I saved the Prom Queen [for Apollo Wilde]

[Apollo Wilde]

“I will. Actually,” she backed away from the table. “Excuse me for a minute,” and she briskly paced away from the table. He could hear her running up the stairs in a thudding of feet, and then silence.

Once she got to her room, she riffled through a stack of papers on her desk, finally locating her planner. Even in this technological age, she still insisted on writing everything down whenever she could. It helped her remember - or at least she felt like it did. Okay, okay - it was Friday night - so that meant that tomorrow was Saturday (clearly). Saturday, Saturday…Hrm. Swim meet in the morning at 5, that should put her home by 7, time to sleep for a little before fencing practice that afternoon…okay.

She came back down the stairs, quickly rejoining him at the dining room table. Slightly out of breath, she smiled and tucked an errant hair back into the plume of her mohawk. “Okay! So, I’ve got a swim meet super early in the morning, and then fencing in the afternoon. In between I’d like to get some rest, maybe do some homework….then I could come over? Tomorrow, say, at maybe 5? Maybe I’ll bring my homework with me, so that way I can come over earlier? Oh, jeez, I don’t mean that I expect you to help me with my homework. I’m not that bad at school!”

That would be an understatement; she was often at the head of the class - and if she wasn’t the head, she was usually in the top 5. “Will that be too late to come over and help you out? It’ll probably be less formal,” and she gave him a small grin. “Maybe I could bring you something to eat?”

 

[Purifier]

Suddenly his day dream was interrupted by the sound of her feet, running upstairs rapidly. So she really was checking her schedule now! The speed with which she had hurried away meant good things, hopefully. Was she as eager to meet tomorrow as he was? But then there was a silence. Did he just misinterpret her swift departure? And she was glad to be away from him? Had the way he looked at her when he drifted into his daydream made her feel uncomfortable? Usually she didn’t see him when he did so, after all.
But just when he was about to raise from his chair, to either follow her upstairs and see for himself, or don’t do so, and pace around the dining room restlessly instead, Beatrice returned. Rey smiled at her as she came down the stairs like someone would smile after seeing a long lost friend return after years of being missing.

And so beautiful she was when she was out of breath! Rey looked at her, nodding and grinning like a fool as she began to list her plans for the day, the grin becoming a bit smaller as she went on, and he was a bit afraid, she’d have no time for him at all tomorrow. But then, yes then, she finally she said it! “Five would be excellent!” Rey replied enthusiastically, without even yet checking if he had time. He would. No matter what. “And earlier would be even better!”

Rey liked her suggestion about the homework. No, she didn’t need his help. Beatrice was really gifted, not only did she excel at most sports, she also was pretty good at school. There were people like Rey, who were excellent students, but terrible at pretty much every kind of sports, and people like Greg, who was great at sports, but so dumb it hurt. And there was Beatrice. Rey had envied her for being so gifted in both worlds. But on the other hand when he heard her talk about her schedule, he realized she paid quite a price for it. Rey had plenty time after school, to draw, built, code, or to game with Jimmy and Oliver. Beatrice didn’t have that kind of freedom. That made it even more awesome that she had time for him again!

“You could help me with my homework, actually”, he replied to her, holding up his right wrist. He could write most of his homework by computer, but it might not work for everything. He placed his other hand on hers gently. “That would be awesome! And I make you cendol for desserts!” Rey loved cendol.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

She slapped her forehead playfully as he brought up his arm. “I’m the worst. It’s almost like I keep forgetting about that…” Which made her sound awful. It’s not that she forgot how he’d saved her – she could never forget THAT-, but rather, the conversation had been so engaging, save for helping him with his food, it was easy to forget because it just didn’t seem to come up.

“Hey, what’s your number?” she suddenly asked. “That way, if I have it, I can give you a call if I end things earlier. I don’t want to just drop by unannounced. Or, you can always give me a call, but I think it’ll probably be easier if I call you.” She stood up again, moving to the kitchen counter. On the counter was a note pad and a pen – used to jot down items for the grocery list. Tearing a page free, she scribbled down her number, and, walking back to the table, she handed it to him. “I usually have my phone on me, but it’s usually on vibrate, so if I don’t answer, don’t worry. Just leave me a message or a text or something. And I’m curious to see what…what was it? Cendil? Cendol? Was that it? I’ve never heard of that. Don’t tell me what it is, though! I want to be surprised,” and she gave him a huge grin.

