Chapter 8 #2
“Yeah, I could probably use some of them too, but that can be for tomorrow when we wake up.”
“Safe place to walk, I can take.”
“Is there?”
“Up high.” I flit my gaze up.
“Can’t wait for you to show me.” He kisses my nose. I don’t know why but the kisses he leaves in random places on my face and body feel more intimate than the ones on my lips do. I love how long his lips linger with each one too.
“Can’t wait too.”
“Can’t wait either,” he says.
“Can’t wait either.”
Looking behind him, he slides me off his lap, and another kiss is pressed to my forehead. “I’ll be right back. I’ll only be gone a few minutes. Don’t freak out if I suddenly disappear.”
“Seen portals before,” I say, gathering the coloring books into a pile.
“Okay. This shouldn’t be too weird for you, then. “ He takes three large steps forward and waves, one side of his body vanishing before the rest of him does.
Lying back on the large cushion, I spread out my limbs and look around this room, which I’ve only been inside once. The walls filled with movies and books have me nearly bouncing with joy. There’s so many. Do humans really have all this, so much time to watch and read them all?
Edgar appears back in front of me, holding two plates of stringy food that has a delicious aroma floating off it.
“Smells yummy.” I rub my stomach and he laughs, setting the food on something made of wood.
“This is a table. And these…” He tugs on one of the shiny white things the food rests on. “…are plates.”
“Plates.” Sitting up taller, I take the savory scent deeper into my nose.
“Come sit with me.” He pulls another weird object away from the table. It matches. Same color and material.
I eye it hesitantly, slowly crawling off the cushion.
“This is a chair. You sit on it.”
“Like rock?”
“Mhm. Like rocks.” He snorts. “We sometimes sit on those too. Like while camping, or hiking on trails, or during lake bonfires.”
“Bonfires?”
“Yeah. I’ll show you in a movie later. This one won’t have Christmas in it, though.”
“Like Christmas.” I move one foot in front of the other, liking how the soft fabric on the floor feels against my feathered feet. “Like movies too.”
“The one I’m thinking of takes place in summertime. When it’s warm.”
“I like warm.” I lower myself into the chair and it’s more comfortable than any rock I’ve sat on. He pushes it in, kissing my shoulder.
“You like all the right things.”
My stomach growls and I slide closer to the plate, poking at the shiny hard silver stick.
“That’s a fork. You use it to eat the pasta noodles.” Scooting his chair next to mine, he wraps the stringy food around the larger part of the fork. “See, like this.” He then wraps his mouth around it and the food slips off into his mouth as he slurps it back.
He motions to my hand, giving me an encouraging smile. “You try.”
Gripping the skinnier part of the strange eating tool, I twirl it around the pasta and slowly bring my lips to it, the red liquid stuff getting all over my face. Noodles try to escape my lips and I push them in with my fingers, licking them clean as I swallow.
Edgar’s all smiles, eyes sparking with something that feels exactly how I do. Happy. “Good?”
“Mhm.” I use a response I’ve heard him say many times.
“Franky made a lot, so if I need to, I can always go back for more. Nova made a pie, too, and I’m debating going back to steal two slices. He’s been really into baking lately.”
“Baking?” I collect more food on my fork, holding it still at my lips as I wait for his response.
“Baking is like cooking. Making food. It’s…there’s this thing called an oven and you can cook cake and muffins in it.”
As I stuff my mouth with more pasta, my eyes stay on his, and he holds up a finger, grabbing something that resembles a book. He sits back down, flipping through blank pages, and lines appear with a few movements of his hand, beneath some sort of stick.
“This is a pencil and sketchbook. You use these things to draw.”
I scoot closer, my attention fully on what he’s creating in the sketchbook. It’s a little sloppy, with crooked lines, and he sighs halfway, using the other end of the pencil to make one corner disappear.
More of my interest piques, and he taps the pink end. “Eraser. Helps get rid of mistakes.”
I grab the pencil from him, touching the ridges and drawing lines of my own over his.
Laughing, he takes it back from me. “You ruined my drawing. Ah, it was actually ruined before I started it.” More laughter flows from his lips. “I think I’ll just show you sometime.”
“On Christmas?”
“Yeah. On Christmas. I’d say today but I don’t feel like sharing you with anyone right now. I’m a little greedy after having to be away for two days.”
“Two days long.”
“They do feel long.” He slides the pencil and sketchbook out of the way. “Let’s finish eating and then we can draw some more.”
“And color?”
“Yeah, while we watch movies.”
“And breaks to fit together.”
Laughter barrels out of him. “Fit together is a good term for it, but it’s actually called sex.”
“Fuck,” I say, lifting my fork again with my eyes staying on him.
I bite back another laugh, and his face pinkens. “Fucking. Fuck is for when you say you want to fuck me or when I want to fuck you.”
“Like fucking you.”
Eyes lowering, he hides his mouth behind his hand. “I can tell.”
“Like fucking me too?” My voice squeaks.
“Oh yeah.” His lips curve. “I like fucking my pretty birdy. Very, very much. I also like this. Just being with you. Sitting next to you while we both share a meal and make future plans.”
“Future of you and me together.”
His cheeks lift higher with his lips. “So much you and me together in the future. So, so much.”