Chapter Fourteen

"Are you ready for this?"

I gulped, my body shaking like a Chihuahua as I slowly nodded. I didn't have another choice anyways, so I had to be ready.

"Once you get on Paris, there's no turning back," he said in a soft voice, but loud enough for me to hear.

"I understand the terms," I snapped unintentionally. My heart was going a mile per hour, and my palms were getting sweaty in fear.

With a single nod, he handed me a helmet and climbed on, motioning for me to follow.

"Just hold on, okay?"

"Okay." And just like that, he was off.

I gripped his waist like my life depended on it, which it kinda did,  as he sped through the Saturday evening. My cheek was pressed to his back and my eyes were squeezed shut as my whole being trembled.

I was facing one of my biggest fears--riding a motorcycle. Fabian had won at our argument about it, and so I reluctantly--very reluctantly--agreed to ride with him. My fingers sank deep in his chest, and even over the whooshing wind I could hear him hissing in pain from my nails.

Suddenly, we were pulling over, and my stupid mind thought I'd survived and was safely home in such a short span of time, but then I realized we had just pulled onto the main road.

Great.

Fabian glanced over his shoulder at me, and he slowly took off his helmet to scowl at me. I would've gushed at how sexy he looked when he shook his hair, but I was too busy recovering from a panic attack.

"Are you going to sink your nails in my heart, woman?"

"It's scary okay!" I defended. "Go slower." I pouted with my body still shaking violently as I wrapped my arms around him again and buried my cheek in his back. I could feel the shake  of his torso from his light chuckling, then he brought my fingers to brush his lips against them.

"Okay I was inconsiderate. I'll go slower, I promise," he mumbled, placing another small kiss to my knuckles before roaring the death machine to life again. I gulped and my body tensed, and I could feel him chuckling again before we were off.

It felt like ages since we were driving, and every time I tried to open my eyes to at least try and find the thrill in it, I always failed.

Well, I guess I will never get used to bike rides.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally managed to make it home. I was still, however, stuck to the bike, gripping Fabian's waist.

"Uh-we're here," he announced, a little confused. I already knew but was recovering from shock.

I could hear him sighing as he grabbed a hold of my hands and slowly unhooked them from his waist. Even then, I was stuck on the bike like a dried up piece of gum under a cafeteria table.

"Come on Skates. It wasn’t that bad." This caused me to move, as I quickly whipped my head towards him.

"Wasn’t that bad? You try telling that to my heart!" I complained as I quickly hopped off. He steadied me when I stumbled a bit, and I quickly pulled the helmet off and handed it to him.

Fabian smiled down at me as he used his thumb to massage my frown away. I was aware that we were in front of my house and my sister or parents could've been watching, but I didn’t care.

"I'll see you soon," he said as he leant down to gently kiss my forehead. I pouted, expecting more than just a forehead kiss but then I realized that he must’ve been thinking the same thing I was. Anyone could be watching.

I waved as he left to climb onto his bike, but my heart protested.

"If you're gonna look at me like that, then I won't be able to leave you, Skates."

"Maybe I don’t want you to," I replied boldly. "Come to my room."

I had no idea where this boldness came from, but I was sort of liking it.

"Are you trying to get us in trouble?" he asked, but he looked enticed.

I playfully rolled my eyes. "We're not going to do anything...naughty. I just want your company a little longer."

"So why don’t we go out?"

"I don’t want to take another trip on that thing." I eyed the black motorcycle as an involuntary  shiver ran down my spine.

"Okay," he chuckled. "Just give me a few seconds to get my bike in hiding."

"Why would you-oh." Realization struck me when I noticed why he was taking the bike out of sight--out of my parent's sight. I couldn’t exactly just pull him inside and take him straight to my room. Luckily, he was smarter.

I felt like a bad girl doing this. It was so out of character for me.

"Go around the back and stand under the window on the left. I'll go up to my room," I told him, suddenly whispering as adrenaline rushed through me.

He had a mysterious look on his face, as if he likes seeing me this pumped. I ran to my porch and through the front door, not even bothering to check if anyone was home to avoid questions, as I swiftly made my way to my room.

I was in front of the window in a split of a second, and Fabian was already beneath it when I opened it.

"Climb up!" I whisper shouted, hoping he would hear. I giggled when he smirked at me, and I watched as he skillfully climbed through my window using the tree as leverage, as if it wasn’t two stories high.

I gazed at him stunned. "How many girl's windows have you climbed through?"

"Just the cute, short ones with bob hairstyles and unicorn pillows."

My eyes shot open wider, and I could feel the heat climbing up my cheek as I remembered my pillow casing. "They were the only clean ones!" I huffed as I watched him try to stifle a laugh.

Feeling utterly annoyed and second guessing taking him up here, I closed the window and ensured my door was locked before returning my attention to him. Luckily, my walls weren’t thin.

"So, this is you huh?" he asked, rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands stuffed in his pockets, and his eyes wandering about.

I nodded, suddenly feeling self conscious about my designing skills. "Yup."

He smiled genuinely before meeting my gaze. "I see how it fits. This room literally screams Paris."

"Thank you." I decided to take it as a compliment  as I discarded my shoes and replaced them with my fuzzy slippers. "So what do you want to do?" I asked, plopping down in my bed.

Fabian mimicked the motion, much like Colton always did, and he plopped his elbows on one of my pillows and rested his head against it.

"What should we do?"

I shrugged. "Wanna watch a movie?" I didn’t actually think this through. All I knew was that I wanted to spend more time with him.

Surprisingly, he agreed, and I noticed that he would've agreed to anything I said.

I grabbed my laptop and we wasted 20 minutes arguing over what to watch. Eventually, we settled on a regular rom-com cliché as hell movie, but it was surprisingly good. Two and a half stifling laughs later, the end credits streamed up my screen and I caught Fabian yawning.

It was well after ten p.m., so I knew it was time for him to go, yet, I didn’t want him to.

"Do you want some coffee for the road or an energy shake?" I asked, seeing the sleep evident in his eyes. I had no idea how far he lived, but I wasn’t comfortable with him going anywhere looking like this.

"A drink would be enough, thanks." He yawned midway, and I frowned.

"Okay lemme just put my phone on charge real quick." I reached over my nightstand to reach for my plug behind it, and I froze when I heard Fabian take in a sharp intake of breath.

I knew what he saw. I just knew it.

Somewhere in the middle of the movie, I got uncomfortable and so I changed into my PJ's. Except, they were sleeveless and pretty short. I've had them since forever, after all, and Fabian had his fair share of jokes about them too.

So I knew that when I stretched over to reach for the charger, my top had ridden up and exposed my back. And on my back was...

"You saw it didn’t you?" I asked, looking down as I shuffled uncomfortably away from him.

It was odd that he never saw it the first time we went swimming at his school, but I remember specifically ensuring that I didn’t turn my back towards him.

It was a scar. A very ugly scar.

Instead of answering, he only nodded. He looked pained and deep in thought, no doubt wondering how I got it and how painful it was. It isn’t as big as I often made it seem, but the shape and texture of it could tell anyone that the once open wound was deep. Really deep.

"How did you..." he trailed as he finally met my gaze. I had no problem telling him. It wasn’t the most secretive experience, but I hated that I ruined his mood.

"It's nasty, I know. You shouldn’t have seen that and-"

"Paris." His palm found my cheek and cupped it, and I was forced to meet his warm brown eyes. "It's not. You're beautiful, okay?" It was rare--this side of Fabian. His voice was soft, sweet and sincere, and I couldn’t help but believe every word.

He finished me off by placing a lingering kiss to my forehead, as if communicating with me exactly what he wanted me to know.

"Thank you. I can tell you how it happened but you're tired." We pulled away only a little bit, but all fatigue seemed lost from his eyes.

"If you don’t want to..."

"No I want to," I interrupted. "It isn’t any traumatic life changing experience. Well, not as deep as I thought." I chuckled. "No pun intended."

"Go on then, Love."

Love. He called me Love!

Bloody hell.

He has done it. He has officially made me whipped for him.

Spread me on a muffin and call me a Fabcake.

I raked my thoughts for the memories of two years ago. It wasn’t hard to gather, as I never actually forgot. Especially with my obsession for Colton, it was impossible to forget.

Colton. My heart squeezed at the very thought of him as I linked it back to that evening. If it wasn’t for Colton...

"Do you remember when Hotstar Theme Park re-opened?"

"Yea." He nodded slowly as I dragged his memory. "But they got shut down again almost immediately."

"Yup." I sighed. "Two rides were still faulty and caused untimely accidents. That park was my favorite since I was a child, and when it reopened, I dragged Cynthia and Colton along with me for the grand re-open."

I watched his expression as he listened attentively, but I could tell he already knew what happened. It didn't take a genius to guess it.

"I wanted to go on the Ferris wheel so bad, but both Colton and Cynthia are terrified of heights, and so they agreed to wait for me while I take a spin. When my time came, I eagerly took my spot, not knowing the hell I was getting  myself into," I said with a chuckle, but it was void of humour. "It was great for the first  five minutes and they cranked the speed up a notch as requested by most of the people on the ride. But then, it suddenly stopped, and I remember the loud creaking sound that it made followed by a horrific swing sideways."