The rest of the dinner would pass uneventfully – the rest of the conversation went easily enough, with appropriate pauses so that they could actually eat. During the course of the meal, she moved from sitting across from him to sitting next to him. Gently bumping her shoulder against his, she smiled and gestured that she’d be there to help him to eat if and when he needed her assistance. When he finished, she swept up their plates soundlessly, before bringing the cake to the table. Cutting it into thick, even slices, she set one plate in front of the two of them, two slices of cake on it. “Doesn’t make sense to use two plates; besides, we’re sitting next to each other,” she explained, with a shy smile.

The conversation quieted a little as she neatly cut the cake into smaller pieces with her fork, nudging them towards him as they ate. “So, what are some of your favorite things to eat? I can’t promise as nice as a spread as tonight, but maybe I can whip something up or at least grab something on the way to see you? There’s this great gyro place that’s not too far from school that I can grab something from. It’s the greatest little place – it’s run by this little old lady and her husband. They’re adorable.”

 

[Purifier]

She asked him for his number! Wasn’t that awesome? It was part of the whole dating thing of course. You exchange numbers, you meet after school, you hold hands etc.. Still he had never dared to ask a girl for her number, afraid she’d just laugh at him. And now Beatrice asked him for his. Reynold was so excited that he almost mixed up the numbers, and had to pull out his smartphone to make sure he was giving them correctly. He saved her number into his phone quickly, as if he was afraid she’d reconsider if he didn’t save it fast enough.

Hearing her ask about cendol, Rey grinned. It would certainly be a surprise. No western food is even remotely similar to cendol. He hoped she liked it though. Americans so open were picky with their food, and many didn’t eat anything they didn’t know. He remembered a few conversations he had with Jimmy and Oliver when it came to ordering food on a gaming night. Things that looked to exotic seemed to creep them out. So he really hoped Beatrice wouldn’t be like that when it came to cendol.

They sat close together as they ate and he enjoyed every second of their bodies’ closeness, leaning into her as she leaned into him. A few times his knee and hers made close contact under the table and he let them stay together like that for a bit, until either her or he moved. He didn’t say much more during the meal. He was just so happy to be there with her, it still was all like a dream.

When she placed the cake for both of them on one plate, he wrapped one arm around her waist gently. It felt really great! Rey tried to do so as cool and casually as possible and hoped she didn’t notice the deep breath he took before doing so. That was quite a Captain Rey type move wasn’t it? Hopefully the timing was right. Not do soon and not too late either. Timing seemed very important during dates from what he read. But how would he be able to tell? He never did that before. He also knew that at some point he would have to kiss her. Which would be even more awesome. But when? How would he know when the time was right? Well not now that would be way to early. Don’t bother about that yet Rey, all at its proper time.

“Oh my favorite food? Beside cendol?” Rey was glad Beatrice started a conversation again, before the silence would begin to feel awkward. “I really like sate. In Jakarta we had all kinds of it. Chicken and pork mainly. But also goat, mutton, rabbit, shrimp, even kangaroo once. Apart from that I like Canadian sugar pie. My aunt Mary in Toronto makes the best!” Having moved a lot in his young life already, he had tried a lot of different foods from across the world.

“I love gyro too!” he replied enthusiastically. “But you don’t have to bring anything really,” hmm he didn’t want to sound as if he didn’t like it. “I’ll get some for us there, it is my turn now!”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Sounds like a plan.”

She almost hadn't wanted the night to end, but she knew that it would. And when they parted, she gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek good night. "I'll see you tomorrow."
______________

Okay, so, she wasn’t quite running late; just….not as on time as she would have liked to have been. It was one thing after another - swim practice ran late, then she overslept during her afternoon nap, meaning that she had to make a mad dash to fencing practice in order to be in time, and then by the time she got home to take a shower, she surprised herself by dozing off (standing up, no doubt!) under the spray of water. Switching the water from pleasantly warm to absolutely frigid, it was enough to wake her up.

Dashing out of the shower, she threw on a pair of jeans, a “The Cure” t-shirt, and her comfortable red low top converse. As she thudded down the stairs, she sent a quick text to Reynold.

