Page 45 of Avenged

She eyed me like a teacher ready to scold, and I was ready for her to be my teacher. My body was already reacting in the loose shorts I was wearing, and I hoped she hadn’t noticed. She turned back to the TV.

“You did that on purpose,” she said.

“Did what?”

“The whole Liz comment.”

She was watching the screen, silent again, slowly deflating from the huge, float-like balloon she’d become to a small shriveled up one with the air let out of it.

“Maybe I did,” I told her, and she flicked her eyes to me.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you tease me like that?”

She was back to the ring again, worrying it. I was surprised she had any skin left on her thumb. “Because for a moment, just the barest of seconds, I got to see the real you,” I answered truthfully.

Her hands stilled. “What?”

“You don’t need me to explain it. You know what I mean,” I said, reaching out to the hand with the thumb ring and grabbing it. I turned it so I could stretch out the palm and run my fingers along the lines there, as if I were smoothing out the wrinkles on a crumpled paper, pushing her to relax, to let go.

I felt the tremble that went through her, and I stopped looking from our joined hands to her face. She was watching our hands as well, the faint color coating her cheeks again. Even though I’d sat in the middle of the couch, there was still almost a whole cushion-width between us, and I wished there wasn’t. I wished she was tucked up against me and I could finally taste her lips and see if they held the same flavor of apples and vanilla and cinnamon she smelled like.

She pulled her hand slowly from mine, rubbing the palm along her jeans as if to remove any remains of my touch that was there. “This was a mistake.”

She stood.

I’d pushed too hard. I’d wanted to see the person I knew was hiding inside, and she’d closed down instead of opening up. The hurt that was locked up inside her must be huge if she shut down so easily.

“I’m sorry. Don’t go. Stay and watch the movie,” I said, because I truly didn’t want her to go. “I need protection from the demon spawn.”

“He’s the good guy.” She couldn’t help letting it slip out, and I waved a victory flag inside my brain.

“He looks as evil as they come.” I shrugged.

“Have you seriously read any of the comics?”

I chuckled. “I know he’s supposed to be the good guy, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop and for us to find out he’s just been playing along with the good guys while secretly taking over the world, the universe, and all the other dimensions.”

“As if anyone has that much power,” she said, but her eyes were back on the screen, and I knew she wanted to watch it. That the movies and comics and fandoms she raved about were her way of escaping the world to a place she could control and whose endings were, if not predictable, at least documented. She didn’t have to guess at what would happen.

“Come watch the movie.”

I reached over to my bedding resting next to the coffee table. I picked up a pillow for me and then tossed a second one at her, completely expecting her to catch it. But I’d obviously caught her off guard, because she didn’t. Instead, it hit her in the face.

She stared down at the pillow as if it was the most offensive thing in the world. “Oh my God, you’re such a child,” she said.

She picked it up and then came at me, hitting me across the face with it. I chuckled and hit her back with my own pillow. I was gentle, but she didn’t hold back. She was laughing, and the sound was beautiful, like church bells, and Christmas bells, and sleigh bells all rolled together. I just wanted to keep that sound going for as long as possible, so I continued shoving my pillow in her direction. She had the higher ground, and I was additionally disadvantaged as I tried not to hurt her.

I finally reached out and grabbed her around her thighs, pulling her so she landed on the couch with her knees and feet flung across my body. The tank top she was wearing had ridden up and was showing smooth skin. I lost my head and rubbed my calloused hands along it, and she reacted by giggling and hitting me with the pillow again as she tried to push my fingers from her stomach as if the touch tickled her.

I smirked, knowing I had her now. My hands continued to fly across the bare skin, and she bent, trying to defend herself. She was still laughing, but the pillow dropped out of her hands as she tried to ward me off.

She didn’t have a chance. Not only because I was twice as big as her in size and muscles, but because I was determined to keep that sound and the smile on her face. She was gasping for breath and tugging at my hands, and I was ready to make all those sounds happen for another reason, when her phone rang. It was Violet. I knew from the ringtone.

She slapped at my hands more, and I reluctantly removed them as she reached behind her to the end table and grabbed the phone. Her tank top rose up farther, giving me a glimpse of a flowered bra and making it pretty much impossible for me to move. “Vi? What’s wrong?” she asked, sitting up, causing the skin to be hidden again, causing her legs and feet to leave my body. I pulled the pillow I was going to use for my head and set it down on my lap to hide every single reaction my body had had to her.

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