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Her lips were soft and they stilled the moment he touched her. “Three reasons,” he said. “For one, you picked a bad night to take off. Two, if you knew the house was empty, someone else could be lurking in there, too. Maybe a hobo or some other teenagers.” He thought of some other kids on this street who might take advantage of an empty house for a night. They weren’t dangerous, but a couple of them might not be the best ones to be hanging around if she was having problems at home. “It might not be true of you, but people who break into houses are often not very nice people. You’d be walking in on them.”
“What’s the third?” she asked, her words slightly muffled as his finger was still on her lips.
She was a little silly. He liked that. Despite whatever she was going through, she had a positive attitude.
He pulled his finger away slowly. “If your parents caught you, you might have been grounded for a lifetime and I would have never met you.” His heart raced with this confession. Of course that couldn’t be true. He would have met her eventually given their proximity and that they’d be at the same school together. Still, he wanted to impress upon her that she was worth meeting and it would be a terrible shame if she was arrested or grounded or worse.
She said nothing, but her eyes danced. He could sense some confusion and could imagine what she was thinking: Who was he, some stranger saying these things? He couldn’t blame her.
He drank the rest of his cocoa to get it out of the way and to give himself a moment to consider his next move. It seemed logical to have her stay, but there were some problems. For one, his mother might not understand him having a girl spend the night here. He might have to find a workaround for that. Also, he had to consider if she didn’t accept, how he’d be able to convince her to go home. Returning now could be more dangerous for her and might expose him as a bad person to her parents if he was caught helping her. A misunderstanding like that would be contrary to his plans.
He didn’t see a lot of options; might as well take the chance. “Do you have to be somewhere tomorrow?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Are you still intent on staying out for the night?”
She hesitated. He didn’t know a less intrusive way to ask. What else was he supposed to do in a situation like this?
“If I could figure something else out...”
You’ll just have to go for it. As he thought of what he wanted to say, he counted to three. He put down his mug and placed a gentle hand on her knee to get her attention. He realized it was a bold move, but he wanted to be direct. “So how about this, I’ll let you sleep here tonight. I think you’ll feel better in the morning about it all. After that, give me a month.” Maybe it was crazy, letting a girl sleep here for the night. He could let her go on her own, but she may just try to run away again, or she could go back to her house and get into trouble. Staying here might be the best solution to keep her safe. She could sneak back early tomorrow without being found out; he already knew she took walks, sometimes early in the morning. If he dried her clothes, she could walk in tomorrow morning and tell her parents she was just out on a walk.
He didn’t want to admit that he wouldn’t mind keeping her around a little longer. He liked her and sensed there was much more to her than even he had realized before tonight.
“To do what?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“We’ll get your parents to relax so you don’t have to sneak out.” It was a stretch since he still didn’t know the situation. Perhaps her parents were introverts and they stayed home a lot, and wanted their children to be the same. Whatever the case, Sang was unhappy, enough to run off for a night, possibly more. So in any case, he wanted to fix whatever was making her feel like running.
She smirked. “Now who is being idiotic?”
Her disbelief didn’t waver his determination. “I mean it.”
“You don’t know me. Why do you care?”
There was more than one answer to that question. Even if he didn’t care personally as a decent human being, his association with the Academy meant he would be obligated to contact someone for help.
But he did care. “Friends help each other. We’re friends now, aren’t we?”
Her hesitation to his question scared him a little. He tried to wait it out, but was going to say something encouraging when she finally responded. “I suppose so.”
It wasn’t very reassuring, but it would have to do for now. He stood up, collecting both of their empty mugs. He didn’t suspect she’d leave at this point, but he wanted to give her a little breathing room and a chance to relax. “I’m going to take these downstairs and put Max into his crate. You go hop into bed.”
Her mouth opened in surprise and she looked over at the bed, shaking her head. “But... you...”
Cute. He laughed a little. “Don’t worry. There’s a roll-away bed underneath that one. When I get back, I’ll pull it out and will sleep there.” Was that still too close? He’d sleep on the couch downstairs, but that would draw attention from his mom if he didn’t wake up before she did. His sister got up sometimes in the middle of the night, too and would ask why he was on the couch. He didn’t want to have to make up a lie.
“But maybe I could sleep on the roll-away thing. I mean, it’s your bed.”
He hid his smile and turned toward the stairs. Silly girl was too nice for her own good. “Just get in, will you? It’s late.” He made his way down to clean up.
Despite appearing composed, his heart was still racing, even after several moments at the kitchen sink, watching as water filled the two mugs to rinse them out.
He was thinking about her green eyes, trying to determine who she was. She didn’t seem like a troublemaker or a bad kid. He knew looks could be deceiving, though. He considered doing a little research and asking Mr. Blackbourne to run a background check on her. Maybe her old school records would reveal more about her.
She wasn’t in danger at the moment. She didn’t appear bruised from her home life and she was able to goof off a bit with him. Both were good signs.
So what would drive such a girl out of her home?
He breathed in deeply, pulling the air in to fill his lungs until near bursting, and then held it for five seconds, counting backward slowly, before letting it all out between his lips.
Trying to figure her out wasn’t his favorite sort of puzzle. He could be completely wrong; maybe things were worse than he thought. He’d just have to keep an eye on her.
Maybe in the morning, she’d talk more. It had been a strange night, she was probably overwhelmed.
When he returned upstairs, she was in his bed on her side with the blanket pulled over her. When he slid the roll-away bed out, she didn’t move at all.
When he finally settled in, he listen
ed to her gentle breathing, counting along as she slept so close. He focused on her to push the problems away and blank out his mind. He wouldn’t be able to help her at all if he was tired in the morning.
One hundred...ninety-nine...ninety-eight...He counted down to get to sleep.
???
The vibration of his phone alert was what woke him. His eyes parted, and while he couldn’t see fine details of the room, the dim gray light washing in via the window was enough to let him know it wasn’t yet six.
Had he meant to set his alarm this early? He tried to recall what he’d meant to do that morning but wasn’t yet awake enough to recall. He stretched and yawned, then turned with blurry eyes toward the spot where he usually kept his glasses, and then reached further when he couldn’t feel them. Then he froze when he realized he wasn’t in his bed.
Kota blinked, rubbed at his eyes, and looked over at the lump in his own bed and then down at himself in the pullout. He instantly remembered last night. Sang. The girl who needed help.
Kota cringed, feeling silly for forgetting. He must have slept harder than he’d realized. He’d meant to keep an ear out in case Sang decided to leave early on her own.
But she hadn’t. He got up as quietly as he could, checking on her, noting how she was sleeping. He couldn’t see her face, but she was breathing normally.
He counted the seconds between when her chest started to drop until it rose again. Long, steady breaths. She was well asleep.
He hurried, as quietly as he could, to collect his clothes and to get downstairs. He dressed in the bathroom and then found Sang’s clothes in the dryer.
He was about to leave the laundry room when he heard Max bark once, and then the padding of footsteps coming toward him.
Kota reacted quickly, snatching up a towel and wrapping it around Sang’s clothes just before the door opened.
His mom stood there, bleary-eyed, her short brown hair sticking up on the side. She was carrying her basket of dirty clothes and paused in the doorway. “Kota?” she said, her voice softer than normal, a little rough. She coughed once to clear it. “Did you just throw in a load? It’s not your normal day...”