Hey Rey; running a little late, but on the way! See you in a few

A “little late” turned out to be almost an hour later. With a long, heavy sigh, she walked up the sidewalk to Rey’s house, and gently rapped on the door. She hoped he wasn’t angry with her. She felt awful for not even bringing anything with her - save for her backpack and homework, like she said she was going to. She figured that the least she could do with her being so late was at least bring food, but he had said he was going to take care of it.

Running a hand through her cloud of of hair, she looked up at the darkening sky, banging her hands against the sides of her thighs.

 

[Purifier]

It was Saturday and Reynold Susilo Simons was walking on clouds. When he showered in the morning he been careful to spare the one spot on his cheek where she had kissed him. Yes. Beatrice had kissed him. It was quite unbelievable. Contrary to all probability. Quite impossible.

And yet it had happened.

They had had a wonderful dinner before that. And now Reynold wanted to make sure that everything was perfect. He had cleaned the little house he shared with his mother spotlessly. Which due to his broken wrist had taken him more time than it usually would. But fortunately he was able to do at least the floors by using the remote controlled cleaning mop he had built some time ago. Now how to make it climb up on tables and shelves? He’d had to work on that, soon.

He had gotten the gyro too, from the place she had recommended, placed plates and the family’s best silverware on the table. His home was smaller than that of Beatrice’s family. A living room decorated with pictures of family – his mother’s side, exotic plants and souvenirs of the previous places they had lived. And in the middle of it a restlessly pacing Rey.

It seemed it had been a huge mistake to already pick up the gyro before Beatrice arrived. Five minutes past now and she still wasn’t there. Rey tried a piece of the gyro then wrapped it tightly in aluminum foil again. It was delicious. But his stomach didn’t feel like eating right now. More restless wandering. A fold in the carpet. Quickly corrected. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Twenty minutes.

Had she forgotten him? Decided otherwise? Had the kiss last night been a parting kiss? A hidden sign that she would not meet in private again?

It had all been too good to be true really. It could not ever have lasted. Twenty-five minutes. So it was over now already? All his hopes about them shattered? Thirty minutes. It was obvious now. She would not come. If his life was a cartoon there would be deep tracks in the carpet and on the wooden floor now, from Rey’s restless pacing.

He turned on the TV to distract himself. Turned it off again as a young woman bemoaned her broken heart on a reality TV show. Now what would Captain Rey do in situation like this? Go find her. Or at least send her a text. Rey quickly reached for his phone.

Hey Rey; running a little late, but on the way! See you in a few

Reading the message he sighed a deep sigh of relief.

No worries, looking forward to see you.

He replied. Still so much time passed, so many endless painful minutes. Until she finally banged at the door. He rushed to open – then paused for a moment, hoping it was really her and not just the neighbors, or his mother coming home early, or his aunt on a surprise visit or…

But there she stood. Beautiful as always right before him. “Hi Beatrice”, he said, bright smile on his face. A bit awkwardly he leaned in towards her, to greet her with a hug, that kind of closeness still so new and unusual to him.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Oh, gosh, Reynold, I’m so so sorry that I’m late!” She threw her arms around him, grabbing him in a massive hug. Suddenly realizing that she may be squeezing him too tight (and remembering his wrist) she let him go, keeping her hands on his shoulders. “And there I go again - are you okay? I didn’t hurt your wrist more, did I?”

She still smelled faintly of sweat, the fragrance of her spicy perfume mingling with it to make an intoxicating odor. Her hair was slightly damp around the corners of her face, though the rest of her was dry. Even though she wore jeans and a t-shirt, both clung to her figure enticingly.

Concern was clear in her big brown eyes, and she pulled back, to take a better look at him. Her hair was unbraided, and framed her face in a cloud of curls. “I can’t apologize enough about being so late! Swim practice ran late this morning and then it was just one thing after another,” she sighed.

“I just hope we’re still good. I can help you out with anything you need around the house. Can I come in?” She smiled at him, looking past him into the house before finding his eyes again.

 

[Purifier]

At first he didn’t say anything at all. He was just so happy she was there at all. Finally. “Really don’t worry about hurting my wrist. It’s getting better. You can always squeeze me as hard as you want.” He tried to wink, not sure if he succeeded or if it looked awkward again. Did his comment sound silly? He wasn’t sure.

