"Yes. But I'm not sure how long it will be practical."
She rested her chin on his chest and looked into his blue eyes, confusion and frustration clouding hers.
"What do you mean?"
He ran a hand through her long curls. Worry lines creased his handsome forehead.
"If I get caught again .... If someone finds me .... I can change. You can't. Sooner or later someone will realize the different men you're hanging out with is really the same one."
"So change into a toad or something. An ant. I'll keep you in a jar in my purse."
She was only half joking.
"No. I was born a man. It feels odd to be anything else for too long. And the smaller my brain is, the harder it is for me to use it."
"Then I'll take whatever time I can get with you."
"We'll need to leave in the next few days."
Elise nodded and sat up to get her pants on before the steam on her windows dissipated. Johnny did the same.
"And you'll need a passport," he added.
"Where are we going?"
"For now, Paris. That's where I've been for the last year, and so far no one's discovered what I am."
"Who you are," Elise corrected quietly.
Johnny turned his head to her and smiled, placating her. She reached up and ran a hand through his messy hair.
"You've always seemed jaded," she murmured.
"Maybe you'll pull me out of it."
Johnny dug a cigarette out of his pocket and rolled down her window. He hung out of the car to puff on the little white tube of carcinogens, respecting her non-smoker status and odor. Elise wrapped her hands around his strong bicep and rested her head on his shoulder. With any luck, she would be living the rest of her life on the run. But leaving her home, her parents, and Manny's just couldn't matter. Johnny had consumed the largest part of her heart, and the last year had been miserable and empty without him. If Elise was certain of one thing at the end of all of this, it was that as long as she remained by Johnny's side, she would be happy.
The End
Strangers Page 4
