'So how was your morning?' he asked. Apart from recalling you in undies, it was the normal shite... But we can't be completely honest, can we? So I said 'Fine.' then on a burst of courage I asked 'Can I ask you something?'
'Sure'
'Your mom said that I reminded you of Arryn and you like me....whereas we just spoke yesterday, while I'm happy to be here....hmmm.... why?'
'Honestly... I don't know. I just saw Arryn in you. People round here are too sweet, aren't they? It gets fake after just 6 sentences...'
'You're wrong... I'd say 3' I said bringing laughter to him...
'See that's exactly something Arryn would have said...'
'So she a sarcastic jerk too?'
He just laughed.... He looked at me solemnly then, my heart almost did a flip 'I find you interesting and while my mom seemed to like all my friends, but she didn't really, if you know what I mean.' I nodded as he continued 'You were sweet yesterday so I thought of returning it, but gotta say my mom looked smitten. Hope we can talk... ya'know half the town's out of state for vacay. I'm kinda lonely. It'd be good to have a friend...'
Oh my god....how can anyone open up so fast... he meant it all.... he wanted to be my friend... 'I would like that too' I managed to say....
After that the talk was fluid... He told me his experiences as an only child.... how his friends were not that close to him and how they seemed to be after his money... except Arryn Sonders who understood him and how she was away at vacation somewhere in France...how he loved cycling, especially loving the Ice hills now, how he loved trekking too, his hatred of school work, gladness about its end....
'The Ice hills are full of tricky woods... you cycled there? How' I asked curiously
'Ummm...hmmm.... I guess I've a good direction sense....'
'Okayyyy... so where were you before here?' I asked
'Silverbrooks. Mom was tired of the city life and honestly I was too.... Mom's folks were from here....and moreover, here I can finally breathe and she can focus on her work.... the house was of a friend of hers.... so, no sooner did we hear that it's up for sale, than we jumped at it.'
Silverbrooks.... Only the biggest emerging new city of the first world.... Centre for the digital media revolution of the English language.... My final escape ... and he had left it all... for what? Briars-fucking-ville.... This hilly, middle of nowhere, yearlong winter corner of God knows where...
'And what does your dad think of this place?' I asked
'He passed away when I was 14...' he said in a matter of fact way.
My stomach dropped in self hatred.... Shit! Oh god of fate rip my tongue right out...
'I'm so sorry.... I didn't... I..... ummm.... I'm just...sorry'
'Hey... it's ok.... its ok... You didn't know.'
I was in guilty silence... he rekindled the conversation with anecdotes of his mother, a social worker's career.... We were laughing again when he asked me 'So have you been to Ilverbury ? Heard mom talking of it...' He asked about the village on the outskirts of Briarsville. A semi-popular tourist site, it was a scenic little town, all green and misty full of little cottages that fairytales are made of.... It was beautiful. But too painful to revisit or even remember...
'Ya... I've been there. It's beautiful this time of the year. I used to go there with my family.... and yeah.... I guess you should try it out...'
'With family eh... So tell me about them' he said.
Should I? Shouldn't I? But he had told me of his dad, hadn't he. Amias Vane may be a snappy jerk sometimes, but he is never an ungrateful jerk.
'Adam my dad is English, Mom's called Nia, she's from India'
'That explains your exotic looks.' he said, I blushed.
'And I've a sister, Ashna, 6 years my senior.... she's.... umm...she.' I gulped 'She ran away when I was 13' The words sounded so weird as I said them.
I looked at him, his eyes were full of understanding, of care and no sympathy.
Thank Almighty, for if his eyes had held sympathy, I'd have divorced his teeth from his gums. Vanes hate sympathy.
He put his hand over mine and smiled serenely....
'Can we talk of something else now...' I said.
He nodded and let go of my hand.... I didn't ask you to stop holding my hand.... Oh god what a duffer!
The conversation restarted... it was mostly about him and I was all ears... I soaked him in...his thin lips moving and touching as he spoke... then it was about me and I noticed how his eyes glistened when I told him of my poetry and sketches....of how I dreamed of working for Presence, only a world famous millennial magazine.... I found his attentive silence so sexy... I could have thrown him off the chair and ravaged him there and then but thankfully for some thin spread piece of restraint I didn't traumatise him...It had been almost an hour of pancakes, conversation and soft laughter when we suddenly hit common passion grounds.... Pop Music !!!!!!!
And the next thing I know I'm off to his room to listen to his carefully made playlist of Lana-Swift-Lorde tunes... He's pulling me by my hand.... His thumb caressing my palms as we climbed the stairs or was I daydreaming.... My skin heated up again...
His room was his self... comfortably casual, casually sexy and sexily comfortable.... like he was letting me see him in his undies again... it smelled of him too...his books and boxes open laying around... his shorts bunched in a corner...he was destined to be a brat for the cleaners and as we plopped on his Goldilocks perfect bed, huddled side by side, Lana's effortless voice filled the room singing of being young, of longing and for the first time I really got it.... because beside me was a body I so badly wanted to touch but it was a risk too large to take...It almost hurt me how I wanted him, how I was suddenly so affected...
And then the universe decided to indulge me, I had my eyes closed, melting in the music, when it stopped, I opened my eyes and saw him staring at me and then....in that etched moment of utter brilliance...he kissed me...full on my lips... like he knew exactly how to....like he had been doing it for ages....I melted as he pulled me into his arms, wrapping me warm and tight from the waist....our lips duelled as our bodies met.... When he broke off I realized I had been holding my breath.
My head had this rush, this euphoric warmth of what I had done.... I felt like my blood was speeding away threatening to flow free with a bang and my heart, my heart was pace mess. I kid you not, when I saw his face, lips all wet, face all flushed, hair ruffled in that telltale just-kissed manner, knowing that he had come on to me, I should have died of happiness but I was sick...for in my mind I heard my father's voice roar 'Oh not you.... how can you do that? Why on earth would you do that? It's not right ' I was back there... 13 years old hunched over the stairs watching my father insult my sister, her Lisa in a corner sobbing.... I jerked back into the present with Theo asking me 'Amias, Amias are you all right? I'm sorry if you didn't want to....I just couldn't hold, I thought you were gay too....Hey.... Amias say something.... Please say something...I'm sorry'
But I wasn't about to say something... I just got up and burst out....I ran down the stairs and out the house, somehow Ariel didn't see me... As I hurried away, I turned one last time, he was at the door, looking so forlorn that it hurt to be the cause 'I'm sorry' I mumbled and ran off as fast as I could.....
©Alexis Vane