For a moment he didn’t know what to say next. So he just stood there looking at Beatrice. Still close to her even after she let go, he breathed in a nose full of her perfume. So delicious. He could have spend hours just taking in that smell. And running his fingers through her hair, and nibbling on her neck, and..

Enough of those thoughts. “Oh well its okay”, he shrugged, then added with a sly smile. “If it made you feel better I would spank you for it though.” Did you just really say this Rey? He blushed and looked away as he realized what had just slipped from his lips.

“Well come in”, he finally said, holding the door open to her, hoping she still would come in and not consider him a creep after what he had just said. He bit his lips, wishing he had an idea on what to say next. To make it sound like some innocent little joke maybe. Or explain. He didn’t know. On the other hand he was pretty curious about her reaction though.

“You must be hungry after all the exercise”, he finally said, as he stepped aside to let her into the small and narrow corridor that lead to the living room.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Stepping inside, she slung her backpack higher up her shoulder, looking around the room. Her smile grew wider as she took the place in. It was a bit smaller than the home that her and her mother shared, but it held the same fragrance of home-cooked meals. It was well-loved and lived in, and Beatrice felt welcome.

As Reynold spoke, she turned her attention back to him. Had he tried to wink? She looked a bit confused. Maybe he’d gotten something in his eye? Or it was a nervous tick? It’d be rude if she said anything about it. So, she kept her smile plastered to her face, and reached out to gently squeeze his shoulder. “Or I can figure out where to touch you where I don’t run the risk of hurting you.” Well, that could’ve easily been taken as quite the loaded statement. Well, maybe he wouldn’t take it that way?

Before she could have dwelled on it longer, he mentioned spanking, and she raised an eyebrow. If…if she didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that it felt like…maybe, just….maybe, he was trying to flirt with her? No - it couldn’t be. Could it? Well…He had said that he liked her. Maybe she’d just been silly in assuming that he liked her in a friendly way, not like like her.

She laughed, suddenly, and loudly. Realizing that she had, she started laughing a little harder - and before long, she seemed to randomly collapse into hysterics. Nearly doubled over in the narrow hallway, it was long moments before she could collect herself. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she rolled her shoulders back. “I’m sorry - I promise I wasn’t laughing at you!” She paced closer to him, and put her hands on his shoulders. “I just…Reynold, are you flirting with me?” Her smile, still stretched from her laughter, was kind.

 

[Purifier]

“Or I can figure out where to touch you where I don’t run the risk of hurting you.”

Was she being mean? Was she being flirty? Or neither? For a moment Rey was a bit confused. “Ummm … go ahead and try?” He finally said with a shrug.

Nothing had prepared him though to deal with her reaction to his next statement. His rather daring offer to spank her was replied by laughter. Loud almost hysteric laughter. Laughter so sudden and intense that he had not the slightest idea what to do. Apart from wishing he was somewhere else. On a spaceship, moving at hyperspeed to escape a squadron of heavily armed warships in some far distant galaxy. Or in another age, in a parallel universe, on board of a steampunk airship, in an aerial fight with clockwork albatrosses.

Most likely even Captain Rey wouldn’t have had an idea on how to handle this situation. Well maybe by the use of a taser? Or the good old fashioned ballgag? None of that was available to him right now.

He really, really must have put his foot into it, considering how amused Beatrice now was. If Rey had that shrinking potion Professor Reynold’s invented in his comic, he most likely would have used it on himself now, to hide away under the carpet. Or maybe he’d rather applied it on Beatrice, and put the then tiny girl into the disused bird cage in the closet, to quietly study her and her manic laughter. The idea amused him somewhat and made it a little easier for him to deal with the situation.

Finally she calmed down somewhat. Yeah sure she wasn’t laughing at him. That’s what they always said. At least those that still pretended not to be mean to him. “You okay?” he asked in a rather bewildered voice, partly just to say something, partly because that burst of laughter really had him worried for her in some strange way.

“I was just…”, he replied to her question, looking down at his feet now, which were nervously shuffling over the floor. Hell, he didn’t really have the slightest idea on how to flirt. And it seemed that when he finally tried it luck at it, it quite drastically failed, judging by her reaction.

