I sat across from him, trying to act like the fact that he was yawning every other second didn't bother me.

Luckily, my grandma believed me when I told her I had a stomach ache and needed to go home. She told me, "That's why you shouldn't drink those sugary drinks."

And now here I am, drinking another one, with Nico.

After he yawned again for the sixth time, and yes I was counting, I set my half-empty coffee cup down aggressively. I leaned forward on my elbows, "Why are you yawning so much as if you aren't the one that asked me to come with you?"

"I believe in karma. I didn't want bad karma," he shrugged. "Doesn't mean I'm having fun."

He believes in karma. I wonder if he believes in astrology?

I mumbled under my breath, "Well, I'm not having fun either."

That was sort of a lie. Even though we were sitting here in silence, it felt good to be out somewhere without my brothers and somebody else. Even if it's somebody that doesn't know what laughing is.

"Good."

His response made me look back at his eyes. As I looked at his face, I wondered if he was nicer to his girlfriend. I'm assuming so, but I also can't even imagine him having a nicer side.

I scan his face, trying to think of what zodiac sign fits him best. He strikes me as an Aries.

"I'm working at my grandparents' flower shop for the summer until I start college in September," I told him, swirling the ice around with my straw.

He just looked at me while I talked with no emotion on his face. I continued, "I like it, the customers are usually really nice. I also know way more flower facts than the average person."

He still remained silent.

"One time somebody told me to shove a flower up my-"

"Elle," his deep voice cut me off.

I removed my fingers from my straw and took a sip before asking, "What?"

"Look at my face," he ordered.

I looked at him. Black hair that looks soft. Dozens of tattoos. Sharp jawline.

I nodded, "Okay, I looked."

"Now, does it look like I care?" he asked, no ounce of emotion on his face.

I let out a sigh, leaning back in my chair. I crossed my arms, "What makes you think that I care if you care?"

"It's written on your face," he stated as if it were obvious.

I looked away from him. I need to learn how to keep my emotions off of my face.

I took the lid off of my coffee, finishing the amount of liquid left in it. I pressed my palms against the table while standing up, "Then I'll go back home now, where me and my face can not be analyzed by rude tattoo artists."

He rolled his eyes at my words.

I should knock him out right now.

I have to tell my arm to stay down and not punch him because I don't want to disturb the people around us. I pick up my plastic cup to throw out, deciding I'd knock him out at our next training session.

I tripped over his foot while starting to walk, making him shoot up from his chair and stand in front of me to stop me from falling. My nose filled with his cologne as I hit his chest before regaining my balance, now standing across from him

"Why the fuck are you so clumsy?" he muttered as if it were an inconvenience.

I shrugged and made a 'psht' noise, "Why is your foot so fat? It's what made me trip."

"Cause it's a size 12."

I did the math in my head of what that would be in girl size. I'm a size 7, so I had no idea how big a men's 12 would be.

He grabbed the plastic cup out of my hands and tossed it into the garbage. I followed him out of the coffee shop, the midday sun shining down brightly.

I turned right, expecting that to be the end of our interaction. But to my surprise, he called out, "Where are you going? The flower shop is the other way."

"I'm going home," I told him while pointing in front of me. "Which is this way, remember?"

The lack of change in his face at my words didn't tell me if he remembered where the house he lived in for a day was. It was hard to bite my tongue while we hung out, but the truth was, I really wanted to know why he moved.

He started walking toward me and grabbed onto my wrist to make me walk with him. While he practically dragged me down the sidewalk since his legs were longer than mine so he took bigger strides, I asked him, "What are you doing?"

"Walking your ass home. I've seen you try and fight, and if somebody tries to rob you or something you wouldn't be able to fight them off," he told me while he released my wrist.

His words made my hand go to my sore ribcage for a moment. The pain still made me wince, and I began to wonder how long it would take to heal.

"You okay?" he suddenly asked, his voice softer than I had ever heard before.

