Fairytale Green

‘So, you have to tutor Chase again?’ Lana asked while staring up at the clock above the teacher’s board.

I nodded as I watched the seconds tick by. It was the last period of the week and I only had to listen to French sentences about directions for another five minutes.

Tapping on the desk with my pencil, I replied to her ‘Unfortunately. Friday evenings are for a person to go home and do absolutely nothing. Not studying.’

As she shut her textbook, she rose an eyebrow ‘But you go home to read anyway?’

‘Fair enough.’ I gave her the benefit of the doubt before pointing out ‘You and Brennan seemed to look okay at lunch.’

Lana blushed and I took that as a sign that things were better between them.

‘He is taking me out for dinner tonight to make it up to me for bailing yesterday.’ She voiced with a small smile.

‘That is great that he is making an effort.’ I told her ‘I’m happy for you.’

She smiled and then her grin dropped when she remembered something ‘What was with Stone today?’

‘What do you mean?’ I said, acting like I had not noticed the giant’s behaviour.

‘He looked so mad.’

I replied with a small laugh ‘He always looks mad.’

She made a noise of disagreement, but it came out as more of a tune of a song.

‘He usually spends all of lunch bickering with you.’ Lana mentioned, her tone sounded full of worry ‘Today he just sat looking at you like he was plotting something.’

I had noticed the same thing.

‘This is a very serious and intense battle between us.’ I agreed as I continued tapping my pencil on the desk nervously ‘He is planning something.’

‘You got one thing right. It is definitely intense between you two.’

Tidying the desk, I started to put my things back in my bag. I was getting ready to run when the bell rang. Something told me that Stone’s words were not something to take lightly.

His declaration felt quite real. I did like winding up and taunting my overgrown rival, but I never wanted to see him angry. I did not want him to be angry at me.

I was going to avoid running into him so that I could avoid running into conflict with him.

Lana looked from my clear desk to my feet that were ready to run and she asked, ‘What are you doing?’

‘I am just so excited for the weekend.’ I lied ‘Plus, I hate this class’

‘That is because you don’t put any effort in learning the language.’

Fake gasping at her true statement, I replied ‘Je suis trop paresseuse pour apprendre une langue.’

‘What if one day I decide to move to France?’ She huffed out.

The end of day bell rang and by the time the noise stopped, I was already halfway out of the classroom.

‘If you moved to France then you would still be able to speak English.’ I turn back to Lana and blew her a kiss as I called back to her ‘Au Revoir!’

Lockers and classmates whizzed past me as I walked as fast as my little legs could go. I was one of the first people to exit the main entrance of the school.

I let out a sigh of relief.

That relief was short-lived as I noticed that Chase was not one of the people outside.

Tapping my foot while I waited for him, I analysed every single person that came out the school door.

Chase finally walked through the double doors of the school and sauntered towards me.

‘Sorry I’m late.’ He said as he came to a stop a meter in front of me ‘You ready to go?’

‘Sure.’ I replied before turning around and getting ready to walk towards the quarterback’s car.

I was in disbelief that it was that easy. I was in disbelief that the giant had decided to let me go after all.

That changed suddenly.

The world turned upside down in a blink of an eye.

A bulky arm wrapped around my waist before hoisting me up.

It took a few seconds to realise where I was and how I had gotten there.

My stomach rested on a strong shoulder while the rest of my body slumped over against the huge muscular back.

Stone had appeared so quickly that it was like he was lurking in the shadows and waiting for his opportunity to pounce.

Before I could protest, the giant began to walk away with me hunched over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

His back was to the school, and it gave me a clear view of the shocked quarterback as I got carried away.

Chase shouted towards us ‘Dude, what are you doing?’

No reply came from Stone. Nothing apart from a series of grunts and gnarls.

‘Let me down!’ I shouted in protest.

The vice-like arm on my waist tightened as the man carrying me grumbled ‘No.’

‘Let me down now, Lurch!’

‘No.’ He released from his chest gutturally ‘You are the only thing keeping me from painting the sidewalk with his blood.’

I fought him every step of the way. I thrashed wildly against him and pounded my fists firmly but carefully into his back as I remained over his shoulder.

Nobody dared to stop him. Every person in the school lot stepped out of the giant way’s way with an open mouth and widened eyes. They all did nothing as they watched the caveman steal his plaything.

‘You big brute!’ I shouted as he tightened his grip around my waist as he carried me to his truck ‘You gorilla sized idiot! You overgrown man! You large kidnapper!’

I was scared of heights.

