My laughter echoes throughout the silent room, and I look to find no one else joining me.

"He thinks that Marcello would hand over his position? For me?" I continue laughing.

"Its a possibility." Marie shrugs, "He has taken a liking to you."

My laughter dies down once I realize everyone is dead serious.

"No, guys. He doesn't even like me as a person. He wouldn't care if they did anything to me." I roll my eyes, striding to Marie's bed and plopping down.

"Even if that were true, that's not what Dante thought." Antonio pipes up.

My face drops at hearing his name. "So he was here just to get information? He was never our friend?"

"If he was, he wouldn't have thrown us under the bus like that." Marie says bitterly.

The group mutters words of agreement, then the room goes silent.

No one utters a word as we all get lost in our own thoughts.

I can't believe Dante would do that. He And I were actually pretty close. He knew what happened back home and about my lack of support from my family.

I don't know if I should be mad or sad. Maybe both. I don't know yet.

The heavy silence is broken by the sound of shoes clacking the hard wood floor down the hall.

"Marcello." I roll my eyes.

The group looks at me with wide eyes, "How do you know it's him? What if someone else is coming to steal you?"

"Of course it's him, you crazies. No one is gonna steal me." I roll my eyes and open the door, leaving my friends behind, and catching sight of the Italian heartthrob. "Long time, no see." I grin.

"We literally saw each other 10 minutes ago." He shakes his head.

"But that was a whole 10 minutes ago. A lot can happen in 10 minutes, ya know." I respond, about to start a rant, but he cuts me off by holding up a hand to silence me.

"I think I get what you're saying." He closes the subject easily.

"But-" I start, but he cuts me off.

"No, don't drag it out longer than it should be discussed." He puts his index finger to my lips, giving me a warning look.

Without thinking, I open my mouth and bite his finger. Not enough to hurt, just enough to warn him.

"Can I have my finger back?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Nuh uh." I shake my head, still having a hold on his finger.

He sighs impatiently, "Give me my finger, Brimmy."

"Nope. You held it in my face, it's my territory. That's the rules. This finger is mine now." I mutter, struggling to talk around his finger.

"You are seriously the weirdest person.." He says, more to himself than me.

"Uhm. I beg to differ. I think I'm perfectly normal." I argue, glaring at him.

"You're using my finger as a chew toy." He says flatly.

I stare at him.

He stares at me.

Challenge accepted.

After moments of silence and staring, I finally give in.

"Fine, you can have your stupid finger!" I exclaim.

After reclaiming his finger, he narrows his eyes at me. "You act more like a dog than human."

"Thanks." I grin, actually taking the compliment. Dogs are totally better than humans any day.

He sighs impatiently, "You're such an infuriating girl."

"Thanks." I say again, just to see if I can get a reaction.

His glare intensifies, before he shakes his head and turns away. "Follow me."

I scowl, standing in place, "What if I don't wanna?"

"Not this again." He groans. "Just come on."

"No." I cross my arms stubbornly.

"Please?" He asks, and I can tell he doesn't say that too often by the strain in his voice.

My resolve weakens and I find myself sighing and stepping forward. "Fine."

My feet drag across the floor and I feel a wave of exauhstion hit me. "I'm tired."

"Sounds like a personal problem." Marcello says flatly, not stopping even though my feet have planted themselves on the ground and refuse to move.

I sigh and drop to the ground, feeling the pressure relieve from my feet.

This gets his attention. With an annoyed grunt, he stops. "Why're you on the ground."

"My feet hurt." I shrug, examining my nails.

"Get up." He orders, but I ignore him.

"I can't. My feet won't let me." I reply, looking at him with puppy dog eyes, "Can you carry me?"

He glares at me, "No."

"Please?" I pout, sticking my bottom lip out and fluttering my eyelashes.

His gaze remains hard, but he steps forward nonetheless and hooks one hand beneath my knees and the other around my neck and shoulders.

I regret my decision almost instantly once I catch sight of how far the floor is from me. Thoughts of Marcello dropping me fills my head and my breath momentarily hitches in fear of hitting the ground.

Without thinking, I bury my face into Marcello's chest.

I always seem to be doing things without thinking, which leads to many embarrassing outcomes. But this action, I don't mind.

His chest is warm and I can feel his muscles shift with every step, even through his shirt. I try to be inconspicuous as I subtly inhale his scent.

The fear of falling is pushed to the back of my mind, the feeling of sleepiness and calm washing over me.

The sense of protection has me wanting to smile like an idiot, though I don't know why. It's Marcello. He himself has threatened to kill me.

So why am I so comfortable around him? And protected?

My mind reels with the possible answers for that, but it doesn't make sense.

It was a rhetorical question anyway.

Marcello's arms tighten around me slightly, but enough for me to notice. I smile at the action, closing my eyes an drifting off into a half awake, half asleep state.

I have no idea how I went from a feeling of unfamiliarality and annoyance for Marcello to affection and feeling protected so fast.

I mean, he has kissed me, that's supposed to mean something. Right?

Lol, just adding this in a random chapter bc I'm bored: can I pls get a waffle?