You're The Only Hope For Me

They sat in silence for a while, Hazel wanted to say something but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She was pretty sure Frank felt the same way. He sat pulling at the grass, plucking it out then shredding it between his fingers – he seemed very focused, if not a little anxious, on it so Hazel took the opportunity to sneak glances at him.
He seemed quite fit, like physically fit. His skin was an olive like color and his body muscular, with tattoos down his arms and a scorpion on the right side of his neck. His hair was jet black and wasn’t short-short but it wasn’t long either, like to just level with his jaw line. And his jaw line! She couldn’t see his face completely because of his hair, but she could see his jaw line and if it was possible to describe jaw lines as beautiful, then she most definitely would have. His lips were a little bit pale but not enough to contrast with his skin.
He moved a bit and she started, worried that he’d caught her staring at him, although he was just shifting his position again. However, her starting had caught his attention and he turned his head towards her, smiling kindly.
Oh my God, his smile! Hazel found herself smiling back purely because she hadn’t ever seen a smile that beautiful before, ever. Even though it was only a little smile, he didn’t part his lips at all, but it lit up his face and made the muscles in his neck relax, the ones she didn’t even notice had been tensed. She felt her own smile grow bigger as she felt him look at her, all the while the smile still fixed upon his face. He began to laugh a little, a small cute laugh that made him open his mouth slightly and show his neat white teeth, giving her a view of a sweet smile that was just; sorry there was no other word for it, adorable.
And his eyes, when she finally made eye-contact with him she partially wished she hadn’t. They were a green colour, not quite a hazel green nor a dark green, they were like a faded bright green though faded couldn’t be the right word as they were still every bit as radiant and bright without the colour itself being bright. His eyes were beautiful and she could have looked at them all day, she felt lost inside their pale green depths, not in a bad way though.
All of a sudden she realized she’d been staring and tore her gaze away, feeling slightly embarrassed and blushing mildly. He either hadn’t noticed though, or didn’t mind as he just stood up and brushed the dirt of his black, ripped skinny jeans. He was quite a short man, which surprised her, she wasn’t quite sure how though as no thoughts of his height had entered her head until now, but he was still just taller than her. He smiled down at her and held out his hand to help her up.
“Ready to go?” He smiled at her again and Hazel felt herself melt inside. She reached out for his hand and felt herself pulled strongly upwards, not in the horrible way the men had picked her up earlier but in a gentle and caring way. For the first time she suddenly felt self-conscious in her ripped tank top and leggings, what did he think of her? Was she just someone he felt sorry for and that’s why he was being so nice? When he had seen the men hurting her did he think it would have been a more attractive person than herself?
She cast her eyes downwards as the negative thoughts entered her head.
She felt him walk away, tugging on her hand slightly as he went and she pulled herself out of his grasp.
He turned towards her, a confused, and dare she think it, a slightly hurt look on his face.
“What do you want with me?” She stuttered, silently cursing her scared sounding voice, “Where are you taking me?”
“I was thinking we could go back to mine?” He replied shifting his gaze. “You know, we could get you sorted out and calmed down and you could stay for a bit, but only if you wanted of course.”
Tempting as the invitation seemed, Hazel found herself feeling suspicious, “How do I know that you’re not another person like one of those men? How do I know you’re not taking me away somewhere to hurt me or kill me or sell me or whatever it is people do?”
He seemed offended that she would think such a thing, although Hazel felt she had reason to after what had just happened.
“You just have my word,” He answered, “That is if you trust me enough.”
Hazel felt a little bit bad then, after all he had just saved her, possibly even saved her life. However she was still anxious, “Why were you over this way then, if you weren’t in some sort of arrangement with those men? I mean, it’s not the most attractive place to be hanging out”
He looked at his feet, “I see where you’re coming from now, although how could I have been involved with those guys if I beat the shit out of them and allowed you to break ones nose and make sure the other one could never have children?”
Hazel immediately felt guilty and she began to blush, he did have a point, “Yeah I guess, I’m sorry it’s just I’m really worried now that I’ve gotten away from those men and I don’t want to go straight back into something similar. I’m really sorry.”
He shrugged as he stared at the ground, “It’s completely understandable though, I’m sorry I didn’t think of it that way. Anyway I was over here because I know that this is a popular place for dumping dogs – both young puppies and old race dogs. I really can’t stand that so I try to rescue them and either rehome them or look after them myself.” He smiled then looked up at her, laughing slightly, “I’m sorry but I just really like dogs.”
