Thirteen #2
Frustrated, I let my head fall back and heave a loud sigh. “He has been my best friend since I was six years old, do you get that? I’ve already told you, he’s like my brother!”
“But he’s not your brother,” he interrupts me sharply.
“Nothing bad happened; you are making a mountain out of a molehill. Also, he’s dating someone!”
He laughs, but there’s no trace of mirth in it. “His girlfriend will be pleased to find out that, in her absence, the two of you enjoy swapping spit and rolling around in bed together,” he taunts me.
“Thomas,” I chide him with a hard look.
He gives me an arrogant look up and down and then shakes his head, waving one hand to dismiss me. “Let’s just stop this right here. It’s always the same story with you anyway; I tell you that I don’t trust someone, and you flip out because you see everything through rose-colored glasses.”
“No, it’s because you see a potential threat whenever someone breathes near me!”
“Yes, and I’m fucking right!” he shouts, punching the desk. Then he turns and heads for the bathroom, so I rush after him.
“Where are you going?”
“To take a shower.”
“You’re not going anywhere while we’re still talking!” I yell at him.
“I don’t want to listen to you. So if you wanna talk, talk to yourself. It’ll probably be the best conversation of your life.” He slams the bathroom door so hard, the frame shakes, and then audibly locks it.
I slap my palms against the wood until I feel them tingle. “Thomas, open this door! You can’t just do this!” I keep raining down blows on the door and screaming his name until, finally, I give up. Exhausted and anxious, I pull on a sweater and go downstairs.
Vince is on the couch, still in his running gear, along with some guy I’ve never seen before. They’re playing Xbox on the huge TV.
“Everything all right, Gem?” Vince asks, giving me a brief look.
I nod vaguely, pulling the sweater tighter around me.
“This is Kyle,” he informs me, pointing to the boy next to him, who is still too engrossed in the game to take his eyes off the screen. Kyle just nods at me, maneuvering the joystick as if it were a steering wheel.
“Vanessa. Nice to meet you,” I say without enthusiasm.
When Vince asks if I want to join the game to “get humiliated by yours truly,” I decline with a smile and promise to save the humiliation for another day.
I glance around, uncertain what I should do.
I could also go out for a walk, but it’s still raining outside, and to be honest, I don’t really feel like it.
So, with a sigh, I head for the kitchen and look around for something to nibble on.
As I do, I take the opportunity to familiarize myself with the new space.
I open the pantry and find it stocked with sweets and snacks.
Seeing the sacks of sugar and flour, and a bar of chocolate, I decide I could make a cake.
I retrieve the butter, milk, and eggs from the fridge, and grab two pears from the fruit basket.
I dig out a large mixing bowl and get to work.
I break the chocolate bar into small squares and put them in a saucepan to melt over low heat.
In the meantime, I peel the pears and cut them into slices.
I mix the melted chocolate with the rest of the ingredients until I have a batter.
Then I pour the whole thing into a buttered pan and arrange the pear slices on top.
But the sound of wood creaking makes me lift my head and look out the kitchen doorway into the living room.
Something vibrates in my stomach when I see Thomas coming down the stairs shirtless, barefoot, wearing just his sweatpants.
His hair is messy, and his chest is still wet.
His face is a dark cloud. He glances into the living room, where Vince and Kyle are still on the couch.
He ignores them and enters the kitchen instead, filling the room with his freshly washed smell.
He doesn’t say anything, just grabs a can of Coke from the fridge.
He pops the tab and brings it to his lips, his gaze fixed on me the entire time.
Meanwhile, all of my attention is focused on the movement of his Adam’s apple as it rises and falls with each swallow.
I grit my teeth and look away. I’m still mad at him, dammit!
He can’t just freak out and then cut me off like that every time he gets suspicious about something.
I walk past him, pretending not to notice his presence, and slide the pan into the oven. Then I start washing all the dishes I’ve dirtied. He leans back against the kitchen cabinet next to me, watching my every move.
“I thought you’d left,” he says after a while, his expression indecipherable and his voice low.
I frown and raise one eyebrow as I continue washing the bowl. “I was tempted to.”
Thomas scrubs a hand over his face in a frustrated fashion. “I would have deserved it.”
Well, for once we agree on something.
