teMpted

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We all watched in the background, as the older three recruits practiced. I stood a little further away, with Monty, while Andy and Lorna stood closer toward them.

Max held onto a statue, seeing it glow red, he backed away carefully. Heather teleported them out and Tico clapped his hands, making the statue explode wildly.

I was shocked, first, they could do chairs and miniature things, how they can explode massive objects — a personal bomb.

"That was insane," Andy smiles, completely amazed.

"Nice trick," complimented Lorna, who really didn't have a happy smile on.

I look to the window, seeing Jack look bothered. He stared at the statue, with the gears of his head-turning.

"Not gonna lie, they freak me out," The Pryde boy tells me.

"Me too," I admitted.

"So, we're blowing up statues now?" Lorna peers to Max.

I've noticed Lorna has become more involved with Max, I knew she wasn't friends with him. Every time she turned her back she held disgust or worry.

"We get this thing right, it'll be a lot bigger than statues," Max cocks, "Scale this thing up, can take a whole building down the same way."

My heart skipped a beat.
I didn't know if what Jack said made me paranoid about the trio, I couldn't even say why I am so freaked by them.

As I watch Max make his way back as his friends put up another statue, Lorna grunts in pain.

"A-Are you okay?" Monty asked, earning a stink eye from Andy.

"No, it's nothing. I just got sloppy." The Dane held onto the cut in her arm. "Hey, uh, I sprung a leak over here. Gonna go clean this up."

As one of the triplets nod, Lorna leaves. This left only me, Monty, and Andy.

The tension could be cut with a knife. I saw Andy's hand held a fist, as he was just jealous of Monty being near me. I look to Pryde and he held such a calm exterior, he didn't tense up, he didn't even give Andy the time of day.

Not wanting to be in the room, Andy walked out, bumping his shoulder to Monty before he left.

Monty just shook his head in disappointment and let it go.

"How are you so calm?" I asked.

"Water off a duck's back," He simply answers.

❅   ❅   ❅

I sat in my room, alone, reading a book in hand. My attention turned as I saw Andy come into my room, abruptly.
From shock, I didn't say anything. I was surprised Andy made it to my door.

He seemed hesitant to speak, but said, "I'm gonna do it."

"Do what?" I asked, lowering my book.

"I-I'm gonna have the triplets connect to Lauren, through me."

I held a calm face. "Oh, then that is your decision."

He didn't expect my answer to be so abrupt, so neutral. His body bounced a little, out of anticipation. "I-I... I thought you would——"

"Argue with you? Andy, I know you. You'd just listen to yourself, like always."

"Hey, that is not true!" He objects,  "Where the hell is that Montgomery guy, anyway? I thought you two were close."

"Monty," I correct, "And he is somewhere else. My life doesn't just revolve around him."

Andy scoffs, "Whatever you tell yourself."

I stood up, out of my bed. "You know, if you weren't such a jerk, maybe we could all get along."

"Get along? That's a joke, right."

"What has Monty ever done to make you so loathing toward him?"

When Andy didn't give an answer, I scoff, "Good to know. You don't even have a reason to hate him."

"I just don't want you hurt again," He states.

"'Hurt', hurt like this?" I point to my half face. "The hurt that your friend put me through."

"Lux, we've been down this road before. You are the one that gets hurt in the end, I don't want that to happen again."

"My hero," I mocked.

"I don't trust Monty, okay. Am I wrong to not trust him, after everything Rebecca did, do you blame me?"

"Now you know how it feels, huh? To have your best friend not trust you," I chuckle.

Andy's eyes held sorrow when looking to me. "You... You don't forgive me, do you?"

As much as I wanted to, as much as I wanted to think of Andy as my best friend, whenever I look in the mirror, constant remembers came of him and Rebecca.

"How could I, when my face is permanently scarred because of her!" I shout, "You were my best friend, my boyfriend, and you fucked up! You trusted her over me, me."

"I know."

"At least with Monty, it would be my own fault. At least with Monty, I would be to blame."

The boy in front of me held tears in his eyes. "I-I... I'm sorry, Lux."

"I try my best to forgive and forget, I just can't. And it sucks because I still...." I stopped myself.

"It's okay to hate me," Andy tells, "I'd understand."

The Strucker was about to walk out the door until he turned back to me. "Lux, this is gonna sound stupidly cheesy but... even if you hate me right now, I still love you. I love you, Lux."

❅   ❅   ❅

I stayed in my bed for a while.
Covers over me, I stayed in bed, unable to have the motivation to do something. I felt dull like a statue stuck in a sadden position, doomed to be like that until the marvel crumbles.

Lorna came into the room. "Lux, I have to tell you——"

She stopped from hearing the sound of glass on her boots. Looking down, a broken hand mirror was shattered on the ground, icicles sticking out of the glass with frost.

"What happened?" She asked me, but I didn't reply.

She stepped over the glass and sat beside me on the bed. "Hey kid, tell me what happened here."

My eyes drifted to Lorna. "I broke it."

"Yeah, I can tell, but why?"

