He is the one that offered to lay down with her so she wasn’t alone. This definitely makes her feel a little better, like she might be able to close her eyes and not replay everything that was done to her. She has never really been a wallflower, regardless of her strange upbringing, but somehow lately she has become one.
So that is how she finds herself laying in a queen sized bed with floral patterns on the quilt, in a spare room in yet another strangers house. When they first came in, they both immediately headed over to the fluffy bed and hopped on to rest back against all the decorative pillows.
Moira leans against them now with a sigh and closes her eyes, and tries to ignore the way her skin breaks out in Goosebumps from the way Marty’s bare elbow just grazes her own. They are silent for a while, but she knows it won’t last, Marty and her and experts at prying into the others personal thoughts by now. She can almost do a mental countdown to how long it’ll take him to cave.
5….4…. 3….. 2…. 1…..
“So, ace how are-” he starts, Moira smirks as she turns to give him her sternest false side eye.
“Marty, I swear if you ask me how I am one more time. I’m going to…..I’m going to pinch you!”
He gives her a funny look, as if saying go ahead and try. But then he too is smirking and leans his head back against the pillows and crosses his arms over his chest.
“Pinch me huh?”
Still giving him her sternest look, Moira nods at him and definitely ignores the way his muscles along his forearms tighten while he crosses them.
“You bet it mister. I’ll get you with my nails with only a little bit of your skin, and believe me, it’ll hurt.”
Marty smiles at her and his dark brown eyes twinkle in the dim light of the room.
“I have no doubt in your strength, my little friend.”
This makes Moira puff up to a sitting position, and narrows her eyes at him.
“Who you calling little, buddy?”
Now he holds out his hands in defeat, and gives her a cow look that makes her narrow her eyes eve more at him.
“Simmer down they’re sweet heart, meant no offense.”
She mocks glares at him now and nods at him, like saying you better not, but only means it as a funny. He smiles and returns to his laid back pose on the bed, and he even crosses his ankles over the other. Moira tries to relax some as well, as they fall into a confortable silence. It doesn’t last, at least not for her. It is too hard to forget about things and she remembers that she should probably ask how he is dealing with all this.
After all he was listed as one of her accomplices and that could only have happened if his family was brought into the mix. She mentally chastises herself for not asking him sooner, but takes the opportunity now.
“I’m so sorry Marty.” She says softly, almost too soft for him to hear, but he does anyways and turns to her in alarm.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, and I mean that.”
She gives his her best ‘yeah right’ look before continuing. Can he not let her apologize, she thinks to herself, boys.
“Yes I do, and you’re being too nice by not admitting that I do. If it wasn’t for me you and your family wouldn’t be in the middle of all this crazy.”
He sits up now, and faces her with a look she can’t figure out. He leans over and gently touches her cheek with one of his soft warm hands. She sighs into him against her better judgment and listens to what he has to say.
“I’m not being nice when I say that my family and I have been in the middle of crazy since the beginning. I was born this way Moira, and they were changed for a long time before I even came into their lives.”
She can feel tears blooming at the corner of her eyes, and before they can fall out, Marty raises his hand from her cheek and catches them on his fingertips.
“Crazy is like an old friend coming home, so no worries alright?”
Moira grins slowly at him, and can’t believe she has someone like him in her life. She really doesn’t deserve him, and feels like she met him at just the right time. He lets his hand fall to his side as he leans back against the pillows beside her, and gives her a crooked grin.
“Besides, I consider you an even older friend by now and I have to problem jumping into riffraff with you.”
She rolls her eyes at him, as she turns her head to face him and finds that he too is facing her, making their faces only inches apart.
“Riffraff? I think you mean you’re an old fogie, not an old friend, old man.”
He full out grins, but tries to look wounded from her words.
“How dare you mock my mad skills woman, I ain’t no old man.”
This makes her cackle with laughter and soon Marty joins in on it. He is so close to her now that she can feel the warm breath of him and his eyes are shinning with delight. She is just feeling absolute delight of her own, when his eyes darken slightly. Before she can decipher why, he leans in closer to her so that their lips are just barely touching.
She starts at the contact at first, and doesn’t really understand what just happened, but then he moves in closer and applies more pressure to their enlaced lips. She sighs into him closing her eyes automatically then, and he deftly brings up his hands so that they cup both of her cheeks.
When she opens her closed lips from him and he sighs and deepens the kiss still. She has an unwanted feeling all of a sudden, that something doesn’t feel right to her. Then she realizes that she doesn’t feel the spark of her persona that usually comes charging in at high emotional times for her.
This makes her feel conflicted and then embarrassed that she is letting her friend Marty kiss her like he is. Because that is what he is, her friend. She doesn’t know how she feels about him being more than that, and it weighs heavily on her heart that she’ll have to push him away from her. Slowly, Moira raises he hands and places them on his that cup her cheeks. With a gentle touch, she pulls his hands from her face and opens her eyes as she does.
