Num6 Chapter 4h733

Chapter 4hr33
TE
"Shirley…I've felt so confused for a very long time. But you've made everything so clear to me…I want…I want you. I love you. Be mine," William said stroking my face and hair.
"I love you too William…"
"Call me Will, I like it better…"
"Will…I…"
His face came so close to mine. I could feel his breath teasing my lips. "Shh…Don't say anymore. Do something else with those tantalizing lips of yours," he breathed. I closed my eyes and puckered my lips…
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
ARGH!!! I hate alarm clocks! I rolled over to turn it off. 7:00 am. I had slept in by an hour! William was going to be so angry! And I was going to be late! Just what I needed, more frustration. I dressed quickly and braided my hair while I ran down the stairs, without brushing of course.
"I'm so sorry! My alarm clock was turned back an hour! Oh no…"
"Relax. I turned it back so you could sleep longer," he said, casually sitting at the table. He had his tea, and had set out the milk, bowl, and cereal for me. "What happened to your hair?"
"I didn't have any time to brush it…"
"Eat; I'll brush it for you." I opened my mouth to protest, but I changed my mind. He grabbed my hairbrush and undid my braid.
"Wow, your hair is really soft," he said running the brush all the way through it.
"Thank you." I closed my eyes. He was so gentle, even when coming across a tangle. The feeling was sensuous.
"I want you to leave your hair down."
"Because you can't braid, right?"
"Well, yes. But I think you look much prettier with your hair down." He let it down on one shoulder and stepped in front of me. "Adorable."
"Thanks…" I smiled shyly. He patted my head.
"Let's get going," he said kissing the cheek he'd slapped yesterday.
"Okay." I smiled wider in return.
At school, Analie and Yoshi interrogated me about the bruises on my arms and legs.
"He doesn't beat you does he?" Analie asked concerned.
"No, no…I fell down the stairs. He carried me up to my room and made sure I was okay." Eventually.
"So…married life isn't as scary as you thought?"
"I was never afraid, you guys were! But I have to admit at the beginning it wasn't so grand. But he's kind and does little things for me."
"Aw!" Analie teased.
"Um…I invited him to eat lunch with us today. He might not say anything, and he might not even join. He's really shy."
"What?! Do you know what's going to happen if Stone is sitting with us!?"
"Yeah, so what?! He's my husband, and he's all alone. I don't care about my reputation, it's already in the toilet. If you guys want to stay my friends, we include him," I said in a loud whisper so the other classmates couldn't hear. Analie and Yoshi looked at each other, and then looked solemnly back to me.
"You're right. Besides, from what you tell us, he's not like everyone says." Even though he'd said all the rumors were true. "He can sit with us…Sorry for being selfish."
"Hey, it's okay."
At lunchtime, he shyly walked up to our table and put a hand on my shoulder. "Am I still welcome here?"
"Of course!" I pulled out the chair next to me. "Welcome to the club!" He smirked and sat down.
"Aren't you getting lunch?" Analie asked pointing to his water bottle.
"No…I'm not hungry."
"You didn't eat breakfast, you should eat something. Even if it's just a little bit."
"I said I'm not hungry," he growled with his head down. "I…must be getting a cold or something."
William sitting with us caused much more of a ruckus around the school than I'd expected. Rumors started forming, lies such as 'Stone raped her and has to take responsibility', which I knew would die in a month or two. Other rumors were that I was retarded and he was taking advantage, or that we were dating…well, that one was pretty much true, but no one seemed to notice the wedding bands we wore. Logan's story and the fact of the 'Bad Boy Stone' fan club stuck in my mind. For some reason, I felt like things were about to get a lot more complicated.
That evening, I was sitting at the table reading when William came in with a plastic bag and a nervous look on his face.
"What did you do now?" I asked.
"Huh? Oh." He was silent for a moment. This was the first time I saw him stumped. "Come with me."
"And what if I don't want to?" Let the games begin.
"Get over here."
"Nope."
"You'll find out what's in the bag."
"I don't care about the bag." He let out a sigh and came towards me. He took the book out of my hands and grabbed me, pulling me in the direction of the bathroom. This was fun!  
"Sit," he said pointing to the toilet. I did as told. He kneeled on the floor and dumped out his plastic bag full of…cosmetics?
"What are you doing?"
He cleared his throat and looked at me seriously. "The only magazines we have subscriptions to are 'Glamour' and 'Anime Insider'."
"And?"
"They're also the only things we have to read while using the facilities." He looked back down at his pile of feminism. "Needless to say, I could read your Anime magazine and be completely confused. But instead…let's just say that I've learned a lot."
"You've been reading the beauty magazine for fun?"
"Not for fun…"
I couldn't take it. I busted out in laughter. "I shouldn't be laughing…I know guys can be very good beauticians…I just can't see you doing that!" He frowned while I laughed.
"Anyways!" he cut in. I subdued my giggles. "There was an article that said that girls love it when guys pamper them and make them feel beautiful. Moreover, gave a tutorial for guys…okay? Besides, your brother told me after the wedding that you were really self-conscious about your looks." I'll get him for that later. (A/N: In all seriousness, this is embarrassing to write. I keep imagining something like William sitting on the toilet saying, "What a lovely shade of purple!" Ignore me.)
"Oh…well…yeah…I guess so." I rung my hands in my lap nervously. He took off my glasses. Yet again, his gentleness surprised me. It didn't feel weird. Actually, I thought it was really manly of him. He wore a small smile while he worked and it warmed my heart. He was doing this just for me! It was so romantic.
"So you just wanted to do this because?"
"Well, you said you were trying to make the relationship work, and I was fighting as hard as I could against it. I figured it was time that I put that aside and let things happen. In other words, doing things to help us fall in love with each other."
"Oh…wow…"
"Yeah, and I think I've been doing a lot of stuff for you, so you should be confessing to me any day now," he said with a sly smirk.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Since when is it the girl who confesses first?! Besides, you're still on 'wife beater' status. You'll be falling for me, first."
He laughed. Laughed! "Alright, how about a bet then? Whoever confesses first has to do whatever the other person tells them for two weeks."
"Make it a month and you have a deal."
"Deal." We shook on it. "I'm almost done…just a few more finishing touches…There. Open your eyes." I did so to be greeted by his shocked face. He gulped and whispered 'wow…' Then he cleared his throat. "Take a look."
I was shocked too! My eyes looked so bright and my hair was brushed until it was silky. I looked so…pretty! "What do you think?" he asked.
"I don't look like a clown!" I smiled back at him.             
It was a Wednesday afternoon, and I had Art club until five, so William went home without me. I tried to work, but the shock from the night William had thrown me in the closet kept coming back. All those paintings were gone. I don't think William even knew how much that hurt either. I didn't get much done and headed home with a heavy heart. It was getting colder outside and I wondered how much longer I would be able to walk home. William probably shouldn't be driving his motorcycle in the winter anyway.
"William! I'm home!" Silence. "Will?" I looked around the kitchen, which was a little messy. That was good. "Hello?" Where could he have gone? Then I spotted it. A vase full of roses was sitting on the table with card.
'Go look around the house, there's something different about it.' I turned around and behind me on the wall was my painting of the vase with the single rose. He kept them! I hurried into the living room to see the two sunsets on opposite walls. The barren oak tree was placed by the staircase, and the painting of William was in the upper landing by his room. He had kept all of them! And he had fixed the one that he had broken. I was so happy that I started crying. A pair of hands came to rest on my shoulders from behind.
"I hope this makes up for taking them away. Truth is…I love them. I think they're excellent. And this one happens to be my favorite…" He gestured to the painting of him. "Forgive me?"
"YES!" I cried and whipped around catching him in a tight embrace. "Thank you…you don't know how much this means to me!"
"I was planning to throw them out, but I just couldn't do that. That's just awful. So I hid them in the locked room in the basement." I didn't say anything; it just felt too wonderful to be in his arms. I had my arms wrapped around his upper waist. And he felt skinny! Unhealthily skinny. I could feel his ribs and spine…he hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch…he hadn't eaten dinner in a week! But I didn't want to say anything to ruin the moment.
"Shirley," he said pulling me back and looking at me with his dark eyes. "Can I kiss you?" WAS HE SERIOUS?
"Um…sure…why?" Why was I asking for reasons? My husband wanted to kiss me! My HOT husband. Cue the blush.
"Well, they say if you kiss the person you're meant to be with, you feel sparks." Oh, he was just trying to get ahead on the bet. "And the one on the altar just wasn't a good test, since we were being watched."
"And we barely knew each other…"
"Yeah, that too…" A tiny blush started growing on his cheeks. "You want to try it?" I nodded and shut my eyes tight. One of his hands moved to nestle behind my ear and the other tilted my chin up towards him. My heart beat violently inside of my chest and echoed in my ears. My face grew very very hot. The anticipation was killing me. Our noses touched and his breath ghosted across my cheek. His lips just barely touched mine and made me shiver. He let out a tiny amused 'hmph' from the back of his throat. I took a sharp intake of breath as he closed the distance and kissed me in the oddest way. There was no way to describe it. His lips were softer and warmer than they'd been at the altar. It wasn't love radiating from him...was it? Forget sparks! I was being electrocuted! I felt very light headed and a tiny voice in my head was yelling 'Oxygen! Oxygen!' but I ignored it. William was spoiling me now; I didn't even care what his real reason was. Then his lips left me and I grumbled in protest. My eyes fluttered open and met his dark ones, and his now very red face. We were both quiet for a moment while we caught our breath. My arms where still around him and I slowly let go.
"That wasn't too bad was it?" he asked casually. Yeah right, I saw that blush.
"No, I didn't feel a thing," I said playing along. I would not let him win!
"Good, neither did I."
"I guess we don't have to worry about that bet for awhile right?"
"Oh yeah," I agreed. "Are you going to eat dinner?"
"No…"
"Okay, I hope you aren't getting sick."
"Yeah, especially since we just kissed and you might catch it," he mumbled. I lightly smacked his arm.
"That's not funny!" He smiled.
"I'm fine Shirley. I'm going to my room. Goodnight." He patted my head and left. There and gone. Just like the wind. I touched my lips and the spark was still there.
That night, I stayed up late doing some research on my laptop. I wanted to get some information, or at least some symptoms I could watch out for. I started out with 'Male Anorexia', just because I hadn't seen him eat anything in a long time. 'Anorexia is typically thought of as a disorder affecting only teenage girls. Recently however, there has been a steady increase in male eating disorders, namely anorexia. One might assume there would be great differences between the male and female versions of anorexia, but in fact, the two are nearly identical. They each have similar levels of emotional disorders, and both men and women can suffer from osteoporosis as a result of anorexia.' So it was possible… 'Symptoms include:   Poor body image, Depression, Performing food rituals, Perfectionist behaviors, Isolating oneself, Thinning hair, Low body weight, Obsessive-compulsiveness, Inability to eat with others, Fatigue, Weak muscles.' I started to worry. That fit Will pretty well. But I wasn't going to assume anything; I'd just ask him about it.  
Next, I typed in 'Dramatic Mood swings in men' and was redirected to Depression, which was already a symptom of Anorexia. Something wasn't adding up. The last thing I typed in was 'sudden switch of personality between two'. And got 'Multiple Personality Disorder'. At times, he really did seem like two different people, especially when his eyes changed colours that one time. I shuttered at the memory.
'The process in MPD can be traumatic and shocking to witnesses and shouldn't be taken lightly. Individuals diagnosed with MPD demonstrate a variety of symptoms with wide fluctuations across time; functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to normal or high abilities. Symptoms can include:
Multiple mannerisms, Unexplainable headaches and other body pains, Distortion or loss of subjective time, Depersonalization, Severe memory loss, Depression, Flashbacks of abuse/trauma, Sudden anger without a justified cause, Frequent panic/anxiety attacks, Unexplainable phobias, Auditory of the personalities inside their mind, Paranoia, and a compulsive need to align spaces and objects. Patients may experience an extremely broad array of other symptoms that may appear to resemble anxiety disorders, mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, personality disorders, and eating disorders.' I shut the lid. That was too much! There was nothing wrong with Will. Nothing. But I still couldn't help but worry. I shook my head.
The next evening, after eating alone again, I went to the office to pick out an Anime to watch.
"What are you up to?" William asked standing in the doorway. He nearly gave me a heart attack!  
"My goodness! Give a girl some warning will you?!"
"Sorry…" he smirked. "So what are you doing?"
"I was going to watch an Anime."
He was quiet, obviously thinking. "I'll watch it with you."
"REALLY?!?!" Oh, he thinks he's going to win this thing.
"Sure, why not? What do you have?"
"Let's see…Ah! Here's 'The Visions of Escaflowne.'" I read the back cover "Hitomi is your average schoolgirl, an aspiring star athlete who wishes a kiss from an upperclassman. Before she gets her chance, a dragon hunter from another land magically appears on Earth, and then just as quickly whisks her away to his world. Not given time to adjust to her new surroundings, Hitomi finds herself in the middle of a medieval war fought using giant machines called Guymelefs. While finding her way back to Earth, Hitomi must survive the destruction that looks to engulf her soul."
"Interesting…"
"'Hana-Kimi' is one of my favorites!" I continued without realizing he was barely listening to me. "At age thirteen, Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl growing up in America, saw Izumi Sano high jump on TV for the first time. Amazed by his grace, Mizuki quickly became a huge fan of Sano's. Three years later, high-school age Mizuki decides to return to Japan so that a dream of hers might come true: to see Sano jump in person. Mizuki even goes so far as to transfer into Sano's school, in hopes of being closer to him." I kept talking while he stared at me.
"Sounds good…"
"Oh! Can't forget 'Cowboy Bebop'! In the not-too-distant future of 2071, there is a new breed of bounty hunters, known as Cowboys, hunting down the most wanted criminals for enough money to keep doing it. Two of the best (if unluckiest) of these folks are the owners of the good ship Bebop, Spike and Jet, both leaving behind pasts they'd rather…" He interrupted me.
"I see a weird pattern here…" he said looking through some of the books and covers.
"What?"
"All of the guys look like me…"
"Well…I have this thing for black haired heroes."
"Oh, really…?"
"Yeah like Izumi Sano, Van Fanel, Chief Masayuki Cha-chan Doumoto, Shoubu Matsukaze, Akira Nanae, Watanuki, Domeki, Kurogane, Black Cat A.K.A. Train Heartnet, Takuto Kira…"
"I see…"
"Then there are the famous ones like Sasuke and Itachi Uchida, Goku, Zack, Lelouch, L, Koga, Shinji, Orochimaru, Naraku, Madara, Asuma, Ishida…"
"I get it…"
"Then there's Mori Sempai, Kygouya, Sosuke, Masaya, Jet, Itou Kudo, Conan, Jumbo, Koiwai, Kuta, Chad, Kenji, Vincent, Akikdo, Jeremy, Tuxedo Mask/Chiba Mommoru…"
"Shut. Up." He put a hand to my lips. "I seriously don't understand a word of what you're saying."
"Sometimes I go a little overboard…"
"Obviously," he sighed. "What's a good beginner's series? I'm sure you're going to make me watch all of these…"
"Only if you want to…Anime is an acquired taste." I smiled. "Cowboy Bebop is funny, romantic, dramatic, and full of action. I think you'll like it…and it's devoid of Japanese terms."
"Oh good," he said sarcastically.
One disc into the series, I started to get tired. "William, I'm going to…" Before I could finish my sentence, I realized I didn't have to say anything. He was curled up on the other side of the couch, fast asleep. He looked so cute! "William, you should go to bed," I said tapping his face.
"Mmm…can you carry me mommy…?" He held out his hands. I had to try so hard not to laugh. He was super skinny, how heavy could he be?
"Okay, just this once, darling." I put my arms underneath him and lifted while he held on around my shoulders. I held him up and…and I felt my heart drop. He was WAY too light!
"Mom…why does dad hate me?" he whispered in his sleep.
"He doesn't hate you…" Where in the world did that come from? I worried that he was about to share something he shouldn't, but I couldn't stop him.
"How could he not? He hit me for no reason," he said, holding tighter. I swallowed.
"It couldn't be for no reason…"
"Because he hates me…he said so himself…"
"He just…" I didn't know what to say.
"Well, I hate him, too." He hid his face in my shoulder. I didn't say anything, mostly because I felt like I was choking. I put him in bed and pulled up the covers. I brushed his hair from his forehead and gave him a kiss.
"Goodnight," I whispered. "You're safe now." I walked away from his bed, but suddenly his arm came out and grabbed my wrist tightly. I looked backed at him. His eyes were wide open…and yellow. I tried to pull away. What was going on!? He pulled me close to his face.
"Forget everything you just heard," he said darkly.
"Y-yes! I didn't mean to…It was an accident…I'm sorry!"
Instantly he fell asleep. I got out of the room as fast as I could and locked my door. This was more serious than I thought.