I removed my hand and cleared my throat, trying to play it off. I nodded, "Yea. So, what time is our session tomorrow?"

"At 3. Why is it a secret?"

"It's just not something I'd like my family to know," I told him, and to my surprise, he nodded as if he understood.

The birds chirped as we walked, and I tilted my head up toward the sun. I smiled while I let the sun tan my skin, since I purposefully didn't put any sunscreen on today.

He kept his eyes on me as I walked, which confused me a little bit. He reached into his pocket, and I was expecting to see him pull out a cigarette.

But to my surprise, he pulled out his phone. He put one of the earbuds in his ear, and I looked forward, realizing that we were going to walk in silence the entire time.

He held the other earbud out for me, which made me feel surprised for a second. A small smile formed on my face as I took it, listening to the music that he had playing on his phone.

We listened to music until we reached the start of my driveway. I took the earbud out, handing it back to him.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said to him, and he gave a slight nod in response.

I walked up my driveway while he walked away, and I bit my bottom lip to try and get rid of the smile on my face.

I heard movement in the kitchen as soon as I opened the front door. Anxiety filled my stomach as I looked around the corner, seeing Romeo cooking something on the stove since he was home on his lunch break.

I mentally slapped myself for not thinking about that. I hope he didn't see Nico.

"Hey Romeo," I said while entering the kitchen and taking a seat on one of the stools.

He turned his head away from the stove, "Hey. Why are you home early? You feeling okay?"

The fact that he didn't mention Nico made a weight lift from off of my chest. I nodded, "Yea, just a stomach ache. Period cramps, you know?"

"Yea, I definitely know," he replied sarcastically as Rio's footsteps came down the staircase.

Rio opened his arms and smiled widely at us, "Family dinner tonight!"

"You gonna cook?" Romeo asked him while cocking an eyebrow.

"Nope, but you are. And you're gonna make it be my favorite food," Rio winked.

"Hell no I'm not," Romeo replied, and I shrugged nonchalantly.

Rio moving his arms around in the air made me turn my attention onto him. He mouthed at me, "Tell him to do it."

"Why?" I mouthed back.

"Because he'll do it if you ask," he mentioned how Romeo has a soft spot for me. "And if you don't I'll tell him about that guy that I just saw walk you home."

My eyes widened and a smirk formed on his face.

Shit.

I cleared my throat before speaking up, "I think that would be fun, Romeo."

He looked at me over his shoulder, "Yea?"

"Yea."

He paused for a second before nodding, "Okay, fine."

Rio clapped his hands together and made a 'woo' sound. I hopped off of the stool, starting to walk upstairs to my room until then. Rio followed close behind me, heading up to his room.

He leaned in and whispered in my ear while we headed up the stairs, "Should I ask who that was?"

"No," I replied.

And luckily, he just nodded his head. Without asking any questions, we went into our rooms, shutting our doors.

Hopefully, Rio forgets about him.

----------

My morning routine was usual.

Brush my teeth, shower, get changed. But this time, I tied my hair up. Luckily Romeo had today off, so I was able to take his car. I told him that I was going to go for a run at the gym, and I could see him holding back a laugh since I'm not the most athletic person ever and have never run before besides one time when a seagle chased me at the beach.

My life had literally flashed before my eyes.

And it was nothing special. As I drive to my self-defense class, a hint of sadness fills my heart that I'm unable to get rid of.

I want friends.

I never do anything and I have no memories that make me happy that aren't with my family.

I need to change it around. I have this weekend off from work since my grandma is going to help my grandpa with the porch, so I'm going to go out and try to make a friend.

I parked in the same spot that I had last time, and entered through the same door.

Nico was taping his knuckles in front of a red punching bag, and he didn't look up from it even though I knew that he heard the door open.

I could feel my eyebrows lower as I studied his appearance.

