Caged

Honest Coversation

Stirring out of her sleep, Savannah's mind hadn't quite registered that she wasn't in the same place that she had been when she'd fallen asleep last night.

For a few seconds, her head was in a daze....until she opened her eyes. The room she was in, was definitely nothing like the hallway she had crashed in the night before.

For one thing, she was in a bed that was more comfortable than her own. Not to mention that the bedroom was extremely different from the one she usually woke up in.

Glancing around, she caught sight of a boy sleeping in a chair in the corner of the room. Not just any boy either, but the one from last night. Theo.

Her recollection of the previous night was blurred. She strained her tired mind, trying to remember everything exactly how it was, but as her eyes began to clear up, so did her memory.

She remembered leaving work and being at the bus stop when a strange man approached her. She made it clear to him that he made her uncomfortable, but he didn't care. He carried on with what he was trying to do. Then someone came along. Another male - Theo, she recalled.

After the incident they talked, and then the bus came. They were both going to the same place so they accompanied each other on the journey. Once they got off the bus, they said their goodbyes and she headed inside to her boyfriend.

Thinking back to that moment, and everything that followed after, a thought crept into her mind. A fresh idea that had never crossed her mind before.

She had flashes of the thought in the past but had quickly brushed it off before it could effect her. This time however, she didn't even make an effort to push it away. Instead she invited it in.

Last night had been stressful as it was, and when she had gotten home all she wanted was comfort from Matt, but instead he gave her the cold shoulder. Even worse actually, he had berated her, and made her feel even worse.

Rather than being understanding, he had accused her of begging for it, and rather than being grateful that Theo had saved her, he saw the boy as a threat.

Was that really how a man was supposed to treat her?

But if that were so, then why did Theo treat her differently?

Even though she was a stranger to him, he had saved her last night and at some point during the night, he had taken her in, out of the cold and hard hallway and had made sure she was safe.

Then again, he could always have an ulterior motive. That's what it was like with Matt, usually he was cold to her, and the only time he would ever be nice was if he wanted to something or if it benefited him.

As she sat with her eyes not moving from him, she couldn't make up her mind. He saved her because of an ulterior motive....but then what could he possibly get out of it, other than an ass kicking from her boyfriend. Another thing was that if he had other reasons that were anything but genuine, then surely he wouldn't sleeping a tiny, uncomfortable looking chair while giving her his bed?

She couldn't take anymore of this confusion. She had to know why he had taken care of her not once, but twice in one night.

But how could she do that when she was forbidden from seeing him, let alone speaking to him?

There was only one option, and that was to be sneaky about talking to him.

Could she really have gotten it wrong though?

Boys were meant to be rough with their girlfriends, right? As well as over protective and have a say in everything that they do. She was certain of that fact...until now.

Theo hadn't been rough. Far from it, in fact. He had been gentle with her and made sure she got home safely. He had even given up his personal sleeping space just so that she could be comfortable for the night.

For a moment, she just sat there staring at his sleeping figure. He looked so uncomfortable and cramped that for a second, a wave of guilt washed over her. His curly locks of sandy blonde hair had fallen down onto his face and into his closed eyes. His mouth was in a straight line making a neutral expression on his face as he slept. As the daylight seeped through the gap in the curtains, it almost illuminated his face. Pale complexion, combined with his fluffy blonde hair made him look angelic. She couldn't help herself, but she though that he was gorgeous.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, he stirred from his slumber and his eyes flickered open. She hadn't noticed that he awoke though, since she was too lost in thought about him.

"Hey - you're awake!" He sleepily cheered, rubbing his eyes to remove all the grit.

Only then did she realise that he was awake, and that she hadn't taken her eyes off him for a good ten minutes or possibly longer. She could already feel her cheeks flush a light shade of pink.

"Embarrassed? No need." He added, obviously noticing the shade her cheeks had turned.

She mentally kicked herself for losing control, but deep down she knew that she couldn't help it. There was no controlling herself, even if she wanted to. By now she was so used to waking up in the mornings, alone in the bedroom and having to serve Matt breakfast to perfection that she didn't know anything outside of that.

The way she was feeling now was something completely new, and foreign to her.

"Oh my God! Did you seriously waste a whole night cramped in that chair just because of me? I feel so bad, you should be here and I should be over there." She gasped as she watched him stretch his body out with a groan.

"No, please don't feel bad." He requested and made an exaggerated sad face.

"But...it looks so uncomfortable." She said softly.

His lips curled into an almost smile and he chuckled just a little before turning serious again. He was curious about this girl. It appeared that she had a twisted view on how she should be treated by people.

