Instead of tossing her out like he'd said he would, Keida crouched down before her. Her friend wore the same cold look in his eyes, the same mysterious gaze that she could never seem to fully decipher. His lips spoke of good intentions, but there was a hardness on his face - a taut look of disappointment mingled with something else; the closest thing she could compare it to was hunger, but Haley was far too preoccupied with gaining his approval to realize what was going on in the dark depths of Keida's mind.<br/><br/>"I'm sorry," the words were spoken into the tense silence of his living room. "You're not the bad guys. I asked you to help me. I want to win him over."<i>I want to make him love me as much as I love him. </i>She left the last part unsaid, but it was a painful kind of misery, loving someone so much that it hurt, loving them more than they would ever love you.  The words she'd uttered spilled past her lips easily enough, but her continued to hammer wildly with each thing she said. Silly girl, jumping straight into the wolf's den when she could have chosen to left unscathed. She locked eyes with Keida as he started to issue on command after another.<br/><br/>Haley's heart was in her throat once more but she stood up on legs that felt like gelatin. Slowly, as if the whole thing were a painful ordeal, she hooked her fingers into the sides of her strawberry panties. She was a frozen statuette, limbs heavy with the weight of what was happening in the secrecy of her childhood friend's kitchen. The need to be loved back outweighed the fear, the naivety outweighed the doubt. The think fabric - the last barrier protecting her most untouched place - was peeled off her legs until they pooled around her feet on Keida's floor. Haley's hands darted to hide her damp womanhood. She was squeezing her eyes shut, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip to stop it from trembling. She was the picture of exposed and embarrassed as she stood before him so she could appraise her worth.<br/><br/><i>Pretend I'm Cain. <br/>
</i><br/>The words had her stomach in knots. Keida's golden irises hid secrets she couldn't fathom, but there was an inkling of something sinister that she couldn't comprehend. He would never be Cain, but she could pretend. Haley closed her eyes, wiping away images of the sinewy and cold boy before her and replacing them with images of the kind and radiant boy from across the street. She pictured Cain with his air of confidence and with his dimpled cheeks and mesmerizing smiles.<br/><br/>She had loved him from afar for so long, had dreamed of the day when he would hold her hand and ask him to be his. Thinking about Cain and all the possible futures she could have with him made the humiliating situation somewhat more tolerable. Finally, something inside her broke and the words poured out of her lips.<br/><br/>"Take me, please. I want you to have me."<br/><br/>Those were the words her mouth said but her heart said something else; I just want you to love me. I want you to love me and I'll do anything for it.<br/><br/>Tragic girl blinded by desperate love.