I slowly began to sit up, looking toward the Dane woman. I didn't want to say too much, as I knew she was dealing with things of her own. I kept it simple. "How do you forgive someone who has hurt you so badly?"

Lorna was quite stunned by the question, as if it tugged a nerve. She shifted her seat and bit her lip, trying to think.

"Is this about Andy?"

I nodded.

It took a minute for Lorna to finally talk to me, which was understandable. It was a hard question to think about, even if it is personal.

"I think if you really want to forgive him, then you let yourself heal. Forgiveness is accepting that it happened. You have to accept it and it's gonna be hard, but I'll tell you this. Forgiveness helps the healing process a lot more."

My eyes were trying to hold the tears back. I had to accept Andy chose Rebecca, that he ignored every warning I gave him, that she scarred me.

I stayed quiet, eventually, Lorna had to leave. I was still stuck with myself, stuck accepting it. I knew forgiveness was hard, but never this hard.

A knock came to my door and it was Monty, he looked to me with sympathy. He showed a movie in his hand. "I figured you'd like this movie since you've read the book."

I put on a fake smile, as he passed the movie. "Sense and sensibility. How did you know I read it?"

"A weird thing happened, Andy told me that you loved the book."

My eyes looked to the movie as his name rang in my ear. I bit my lip to stop crying, but the tears were already in place.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" Monty asked me, gently holding onto my arms.

"I hate this," I tell him, "I hate myself. I hate that I can't forgive him."

"Hate who?"

"Andy," I cried, "He's the reason I got this." I referred to my iced face. "He's the reason I can't look at myself anymore."

I just spilled everyone onto Monty. I sobbed on his shoulder, he let me. He hugged me, he made me feel safe and loved. Even if he didn't understand what really happened with Andy and I, he didn't push, he didn't care.

Monty confessed, "If it helps... I think you're really beautiful."

I chuckled a little, "You're just saying that because I'm crying."

The Pryde looked me in my eyes and tucked the loose hair that covered my iced face out of the way. He cupped my cold cheek, didn't even flinch from the freezing touch.
I held my breath for a second. There was no way...

Monty leaned in and kissed me.
It was soft and delicate, like a fresh rose in a garden. There was part of me that wanted to kiss back and a little of me did, but I was just too stunned to kiss him back fully.

He pulled away, shocked from what he did. "I'm—I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't ask, I didn't..."

I tilted my head. "Was this your first kiss?"

His cheeks held the color red, as he fidgets his hands. "... maybe."

I didn't know if I had feelings for Monty. Of course, he was attractive, I wasn't so blind. I admired how he was gentle with everyone and thing, as if his past didn't happen to him. I liked how he was open, how if you brown down his walls, you can see that he is beautiful.

"I'm sorry," He mutters, once again.

I moved closer to him, guided him up to look at me, with my finger lifting his chin. I then kissed him, it was quick, it was kind. It felt nice and new to me.

I whisper to him, "Just give me some time, okay?"

His eyes held such joy, he nodded in understanding, and his lips made a big smile. I felt glad to see him like that, that I gave him that smile.

Monty was truly an innocent boy.

❅   ❅   ❅

Seeing the credits roll for Sense and Sensibility, I look over to see Monty asleep on my bed. I couldn't help but laugh; Andy did the same thing with Pride and Prejudice.

Hearing a faint knock, I look to see my brother, Jack. He waved me to come outside and I did as told. I gently moved Monty's arm around my neck waist and put the covers over him.
I left my room, leaving the door just a crack. Jack moved us down the hallway, away from my room.

"You're quite close to Monty," Jack noted, with a grin.

"You called me here to take about my love life?"

"I'm going to bed," I tell my brother, with a smile.

"Monty is good people," Hell states, "I've trained with him today. He really likes you. He said that you're his first friend."

"Yeah, he's told me."

Jack said, "I don't think you realize Monty's past. I mean, he's trained to fight, he's been abused and even trafficked," He explained, "I don't think you realize how important you are to him. You bring him a lot of happiness so be careful with him."

I nodded, "Good night, Jack."

I walk back to my room to see Monty sleeping, flinching and mumbling. I furrowed my brows to see him start to move.

"Monty," I whisper, "Monty."

Before I could shake him, he jolted himself awake. I was taken back by the tears in his eyes, his deep breathing in checking if this was real life.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Y-Yes, sorry, nightmare," He said, "I should go."

I put my hand to his. "You can stay if you want. I don't mind."

I saw how much that meant to him. He nodded his head with a sheepish smile and laid back down. I got ready and met him on the bed.

His body was hesitant to be next to me. As if he was a bomb that would explode with fast movements. I could feel his hand twitch to do something, so I decided to make the move.
I moved toward him and wrapped my arm around his waist, using his chest as a pillow.
His heartbeat went up, making me hold a laugh. His arms held close to me, pulling me closer to him like it would be the last.

The two of us slept calmly and I didn't feel Monty flinch or mutter the entire night.

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sorry for the month last update! senior year is being a bitch to me :/
mariena