He unlocked his truck and opened the passenger side door. He carefully placed me on the seat before locking the door. He unlocked the truck again when he got around to his side and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Stone gripped onto the steering wheel as a low-pitched noise left his throat.

‘What do you think you are doing?’ I shouted accusingly at him ‘This is kidnapping!’

Finally turning to me, Stone finally grumbled ‘Your car is fixed.’

‘I have heard that one before.’ I scoffed while rolling my eyes ‘Even if I did believe you, which I don’t, what kind of customer service involves kidnapping a person?’

He turned the ignition before he returned to gripping the steering wheel. His knuckles had turned white, and the veins bulged out of his large hands as he did so.

‘Why are you so mad?’ I felt my chest move up and down as I asked the question.

His darkened eyes met mine. He leaned over in his seat towards my one so that he could see me better. 

‘I went to your apartment this morning and you were not there.’ His voice was sharper than knives as he revealed to me ‘Then I worry so I race here. Only to find you with the blonde prick.’

‘I was meeting Lana. You know that. Brennan came to school with you so he should have told you we were meeting early.’ I retorted back honestly before asking ‘Anyway, how are they going to get back home?’

‘Do not change the subject, Medusa.’

‘I met Chase at my locker, and he said he needed more help with his essay.’ I told him honestly ‘Nothing more interesting than that happened.’

The closeness between us surprised me as I noticed the proximity. I had leaned over too to be closer to him.

I tried to avoid looking at his lip that was curled into a scowl.

He snarled like the very thought alone was enough to drive him mad ‘He has a lot more than studying on his mind.’

I did not back down as I asked the question that had been sitting on my tongue for a long time ‘Why do you care?’

His eyes softened to a pool of black liquid as he stared down at me.

‘Why do I care?’ His deep voice repeated with a humourless chuckle.

‘Yeah.’ I confirmed and asked again ‘Why do you care?’

Stone remained silent.

‘Why did you steal me away?’

‘Fuck.’ Stone let out gruffly while running a hand through his inky black hair ‘I don’t know how to do this.’

‘Do what? Kidnap people?’ I questioned, my tone turning deadpan ‘I hate to compliment you but you are doing a pretty good job at it.’

The tense heat between us continued to build up and it was no closer to shattering as we stared at one another.

The four words that escaped his mouth set the small amount of air in his truck on fire.

He released his confession out ferally ‘Because you are mine.’

‘What?’ I asked quietly, thinking that I had misheard him.

His voice was not any less carnal as he stated the words like there was no way of changing the law of them ‘You are mine.’

My eyes widened. It took a while for the words to fully sink in.

I slowly backed away from him and tried not to think about the feeling in my stomach.

‘Excuse me?’ I bit out so that he would not notice the redness of my face ‘Have I entered the DeLorean instead of your truck and we have travelled back to a time where women are seen as objects?’

‘I do not think of you as an object.’ He grumbled like even the idea of that in my head insulted him ‘You are my Medusa.’

Stone pulled out of the parking space and did not speak as he did so.

I did not look at him when I finally broke the silence ‘Where are we going?’

We were on the main road when he gruffly informed me ‘Somewhere I can keep my eye on you. Where you will not leave my sight.’

I figure his place of work was going to be his personal Ella dungeon and surveillance room for the day as the car neared the green pained garage.

‘What have you done to the girl?’ Mike said to Stone as we entered the repair shop ‘She looks like she wants to murder you.’

The mechanic’s workshop had two cars parked inside. A silver sports car and a familiar small green one. I tore my attention from Kermit to the old man in front of us who was waiting for us to reply.

Stone did not look in any hurry to answer so I did instead.

‘Does all of your employees kidnap their customer to hand deliver them to their car?’ I questioned the old mechanic.

Mike’s mouth went up in a smile and it made his cheeks more wrinkled as he answered, ‘Stone is the only person that works for me so yes.’

My giant abductor chuckled before he walked over to a workstation.

‘I think you should fire him.’ I told Mike, pointing to Stone ‘I know you want your customers to feel valued but picking them up, carrying them to their truck and then driving them here is a bit excessive.’

The dark pair of eyes narrowed in on me when he gnarled ‘I should have taken the blonde prick’s eyes for even thinking he could lay them on you.’

My heart hammered against my chest.

I did not reply. Not because I did not have a hundred insults to come back with but because I was starting my silent treatment against him.

‘Ah.’ Mike said in realisation ‘You two are having a domestic dispute.’

‘Dispute?’ I mumbled to myself ‘I am going to kill him.’