This makes him pause in kissing her, and oh so slowly does he draw his face from hers. She can feel his lips fall away from hers, and when they do she can still feel the tingle of them, as if they were still there. Even having this small feeling, it still isn’t enough to let him believe she feels something when she doesn’t.
When he leans back, she can feel her heart breaking, at the way he looks so hurt.
“What’s wrong, you alright?” He says breathily.
It makes her feel even worse then, that he looks generally concerned that something is wrong instead of her misplaced feelings for him. Guiltily, she looks away from him biting her lip, before turning back to him.
“You know I care about you Marty, I haven’t exactly hidden my feelings.”
He sighs and leans back against the bed and seems slightly less hurt and more somewhat irritated now.
“But?” He says softly.
“But, you’re my friend and I need you to just be that right now. I don’t think I could handle something new in my life at the moment.”
She can feel herself pouting at him, begging him to understand. She feels badly about not telling that she really doesn’t have feelings for him, at least not like the ones he must for her. It does feel wrong that she is sort of leading him on, but she knows she can’t lose him. Not now.
He gives her a serious look, one that she has never really seen on his face before, and slowly nods at her.
“I can live with that I guess. Just do me a solid, and tell me this has nothing to do with Liam?”
This makes Moira start, and think why would he even ask that? It makes her wonder if she doesn’t hide the way she reacts to Liam. But of course this doesn’t have anything to do with Liam, does it?
“What does Liam have to do with us?”
“Just answer Moira, do you like him? I’ve seen the way the two if you watch one another.” He says admittedly.
She realizes that she does react do Liam, but not in the way she would want. She has been
too angry at him to really think if her reaction means anything else. So she dismisses the thought, and gives Marty a sincere look instead.
“No, I don’t like him Marty. Not in the way your implying, and maybe not in a normal way either.”
This seems to placate him and he rests easy against the pillows again, and so she does to. As they sit in an uncomfortable silence now, Moira wonders if maybe she just told a lie to herself and to Marty. She just hopes this doesn’t change the way they are to each other, but she has a sinking feeling that it will.
***
The following morning, Liam is up early before even Charles and Jo. So he offered to walk Casden and Kai out to their bus stop, not that they need the supervision or anything. He just has the need to get out of the house, and this poses as the perfect opportunity. He lost a few hours of sleep the night before, because of Her.
It didn’t help matters any for him, when Marty came out of the room they went into alone. This was some time much later too, and Marty told them as he went into the boy’s spare room, that she was asleep. Liam wonders if Marty would have stayed with her the entire night, if it hadn’t been for Daisy and Raven going to bed in the same room.
It just simply bothers him, that it bothers him at all. So, here he is, at six in the morning while everyone else is still asleep walking out to the end of the street with two boys at dawn.
When they make it to the end of the street, more kids their age come into view. Casden and Kai walk as if the entire world hangs on their shoulders now.
They both hang their heads as they come to a stop some ways away from the group of boys. They don’t seem that off to Liam, only a band of four middle school aged boys. But from the way Casden and Kai avoid their gazes, it makes Liam wonder.
When he asks what was wrong, only Kai remains silent and sullen. Casden, turns to him with a look full of hatred, one to serious for a boy his age.
“Nothing is wrong, just stay out of it.”
At this the other boys turns to him with laughter and anger in their expressions. They begin talking to one another and pointing and laughing at Casden.
This makes the boy’s face turn to a deep scarlet and when it does, Liam clenches his hands into fists at his side. When the other boy’s antagonistic laughter rises, Kai shies away and stands so that Casden blocks his view of them. If Liam wasn’t standing so close to them, he might have missed it when Casden’s brown eyes deepen to a startling black.
When the boy is turning to the others and his brown hair is deepening, Liam swiftly grabs the boy’s arm and stops his movements.
“Don’t do it little man, they are not worth your anger. You are way better than them, so don’t let their ignorance influence you.”
By this time, the other boys are backing away from them looking frightened and go back to ignoring them. Casden turns to Liam with wide eyes though, and as he does the boy’s eyes and hair return to their natural brown color.
“My dad tells me the same thing you know. It doesn’t help every time though.” Casden says with a sigh, as he steps back so that Kai is beside him and not behind.
This makes Liam smirk and shake his head, as he watches the boys act and seem like they are older than they are. He wonders if he would have been like them if he had a sibling.
“Your dad is a smart man, and you should listen to him. It’s all any of us can do these days.” Liam says with a sigh.
Casden nods his head and places an arm on his brother’s shoulder, and Liam notices that the bus is now coming down the street to them. He knows he talks a good game, and his advice is only good in theory. Once those boys get on that bus with the other kids, the rest is up to them and he knows it’s never easy to keep a level head.
By the time the bus comes to a stop, Casden and Kai follow a few paces behind the other boys and get ready to climb on board. When Liam watches Casden and Kai walk to the back of the bus, where the cages are, he feels a deep hatred for their stupid separation laws.
