"Why are you walking me home?" she asked as they ended another of their adventures in gay Pari.
"I always walk you home," he answered, looking curiously down at the tiny redhead.
"I know that, Pepito. I just never bothered to ask why," she responded.
"Why ask now?" he asked, amusement pricking up the sides of his lips into a sly smile.
"Just answer the question," she replied, impatiently. She is always impatient, he noted with a roll of his eyes.
"Well, to protect you I guess. There are a lot of psychos out there, you know, and I'm a gentleman" he answered, hesitantly. He didn't think she'd take that response well, and he was right.
"What kind of nonsense is that?" she asked, squinting up at him, disapprovingly. "I could walk with the other girls. We would protect each other. No, I'd protect them!"
"Alright, alright, maybe I just like to," he concluded, "Now is there anything wrong with that?"
"No," she answered, "It's still silly though."
"Well, what did you want me to say?" he asked.
"Nothing, never mind," she answered, looking down at the sidewalk. Her hair fell in front of her eyes, she'd finally grown it long liked he'd always begged her too, and he brushed it away, with a slick grin.
"What?" Madeline asked looking up at him, and squinting again.
She hated when the sun blocked him out, he was too damn tall for her to look at when he stood on that side of the sidewalk, but he insisted on walking closer to the street. His gentlemanly ways were usually more annoying than endearing, but she did not necessarily mind having someone other than Miss Clavel to look out for her.
"What? Did you wanted me to say that I like spending time with you or something gross like that? You did, didn't you?" he asked, already knowing the answer. It thrilled him to see the streak of red burst across her pale complexion. She would kill him if he ever pointed it out, but she blushes quite prettily.
"I wanted nothing of the sort," she responded, punching him in the arm. "Don't flatter yourself, Bad Hat."
"Looks like someone needs a little attention," he said, teasing but not cruelly. "Here, I have a great idea, why don't you come next door tonight and we can make out? I promise to tell you 'You're beautiful and you've got a great ass'. That's all it takes, right? That's what the other girls get from their boy toys isn't it?"
She didn't appreciate his teasing her about her various romantic shortcomings, and her friends' more advanced relationships, but it was technically true.
"So you think I have a great ass," she said instead, choosing to go the joking route instead of the more serious one.
"No, it's too small, like the rest of you," he glanced at her, knowing full well he deserved whatever came to him, but never expecting what happened next.
Madeline brushed past him, giving a shove as she did, "Shut up, Pepi."
She faced him and closed the space between them. He could feel the heat in his body rise, he'd never been this close to her before.
He noticed how long her eyelashes were and how they looked like butterfly wings when she blinks, not to mention those lips. She bit the bottom one, and he practically groaned, he could bet she knew exactly what that lip bite did to him, and all red-blooded males, for that matter.
She leans in and just as he's about to meet her in the middle, she lets out a peal of laughter. It sounds like bells, and he loves her laugh usually, but now it just might kill him.
"I cannot hold it anymore!" she finally burst out, pushing him away from her. She was bent over her knees, laughing. "You should have seen your expression!"
Pepito, who was still wasn't sure he knew exactly what had just happened, could only managed an admonishing, "That was not very nice."
"Like you were very nice to me this whole time?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Just because I am tiny does not mean you can make fun of me. You know I hate that Pepito."
"I was just teasing, you were being very mean," he explained the difference to her.
"Oh come on. You are not going to hold that against me, are you?" she asked, having finally regained her composure, "Don't be a big baby."
"I guess not. But that does not mean it was not mean," he responded, still a bit embarrassed by the whole ordeal.
"You are just grumpy because I've one upped you one again," she says, her hands on her slim hips, "I am the best at our little game."
"Only because I am not playing," he explained.
"Only because you know it is not worth trying to beat me," she answered.
He flung an arm over her shoulder and continued the walk to her apartment, "Let's get you home before you get anymore ideas for teasing me."
"Well, here we are," she said.
"Madeline," he paused, "You know I think you're the prettiest girl in Pais, no matter how small you are."
"Thanks Pepi," she said.
She was already up two steps of the little old house, making them about the same height, although he's still a bit taller. She looked up him slyly and kissed him on the cheek; close to his lips, he noted. And as she pulled away, still smiling that slick smile, he knew she had noticed too. She'd won another round of their little game.