Better Off Together Chapter 8

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Better Off Together Chapter 8 – Story By Panzerfeck

 

 

 

 

 

We never spoke of the nature of the magazine I'd caught her looking at and maybe that was for the best. All cards up front, we were both as guilty as each other. If I wanted an explanation I'd have had to be ready to give one. We settled amicably for a limited low simmer of embarrassment and a slight absence of conversation; which all lasted but a few days.

 

 

 

 

I was just glad that she hadn't settled for her ex. Sometimes your own right hand was the party to bet on, and in this case that was true. She didn't need him. She didn't need to live with the belief that happiness didn't rely on respect and trust.

 

 

 

 

That's all that mattered to me and I just wanted her to be comfortable with herself. Again I was trying to be more her mother about it - I suppose nurturing her into understanding that there was nothing wrong with her current state of being - and otherwise just relying on my usual neuroses and childish jokes to get us through.

 

 

 

But what I missed in those days was the closeness between us, because I had scared her away, or she had scared herself away; humiliated by the experience. Thankfully that returned soon.

 

 

 

 

One night I was in need of a good sprawl-out on the couch, no electronic distractions, just a little relaxation and contentment. Rebecca walked in the room, having been playing X-Box upstairs. She just looked at me for a moment, and I couldn't deny how adorable she still looked in her snug white cotton pyjamas.

 

 

 

 

'Join me,' I invited sleepily. There was a slight moment of hesitance, by about a thousandth of a second, before she made her way to me. I budged over a little, getting twisted up in my t-shirt and lounge shorts. Now she was lying next to me, one knee against my upper thigh as a hand tugged my t-shirt free.

 

 

 

 

We were just looking at each other for a while. It was too easy to fall into her big soft brown eyes, the way they looked up to me sometimes. Kerry had does' eyes, so often ambiguous and otherwise straight to the point.  I don't know what she saw in mine to make her like that.

 

 

 

 

I'd heard before that there was a six-second rule about looking somebody in the eyes. Stare for long enough and it either means that you're either about to kill someone or fuck.

 

'We should go out sometime,' I said, and then reiterated, 'sometimes...'

 

 

 

 

 

She cleared her throat and then softly asked, 'why?'

 

'Like wing-buddies,' I suggested. 'Like we go out and help each other get what we want, when we want it, and watch each other's backs. That sort of thing...'

 

 

 

 

Her lips curled downwards - not a big fan of the idea I guessed. But then, 'I'm happy here for now. It's like my big brother says, "who takes care of you like I do?"

 

 

 

The urge was coming, my heart expanding. It was going to overwhelm me sooner or later. I had to ask but I only meant it innocently. I smiled and asked her if I could give her a kiss. Straight-faced as anything, she nodded and carefully tilted her chin up, inviting me to her subtly pouting lips.

 

 

 

 

Just the slightest touch, like a butterfly kiss, I parted her with, and she returned it. I breathed deeply, drawing closer and wrapping my arms around her. And again I planted another light kiss on her lips, and another. We breathed each other in, up close and eye to eye.

 

 

 

 

 

'Do you know what you're doing?' she whispered back. I took it as a negative and tried to pull back, but she latched on, moving with me; no distance gained.

 

'I just kissed you is all,' I said weakly, not knowing what to expect.

 

 

End Of Chapter 8