Page 210 of Falling Backwards
There are a few people here and there between us getting into the building and getting to her floor.It’s warm and well-lit in here, which is nice, but it feels weird to be getting ready to drop her off like I did so many times before; I know she feels the same way.
And not just because she stops me outside her door and pulls me into one last kiss, though that does say something.
Her lips seal to mine once, twice, again….
Her grip is at the open edges of my coat, then inside on my waist.
Her body curves against mine at the urge of my hands along her back.
I can’t keep from thinking about our time in my bed.Her standing pressed between me and my bar counter.Us laughing in my oversized chair.Me watching her cook in my kitchen.
I’ll be going back to my apartment alone.Back to a place empty of her and crowded with the marks she left on it.
One of my hands slips through the soft hair at the back of her head while my tongue slips along her bottom lip.Her inhalation is as quiet as the plea that escapes me.“Open your mouth for me, Maggie.”
She does with another soft little breath, and I deepen our kiss, eager, grateful, adoring.
She matches me on all of it.
Everything seems to slow so we can live in this for these moments.
Too soon, the kiss slows, too, all the way to another chaste press of our lips, and then to nothing.
Laughter and muffled chatter is coming from behind both her door and another somewhere nearby.The ding of the elevator sounds at the end of the hall and then more voices are floating this way.It seems like it’s time to get her into her apartment.
I click my tongue in reluctance.“Ready to go inside?”I ask.
“I suppose,” she murmurs.
So in we go.
And we are bombarded straightaway by Joy and Emma, both of whom are smiling at me as well as Maggie—God, it’s still so strange to see Emma regard me with friendliness.Strange in a good way.It never hurt my feelings or anything that she didn’t care much for me, because why would she have?I did Maggie wrong and Emma stood by her.But it’s nice that she seems to have warmed towards me since Maggie has.I don’t get the feeling she does that around too many people.She’s a tough girl who isn’t afraid to let her attitude loose.
Maggie trusts me, so Emma does too.
Yeah, that’s a nice feeling.
And of course Joy is friendly; she’s a friendly person in general.There’s sincerity in how she asks about our holiday and includes me in the questions and bright expressions.She’s the first to thank me for taking care of Maggie while this apartment stood empty and lonely.
Emmais the first to say, “Fuck yeah,” when I finally mention that we haven’t seen Kyle anywhere for the better part of this week.Her pleased expression gets aimed directly at me while Maggie and Joy grab hands in hopefulness.“Maybe what you said to him at the park did the trick, Bramhill.I know we were told not to confront him, but you acted in the moment when he came up on y’all, and I’m glad you did.Seriously, it sounds like it was the right thing to do.”She sighs and puts her gaze on the ceiling, suddenly seeming annoyed.“I wish I had been there.Had so much I wanted to say to that guy….”
Maggie, Joy, and I all laugh a bit at that, even though we know she means it.Then Maggie trades holding Joy’s hand for holding mine.
I give hers a squeeze, but as she asks about the girls’ holidays in return, I get the feeling that it’s time for me to leave.Not that I’m being intentionally scooted aside—I just know how close Maggie and her friends are, and since they’ve all been apart for days, they’re falling into their natural chatter.
When I find a good second, I tug Maggie closer to me by the hand I’m holding, then tell her quietly, “I’ll go so y’all can catch up, okay?”
She turns a sweet but disappointed look up to me.Briefly, she seems like she might protest, but what would she really suggest?That I sit in on her girl time when I’ve had her to myself basically all week?Or that I stay and we go to her room even though her friends undoubtedly want to hang out with her?
Nah.I feel disappointed to be parting ways, too, but I want her to have fun with Joy and Emma, not to have to consider me.Plus, I’m hungry and I’m sure she’s ready to find some food for herself, maybe even with the girls.
So I tell her, “I’ll text you when I get home, and we can talk on the phone or something later if you feel like it.”
“I will feel like it,” she assures me.She curves a soft smile at me.“I…guess I’ll see you out the door.”
After her friends and I have exchanged goodbyes and I’ve been thanked again for keeping Maggie with me this week, I step out into the hallway.Maggie closes the door as much as she can while standing in its way, and she reaches her free hand out to me in a wordless invitation mixed with a request.I slip my fingers from her palm up to her elbow, leaning in and down and stamping a kiss to her lips, then her cheek.She kisses my jaw for longer than I expect.
Damn,my insides sigh.
