Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
The music of the movie filled the living room and a woman with a terrible wig came onto the screen, causing Faye to chuckle while she ate popcorn.
If I hadn't already realised I was in love with her, seeing her snuggled under a blanket that was pulled up to her chin might've done the trick.
She looked so comfy and happy, it was making my throat constrict.
I would never have predicted us getting together when I first arrived at the Cobblestones but now that I was looking back, I couldn't understand how my past self had been so blind. Of course, it was Faye. It all made so much sense, how had I not seen it before?
Something exploded on the screen and a man came on the screen, this time with a terrible bald cap.
"This sequel is terrible and I love it," Faye said, glancing at me with amusement written on her face. She shifted her weight so she was almost leaning against me. "Do you remember when we watched the first movie in the series?"
"We watched it in the cinema, didn't we? You, me..." I hesitated before adding the last part of my sentence. "and Aga."
Faye seemed unaffected. "Yeah. Agatha hated it but we laughed so much."
"This is obviously a biased assessment but I think Agatha was allergic to fun."
"So she wouldn't have wanted to watch this terrible sequel with us?" Faye asked, her voice still light and playful.
"Do I think Agatha would like to be here while you and I are getting all loved up to watch a movie she would find an insult to cinematography?
I think not," I said, glad that we could be joking about this.
Whether we liked it or not, Agatha was intertwined in both our pasts and that was always going to remain true.
Faye kicked her foot against mine. "Getting all loved up? We're not even holding hands."
"I can change that," I said, reaching for hers under the blanket, only to realise I had no clue where her hand was or what I was touching. There was softness and something that felt a lot like her thigh. And if I slid my hand up a little further...
Faye's hand found mine instead and I intertwined our fingers tightly, glad that hadn't gone somewhere else. I was getting ahead of myself, way ahead of myself.
I focused my attention back on the movie, trying to keep track of the awful plot and the outrageous side characters that added almost nothing to the story.
It wasn't a very coherent movie at the best of times and it was even harder to follow now that Faye was stroking her thumb over the back of my hand.
I never knew small circles like that could be so distracting, especially because her leg was pressed against mine. I could feel the warmth through her skinny jeans and the flimsy fabric of my dress.
The screen flashed and the woman was now running through the forest, somehow getting her wig snatched off by a thick bramble bush. She kept running as if nothing had happened which made the whole thing even more ridiculous.
"I wonder if that was an accident," Faye said as she moved our clasped hands so that hers was on top. She was still smoothing her thumb over my skin but her circles were now slow strokes up to my wrist.
She was making it hard to focus on the movie and I wanted to say she was making me feel like a horny teenager but I never felt like this back then.
It felt like all my senses were heightened and attuned to the woman next to me.
I was registering every miniscule movement she made as if my body was primed for it.
Every brush of her finger, every time she flexed the muscles in her leg, every roll of her neck.
"Are your shoulders stiff?" I heard myself ask, like someone else was currently in control of my foggy brain.
Faye made a little groan when she moved her neck. "A bit. Gugu had this great idea to clear out the basement and we've been hauling lots of furniture up and down. You think it would be easier with magic but nu-uh."
"I can give you a rub," I suggested, trying to stop my stomach from flip-flopping when she turned her back towards me. I never looked much at her back but now I was noticing the curve of her shoulder blades and the slope of her neck and how she really did carry her stress in her shoulders.
I put my hands in place, kneading gently while doing my best to remember the one massage class I'd taken in my life. Unfortunately, it seemed that my memory bank on this topic was entirely empty. Instead, I was entirely distracted by Faye's fruity perfume and the way she was leaning back into me.
"I don't think I'm doing a good job," I admitted, letting my hands drop. I shouldn't have suggested it, especially not when I had no clue what I was doing.
"I think my shirt might be in the way," Faye said, reaching for the hem of it and pulling it over her head before I could say something.
My mind went blank.
The back of Faye's black bra hinted at lace and there was a beauty mark right next to the left strap. It looked kissable for some reason but that would be inappropriate.
How could she expose herself like that? Did she not know what she was doing to me? Or was she so comfortable in our friendship that she might've missed that there was a fire burning in me?
I pressed my hands on her bare shoulders. Her skin felt warm and smooth and I couldn't stop my gaze from dropping to the band of her jeans. They were just sitting above her hips and the curve of the small of her back looked so inviting.
My mouth was fully dry and it took everything in me to focus on rubbing her muscles and nothing else. Especially when she let out a moan that reverberated through me.
"You've got no idea what you're doing to me," I whispered, resisting the temptation to press myself into her.
"Oh?" Faye's voice was lower than usual. "And what am I doing to you? Do tell."
"Tease."
She twisted herself to look at me and I firmly kept my eyes fixed on her face. The blood in my veins was like lava but I had some measure of self-control. I wasn't going to look unless she wanted me to.
"If I was going to be a tease, I would be doing this," Faye said, moving forward to bridge the gap and pulling me into a kiss that took my breath away.
I grabbed hold of her waist and pulled her into me, not really having thought it through what I was doing until I felt her straddle me and her body was pressed against me.
Fuck, I was in trouble.
"Faye." Her name came out strangled.
She kissed me again, her breathing quickening when my hands slid up and down her legs. I never wished away a pair of jeans this much in my life.
"You taste of almonds," Faye murmured, her lips already puffy.
"That's from the green beans almondine," I said, as if that wasn't super obvious.
She chuckled and pressed her mouth on mine again with an intensity that left me yearning. She was hungry and I could feel heat spreading through me.
I registered a creak and a thud somewhere in the back of my mind but I dismissed it, instantly regretting that when a grumpy voice shattered the moment.
"Ew, get a room."
Faye pulled back just enough for me to locate the orange cat on the windowsill. He was looking at us with judgemental eyes as if he wasn't the one who interrupted us.
"You're back early," I noted, the heat between my legs subsiding very quickly.
"It's raining," he remarked. "I didn't realise you two would be... busy."
"We're watching a movie," I tried weakly.
He shook his head as he plodded past us. "I'm going to bed. Next time, at least hang a sock out the window."
"We weren't... We weren't doing anything!" I called after him, even though that was obviously a lie considering Faye was sitting on me without her top.
Balthazar simply ignored us, grumpily muttering under his breath as he left the room. "I'm too old for this."
A moment of awkward silence hung in the room before both Faye and I exploded with laughter. Okay, my familiar's arrival had ruined the mood but that was probably for the best. We were getting carried away and I hadn't invited her here for that. Nothing was prepped.
"Shall we continue watching the movie?" Faye asked, her eyes shimmering with amusement.
"Yeah, we should because I didn't invite you over for... this." I gestured at the lack of distance between us. "And I want to know how the movie ends."
"We've missed a good chunk," Faye said, kissing me once more before she pushed herself off of me.
I handed her her shirt, still not looking to avoid falling into temptation again. "It doesn't matter, there was no plot anyway."
She chuckled as she put her blouse back on. "That's true."
We resumed watching the movie as if nothing happened, except that we were properly holding hands this time and I now knew something new about Faye that I hadn't before. Now I knew that she was definitely not unaffected by me either.