“I’m sorry I kissed you. I know you have a boyfriend and all, and that wasn’t right—”
“Shut up!” I groaned, falling on the bed. I moaned through one of him pillows, kicking my legs. He probably thought I was acting so childish, but that was the last thing on my mind right now. Eric was getting so annoying with his feelings. I took the pillow away from my mouth and kept my eyes on the ceiling. “You’re such an idiot.”
“What?”
“You’re so worried about a stupid kiss and you seem to look past the fact that I’m in your room against my will? Eric, this is far more important! If you are so sorry about it, why don’t you just—” But I stopped. I thought about what I was going to say, realizing that the next set of words could not be ignored. If Eric did let me go where would that leave me…what about him? Some part of me couldn’t just let that happen, but an even bigger part was screaming to just run. Maybe I wanted to stay now.
“If you want to.” Eric’s voice was gruff, like he didn’t mean what he said.
I shot him a look. “You are such an asshole, you know that? You’re making me feel bad.”
“You shouldn’t feel bad,” Eric said in a low tone.
“Yeah, you’re damn right I shouldn’t,” I said. “But it really doesn’t matter for me.” I relied on my hands to save me from falling on the bed again. I swayed a tiny bit, pushing against them. “Eric, what do you honestly think of me?” I didn’t know kind of answer I was expecting. What he said surprised me.
“I don’t know what to think.” He said. “You’re really different from a lot of people I know. You’re more…normal.”
“Well thanks.” I said. Like that’s really what a girl wants to hear.
“I don’t mean it in a bad way, Dorothy,” he shook his head. “I mean I’ve been around a lot of un-normal people, and it’s nice to be around you for a change. Not that you can’t be weird.” He smiled softly. “I guess what I’m saying is that…I really like you. I think I even might love you.” He said it slowly, unsure of how I would react.
I was silent for a while. There were millions of emotions running through my brain that couldn’t be dispersed into a single thought. Did he say what I thought he said, because I thought I heard him say love? As in the phrase ‘I love you’. But why did he say that? We barely talk enough as it is. I had a boyfriend, he’s also my captor. He couldn’t say that! It’s against the code of everything!
But I have a boyfriend that I haven’t talked to in a while, I reminded myself. We probably weren’t even considered together. It’s been weeks, Kristen might have welcomed him back with open arms, I thought bitterly.
And I was here with Eric. And I was thinking, Maybe another kiss wouldn’t be so harmful. It’s not like my life even mattered anymore. People probably thought I was gone forever. I might as well make the best of it with a guy who says he loves me. I couldn’t admit to him that I loved him back. It was hard to say that…and yet so easy to let it out in the open.
I don’t think he was expecting much of an answer now. He reached out his hand to run his fingers through my hair. It never occurred to me that we were sitting real close.
“And seriously Dorothy, you’re really very pretty.” He praised. “Beautiful.” He whispered, like a gentlemen trying to court a girl.
“Eric,” I began, “You’re so…strange. You left everything behind, letting no one in. I’m even here and half the time I know you’re not telling me everything that’s wrong. It’s hard keeping secrets, isn’t it?”
“Very hard.” He nodded quickly, his face creeping forward. I had to force more weight onto my hands just so I wouldn’t bump into his face. My head was up against the wall when Eric murmured something. He lounged on me, saying, “Would it be okay if—”
“You don’t really have to ask.” I said with a smile plastered on my face. Something inside me just broke out—like even in the worst position, my heart wouldn’t care. Eric’s part of my life now and there’s no going back. I wouldn’t even try to go back, getting to know him was a true experience, as weirdly optimistic as that sounded.
He carefully pressed his lips onto my own. His mouth moved against mine in a steady motion, like he was trying not to go so hard on me. But I kissed back fiercely; I didn’t mind it hard at all. I took my hands off of the bed to wrap my arms around his neck. He pushed on me, putting his one hand on my face while the other was still in my hair.
“And that’s enough!” Shannon voice was heard from the doorway. She whipped it open, hitting the wall in the process.
“Hey, watch it,” Eric muttered, turning his head to Shannon as she now stood by the bed. He stayed on top of me so I couldn’t really move much. I met Shannon’s eyes and she was smirking. I blushed.