To keep my silent streak ongoing against the giant, I decided to start a conversation with the old mechanic to distract myself from the urge to talk to Stone.

‘I like the colour of this place.’ I voiced, motioning to the open door and the outside of the building ‘The green bricks match my hair.’

Mike’s round face broke out into a grin as he delivered amusedly ‘Stone painted it a few weeks ago.’

If I had not sworn to give the large man, the silent treatment then I would have asked him more about his choice of colour to paint the building.

‘Would I be able to take my car home today?’ I spoke up and asked.

‘Of course.’ The old man said and then he smiled mischievously when adding ‘Although I can’t recall where I put the keys. Stone was the one servicing it.’

‘Funny that.’ I sarcastically remarked, contemplating if I should give both of them the silent treatment.

Grabbing a set of car keys that did not look like mine from the table, Mike dramatically gasped and slapped his head ‘I just remembered that I have to go and pick up something at Manhattan Beach.’

I let out a breath of frustration and pleaded ‘Can I please get my car?’

‘I’m really sorry, Ella.’ Mike answered unapologetically ‘It is Stone that dealt with your car. I have a lot of other staff to look after.’

Fighting the urge to stamp my foot, I pointed accusingly and huffed ‘You just said that he was your only employee.’

‘Oops.’ The traitor of the old man chuckled to himself as he walked out the garage door.

‘This is ridiculous.’ I mumbled to myself as I watched Mike leave the two of us alone.

Stone appeared amused at the situation because the corner of his lip hiked up.

My vow of silence against him lasted only a further thirty-four seconds before I gave up.

‘Give me the keys, Lurch.’ My voice raised as I grew more agitated.

‘No.’

I took a step nearer to his huge frame and repeated ‘Give them to me.’

‘No.’

A frustrated sigh left me before I bit out ‘Why not?’

‘I am not giving you the keys so you can go to that prick’s house.’ He gritted out, his jaw ticking violently ‘You can keep me company here.’

‘Lucky me’ I huffed in a sarcastic tone.

His lip twitched again as he removed his leather jacket from his body, giving me a look at his muscled arms and tattoos as he picked up a spanner.

‘Give me the keys of the car or else.’ I threatened.

‘Or what?’ He challenged ‘Are you going to sit on me again?’

‘No.’ I affirmed, ‘That was meant to be a torture technique and you seemed to not totally hate it.’

He chuckled, shaking his head as he walked over to the silver car next to my green one.

‘Give me my keys, Lurch.’ I demanded again as I walked over to him and grabbed an unknown tool from his toolbox ‘Or I will take this tiny metal thing and cut you open. Then I will scoop your insides out and mix them together to make soup.’

Stone ignored me as he opened the hood of the car he was working on and started to mess around with the valves and parts insides.

I tried to tear my gaze away from the veins bulging in his arm and how the heat from the engine added a layer of engine grease to his black ink.

The vehicle was not the only thing that was getting messed around with inside because I could feel the fluttering of my stomach at the sight of the engine grease on his bulky arms.

‘Fine.’ I huffed out ‘I am just going to walk home.’

Carrying on fixing the car, he never turned around to face me as he retorted ‘No you won’t.’

‘And why is that?’ I asked the back of his head.

‘It is at least an hour walk from here to your house.’ He mentioned with a small, strained chuckle ‘For you, it will be three hours with your little legs.’

The irritating mountain had a point. I did hate unnecessary exercise.

I glared at the back of his head while informing him ‘You can’t see me right now, but you should know I look furious.’

‘I don’t need to turn around.’ His gruff voice spoke up before explaining ‘I know you have transitioned from a gizmo to a gremlin.’

My eyes widened while I spluttered out ‘You are annoying!’

He finally turned around and looked down at me, his eyes shining with amusement when he rebutted ‘You are stubborn.’

I tried to think of something else to say. I opened and closed my mouth while I let my gaze roam him.

‘You are…too big.’ I blurted out.

Stone chuckled at my lame response before rasping out   ‘You are too head-strong.’

We kept exchanging things we disliked about the other person as we both subconsciously neared each other.

By the time, I was backed up against the car and he was towering over me when I had run out of things to say.

I ended up making up something ‘You are a really bad hugger.’

That seemed to catch his attention because he cocked his head to the side.

‘Do you know in the book Of Mice and Men when Lenny does not realise his strength and ends up embracing his pet mouse too hard and it ends up being squished to death.’ I referenced before pointing to myself ‘That is you when you hugged me.’

