She quit rubbing my back and shoved me off of my stomach.

Clinching the pillow Luke had slept on, I replied, "Which one?"

"Which.. Oh. You mean which likes you? Well, both Luke and Carl do. Matt and I like you too. That's why we haven't killed you."

"Thanks for turning this ABC Family moment into Spike TV," I commented, rolling onto my back, resting the crook of my neck on my good wrist.

"It's true!." She continued, "Honestly, if it were just Rachel we would have killed her a long time ago. She's annoying. And she thinks she can run away. It's like, 'Duh. We're gonna find you. It's not hard.' It's not like on TV. We don't just kill everyone on the spot just because we have a gun."

"I was sure I was a goner," I said staring blankly across the room.

"Maybe, but Luke talked to Matt. And though he was really pissed off, he agreed that you were a victim of circumstance. If it were just you... Heh. We would have tried to convince you to join us. You could be another Luke."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I didn't know if I should feel complimented or offended.

"I mean... Putting our stolen money back into the system. That's all Luke does. He couldn't ever kill someone. He hasn't yet. He might not ever," she explained. "That's fine with us. We love him as he is."

Shoving the pillow into my face, I let out a big huff. Everything keeps coming back to Luke and how I screwed him over. I was just trying to save my own life! I didn't want him to kill me. I just wanted it to be over. Then, after I wasn't killed, I wanted Luke to be the one to hold me and say it was okay. He wasn't. Instead he was mad at me.

I guess I really can't say I blame him. I mean, if he kissed my aunt, somehow, I'd be upset too.

"Lalean, does Matt have a cell phone?" I said in, what seemed like, the middle of nowhere.

"He took the business phone, yes. It's the only phone we have. It's really my sister's, she keeps it open for us."

"Can I call it?"

"You gonna call Luke?" She caught me.

"I need to talk to him."

"Of course," she said, reaching to the hotel's phone, she dialed in the cell number. After a few seconds, there was an answer. "Yeah. Matt? Is Luke available? ... I can't say I'd be surprised. ... She's really upset too. ... I..I know, Matt. ... Even you said it, you know how Carl gets. She'd never seen him like that. She didn't know what to do. ... I'm not making excuses for her. What would you do in her position? ... Just put him on the phone. ... Thanks, babe." Putting the phone on the bed, she said, "It's all yours."

Picking up the receiver, I waited for a voice. When no one said hello, I figured I was supposed to. "Luke?"

"Yeah." He didn't sound happy to hear from me; he sounded more pissed off than anything.

"I'm sorry."

"I would hope so. You know, you're the one who stopped me last night. If you wanted to kiss someone, it should have been me."

"I didn't want to kiss him!"

"Sure could have fooled me," I could see him rolling his eyes now.

"Don't do that to me, Luke. That's not fair."

"You know what's not fair? You kissing another guy when you made it seem like you had feelings for me. You know what's even more not fair? When it's my uncle."

"I said 'ew.' What would make you think I was even remotely attracted to him?" I was done crying. I was just angry now. "I was worried for my life. I would have done anything to have lived. I would have slept with him if I had to. You know why? Because I wanted to make sure I'd be able to see you again. Because I wanted to be there another day to spend with you. But I guess that doesn't matter."

"You didn't have to kiss him back."

"I didn't know what I had to do. I'm not the one who's been traveling with him for God knows how long. I haven't even known you all for a month, or even close to a month. I didn't think he would have done that. No one told me. No one felt the need to warn me that he was prone to snap at any second. No. Instead, you want to blame me."

He didn't say anything.

"Now you have nothing to say, right? Now that you see that I did it for you? I didn't want him to tell me it was okay. I didn't want him to be the one to hold me. I wanted to to be you. But you didn't want to. You wanted to blame me. That's just not fair, Luke. It's not." I slammed my bandaged fist into the mattress over and over like a whiney toddler. "You better make it up to me. Yeah, I shouldn't have kissed him. I was being selfish because I wanted to get back into your arms as soon as I could. But you turned tail and ran." I slammed my fist again.

"Stop that, Brodie!" Lalean said to me, taking the phone from me.

"Give it back!" I demanded, coming to my feet.

Giving me the death glare that would make Marilyn Manson cry, she said, "Get back on that bed and calm your ass down."

Without thinking, I obeyed. It was scary how she could be caring but so demanding at the same time.

Talking to the phone now, she said, "Tell your dad to bring you back. You two better kiss, make up, and like it, got it?"

If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was Carl and Lalean who were related. Their tempers were nearly identical.