"Shit," I heard him mumble out loud as his grip on my hand tightened.

Yep. Shit indeed.

"The next thing I knew, I was tilting sideways as the ride literally broke from one of its rails. That's how this happened." I used my free hand to point at my back, even though it was quite obvious that it was what I meant.

Always pointing out the obvious.

"I was on the opposite side from where it broke, but I was also about 30 feet away from the ground. The swing I got when it broke jerked me out of my seat and I tried to grab a hold of something, but I only ended up spinning around instead. I lost my grip and my back slid harshly against the edge of the seat, and I was left hanging from the ride by only my sweater. My sweater was fastened in the iron, and it was the only thing preventing me from falling. I was literally hanging around."

"F**k," Fabian cursed under his breath, and I could be sure it was the first time I've heard him cursing.

"I thought I was dead right there and then. I could feel the blood running down my body, and I believed that my sweater would've given up and I would've suffered a fall equivalent to the height of  a freaking three story building. I knew that if I moved and tried to reach for the rail again, the sweater would've probably slipped. So I stayed still."

"But you didn’t fall." He sounded as if he had been trying to reassure himself rather than asking for my confirmation, and I offered him a small smile and squeezed his hand.

I shook my head. "No. I was crying so hard from pain and fear, and the sound of cries and screams became lost around me when I accepted my fate. I saw no escape. I was going to fall to my death or fall to my spot in a hospital, and I accepted it."

"But you didn’t," he repeated.

"I didn’t." I confirmed. "When I was there, the sound of screams around me changed. It wasn’t only families and friends crying for help for their loved ones, it was men--security guards, shouting at someone to 'stop right there'."

"Colton?"

"Colton." I nodded. "I didn’t know at first, until I heard his voice telling people to let him go. I don’t know how, maybe adrenaline rush, but I could hear his voice getting closer as he told me to hang on, as if I had a choice, and then I knew he was climbing the wheel to come and get me."

"Damn."

"He came into my blurry sight, and I told him that if he should try and reach for me or if I should reach for the rail, my sweater would rip. But he told me not to worry, and he told me not to look down..."

The memory was still so fresh in my brain, and I could still feel my heart racing like it did that day.

"He then told me to sing  the theme song for Phineas and Ferb over and over and close my eyes. I obliged, and when I opened my eyes, I was back on the ground."

"Oh thank God," he breathed out, as if the tension of the day was weighing on him. It was so heartwarming.

I chuckled. "I passed out right there from all the blood loss and panic attack, but I was okay. Two people died from that ride that day. It broke my heart because I could understand what they must’ve been feeling in their last moments on earth. I'm just glad I wasn’t one of them."

I sighed deeply as I ended my story. I couldn’t begin to imagine what would've happened if Colton didn’t save me. He faced his fear and climbed a freaking Ferris wheel to save me. It still stuns me.

"I guess he isn’t so much of a wanker as I thought he was huh?"

"No." I giggled. "He's actually really sweet and caring. He can be an asshole at times, but that's just how he is. He'll face death for the ones he cares about."

For the first time since I met Fabian, I saw doubt taking over his features. It then dawned on me. I just described the most traumatic experience of my life, where Colton, the guy that he knew I was practically in love with, saved my life.

Why didn’t I think of this before I told him?

"I guess that's when I started developing feelings for him. When I woke up in the hospital, he was the first person I saw, and my whole world changed." Really Paris? How is this making it better! "I thought I owed him everything you know? My heart, my love...my life."

"I get that. He was your knight in shining armor," he mumbled, suddenly sounding sad. I acknowledged that he didn’t sound or seem jealous or sarcastic, just ...sad.

"I guess." I stole his move and reached for his chin, lifting his gaze to mine. "But I know now that even though he'll always be a huge part of my life, he won't be the person my 15-year-old self saw him as."

His eyes still looked unsure, and I knew I captured this moment in my mind forever. He looked so foreign.

His emotions towards me were always so bold and confident. Now, his eyes shone in silent questioning, as if asking me if he could come close to that.

But how did I tell him that he didn’t have to compare himself with Colton? How do I tell him that he did something to me that Colton never could?

"You saved me too, Fabian. You saved me from my own mental captivity and that will always make you my knight." I inched closer and gently placed a kiss on his lips.

I felt them pulling into a smile beneath mine, and relief flooded me. Fabian's back.

"Let's not get corny now, Skates." His chest rumbled in a light chuckle as he returned my kiss.

I sighed in content as our lips moved slowly against each other.

Colton will always have a piece of me, and no matter how much we fight, like today, I could never replace him. I still felt like I owed him my life.

But Fabian saved my heart, so he more than deserved a shot at gaining my love.

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