However, as Casden makes his way to the back, he notices the boy’s shy smile and subtle blush as he nears a little blonde girl. This makes Liam smile in return, and it makes him feel better to see that when the boy sits down beside her, she turns to him with a similar smile and blush.
As the bus pulls away from the street and leaves Liam standing there alone, he realizes that there are some things in this world that make up for the bad ones. With a shake of his head, he turns back and starts the short walk back to the house.
By the time he reaches the driveway where is truck still rests, he notices he is no longer alone outside. Looking like they are packing things back into the truck, are Raven and Marty. They both still and look up as he approaches them. Seeing Marty revives his ugly jealousy for the boy and his free attentions of Moira. It’s stupid he knows, but he can’t help feeling animosity towards the other boy.
Under different normal circumstances, he and Marty might have been friends, but not now. It doesn’t completely make sense to him, that he feels the connection he does to Moira and even more that he feels a claim over her, when he has none. He wonders if it’s something related to his persona, like maybe it’s an alpha wolf instinct. Whatever it is though, it makes Liam think he is crazy.
Liam comes to a stop near the truck just as they close the back hatch, and is it his imagination or do they both seem tense? Raven sighs deeply, as she looks between the two boys, who are now is a starring contest.
This makes Liam smirk with a sick fascination, and he can’t believe how predatory he is being. With satisfaction, Marty turns away from him with a nodding glare and heads back for the house and not looking back. Raven however, rolls her eyes and leans back against the truck giving Liam a cross look.
“What’s your problem?” He asks as he leans against the truck next to her.
“I don’t have a problem sexy, you do.”
Now he is the one to roll his eyes, and stare at her like she lost her mind. And did she just call him sexy, he thinks?
“Me? Why do you say that?”
“Oh come on, you don’t fool me Liam Morgan. Me and everyone else, sees the way you and Moira give each other moon eyes.”
Huh. He didn’t realize they were actually giving one another ‘moon eyes’ but whatever. What everyone is picking up on is their confusion and slight hostility and not affection. Or at least on Moira’s end anyway. He isn’t entirely sure the reasoning behind his looks to her though, and it only makes his confused. Before he can deny anything of ‘moon eyes’ relation; Raven shakes her head at him and fixes him with a reserved look.
“Don’t even try to deny it, I notice these things, and you’ve fallen off the deep end my friend. Question is, what are you going to do about it?”
Alright he thinks, this girl is completely off her rocker. Apparently he mistook her crushing on him, for her being intellectually nosy about his love life, or lack thereof.
“There is nothing to do. Nothing is going on between Moira and I, simple as that.” He says as he none to slyly turn away from her.
“Sure sure, keep telling yourself that buddy. I’m not picking team Liam or team Marty on this one, but life is too short to just do nothing. So do something, before you lose your chance.”
He turns back to her, and seriously takes a look at her. For all her Lilith good looks and dark hair and features, he never would have thought of her giving anyone sage advice. Maybe she is right and he needs to pay better attention to things. Regardless of the reasoning for his feelings for Moira, he knows something is going on with Marty.
If he does nothing, she might go to him instead of Liam. He is about to thank Raven and tell her she is a genius in disguise, when they get interrupted by Charles running out the front door towards them. Instinctively, Liam pushes away from the truck and meets the other man halfway with Raven close behind him.
“What is it, what’s going on?”
Liam’s first thought is something happened to Moira and it makes his persona tickle along h
is skin with a dull hum. He quickly ignores that thought and as his persona still lingers, he knows he should wait for Charlie to respond before jumping to conclusions.
“You better come and take a look at this. There is another news broadcast, and it’s about you Liam.”
Raven gasps at this, and Liam can only think ‘damn, so much for not jumping to conclusions.’ With a feeling of dread and relief that it’s not Moira this time, he follows close behind Charles back into the house to see what the word is.
***
Sitting on the sofa in the living room with Daisy and Ray, Moira can only feel utter shock as she stares blindly at the television screen. What she sees doesn’t make sense to her, and leaves her questioning the sanity of the man that held her captive days ago. Alright, it’s not like he was ever sane. But Peter Fletcher, who she will swear up and down is behind these attempts to throw them off, isn’t a moron either.
She just can’t figure out why he would be doing all this, just to get her back? It feels like he is just grasping at straws now, and she is the little straw that just can’t get away.
The latest news cast was aired this morning, and she and Daisy were lucky enough to catch it before Ray cut the television off. They are now saying that she, Moira, and her accomplices are being led by what they believe to be a terrorist. With no background trail that they know of, the terrorist is going by the alias of Liam Morgan. When Moira first heard that, she literally just about had a heart attack.
She did however slump into the nearest seat, and thank goodness the couch was right behind her or she would have fallen to the floor. The only thing she could do, and can do is stare at the television. Her persona is like a live wire underneath her skin, and she is afraid to breath funny, or it’ll shoot out of her like a rocket without her control.
Persona Page 21
