05-22-2014, 03:56 PM
She had listened quietly as he spoke, eyes taking it all in. What was going on behind those eyes was, for the first time since they met, inscrutable. And when he finished with his admission, she said nothing. He waited for an answer, for a sign, for something to indicate he hadn't imagined things.
Ayden leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was a sweet and tender kiss. It did not promise passion. It was not potential. It was not prelude. It was an expression of how she felt, pure and simple, a reaction to him.
She was a puzzle, this woman. On the one hand, open, direct and easy-going. But at the same time, mysterious, guarded. Almost as if the person she was kept shifting, as if she was still trying to figure out who she was. She could be direct and challenging, as aggressive as anyone, seemingly fearless. And yet she showed fear, she hid. The way her face looked as she tried to evade his question about where she was from. The panic and fear on her face, and the desperate attempt to distract him when she had made the fire. She was layered. And layer by layer, it seemed, he had tried to penetrate her
Her hands ran over his body. The action made him begin to think maybe to go again. But she had a different kind of intimacy in mind. Her voice was quiet, as if revealing a carefully guarded secret. "I was in the army my first time it happened. It was triggered by anxiety. I was about to be spotted in a training op, and they saw right through me, like I wasn't even there. I was sick for three days in the infirmary."
The look on her face said that she was as surprised to be telling him this. The fact was, so was he. He felt a sense of relief. She hadn't said she wanted to be with him. But she had stayed. And she had opened up to him. Not everything. He didn't expect that. But at least...at least it seemed he had gotten through to her.
She lay back on the bed, their sides touching. It was quiet for a moment. He looked over at her, watched her face. It looked sorrowful. Then, in a sad voice, she said "Your son. He could have learned, he could have survived."
The words cut him deeply. He knew she didn't mean to- just stating a fact. But it brought back all the hurt at the unfairness of it all. Why Hayden hadn't learned when Ayden made it sound easy. He lay still, letting his feelings work through him, his heart still tender and scabbed, sensitive. He felt a tightness in his throat, tears hot and stinging behind his eyes.
Everything had been stirred up. The room was quiet. Neither of them spoke. In the other room a phone went off and Ayden went to answer it. He was glad of the call, glad to be alone. He rolled on his side and curled up, tears welling up until a few dripped from his eyes. Hayden, my son... His breath came in shudders, and he wept again for the first time in months.
He heard the door open and the bed shifted. She had come back.
Edited by Connor Kent, May 22 2014, 04:02 PM.
Ayden leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was a sweet and tender kiss. It did not promise passion. It was not potential. It was not prelude. It was an expression of how she felt, pure and simple, a reaction to him.
She was a puzzle, this woman. On the one hand, open, direct and easy-going. But at the same time, mysterious, guarded. Almost as if the person she was kept shifting, as if she was still trying to figure out who she was. She could be direct and challenging, as aggressive as anyone, seemingly fearless. And yet she showed fear, she hid. The way her face looked as she tried to evade his question about where she was from. The panic and fear on her face, and the desperate attempt to distract him when she had made the fire. She was layered. And layer by layer, it seemed, he had tried to penetrate her
Her hands ran over his body. The action made him begin to think maybe to go again. But she had a different kind of intimacy in mind. Her voice was quiet, as if revealing a carefully guarded secret. "I was in the army my first time it happened. It was triggered by anxiety. I was about to be spotted in a training op, and they saw right through me, like I wasn't even there. I was sick for three days in the infirmary."
The look on her face said that she was as surprised to be telling him this. The fact was, so was he. He felt a sense of relief. She hadn't said she wanted to be with him. But she had stayed. And she had opened up to him. Not everything. He didn't expect that. But at least...at least it seemed he had gotten through to her.
She lay back on the bed, their sides touching. It was quiet for a moment. He looked over at her, watched her face. It looked sorrowful. Then, in a sad voice, she said "Your son. He could have learned, he could have survived."
The words cut him deeply. He knew she didn't mean to- just stating a fact. But it brought back all the hurt at the unfairness of it all. Why Hayden hadn't learned when Ayden made it sound easy. He lay still, letting his feelings work through him, his heart still tender and scabbed, sensitive. He felt a tightness in his throat, tears hot and stinging behind his eyes.
Everything had been stirred up. The room was quiet. Neither of them spoke. In the other room a phone went off and Ayden went to answer it. He was glad of the call, glad to be alone. He rolled on his side and curled up, tears welling up until a few dripped from his eyes. Hayden, my son... His breath came in shudders, and he wept again for the first time in months.
He heard the door open and the bed shifted. She had come back.
Edited by Connor Kent, May 22 2014, 04:02 PM.