“I am not good at it, I guess”, he finally admitted with a shrug, deciding on honesty when all else had failed and he had no other plan. There certainly were men on this planned who could have replied in a much more suave way. But yet he was sure even they would have been totally caught off guard by this laughter.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Closing the distance between the two of them, she gently took the sides of his face in her palms. Took a deep breath. Licked her lips.

Then leaned in and placed a soft kiss to his lips.

It was barely a moment; little more than the suggestion of her breath against his lips. Her hands still soft on the side of his face, she smiled, a little shyly. “I’m not so good at flirting, either.”

She let her hands slip down from the sides of his face, and, as if suddenly realizing what she’d done, her face darkened with a blush. Rubbing her palms on her jeans, she coughed. “I’m sorry; that was totally crossing a line. I shouldn’t have done that - but I didn’t know what else to do. It felt right,” she looked at him, her eyes nervous, scared - perhaps even with the start of tears in the corners. “Though that’s hardly a good excuse. I, um, well, I can get it if you want me to leave now. So…I’ll get going.”

Giving him a sheepish smile, she backed away, hefting her back pack higher up on her shoulders. What had she been thinking? To just go off and kiss him like that? He was still almost a stranger - and she’d just laughed in his face. Even though she knew she wasn’t laughing AT him, the look on his face said that he didn’t believe her. What a mess she’d made of everything. Ugh. Today honestly wasn’t her day. How would she ever make it up to him?

 

[Purifier]

Just when Rey began to think that running away, up to his room, as fast as he could might have been a good tactic to deal with this confusion, this awkwardness, Beatrice again did something totally unexpected. Her hands gently reached for the sides of his face. Immediately he felt more comfortable, not no less excited. This was unfamiliar, too. But much better than the previous situation.

And it wasn’t all. She leaned in towards him. Her lips moving towards his. And then she kissed him! Yes she did. For a moment Rey stood there frozen. He immediately knew what Captain Rey would have done. He would have wrapped his arms around the girl and passionately returned the kiss.

In theory Rey knew this was exactly the thing to do. But in reality? He was too slow to react. When his lips had finally formed a kiss to return hers, her mouth had long moved away from his. His failure to do the right thing and return the kiss, seemed to greatly confuse Beatrice though.

Now she was the one confused it seemed. And Rey knew it was his time to act now. Due to his inactivity he must have given her the impression he didn’t like her, or at least didn’t like to get kissed by her. His heart was racing faster and fast now, a squadron of Stormtroopers on a furious chase.

There was no time now to rehearse his next action in his head, to imagine what Captain Rey would have done and how that could have possibly played out. He had to dive into the water headfirst and hope he wouldn’t drown. So yes, he did what he believed he had to do. Gently placed his hands on her hips. His feet carrying him towards her as she backed off, closing the distance again.

“Please … don’t go”, he said. Did that sound sappy? Like something someone in a cheap TV romance would say? Anyway it had to do. He couldn’t think of any cool line now, and he had to act, she had her backpack back on already, she was ready to go.

Leaning in towards her, he very softly added, “stay”. His lips now were close to hers. And then, afraid she’d back off again, or his courage would leave him, if he didn’t do it now, he brought his lips towards hers to give her the kiss he felt that he should have given her right in return to hers.

 

[Apollo Wilde]

Wait, what?

He wanted her to…stay?

She turned, slowly, her dark brown eyes confused. Before she could formulate her next thought, his lips were on hers, tentatively. The hesitant nature vanished, and, both from her and from him, the kiss deepened. Her hands, once at her side, moved to caress the sides of his face. Across the smooth skin of his cheek, careful of his glasses, and through the heavy spill of his dark hair.

The kiss gradually ended on its own, and, not sure what to do with her hands, she let them fall by her sides. She kept her forehead touched to his, his breath warm on her face, her cheeks. She wasn’t sure of what to say now - and so, let silence sit between the two of them.

It finally got to be too much for her, and she stammered out a soft, nervous laugh. “I…I’m sorry. It was sort of sudden….” Her dark cheeks were flushed, and her eyelids were lowered. She lifted them; managed to look up at him. “I don’t really know what to say now…Other than I guess I know that you really were flirting with me,” and she gave him a shy grin.

