Sudden Bite

Chapter 12: Twirl

Seeing as it could sometimes become a little chilly even in the spring I dressed a little warmer than not in a thin black turtle neck, blue skinny jeans and a tan jacket. My hair was pulled back in a nice bun at the back of my head, shorter hairs easily escaping within seconds of it being put up. It wasn’t much but I still hoped that Alexander would be impressed; I always believed in dressing for yourself but it was also nice to dress up for someone else too.

Alexander was back in exactly an hour like he said he would be, this time dressed in a clean pair black jeans, a black shirt and a black leather jacket.

“Aren’t you just the resemblance of a rainbow,” I tease as I slip on my converse before stepping outside to join him. Alexander laughed sarcastically before holding out a single deep pink rose, his smile suddenly turned warm.

“This is for you,” he explained the obvious as I happily took it, lifting the bunch of petals up to my nose so I could take in the fresh, floral scent. “Pink roses mean adoration so I thought it was fitting considering I adore you.”

“You’re so cheesy.” I shoved him with my shoulder but a simple was so blatantly seen on my face. “So what do you have planned Mr. Knight?” I ask curiously as we got settled in his car and he backed away from my driveway.

“Well I don’t want to take too much of your time cause I know you wanna be home for Sam and your dad it I still wanna make it special so I was thinking ice skating at the mall? And then we can go to that cafe you like.”

“That sounds wonderful,” I admit honestly. The ice rink at the mall was really nice and well taken care of and you can easily rent a pair of skates without a probably since they weren’t too busy on a regular basis.

“Perfect because we’re here,” Alexander declares as he parks not too far from the mall entrance. Once we’re both out of the car he slips my hand in his and gently tugs me in the direction of the skating rink. He paid the fees for both our skates and soon enough we were sat on a bench lacing them up.

“When was the last time you skated?” He asked curiously as we slowly made our way onto the ice.

“I haven’t for years actually. Dad used to bring Sammy and I when we were in primary school,” I told him, a nostalgic smile making its way into my face before I suddenly throw my arms out as I lose my balance. I was definitely out of practice. Alexander chuckled and helped steady me, apparently deciding to leave the talking until I could skate first.

With a little bit of practice I began to glide smoothly just like in the past. When I didn’t feel like I was going to fall flat on my butt I returned the question.

“What about you?” I ask noticing that he was quite good right from the start.

“There used to be a pond by my old place that would freeze in the winter. It was a good way to get out even during the cold season,” he explained with a light shrug.

“Why did your family move anyways?” I wonder out loud.

“Change of scenery I guess,” he shrugged once against before adding, “I think my parents were just looking for a fresh start.”

“You’ve never talked about your parents before,” I comment.

“We don’t have a bad relationship or anything but we’re not especially close either... ice runs in our veins.”

“You’re not cold,” I instantly protest, drawing a chuckle from him in response.

“You’re my exception to a lot of things, babe.” I blush furious at the name and look away in an attempt to hide my redden face behind my long locks... only to remember that I had pulled my hair up and away from my face. Where was my long hair when I needed it? Obviously having seen my reaction thanks to my lack of curtain like hair Alexander grins while taking my hand and kisses the back, keeping our fingers intertwined even afterwards.

“You on the other hand are very close with your family,” he comments with a slight teasing tone.

“How did you guess?” I gasped in mock surprise before breaking ‘character’ and giggling. “Before you Sam was my only friend, he’s probably glad I’ve made a real friend,” I add jokingly before Alexander tugs on my hand causing me to look up at him.

“Boyfriend you mean?” He teases making my red cheeks return.

“You’re going to give me a fever if you continue like this sir,” I chid, moving to playfully shove him like I do often do. However, Alexander wasn’t as stable as he usually is in solid ground thanks to his skates he easily when falling to the hard ground, our interlocked hands bringing me right down with him.

“That’s karma you know,” he once again teased. I hit his chest (which caused little to no pain) since I had landed right atop of him before struggling back up to my feet. Deciding to leave him for all his teasing I begin to skate away from Alexander waving at him in the process. He cried out in protest but in mere second was back at my side - actually more specifically he was right behind me, arms coming around my waist to hug me, the left over speed from his quick catch up pushing me forward a bit.

“You know, I never expected you to be so clingy,” I joke – not that I minded in the least bit.

“As I said – you’re my exception to most things.”

“I like being an exception,” I grin triumphantly.