Stone moved an infinitesimally amount of distance between us as his voice went hoarse ‘Really?’

I thought about the time when he embraced me. The day I broke down in his arms. The warmth and the comfort made it hard to even lie to myself.

‘No.’ I whispered before clearing my throat ‘I guess your hug was not the worst thing I have ever experienced.’

The giant’s mouth twitched twice.

I shook my head and tore my attention away from his face and focused on the matter at hand which was getting Kermit back.

‘If I burst out crying then would you give me the keys?’ I asked hopefully, ready to pretend to shed a tear.

‘Do not cry.’ Stone commanded.

‘I will and you will have to deal with it.’ I threatened before mentioning ‘I am a really ugly crier.’

‘No.’ He deeply said, sounding like an almost growl ‘You are not.’

I bit my lip to contain my smile.

I had to get out of the small space between us. If I stayed and started to enjoy my time with him then he won. I could not just let him drag me away and willingly stay with him.

The only way to get him to give me the keys was to annoy him until he wanted to get rid of me.

I spotted a black radio on top of a workplace, so I skipped over and jumped up to sit on the high counter.

Sitting next to the old speaker that looked straight out of the eighties with a big antenna, I called over to Stone ‘Last chance. Give me the keys or I will start singing at the top of my lungs and it will make your ears bleed.’

He looked up from the car and raised an eyebrow, a silent way of telling me that nothing was going to make him change his mind.

After a few attempts of hitting the right button on the forty-year-old machine, I got it to start playing.

As soon as I heard the first line of the song, I swung my legs in delight to the time of the music and started to sing loudly enough that I could even hear how bad I was.

‘Her name is Noelle. I have a dream about her. She rings my bell.’

Stone continued to stare at me, and he looked shocked at how appalling I was at singing.

His judgement did not intrude my performance of Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus.

‘I’ve got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby. Come with me Friday, don’t say maybe. I’m just a teenage dirtbag, baby like you.’

He watched from the hood of the car. His eyes were on my face as I sang and laughed through the lyrics. His gaze only strayed when I started to shimmy my hips to the rhythm.

The song finished and silence hung in the air until something miraculous happened.

Stone started howling with laughter. It was a deep rough noise of amusement, but it made me feel a little proud of myself that I had achieved the impossible.

‘Stop laughing at my singing!’ I pretended to be mad ‘I have been practising to master that song for years. It is the best song in existence.’

He went back to fixing the car while I thought of other ways to bedevil him.

His voice interrupted my scheming ‘You think Teenage Dirtbag is the best song in existence?’

‘In the afterlife, Beethoven is secretly asking himself why he did not think of it.’ I joked before adding seriously ‘It is the theme song of my life. Nothing says adolescent angst like that song.’

Stone shook his head and let out a chuckle ‘So you are saying you are a teenage dirtbag?’

‘Some people might say I am.’ I explained with a shrug ‘Other people say I’m a goth or even a nerd. Personally, I don’t think I fit into a category. I transcend all stereotypes.’

He did not offer a reply as he walked over to collect a different tool to fix the car.

As he was preoccupied, I quickly ran to steal his most prized possession. His leather jacket.

With it in my hand, I ran back to the countertop and hastily put it on until the leather material wrapped around my body thrice.

When he returned, he did not notice his lack of jacket.

‘Let’s make a trade.’ I called to the giant ‘My keys for your jacket back.’

His eyes did not shine the emotion that I expect them to. Anger is not present in his look but rather what looked to be a mixture of approval and awe. There was also something else swirling around in his darkened gaze.

I grinned ‘I think it looks much better on me than you.’

He flicked his attention over me again. It was slow and deliberate, and it left heat in its path.

‘I can’t argue with that.’ He revealed gruffly.

‘This will keep me nice and cosy when I walk home.’ I mentioned as I wrapped the huge material around myself.

I blinked and he was in front of me. My slightly parted legs dangling from the counter was enough room for him to step in between them.

‘You are not leaving.’

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms to show my resistance to him. The arms crossed only drew attention to the largeness of the leather jacket and how it was too long on my little arms.

Stone kept standing where he was as he used his arm to wipe a bead of sweat forming on his head. The arm raised meant that his shirt had risen at the bottom and given me a quick peek at his abs.

My lip was held tightly by my teeth as I looked up to meet his eye.

His attention was on my bitten lip as he let out a harsh ‘Fuck.’

One thing I had noticed about him was that he liked to swear a lot. I felt the need to point it out ‘I am starting to think that is your favourite word.’