"Why do you look like shit today?" I asked, the bags under his eyes prominent and his black hair messy as if he used his fingers to run through it instead of brushing it.

He shrugged, "Why do you look like shit every day?"

"Genetic condition called ugliness," I matched my tone of voice to his.

That caused him to pause this time, stopping wrapping his knuckles and his eyes locked on mine for a moment. He shook his head slightly, "Shut up."

I set my bag down, remembering to bring a water bottle this time. Once his knuckles were completely wrapped, he set the roll of white tape down and patted the punching bag, "We're gonna focus on strikes today."

I nodded and watched him as he took a stance in front of the punching bag. He explained to me what movement and form to use when doing different kinds of punches, and I listened intensively.

Once he was done explaining, I asked, "What day are you going to teach me what to do if somebody....comes at me, you know?"

His head tilted slightly, and he thought about my question for a moment. He took a step away from the punching bag and said, "We can do that today if you feel you need to know right away."

I gave him a small nod. For about a half-hour I practiced punching with him, along with how to knee and elbow somebody.

Once he was satisfied with my progress, he said we could practice getting attacked now.

He grabbed onto my hand and guided me toward the dark blue mat. He turned me around, standing behind me as I looked at the wall. He told me, "I want you to swing your elbow around to hit my jaw when I grab onto your waist, okay?"

I looked over my shoulder and nodded my head at him.

Even though I knew it was coming, I still gasped slightly feeling his hands on my waist. The feeling that it caused in my stomach and against my skin made me forget to use my elbow, which let him pull me against his chest.

His head leaned forward, and his lips grazed my ear as he whispered, "What are you doing, Elle?"

I took a deep breath, my words feeling stuck in my throat.

"Answer me," he demanded in a voice that made my arms form goosebumps.

When I didn't answer, he quickly turned my body to face him. His jaw was clenched slightly as he stared down at me, and I stared up at him. His eyes on mine made nerves form in my stomach, and my heartbeat started to pick up.

The front of my body pressed against his, and I kept my eyes on his chest, too nervous to look him in the eyes.

"What's that?" I asked, noticing a scar on his chest that was slightly hidden from his tattoos.

My fingers traced along the line that stuck out more than the skin around it. My eyes widened slightly once I realized what I was doing, but to my surprise, he didn't move my hand.

"It's a scar," he replied vaguely. "Not important."

"You say that a lot," I told him while retracting my hand.

His hand went to the side of my face, his thumb brushing beside my black eye, "Is somebody hurting you, Elle?"

His words caught me by surprise. My lips parted slightly, realizing how it could look to somebody that didn't know about me getting attacked.

He nearly whispered, "You can tell me."

His voice was genuine. Warm.

"No," I shook my head. "I told you, it's from my brothers."

He nodded, but his face looked as if he didn't believe me. His face leaned down slightly as he looked at me, and my face was tilted up at his.

I used all of my strength to not look at his lips that felt like they kept getting closer to mine. He has a girlfriend.

Before I could pull away, he did. His warm hand left my cheek and his warm chest left mine. I took a deep breath as the timer went off, signaling that the session was over.

I leaned down to get my bag, and I found myself avoiding his eyes.

"I'll see you tomorrow," my voice came out softer than I thought it was going to.

"Sin is going to train you tomorrow."

His words made me pause getting my bag. While I took them in, I slung my bag over my back, looking at him with lowered eyebrows, "Why?"

He didn't answer me while he pulled the white tape off of his knuckles.

He tossed the tape onto the counter and grabbed his car keys.

"Nico?"

He ignored me again, walking past me as if I weren't even there. As much as I hate to admit it, it did hurt my feelings a little bit.

I wondered if I had done something wrong. Did I make him hate being around me?

I watched him as he walked towards the door to leave, and I waited to see if maybe he was going to give me an explanation. But all I was met with were his eyes meeting mine for a split moment as he opened the door, looking at me over his shoulder.

And then he left without a word.