 

[Purifier]

Life is full of challenges. Full of choices. Often just one false step could spell eternal doom. Rey had been always aware of that. And yet failed on this quest so often. Life had taught him to always try to avoid to act weird, do strange things. But yet he failed so often, ending up the odd one out, the quirky one who always messed up.

His confidence had taken deep blows with each botched challenge, each embarrassment in front of his peers, especially since he had moved to Cary, where everything he did seemed wrong. But within the last two days his spell of bad luck, of wrong moves had been reversed dramatically. And now he stood there. Deeply, passionately kissing the beautiful Beatrice, the girl he had so far only adored from a distance, afraid that by making his presence known to her he’d drive her away from him for ever.

Thoughts like these shot through Rey’s head as he felt her lips on his, her hands in his hair. His hands were still on her hips, feeling the warmth of her body. Did her heart race as fast as his? Was she as excited, as overwhelmed by this experience? As surprised by her own courage?

Then suddenly, but not abruptly, the kiss ended. For a moment he regretted that he had let his thoughts wander again instead of fully concentrating on the sensation, instead of memorizing each and every detail of her lips, her fingertips. But on the other hand, of he didn’t mess up now, he might end up getting the opportunity for all of this too, within due time. So yeah, don’t mess it up Rey, keeping on doing, its going great.

It took him a moment to dare to look back at her. How stunningly beautiful she was, with her face flushed with excitement, her eyelids lowered, then slowly opening to fully look him in the eye. It wasn’t easy for him to not avert his eyes, so overwhelming the sensation. But even though he nervously winked a few times, he kept his gaze on hers.

“Don’t be sorry”, he spoke, tentatively reaching out his hand to lightly caress her cheek. “Yes, I … I.” Damn, what did he want to say? What would one say now anyway? He had no idea. Finally, suddenly, hopefully not too, late, not after too long an awkward silence, he grinned.

“It was awesome”, he said, his whole face alight with bliss, his excitement based on the wonderful experience of the kiss as well as on the fact that he – again – had found something to say before time runs out. “We should do that again after our dinner.”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“Yeah?” Her smile, though shy, held a bit of naughty playfulness behind it. “I think I could maybe squeeze the time in for one more before dinner…” And, since she was still close to him, she closed the gap between them again and her lips were against his again, a quick peck with a promise of more later. Not that she had any experience, with, well, anything, but Rey’s shyness was encouraging her to want to do more - and figure it out along the way.

Dinner between the two of them was pleasant - Beatrice was a talker. Now that she had a better idea of who Rey was, conversation came quite easily between the two of them. She talked about her training, the teams she was on, what she wanted out of college, what she enjoyed doing outside of school. And, whenever Rey spoke about his games, or what he liked in school, she was incredibly attentive, bombarding him with questions.

But, soon enough, the food was finished, and she was idly drawing little nervous circles with the bits of tinfoil that had surrounded the food. “So…” she trailed off, feeling heat rush to her cheeks. How could she say what she was feeling? What she wanted? Could she even say anything without him being disgusted by her?

“Didn’t…” she started, biting her lower lip, “Didn’t we…say that we were going to do something after dinner…?”

 

[Purifier]

After another kiss, Rey was absolutely certain that there was nothing in this world that tasted as wonderful as her kisses. If he could life on them alone, it would have been all Rey needed to be happy. But of course there was dinner now, and it was time to eat. Beatrice had told him great things of that little gyro place but honestly, he was only able to vaguely remember what he ate, so absorbed he was in the conversation with Beatrice, in the observation of her as she ate and talked. When she talked about sports he mainly just listened, smiled, and nodded. It was great to imagine watching her on the field, playing as vividly and with as much enthusiasm as she talked about it.

Rey himself had never been much into sports. But he had once started to draw a story about Captain Rey and a sports tournament of aliens. He had started to work on the rules of their sports, involving disciplines that were violent and action-packed as well as brain twisting mental challenges. He had not shown her the story yet, because it was hardly finished, and right not he was not able to work on with it at all, due to his broken arm. But as she talked about sports he was getting new ideas. His mind drifted away for a moment, imaging her competing in multi-dimensional rocketball, or neutronic torpedo puzzles. Suddenly though he looked down to his plate and blushed, as he noticed that his foot was touching her calf, and it seemed even it had been like that for a while. She had not pulled away though, so it seemed the touch was welcome. His foot still felt like it was frozen in carbonite as he tried to move it. Most likely he blushed even more as he finally succeeded, and started to slowly run his toes along her skin.

