Page 15 of Of Flesh & Bone

“So why don’t you like them?”I ask while I continue walking around her room, touching everything, opening drawers, and soaking in the things that make up her life.If she's uncomfortable, she doesn't let it show, but I already know that she uses indifference as a shield.

"It's not me who doesn't like them."

"They don't like you."It's rhetorical and not really even a question.

She draws out the I when she says, "I'm not well received...by most people.I'm not exactly outgoing and I don't spend much time on conversation that I find to be unnecessary.I've been told, or rather I have overheard, that I'm snobby, bitchy, haughty, and just universally not well-liked.Although, the worst is probably that I'm empty.Nothing to me.That's the perception of me here.The women that I thought would be accepting and maybe even similar to me.They think that I'm nothing more than volleyball."

Her admissions are surprising.Not the admissions themselves but, the fact that she is making them to me.She seems to now be thinking the same thing as she clamps her lips tightly shut, giving me a look of......hmmm a look of 'oh shit'.

"Fuck them," I say this, trying to sound indifferent while my voice betrays the anger that I actually feel.

"It doesn't matter.It's just the way things are."

She moves over to the bed and picks up a remote, clicking through screens until she gets to the title she's looking for, The Goonies.A movie that I have seen so many times I can quote most of it, but I will pretend to watch it for the first timewith her.

The only chair in the room is the one at her desk and it doesn't look comfortable enough for prolonged sitting, so I can't imagine that she expects me to sit in it or that she will.Not that I would allow either outcome.The whole point of coming here was to maintain a close proximity to her.I need to touch her again.I will touch her again.

Moving over to the bed on the opposite side of, where I see her phone charger, lamp, and book, I prop the pillows up against the headboard.Further making myself at home, I take off my shoes and lie down.When I look over at Eve, she is still standing and now looking down at me with incredulity swamping her gorgeous face, I fight a smile.

"What...are you...doing?"

"Mmmm...getting comfortable so I can fully appreciate the movie."

I pat the vacant spot on the bed beside me.Looking at the spot, she jerkily shakes her head.Squinting my eyes at her, I nod slowly and pat the spot harder this time.She shakes her hand again and takes a step back.

"Don't make me come over there.I really don't want this to get physical...yet."

Her eyes POP.She stalls for several long seconds to decide if my threat is idle.She must come to the correct conclusion because she slowly comes closer to the bed and lowers herself down beside me."Good girl."

She looks at me with venom in her eyes and says, "You're like a toddler."

Quicker than she can react, I grab her, pinning her body beneath mine and licking her face from jaw to hairline.The look she gives me is something I want to photograph and look at every morning to start my day.

"What.The.Hell.Was.That?!"She fights against my hold, and I smile at the feeble attempt.

"I'm touching it, so it's mine.I want it, so it's mine.I licked it, so it's mine.Toddler rules."

Her eyes go comically wide before she closes them and attempts to gather her composure.I keep her pinned beneath me to see what happens when she opens her eyes but also, because I like having her beneath me.I might like it too much, and she can probably feel how much on her stomach.This feels right.She feels right.

When she opens her eyes, she looks...amused.She isn't smiling, but her eyes are filled with humor.I haven't seen this look before.I fucking love it.She has so few expressions, and she's stingy with them all.But this one, it's possibly my new favorite so far.She doesn't attempt to move me.She just looks all over my face like she's studying it or memorizing my features, and I know I would do some sketchy shit to know what she's thinking right now.Just tell me.

I instantly wonder if it's possible to get bored with this woman.Is it?She is far too interesting at the moment.If history is any indicator, she will become annoying once she feels that I belong to her, which seems to happen just after sex for most women.One in particular.The irony of telling her that she's mine is not altogether lost on me.I'm not sure what came over me.I have no impulse control with this woman.Burying my face in her neck, I breathe in her sweet scent...honey and jasmine.I expect a reaction from her and...nothing. She doesn't even move but she can't control her heartbeat.It's racing...for me.

"Are you ready to start the movie?"my face still buried in her neck.

I feel her nod against my face and slowly, I move off of her, taking my position next to her on the bed.My side.

We watch the Goonies, and I talk her into introducing me to her second and third favorite movies, The Monster Squad and The Sandlot.Just as I had planned, she falls asleep halfway through The Sandlot.I don't finish it because Eve clearly has a crush on Benny, and I can't control my heart rate when he's on the screen.I definitely prefer the face consuming smiles and belly laughter she graced me with throughout the first two movies to the swoony sighs and goofy grins she displayed for the whole of Benny's movie.I plug up her phone before turning off the lights and the TV and settle in for the night right where I want to be...next to her.

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