Page 7

I stayed quiet and tried to watch the movie, but my mind kept going back to a little face that didn’t seem very little.
I felt like a paedophile, preying on a broken, neglected teenage girl. There was nothing decent about the situation, even though that teenage girl was a week away from being legal, the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, the sweetest little angel, and had a great body.
My mind was a battlefield of right and wrong, morals and lessons in common decency, and I felt like I was going crazy.
I heard a soft snore right next to my ear in the middle of all my thoughts. When I looked down, I saw Amaya sleeping soundly, her head buried in my neck and her hands spread out on my chest, holding on to my t-shirt. This is how Amaya always sleeps.
I carefully sat up, and she ended up straddling me because one of her legs was thrown across my body. I put her arms around my neck and stood up, but I accidentally put my hand too low on her back.
I felt my throat tighten and looked around in a panic, as if the police were there to arrest me for child molestation or something.
I calmed down my nerves and told myself again that I didn’t think of Amaya that way. I wasn’t a pervert.
I quietly led us through the apartment, and when we got to her bedroom, I lifted Amaya higher on my waist. I put her in the middle of the bed, and right away she reached for me with her arms. I gave her a pillow and she hugged it tightly.
I put the scarf on her and pulled the blanket up to her neck. Before I could change my mind, I kissed her on the cheek and said goodnight. I turned on the nightlight because Amaya was terrified of the dark, and I left both of our doors open.
I took off my t-shirt and sweatpants and crawled into bed in just my boxers. As soon as I laid down, I felt uncomfortable. It was hard to get comfortable without Amaya’s warm body next to me. I’ve slept with her in my arms every night for the last week, so it felt strange not to have her there with me.
I lay there thinking and the clock on my nightstand said 3 a.m. I remembered telling Amaya it was time to go to bed a few hours earlier. She said she didn’t have a bedtime and could watch TV for as long as she wanted.
It was becoming clearer and clearer that Amaya’s whole life revolved around TV. I don’t think that’s a good thing because it seems like everything she knows she learnt from TV.
She has a sassy side under those angelic features.
That doesn’t make sense because the only TV she could watch was Disney, and that was just princesses and stuff.
I didn’t want to jinx myself, but I had a feeling that it would only take a few days for Amaya to make me a Disney expert.
~ ~ ~
The next thing I remember is jumping out of bed when I heard a scream. I ran to Amaya’s room and saw her yelling and fighting the blanket.
Without thinking, I got into her bed and pulled her body on top of mine.
She stopped screaming right away when she rubbed her head against my chest and wrapped her arms around my neck. I didn’t realise I was crying too until I felt the tears run down my nose.
“You left me.” That was all she said. There was no chance to make things right or make excuses.
“I didn’t leave you, Amaya,” I said. I held her face in my hands and made her look at me. She needed to see that her pain was mine.
“I promised I would never leave you, didn’t I?She nodded, and tears ran down her face.
“Why didn’t you sleep next to me?”
“Amaya, baby,” I said as I wrapped my arms around her to pull her back to my chest. “I wanted to show you that I cared. I don’t want you to think of me… “badly.”
I don’t want anyone to think I’m a sicko.
“I will never think badly of you, Cartie.” “You saved me.” She pulled me closer and kissed my neck, making my body go against what my mind was saying. “I don’t care what anyone else says.” Okay, you’re going to sleep with me every night.
I looked down and saw that she had the most determined look on her face.
“Okay, Amaya, we’ll sleep next to each other every night.”
“Okay.”
I pulled the blanket over us and was finally ready to sleep. Just before I fell asleep, Amaya called out to me.
“Yeah, babe?”
“Now I have a name that I like. You’re my Amaya and I’m your Cartie.
“Yeah, I guess we are, babe.”
~ ~ ~
That’s for sure, living with Amaya was different.
She was a light. Seeing that face every day made me happier than I’ve ever been.
But don’t get it wrong; Amaya Chase drove me crazy for a lot of reasons.
First of all, she was a rude little brat. She was stubborn, sassy, and had no filter. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love it.
She was a total brat, just like you’d expect from a girl who had never been punished before.
She ate candy like it was going out of style, yelled at me when it was time to shower, and never cleaned up after herself. It gave me headaches, but it kept me on my toes and was kind of funny.
When she screamed and ran around the flat at one in the afternoon, it was hard to keep a straight face because she thought bathing wasn’t necessary.
For example, I made breakfast yesterday. It had sunny-side-up eggs, bacon, and toast with lettuce, baby tomatoes, and fresh slices of avocado. I worked really hard to make it look like Spongebob and everything.
She got really angry.
She was apparently terrified of raw eggs. I didn’t cut the crust off her toast, and she wasn’t a goat, so she didn’t get why I was giving her goat food.
She was very happy to eat a big bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast.
But what really drove me crazy was that Amaya never wore bras. It was fine when she wore my hoodies and t-shirts because they covered everything up, but other than that, it was hard to keep my eyes above her neck.
I’m not saying I look below her neck, but it’s hard not to, especially since she was so… blessed in that area. All areas, really.
Stop talking, Carter.
“Okay, Carter. Amaya came skipping into the living room, all dressed up for her big day. “Do you like it?” she asked.Hey
She did a little spin, and I had to look away again. She was wearing a red turtleneck sweater and a tiny black skirt that was way too short and tight. She didn’t wear a bra, which is typical for Amaya.
I was scared of two things: that she would die of cold outside and that I would go to jail today. But I couldn’t stop her from smiling.
“You look beautiful as always, Amaya.” She smiled and ran to me for a hug. “But you need to put on some tights.” Outside, it’s very cold.
She frowned, and I thought we were going to have a tantrum, but instead she just pouted.
“But why?””
“Because it’s freezing outside and I don’t want you to get sick.” She rolled her eyes up to the sky but didn’t argue because she understood what I meant.
I promised to take her out to see the city today. I wanted to give her some time to get used to things, but I wasn’t going to keep her locked up in this flat. She’s had enough of that for a lifetime.
I also decided to fly Tessa out here for the weekend because I was going to take them both shopping and I thought we both needed help. Amaya really wanted to meet her too.
I thought about making some rules for Amaya before we left because she was supposed to get there any minute.
“Amaya, Portland City is a very dangerous place.” I walked us over to the window so she could look down at the city and really get my point across. “You will not leave my sight for a second. Don’t run away. I know you’re excited, but if you want to see something, just ask me and I’ll take you.
I was really dreading today. Portland City was dirty, crowded, and the people were terrible. I wanted Amaya to see the world, but I was afraid that the truth would really disappoint her. The world wasn’t a very nice place, especially for pure people like Amaya.