Soon his attention was drawn by Beatrice’s voice again, and he started to tell her more about himself, and what he did. He felt a little inadequate as he did so, hoping the fact that he was not as active as her didn’t repel her. As soon as he got more involved about his work on his little robots this feeling faded somewhat though, and he began to describe her his plan to construct a robotic arm to help with at least some tasks while his own arm was broken. The project was far from finished yet, but he had started to draw a layout – thank god for CAD! - and collect the parts needed.

When he finally paused, the food was long finished, and he noticed her hesitation, nervousness. Did she have to go already? Was she wanting to leave? Did he say anything wrong? Had it been a mistake to touch her leg with his toes – instinctively he pulled back. “ “Didn’t we…say that we were going to do something after dinner…?” Did they? He had been so immersed in the conversation that he wasn’t quite sure right now. Homework? The comics? The robots? It took way too long a moment of awkward silence before he finally realized.

“Oh yes we did!” he exclaimed, jumping up enthusiastically, to make up for his moment of confusion. He almost pulled down the table cloth as he rushed towards Beatrice. “I hope you don’t mind the taste of garlic and onion.”

 

[Apollo Wilde]

“I don’t think it’d be my place to complain if I did…”

With each word, she drew closer. Though she was still sitting, she was shifting in her seat, moving to sit up so that her face would line up with his. She’d kept her eyes closed, hoping that she would “run” into him sooner rather than later. And so she waited, lips pursed.

And waited.

And waited.

Opening one eye shyly, she realized she was still too low to reach him. So, she stood up.

And her lips promptly, ungracefully, and with no small amount of force collided into his. Wincing, she instantly recoiled, rubbing her mouth. Her teeth had banged against his, and, running her tongue along them, she wasn’t entirely sure that she didn’t taste blood.

Once she gathered her senses again, her warm brown face turned deep red along her cheeks.

“Oh my God, Rey! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!” She closed the gap between them now, gently taking the sides of his face in her hands. “I’m such an idiot - and now I’m breathing gross gyro breath in your face!” Her expression was between tears and laughter, snagged on uncertainty.

Still, her curiosity nagged at her - and, realizing his face was still between her hands, she leaned in, much slower this time, and delicately touched her lips to his.

 

[Purifier]

So he was there, in front of her. Rey was standing, Beatrice still sitting. So how would that work now. Was she waiting for him to do something? Or was it his time now. He had been so self-assured minutes ago, but now things felt awkward again. Nervously, his eyes wandered to the tablecloth seeing it hanging from the table halfway, all dishes and glasses dangerously close to the edge. His hand reached for the table, desperately trying to straighten the tablecloth somehow, while at the same time pondering what should b e his next step considering Beatrice.

Not very successful at setting the cloth and the items on it straight again, he decided to turn back to Beatrice and now kiss her anyway, even if she stayed seated. And then – BAM – he was almost knocked over. Or a moment he though she had punched him in the face. But then he realized it was her face, mouth first, that had slammed into his, and that this might have been supposed to be a kiss. Had he messed it up, by turning away and then back again, being distracted by the tablecloth when he should have paid his full attention to her, should have taken the initiative.

He looked a bit confused still, when she took his face between her hands, asking him if he was alright. “Oh, yes, I’ve never been better”, he nodded as much possibly with his head being held, smiling in a silly way, as he licked his lip. “I think my lip’s bleeding, but that’s alright,” he added playing it off like some hero would. “So is yours, by the way”, he added, looking at her more closely. “And I love your gyro breath”. He inhaled some of it theatrically – well he hoped it came across light hearted and not too weird. Not that she’d think he had some gyro breath perversion thing.

But before he could reflect much on that, she already was leaning in towards him again. Before their lips met he touched her lip with his gently, touching the little injured spot with the tip of his tongue. Then their lips joined in a slow gentle kiss. In a way they were bound by blood now. Kinda like blood brothers but not brothers obviously, but … lovers?

Rey wrapped his arms around Beatrice’s body, and he didn’t break the kiss when he felt something slide downward along his leg. He didn’t even react when seconds later he heard and felt something falling on the floor right next to his foot and break.