"Yeah well, it was far more comfortable than the floor in the hallway - " He began.

Her eyes instantly dropped from him to her hands, which she was fiddling with in her lap.

" - What the hell were you doing sleeping out there anyway? A pretty dangerous place to crash." He questioned.

She made a sound, as though trying to explain. The truth was that she was trying to come up with a story, but her mind went blank. She was terrible at making up stories, and so she gave up. Lying was a terrible thing to do, and so telling the truth would be better. It just meant that she had to be prepared for his reaction - many people stopped talking to her once they learned what Matt was like, and the fact that she accepted that.

"It's a long story, are you sure you wanna know?" She asked, before diving into the topic.

"I got time, now please...enlighten me." He requested.

With a defeated sigh, she raised her gaze to his face and made eye contact with him. This was going to be hard to talk about without falling apart.

"Okay, uhh.....when I got home last night, after we said goodnight and I got upstairs into my apartment, my boyfriend was waiting for me." She began to explain.

He nodded to show that he understood her so far, and he sat up in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees and placed his chin in his hands to show his interest.

"As usual, he was up in my face. Like he is every night. He saw us from the apartment window and began questioning me about it, so I told him the truth. He accused me of lying and told me that I was begging for it along with calling me a bunch of unrepeatable names. After a while, I walked out, but my parents turned my room into an office the moment I moved out, my brother has just gotten and apartment after graduating Stanford, and the rest of my family are back in Australia. I had no where to go, and all I knew is that I didn't wanna spend the night sleeping next to someone who branded me a whore." She finished, feeling the sadness creep into her eyes.

Theo was astonished by her explanation. He had to admit that it wasn't what he was expecting. The poor girl had already been through enough last night, and her boyfriend had only added to her drama rather than being supportive like he should be. It made him wonder what else this girl goes through.

He hoped that it was just a little incident and that she wasn't suffering. Suddenly, he felt this need to know. It was an uncontrollable urge to find out more.

"Jesus! That's horrible...he could have at least shown some compassion. How did you put up with that?" He asked rather subtly. Though what he really meant to ask is was it an isolated incident.

"Oh it's okay. I'm used to it by now." She answered.

His heart thudded heavily in his chest. He had no idea why Savannah had this effect on him, but the moment her answer reached his ears, it made his heart hurt.

"Used to it? What is it like a regular thing?" He questioned, eagerly wanting to know more.

Once again her gaze dropped back to her fiddling hands, she had told him the events to be honest...but actually opening up and telling someone that this was a regular occurrence was a scary thought.

"Kind of. Sort of. Maybe....ugh, alright yes. It is." She admitted in a huff of frustration.

Quick and simple. She had finally managed to open up and tell someone that it was in fact, a regular thing and not a one off. Despite the feeling that she was betraying Matt, she also felt relieved to finally be able to share that with someone. Though she knew it was wrong and she shouldn't, she couldn't help but gloat on the inside.

"That's so sad. I'm sorry...you deserve better than that." He said, not knowing what else he could possibly say after hearing her story.

With his response, she gave him a small smile. No one had ever been quite so compassionate towards her. And by no one, she meant of the male gender. Most of the girls she had met, through her high school years and earlier college year, had been so kind to her. Though she had little to no contact with them now - Matt had put a stop to that.

"Hey, you know...if you ever need anything or just someone to vent to, then my door is always open." He added.

"Thank you, that's so sweet of you. But I'm fine, really." She replied, her voice coming out a little awkwardly as she said the last part.

"Anytime." He flashed a smile, pearly white teeth peeking through as he did.

Was this boy an angel or something? Because he sure acted like one, she thought with a nonverbal giggle. Not only did he act like one, he looked absolutely flawless.

Being so caught up in their conversation, all other thoughts had completely escaped her and only now did she think about what time it was, and her mind began to panic a little as she went over all the possible punishments that would be waiting for her back home.

"What time is it?" She asked him.

"Time? Uhh....almost ten." He answered, glancing down at his watch.

"Shoot! I'm sorry but, I have to go or I'm gonna be in so much trouble." She told him as she jumped up from the bed and scrambled to get her boots back on her feet.

"Woah..w..wait up!" He called, following her through the small apartment.

"I really can't. I'm sorry, I'll uh..I'll text you later." She stammered as she stumbled through the door.

Just like that, she was gone. Back up the stairs, and back to him.

Theo stood by the door for a moment, not bothering to close it. He ran both his hands through his messed up blonde curls and gave a small sigh. The truth was that he wasn't quite finished with their conversation - there was so much more he wanted to say.

Only now he would have to wait until their next encounter.