Her mouth made an “o” in surprise. “But... I...”
Pressing one finger against her lips, he stopped her from talking. It was a bold move, even for him, but it oddly seemed natural, too.
Her lips were soft and they stilled the moment he touched her. “Three reasons,” he said. “For one, you picked a bad night to take off. Two, if you knew the house was empty, someone else could be lurking in there, too. Maybe a hobo or some other teenagers.” He thought of some other kids on this street who might take advantage of an empty house for a night. They weren’t dangerous, but a couple of them might not be the best ones to be hanging around if she was having problems at home. “It might not be true of you, but people who break into houses are often not very nice people. You’d be walking in on them.”
“What’s the third?” she asked, her words slightly muffled as his finger was still on her lips.
She was a little silly. He liked that. Despite whatever she was going through, she had a positive attitude.
He pulled his finger away slowly. “If your parents caught you, you might have been grounded for a lifetime and I would have never met you.” His heart raced with this confession. Of course that couldn’t be true. He would have met her eventually given their proximity and that they’d be at the same school together. Still, he wanted to impress upon her that she was worth meeting and it would be a terrible shame if she was arrested or grounded or worse.
She said nothing, but her eyes danced. He could sense some confusion and could imagine what she was thinking: Who was he, some stranger saying these things? He couldn’t blame her.
He drank the rest of his cocoa to get it out of the way and to give himself a moment to consider his next move. It seemed logical to have her stay, but there were some problems. For one, his mother might not understand him having a girl spend the night here. He might have to find a workaround for that. Also, he had to consider if she didn’t accept, how he’d be able to convince her to go home. Returning now could be more dangerous for her and might expose him as a bad person to her parents if he was caught helping her. A misunderstanding like that would be contrary to his plans.
He didn’t see a lot of options; might as well take the chance. “Do you have to be somewhere tomorrow?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Are you still intent on staying out for the night?”
She hesitated. He didn’t know a less intrusive way to ask. What else was he supposed to do in a situation like this?
“If I could figure something else out...”
You’ll just have to go for it. As he thought of what he wanted to say, he counted to three. He put down his mug and placed a gentle hand on her knee to get her attention. He realized it was a bold move, but he wanted to be direct. “So how about this, I’ll let you sleep here tonight. I think you’ll feel better in the morning about it all. After that, give me a month.” Maybe it was crazy, letting a girl sleep here for the night. He could let her go on her own, but she may just try to run away again, or she could go back to her house and get into trouble. Staying here might be the best solution to keep her safe. She could sneak back early tomorrow without being found out; he already knew she took walks, sometimes early in the morning. If he dried her clothes, she could walk in tomorrow morning and tell her parents she was just out on a walk.
He didn’t want to admit that he wouldn’t mind keeping her around a little longer. He liked her and sensed there was much more to her than even he had realized before tonight.
“To do what?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“We’ll get your parents to relax so you don’t have to sneak out.” It was a stretch since he still didn’t know the situation. Perhaps her parents were introverts and they stayed home a lot, and wanted their children to be the same. Whatever the case, Sang was unhappy, enough to run off for a night, possibly more. So in any case, he wanted to fix whatever was making her feel like running.
She smirked. “Now who is being idiotic?”
Her disbelief didn’t waver his determination. “I mean it.”
“You don’t know me. Why do you care?”
There was more than one answer to that question. Even if he didn’t care personally as a decent human being, his association with the Academy meant he would be obligated to contact someone for help.
But he did care. “Friends help each other. We’re friends now, aren’t we?”
Her hesitation to his question scared him a little. He tried to wait it out, but was going to say something encouraging when she finally responded. “I suppose so.”
It wasn’t very reassuring, but it would have to do for now. He stood up, collecting both of their empty mugs. He didn’t suspect she’d leave at this point, but he wanted to give her a little breathing room and a chance to relax. “I’m going to take these downstairs and put Max into his crate. You go hop into bed.”
Her mouth opened in surprise and she looked over at the bed, shaking her head. “But... you...”
Cute. He laughed a little. “Don’t worry. There’s a roll-away bed underneath that one. When I get back, I’ll pull it out and will sleep there.” Was that still too close? He’d sleep on the couch downstairs, but that would draw attention from his mom if he didn’t wake up before she did. His