After a long session of skating going around and around in circle after circle, the whole while filled with chatter and laughter. Simple and yet so, so perfect. Afterwards, as promised we made our way to small café where I held a mug of hot chocolate between my hands. Alexander simple had water, saying something about his mum always being on his back about drinking more water. I thought it was kind of funny to think of Alexander following such little rules set by his mother but other than that I didn’t question it.

A few hours passed before we returned home in time to be there for my dad and Sam’s return. I was making last minute clean ups around the kitchen despite its tidiness and began to pull our ingredients for dinner. Alexander offered to help but I waved him off with a comment about how I was fine on my own. While I worked around the kitchen preparing a meal for my family for when their arrived he leaned against the counter, eyes following my every movement with a lazy smile drawled across his lips. At first it made me a little self-conscious but I quickly forgot about it as I began to focus on my work.

“Can you play my cooking playlist on Spotify?” I ask generally waving in the direction of my phone finding the sound of pots and pans to be too loud on their own. Humming in agreement he wordlessly brought my phone over to me and presses my thumb against the home button to unlock it. I grin at the action and soon music fills the kitchen, some more upbeat than others but mostly pretty chill overall.

I hummed softly to the music but a sudden yelp interpreted the soft sound. Alexander had slipped his chin against my shoulder, hand over my head making me feel tiny. He was more or less draped over me without actually putting any weight on me.

“Whatcha doing?” I ask amusement clear in my voice.

“You looked lonely,” he replied without missing a beat.

“Right,” I giggle in response before focusing back on my cooking.

“Where did you learn to cook?” He asked curiously, slowly swaying me along with him to the soft music that played in the background.

“A bit from both of my parents,” I answer before suddenly becoming distracted by the song playing. It had to be one of my favorite slow but not necessarily sad songs; Ship and the Globe was the perfect song for…

“Let’s dance,” Alexander suddenly suggests as if he had read my mind. Not only that but I never – and I mean never – expected him to suggest something like dancing. Nonetheless I happily turned the heat down on the stove and turned around in his arms. With ease and familiarity Alexander takes my hands, placing one on his shoulder and the other in his hand as he takes my waist. With grace and smooth steps he moves us around the kitchen in gentle sways before dramatically spinning me out of the kitchen, around the dining table and into the living room.

“Why do you know how to dance so well?” I question with eyes narrowed out of suspicion. Never had I been able to picture Alexander gracefully slow dancing.

Chuckling as if he read my mind – again – he explained, “A family thing I guess. My mother and her mother and her mother all believe that dancing is a must have skill, everyone in my family from siblings to grandparents, uncles, aunts, great uncles and aunts, first and second cousins, and so on.”

“Wow… that’s one big family.”

“I’d rather have your small family, no one in my family is especially close, probably because there are so many of us,” He shrugged before suddenly spinning me again and effectively distracting me from the topic of conversation. As I came in from the spin he dipped me. It was then that the front door was thrown open.

“We’re home!” Sam yelled obviously having expected me to be up in my room.

In shock Alexander abruptly released me causing me to fall to the floor without time to react.

“Alexander Knight!” I cried in anger (not that I was seriously all that angry anyways). He looked at me apologetically and hurriedly helped me stand up while Sam laughed his ass off at me falling. However, he suddenly shut up and I didn’t miss the look he gave Alexander – it was as if he just realized who I was with. Dad entered the house in behind Sam a second later with bags in hands.

“Welcome back,” I greeted a little awkwardly; dad, having not seen Alexander and I dancing or Alexander dropping me didn’t think anything weird of the suspicion and came over to greet Alec after putting down the bags and closing the door behind him.

“It’s nice to finally meet you Mr. O’Neil, I’m Alexander Knight,” Alexander quickly greeted politely, holding his hand to shake hands with my dad.

“The pleasures all mine Alexander, are you staying for dinner?”

“I would love to but my mum likes me home for dinner,” he explained, looking regretful while saying so. For someone with such a bad boy rep I found amusing how diligently he followed his mother’s rules.

“Next time perhaps,” my father suggested and Alec nodded in agreement before saying goodbye. So there weren’t any prying eyes during our goodbye I declared that I’d walk him out to his car.

“I’m sorry for dropping you,” Alexander sheepishly says as we stop by the driver’s side of his car.

“I’ll never forget you,” I dramatically tell him.

“Let me kiss it better,” he comments, clearly picking up on my joke. Taking both my hands in both of his he brings the up and kisses the back of each of them. “There you go, love.”

