Chapter Nineteen

I'm frozen.
He sighs and picks me up and sits me on his dragon. He first makes sure my legs are positioned properly before he gets on in front of me.
A second passes. He sighs again and reaches for both my hands and pull them around his waist. I hold on to him. My grip tight.
The dragon sputs fire into the heavens before lifting into the air. The air knocks the breath out of me. I gulp and then try breathing again. It becomes easier.
He keeps turning to look at me, there's a frown in his forehead. Questions burning in his eyes.
The dragon keeps climbing higher still until the dark clouds make it impossible to see anything else.
It feels like mere seconds before the dragon lowers us to the ground. There are rocks everywhere. Huge rocks. I want to ask but I don't trust my voice not to wobble.
This is where he lives?
He helps me off the dragon and we take the trail leading to the woods. Suddenly, he stops between a big rock and a tree. I stumble behind him. His hands move quickly before the rock moves. He leads the way down the stairs. It's dark and I hear the sound of a waterfall. I can't see much and he takes my hand. It seems like it's some sort of tunnel or cave. Slowly the light starts sipping through until we're completely surrounded by it.
We stop in-front of a huge house. The walls are mostly glass. I can see the lounge and kitchen from here on porch. His dragon is already in the yard. I frown. How did it get in?
He stops suddenly and looks at me. He frowns.
“Where are your bags?” he asks.
Good question.
“I didn’t bring any bags,”
He doesn’t look surprised.
“Come,” he says.
He has one arm around my shoulders.
The door is wood but the walls are glass, there are brick pillars here and there but everything is just bare.
Why am I here again?
“Do you need anything? Food?” he asks.
No!
I lead the way through the front door and stop. He catches himself before knocking into me.
“Why did you leave, D'ziko? Why did you leave me?”
I feel like shouting at him.
He keeps quiet.
“You just left me like that!” I scream.
He looks confused.
I want to go to him and hug him tight but I want to scream at him too for leaving me like that and torturing me this whole time and for doing this to me,, for making me feel this, this thing that is happening here!
How can he drive me crazy like this when I barely even know him!
“I didn’t...your boyfriend was there."
I glare at him.“He’s not my boyfriend!”
He raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back.
I clenched my hands into fists.“You didn’t call! You didn’t do anything! You just left! You were lying, you lied that you wanted me! It's all been a lie."
He takes a few steps towards me. He grabs and holds me tight before I can step back. I’m still screaming! The louder I scream the tighter he holds me.
“I didn’t leave you. I wouldn't leave you,” he keeps saying.
“Why are you doing this to me? Why? I was fine before you!!”
He's rubbing circles in my back.
It takes a while before my calm returns.
“Toto's a friend, Kaseke's friend to be exact, he was there with Kaseke and for Kaseke."
He pulls a chair for me to sit and sits opposite me. His hard gaze lands on mine. I look away.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” he asks.
Really? Like he gave me a chance to do that.
I cough a couple of times. I haven’t eaten.
D'ziko stands up, comes back with bottled water and hands it to me.
“I missed you,” he says.
I turn to look into his eyes and snort.
“I wanted to come and see you, but I thought you didn’t want me to,” he says.
How could he think that? He’s the one that walked away.
He shifts closer and puts his arm around my shoulders. I'm about to hug him back and then I remember.
“I didn’t shower, I just got up and went to look for you,” I say.
We look into each other’s eyes. And then we burst out laughing.
He pulls my face close to his. A thrill shoots through me.
D'ziko wants to kiss me.
“I didn’t brush my teeth either,” I whisper.
He kisses me anyway.
And then we sit, like this, with my head on his shoulder and his arm around me, in silence.
“Did I hurt you? When I just left, were you hurt?” I ask.
He clears his throat and squeezes my shoulder.
“Yes,” he says.
What kind of man is this? He was supposed to say no so that I don’t feel bad. Doesn’t he know that?
“I didn’t mean to,” I say.
I really didn’t mean to hurt him.
“At first I thought you were just being your usual self, as in being mean to me like you always are. I waited and waited and as time went by it started to hurt, especially when I realised I had to come to terms with the fact that you were not coming, that the dinner was not going to happen,”
Now I feel really bad.
“Was it going to be here?”
“No, I didn’t want to bring you to my house, not on our first real date because I know you’re crazy so you were going to assume that I wanted to..." he says.
Our first date was at the school cafeteria. And yes I was going to assume that.
“Is this your house?” I ask.
I know, it’s obvious.
“No, it’s a friend’s, I’m just renting the bedroom,” he says looking at me.
Oh.
“In case you decide to leave me because I have a big house,” he says with a little smile on his face.
I almost forgot how he is.
“Yes it’s my house. That night I realised I was past that games stage. I wanted us to really talk and be serious,”
I should have stayed.
“Games as in you stalking me for F350 and showing up at my house and shouting at me?”
He laughs.
I walk to the window and stare our the skies.
There’s something refreshing about this place. I want to stand here and breathe the fresh air. It’s so serene it’s hard to believe we’re in Noddon.
I turn around to see him standing at the door, watching me.
He smiles when our eyes meet.
There’s something sincere about him, something warm and safe too. It draws me. I feel like I want to hold him. But I stop myself.
He has this little smile on his face.
My cheeks grow warm.
“So are you my girlfriend now?" he asks.
Just like that? I don’t answer.
“I’m not letting you leave until you answer me,” he says
My stomach flutters. It must be butterflies. I'm trying hard not to smile.
“No,” I say
He reaches me so fast and pins me to the wall. He trails kisses down my neck. Barely touching me. I want more of him. I need more of him. But he's careful to keep his distance.
"Please," I say. Trying to close the distance between us. But he's faster, stronger.
His lips trail up my chin to hover over my lips.“I’m not moving until you agree to be my girlfriend,”
What is wrong with this guy though?
I wrap my arms around his waist and kiss him. Hard.
He steps away, his breathing as laboured as mine.
"Let's get you all cleaned up," he says, leading the way. It seems he can't get away from me fast enough. I have to run to keep his pace. I stand at the door while he runs me a bath.
"I just heard the essence thief stole several gifts from your school," D'ziko says the second I exit the bathroom.
I stare at him in desbelief. "What?"
"Ja, Mom just sent a hawk."
I tear down the stairs. D'ziko runs after me. He catches me at the foot of the stairs.
"Hey...wait. Let me walk you home."
I shrug him off.
"He grips my shoulders and shakes me. "I said I'm walking you home."
I glare at him.
He takes me in his arms. "I know. I know but Kaseke wasn't one of them. He won't be one of them. "
The front door to my house needs a new coat of paint. I push it aside and walk in. D'ziko has since buried his face under a mask.
He just stands near the porch steps, hands in his pockets, and waits for me to get inside the house.“C'mon in. Or are ya declining my invitation?” I ask.
He is looking at me, like he is piercing through my soul. I'm done. “No. I would never not want to spend time with ya,” he says.
He walks in slowly and stands at the door and looks around the open kitchen/lounge. I realize how small my house is by the time it takes him to look around the whole place.