“Totally digging you guys together but we have a promise to keep Eric, eh? Hope you weren’t planning on going any further.” She crossed her arms around her chest, disproving.
“Wait,” I said, shifting under Eric’s weight. “Were you spying on us?”
She cocked her head. “I heard the bed squeak.”
“Shannon,” Eric said, awkwardly getting off of me. “Do us a favor and get out.”
The room fell silent for a brief second. Then Shannon plopped herself on the ground. “Nope.” She said simply. “I’m not going to let you do anything you might regret.”
“I’m not going to regret anything,” He said quietly. “How’d you get in the house anyway?”
“Aaron let me in.”
“Cool. Go hang with him.” He grabbed the pillow from under my head and threw it at her. “Now leave Dorothy and me alone.”
Shannon looked at me. “Tell Eric to keep it in his pants. Stop tempting him!”
“She already has,” he said.
“I’m not going away then.” She crossed her arms.
“Fine,” Eric said hastily. “Then you can watch.” He smirked as he started to lean back on me.
“No, no, no, NO!” Shannon and I yelped out in unison. From the corner of my eye I could see her quickly stand up.
“I don’t think we should be moving that fast,” I muttered, looking down at my chest. My shirt was creased in all sorts of wavy directions. I pushed myself up from the bed while Eric graciously got off of me. The sheets were wrinkled too. I didn’t think we moved around that much.
“Good Dottie.” Shannon turned to Eric and smacked the back of his head. He rubbed it, a hurt expression displayed on his face.
“Oh please,” I said.
“Gotta keep them in line.” She shook her head at Eric. “I expected more discipline from you. Ah, you guys are all pigs!”
“I see what you mean,” I agreed. He hurt expression glowed into a grin. The type of grins kids make when they know they’re doing something bad but are trying to look innocent. It was quite adorable.
“Ugh, you guys were cute at first now I’m rethinking it.” Shannon pulled at my wrist. “Come on, there’s way to much sexual tension in here.” Before we were out of the room, she shouted back to Eric, “You might need some air too!” She slammed the door behind her.
She took me downstairs to the kitchen, retrieving a cereal box from the cabinet. She opened the top and ripped into the bag, taking a handful of Cheerios. After she stuffed her face, she looked at me with wide eyes. She reached for more, holding some out for me, “Want some?”
I shook head, giving a weak smile.
She shrugged back. “When I get frustrated, I eat.” She pushed another handful into her mouth. “I only eat dry cereal when mad.” She muffled through each chew. “It calms me down quicker.” She leaned her back on the counter and put the cereal box on the stove, I noticed it had ‘Shannon’ across the box written in red.
“You come over here often?” I asked.
She nodded her head, “Sure. ‘Shannon you are always welcome to my home.’” I could tell she mocked Macy’s voice. “I love Eric’s mom!” She smiled brightly, and just as she spoke those words, a tired figure walked into the ki
tchen.
Macy’s eyes widened with surprise as she saw us standing in her kitchen. “Hello.”
“Hi Mrs. Grant!” Shannon put her hand in the air for one courteous wave. “Don’t worry, Aaron invited us in,” She beamed. I noticed the emphasis she made on the word us; I’m still the secret guest in this house.
“Aaron, really?”
“Yeah.” Shannon agreed. “I know, right?”
Macy rubbed her messy bed head, opening the fridge for the orange juice container. She grabbed a glass from the dishwasher, inspecting it, then poured the juice. I watched her intently. She had grace even when tired. Shannon filled in the silence with her mindless chatter.
“So Eric said I could invite people over, if that was okay with you, Mrs. G.” Her smile was mischievous.
Macy was wary. “Did Eric actually say that?”
“Yeah.” That was a lie.
Macy laughed sweetly. “Okay. Who’s coming over?”
“I called Travis and Carter. You know the usual. But Gloria said she would be coming over.” Shannon said.
Macy’s eyes lit up. “Oh! I haven’t seen in a while. Is she still with Cater?”
Shannon looked at her with humor in her eyes. “She is coming over,” she repeated. “But, I’d still invite her even if they weren’t together. I’m okay with awkward moments.”
Macy started moving around the kitchen in a lively manner. “I should make something.”
“No!” Shannon waved her hands in the air. “I think that you should just go back to sleep! Aaron told me you had a late