“I’ll see you Monday?”

“Unless you wanna see me sooner,” he winked making me roll my eyes in an attempt to hide my massive blush – which clearly didn’t work. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.”

“Oh just leave already,” I declare, needing a break from his relentless teasing and complimenting. Pushing him away I scrunch my nose up at him causing a chuckle to tumble from his lips.

“Alright, alright, I’ll see you later.” Leaning forward he pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead, his eyes catching on my lips when he pulls back. Suddenly he comes very close again making my breath catch. “Can I?” Embarrassing, I quickly nod my head and he grins slightly before closing the gap and pressing his lips against mine. The kiss isn’t as long as the one we shared last night but it ignited something in me nonetheless and I find my smiling widely with my eyes still closed when he pulls back. He places a quick, chaste peck on my lips before finally really stepping away and getting into his car, instantly rolling down the window.

“Go catch up with your family,” he says before winking a second time and making me laugh as he pulls away from the curb. Waving until he turned the corner I finally headed back inside to see that dad and Sam had set the table and placed my finished cooking on the table as well.

“Why was Alexander here?” Sam demanded before we could even sit down.

“Woah, calm down buddy, tell me about the camping trip first,” I say, actually curious to see how it had gone.

“No, tell me why Alexander Knight was here again; I know it’s not because of school work this time.” He glared at me but I really couldn’t take my brother seriously. He looked like such a puppy, his glare was affective as mine and that was saying something.

“Because we’re friends, Sammy,” I sigh dramatically. I couldn’t help but mentally roll my eyes at the thought that dad didn’t even care that I had a boy at home while the house was empty and yet Sam was down my throat about it.

“Really? Is that why you guys kissed?”

“You were watching us!?” I demand feeling as if I had been betrayed. Dad finally put his fork down and looked away from his food.

“Ya, and apparently for good reason too,” he retorted just as furiously. Before I thought this was a joke that he was asking about Alexander but now I was started to actually get annoyed. He was always like this when it came to Alec. Maybe part of the reason it annoyed me was because I wanted my brother to approve of the person I liked, after all Sam and I were close, but even if that was the case I knew that I was also annoyed because Sam chose to judge Alexander without getting to know him. I might love my brother but I hated when he was like this.

Scoffing I put down my fork. “You know what Samuel, I’m allowed to date, just like you, and I think I choose a pretty damn good person too so don’t do this okay? I’ve never done anything bad, never done anything for you two to question your trust in me, so why should you question my choice to date Alexander?”

“Because he is dangerous,” he fought back despite the fact that I was obviously fuming. I was surprised dad hadn’t stepped in, it had never escalated like this between Sam and I so quickly but he wasn’t being open and I was defendant over misjudged people, whether it’s Alexander or someone else. Dad was always the voice of reason for us when we got like this and yet… he remained silent, simply watching us.

“They are rumors! Take a moment to get to know the guy because honestly, he has done more to protect me than you have,” I declare out of anger.

“Excuse me?” Sam demands, clearly offended that ‘some guy’ was better than himself when it came to protect his sister.

“Ya should I talk about the time I was stranded on the road in a storm? Or what about when you’re awesome friends decided to molest me and Alexander stopped them? Or how about,” I say becoming almost crazy at this point, surprising even myself, “Last night when I was having my first panic attack in months and he calmed me down quicker than I have ever been calmed down from an attack.” Completely out of breath and anger I sunk down in my chair.

It was eerily silent for way to long and I was beginning to feel nervous about my outburst. Man did I get emotional real quick.

Apparently dad didn’t need to get involved.

“Fine,” Sam stubbornly spat, “I’ll give him a chance.” Shaking my head in disbelief I decided to take what I could get.

Adding his two cents dad suddenly spoke up, “Catalina if you really trust Alexander than I trust your judgement, you’re right we trust you and you’ve never done anything to make us question that trust. And I’ll treat Alexander as family as long as he makes you happy. Just know… as soon as he breaks your heart I’m skinning him alive.” His last comment managed to make me finally laugh. After cracking a smile he became serious as he turned to look at Sam to ask, “Right Sam?”

“Ya, you’re right,” Sam gave in and agreed.

“Good, now, what happened today?” Dad asked changing the topic just like that like he always did. He really was an amazing peace keeper. I wanted to smile at the thought before registering his question – I was dreading telling him that I went out with Alexander. Suddenly remembering the unexpected visit we had today my mood instantly crashed and not into anger like before.

“Mum came by.”