He gives a yielding sigh and puts his hands on my hips, turning me to face him. My soapy hands are dripping all over the floor, but neither of us can manage to care. “I’m an idiot,” he admits.
“Yup, you sure are,” I confirm, trying to sound mad, but something in his regretful eyes makes it impossible.
“I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I just never know how to handle this…this thing,” he says, gesturing between himself and me.
“What thing?” I ask, bewildered.
He looks around, hesitating as if trying to find the right words to express himself.
When he looks back at me, he cups my face in his hands and buries his fingers in my hair, pulling me closer to him.
“In the past, if someone wanted to take something that belonged to me, I was willing to just give it to them. Because I didn’t feel like anything really was mine.
” I’m about to break in and tell him Alex has no intention of taking what belongs to him, but he doesn’t let me.
“With you, it’s different. Seeing you laugh or joke around or even just talk to someone other than me…
it makes me crazy, Ness. And I don’t give a shit if it’s your best friend, a student in one of your classes, or a customer at the Marsy doing it.
It’s an impulse that I can’t control. Because you’re mine…
” He clenches my hair into his fist and presses his forehead against mine, staring into my eyes with a disarming intensity. “You feel like mine.”
A shiver runs down my spine.
“You are an idiot, Thomas.” I cinch my arms tighter around his waist, barely holding back a smile.
The smell of his bodywash tickles my nose.
“Alex is one of the people I care about most in the world. But I’ve never looked at him the way I look at you.
I’ve never looked at anyone the way I look at you,” I admit, rubbing his back.
We fall silent for a few seconds as his eyes roam over me. Then he shakes his head. “You just keep sticking with me, despite all the headers I take.” He pauses and stares intently at me. “Sometimes I think you’re the crazy one.”
I lift my eyes to meet his and promptly get lost in that emerald abyss. “Sometimes, I think that too,” I admit in a whisper.
Thomas strokes my cheek, and without another word, he kisses me. It’s a slow, sweet, hypnotic kiss. Our tongues move languidly against one another, his lips warm and enveloping.
“Promise me you’ll be nicer to him from now on,” I murmur into his mouth.
Thomas just keeps kissing me, holding me tightly as if he’s afraid that, if he doesn’t, he’ll watch me slip away from him. “I can promise that I’ll try,” he answers hoarsely, nibbling at my lip. “Can’t promise I’ll succeed.”
It’s not exactly the answer I was hoping for, but it still seems like an acceptable compromise.
Without any warning, he grabs me by the thighs and lifts me up.
I automatically wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck.
His lips curl into a small smile as he carries me out of the kitchen and toward the stairs.
My eyes fall on the dishes yet to be washed and the oven, which is still on.
“Wait, the cake is going to burn!” I point out.
“Vince,” Thomas shouts, climbing the staircase. “Check on the cake.”
Vince grumbles something that I can’t hear but can clearly imagine.
When we get upstairs, Thomas closes the door behind us and sits me down on the desk, before…
“What the fuck…?” he says, looking at the pile of books and DVDs behind me, which I arranged earlier and which now take up most of the shelf.
“Um, yeah, see…I didn’t mention it to you, but I had my friends bring some of my stuff over.”
Thomas takes a look around, only now appearing to realize that the room has been colonized by books. He looks back at me with a raised eyebrow. “Did you bring your entire library, Ness?”
“No! No, no, of course not. Not my entire library,” I answer hastily. “Tiff and Alex were careful only to bring me the essentials.”
“The essentials?” he repeats skeptically.
“My room has been completely invaded,” he says, taking another quick look around.
There are books and TV series box sets everywhere, to say nothing of the clothes; we managed to fit as much in the empty drawers as we could, but the rest are still sitting around in boxes on the floor.
“Oh God, did I…did I screw this up? I probably should have asked your permission first. I’m not trying to take over your space; it’s just that I needed clothes, and I can’t really feel at home without my books…”
Thomas stares at me, dazed, and I am briefly afraid that he’s about to kick me out, but then he explodes into laughter, resting his forehead on my shoulder.
“I–I’m sorry. I should have told them just to bring a few changes of clothes and leave the rest.”
“Ness,” he says, raising his head, but I’m too embarrassed to listen to him.
“Believe me, I did not do this to try to put down roots or something. And I totally understand if this is all too much for you.”