‘It is not.’ He assured me before he smirked, ‘My favourite word is a tie between Ella, Medusa and Drizella.’

‘Those are not words.’ I rolled my eyes ‘They are names. My names which makes me suspect that they are not really your favourite.’

The bulky male eventually left and popped the small bubble of closeness between us.

As he went back to fixing the car, I took out my phone and noticed that Lana had tried to phone me.

I phoned her back before greeting her ‘Hello.’

‘Guess what I have bought for our girl’s day tomorrow!’ She squealed excitedly.

‘It better not be what I think it is.’ I groaned into the phone.

‘Barbie movies!’ She confirmed, ‘The DVDs were only a dollar at the dollar store.’

‘No wonder.’ I taunted ‘Nobody would pay more than that.’

‘I would.’

I let out a laugh ‘I know you would, you weirdo.’

‘Come to mine at nine tomorrow.’ She insisted ‘We have five movies to get through.’

‘Nine in the morning?’ I let out a whine ‘That is way too early for a Saturday morning—’

‘If you are not there by nine then I will eat all the gummy bears I had bought for you.’

I laughed at her before agreeing ‘Fine. I will be there.’

We said our goodbyes before she hung up.

Stone made a deep noise that sounded a mix between a cough and a gnarl, making me draw my attention away from my phone to him.

He started to wipe something in the car with a cloth as he questioned ‘What are you laughing at?’

A lightbulb went off in my head and a great plan had formed in my mind.

I lied ‘I was just phoning my ride to ask them when they are coming to get me.’

Stone did not look convinced.

‘You are not going to give me the keys, so I had to find another way to get home.’

He still did not seem convinced.

I added innocence to my tone when I told him ‘I will tell Chase you said hi when he picks me up.’

His reaction was instant. He slammed the boot of the car with brute force before he stormed out of the room and came back seconds later with a familiar set of keys.

I beamed in response that my plan had worked. My victorious state dropped when he came marching up to me with a sense of determination.

The keys hung from his hand at a height that was far too high for me to grab.

‘You take them, and you drive home.’ He spoke with a tone that held no room for argument ‘You do not go with him.’

‘Okay.’ I agreed, reaching up to get the keys.

He remained to keep them out of reaching distance ‘You better be going home.’

‘I promise.’ I said as he set the metal chain in my hand.

Jumping off the counter, I skipped away towards the exit of the garage to taunt him about me winning.

As I reached the door, a deep voice stopped me ‘Medusa.’

I turned around ‘Yes, Lurch?’

His expression was full of visible boastfulness as he revealed ‘I finished fixing your car a few days ago.’

‘What?’ I bit out, remembering how he told me it was not ready two days ago.

He did not answer with words. It was just a big tantalising smirk that taunted me.

I opened the car door as I questioned ‘Are you trying to say that you fixed my car a few days ago and it was only today that you are telling me?’

Stone nodded.

I exclaimed, ‘Why would you do that?’

Stone did not even acknowledge the question because he remained silent.

‘What was the point in that?’ I demanded to know ‘It was you that suffered for it. You had to take me to school almost every day this week.’

‘Not today, I didn’t.’ He said, his voice husky and strained.

‘Why did you say it was not fixed after the ice cream parlour? What was the point in the double bluff?’ I ranted out ‘Actually it is kind of a triple bluff because you told me you fixed it then you said you had not.’

He looked down at me with a soft look in his eyes as I continued to ramble.

‘Why didn’t you tell me the truth?’

‘I needed you away from him, so I took you here.’ He revealed with a rough sigh ‘I was planning to keep it for a while longer.’

‘You are evil.’ I told him ‘How dare you keep my car away from me. Thank the car gods that I don’t have to ride to school with you anymore.’

I got into the car and put on my seatbelt to stop the impulse to go and wring his neck.

He was still watching me when I rolled the window down on my door and stuck my head out to see him.

‘I was on the phone to Lana, by the way. Not Chase.’ I informed him with an evil grin ‘There was no ride home.’

The smugness had been wiped from his face as he shook his head ‘Wicked girl.’

I beeped the car horn I smirked at him.

When I turned back to the rear-view mirror was when I noticed that I still had on his jacket.

With one last queenly wave out of the window, I motioned to the new addition of my wardrobe ‘I am keeping your jacket by the way.’

‘That is fine, Medusa.’ He replied before he pledged ‘I will come and get it later.’

‘Yeah. Whatever.’ I stuck my tongue out at him before I pushed down on the accelerator.