Saving Lilo

Chapter 2

On the ride to the diner Cass and I had decided that we would share a pizza and among other small talk I had asked how Cass and Killjoy met each other. As Cass told me the story I could see how the the happiness in her eyes bloomed, but I could also see the sadness hidden in them as she recalled,

"It was about 3 or 4 years ago, and I had just moved here just like you. I was looking for a place to stay and a job, when he bumped into me, and at that time, I had no clue who they were, so I yelled at him saying he should watch where he was going, and all he said was that he did it on purpose to strike a conversation with me. I thought to myself that he was a creep and dodged him. A few months later I was working at H&M and he showed up and said he was sorry for scaring me off. I didn't recognise him at first, but then it all came back to me, he asked me out for dinner as an 'I'm sorry' and I gave him the benefit of the doubt and here we are, 4 years later. You know he helped me in a lot of ways, more than you can imagine Lilo and if it weren't for him, I honestly don't know where I'd be. I know this sounds like one of those sappy lovesick stories, but he truly saved me. "

I could tell that there was more to the story, but I didn't press any further, private matters are private matters, if she wanted to share she would've. I thought of the way she expressed herself in saying that Killjoy saved her. It indeed sounded like a sappy story, but I doubt that she was running away from someone at that time. It was easy to say that you can understand what a person is going through, but you will never understand the true pain.

We were the first ones to arrive at the diner and it looked like an absolute piece if shit.As we head inside we go over to the booth in the far corner, and sit down,

"I know this place looks like a s**t hole, but I promise it's not." Cass laughs as she notices that I was looking around and silently judging the worn out wallpapers and the outdated menus, I give her a tight smile. As we wait for her boyfriend and Stitch to arrive she decides to make small talk on how much she loved moving here. We didn't have to wait long, because before I knew it, Cass' boyfriend slid in the booth and sat beside her,

"Hi, I don't think we've been introduced properly, I'm Killjoy and that's Stitch," he points over to my side. I look over to Stitch and feel intimidated by he's large figure. I already knew who they were cause Cass had pointed them out,

"I don't bite, unless you ask me," Butterflies erupt in my stomach as I hear his voice. Stitch smirks, causing me to look away and blush deeply. I hadn't realised that I was staring at him,

"So, Lilo where you from?" Killjoy asks trying to change the conversation, looking over at him I noticed Cass cuddled by his side smirking at me,

"I'm from Grimsby, but I've been in London for about 2 months or so," I say looking over at Killjoy, completely avoiding her stare. I could only imagine how red I looked,

"What made you come to London?" Stitch asked curiously,

"I needed a fresh start to be honest, there was nothing to do in Grimsby, and since everyone always hypes about London I decided to give a go," I say shyly. I felt bad for partially lying to them,

"Hello, what can I get for you today guys?" I hear a man call out, looking over I see him staring in my direction, and I cower away. I feel the seat beside me shift and someone clearing their throat. Looking at over at Cass and Killjoy I notice both of them are wide eyed looking at Stitch, sneaking a glance to my right I understood why. Stitch had leaned over the table on his side facing the waiter, I couldn't see his face, but by the fear in the waiters eyes and the gawking looks from Cass and Killjoy I could only imagine he was glaring,

"I'll have a large pepperoni with extra cheese, and two large cokes," Cass says,

"Two large cheeseburgers with large fries and two cokes for me and my brother here," Killjoy says simply, I hear the waiters footsteps recede and Stitch relaxes beside me, no one says word for a few moments until Cass sneezes,

"Bless you princess," Killjoy says,

"We've been over this mister, you do not bless me and you do not call me princess. I am not a holy person for you to bless," she huffs out crossing her arms,

"Cassandra, have you ever thought that maybe he does that on purpose?" Stitch asks,

"Oh, I know he does that on purpose, and then the day I make him sleep in the dog house is the day he'll learn his lesson," she growled out, causing me to giggle a bit

"Oh so she does speak," Stitch says as he looks at me, "Here I thought you had gone mute in the matter of a few minutes,"

"Don't be mean to her mister!" Cass growled out, I shook my head to Cass and decided to try and make conversation, since I didn't want to bring down the mood of the place, I could at least try,

"Is that your Strakar?" I ask Stitch as I nod into the direction of the jeep,

"Yes indeed it is, she's my baby,"

"She's falling into pieces," Killjoys chuckles,

"So what? For her age she's doing good," I whisper,

"How do you know how old she is?" Stitch asks me with a cocky look, I knew he was expecting me to say the wrong age of the truck, but he had the same version of the truck that my dad had, and we spent a lot of my childhood trying to fix it up so it could keep running,

"I'd say she's around 26 or 27 years old, correct?" I ask, my attention shifts to Killjoy as he chokes on the air,

"Yeah, she's turning 27 in November, how did you know that?" Stitch asks shocked, shrugging my shoulders I answer,

"My dad had the same, but his was a green instead of the grey black you got."

"Cass, I don't know where you found her, but you better keep her, at least she does't talk s**t about my baby like you did when I had to fix up your shitty peugeot." Stitch says, this caused Cass to fire back comments at him, and they bickered back and forth until the food arrived, only this time it was a different waiter who came,

"Is there anything else I could get for you guys?"

"No thanks Lou, we're good over here," Killjoy says,

"Stitch, try not to scare any more waiters away please," Lou says before he leaves,

"It's not my fault they get scared easily," he calls out and laughs, looking at Cass I saw her shaking her head and grabbing a slice of the pizza and stuffing it in her mouth. My stomach growled and I followed her lead. As soon as I took a bite out of the pizza my taste buds exploded, I couldn't help but moan,

"I told you Lilo, this is the best pizza," Cass says with her mouth full, nodding my head I take another bite and simply melt away. It had been a long time since I've had a good pizza, but the best pizzas were made by my mum before she died. I remember being in the kitchen and helping her make the pizzas from scratch, she and I would end up being covered in flour, and my dad would walk in and join us,but that was before everything happened.

After two slices and a half I was full, there were still 3 slices left on the plate, which were later eaten by Killjoy and Stitch. It felt so good to let go, that I forgot everything that ever made me worried. Stitch excused himself to go to the bathroom and as I looked at his retreating form I noticed how muscled he was and how tattooed he was. He was the exact definition of s*x on a stick,

"Lilo, you might want to wipe off the drool on your chin," Cass laughs out, I look away to the window to hide my embarrassment at being caught staring at Stitch. There was something about him that made me want something, but I didn't know what,

"I wasn't staring Cass..." I whisper,

"No, no, you were admiring, and that's okay, I mean, even I have eyes to see how hot he is,"

"HEY!" Killjoy wines out,

"Oh please, I'm all yours honey, you ride I ride. There's no one else, but I am trying to get Lilo here to admit she's got the hots for Stitch,"

"Whose got the hots for me?" Stitch asks as he slides into the booth, I straightened my back and look at Cass,

"Oh, you know, the waiter guy you scared off, he's bisexual and I was mentioning that he was looking at you and Killjoy was saying the opposite,"

"No no, I swear I heard you say 'she'"

I get nervous and start chewing my lip, a bit of a nasty habbit I know, but I couldn't help it,

"No, I said 'he's'. Geez Stitch, I know you f**k a lot, but has all that screaming really made you deaf?" Cass laughed out,

"Killjoy control your woman." Stitch shakes his head and laughs,

"Ha, nice one! Wait until you get a woman to see who's really in charge Stitch..." Killjoy says,

"Nice one honey, good save," Cass laughs out and kisses his cheek,

"So, Lilo, what was Cass talking about? Whose into me?" Stitch asks me completely ignoring those two. I turned towards him and I felt my cheeks getting warm,

'Well, isn't that good? Now he's gonna know it's me...'

"Hey, erm, excuse me..." Stitch turned around and I leaned forward to see the waiter who inicially took our order,

"I'm sorry, I know it's a bit unprofessional, but I was hoping to get your number," He sounded so nervous, and the fact that he was handing a pad and a paper to Stitch made Cass start to giggle, she winked at me and made a shushing sound,

"Go on Stitch, give the poor lad your number," Cass says in a very serious tone,

"Oh, listen man, I'm sorry, but I don't play for that team y'know? I'm into girls, I love f*****g them in every way man, truly sorry.... But hey, my friend here is looking for another guy to do a threesome, you could give him your number instead,"

Cass burst out laughing and joined in the joke,

"Yeah, he's been having a bit of trouble getting things up, and I was hoping that maybe another guy would help,"

I laughed at Killjoys expression, the closest thing I could compare it to was the look on your face when you're constipated. The waiter took a whole 180 and just left,

"Poor guy, you scared him off Killjoy," Cass laughed out,

"Princesa, you know how you mentioned about me sleeping in the dog house... Yeah? Well if you pull that joke one more time thats going to be you,"

"Oh please, as if you could fall asleep without me by your side, you're a sucker for the after s*x cuddles," Cass says and kisses him on his lips. I felt a pang on my chest, wishing that I could have someone I could have someone to have this types of relationships with,

"Want to ditch these two love birds and get some fresh air?" Stitch whispers to me, looking over to them I see that they're too distracted feeling up each other. I give a nod and wait for him to scoot out, as we head outside, I looked back just to see Cass look at me and wink.

'This b***h,' I thought to myself as I continue to head outside,

"You smoke?" Stitch asked, nodding my head I notice him taking his pack and getting to cigarettes out. He hands me the cigarette and as I put in my mouth and reach out for my light in my pocket I realise that he's already lighting my cigarette,

"Thanks," I say,

"Anytime kitty,"

"Kitty?" I asked him really confused,

"You look like a kitten, what can I say?" He laughs out,

"Why did you really come here Lilo?" He asks out of the blue, I froze, my heart skipped a beat, taking a deep breath I respond,

"What do you mean? I told you why,"

"You're not a very good liar you know... but fine, if you don't want to talk then don't, but at least talk to Cass, she worries a lot about you." He mutters, I look at him, and I could tell that he wanted to say much more, taking a drag, I keep to myself but sneak a few glances. The more sneaks I take, the more things I begin to notice about him. His hair was brown wavy and long, he had tattoos creeping up on his neck, he had his arms tatted too beautifully, as an artist I admired the outline and the shading that has been marked on his skin, but the best part is that he's built. Not like those over the top built, but the right amount so you could see he goes to gym and works out and the fact that he wore a tight black t-shirt with his cut made it even hotter. My stomach erupted with butterflies, and my mind wondered how would he look without the t-shirt and if he had more tattoos,

"You know if you want you can take a picture, it'll last you longer," he says,

"I'm sorry, but I was just admiring the artwork you have on your arms, it's beautiful,"

"Do you have any?" he asks intrigued,

"No, not yet at least, but I've got loads of designs ready," I say excitingly just waiting to get my body covered with the artwork that I want but that day was still far away,

"Well, we could go to my shop and I could tattoo you if you want," he suggests,

"We should go back in, I need to pay for my part," I say, as much as I'd love to get a tattoo, most of the scars were fresh, and I didn't want him to see how marked I was. It wasn't a pretty sight, and if he saw the scars, he would know right away what was happening,

"Oh no need Lilo, I told you I'd pay for you lunch and I did," Cass calls out scaring me, my anxiety rose, and I could feel a panic attack coming in,

"Cass, I'm going home, I'll see you tomorrow." I say in a rush a run off, I hear her call out but I ignore her completely. There was no way I was about to have a panic attack in front of them. I step into an ally way and fight myself to calm down,

"Kitty, breath. Feel the floor, smell the air and take this chewing gum to feel the taste. Come on kitty, breath, it's okay, I'm here, shhh" Stitch cradles me in his arms, and I feel myself calm down. His scent was bringing my anxiety down, his soothing arms wrapped around me felt good. My chest stopped hurting as much and my breathing started to calm down.

This was not good.