Hearts Bleeding in the Rain

"So, you want me to stay here?" I ask Rex at the end of our conversation.

"Yes," he nods. "As long as you want. I can't and won't anllow you to be on the streets, or have to worry about where you're going to be staying every night."

I just stare at him, unable to keep from wondering whether or not he has alterior motives.

As if reading my mind, he says, "I just want to help. Please don't be suspicious of me".

I smile slightly and nod. I believe him. I don't know why in the hell I do, and I probably shouldn't, but I do, none the less. "Alright. I'll stay."

He smiles and extens his hand. "Rommies."

I smile a little more and grasp his large hand with my long, slender-fingered one. "Roomies."

--

I have been living with Rex for two weeks, and we've been gradually getting friendlier towards one another. I am glad to call him my friend. I'm sitting on the living room couch right now, reading the newspaper. Rex walks in and sits beside me.

"I'm having a group of friends over tonight."

I look up from the story I'm reading on a new crossing guard in New York, who is a dog, literally, to gape at him. "So, I'm going to meet them?" I ask softly.

He nods, smiling. "Would you be comfortable with that?"

I bite my lip, then nod. "Sure."

He chuckles and ruffles my hair. "You don't have to be nervous. They're really nice, and they'll like you.

I give a small smile. "Okay. I hope they will."

He surprises me by kissing my hair, then gets up and leaves the room, presumably to go get ready for them.

When the doorbell rings, three hours later and at 7:30pm, I hesitantly answer. A group of kids our age are standing on the porch, both boys and girls. A girl with died purple-ish hair smiles perkiy at me, a lolipop in her mouth.

"You must be Danny!" she chirps. She has a relatively deep voice, and the deepness, combined with the cherpiness of it, makes for an interesting voice.

I smile and nod.

"Rex told us lots about you," she continued. "He thinks you're sweet."

I blush slightly and step aside to let them in, as Rex had instructed me to do.

A pale, thin boy with tall, spiked black hair brushes past me and says in a slightly deep voice, "He also thinks you're hott".

My eyes widen and I blush. "R-really...?"

The chirpy lolipop kid smiles over her shoulder at me. "Does that please you?"

I blink and scoff. "Whatever." Then I trudge past them and up the stairs do get Rex,the sound of their laughter trailing up after me. "Rex?" I call.

"Yes, Danny?" he asks, as he opens his bedroom door.

"You're friends are here."

"Excellent," he replies with a smile,before following me down.

When we get back downstairs, I sit in a tightly stuffed red chair. Rex makes the introductions. I count five girls and seven boys. The lolipop girl's name is Strawberry (not her REAL name, obvey), and the boy who had made the "hott" comment is Gaelin. She replied with a wave and a "hey!" while he replied with a bored "hey", from his slumped back, spread legs, lazy position in another chair like mine, only black.

I smiled at and conversed with all of them. They all seem like really great people, and some of them are dating, but they said that they were all friends even before they were dating, and that if they ever brake up, they will remain friends. I realized that they are a family, and I want to be a part of their close group.

--

At 12:30, the night comes to an end, and some of the group goes home, all with friendly goodbyes for Rex and myself. The rest of the group remains to crash here for the night. Rex elbows me gently and I look up at him. He jerks his head in the direction of the stairs, then walks to them. I follow, curious.

Once upstairs, he pulls me into my room, shutting the door behind me. He turns to face me, and I look up at him, a questioning expression on my face.

"They liked you," he states, making me smile. Then, he does something that truly shocks me. He leans in and kisses me. I feel him press me into the door with his body, and, as I get over my shock, I kiss him back. The kiss is passionate and hard, but his hands don't stray; they just squeaze my shoulders.

When the kiss ends, I gaze up at him, eyes wide. "R-rex...."

His hand stroking my face causes my voice to trail off.

"Go to bed, Sunshine," he tells me. "I'll see you in the morning." And with that, he slips past me and out the door.

In a daze, I walk over to my bed and strip, then lie down. I lie awake, thinking, for awhile, until my eyes eventually drift closed and I fall asleep.