Riiiinnggg…Riiinnngg…Riinn-.."Hello", Her voice.., "Xay?…", So calming.."You there?".. Sighing to myself…fuckk that was scary, I thought squatting down, "HELLO!!. "…Ah hey..hey sorry I zoned out there..it's uh good to hear your voice.." I said quickly and talked before she could ask; not realizing I sound so out of breath."Hey, look, i know I'm super late I ran into trouble on my way to the cafe. I'm literally a block away if you would just wait a little longer..?" I asked "Of course I'll wait. You're not far and I was just about to order another muffin." She sounded so normal and kind but a hint a worry played on her words "Would you perhaps want anything while I got you on the phone? I'll pay for it" she implied "Sure I would appreciate it.." I said smiling, "Can ya get me a blueberry muffin with an iced vanilla latte?" I asked "Ooo yum, you got it Xay. Stay safe love." She replied back with a tone filled with worry but won't push on. "Always" i said and hung up turning my attention back to the boy. I go back over to him and sit next to him and examine him once more, I could see his clothes were in tatters and he had scars that had already had years to heal. To me, I felt as though I saw a veterans body that came back from war but on a 14 yr boy. Oh god, I thought, What has this boy been through? Finishing my exam on him, I had only saw he had minor bruises on his stomach and face, but his arms and legs were a different story. He protected the major parts of himself by sacrificing his limbs, He's a smart boy I'll tell ya that, thinking to myself I look up and make eye contact with him and is taken aback by the coldness in his eyes and the color they have. His eyes were an unusual color, a dark crimson red, looking like a pool of blood but raging to come at anyone that wants to test it, kind of like "the calm before the storm" type shit. Geez this kid is scary, thinking to myself and clearing my throat now realizing, I am staring for way too long, "Uh..hey.." I croon "How ya holding up? "I managed to say without sounding like a wuss. "Fine, this is nothing new to me.." he finished then looks to me, "It's dangerous to get involved in others matters unless you have a back up or a death wish and in your case I'll say a bit of both." He said as he looked at me with a serious face…or so I thought that is until he burst out laughing, "Dude, I swear you should've seen your face when you started charging at 'em. I didn't know if you was strong or stupid but your face told another story!" He said in between bursts of laughter and I couldn't help but laugh with him, he had such a contagious laugh that I couldn't stop laughing even when my stomach began to hurt. As the laughter died down we heard the sirens getting closer, that's when he looked back at me serious again "I need you to let me leave…" I looked at him confused and began to question why, but before I could he cut me of and said " I can't be found here in a predicament like this..unlike you I don't have parents so I'll be taken away and put in a system that I don't want, so just let me go" he finished. I looked at him more serious than I had and nodded "But first.. tell me your name.." now it's his turn to look at me confused " I know how it sounds but I won't say anything to the cops or anything I just wanna know the name of the person I helped today…if ya okay with that?" I asked hoping he would tell me his name. He looked down and mumbled, "Devlin.." I couldn't quite hear him so I responded with "Huh?" He spoke louder for me to hear this time, "Devlin Aramis" looking me straight in my eyes and I smiled "Nice to meet ya Devlin, I'm Alexavier Jamison" He nodded and began to walk away from me, "oh wait wait" I said and pulled out some paper and wrote my number on it, " I still don't feel right letting ya go when ya hurt real bad, but here's my number call me if ya ever need anything; I'll be here " I finished. As I watched him disappear into the the crowd on the other end of the alley, the cops pulled into the alley and got out and started their work, handcuffing the guys that was knocked out now awake and questioning me. "So where's this boy you say that screamed for help?" One cop asked, "I don't know, bout the time I finished taking these guys down, he had already disappeared and I didn't wanna chase him and leave these two here," I pointed over my shoulder gesturing to the guys I had taken down, " So I had to choose and besides his mom is probably worried so he ran home you know" Wrapping up the white lie I proposed to the cops, they finished up their questions and took the guys into custody; sending me on my way to Mia. Running the rest of the distance, I slowed to a walk and entered the cafe where I saw her. The emotions she expressed on her face as she was deep in thought were worry and fear, upon seeing that I walked towards her with a smile on my face and greeted her "Hey Mia" she looked up and all emotions left her face and was only filled with happiness and relief "Hey Xay" she smiles back "Everything is okay now?" She asked and again hints of worrisome were played on her voice and all I could do was try my best to put on my best calm and easygoing voice "Of course. Some things just played out differently than I hoped but hey, here we are now. Let's try to focus on this irreverent project for school ya?" I smiled at her as she looks at me with those light brown eyes and swallows me whole in them. "I swear, I could stare at you for a long time" I thought, Mia face turns into a bright red color and I come to realize that the thought that I thought was actually said out loud. Now it's my turn for my face to turn red as a tomato and breaks eye contact with her, looking around at other objects in the room to keep me distracted from my own embarrassment. "Do you really mean that?" Her question makes my head snap back at her, both our faces still red as can be as I responded back to her "Yeah. I do." Her smile was so bright that I thought the sun came into the cafe itself "Thank you" she said gleefully and I could only just stare at her awestruck by her beauty. "So why don't we get started on our projects" bringing me back to my senses I nodded and we began to work on our project all the way up to closing. "Mmmmmm…." After stretching my muscles, I put all my stuff away into my bag and Mia and me made our way out of the cafe "shit did it get colder?" I said rubbing my hands together to keep them warm. I looked to Mia to see if she was just as cold as me and to my surprise she wasn't shivering or shaking from the cold "How are you not being affect by this cold ass weather?" She chuckled and showed me her hands and I was jealous by what I saw "You have hand warmers?? Why you don't share wimme?" I pleaded playfully "You should've came prepared" she breaks out into a fit of laughter as I watch in disbelief. Shaking my head,I smiled at her and ask "Can I walk you home?" She stops her laughing and looks to me "Sure I love the extra company" she smiles at me "Well lead the way madam" I bowed and smiled at her "You're a goofball" she chuckles and walks into the direction of her home opposite towards mine. I try to follow behind her but as I was about to I turned around to look behind me because I felt as though someone was watching us. I searched around really quickly trying to find anything out of place "Xay? You okay over there?" She asks "Yeah…yeah" I said running up to her "I thought I had left something in the cafe but I have everything" I finished telling her smiling with reassurance so she doesn't question me more about it "Okay" She replied as I start to walk beside her I start up a conversation that never ended until we got in front of her house. "Well here we are" she declared "yup" I mutter unsatisfied by how short the walked felt, she noticed me feeling dejected, she closed the gap between us so she could caress my face and make me look up at her. I nuzzle my face into her hand not wanting the warmth to dissipate leaving me feeling alone again. I made eye contact with her for a while before the door to her house opened up to her father standing in the doorway, I quickly take her hand off my face and hold it for a while longer "I guess I'll be going inside" she mumbled looking as dejected as me "Yeah but I had a awesome time with you" I smiled "We can talk more once I get back home. I'll call you okay?" I told her "Okay" she affirmed with a smile as she makes her way into the house. I watched her disappear in her house, turning my back towards it I start making my way back home...