Xirysa Says: Happy birthday, Loulou.k! 8D Hope you like this! It's rather short really quite early (I'm in the middle of studying for exams, which start this coming Wednesday, and such) and probably rather poor quality, but I made sure I wrote something for you. Thanks for being such an awesome friend and reviewer, my dear! It really means a lot to me.
Just Another Night
All was silent.
Her head was pillowed on something warm and hard, but it was not at all uncomfortable. She opened her eyes blearily and found herself feeling more content than she had ever felt in her life. Sleep usually had a way of alluding her. The fact that she felt so relaxed was odd. It was confusing—at least, until all the memories came flooding back one by one.
No. not memories, she thought. There was no way it could have happened. It was a dream, then, because there was no way in hell it could have happened. Right?
She doubted it.
Suddenly feeling very much awake, she raised her head and looked at her "pillow", balancing her weight on her forearms. Her thoughts were confirmed—it was no dream. It was all blissfully, thankfully, happily real.
His face was calm. She hadn't seen him look so relaxed in so long, she realized rather sadly. It was true; he always seemed to be agonizing or worried about one thing or another. And most of the time, she realized with a pang, he worried about her.
Almost involuntarily, her hand reached toward his face and stroked his cheek slowly. She ignored the scratch of the stubble against her hand as her fingers crept under the dark curls of his hair to feel the pale scar that crossed over his eye.
"Oh, André," she whispered. "André, I'm sorry…" She repeated it over and over again, as if it could erase all the damage she had done to this perfect, wonderful man for nearly two decades. "I'm so sorry…"
Her hand slipped from his eye and down his cheek. It ghosted over the bridge of his nose, and she smiled when she felt the small bump there in the middle—it was all that remained from when she had thrown a rock at him and broken his nose in a fit of childish anger when she was a girl. As if they had a mind of their own, her fingers continued on until she was tracing the edge of his lower lip.
It seemed to wake him up. He sat up and blinked down at her sleepily. "Oscar? Is something wrong?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it." He looked at her blankly, and she nodded. "I swear!"
"Oscar," he began as he began to absentmindedly stroke her cheek, "if nothing is wrong, then why are you crying?"
"I—what?" She felt her eyes begin to water again and closed them hurriedly. "I'm just… I'm sorry, André. I'm sorry." She struggled hard not to cry, and almost cursed herself when the tears began to fall silently. "I'm sorry for everything I put you through."
He said nothing, tilting his head back as if in thought, and she looked up at him quickly, afraid that she had somehow offended him. When he finally spoke, it was not what she had expected.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Oscar."
"No, I—!"
He cut her off quickly. "Everything I've ever done, I was happy, knowing that it was for you. I don't need anything else."
Such a selfless man! Oh, she loved him so… She smiled, then, and pulled him down. "I love you," she breathed in his ear.
"I return the sentiments," he whispered back. He tilted his head to the side a bit and looked down at her. "The night is beautiful." Somehow, she knew he wasn't talking about only about the inky blackness outside her window.
"It's just another night," she scoffed, even though she knew that it, too, really wasn't true.
"No, it's not," he murmured as he leaned down to capture her lips with his. "It's much more than that."
"You're right, of course," she whispered before she returned the gesture happily.
And all was silent once more.
Xirysa Says: Much as I (usually) love school, at the moment I find it to be the epitome of crappiness. ONE MORE WEEK AND THEN FREEDOM. I can do it! I know I can! So this one (yet again) was kind of lame. Testing takes a lot out of my writing, I think. Isn't it obvious? Feedback, like usual, is appreciated!
