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While she’s still staring at nothing, I close the distance between us and then crouch down next to her.
Her gaze finally snaps back to me when I slide my arms underneath her back and legs, and lift her into my arms. That stunned shock on her face grows impossibly larger.
“Wait, what are you…?” She trails off as if she doesn’t know how to finish the sentence.
She looks from me, to the ground, to the parking lot, and then back to me again while I start carrying her around the house and towards the front door of her apartment building. I can almost hear the gears turning in her head as she processes what is going on. Then, at last, the confusion clears from her eyes and she looks up at me. And this time, I can’t read the expression in those storm-swept eyes of hers at all.
“It’s okay,” she says. “You can put me down. I’m not hurt. I can walk on my own.”
Meeting her eyes, I flash her a teasing grin. “Oh, come on. After I performed such a heroic rescue, you’re really going to deprive me of the chance to finish my dream role as Prince Charming and carry the damsel to safety in my big strong arms?”
A laugh rips from her chest. A real, genuine, laugh. She seems even more shocked by it than I am. For a moment, she just blinks down at her own chest, staring at the offending body part as if she doesn’t understand how it manage to produce such a sound without her permission.
Then she gives her head a short shake as if to clear it.
My heart stutters as she shifts slightly, settling herself more firmly in my arms.
When she looks up at me, there’s a small smile playing over her lips. And I swear to God, this one is real too.
“So, you’ve dreamt of being Prince Charming, huh?” she says, a gentle teasing note to her voice.
“Nah.” I flash her a smirk. “Honestly, I think I’d prefer to be the Evil Queen. Wearing black, handing out poisoned apples, and then cackling while disappearing with a dramatic sweep of my cloak seems a lot more fun.”
She laughs again. And then flicks another glance down at her chest.
“Who would you be?” I ask as I walk us into the building and start us towards the stairwell.
Her brows knit slightly as she looks up at me.
“From Snow White?” I clarify as I start us up the stairs.
“Oh, uhm, I don’t know.” She frowns again and then clears her throat. “I’ve never watched it.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
From everything she has told me about her fake childhood, that doesn’t sound very likely at all. But I don’t press the matter.
However, she seems to realize it too because she quickly changes the subject. “How did you even know that they were attacking me? You can’t see the parking lot from the street.”
“The Petrov twins. They were lurking outside school when we walked out, trying to keep us occupied. They wouldn’t do that without reason, so we cornered them. It didn’t take long to…convincethem to tell us what the hell they were doing.” My gaze drifts down to the red mark on her jaw, and a hint of regret flickers through me. “Though I guess it still took too long. I’m sorry we didn’t make it here in time to stop it before it even started.”
She studies my face, as if checking whether I’m sincere. I am. And she seems to understand that too, because she gives me a small smile. “It’s alright. It’s not your fault.”
Oh, but it is. Because I’m the one who told her to sit with us at lunch today, which is why those damn Petrov brothers decided to come after her. I swallow down a mix of guilt and anger, and instead change the topic as we draw closer to her door.
“Can you reach your keys?” I ask.
She fishes them out of her pocket. Shifting my arm slightly, I take them from her hand. She raises her eyebrows at me.
“I really can walk on my own, you know,” she says.
“I know,” I reply.
But I don’t set her down. Instead, I unlock the door and carry her into her apartment.
Golden afternoon sunlight streams in through the windows and illuminates the living room as I walk across it and then set her down on the white couch. Then I at last pull my arms back.