Hazel felt herself smiling and beginning to laugh too, this guy seemed really too good to be true. He laughed as well and offered her his hand again, she took it and they walked back round towards the road. As they were crossing she caught sight of the old battered Fiat Multipla and muttered out loud.
“What a shit car.”
“What? Sorry?” Frank asked, titling his head towards her.
She nodded in the direction of the Fiat.
“Oh yeah, you’re right, most definitely right,” he replied then turned to her with a mischievous smile on his face “You obviously seem to know about cars,” He winked and Hazel nearly died inside. “I sure hate to think what shit you could say about my own ride!” Then he laughed.
His laugh was infectious and Hazel couldn’t help but join in, and the two of them laughed together for a moment before tailing off and continuing to smile at each other. Once they’d stopped laughing they walked across the road together, but silently exchanged a glance and then cracked up again. Hazel could feel herself crying she was laughing so hard.
She didn’t even know what she found so funny, of course it wasn’t just that Frank had been joking around with her but she felt there was something else too. She guessed it was just relief that the kidnapping experience was over, that those men were hurt. She didn’t feel bad in anyway about hurting them, they had kidnapped her and hurt her and humiliated her and God knows what they would have done to her if Frank hadn’t turned up. Their blood was stuck onto Frank’s skin and his clothes, and he had a cut down his left arm as well as a black eye beginning to show, she felt sorry for him but was just so glad that he’d appeared when he had. Hazel herself had cuts and red marks all down her arms, her leggings were ripped and numerous bruises were starting to show, but right now she didn’t care. She was alive and that’s what mattered, as well as of course her rescuer was just amazingly nice and beautiful. She just held onto Frank’s hand tightly and smiled as they continued walking, the sun beating warmly down upon them.
“So what do you drive then?” She asked him, slightly teasing but also curious.
“That, over there.” He said pointing to their right.
About a hundred meters away there was a Delorean, silver and shining in the sunlight, and etched with various black car stickers of spiders, vampires and writing she couldn’t quite read due to the distance.
“Really?” She looked up at him, not able to decide whether or not it was a joke.
“Yeah,” He said, looking kind of embarrassed so that his face flushed slightly, “I’m actually a really big fan.”
“Oh, that’s cool, I didn’t know you could actually get these!” Hazel said, smiling at him as they approached the car, “I was expecting you to drive either some big land rover or a sports car, but actually I think this is even better!”
He laughed and opened the front passenger door for her, allowing her to get in. He paused and grinned at her before shutting the door.
“I’m currently saving up for a flux capacitor.” He winked as Hazel laughed then shut the door.
He climbed into the driver’s seat and sat drumming his hands on the steering wheel, he accidently hit the horn and it sounded loudly.
“Oh shit!” He jumped in shock which just caused Hazel to laugh even more. He looked at her sideways in annoyance although it was clear he was trying not to laugh. Eventually he gave in and they both sat in the warm car laughing for what seemed like the tenth time since Hazel had met him.
“How many dogs do you have?” Hazel asked him once they’d recovered from their laughter.
“Oh a fair few,” he smiled, “I’ll show you them all when we get to mine.”
Hazel grinned back; she still hadn’t gotten over the beauty of his smile. Nor did she think she ever would now she thought about it. She could look at the smile every day for the rest of her life and still never stop loving it.
“So, to yours?” She said, turning to him and still beaming.
“Indeed!” He replied, “To mine!” and started up the engine.
A CD started playing and Hazel recognised the song almost immediately, ‘Holiday’ by Green Day.
“You like Green Day?” She asked him curiously even though the CD pretty much said it anyway.
“Yeah,” He answered looking out the front window and drumming the rhythm of the song against his leg.
“You have an amazing music taste then!” Hazel laughed as she sang along to the riff in her head.
“I was actually inspired by Billie Joe Armstrong,” he grinned, “He was the reason I decided to learn guitar.”
“My respect for you has just rocketed even higher than it already was, I assure you of that!” Hazel responded and they both laughed.
They turned out onto a busier road and continued driving along with the windows rolled right down, perhaps a little bit too fast, as Hazel tapped her feet in time to the beat and Frank sang along loudly.
Hazel loved every minute of it.
As she laughed, Hazel couldn’t help but think that this whole scenario might not end too badly after all. Her conscience whispered to her that she hardly knew this guy and she was being stupid to even think about going back with him, but another voice, a louder one, laughed back at it saying that it could have ended worse.
“Yeah,” She thought, “I could have actually been dead by now!” and just laughed even harder.

Notes

Slightly better than the last chapter, but I hope to make the story more interesting as it goes on. I found out today that Frank said in an interview once that his ideal car would actually be a Delorean, if anyone's interested?
All feedback is appreciated and thanks for reading!! Love yous all thanks c: